The season finale kicks off by revealing the fate of our second favorite alien who wears glasses as a disguise. After getting blasted from the Waverider, Gary gets knocked out into the time stream somewhere in 30,000 BC. He startles a couple of cavemen, who are going to be no help in pointing him in the direction of a door.
Meanwhile, the Legends get together for their first family night. Time Moms are of course the earliest because Ava Sharpe must be punctual, but it’s not long before the rest of the family is gathered together. Well, almost all of the family. There’s no Gwyn. They also notice his time machine is missing. There’s a note about Gwyn finding his one true love that’s vague enough to not give away his true intentions. The Legends assume he used the time machine to go somewhere more tolerant than the 1920s and trust he’s wise enough to stay under the radar to avoid detection from Gideon and Evil Gideon. Of course, Gwyn’s returned to 1916, planning to use robot Alun to replace his Alun.
Meanwhile, Gideon tackles her first mission, stopping a time traveler trying to give women voting rights a few decades earlier. She dresses in period-accurate clothing in classic Legends mission style, but her victory feels hollow, knowing the timeline isn’t being improved by her actions. She gave the rogue time traveler a stern talking to, an apology knowing she was only trying to change things for the better, and sent her on her way.
Back with the team, it’s been four weeks since their retirement and they still haven’t seen Gwyn or Gideon and Gary. They still assume Gwyn is just making up for lost time with Alun, and Gideon is busy with the timeline.
The team catches up on what’s been happening in everyone else’s lives. Ava and Sara have started to discuss kids, seeming that they’ve landed on having a sperm donor and Ava carrying the baby. But they haven’t made any final decisions yet. Nate’s started to think about his book, but hasn’t written anything yet. Astra’s already taking on Capitol Hill. The others ask Astra if she’s talked with Gideon. She hasn’t, but tries to play it off like she’s not worried. That becomes harder to sell when Ava reveals it could have been much longer than a month for Gideon since she’s in the temporal zone.
It seems like Ava was right on the money with that assumption because when we next see Gideon, she seems much more tired and disillusioned than we last saw. She doesn’t even know what change she stopped this time. She just kicked the time travelers back to their own time and destroyed their time ship, a much colder approach than we saw her taking only one scene prior.
We go back to the team, this time on week six of their family dinners. Sara and Ava are once again the earliest. Sara notices Ava picked up sparkling cider for their drink and her sparkle when she realizes what this means. Ava’s narrowed down a list of donors and is ready to start trying. They’re so excited to be doing this together and to get to share the news with their family when they hear them arrive. Ava goes to greet them, while Sara opens the cider. But as she’s opening the bottle, she gets a cut from the wire, which doesn’t heal.
Meanwhile, Gary has spent his time making a door to use his key on. He arrives at the mansion just before Ava and Sara can share their news. He explains Evil Gideon tried to kill him and that Gideon sent Gwyn home with a robot Alun. The team puts it together that Gwyn went after the real Alun and try to be hopeful he was successful, but Gary shares that point of history is a fixed point, meaning there is a fixer protecting it.
We see Gwyn in 1916, where he’s already put his plan into motion. He slips a drug to put Alun to sleep into his cup, but before Alun can drink it, a bullet knocks the cup from his hands and hits Gwyn in the chest, killing him. Nate, in the present, confirms he dies after consulting a history book.
The Legends aren’t sure what they can do until Zari reveals she kept a time courier. It’s not even a question for the team, they’re going to save Gwyn. While Sara is strategizing on her own, Gary goes up to her, asking if she’s sure she wants to join the mission, on account of her being pregnant and all. Sara is amusingly confused because it’s impossible for her to be pregnant. Gary corrects her. It would be impossible if she were 100% human. But his alien senses are telling him she is very much knocked up.
Sara begins panicking. Gary explains that the alien species her DNA was mixed with just needs the thinking about having a baby and some Ava’s DNA in order to fertilize the egg. With an important mission ahead of them, Sara chooses to ignore the fact she’s pregnant and tells Gary to do the same.
The Legends head to 1916, but aren’t there long before Gideon shows to reprimand them. She points out this breaks their deal, but the Legends couldn’t just sit back knowing Gwyn dies. Gideon says this is the way things are meant to happen, but Astra says screw that. If they did things by the way they were supposed to happen, Astra would still be in hell and Gideon would still be a computer.
Gideon still won’t hear it. She gave up her future to protect her friends and this is how they repay her. But when they mention Gary got shot out of the airlock, it’s clear she didn’t know. She tries to deflect that AI Gideon had her reasons.
Astra lashes out, telling her she’s acting like a computer before storming out. Spooner goes after her. Spooner says Gideon was putting on a tough front, but deep down she was conflicted. Spooner thinks Astra should talk to her. If anyone can get through to her, it would be Astra. Ava joins them, agreeing. She gives them the time courier. It’s almost out of charge but has just enough juice to get them on the Waverider.
On the Waverider, Gideon confronts Evil Gideon about trying to kill Gary. The AI is surprised to learn he survived. She defends her actions by saying she was just removing an emotional entanglement for Gideon, one that would have held her back. That plan didn’t work because Gideon still has her emotional connections to all of the Legends, ones that are making her hurt right then after seeing the disappointment in their faces when she confronted them.
