The CW's Legends of Tomorrow - Episode 5.04 "A Head of Her Time"
When Sara is called away on business, she leaves Ava in charge and Ava tries to impress the team as they take on their latest Encore, Marie Antoinette. With Zari still on the ship, Behrad convinces the team to bring her along on the mission which they all hope isn't a mistake. Constantine finally confronts someone from his past with the help of Charlie, which leads him on a journey through his past.
In 2019, the television industry aired 532 scripted shows across numerous outlets. The way people consume content now is different than it used to be. It happens according to one's own schedule. As such, it's less necessary to provide ample coverage of each episode in any given season from a show. Moreover, it is simply impossible to watch everything. As such, this site provides shorter episodic reviews in order to cover as many shows as possible. With all of that being said, here are my thoughts on the next episode of The CW's Legends of Tomorrow.
"A Head of Her Time" was written by Morgan Faust and directed by Avi Youabian
Ava and New Zari are both having to adjust to their new circumstances. Ava was designed in order to serve the Time Bureau. She has taken ahold of much more personal agency since her introduction. But now, that organization has fallen. She has become an official member of the Legends. She is placed in charge during the latest mission while Sara has to go off ship. Sara trusts Ava with that responsibility. Ava fears that her leadership style doesn't mesh well with the other personalities on the ship though. That's what makes it so uplifting and rewarding to see how every suggestion she has ultimately pays off as the other Legends use those lessons to prevail. Plus, she is more than comfortable adjusting her own expectations in order to succeed in containing the latest encore. It's a victory for her because she trusts this team completely and walks away with a new friend in the process. For New Zari, this is a foreign concept to her. She is still living her 2040 life. When the original Zari was introduced, she was from an apocalyptic future. One in which she couldn't trust anyone. Over the course of the series, she let her guards down and befriended the other Legends. It even led to romance with Nate. She was also willing to give up all of that in order to create a better future. One in which so many people could have the potential to embrace what she found. It was a profound sacrifice that has led to a completely different version of the character. This depiction of Zari is someone who has been famous from a young age. She has been a successful businesswoman by using her image and skills at self-promotion. However, she fears that she doesn't have any actual friends. She has spent too much time cultivating this persona that she no longer knows who she is herself. That makes it even more daunting and terrifying when she is experiencing all of these weird flashes of another life she seemingly lived. It can be completely random when those occur as well. Here, all it takes is her biting into a donut. That's enough for her to be flooded with potential memories. Moreover, it seems as if the two versions of the character are coming closer together. They have both had nuance. And now, it may become a battle to see which personality can prevail. In the creation of a better future, Zari may have made her life more complicated. It surely led to a repressed character state for Nate as his frat boy behavior has certainly been elevated this season. He is aided in that regard by Behrad who encourages all of those impulses. But again, the Legends are successful as a team. Everything goes wrong. Marie Antoinette's headless body gets its arms on a flamethrower. That is absolutely insane. It proves that action always has to be taken in order to preserve the timeline. The Legends can't just stop and hope that things will work out in the end. People are continually messing with history. As such, the people saving it risk causing damage to their own sense of identity. That is a thing in jeopardy. But the narrative also forces the characters to confront the ugly secrets of their pasts. That's what Constantine and Charlie have been so reluctant to do. They each serve a purpose in potentially saving Astra from herself. Astra is determined to speed up Constantine's death to ensure he doesn't keep messing with her plans. That shows just how cruel and vicious she has become as a villain. She may even regret the deal she makes here. But that ensures that everything is even more precarious moving forward. Constantine seemingly dies here. Meanwhile, Charlie's past is coming back to haunt her because of the creation of Earth-Prime and the latest magical item that will ultimately save the world from these encores. The people in pursuit of these items just have to be honest about the brutal mistakes of the past in the hopes of finding some peace or redemption in the future. That's difficult for Constantine to do even when haunted by a ghost who lashes out whenever he lies. Charlie is withholding in that way too. The Legends aren't a perfect bunch of heroes. They are deeply flawed. But they are welcomed on the Waverider amongst a community that is also trying their best to serve as some guardians of the universe.
