The Waverider has turned into a magical zoo. There are fairies in the halls, an ogre named Fredric out drinking, Mick and a Minotaur listening to music. It’s weird, even for the Legends.
But not all the fugitives made it onto the ship. Charlie’s locked up in the Time Bureau as Neron and Tabitha hatch a plot with her at the centre. Forcibly turning Charlie into a senator, Tabitha makes her posse as one of the men questions NeRay at a public senate meeting. Halfway through the event, she forces Charlie to become Tagumo, attacking everyone. Sara and Mick arrive on the scene, getting caught in the crossfire between Tagumo-Charlie and the cops. Sara takes on Tabitha, getting her staff away from her. It breaks the magical hold on Charlie. They retreat with her, Neron and Tabitha allowing them to escape because Charlie served her purpose. She sowed fear in the public.
Zari and Nate, meanwhile, make a trip to Zari’s hometown circa 2019 to collect their dragon egg. Only now it’s less egg and more baby dragon that can do dance tricks. Young Zari is showing him to other kids, that is until an overly concerned mother sees it and uses Neron’s app. The signal summons a couple of Bureau agents who snatch up the baby dragon before Zari and Nate can intervene.
Meanwhile, in Hell, Constantine’s eternity of torture is cut short by Fairy God Nora. Her magic led her straight to him, but it can’t do the same with Ray because Ray’s just a soul. To find him, Constantine makes a deal with Astra. She may hate him, but Neron is even more troublesome.
Back on Earth, public panic has been growing after the monster attack. While Charlie was with the world’s most hellish couple, she learnt souls weren’t Neron’s big play. Fear is. He’s using the magical creatures and the fear mongering produced by his app to generate fear in the public. For what, the Legends aren’t quite sure yet. They do know they need a way to curb the public’s fear. Looking at a video of the baby dragon with young Zari sparks an idea in Nate. To stop the fear they need to show everyone what the creatures are truly like. The best place to do this? Hey World! The theme park Hank envisioned. One issue with that plan: estimated time of completion is a few years.
Inspiration strikes with plan B. They’ve already encountered something that can bring dreams to life. Brighid’s diary. With the power of Brighid’s diary, Nate can just imagine the park to life. The team had barely thought of the plan when Mick walks in, diary in hand, already stolen from the Time Bureau’s vault. The Legends split into three teams: Nate works on creating the park, Gary and Mona are in charge of getting the creatures show-worthy, and everyone else is left to brainstorm marketing for their theme park.
Gideon discovers that building Hey World changes the future, making it more accepting. The anti-meta and anti-religion laws that tear Zari’s family apart are never passed in this new timeline. This means Zari’s family survives. But it also means the circumstances through which Zari meets and joins the Legends don’t happen. No one is ready to lose a Legend, especially not Sara. She orders Zari to stay on the ship, outside of the timeline. In the temporal zone, the changes won’t affect her.
Their marketing idea is celebrity endorsement. By celebrity I mean superheroes. Supergirl, Green Arrow, and the Flash to be exact. Only it’s Sara, Nate, and Gary in Kara’s, Oliver’s, and Barry’s suits. The actual trinity all passed on helping (they were dealing with the aftermath of their own finales or maybe they just felt slighted the Legends didn’t show up for the annual crossover).
In Hell, Astra helps Constantine and Nora break into Neron’s soul vault. Souls are the currency in hell and Neron has a lot of it. Astra pockets some of the more notable names in the vault before they find Ray’s soul coin. Using the coin, Astra sends Constantine and Nora to Ray’s personal torture chamber. Only this is Raymond Palmer so when they find him, he’s not only made friends with his torturer, he’s playing Jenga with him. Oh, also, the torturer turned friend is Vandal Savage.
Nora returns them to the Waverider, but Ray is in coin form again because Neron is still in his body. When he learns of the plan, Constantine thinks Hey World is too crazy to work, but he knows of another option. He learnt from Ray, in Hell, that the deal he made for his body was for Nate’s safety. Neron killing Nate means they can force him out of Ray’s body. Sara doesn’t sign off on the plan, though, she’s not losing any of her team.
Hey World’s opening day comes, with the main attracting being a Superheroes vs Monsters show. Sara and Nate open a hilarious stage performance to introduce the audience to the creatures. Unfortunately, the crowd was expecting more beat-’em-up, less hugs and acceptance. Among the audience is the Monitor, who’s been making his way around the other Arrowverse finales. He watches ominously, munching on popcorn.
