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Recap / Legends of Tomorrow S3 E18 "The Good, the Bad, and the Cuddly"

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The Legends face off against Mallus for one final battle in the Old West.


Tropes:

  • Acrofatic: Giant Beebo moves with a surprising amount of grace and agility while beating up Mallus despite the plump appearance.
  • All Your Colors Combined: The totems are meant to combine their powers in order to summon a warrior of light magic to destroy Mallus. It ends up being a giant Beebo, of all things.
  • Back for the Finale: In an army of returning allies in this time of need that includes Jonah Hex and Helen (formerly) of Troy, Jax is the most major example. Though it's only a one-time thing since, in his five year absence he now has a wife and baby.
  • Back from the Dead: Thanks to Zambesi never being destroyed in this new timeline, Kuasa lives — and even shares the mantle of Vixen with her sister Mari.
  • Bat Family Crossover: every plot-important character that the Legends interacted with over the course of the season winds up finding their way into the plot, either by being brainwashed by Mallus, or by being recruited to stop Mallus. The lone exception is John Constantine, who's not even given a mention, but shows up after the battle to confront Sara.result
  • Behemoth Battle: The final battle between a towering demon versus a building-sized Beebo.
  • Book Ends: Like in reverse order of the opening of the season's first episode, Rory (and the rest of the team) go on vacation in Aruba and are berated by Constantine (who like Rip was a "skinny Brit in a trench-coat") for messing with time.
  • Brick Joke:
    • Nate once again gets high off Amaya's tea.
    • Mick finally gets to pay Caesar back for breaking his nose in the season premiere.
    • Freydís is awed to see Beebo again, bigger and more godlike than ever.
  • Bring It: Giant Beebo does the classic Matrix-esque hand flick.
  • Brought Down to Badass:
    • Just because Jax can't transform into Firestorm anymore doesn't mean he didn’t put his time away to good use, as he can still kick some serious ass guns blazing.
    • Ray doesn't wear his suit during the entire episode, but still does pretty well against Mallus's forces.
  • The Bus Came Back:
    • Jonah Hex makes his usual Once a Season appearance.
    • Ava recruits Jax, Helen of Troy, and Kuasa to stop Mallus. In an interesting variation, Kuasa's from a timeline where the village was never destroyed and she never became evil, so she and Mari share the totem and the mantle of Vixen.
    • Blackbeard, Freydís, and Julius Caesar are possessed by Mallus.
    • The Legends use the totems to create a giant Beebo.
    • Gary and Constantine show up after the battle to confront Sara about what else she released when Mallus escaped.
  • But Now I Must Go: When all is said and done, Amaya leaves the Legends to go back to her village. Whether it'll stick is an open question.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Ray's nanite gun is used again, this time by Damien Dhark to force Mallus out of Nora.
  • Conservation of Ninjutsu: Even with their summoned allies, the Legends are horribly outnumbered by Mallus' army. However, the battle didn't really pose too much of a problem for them, even when Mallus revives those who have fallen.
  • Continuity Nod:
    • Blackbeard once again refers to Amaya as "Dread Pirate Jiwe".
    • Leif Eriksson's sister Freydís still sees Beebo as a god.
    • Sara's last words to Rip are "goodbye, Captain". In "The Return of the Mack" it was established that Sara was firmly Captain of the Waverider, not Rip. Rip's sacrifice was enough for him to earn his rank again.
    • Gideon's emotional "goodbye, Rip" calls back to their romantic interlude in Season 2 when she took human form within his mind.
    • Once again, Sara's plan to stop the Big Bad of the season had some nasty side effects. The other Legends even say it was her idea that caused the problem.
    • The Legends went to Salvation to hide out from their enemies again, since it was established as a time-travelling blindspot two seasons ago. And like the previous occassion, it only bought them a little time, as Mallus still manages to find them.
  • Cruel Mercy: Sara planned to spare Darhk, to make him suffer for getting his own daughter killed.
