LEGENDS OF TOMORROW 4.12 Review: “The Eggplant, The Witch & The Wardrobe”

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

Everyone loves an escape room. Just maybe not one that forces you to live out your domestic nightmares. Continuing his quest to take over the Time Bureau, Neron kidnaps Ava and primes her for possession. He didn’t bank on Sara Lance throwing herself into purgatory to bring her girlfriend back from the edge, but he’s got plenty of other vessels ripe for the taking.

Sara and Ava have been on the rocks since the Legends discovered that the Bureau was torturing the magical creatures. We were all pretty aghast at Ava’s flippancy over the matter, but it turns out that’s not how she felt at all. Obviously she doesn’t want creatures of any kind to be tortured, but we all say some pretty dumb stuff when people who should be in our corner put us in perceived jeopardy. What unfolds next belongs in the Legends of Tomorrow hall of fame.

Ava and Sara have to get through a series of domestic tasks together in order to escape from her purgatory. This includes building a bootleg IKEA cabinet, and a series of other mundane tasks that Sara loathes. More fighting eventually brings the couple to their greatest fears: growing old together. Ava is afraid that they won’t, and Sara’s never had the opportunity to plan that far ahead. After some soul searching, the two make it out just fine. But Neron’s already moved on to his next target.

There’s no delicate way to say this: John Constantine is kind of a wanker in this episode. He’s always a cynical ass, but watching him call a girl that he failed a “liability” is supremely frustrating. He and Nora eventually overcome their differences (and Neron’s influences) to come up with a plan to take him down. Too bad white knight Ray Palmer sees a “damsel” and has to rush in and ruin everything. Poor dude. He really does act out of love. But that love for the woman he just pointed out as a survivor not thirty minutes before gets Nora in a coma and him possessed.

Finally, we have Nate coming to terms with Hank’s death. He and Ray head to the construction site of Heyworld, where they see all of his childhood drawings being turned into a reality by the crew. Though he initially halts construction, he picks things back up after realizing that Neron was wrong. He wasn’t the reason his father died. He was the reason his father ultimately did the right thing. Punching Ray in the face might have also helped? It’s unclear.

Tied to Nate’s story is Zari’s crush. Yes, this means that the “eggplant” portion of the episode title meant exactly what you thought it did when you first read it. Though it’s odd to see Zari so love stricken, it’s helped her bond with Charlie and Mona. The show gets one more episode before I start griping about Nate being her only focus.

Next week will be a battle of wills! Will sweet, innocent, and sometimes infuriatingly pure Ray be able to fend off Neron? Pretty sure he pays Nate back for that punch, so the answer to that question is currently unclear. Head to the comments if you had thoughts on this week’s episode while we wait!