Tabitha storms the performance with their dragon, who’s all grown up now. She turns the dragon on the crowds. Sara fights her again, but Tabitha’s fear fueled magic and a full-grown dragon is beyond even her skills.
Just when it looks like it’s over for our captain, young Zari steps out, stopping the dragon from attacking. She gets him to dance and he eats Tabitha. Without her magic, the dragon turns back into a baby. Unfortunately, Neron already has all the fear he needs to open a portal to Hell.
Constantine challenges Neron. The demon overpowers him, choking him dead. Except, it’s not Constantine. It’s a glamoured Nate. Nate’s death voids Ray’s contract with Neron, and the demon is expelled from Ray’s body. Constantine destroys him and returns Ray’s soul to his body. But it doesn’t feel like much of a victory with Nate lying dead on the floor.
Zari leaves the Waverider to be by Nate’s side, even though she knows the risks. From a rafter above, Nate’s sprit watches his friends. His father appears next to him giving him comforting words about a job well done, then Hank starts singing James Taylor. Below, Mick, momentarily possessed, sings as well. The Minotaur and Ogre join in. The Legends understand what’s happening: if fear can fuel magic, so can love. They urge the crowds to join in as Constantine picks up Tabitha’s staff.
And, not the first time this season, the magic of music saves the day. Yet, the happiness of gaining one Legend is undercut by loss of another. Nate breathes again and hugs Zari. When he pulls away, it’s not Zari, but Berad. Zari’s little brother is the Legend and totem holder in this timeline. Our Zari doesn’t exist. The most heart-breaking thing? No one remembers who they’ve lost. Nate’s just left with the sense of something not being right.
The Legends head out, victory theirs for the day. But, back in Hell, Astra cashes in those souls she stole. The names of those souls are some of the most infamous history has to offer. Genghis Khan, Mary Tudor, Lizzie Borden, Charles Manson, and more. Astra has all their souls released, no doubt a set up for season five.
Review
It has been a hell of a season for Legends of Tomorrow, pun intended. It’s been crazy, hilarious, and heartfelt. Magical creatures were the perfect angle to take Legends, as the series as increasingly leant into the absurdity and meta-ness of its own show. With those creatures, they pulled a double twist. First taking a unicorn, a creature one wouldn’t usually associate with evil, and having it gore someone’s heart out in its first moments on screen. Then the rest of the season it spent reevaluating those initial expectations that these monsters of the week aren’t all monsters. Subverted expectations for shock and humor only to subvert it again for love and acceptance. In a week of TV where shock value endings didn’t work out, Legends choose love. The Legends literally change the future with it.
Love was a core theme for this season, in so many ways. Charlie and Nora both had arcs about learning to trust and love those around them and also learning to love themselves despite how others saw them. Mick expressed himself more than he ever has and it was all through a catalyst of love. Love through his writing. Love for his team. Mick threatens Constantine to bring Nate back here. A few seasons ago he would not have even admitted to liking Nate, yet here he was, openly expressing anguish over his death. Mona and Zari learned to open themselves up to love. Sara and Ava’s relationship has its ups and downs, but they grew at people and as a couple. They had some of the most mature conversations I’ve ever seen a fictional couple have.
While it’s clear all the Legends love each other, Nate and Ray’s friendship takes special precedence. How many times are men shown to be so open with affection for someone they’re not romantically involved with or related too? Nate and Ray love each other enough to risk their lives for one another. Love. It’s what makes the Legends, Legends.
As much as there is a Zari shaped hole on the team, Tala Ashe isn’t leaving Legends, so we haven’t said goodbye to Zari. However, the next we see her she isn’t going to be our Zari. Time will tell where her story goes, but this isn’t the first time the Legends have lost their memory to changes in the timeline.
As for season 5, it’s not returning until 2020, so there’s a while before we can board the Waverider again. It’s likely we’ll see the Legends even before then (at least some of them), in the crossover.
Only Legends could
- The question isn’t ‘When there’s going to be a Legends musical episode?’ but ‘Why hasn’t there been a Legends musical episode yet?’ Bring the Music Meister back. Make it happen.
- Of course Mick stole the diary back. Of course.
- I’d suspected Ray would make friends with someone in hell. Vandal Savage was still not who I was expecting.
- There is a lot of Supergirl merch on Earth-1 for someone who shows up once year for a few days max.
- It’s been months since Sara and Nate were in their suits on Legends and they’re in them for a circus performance.
- Favorite line of the episode goes to, “Oh Raymundo, you sweet, dumb, son of a… softie.”