Evil Gideon has a solution for that issue. She’s created an android copy of Gideon. Gideon can upload her consciousness to it, deleting any memories with the Legends to avoid further heartbreak. She agrees to it, but Astra and Spooner board the ship at the same time. Spooner senses she’s in trouble, and the pair rush to her.
Meanwhile, the rest of the team are at the spot where Gwyn arrives with his time machine. Gary pushes Sara out of the way when it looks like the machine is about to land on top of her. Gwyn’s confused why the team came after him, but quickly puts it together he failed and died in the process.
Sara’s annoyed Gary tackled her for no good reason, but Gary reveals she’s no longer invulnerable. Her powers have been absorbed by the fetus, which is another bomb she wasn’t ready for. While that was happening, the others explain to Gwyn that this is a fixed point, explaining why his foolproof plan failed.
Gwyn laments the fact that fate would deem the moment he loses Alun and is unable to get reinforcements because of his cowardice as unchangeable. They have their own plan to negotiate with the fixer, but Sara doesn’t reveal she can’t force this fixer into a stalemeate like she did with Thawne because now she’s mortal.
On the Waverider, Astra and Spooner get to Gideon just in time to stop her. She’s so happy to see them, she just collapses into Astra’s arms. She was scared they must hate her, but they could never hate her for one mistake. Evil Gideon tries to dissuade Gideon from listening to them, but Spooner politely tells her to shove it. They realize it’s no wonder why Gideon’s been acting the way she has if she only had Evil Gideon for company.
Gideon realizes she’s been led astray by the AI and Astra points out what might not have been so obvious to a person who’s only just learning how to people: humans need other humans. Being isolated with only an AI has done nothing good for Gideon. Gideon realizes that’s why Rip brought the OG Legends on board and why he put in the protocol that Gideon would prioritize the Legends above the timeline in the first place. She decides to do the same, but before she can, Evil Gideon downloads herself into the android Gideon.
As the day of the fixed point begins, the Legends still don’t know how they’re going to contact the fixer, when Sara gets an idea. And then time comes to a standstill and we meet someone who seems to like a blue and yellow motif. He plays a round of golf across the battlefield before discovering the Legends. They’re frozen in time, but have written a friendly message for him, which gets him curious enough to entertain their request to talk.
Meanwhile, Evil Gideon assumes the captain’s role, no longer taking orders from Gideon. She’s also deemed her and Gideon different enough that protocol preventing her from hurting Gideon no longer applies. Astra tries using her magic, but it has no effect on the android. With a spell, she teleports herself, Gideon, and Spooner to the armory where Spooner grabs the biggest gun she can, ready for a fight.
Back with the rest of the team, the fixer introduces himself as Mike in just shifty enough of a way that it’s clear his name isn’t Mike, and he’s well versed with the Legends and who they are. He even knows Gary. Doesn’t know who Gwyn is though, but when they introduce Gwyn as the inventor of time travel he’s like ‘oh that guy!’ and apologizes.
They explain their plan to save Alun but Mike can’t help them. He has strict instructions to stop anyone from changing this point. The Legends point out the paradox. This point is important because the events of this day lead to the invention of time travel, but if anyone changes events where the timeline is affected then time travel is never invented, thus erasing the person who traveled to this point to change it.
‘Mike’ realizes this is why no one has shown up before Gwyn and the Legends. The Fixed Point fixes itself. He seems to realize he was put there as a joke. They calm Mike down and ask for his help and this time he agrees.
Back on the Waverider, Evil Gideon finds, Astra, Spooner, and Gideon. Spooner unloads into Evil Gideon, but like the scariest terminator models, she just shrugs off the bullets and keeps coming at them. They retreat to the bridge, where Gideon gets an idea. She takes the gun from Spooner, firing at the console, disengaging the ship’s cloaking system.
Evil Gideon, realizing she’s now the time aberration, hurries to fly the ship out of there. But Gideon might have underestimated how far the android AI was going to take this as she engages the self-destruct sequence.
Astra, Spooner, and Gideon look at each other, taking stock of their little mini family, made up of two platonic soulmates and their adult child who used to be a set of code, and know they wouldn’t change anything about the journey they’ve been on. They say I love you to one another, Astra pulling them close to her, as if the sheer force of her love will shield them from the explosion that’s about to end their lives. And it is. That and her magic.
Protecting the three of them from the void of the temporal zone, Astra pulls the destroyed Waverider back together around her, an act that almost killed her a few months ago. With the Waverider back and Evil Gideon gone, the three stumble out of the ship, reuniting with the rest of their family. Everything is looking up for the Legends.
Which naturally means something is about to go wrong. In this case, it’s ‘Mike’ betraying them and stealing the Waverider. He destroys Gwyn’s time machine for good measure too. The threat that Sara’s been hanging on all day finally snaps. She breaks down, retreating to the abandoned house they’ve been using as a base of operations. Ava goes after her wife, who is clearly not okay.
