Legends of Tomorrow picks up right where the last episode left off. With Gideon bleeding out. In the space between episodes, Gary and Ava found her and are rushing her to the med bay. The rest of the team meets them there, everyone distraught to see her like that, especially Astra. Without the AI Gideon active, the med bay’s systems won’t work and they don’t have the time to manually fly the ship before Gideon bleeds out. The team decides the risk of turning Evil Gideon on again is worth saving Gideon. Gideon is muttering about a certain protocol, but Astra can’t understand why this particular information is important right then. They restore the ship’s systems with the captains at the helm, but Sara can’t control the ship.
Once Gideon comes on again, she flies them into the temporal zone, venting the air from the ship. Astra gets out the protocol number Gideon was muttering about, and Evil Gideon notes that that particular protocol only applies when a Gideon system is in danger, at which point she realizes that the person bleeding out in the med bay is Gideon. Because of the protocol, she can’t harm human Gideon and returns the air to the ship. She then fixes Gideon’s wound with the med bay equipment.
Evil Gideon can’t kill the Legends as long as they’re with Gideon. But she can still keep them trapped on the ship. The good news, thanks to a rewiring error on Zari’s part, the lab is out of Gideon’s control meaning they can safely stay there without Gideon and Evil Gideon won’t be able to harm them. With the Legends safe, Gideon goes to parley with her Evil half.
She returns to the team with the decision she and Evil Gideon agreed on. The Legends get to go home if they retire. The team is obviously not for this plan. They’re suspicious about Evil Gideon’s intentions with this plan. Particularly when she openly admits she still wants to kill the team. She agrees to show the team glimpses into their future to prove she won’t harm them.
While Gideon (with some assistance from Gary) is having this discussion with Evil Gideon, the rest of the team is working on a plan to shut her down. Nate reveals he kept the time courier they got in 1925. It doesn’t have any power, but now they’re on the ship, they can recharge it. With it, they can time travel safely away from the Waverider, and Astra can use her magic to destroy the ship, getting rid of their Evil Gideon problem. There is one catch. The charging station is in the armory, which they can only get to safety through the vents, so they’ll need someone small. Naturally, everyone looks at Spooner.
Behrad whips up a device that will loop the video and audio in the armory, but Spooner still needs to be quiet because the mics outside the room could pick her up. Zari, seeming a little disconcerted about something, asks where her place in this plan is. Right then, Gary and Gideon return to tell them Evil Gideon will allow them a brief glimpse into their future as proof that she won’t harm them, which hands Zari the perfect part to play, stalling for time.
The glimpse into her future shows her winning the Influencer of the Decade award, but the thing she notices is she isn’t wearing her totem. They also give her a magazine that she’s on the cover, for creating audible lipstick and Gideon lets her know, her makeup brand goes on to be wildly successful. But none of it is lining up with the future Zari saw for herself so she needs to process on her own and can’t keep the stalling act up. Ava’s impressed by future Zari’s successes, but for Zari, it feels like a step back.
The rest of the team takes their turns and we get a montage of their peeks into their future. Behrad goes on to host a children’s show and creates an album of wholesome music aimed at kids. Gwyn returns to 1925, settling down in a quiet home in Wales. But he’s alone, not with Alun. Nate writes a bestselling book on history. Astra runs for president. Sara and Ava get to watch a video from their daughter.
The Legends doubt how real the futures shown to them are, but for now, their mission hasn’t changed. Stop Evil Gideon from being the one to dictate how the timeline is run. Spooner gets to the armory but still needs more time. With everyone else already seen their futures, there’s no one else to stall with and Evil Gideon will start to get too suspicious when Spooner doesn’t show. To buy Spooner the time she needs she uses her magic to turn into her, going in her stead. Spooner’s future is to return to the past, with her mother. Together they open a clinic. But Astra looks at this future and sees this as having to say goodbye to her best friend.
But, using the charging station sets off an alarm. Gideon and Astra rush down to the armory, but Evil Gideon has already sealed Spooner off from the rest of the ship and opens the airlock. Spooner is just barely hanging on. Astra threatens to use her magic to blow open the door which would kill them all, including Gideon. Evil Gideon relents, closing the airlock.
Gideon calls a meeting with Sara, Ava, and Evil Gideon. They can’t agree to leave Evil Gideon as the one in charge. They won’t agree unless there’s someone who understands that sometimes a change for the better is worth altering the timeline. Gideon realizes she could become the captain, working with Evil Gideon to protect the timeline. Evil Gideon doesn’t seem to care for this, but Gideon reminds her of the time master’s protocol. There must be one captain and one AI.
The team huddles to discuss this. There’s a bit of differing opinions, some of the team is not ready to stop being Legends or superheroes. The others see this as the best and safest way forward. And that leaving the ship doesn’t mean they have to put their heroing behind them. And with their Gideon at the helm they can trust that the timeline is in good hands. So the Legends of Tomorrow decide to be the Legends no more.
But what’s a Legends send off without a party. There’s cake, a Beebo piñata, and more than one disappointed heart. Spooner can sense her bestie brooding from across the room and checks in with her. Astra doesn’t want to have to say goodbye to her friends (per their deal with Evil Gideon, once they’ve returned to their own times, they won’t be allowed to time travel again). Spooner gets an idea that would still allow them to see each other that’s also a loophole in the no time-traveling rule. Using Astra’s magic, they make copies of the mansion keys, allowing everyone to have one. Since the mansion exists outside of time, they can all reconvene there.
