Legends of Tomorrow season finale recap: 'The Good, The Bad and The Cuddly'

Beebo lives! (And Stein doesn’t. Yes, I’m still crying about that, aren’t you?!)

But anyway, that was…something. Very Legends. Totally bombastic. Completely absurd.

And yet, I loved every second of it. Were the twists predictable? Sure. Were Rip’s and Damien’s exits handled in an almost rudely ham-fisted way? Yes. Did the Legends birth not one, but two collective totem babies? [Insert primal scream.] Look, for all its flaws, the finale wrapped up the season with an hour that was entertaining, and that’s all I’m looking for from the Arrowverse’s weirdest show.

When the episode begins, the Legends are failing to subdue Mallus. They’re using their totems, but Mallus easily knocks Amaya aside, and Sara’s forced to pull back. She asks Rip for help, and he figures out a way to stall the demon: He removes the time drive from the Waverider, bids Gideon farewell, and walks out to face Mallus alone. The Legends have survived, but Rip decides he has to let the time drive destabilize and reach critical mass anyway because the Legends need time to figure out how to take down Mallus. The time drive will destroy Mallus — and with it, Rip.

In his final moments, Rip remembers his family and what it was like putting the Legends together, before saying goodbye to his successor. He tells Sara that he’s looking forward to seeing his family again, and that he hopes the Legends will live up to their name. And with that, Sara wishes him the best, Mallus attacks Rip, and gets sucked into the bright light that consumes them both.

Motivated now to do their best in the wake of Rip’s sacrifice, the team first gathers to toast their fallen captain, before trying to come up with a plan. For the time being, Sara has them travel to a temporal blindspot, the old West — Salvation in 1874 — where they hide so they can figure out what to do next.

While Sara takes Zari, Wally, and Mick with her, Ray stays behind in his lab, where Damien Darhk is also held. She advises him not to do anything stupid, but, well, that’s Ray’s M.O. — and soon enough, he’s concocted a plan for them to save Nora that requires him taking Darhk inside a jump ship to the events right before Nora’s death.

Nate catches them, but Ray simply — and messily — punches Nate to keep him away. Thrown over losing so easily to Ray, Nate stumbles to Amaya, who’s using their down time to go on another psychedelic vision quest. This time, though, she’s going farther back than ever before: She wants to consult her ancestors at the beginning and learn how they use the totems against Mallus. (Or as Nate puts it, pick up the “totem user manual.”) Nate, feeling that he’s just as guilty in destroying time as she is by helping save her village, takes a larger-than-necessary gulp of the substance and joins Amaya on her trip.

They end up having a vision that unlocks their path forward: Amaya’s ancestors had activated their totems together, to manifest a being of light against all darkness.

Yeah, it’s weird, but at least it’s flashy and gives the Legends something to do other than hide — which, even in the wild, wild west, doesn’t work out so well. Sara has taken her three teammates to a saloon so they can get their heads on straight — I like the way Sara thinks — and run into Jonah Hex, who’s now a sheriff and can’t seem to keep his eyes of Zari. But before they can have another round, they’re interrupted by Blackbeard, Caesar, and Freydis — as in, a trio of their former enemies from this season. This rogue gallery’s ready to take on the Legends again now that Mallus has activated them, and they’ve got an offer they think the Legends can’t refuse: Give them the totems by high noon the next day, or suffer the wrath of the combined forces of pirates, Romans, and Vikings.

Back on board the ship, the team begins to concoct a plan. Sara, as Zari explains, thinks they should find new totem bearers as their totem bearing did nothing to Mallus last time, but the Legends haven’t made a lot of friends who can come to help out. Jonah, though, who’s visiting Zari in her room on Sara’s orders (Sara only wanted to get rid of him), points out that the Legends actually have a knack for making friends. And then they shake hands to cut through the sexual tension, because this is Legends and it can’t help shipping every character with everyone else.

Anyway! Back on the bridge, a still-high Nate accompanies Amaya as she explains what they found out: that the team needs to use their totems together to create a being of light. (Just like Voltron!) Sara’s wary of the idea, but when Amaya points out that all throughout their adventures, they’ve run into connections that can’t be coincidences. Think Mick seeing his father, or Zari’s totem calling straight to Amaya — it’s all a sign that they’re supposed to be the totem bearers, Amaya argues. And finally, Sara agrees to at least try.

And so they do, with each totem contributing life to the being, including Death, which Sara once again wears, but without the witchy side effects. They grasp hands and try to focus on creating the being, but that’s not easy. While activating their totems, their minds link and they can all hear each other’s embarrassing thoughts — and eventually, something’s created, but it turns out to be a gooey monster that Mick immediately puts out of its misery.

Dismayed, Sara vows never to try again without new totem bearers. Lucky for her, Ava arrives with reinforcements right at that moment, including Helen of Troy, Kuasa, and Jax — yay Jax! — bringing up the rear. (Next: Praise Beebo)

The Legends’ allies have all changed since they saw them last. Kuasa, thanks to their village being saved, is a good person, who harbors no resentment toward Amaya. Helen is a total warrior, having trained at Themyscira. And Jax is married with a child! Even Mick’s surprised.

