Ray: Sara? Is there any chance our fugitive could be a doll?
Sara: Horror movie 101.
Sara: Horror movie 101.
The Legends deal with a killer doll in Nineteenth Century New Orleans. Meanwhile, John's past finally catches up to him.
Tropes:
- Ambiguous Situation: The episode isn't exactly clear about the extent of Mona's injury; while Konane's swipe was enough to cause blood, it's not clear if Mona was in life threatening danger as a result.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Mike knocking Ray unconscious and not finishing him off. He seems to avoid attacking anyone but blondes in general.
- Break His Heart to Save Him: In order to stop Desmond from ending up in Hell, John goes back in time and brutally ends the relationship by saying he never loved him and used a love spell on him to get him in bed.
- Break the Cutie: Poor Mona goes through a lot this episode.
- The Cameo: The voice of Mike the Spike is provided by none other than an uncredited Paul Reubens.
- Creepy Doll: Mike the Spike possesses an antebellum doll to act as a serial killer in New Orleans. After this body is fried and captured by the Legends, he possesses the Stein puppet made by Leo Snart. Mick considers this even worse.
- Deal with the Devil: Desmond made one with Neron to save John's life. Unfortunately, it forced John to send his lover to hell alongside Neron.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Discussed. The crew doesn't buy for a minute that Marie Laveau is the actual killer, since she was a black woman with considerable power in 1800s New Orleans and thus even the barest thread of evidence, or no evidence at all, would have convicted her.
- Expy: Mike the Spike is one for Chucky.
- Facial Horror: Despite Constantine's spell, Charlie still has limited powers of shapeshifting, although it's shown to be a ghoulish warping of her face. Her later attempt at impersonating John works better, but still leaves half of her default face in place of his.
- Fantastic Racism: At the peak of their animosity, Mick gives Ava a hard time about being a clone, calling her Sara's "fake" girlfriend.
- Faux Horrific: Ray is mortified by the fact that he accidentally shaved off half of his mustache when the power went out. It quickly becomes the least of his problems.
- The "Fun" in "Funeral": This being New Orleans, a jazz funeral is seen moving through the streets.
- Gainax Ending: The results of Constantine successfully changing time leave everyone frozen in mid-air for a time. When it wears off, Charlie finds that Zari has somehow become a cat.
- Geas: Marie Laveau puts one on John to save Desmond.
- Genre Savvy: Sara correctly points out that the doll always comes back to life in horror movies. She also states that they should "never split up, classic horror movie mistake."
- Greater-Scope Villain: The ruling triumvirate of Hell, whom Neron wants to overthrow.
- Guest-Star Party Member: Ava resides on the Waverider throughout the episode.
- Heartbroken Badass: Constantine, throughout the episode.
- Hidden Depths: Ava is well-versed in Serial Killer knowledge.
- Historical Domain Character: Marie Laveau, a mysterious voodoo practitioner of 19th century New Orleans whose tomb was reputed to grant wishes until it was closed to the public in 2015. This includes a reference to Angela Bassett playing her in American Horror Story: Coven, as in this timeline it was in a musical.
- Interspecies Romance: Mona and Konane, the Kaupe, are attracted to each other.
- It's All About Me: Charlie justifies her efforts at helping Constantine change history by saying that she's dying; being unable to shapeshift means that her current form will age and eventually die. Zari is furious at Charlie's selfishness and promises to throw her in the deepest, darkest cell of the Time Bureau if they manage to stop Constantine.
- Kick the Dog:
- Neron bound Desmond's soul to his, meaning that Constantine couldn't banish him to hell without sending Desmond there as well.
- Neron's message from the season premiere ("I'm coming for you, Johnny") is revealed to a very petty and cruel taunt in this episode; Desmond always called Constantine "Johnny" as a sign of affection.
- Mick calling Ava a clone and telling her that she is a "fake" girlfriend, comparing her to his creation Garima.
- A Project Hades mook demands that Mona pay for a scratch on his car, not caring about that fact that she was just hurt and proceeds to insult her.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The box that contains the Stein puppet is labeled "309 Misc." The puppet was last seen in season 3, episode 9.
- The Lost Lenore: Desmond to John.