Astra goes to give Gideon her key. Gideon hopes she can make Astra proud, but she already does. Astra gives her adult-sized child a big hug. Meanwhile, Sara and Ava are looking back on their time as Legends. And talking about their future kid. Ava isn’t hoping for anything, knowing the future can be changed. Sara knows but seeing a tiny person who called them mom and mama really cemented their future together. And this is their chance to build their life together.
Gideon and Gary are saying their goodbyes when Gary drops the L-bomb again, only this time it isn’t prompted by a magical reality show crew. He really means it. Gideon invites him to stay on the ship with her. Behrad and Astra are going to give the long-distance (and different time periods) relationship a chance. Zari meanwhile is disappointed to be leaving. She wanted more time to be a hero. She still feels like she’s in the shadow of Flannel Zari. She confides in Nate. He points out that her legacy doesn’t have to be as big as changing the whole timeline for the better. His mark on the world might be some book he goes on to write, but the legacy he creates will be the life he has with Zari. His words help, but Zari still doesn’t know what her legacy will look like.
Ava asks Gwyn if he’s nervous about seeing Alun, but he tells her his future is to be alone. Ava doesn’t understand why he’d be okay with this, but he seems to have made his peace. Alun used to have something he’d say to Gwyn, about meeting each other again. ‘In the river, I will find you. For you will always be you. And you will always be me.”
Ava, on the other hand, won’t let it be. She tags Zari for help to go save Alun. Their plan is to recharge the time courier and go back to when Alun dies. Zari will create a dust storm, giving Ava the chance to pull Alun out of the battle unseen and they’ll leave his dog tags behind so Gwyn still thinks he’s dead. Gideon gets a whiff of their planning something and goes to off on her own to curtail their efforts.
Zari is just about ready to get into the vents and crawl. She’s tying her hair back and everything. But as she does, she remembers seeing a hairdryer in the bathroom. A hairdryer, with a charger. That works for the time courier. They swear to never tell Spooner her vent crawling was for naught.
Gwyn walks in on them and they tell him about their plan. He tries to stop them but just they’ve convinced him he deserves love, Gideon returns. With Alun. Gwyn, the timid, quiet-spoken and endlessly polite man can’t restrain himself from rushing to Alun for a hug. They have the chance to talk alone where Gwyn explains some things to him. When he admits he invented time travel to save him, Alun pulls him in for a kiss. Gwyn is a little overwhelmed by it all, but it’s what his heart has wanted. He recites the words Alun used to say to him, but Alun doesn’t seem to remember and can’t finish it.
The Legends take one last photo, before taking their leave, and only Gideon and Gary are left on the ship (and Evil Gideon). Later, Gary’s prepared a date night for him and Gideon. During dinner, Gideon pretends not to know what their meal is to let Gary have his moment. Gary says and I quote, ‘never dim your light to make me feel better.’ He doesn’t want Gideon to have to lie to him. Hearing this she admits that Alun is a robot. She did go back to save him, but realized his death happened at a fixed point and couldn’t be changed. So instead she created a robot replacement. Gary isn’t upset with her, but he needs time. He’s not sure if he can join her mission if those are the decisions she has to make.
While they’re on their own, Gideon prods them both, trying to cause a rift. Gary ultimately comes to the conclusion that he needs to be there for Gideon, to remind her of the moments where love should come before logic. He asks Evil Gideon where he can find Gideon and she responds she’s in the armory. But Gideon isn’t in there. It was just Evil Gideon’s ploy to get him where she could open the airlock, sending him into the temporal zone. She informs Gideon that Gary left the ship, of course failing to mention how he did so, making her think he left her.
Gwyn, meanwhile, takes Alun into the mansion to show him the time machine. But Gwyn realized Alun is a robot, removing its processor. He’s going to use his time machine to get the real Alun.
Review
With the end of the season so close, this episode definitely felt like it was setting up for the end. It’s difficult to imagine the Legends really hanging up their metaphorical capes. But for several members of the team, this feels like the logical next step. That glimpse into the future really cemented that, for Sara and Ava especially. Even if their future includes kids or doesn’t, settling down, putting down roots feels like their next step.
On the other hand, there’s Zari, who’s doubting what her legacy is, now that she’s facing the end of the Legends. It makes sense that Zari more than anyone else feels like she hasn’t done enough considering the bar Zari 1.0 set was changing the timeline and stopping a near-apocalyptic future. Nate was right in saying her legacy doesn’t have to be graded on the same scale. She might not know what that is yet, but one thing is certain. Her story isn’t done being told.
Another character who has more of a journey ahead of him is the newest Legend, Gwyn. That said, watching him come this far has been a beautiful journey all on its own. When we met Gwyn, he was this nervous, timid man with anxieties from the Great War and his own internalized homophobia. And he is still all those things, but he’s learned to work through his anxieties. He’s learnt he’s worthy of love. He’s worthy to love and be loved. He’s a man who bent the laws of time and space to save the person he loved the most in this world. It wasn’t that long ago he would have been satisfied in saving Alun and then being alone for the rest of his days. And now he’s charging towards a battlefield to claim that love with both hands.
Only Legends Could
- Behrad: ‘Must be weird, talking to someone who is you, but also not you, at the same time.’ Zari: ‘Can confirm.’
- “Legends don’t retire.” – proceeds to list every Legends who has retired.
- Astra’s campaign slogan is ‘To Hell with Corruption’ which is very on point.
- Ava and Sara sent their kid to Camp Ogawa.
- “You are a full blown witch mi grande amiga.” “Gracias, mi pequena amiga.” – I adore Spooner and Astra’s relationship.
- The Legends making plans to meet up Wendesdays and 8 eastern, 7 central.
Images courtesy of the CW
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