Legends of Tomorrow returns to one of its favorite settings, the old west. Of course, this classic Legends romp gets a new alien twist. And some new energy behind the camera with David Ramsey taking the helm in the director’s seat.
The team, all together once again, is savoring having their captain back. Everyone’s pitching to make Sara breakfast and Ava’s a little high strung, wanting the perfect mission lined up to welcome Sara back.
Spooner and Gary are trying to hook up a device from Kayla’s ship to Gideon that will help them track the aliens through time. Astra doesn’t appreciate the noise while trying to study magic, she and Spooner ruffling each other’s feathers. Constantine is trying to get information out of Gary about the fountain of imperium. The name obviously means something to him, but he pretends it nothing but a myth.
Sara’s happy to be waking up in her own bed. At first, she tries to deflect talking about what happened to her by asking for the latest Legends gossip. But this doesn’t last long before she blurts out the news about being an alien hybrid clone.
Ava takes a moment to process it all, but the thing that matters to her is it’s still the same Sara and that she’s back. Naturally, the moment is interrupted by Gideon detecting an alien. Sara asks Ava to keep this news a secret from the rest of the team, for now. She thinks they need at least one normal mission back.
At the team meeting, Spooner’s powers pick up on Sara but Ava and Sara deflect it must be Spooner sensing Gary. The mission takes them to 1891, Fist City, an outpost Nate knows of. It was known for being the roughest part of the Wild West, hosting some of the worst outlaws at one point or another. Astra’s excited to be in a place known for its trouble. Zari notices her brother being extra nice to Astra and she offers dating advice. Behrad doesn’t want any advice from his sister, especially about dating.
Spooner and Astra’s bickering has continued, so Nate, who promised Ava this would be a smooth mission, pairs them together hoping it helps them work out their differences. The Legends head to the local saloon, expecting a rough and tumble greeting. Instead, they get a welcome song. The team is appropriately confused.
On the Waverider, Constantine is still trying to get information about the fountain from Gary. He admits to Gary he lost his magic and the fountain is his best chance of getting back. Gary insists it’s a myth and that Constantine should give up on it.
The Legends meanwhile, split up to investigate why a once lawless town how has happy sing-a-longs and stocks root beer and milkshakes at the bar. Astra notices one of the patrons with a pocket full of gold. She tries to get a card game going, hoping to win the spoils, but they learn there’s no gambling in Fist City, along with a whole list of rules banning everything from fighting to spitting. Astra’s annoyed Spooner keeps avoiding her powers when they can help them find the alien. Spooner’s more worried about what might happen because she doesn’t understand her powers.
Zari’s concerned her brother keeps falling for the bad girls. To prove he doesn’t want or need her advice, he starts flirting with one of the locals. Meanwhile, Sara’s been knocking back milkshakes and cherries. Ava’s a little worried about her sudden new taste but Sara brushes it off.
Nate’s found a wanted poster for Bass Reeves, a man he knows from history as the first Black deputy U.S. marshal west of the Mississippi River. And the sheriff of Fist City is someone he knows as a hardened outlaw, Levi Stapleton. The man himself walks into the saloon. He greets the Legends but makes it clear he wants them out of his town quickly.
Astra follows the patron with the pocket full of gold outside, demanding to know where he got it. As their tempers rise the ground begins to shake. Spooner, sensing something, pulls Astra out of the way before an alien worm burst of the ground, eating the man alive. The sheriff blows a whistle, making the worm retreat.
The Legends regroup to the ship, asking Gary if he knows about their alien. He explains this species is attracted to rage and a special whistle can be used to tame it. They realize that’s what the sheriff had and it must have been in the pod with the alien. They make a plan to get the whistle by using a square dancing competition to get close to the sheriff. With Spooner and Astra constantly arguing, they decide to bench them for the rest of the mission.
At the Saloon Zari, almost steals the whistle from Stapleton, but he catches onto the act. To stop a fight, Sara challenges him to a duel. Meanwhile, Astra being Astra disobeyed orders and snuck off the ship to look for gold. Spooner being Spooner followed her. They’re so busy arguing they don’t notice they’re being followed by Bass Reeves. Astra thinks Spooner is wasting her power by not embracing it. When Spooner mentions losing her mother, Astra’s empathy wins over and she softens a bit.
Ava’s worried about Sara, but she’s willing to listen when Sara says she’s okay. Sara and Stapleton face off in the middle of the street, the Legends and the town watching. They walk their ten paces, or in Stapleton’s case a few less than ten when he turns and fires, knocking Sara’s hat off and putting a hole clean through her head.
