DC’s Legends of Tomorrow – Legends of To-Meow-Meow

By: Maggie Stankiewicz

The Legends, both old and new, are left to face the consequences of yet another cataclysmic timeline disruption – courtesy of John Constantine (Matt Ryan) and shapeshifter Charlie (Maisie Richardson-Sellers). Feline Zari (Tala Ashe) and a liberated Charlie drift through time and space on their jump ship. Charlie’s resolves to return Zari back to the Legends after she plants herself back into history. Their first excursion through the broken timeline is back to the height of Marilyn Monroe’s career where Charlie disguises herself as the star and meets up with her old friend Red, the Leprechaun (Wesley MacInnes). She warns him against using magic so openly, but he doesn’t heed her advice. As he showboats his abilities, the party is crashed by Nate (Nick Zano), Mick (Dominic Purcell), and Ray (Brandon Routh)…but something isn’t quite right. The men are filled with a bloodlust, even Ray, who kills the magical creature. The Legends are no longer Legends – but the Custodians of the Chronology. The men, plus Garima (Vesna Ennis), travel throughout time and space shooting to kill and keeping gruesome trophies along the way. Zari is on the Waverider too, but still stuck within the confines of an adorable cat’s body.

Charlie inquires as to how Zari arrived on the ship and her kittenhood – to which Gideon (Amy Louise Pemberton) informs Charlie, thinking she is Amaya, that Zari was changed during a fateful encounter with the fairy godmother. Gideon continues to divulge the details of the Legends’ new history. Their policy shifted to “Shoot To Kill” after a tragic incident at Woodstock. In attempt to return the Legends to their only-sorta-violent perspective, Charlie shifts into the likeness of Sara (Caity Lotz) and runs to the common room to meet with the Custodians. Ray tells Charlie (as Sara) that a Shapeshifter is the only creature they’ve yet to capture. The Custodians raise their weapons and attack Charlie as it seems that Sara is dead. Garima stabs Charlie, but she heals herself and runs into the jump ship. First, she makes sure to grab Zari. Without Sara, the Legends lose their heroism. So, Zari-Cat plots a course to return to 2018 to find John so they can fix his disaster. Charlie takes on Gary’s (Adam Tsekhman) persona to infiltrate the Time Bureau, where an unhinged Constantine is being detained.

Charlie breaks into Constantine’s cell to prepare for a jailbreak. He promptly returns Zari to her human form and suffers through one of her trademark lectures. Zari tells John that he broke time in New Orleans and that is why his brain in split in two – living between the two timelines he created. Charlie and Constantine, still full of selfishness and pride, decide to save Sara to fix the timeline yet refuse to fix their actions. Zari knows that this will not work, but the two magical creatures are too stubborn to listen. John returns Zari back to her cat form, Charlie packs her up into a backpack and they continue on their mission to serve themselves. On their way out, they bump into Mona (Ramona Young) who is more than willing to help facilitate the escape. As they move through HQ, an alarm sounds that signifies the arrival of the Custodians. To hide themselves from the trigger-happy heroes, they break into Ava’s office. Ava (Jes Macallan) has dyed her hair black and taken to mourning Sara’s death in the dark. John talks to Ava about the timeline mishap and she jumps on board to fix the timeline. The escape results in an all-out battle between the Time Bureau and the Custodians, which provides just enough of a distraction for the gang to hop back on the jump ship.

Knowing that their plan went awry, Zari, Charlie and Constantine decide to go back to the root of the evil (or so they think). The jump ship passes through Woodstock and eliminates the Unicorn before it can eliminate Sara…but Zari is still a cat. Their problems are far, far from over. They return to the Bureau, in yet another altered timeline, and find that though Sara is alive, but that Mick, Ray and Nate are dead. In lieu of the Legends of Tomorrow it seems Sara, Ava and Gideon have because the Sirens of Space Time. The Sirens, emulating leather-clad Charlie’s Angels are still homicidal maniacs, but they tend to their craft with feminine grace. Charlie decides to join the group under the guise of Amaya while John struggles to reconcile his fragmented mind. Zari meows a resolute “I told you so,” but John and Charlie never do listen. Charlie blows her cover as Amaya with her limited knowledge of Amaya’s past. Charlie is still the White Whale of this equation so she runs and evades them to find John cradling Zari who just may have broken through to him.

