While being audited by Nate's dad, the Legends travel to Paris in 1927 in order to capture a Minotaur. Meanwhile, Ava and Mona get trapped in the same cell as Nora Darhk and end up bonding.
Tropes:
- Art Evolution: Gideon demonstrates a hologram with a much more defined face, courtesy of a "face lift" by Zari.
- Birds of a Feather: Mick immediately bonds with Ernest Hemingway, a fellow author and drunken lug.
- Boisterous Weakling: Hemingway talks a big game, but doesn't accomplish anything throughout the episode.
- Bullet Catch: The Minotaur blocks gunfire with his axe quite easily.
- Broken Pedestal: Haywood has long admired Ernest Hemmingway and naturally excited meeting the man in 1927. In classic Legends style, Haywood realizes his idol is a complete dick.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Nate calling Hank out on all of his "lessons" just being him complaining about Nate being different from himself.
- Chekhov's Gun: Nate lists '70's folk rock as one of Hank's interests that he never cared for. Sure enough, it's Hank's impromptu performance of a James Taylor song that saves the day.
- Chekhov M.I.A.: Played for laughs with Ray who was absent during both the A and B plots. It's eventually revealed he hid himself inside the envelope he asked Mona to give to Nora (and got trapped), resulting in B becoming a "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot had Ava allowed Nora to receive the "message" in the first place.
- Comically Missing the Point: During the fight with the Minotaur, Sara tells the Fitzgeralds to go behind the bar, but instead of hiding Scott tries to make himself a drink.
- Continuity Nod: The Time Bureau had to pay for a new time core for the Waverider, since the last one was blown up by Rip Hunter. (How they managed to get a new time core in 2018 is never mentioned, although they did at one point have their own timeship.)
- Dark and Troubled Past: Ava and Nora bond over comparing theirs.
- Deadpan Snarker: Gideon, even more so than usual, as she has to remind people that she's also a member of the Legends.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Both Ava and Nora quickly warm up to Mona with some help from a bottle of rosé and Ava's birthday cake.
- Does Not Know His Own Strength: Nora accidentally breaks the containment field and the doorlock of the cell.
- Dork Knight: The Legends (or Nate, Zari, and Constantine, at least) play Dungeons & Dragons. Constantine is a bit miffed that Zari let Hank use some of their miniatures to present a plan of attack for the Minotaur hunt.
- Double Entendre:
- While Sara is hiding beneath Ava's desk, the latter is accused by Hank of being in bed with the Legends or being screwed by Sara Lance. Doubles as If Only You Knew, since he isn’t actually aware.
- Hemmingway also proudly states "mine's longer" when comparing his gun to Mick's.
- Epic Fail: Charlie's attempt at copying Amaya's voice is dreadful; for some reason, Charlie seemed to think that Amaya spoke in a Southern accent.
- Fluffy Tamer: Mona manages to befriend every magical prisoner in the Time Bureau.
- Gallows Humor: After Nora accidentally destroys the keypad in her cell note Ava: We're stuck.
Mona: Well, at least we're here together...right?
Nora: [detachedly] ...now I know why you took my shoelaces. - Gay Paree: Sara even calls it that, while Mick asks if that's politically incorrect. (Well, he says "impolitically correct," but Zari corrects him.)
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: Ava concedes that Mona's positive attitude is a good thing for the job and allows her to bond with the imprisoned creatures at the end.
- Hidden Depths:
- Hank gives an awesome rendition of James Taylor's "Sweet Baby James".
- Mona reveals that she was a Yale hopeful looking to become a lawyer, but refused because it was what her parents wanted and not a career she'd enjoy.
- Historical Domain Character: An especially rich episode with them, with Ernest Hemingway, Salvador Dalí, and F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda Fitzgerald.
- House Inspection: Hank makes an inspection on the Waverider due to the high expenditure. Naturally, it's a disaster.
- I Choose to Stay: As the team celebrates their success at the end of the episode, Nate makes it clear that he's staying with the Time Bureau, mainly because it's helping him grow.
- Internal Reveal:
- After trying their best to prevent Nate from learning about her, he winds up discovering Charlie in the lab.
- Nora makes a point of telling Ava that the only reason why she had escaped the Time Bureau was because Ray slipped her a Time Stone.
- As part of the girls' bonding, Ava reveals to Mona and Nora that she's actually a clone from the future, and her past is a lie.
