I thought it was a perfectly serviceable children’s animated Christmas special, which is what it was. It had the traditional Christmas messages, updated to include streaming services and social media, plus sly digs at the “algorithms”. Oh, and a killer robot. It also included the now-standard Legends messages of diversity and inclusiveness in the now-standard subtle Legends manner. OK, maybe not so subtle. It was a kids’ show, after all.
I particularly liked Santa’s song about what he’ll do now that he’s no longer in charge of Christmas, with Beebo’s counterpoint of what will happen if the other holiday mascots take over. (Will the Easter Christmas Bunny hide presents in the snow?)
Ready to see a whole crew of evil Legends? The season resumes Wednesday (Jan 12).
S07E08 Paranoid Android
SEEING THINGS DIFFERENTLY - Sara starts to realize her team is making questionable choices when it comes to the timeline. Trying to figure out who is behind everything, Sara discovers some harsh truths.
I think the actors were having far too much fun playing evil versions of the themselves. Nick Zano, especially, really enjoyed wearing those inflatable arms.
EMOTIONS RUN HOT - When Gideon jumps the time machine into the Manor Dimension, the which lands in Hell, and Astra realizes that a damned 90’s reality show crew sneaks into the manner causing havoc. Unbeknownst to the Legends, the reality tv crew is causing emotions to spike, and Sara and Ava share their true feelings about their roles as Co-Captains. Behrad seeks advice about Astra from Nate and Zari, but Behrad finds that his past is put on display instead. Meanwhile, when Gideon’s opinions are ignored and her relationship with Gary is dismissed, no one could have anticipated what happens.
Not only were the actors having fun being other characters (esp. Lotz), but it seemed as though the director enjoyed shooting half the episode as if it were Big Brother.
Quite possibly one of the funniest episodes of Legends. The best bit was them bleeping out all mentions of God and heaven, because they’re in hell. The worst bit was naked Spooner. WTF was up with that?
DOING THE IMPOSSIBLE - The Legends are tired of being chased by an evil A.I. and her robo-soliders, so Sara decides to create an aberration that will allow the team to take back the Evil Waverider. However, the Legends find themselves in a Bar for time-travelers, and quickly learn that this “fixed point” is popular with time-travelers, leaving Sara questioning her odds at winning. With Behrad and Astra growing closer, Zari and Spooner are forced to awkwardly interact with each other as the rest of the Legends are paired up on the mission. Meanwhile, Ava hears Gwyn’s plan to save his boyfriend, and Ava is forced to remind him of the consequences in he succeeds.
Sooo…Eobard Thawne…even given time being sort of wibbly-wobbly and timey-wimey…there’s no way to reconcile this with his appearance in The Flash this season, right?
Have the writers of both shows just forgotten that Matt Letscher’s Eobard Thawne and Tom Cavanagh’s Eobard Thawne are the same character? Or at this point, with time travel and Crisis and Reverse Flashpoint and timey-wimey, are they actually now two overlapping-but-somehow-distinct characters, each with their own overlapping-but-somehow-distinct timelines?
Or am I just horribly confused?
Beyond that, I liked this episode. Not peak Legends, but pretty good. And unexpectedly emotional at some points.
Also, I’ve got to say, Matt Ryan is really impressing me. He’s just kind of disappeared into Gwyn Davies, in a good way. If it weren’t for the occasional side jokes to remind me that it’s the same actor as John Constantine, I’d completely forget it. Very different characters, and even though I liked Matt Ryan’s John Constantine, I think he’s even better as Gwyn Davies. This isn’t good-for-a-cheesy-super-hero-action-comedy acting, it’s just good acting. And I think he even makes other actors better. I think Jes Macallan has better chemistry with him than she does with Caity Lotz, and I thought her “love is love is love is love” scene may be the best dramatic scene she’s had in the whole series.
As I suspected, Gideon’s plan to prevent the Great War was a lure to get the evil Waverider to show up.