The Troublesome Trio go back in time once more to intercept the death of Mick, Nate and Ray at the hands of the Fairy Godmother (Jane Carr). Charlie tricks the Godmother’s charge into severing their bond, which renders her magic against the men useless. They return to the ship to find Zari’s form changed…but certainly not back to normal. No longer a cat, they discover that Zari has become a puppet. In an attempt to thwart yet another disaster, they return to the Waverider and discover that the entire Legends team have become singing puppets. The Puppets of Tomorrow assault John’s ears with a musical number before explaining to him that Mick and a fairy godmother ran off together after hexing the Legends. Not ready to give up on their hopes and dreams just yet, they return to their jump ship and attempt to fix their mistakes. In two realities, Ava is dead and so is Gary until finally…no one is dead. They meet to celebrate their victory, but John collapses as he is no longer able to handle living amongst so many timelines.

Zari, a human once more, lectures John and Charlie on their selfishness and tendency to self-sabotage. Zari knows what it’s like to have to let the timeline be as it is, painful and tragic all at once. The words get through to John this time, but Charlie isn’t ready to give up her freedom. Zari and John join forces, leaving Charlie alone to disguise herself as Ava. Charlie takes her disguise straight to the Waverider and enlists the Legends in intercepting John and Zari’s attempt at fixing the timeline for good. John pops up in New Orleans 2018, where three different versions of him now exist: the original, the one that broke the timeline and now the one who wishes to put it back together. Current John works to repair his relationship with Desmond (Christian Keyes) before it’s too late. Their love and union were fated, just like Desmond’s death was – a painful pull to swallow. Timeline Fixer John repairs his relationship, setting it back on the original trajectory. A memory flash seals the deal.

While John and Zari attempt to fix things on the street, Charlie (as Ava) and the Legends prepare to kill the magical creatures (John, whom they now believe is the Shapeshifter). Ray and Rory set their sights on John and prepare to shoot. Fearing being responsible for the death of John, Charlie reveals herself to Sara as the Shapeshifter. Charlie asks Sara why they want to kill the creatures instead of capturing them, but before she gets an answer – Sara snaps her neck. Luckily, Charlie heals herself once more. This is when Charlie realizes that the missing ingredient was her, all along. It was her who convinced the Legends that not all magical creatures are evil. And it was the Legends who taught Charlie that not all rules are bad rules. Though this timeline isn’t quite a disaster, it still carries on as though they never met in London. Sara doesn’t listen and gives the order to kill the Constantine on the ground – but it’s too late. The timeline is on its way to being prepared – and it stands still as destiny is met once again. When John and Desmond’s lips meet, as they were meant to, all is restored.

John wakes up on a New Orleans street with Des’ charm in hand. Mike the Spike’s puppety body hits the wall as Sara kicks him across a room on the Waverider. Zari, John and Charlie assemble once more to discuss their adventures and head back to the Waverider to secure the timeline – all as it had been. They find the gang preparing to incarcerate Mike the Spike and Sara notices their shifty behavior. Sara asks about what happened and Zari and Charlie leave John alone to explain his little booboo. The two women go down a corridor for another tense conversation about destroying history for personal gain. Charlie finally understands. Zari thinks Charlie is hot. It’s a whole big thing. Bonds are being formed all around the ship. Even Ava and Mick have found common ground as Director Sharpe commends Rory for his ability to write thoroughly entertaining science fiction romance novels.

The fight isn’t over, though. Hank (Thomas F. Wilson) is still performing experiments on the magical creatures. Also, Neron is back and this time he’s in Desmond’s body.