LEGENDS OF TOMORROW 4.02 Review “Witch Hunt”

This post contains spoilers for Legends of Tomorrow.
Check out our previous review here.

Every week we wonder how Legends of Tomorrow is going to up their ridiculous ante, and every week they do just that. It really shouldn’t be surprising at this point. Legends’ constant, perfect nonsense is such a clever addition to the DCTV lineup, and “Witch Hunt” is no exception.

Constantine finally agrees to join the team (but he’s not wearing any bloody costumes!), and it couldn’t come at a better time. This week, the Legends have to face the Fairy God Mother. It’s just as hilarious as it sounds. While they do that, members of the team will also have to face their wrath and more than a couple family issues. The balance that Legends of Tomorrow manages to keep between the fantastic hilarity and the too-real-feels continues to be perfect as they make their way to Salem, Massachusetts for exactly what you’d expect.

Humans don’t get better. Not really. The same atrocities that happened during the Salem Witch Trials still occur today. The monsters who would persecute people for their beliefs are everywhere and, in most cases, those monsters are the ones with all the power. We’ll keep fighting, and sometimes we might even win, but hundreds of years from now the world (assuming we don’t kill it first) will still be occupied by terrible people.

Zari’s pain isn’t new, and the future she comes from isn’t some far-off impossibility. When the Legends make their way to see what magical creature is plaguing the Puritans, she finds herself unable to contain the wrath that she’s managed to hold in since joining the team. The people of Salem persecuting women because of belief in a book that they don’t even understand hits too close to home, and the totem bearer finds herself willing to kill those who would do the same to the “witches”. Z’s pain as she reconciles with her pent-up emotions is difficult to watch, but it also takes us to the point of the episode.

The world will always be filled with bad people. But it will always be filled with good ones too. You can’t kill an idea, and evil will always flourish. The thing is, there will also always be helpers. Sometimes those helpers get lost in their rage or their despair and decide that maybe it’s just easier to be bad. And that’s when it’s most important to come together and remind those that might lose their way that there’s still hope.

Prudence Hawthorne seeks the help of the bitter Fairy God Mother to get revenge on the villagers who would kill her mother. Unfortunately, she has her own agenda, and is using Prudence’s anger to get revenge on the humans who trapped her. Before the witch can kill the Puritans, Zari manages to talk the girl down by reminding her that people may always be monsters, but we can’t let that turn us into monsters too.

While the majority of the team was back at the Witch Trials, Nate is in 2018 helping Ava work on the budget for the Time Bureau. Plot twist: the person from the Department of Defense that Ava has to present to is Nate’s father, resulting in the little chicken bowing out at the last second. After Gary royally screws the pooch by showing Director Heywood his tragic unicorn injury (RIP Gary’s nipple), Steel finds his spine and confronts his father. Only after he heads back to the ship to get some backup, though!

You see, Director Heywood doesn’t believe in the fantastic, and he has no interest in an operation that rambles on about magic. Nate needs something to prove to him that magic exists, because he somehow forgets that he turns into a giant metal man, so he hits up the Waverider to grab Ray. Unfortunately, Ray’s a piggy at the time. Don’t piss off witches, okay?

Everything with Zari and the Puritans wraps up right in time for the God Mother to be captured and for the spell on Ray to wear off, showing director Heywood exists and everyone lives happily ever after. Or, rather, Ray’s naked in Nate’s arms and he takes that opportunity to remember that he can turn to steel. While likely traumatizing, it does end up being worth 4.2 billion dollars a year. Everyone wins!

Well, everyone wins except Zari. Her decision to save the widow Hawthorne may have broken history, but that’s not why the Legend is lost. She’s unsure how to reconcile with her newfound wrath but, thankfully, someone else on the ship knows how to help. Sara Lance is the queen of repressed anger and unfortunate choices on her family’s behalf. She reaches out to Zari just as Z reached out to Prudence, because if we’re going to live on this godforsaken world it’s going to be together or not at all.

“Witch Hunt” is both heavy and hilarious, continuing the Legends of Tomorrow win-streak. There’s something going on with Constantine that we’ll likely see explored in later episodes, and the potential of Nate’s departure is just too fresh to talk about yet, but we want to hear your thoughts in the comments!