  • Curb-Stomp Cushion: How Mallus fares against the giant Beebo. He gets in some hits, but the fight is essentially him getting manhandled.
  • Dead Guy Junior: Jax's daughter is named "Martina", an obvious nod to his old partner.
  • Expy: Helen serves as a pretty obvious stand-in for a certain iconic female superhero throughout the episode.
  • Fanservice: In Aruba, Sara and Zari are shown with bikinis.
  • Fusion Dance: The giant Beebo, the fusion of Amaya, Zari, Sara, Wally, Nate, and Mick, wielding the totems of Spirit, Wind, Death, Water, Earth, and Fire respectively. Though it still has Beebo's mannerisms and voice.
  • Godzilla Threshold: Ray's impromptu plan to fix everything? Taking Darhk onto the jumpship, and jumping back to before Mallus was set free. Sadly, it doesn't prevent Mallus from escaping altogether, just from killing Nora.
  • Gondor Calls for Aid: Desperate for help, the Legends send out a temporal beacon. Their response comes in the form of Ava, Jax, Helen of Troy, and an alternate heroic version of Kuasa.
  • Group Hug: As the de-fusioned group stands in the crater after vanquishing Mallus, they celebrate with a group hug...with Mick squeezed in the middle. He promptly yells at them to break it off.
  • Heartbeat Down: As part of its Finishing Move, Giant Beebo crashes into Mallus and dives toward the ground, exploding in a heart-shaped cloud of blue smoke, fur, and stuffing. The crater left behind is normal.
  • Heel–Face Revolving Door: Darhk technically went back to heel (but with reasons) last week; he finally returns to "face" to save his daughter. Mallus is technically not Darhk anymore, so his door stops revolving here.
  • Heel–Face Turn:
    • This seems to be the case with Nora. After Damien sacrifices himself to save her, she actively aids the Legends in stopping Mallus, and Ray leaves her with a means to escape the Time Bureau's prison so she can make the most of her second chance.
    • Kuasa, by virtue of coming from a timeline where she never became a villain and shares the Anansi Totem with Mari.
  • Heroic Sacrifice:
    • Rip Hunter pulls one not to stop Mallus but to delay him so the Legends can escape.
    • Damien Darhk lets Mallus possess him in order to get him out of Nora.
  • Imperfect Ritual: All six totems were required to create a warrior powerful enough to destroy Mallus. Since Mallus turned the Death totem bearer against the others, the other five only had enough power to imprison him.
  • Kill It with Fire: Mick literally does this to the initial attempt by the Legends to create a champion. He justifies his action by stating he put the poor thing out of its misery.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Zari bemoans the fact that it seems like her life is in danger "every week" aboard the Waverider.
  • Left Hanging: There are several plot points left unanswered:
    • How did the world so quickly develop into a dystopia where metahumans were rounded up and ARGUS went to being a intelligence agency to racist organization? We don't know.
    • With Rip's death we don't know why he recruited Ava from the future and went to the trouble of creating false memories and a backstory for her.
  • Legion of Doom: With his Cult all eliminated from play one way or another, Mallus recruits Blackbeard, Caesar, and Freydis and their followers to serve as his new army.
  • Meteor Move: Flying Takedown version. After sending Mallus flying into the air, Giant Beebo jumps up after him and grabs him into a hug before plummeting chest-first into the ground.
  • Mondegreen Gag: Turns out that Mallus's name is actually Malice.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • A possible one with Helen of Troy. After being trained by the Amazons on Themyscira, she is an expert in handling Jonah Hex's gun. It could be a reference to the Bullets and Bracelets test that Wonder Woman underwent to be sent to Man's World.
    • While under Mallus's influence, Freydís says "Our New Gods may grant you mercy." (Not only that, but Mallus's influence manifests itself as people having red eyes — much like a certain New God.)
  • Never Found the Body: The corpses of Rip and Damien (post-Mallus transformation) are never seen.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: As an angry Constantine informs the Legends, the anachronism of saving Zambesi didn't just release Mallus — it let out a whole slew of demons from their prison(s).