But as eager as Sara is to stop being a totem bearer, she can’t just give the totems away. Ava reminds her that they’re only there to help the Legends, but that Sara and the Legends must wield their totems. They’re heroes, and they’ve helped so many people — if they don’t do it, who can?

Sara appreciates the speech, and just as the two are about to fully reconcile (Ava checks to make sure Sara still loves her), Ray and Nora walk in. Ah, yes — while the Legends have been gearing up for the battle to come, Ray whisked Daddy Darhkest away to just before Nora’s death, and the pair managed to save Nora, only to have Mallus leave her body in favor of Damien’s. Damien is destroyed as a result, but that was always his plan; this way, he saves his daughter from the demon and gives her a chance to live a better life.

And so far, well, it’s not looking too great. When Ray and Nora finally meet back up with the Legends, it’s time for Sara to either deliver their enemies the goods or suffer the wrath of their combined armies. Of course, she ends up choosing the latter, telling them that they have to either leave town or get hurt.

The battle begins, with Ava riding a horse to take Sara away, and everyone else getting a chance to take out pirates, Romans, and Vikings. Kuasa, Amaya, and Nate work together to bring down Blackbeard, who scampers away, while Wally saves Jax, and Zari and Jonah set up dynamite that sends the Romans flying and Zari straight into Jonah’s arms. The Legends and their allies manage to take out everyone against them — but when they survey the damage, the bodies of their enemies start to stir. Mallus, it turns out, can reanimate beings he’s controlling. And in the end, they all stand back up — which means the Legends have to either fight them all again or get going on their final stand against Mallus.

Together, the Legends try to create a being of light once more, while their friends take care of Mallus’ soldiers outside the saloon. Amaya advises them to think of creating a being of “pure goodness” but unfortunately, this triggers a thought in Nate’s mind that doesn’t go away. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” he shouts, as the being begins to grow.

The Legends, together, have created a giant Beebo, a cuddly being of pure goodness that now towers over the Western town — and over Mallus, who’s recuperated after Rip’s attack and is now back in his winged form. The Legends and Beebo attack Mallus, and the two fight in the weirdest showdown yet from this show (and mind you, Legends once had Giant Ray fighting a giant robot). I’m not even sure which moment’s my favorite: Beebo squeaking as he runs toward Mallus or Beebo shouting childlike phrases at the demon or Beebo flipping over Mallus or Beebo taking Mallus out by hugging him and body slamming him into the ground in a heart-shaped puff of blue smoke. Yup. That happened. The Legends’ furry love child just took out an evil demon by cuddling it.

As the Legends gather themselves at the bottom of the crater and try to rid themselves of blue fur, Ray reassures Nora that Damien’s death was not in vain, and Sara says that Rip would be proud. And then — aww — they all hug.

Of course, they still have to clean up their mess. Amaya gives the totems to Kuasa, trusting her to keep them safe. The team sends the anachronisms back with their memories wiped, while Ava promises to see Sara again. Jax says goodbye, Sara tips her hat, and Jonah gives his dirty hat to Zari. (How cute and mildly disturbing!) Ray sees Nora off with a gift: He gives her Damien’s time stone, telling her that Damien gave her a second chance, and she shouldn’t waste it. She smiles at him as the Time Bureau takes her away to prison.

Then, finally, it’s time for Amaya to fulfill her destiny and, well, leave the Legends. She talks to Zari and Sara, telling them she’ll miss them, then takes off for Zambesi in 1942 with Nate, who can’t bear to let her go but has to. He almost wipes her memory, but she says she wants to remember everything. Otherwise, she has nothing else of his she can remember him by. With that, they kiss, and Nate walks away, willing himself not to look back. It’s a short scene, but affecting all the same.

Before long, the Legends are finally, finally getting a chance to relax. They’ve accompanied Mick to Aruba in 2018, where they’re tanning on the beach. But of course, this is Legends, and things don’t stay still for long, even if the Time Bureau’s now handling the anachronisms they left behind. No, this time, they’re called to action by Constantine (and Gary, who…apparently enjoys cosplaying as Constantine? Oh, Gary). Constantine, being his usual riled up British self, asks the Legends if they really had the brilliant idea to let an ancient demon out of its cage. Sara says yes, and Constantine’s less than thrilled. As it turns out, when they let Mallus out, they opened a door — and Mallus wasn’t the only thing that got out. At that, he tosses the severed head of what looks like one of Daenerys’s dragons at the Legends’ feet. (Okay, fine, it’s a demon, but it looked like one, didn’t it?)

In other words, the Legends are once again in trouble — but we’ll have to wait for season 4 to see how this all works out. They’ve broken time and managed to fix it. What’s a few demons from another dimension? Either way, adding Constantine and the supernatural will only make Legends even crazier and trippier, and I can’t wait to be entertained by it all.