But Sara’s already died this season so it only takes her a moment to shake this off. Her regeneration powers allow her to take all of Stapleton’s bullets. He gets more frustrated and angry with each bullet she shrugs off until he gets angry enough to draw the alien worm to him. It eats him, but one of the townsfolk, the same one Behrad had been flirting with earlier, gets hold of the whistle.
Elsewhere Spooner and Astra find the gold. They also find the alien. Turns out the alien creates the gold. Bass Reeves reveals himself to them at this point, introducing himself as a Marshal. As it turns out, the town knows the alien creates the gold which is why they’ve all happily turned from a town of outlaws and thugs to milkshakes and sing-a-longs. They’ve been collecting the gold.
The rest of the Legends learn the same thing around this time when the townsfolk draw their guns on them. The town isn’t about to let their gold mine go away. The Legends take cover in the saloon. The town decides to wait them out sure they’ll have to come out, or their frustration will get them in confinement and the worm will get them.
They’re right about the tensions getting to the Legends. Sara and Ava are both frustrated, Sara because her new abilities were revealed before she wanted to tell the team, and Ava because she’s struggling with the changes in Sara. Seeing her take bullets didn’t make it any easier either. Zari and Behrad are losing their patience with each other. Behrad refuses to admit his sister was right, which in turn frustrates her more. Constantine’s already short fuse has been made even shorter because he knows Gary’s holding back information about the fountain. Gary finally admits to the fountain being real and there being a map to it, but he’s worried because everyone who’s tried to go after the fountain failed. Nate’s left to try to hold them together and keep everyone calm.
As the tensions between the Legends build, the worm is drawn out. Astra, Spooner, and Reeves see it, hurrying back to town. Nate final snaps at everyone. He gets an idea, venting all the frustrations he’s had while Sara and Mick were gone. He walks out of the saloon, drawing the worm to him. But that’s about as far as his plans get once he’s staring down the maw of the alien.
Spooner and Astra arrive on the scene just then. Astra tries again to get to use her powers but Spooner’s still resistant. She doesn’t want the aliens in her mind. Astra encourages her to get into their minds instead. So she does. She screams for the alien to stop and it does.
The townsfolk see Bass, a shootout kicking off. Sara backs him up, momentarily caught off guard by the familiar face. Just as it looks like Spooner’s going to lose her hold on the alien, Astra rushes in to unleash some of her own power. With a spell she explodes the alien.
With the alien dealt with, it’s time for the wrap-up song. Oh yes, the conclusion is narrated by a maybe magical cowboy singer. Gary tells Constantine that Aleister Crowley knows where to find the map to the fountain. Constantine wastes no time, saying goodbye to Zari before leaving on his search. Ava brings a peace milkshake, extra cherries on the side for Sara. They both admit they were trying way too hard to keep things normal when normal was a concept that barely existed on the ship to begin with. Behrad seeks his sister out after Constantine leaves to check if she’s okay.
They apologize to each other and Behrad gets an idea about someone on the ship they could help. Borrowing Zari’s totem, he gives both totems to Nate so he can visit Zari. And then Ava tells them they can’t keep the singing cowboy.
Review
The Wild West and the buddy system a classic Legends setting and a classic Legends technique. Making Astra and Spooner buddies pulled double duty, giving the newest Legends more time to shine and building on both of their arcs. It’s fitting that Astra who spent most of her life in a power struggle just to survive was the one to help Spooner reclaim her power. They’re both the prickly ones so there’s a gold mine (pun intended) there just letting their personalities play off each other, with a very Legends twist that getting angry was a bad thing.
Legends of Tomorrow likes to use its complication to force its characters to confront their grievances. A giant killer alien worm that’s drawn to rage is the perfect vehicle to get everyone locked in a room with everything they need to say shimmering just under the surface.
The Tarazi siblings always a delight to watch play off each other, bickering or not. With Constantine off on a McGuffin hunt, it would be nice to see a focus on them without significant others in the equation.
Speaking of significant others, Sara and Ava relationship continues to grow and adapt as they do. It’s refreshing to see a WLW couple in a relationship as long they’ve been that still has its conflict but it doesn’t come at the expense of the development that’s come before.
Only Legends Could
- Legends might have decided instead of a musical episode they’d have a musical season.
- The alien poops out gold. Of course, it does.
- “You know what we need, a sing-a-long. You guys remember Sweet Baby James? Thong song?”
- I know Legends is setting up Behrad and Astra, but have you seen Astra and Spooner next to each other? I’m just saying.
- Nate eating a sprinkled-covered donut because he misses Zari.
Images courtesy of the CW.
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