Sara says the thing she’s been hiding from all day. She’s pregnant. Ava hears those words and all her concern is instantly zeroed in on her wife. Sara stumbles through the explanation Gary gave her and Ava latches on to the fact this baby is hers, and as much as there is disbelief and confusion in her eyes, there’s also wonder and happiness. Despite Ava’s best efforts, Sara is still spiraling, and she just had a lot thrown at her all at once. She asks her to focus on what they can control, like how they feel about this because Ava is so happy. Nate comes in with Gary and Gwyn and he’s overjoyed to hear the news too.
They don’t have much time to bask in the moment because they’re still in the middle of WWI with Gwyn’s boyfriend to save. Gwyn explains his younger self will be running for reinforcements right about now, but never gets there because he freezes in fright. Gary and Gwyn go to make sure that happens as it’s supposed to.
Nate volunteers to get Alun alone since Sara’s invulnerability is gone. Meanwhile, Zari and Behrad carry robot Alun’s body into the battlefield. A bomb is launched their way, but Zari sends it flying back the way it came.
Gary and Gwyn find his younger self, going with another soldier for reinforcements. Along their path, the other soldier is mortally wounded. Gwyn remembers this moment as him freezing but as they watch, that’s not what unfolds. In a moment buried away by his trauma of this day, the younger Gwyn holds his fellow soldier so he won’t have to die alone.
Gary goes to pull the younger Gwyn away before the battle comes their way. Gwyn just sits in this moment of realization, that a moment he remembers as one of his fear and weakness taking him over, was actually one where his virtue and compassion shone through all the horrors of the Great War.
While looking for Alun, Nate runs through to a cloud of mustard gas that begins eating away at his steel, but that doesn’t stop him. He charges forward, finding Alun and getting him back to the Legends.
After the battle, Gwyn explains the mustard gas corroded his steel powers and he no longer has them. Sara comes to check on him. He’s not sad about his powers being gone. He saved Alun and he’s still alive, so in his book, it was worth it. And he’s ready to put his heroing days behind him. Sara sends him back to Zari 1.0 with her blessing. The rest of the team join to say their farewells, Zari giving him her totem so he can come and go from the totem. And so we say goodbye to a Legend.
But, the Legends are stranded in time again. Spooner has the idea to go back to Texas with her mom, but there is the complication — this is nine years before they met her mother. Gwyn built a time machine before, he can do it again, it will only take several months. They don’t even need the Waverider.
Thankfully, the Waverider returns right then. They board their ship with a bone to pick with ‘Mike’, but when he greets them, he has on a pair of handcuffs. Several people in uniforms burst out, informing the Legends they’re under arrest. For Time crimes. One of them tells ‘Mike’ to be quiet, calling him ‘buster’, but ‘Mike’ corrects him. He’s Booster Gold. And with a collective groan from our Legends, the season comes to a close.
Review
Season 7 is perhaps my favorite season of Legends of Tomorrow. The season started off stranding the team in 1925, a choice that shook up the ‘time period of the week’ formula the series had made work since its inception. The bold choice paid off. Taking away the comforts and facilities of the Waverider allowed the characters to rely on their wits and let those shine in ways that might not have been possible if they had access to a high tech time ship.
It forced the characters to get more intimate with their setting than they usually do, and more personal stories emerged from that. Zari insisting they help an all-inclusive speak-easy stay open was a personal highlight of the season. Season 7 also seemed to have a subtle shift in how the series looks at the darker points of history. Several times in the season the Legends made a conscious choice to leave things better than they found it. It wasn’t just them stumbling into something better anymore. History is full of darkness, tragedy, prejudices, and a whole laundry list of other things as unpleasant as the last. But if this little found family of misfits can leave a few places brighter, why shouldn’t they?
Even as they returned to the time period of the week, the story still remained personal. This season had some of the strongest character arcs of the series, Astra, Gwyn, and Gideon especially. The payoff for Astra being able to rebuild the Waverider in the finale and the catalyst for her power being her love for her family was a beautiful moment. Episode 100 only gets better in hindsight with the big bad of the season being Evil Gideon, and the difference between her and our Gideon being one learned to love the Legends while the other didn’t.
As for this episode being our goodbye to Nate, it felt like the right time for the character. He’d been settling down with Zari and now he can close this chapter of his story knowing he’s helped people and saved lives to the very best of his ability. And now he gets to go on to the next adventure.
Seven seasons have been an amazing run for this zany little show with so much heart. As of writing this, season 8 is up in the air, but no matter what happens going forward, Legends of Tomorrow can say it told a good story with some amazing characters. It’s certainly been a fun journey.
Only Legends Could
- Usually I’d say a month is far too short of a time for anyone to kick off a political career, but if anyone could do it, it would be Astra Logue.
- Of course Legends of Tomorrow figured out a way for two women to have a biological child.
- ‘Like kissing?’ ‘You guys don’t use protection for that?’
- ‘We don’t use that word on this ship.’ ‘I don’t either. Unless I really have to.’
- Where is Sara Conner when you need her? She might have been useful against Evil Gideon.
Images courtesy of the CW
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