The best character moment of the episode was between Zari 2.0 and Spooner. I don’t think we’ve ever seen them have an extended interaction before and their awkward conversation was pure gold. Towards the end, Spooner trusted Zari enough to come out as asexual. Props for representation.
At this point, Thawne has gone back and forth through time so much that you’re never sure when he’s going to show up nor when he is in his own personal timeline. The version of Thawne encountered by the Legends appears to be a late-edition Thawne, possibly an endgame Thawne. He’s been hunted for quite a while by the time wraiths and Black Flash whereas Cavanagh Thawne seems to be blithe to that danger.
So, a combination of timey-wimey and I’m just horribly confused. Fair enough.
I personally thought the “love is love is love is love…” scene between Gwyn and Ava was the best character moment, but Zari and Spooner was also good. Zari has really grown from the superficial social media diva in her first appearance, and that growth has (mostly) seemed genuinely organic. I’ve got to admit, I didn’t particularly care for Tala Ashe as an actor or Zari as a character when she first appeared. But since the doppleganging, I’ve been genuinely impressed by Tala Ashe’s ability to inhabit two different characters. And both Zarii have grown on me as characters.
Agreed. Somehow, the goofy oddball of the DCW shows generally does a much better job of dealing with stuff like this than its more “grown-up” dramatic siblings.
As an aside, I actually almost felt kind of relieved when Spooner came out as ace. The writers seem (literally) hell-bent on romantically pairing up everyone on the show, even when the characters and actors have zero chemistry. At least now we won’t get an awkwardly shoe-horned-in paring between Spooner and a Bishop clone or something.
INFILTRATING - With some help from an unexpected person, the Legends break a fixed point, creating an aberration that will attract the Evil Waverider. The Legends are soon shocked at who has been hunting them and Sara tries to negotiate which doesn’t go as planned. Seemingly out of options, Gwyn rises to the occasion by using his military experience and hatches a stealth plan. Meanwhile, Gary helps Astra realize what she is side lining Gideon from the mission.
Well, shit, everything was going so well and then robo-Astra had to go and stab human Gideon. I hope she isn’t dead. I really like her physical presence with the crew.
This episode was Gwyn’s time to shine. He makes for a really good general; everything went like clockwork. Except for the stabbing part, but that was arguably after the mission had been accomplished.
PROTOCAL - With Gideon hurt, the Legends only have one way to save her. Once Evil Gideon is active, she continues to try to destroy the Legends, until Gideon reminds her of a certain protocol she must follow. Trying to help, Gideon negotiates a deal to save the Legends but to get them to agree, she breaks a major rule. Meanwhile, the Legends come up with another plan that could potentially solve all their problems.
Holy crap! That was possibly one of the best episodes of LoT ever. This could have been the series finale. The retirement just felt so real, probably because it could have been real. The Legends’ putative futures:
Zari: Influencer of the Decade and hotshot CEO
Behrad: Beloved singer-songwriter of children’s songs
Astra: Running for President in 2040
Sara & Ava: Twin girls
Nate: Writes a bestselling book about time travel
Spooner: Return to her mother in 1925
Gwyn: Retire to a farm in Wales, alone
The last turned out to be the sticking point. Zari was all set to get dirty and go back the Great War to rescue Gwyn. But wait! Human Gideon went ahead and rescued him herself. But wait! That was actually a robot. But wait! Evil Gideon ejected Gary out the airlock, leaving her alone with her human self. But wait! Gwyn sussed out that he went home with a robot.
Next week is the season finale. Gwyn’s going to get the team back together.
I legit started wondering if I’d missed an announcement that the series was ending. They had a better series ending episode than most other series ever get, and it wasn’t even the finale!
I bet someone spent many hours laughing themselves sick while they made this one!
SEASON FINALE - The Legends are all disappointed and hurt by Gideon’s actions, but Gideon is horrified when AI Gideon tells her about Gary. Itching to get back to doing what they love best, they realize that Gwyn has broken the treaty and must find him. Meanwhile, Sara keeps an important secret from Ava because she doesn’t know how she will react.