  • Oh, Crap!: Mallus's facial reaction when the giant Beebo performs his finishing move on him can only be described as this.
  • Older and Wiser: The version of Jax that Ava recruits is from five years after he returned to present-day Central City in the mid-season finale, and he now has a wife and daughter.
  • Papa Wolf: Damien allows Mallus to take his body if it means Nora will live.
  • Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: The most ridiculous one ever:
    Giant Beebo: Beebo hungry! [charges to face Mallus]
  • Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Shortly after the above:
    Giant Beebo: Beebo wants cuddles! [grabs Mallus and bodyslams him into the ground]
  • Pronouncing My Name for You: Mallus insists on pronouncing his name like "Malice", sparking a Running Gag.
  • Redemption Equals Death:
    • After being an jerk for most of the season, Rip sacrifices himself to distract Mallus long enough for the Legends to escape.
    • After Ray and Darhk jump back in time to before Nora gives way to Mallus, Darhk tricks Mallus into taking him as his vessel, sparing Nora's life.
  • Retired Badass: Jax has presumably been retired from the superhero game for five years, but still comes to aid his old friends in their time of need.
  • Running Gag:
    • Once again, Constantine's entrance has the soundtrack playing the theme from his TV series.
    • The Legends can't agree on how to properly say the name "Mallus".
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Amaya disarms him, Blackbeard runs for the hills.
  • Season Finale: The third one.
  • Sequel Hook:
    • The Legends are relaxing on a beach in Aruba when a very angry Constantine arrives and informs them that they released a whole slew of demons when they let Mallus out of his cage.
    • Ray gives Nora a means to escape (her father's rune) and become a better person. Whether she actually does become a hero remains to be seen.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Ship Tease: Between Zari and Jonah Hex, much to her amusing embarrassment.
  • Stock Scream: The Wilhelm Scream is heard when the Legends and their allies fight off Mallus's forces.
  • Take Me Instead: Damien Darhk's plan to save Nora was to get Mallus to leave her body and take him as his vessel instead.
  • Take That!: Zari calls Gary's terrible blond wig "very presidential", at which point he takes it off, clearly not happy about the comparison.
  • This Is Gonna Suck: Played for Laughs. Everybody is exasperated when Nate's vision of Beebo pops into everybody's minds just before their Fusion Dance.
  • Together in Death: Just before blowing himself up, Rip tells Sara that he would very much like to see his dead wife and son again.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Unsurprisingly, this has happened to Helen of Troy after living on Themyscira, practically turning her into a One-Woman Army.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: Jonah Hex is much friendlier these days, probably because he finally managed to bring Turnbull to justice and became the sheriff of Salvation, giving his life new purpose.
  • Villain Override: After the heroes successfully knock out Mallus's army of Mooks, he responds by possessing them all in order to get them back on their feet.
  • Wham Shot:
    • As the team begin forming their avatar during the climax, it quickly becomes apparent that Nate affected things by thinking up something, which the others are astounded by what they are seeing. And as the avatar is formed, we cut to outside as it blasts through the roof of the saloon...and it's a giant Beebo.
    • Parodied when the Legends hear who they think is Constantine approach them in Aruba, only for it to be revealed that it's Gary dressed like Constantine and donning a blond wig. Doubled subverted when Constantine himself steps into frame from the other direction.
  • Wrestler in All of Us: Mallus, an ancient demon newly released from millennia of imprisonment, performs a suplex on Beebo during their fight.
  • You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Ava gives Sara a speech to this effect to help her realize that she and the others are worthy bearers of the totems.
  • You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious:
    • Gideon refers to Rip by his first name instead of by title as he's preparing to sacrifice himself to slow Mallus down.
    • Sara's last words to Rip? "Goodbye, Captain."
  • You Can't Fight Fate: Averted. The team's meddling in Zambesi isn't undone by time trying to correct itself and there seem to be no ill effects...unless you count the slew of angry demons released when Mallus got out of his cage.

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