"Tender is the Nate" – DC's Legends of Tomorrow S04E06 Review

Ah, there's the mishmash of plot elements I remember in DC's Legends, and that last week's "Wet Hot American Bummer" and "Dancing Queen" didn't quite have while last week's "Tagumo Attacks!!" was a little too on-the-nose. Granted, a lot of the elements didn't seem to make much sense, but oh well.

What was the mishmash of elements in "Tender is the Nate"? Let's check it out. We get a weird stripper-gramish visit from Sara to Ava, just as Hank (Thomas F. Wilson) shows up to ask why the Legends cost so much. I wasn't aware the Legends actually cost the Time Bureau anything: I thought they were more-or-less independent. Huh?

There's the usual comedy hijinks as Sara prowls around Ava's office, just staying out of Hank's sight, while matching up Hank's unwitting ironic dialogue: such as "Captain Lance is screwing with you" while an under-the-desk Sara puts words to action, so to speak. I thought Gideon synthesized the Legends' costumes Star Trek/Next gen style, so I'm not sure why they have a budget: one of those "huh?" things.

Speaking of Gideon (Amy Louise Pemberton), she gets an upgrade to a new, shiny bald head which I guess is more attractive. Everyone says it is, at any rate. We get to see her new holographic head when Nate takes Hank onto Waverider to see how the Legends operate in the field. And the team runs around trying to make sure Hank doesn't see Charlie, since she's a fugitive. Although I wouldn't think Hank would know she's a fugitive. There's a very minor plot of Charlie trying to pretend to be Amaya for Hank's benefit. Which doesn't go anywhere since they're not together for the rest of the episode. Huh?

Oh, and Nate mistakes Charlie for Amaya, and she punches him when he tries to hug her. And Constantine is exercising nude in the library. Because... why not? Huh?

The Legends spot a magical disturbance in 1927 Paris and head there. For some reason Sara decides to leave Constantine and Zari on Waverider, supposedly because they're troublemakers. But takes Mick. Huh? This does give us a funny scene where Ray tries to teach Charlie how to speak American English, and Constantine "helpfully" points out the differences. When Zari realizes Sara is keeping them out of Hank's sight, Ray heads for Time Bureau HQ.

At TB HQ, Mona is settling into her new job as custodian for the magical captives. I'm not quite sure why the Time Bureau is holding them: what do they plan to do with them? Can't Constantine send them back like he did the first two? Mona drops in on Nora and slips her a romance novel. Ray asks Mona to deliver a letter from him to Nora. Ava finds out and Nora somehow unleashes a magical blast that locks all three of them in her cell room. In an admittedly cute scene, Nora and Ava bond over their lousy childhoods: Nora was raised by a cult, Ava wasn't a child because of her clonehood. Mona is there to act all fan-geeky, and eventually they all become best buds and eat the birthday cake that was coming for Ava and that Mona brought in.

Eventually Ava and Mona encourage Nora to read Ray's letter. She does, and finds the miniaturized Ray stuck to the inside of the envelope. He blasts them out, and in the end Ava admits they could use a little bit of humanity while taking care of the magical captives.

Back in Paris, Sara, Nate, Hank, and Mick trace the disturbance to a café frequented by Ernest Hemingway (Andrew Lees) and Salvador Dali (Sergio Osuna). F. Scott Fitzgerald (Jason McKinnon) and his wife Zelda (Meganne Young) are hanging around outside, and show up so briefly that I wonder why the actors got guest star billing rather than co-stars. It turns out Hank is a big Hemingway fan, and Dali saw the creature of the week in the Catacombs. The Legends go down there and discover the creature is a Minotaur (Daniel Cudmore), Hank gets wounded, and Nate comes up with an intellectual idea to stop the creature which involves a lute and Constantine whipping up female Minotaur musk. Nummy.

This does give us a cute scene where a half-awake Mick mistakes "lute" for "loot" and perks up. He also mistakes "lyre" for "liar" a few seconds later.

The Minotaur got Hemingway's scent and comes to the club, and goes on a rampage. The lute and the musk calm the Minotaur down, but it goes berserk when Hemingway shoots at it. Fortunately, Hank is a big James Taylor fan, grabs a guitar, and plays the lullaby "Sweet Baby James". This causes the Minotaur go to sleep, because why not? Huh?

Also, they appear to have dubbed James Taylor's voice in over Thomas F. Wilson. I suppose it's better than hearing Wilson try to sing, but it's still kinda weird.

Throughout all of this, Hank and Nate have been arguing about the usual father-and-son stuff. Hank wants Nate to be like him, Nate doesn't like being smothered, and so on. In the end, they express their mutual admiration for each other. Hank is satisfied with how the Legends handle missions. Nate expresses his thanks to the Legends but admits his place is at the Time Bureau now. Because he's been there six episodes. Huh?

As you can tell from all of the above, there were lots of funny moments. They came at the expense of continuity and just oddball bits that you suspect will come up in the future. Like Constantine's exercising in the nude. A lot of the funny bits were just throwaway scenes, like Mick and Hemingway bonding very briefly over being rugged men of action. Or Hemingway admiring Mick's fire gun ("Signature weapon. I like it.").

There's also the bit where Hank is using the Legends' D&D miniatures to plot out strategy. Which is a nice callback to Constantine playing D&D with Gary. Where is Gary, anyway? Odd how you can miss a character when he's gone, and hate him when he's there.

Those oddball bits made the episode feel a little disjointed, though. Like Sara taking Mick instead of Zari and Constantine. Huh? It was odd to see Constantine be put on the relative back burner for once. I like Matt Ryan as Constantine, and obviously so do the creative team. But why keep him as a Special Guest Appearance if they're just going to relegate him to nude exercising and musk-mixing? Familiarity doesn't breed contempt, but it does make Constantine a bit less... exceptional on the show.

But it's the same familiarity that makes DC's Legends so entertaining. Because it's just a fun bunch of characters, who basically like each other and after three seasons get along with each other, who hang out and have wacky time-travel adventures. Even Tala Ashe, who has had more to do this season since the team shrank in numbers, was pretty much sidelined this episode and still managed to get a few good moments.

I am wondering why they brought Maisie Richard-Sellers back. She doesn't have much to do with the plot, either. Charlie does speculate, out of the blue as if the creative team remembered that she's supposed to know her fellow fugitives/former prisoners, about the Minotaur having a sympathetic backstory. But it doesn't go anywhere, so what was the point? She and Nate end on an enigmatic note, which makes sense given that neither one of them is off the show. But neither one seems inclined to strike up a new version of the old Amaya/Nate romance. So why is Charlie on the show again? If there isn't any tension between her and Nate, and there isn't much tension between her and the rest of the Legends these days... why have Charlie instead of Amaya?

Also, maybe it's just bad timing. But the episode reminds me a lot of season one's Timeless episode "The Lost Generation". They had Brendan Barash play Hemingway there, and he looks a lot like Andrew Lees in this episode. I suppose they would look alike if they're playing the same character. But the brownish tone and the exact year didn't help.

Overall, "Tender is the Nate" was a mishmash of an episode. An entertaining mishmash, but a mishmash nonetheless. It seemed to exist primarily as a sendoff to Nate as part of the team, since he gives a touching farewell at the end. But... he's not gone, is he? So why give the character a sendoff when he's not going anywhere, I don't know.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?