"The Good, The Bad and The Cuddly"
Original Airdate: April 9, 2018
Well, I could tell just from the title alone that this was going to be an epic episode. But then, I’ve gotten to where I expect epic episodes from Legends of Tomorrow. This show consistently delivers, so long as you’re okay with your shows getting a little silly and poking fun at themselves (which I absolutely am). It’s what makes Legends of Tomorrow such a charming show. There’s not a lot to take too seriously here and that’s the fun of it. I wouldn’t accept this sort of campiness from Arrow, but on Legends, it absolutely works. And the show knows it too; they take it and run with it.
In the finale, we dive right into the final fight — directly where we left off at the end of the last episode. The team is fighting Mallus, who is an enormous demon now. Wally provides a distraction while the team retreats to the Waverider. Meanwhile, Rip sacrifices himself to help the team out in the final fight. He takes the time drive from Gideon and plans to use it on Mallus. When it becomes unstable, it will consume Mallus. It won’t kill him, but will delay him so the Legends can make their escape. He gives an emotional goodbye to Sara over the comms and then... he’s gone. And Mallus disappears from 1992.
The team is justifiably sad. Amaya tells them that it wasn’t the totems that failed in their fight against Mallus — they did. So they need to take the totems somewhere and hide them. Sara suggests the Old West. In particular, Salvation, North Dakota. Sara goes to see Damien and refuses to kill him. She wants him to live out his days knowing he destroyed his own daughter. That is pretty cold, Sara. But understandable. Ray has an idea that could fix everything and get Nora back. Damien is definitely interested in that.
In Salvation, the Legends roll into town in full Western gear and head right for the saloon for a strong drink. Because obviously drinking will help them come up with a plan. Sara suggests that they need proper totem bearers. Amaya and Zari were born to wield their totems, but the rest of them aren’t. They then spot Jonah Hex and promise him they’re not in town to cause trouble, but to avoid it. Of course, that’s when a possessed Caesar, Blackbeard, and Leif Erikson’s crazy Viking sister roll into town. So much for avoiding trouble.
There’s some funny banter-arguing over how to pronounce Mallus before Zari insists that it doesn’t matter. God, I love this show. Obviously, these guys want the totems and no one is giving them up. So there’s an ultimatum for them to surrender the totems at noon the next day. The team returns to the Waverider to regroup. Over there, Ray is loading Damien onto a shuttle. Nate interrupts them and Ray punches him out before taking off to get to Nora before her death.
Amaya is doing a vision quest — going back to talk to her ancestors about the totems. She thinks they’re the right people to wield the totems, but they need to know how. She feels responsible for Mallus being released, so she has to be the one to do this. Nate insists on going on the vision quest with her. Of course, he overindulges and gets super high instead. But this Nate is a delight so I’m not complaining. The two see the ancient totem bearers holding hands in a circle, focusing, and the powers from the totems joining together into one power — a being of light. Sorta like Voltron.
Zari is trying to find new totem bearers, per Sara’s request, and has a little moment with Jonah. They make a friendly wager about the “smoke signal” that Zari is sending out to ask for help. Meanwhile, Nate calls everyone to the bridge and, with Amaya, they tell everyone what they learned. Lo and behold, Nate invokes Voltron which just confirms that he’s my favorite. Great minds think alike! Amaya tells Sara that they need her to wield the death totem, and she relents. They go outside to “practice” joining their totems together with Amaya coaching them through it. She tells them to envision the perfect warrior and the totems activate. But they’re all thinking of different things, despite being in one another's minds. Amaya warns them to clear their minds and the totems join powers. But what comes out is a misshapen monster that Mick immediately lights on fire and kills. Amaya wants them to try again but Sara wants to find people who are worthy.
That’s when the cavalry shows up! Ava, Helen of Troy, Kuasa (how?!), and Jax arrive to help. All of them are changed, thanks to things the Legends has done. Kuasa followed a lighter path, Helen is totally an Amazon warrior having lived on Themyscira, and Jax has a family. Holy cow. He’s married with a child and I did not see that coming! Aww, he named her Martina. That’s so sweet. I miss Stein.
Meanwhile, Ray and Darhk are back in 1992 in Zambesi and they’re running out of time to come up with a good plan of how to save Nora. They approach her and Darhk uses the nanite gun on her, just like Ray did once upon a time. He holds her in his arms and tells her he did it because he couldn’t watch her become a monster just like him. However, Mallus taunts them — killing Nora’s body won’t stop him. He leaps into Darhk and Damien orders Ray to take Nora back to the Waverider before he morphs into the giant demon. So that’s how Darhk dies. That’s almost noble. Back on the Waverider, Ray revives Nora and explains what Damien did to save her. He holds her as she screams out her grief.
Meanwhile in Salvation, Ava lays some truth on Sara. They aren’t there to wield the totems, just to provide help. The Legends have to be the ones to do the work. Ray arrives with Nora in tow and quickly explains what happened. They fill him on what’s going on there and then... time’s up. The Viking, Pirate, and Roman armies — all possessed — show up. Sara gives the team a great pep talk: “Today is the day we earn the name Legends!” If you ask me, they’ve earned it already. This whole show has. It’s the characters that ground these fantastical elements. Their reactions to the situations and each other are so relatable that you can excuse the ridiculous (as well as enjoy it) because they’re reacting like any average person would. If that doesn’t make them Legends, I don’t know what does.
Sara taunts the armies with the totems and the battle begins. Everyone gets a chance to shine in the fight that follows. The team wins fairly easily, but of course that’s not the end of it. It’s just the beginning. The armies reanimate and the Legends don’t have much time. So part of the team runs off to try combining their totems while the others hold off the armies and buy them time. But the bad news comes when the armies stop fighting and all kneel: Mallus is here. The team is busy imagining a powerful light, goodness, and Sara warns them to focus. There’s a Ghostbusters moment where Nate thinks of Beebo and so everyone else does too. And that’s what they manifest.
The giant Beebo faces off against Mallus and everyone watches on, stunned. And the big stuffed blue thing does a pretty good job of kicking the demon’s butt. “Beebo want CUDDLE!” And with a piledrive to end all piledrives, Mallus is defeated in a giant heart-shaped poof of stuffing and fur. The Legends climb out of the resulting crater, proud of themselves. As they should be. I LOVE THIS SHOW.
All the non-possessed armies are sent back to their own proper times and everyone says their goodbyes to their allies. The Legends give up the totems to Kuasa who takes them back to Zambesi. Bureau agents are taking Nora away but Ray stops them to give her something of Damien’s: his time stone. He’s giving her a second chance and he warns her not to waste it. Jonah Hex gives Zari his hat (and they flirt) which is interesting. Amaya tells Zari and Sara that she has to go home to her other family, and Sara tells her she’ll always be welcome on the Waverider. Nate drops Amaya off on Zambesi and it’s a bittersweet goodbye. He’s about to wipe her memories but she stops him — she doesn’t want to forget this time.
The rest of the team heads to Aruba to celebrate their victory with a well-earned vacation. They’re joined by Gary — dressed up as Constantine — which gives them a moment. That’s when Constantine himself shows up and chides the all for opening up a door when they let Mallus out of his cage. Now, there’s all sorts of nasties out there. But that’s a problem for next season.
Thanks for joining me as I recapped Legends of Tomorrow this season. It’s been an actual joy. I adore this show and hopefully those of you reading these recaps love it too. It’s absurd, but in the best way possible. I’ll miss these goofs until they return to my TV screen next season!
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