The episode kicks off in Washington D.C. 2019, the in the home of a young Zari. Young, innocent Zari has no way of knowing Raymond Palmer who appears on her TV is going to be one of her closest friends one day. Nor can she possibly know that he isn’t really Ray, but a demon wearing his skin. What she does know is he’s on her TV now, warning the world of mythical creatures’ existence.
Adult Zari, along with the Legends, also see Neron’s ad and know it can mean nothing good. The Legends gear up for a raid on the Time Bureau. But before they can execute their plan Gary, now bonded with the Fairy Godmother, wishes he’s part of book club. Sara, Ava, and Nora are magic-ed away to be Gary’s captive audience. With Tabitha’s magic, Gary has made himself extra comfy at the Bureau. He even wished himself a third nipple, so he’d have an extra.
Without the Time moms, the team is less confident about a raid on the Bureau so they switch tactics. Instead, they sneak into a press conference Neron/Ray is holding. He reveals the existence of magical creatures, claiming to have been fighting them in secret with the Atom suit. He announces an app which will allow the public to facilitate his efforts. He then brings out Mona, forcing her to transform into Wolfie as proof of magical creatures.
The team launches into action to save Mona, but once again are foiled by Gary’s wishing. This time, not content with just being part of book club, he wishes himself captain of the Waverider. He also wishes the guys there, leaving Zari and Charlie to flee the angry mob Neron has riled up.
Meanwhile, the Fairy Godmother has been surprisingly nice to Nora. When Gary wished himself captain, Tabitha didn’t send her with the other Legends, claiming she has no quarrel with Nora, as Nora wasn’t the one who sent her to hell. Tabitha sees a kinship between them, both being witches. She allows Nora to see Mona. However, Mona, injured by Neron at the press event, isn’t doing well.
Nora asks Tabitha to heal Mona, but since she’s still bound to Gary she can only do what he wishes. But, Tabitha offers her wand to Nora. If Nora takes the wand she’ll get the power to heal Mona. Nora doesn’t hesitate, but when Mona makes a wish nothing happens. Tabitha forgot to mention taking on the powers of the wand also meant talking on the person they bound it, which is still Gary. Tabitha’s compassion for Nora was all a ruse to unbind her own powers from the wand while sealing Nora’s.
Elsewhere in D.C., Charlie and Zari take refuge in Zari’s childhood home. Zari reads the teams of service for Neron’s app, learning there’s a bit in the fine print that says anyone who uses the app gives their soul to Neron. Neron’s plan is to gather souls en masse with his app.
Thus far, just using Mona hasn’t drummed up the social media storm Neron was hoping for, so he plans to use the other creatures to attack the capital. The Legends know they need to the magical creatures out of the Bureau, but with everyone else being held captive, the prison break will have to be a two-woman job.
Charlie’s opposed, especially because the plan is heavily reliant on her shapeshifting powers, which are still mostly unreliable. But, with a pep talk from Zari, she goes from opposed to reluctant. They sneak into the Bureau with Charlie wearing an agent’s face and Zari as a fake prisoner.
Back on the Waverider, the team finally has the chance to talk to Gary without Tabitha in his ear. They apologize for treating him the way they did. Sara points out he may idolize them now, but the Legends started off as a team of losers and misfits, which makes him more like them that he realizes. Seeing now that magically forcing people to hang out with you isn’t the best way to make friends, Gary tries to make amends by sending his Fairy Godmother to hell for John and Ray. Only he doesn’t realize his Fairy Godmother is Nora now.
At the Bureau, unfortunately, Neron figures out Charlie is Charlie after she shifted into Tabitha. With the alarm sounded, Charlie chooses to free the creatures and goes back for Mona. Mona and Zari escape, but Tabitha and Neron capture Charlie. Neron is upset the creatures escaped until Tabitha reminds him Charlie can be all the magical creatures.
While Gary was putting the team through one kind of hell, Constantine has been in actual Hell. Pulling some strings with old contacts and making a few threats, he earns himself a meeting with the Triumvirate, the rulers of Hell. He offers to stop Neron from overthrowing them in exchange for Ray’s soul. But since this is Satan he’s dealing with (literally), nothing is that easy. They offer him a choice between Ray and a young girl named Astra. Astra was a child he’d failed (back when he had his own show) and condemned to Hell. He hesitates but ultimately chooses Astra. But she isn’t a little girl anymore and she stopped believing in heroes a long time ago. She doesn’t want to leave Hell. Her staying in Hell means his deal is null and void, leaving the Triumvirate to torture him as they please.
Also, Zari forgot the dragon egg in her home, so now a pre-teen Zari is the mother of dragons.
Review
With only one episode left this season, ‘Terms of Service’ lays much of the groundwork for the finale. It was on the busy side, which is saying something for an episode of Legends. Between all the plot lines going on, Gary’s, which played like the A-plot, came across as the least sincere. Punishing the Legends with puberty and unstoppable dancing, while funny, also came across as mean-spirited. Perhaps if the resolution of forgiveness hadn’t happened so quickly it wouldn’t have felt disingenuous. It’s a small complaint that I’m only making because Legends usually handles its characters with much more finesse.
As for the rest of the episode, Charlie and Nora were pitch perfect examples of the finesse this show handles so well. Charlie, like most Legends, started out on the ship out of place and out of sync. But she’s grown and learnt, becoming a part of the family. After all, last week she was the one with the most Ray-like card during Cards to Save the Timeline. Here, even when scared for her own safety, she still takes the risks necessary to save others. It did cost her freedom, but I don’t think she regrets it.
With Nora, if it had been anyone else, I would have been upset if they’d been tricked by Tabitha. But Nora, whose childhood was spent being a vessel for a demon, who’s only just begun to form real friendships and relationships, of course she would be just naïve enough to believe Tabitha really wanted to help. Constantine fell into a similar trap. While he should be more experienced than Nora, he’s also got a glaring blind spot for Astra.
Only Legends Could
- Gary wished for a third nipple. That’s three consecutive weeks Legends has mildly horrifying scenes involving a nipple. That must be some kind of record.
- The team took out their dragon egg in the cat carrier used for Zari in ‘Legends of To-Meow-Meow’.
- Did Neron absorb some of Ray’s personality? Because ‘in the palm(er) of your hand’ is a Ray joke if I’ve heard one.
- Favorite line of the episode: “We’ll do what we always do,” “Yeah, forming stupid Beebos,”