- Irony: Charlie, although a shapeshifter by nature, is a terrible actor.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Hemingway is portrayed as kind of a dick throughout the episode, but during the closing scene, Nate quotes one of his lines that applies to himself: "Can't get away from yourself by moving from one place to another."
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
- The whole episode is a commentary on the budget of the show, from the cost of the costumes, to the ship, to the necessity of so many crew members.
- Ray bets that he could just leave the team and no-one would notice. Sure enough, he proceeds to be absent from most of the episode stuck in an envelope, and odds are quite a few fans didn't notice at all.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Hemingway and Hank are way too eager to hunt for the Minotaur and it almost costs both of them their lives.
- Literary Allusion Title: The name of the episode alludes to Tender Is the Night, a famous novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a couple who live in France in the 1920s. The episode even features cameos from F. Scott and his wife Zelda.
- Manly Men Can Hunt: Clearly what Hank Heywood believes, reinforced when he meets Ernest Hemingway.
- Moment Killer: Hank walks in while Sara is trying to...give Ava her birthday present. Sara's ninja skills manage to save them from being caught in a compromising position.
- Motor Mouth: Mona, throughout the episode.
- Ms. Fanservice: Sara when she's trying to seduce Ava on her birthday.
- Music Soothes the Savage Beast: It turns out that the only thing that can stop the Minotaur is to get him to sleep by playing a lullaby on a Greek lute...or some James Taylor on guitar will work in a pinch.
- Naked First Impression: Hank is introduced to Constantine while the latter is practicing yoga naked in the Waverider's library. John's a pretty good sport about it.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Because of his insistence on hunting the monster in Paris, Director Heywood almost gets killed by the Minotaur.
- Later, when Nate has almost calmed the Minotaur down, Hemingway tries to kill it and causes another senseless fight.
- Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: According to Charlie, the Minotaur just wants to hide away from the world, more specifically his father, that rejected him.
- Not So Above It All: Hank actually adapts to the Legends' zany attitude quite quickly.
- Odd Friendship: Ava (straight-laced clone from the 23rd century), Nora (witch and ex-demon cultist), and Mona (giddy nerd) manage to form one while stuck in Nora's prison cell together.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: Hank makes a few sexist remarks. It almost gets him his ass kicked by Sara.
- Rhetorical Question Blunder: How Nate's guess about Charlie's current Shapeshifter Mode Lock goes.Nate: Let me guess: she turned into Amaya and conned you into not sending her to hell and Constantine put a spell on her and now she's stuck like this?
Sara: That is weirdly accurate, yes. - The Roaring '20s: Sara refers to the period by name when the Legends set out there.
- Running Gag: Gideon reminding the team that she is a Legend, too.
- Series Continuity Error: Is there any reason Gideon isn't still creating the team's clothes and food herself? In fact, earlier in this very season, Constantine was taking advantage of the Waverider's fabricator to make rare spell components.
- Shipper on Deck: Mona ships Ray/Nora, comparing them to Ross and Rachel.
- Shout-Out: Mona owns a Rose Nylund Pop figure, met Gillian Anderson at an The X-Files meet & greet, and compares Ray and Nora to Ross and Rachel.
- Spot the Thread:
- It was unavoidable, but Nate's belief that Amaya returned to the Waverider is immediately squashed when "Amaya" speaks in a decidedly different accent. The punch in the face likely didn't help.
- After Ray's attempt at talking Ava into letting him see Nora fails, he practically vanishes from the episode; all we get in terms of his whereabouts is that he left Mona a letter to give to Nora. By the end of the episode, Ava talks Nora into opening it...and Ray pops out, having shrunk and hidden inside.
- Stealth Expert: Sara manages to dodge Hank's notice in Ava's rather small office, and gets from the Time Bureau to the Waverider without Hank being any the wiser.
- Tastes Like Friendship: Mona, Nora and Ava bond over some drinks and cake.
- Troll: There really wasn't any reason for Mick to lead Nate to Charlie (while everybody was trying to prevent it) other than screwing with him. His big smile when Charlie punches him says it all.
- What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: Director Heywood, Ernest Hemingway, and Mick get drunk and decide to hunt the monster themselves. It then turns out to be a Minotaur and Director Heywood barely manages to avoid death.
- Womanchild: Mona, much to Ava's ire at first. At the end of the episode, however, she starts to see her worth.
- The Worf Effect: The Minotaur easily overpowers Nate in his steel form.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Mona encourages both Nora and Ava.
