The Legends of Tomorrow are still stranded in 1925 America, looking to find their way back to the future without screwing up the timeline. Being the Legends, they’ve already fallen at the first hurdle, as last week Nate (Nick Zano) accidentally killed J. Edgar Hoover and Gary (Adam Tsekhman) ate his body to hide the evidence. “The Need for Speed” features our heroes trying to course-correct and keep everything normal – especially without a Waverider or equipment for easy transport or “resets” – before eventually realising that running away from a problem only makes them grow out of hand.
Legends of Tomorrowis often concerned with identity, Season 6 interrogating the metamorphosis of Sara (Caity Lotz) being reborn in an alien-hybrid body orJohn Constantine (Matt Ryan)grasping onto his magical powers to the point of addiction. Season 7 seems to be continuing this theme by leaving the Legends stranded without their regular resources, forced to think about what they do if there are actual consequences this time around.
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Not that the Legends have ever been a responsible bunch. Even Rip Hunter (the OG captain who gets a quick reference this episode)wanted to change historyto save his own family. It’s curious to see the Legends out of their element, although it feels “The Need for Speed” is still playing it too normal. Characters may discuss being unable to fix their mistakes, but they still carry that casual devil-may-care attitude and, so far, it’s hard to feel much impact from their anachronistic actions.
Nate, at least, seems to be taking it seriously. As the team historian, he bears the brunt of accidentally killing Hoover, both as a splinter in history and also from the up-close loss of life. Hoover was hardly a saint – Nate gives a quick rundown of the “Palmer Raids” and how Hoover’s Red Scare tactics entrenched institutional prejudice – but he was an important man, and Nate feels an odd reverence for his legacy.
Luckily, Gary whips up a potion from the recently ingestedFBI Directorthat allows Nate to disguise as him,boarding a train to New Yorkto keep up public appearances. However, this also means Nate has to act like the arrogant Hoover – or “Speed” as his old friends on the train call him – and burying his own conscience beneath it. As Nate tells the uncomfortable Behrad (Shayan Sobhian), “by comparison to Hoover, I am nobody in the timeline.”
Nate impersonating Hoover creates an interesting sequence where Nate begins buying into Hoover’s own mythology. After being alerted of a plot to kidnap Hoover, Nate takes it upon “himself” as the“country’s greatest detective”to root out the suspects on the train. Then, when speaking to the first-class passengers, Nate is seemingly happy that “everyone loves Hoover.” He has forgotten that he is not Hoover, and that wasn’t too fond of Hoover himself. Behrad and Gary talking to the second-class passengers, know that these pro-government sentiments are only a matter of perspective.
Other FBI Agents bring Nate a “Russianforeigner” they suspect of being behind the plot. But Nate understands that he is innocent, and interrogating him to keep up appearances would only send himself down a dangerous rabbit hole. Nick Zano was somewhat underutilized last season, so this focus upon Nate and him wrestling with duties to the timestream and his own conscience is welcomed. Zano particularly excels in the interrogation, changing between hushed whispers (“you don’t have to…”) and aggressive shouts (“…TELL ME EVERYTHING!”) for a scene both comedic but also sincere.
Nate’s not the only one undergoing an identity crisis, as Zari (Tala Ashe) is still taking a time-out in the “pocket dimension” left to the crew by Constantine. Sara and Ava (Jes Macallan) also go from Hoover’s train-car to this magic manor for a belated Honeymoon retreat, finding Zari severely stoned after taking Behrad’s stash of edibles to try and mellow out. As Ava rightly points out, despite being siblings, Zari and Behrad are “different people” with different coping mechanisms, and the edibles don’t seem to really be helping her. The purpose of this pocket dimension was for Zari to get away from herself – and other people’s influences and expectations – for a cleansed and refreshed focus.
Ironically, Zari’s revelation comes from a bottle of whiskey. The kitchen fridge in this pocket dimension keeps making copies of whiskey bottles, and Zari understands how there might be multiple copies of the Waverider floating around. Zari refocuses her energy on figuring out the seasonal mystery of who blew up their time-ship, running through endless possibilities likethe Multiverse onWhat If…?Zari, dressed far more like her “Zari 1.0” counterpart, starts making a list of everyone who could be after them, listing previous enemies like “Mallus,” “Damien Darhk,” and “Time Bandits” as well as other options like “ourselves” and “Time itself” (filed under the “Why The Hell Not” section).
Zari’s progress – and Sara and Ava’s lovemaking – is interrupted by the boys getting in trouble. It wasn’t a communist plot to kidnap Hoover, but the FBI Agents were actually undercover andworking for Al Capone. In the confusion, they managed to divert the train to an unprotected spot, where it gets held up by more of Capone’s men. Plus, Nate’s magical disguise as Hoover chooses now to wear off.
Although maybe the timing is fortuitous, as Nate has learned you cannot keep lying and running away from problems, but instead face up to them. That he delivers this episode’s moral message to one of Capone’s mobsters, who seems unphased and mostly confused by it, keeps it under the Legends spirit. Between Nate talking to the“Bullets Blondes” fan outside the bank robberylast episode and this, Nick Zano shines in these strange interactions with 1920s citizens.
Just as Nate was laying all cards on the table – and Sara, Ava, and Zari arrive as back-up, with complimentary whiskey in hand – the gangsters are met by a surprise guest; J. Edgar Hoover. This Hoover mercilessly mows down the mobsters, only being stopped once Sara smashes one of those whiskey bottles over his head. It turns out this Hoover is an android, sentas a robotic replacementafter the original was killed. Even Hoover’s authentic identity is in question.
This is also true back at the ranch with Spooner (Lisseth Chavez) and Astra (Olivia Swann). Last episode ended with Astra accidentally resurrecting Gideon (Amy Louise Pemberton), now in human form. But Gideon doesn’t quite know how to operate as flesh and blood instead of wires and circuitry, being unable to speak to the two. For Astra, this malfunctioning Gideon serves as a constant reminder of her mistakes and“uselessness” as a witch. Astra and Spooner had a very similar story just last week, but the commitment from the actresses makes it still resonate.
Spooner and Astra are able to support each other, and – through a potential psychic ability from Spooner – manage to break through to Gideon. Everything seems to be back on track for the Legends. Although Gideon informs them that if the others don’t reach their destination, they will die. The crew needs to be on route, more than ever, although that has rarely helped them before.
