The network hasn’t renewed “Legends of Tomorrow” yet, so when Adam Tsekhman makes a meta-reference to the show’s weekly air time… it’s cute but isn’t a great landing. Especially since the episode’s all about the show ending.
There’s a real quick resolve to the cliffhanger. The evil robot version of Olivia Swann escaped Hell and stabbed Amy Louise Pemberton in the back, mortally wounding her. Unless they can get the spaceship’s med lab online, which requires plugging back in the evil AI running the ship (also Pemberton, in her “traditional” voice-only performance).
Luckily for the team, AI Pemberton can’t let anything happen to human Pemberton since the only plan for eliminating the humans is decompressing the ship while it’s in the (presumably atmosphere-free) time dimension.
So while Caity Lotz and Jes Macallan devise a plan to take back control of the ship (again), human Pemberton tries to make a deal with AI Pemberton to let her friends survive. The eventual solution is just the end of the show. They’ll all quit being “Legends” and stay in their timelines (it’s unclear if they can still superhero). While Lisseth Chavez goes into the Jefferies tubes to try to take back control of the ship, human Pemberton and boyfriend Tsekhman bring everyone in to see a glimpse at their future without the “Legends.”
The flash-forward reveals new careers as children’s TV hosts, politicians, parents, influencers, and so on. Except no one—outside Lotz and Macallan—has anyone from the “Legends” in their lives, and few of them can connect these future successes with their current ambitions. There’s some good acting—no surprise—from Tala Ashe, who’s particularly distraught, as well as Matt Ryan, who finds out he does not get to save his dude, which was the whole impetus for him joining the team this season. Well, rejoining as a different character.
It’s a downer of an episode, with the occasional future flash jokes not really enough to compensate for the sense of loss most people are feeling. Especially considering the show hasn’t been renewed, this outing could be the farewell voyage.
There are a couple big twists in the finale; one to get the show to next episode (the short season’s finale) and one to potentially be left unresolved if they don’t get renewed. I hate it when shows play chicken with the network… something “Legends,” usually renewed in January, hasn’t had to do for years.
But their time may be up.
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