- Moral Myopia: Charlie feels fine about helping Constantine change history because being trapped in a single form will cause her to age and eventually die. Zari chews her out for this.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Charlie's glee that her powers came back after John changed history is quickly spoiled when she sees that the consequences somehow turned Zari into a cat.
- Mythology Gag: The Stein puppet was kept in a container marked 309, the production code of ”Beebo the God of War”, the episode where it first appeared.
- N-Word Privileges: Ava rankles at Mick calling her a clone, saying that only she gets to use that word.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: By going back in time to stop Desmond from being sent to Hell, John breaks reality.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Mona saves Konane from being taken by shady agents, but in his rage over them hurting her he slashes her across the stomach.
- One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Mona asks for Nate's advice about her crush, which Nate assumes is about Gary but is actually about Konane. This results in a rather funny conversation, especially the part where they consider whether Mona's crush has had "man meat" at some point in his past.
- Police Brutality: The agents who abuse Konane.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: Ava assumes that Mick's novel is sexist and derivative. He shamelessly agrees.
- Porn Stache: Ray grows one to appeal to Nora. Everyone mocks him over it, with the possible exception of Sara.
- Pun: Ray, who has recently grown a mustache, tries to cool a dispute between Mick and Constantine with a lame one.Ray: Gentlemen, I mustache you to calm down.
- Pun-Based Title: On Hello, Dolly!, obviously. Bonus points for the fact that the musical's revival is the very reason Victor Garber left the series a year ago, which is somewhat fitting given that the doll facsimile of his character returns in this episode.
- The Resenter: Mick is pretty pissed at Ava for taking the magic diary away from him.
- The Reveal: The mysterious man John keeps seeing is his lover, Desmond. The demon, Neron, acquired John's soul to blackmail him into helping him overthrow Hell's ruling triumvirate — the First of Fallen, Lucifer, and Beezelbub. John being John told him to piss off. But Desmond gave his soul to Neron to protect John, and John couldn't banish Neron to Hell without sending Desmond down too.
- Romantic Wingman: Nate serves as one for Gary, trying to get Mona in asking him out. Sadly, Mona is interested in Konane instead.
- Sequel Hook: The episode ends with reality being broken. But Charlie has her powers back.
- Shout-Out:
- Sara explicitly references Chucky when she finds out that the team is dealing with an evil doll.
- Zari refers to fixed points in time.
- Slashers Prefer Blondes: Mike seems to prefer attacking blondes over anyone else.
- Spotting the Thread: Sara immediately spots the traces Mike leaves behind when he comes back to life.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Considering the extremely acrimonious circumstances that brought Charlie onto the Waverider — stripped of her powers, initially kept a prisoner, and not made to feel particularly welcome aboard by anyone save Mick, it's only natural she would jump at a chance to restore her powers and screw the Legends' mission to protect time.
- Take That!: Combined with Biting-the-Hand Humor — the real reason Ray randomly grew a mustache was to mock a different Superman-related mustache (remember that Ray's actor previously played Supes).
- Tastes Like Friendship: Sara tries to invoke this by setting up a dinner for Mick and Ava. Sadly, it doesn't work.
- Time Crash: Much greater than any previous examples as John's success in driving away Desmond ruptures the space-time continuum which sends ripples throughout time and space that temporarily freezes everything in space. When everything starts again, the least of the consequences is that Zari is inexplicably turned into a cat.
- Tragic Keepsake: John's medallion was given to him by Desmond to protect him.
- True Companions: Sara calls Mick her family while trying to get him and Ava to get along.
- Third Line, Some Waiting: The A-Plot is about John and Charlie trying to change history (John wants to save his lover, Charlie wants her powers back) while Zari tries to stop them. The B-Plot is about Ava, Sara, Mick and Ray trying to stop the murderous doll Mike (and the tension between Mick and Ava). And the C-Plot is about Mona and her relationship with Konane.
- The Unfettered: John literally says that history can be bloody damned as long as he gets to save Desmond.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Marie Laveau orders (and, it's implied, mystically compels) John to save Desmond at any cost. The end result breaks time.
- Unrequited Love: Poor Gary thinks he has a chance with Mona, who is head-over-heels with Konane.
- Vocal Dissonance: Mike the Spike sounds very odd.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Zari is rightfully pissed at Charlie for being willing to risk a catastrophic change in the timeline just so she can get her powers back and avoid mortality.
