With Sara recuperating from her latest battle, Charlie starts to notice something might not be right with her. Still searching for the Loom, Constantine and Zari find themselves trapped in a 1910 boarding house with a slew of out-of-time Encores. Meanwhile, Ava, Gary and Rory take a trip to hell while Nate and Charlie hold down the Waverider.
Tropes
- Almost Kiss:
- Nate and Zari before John interrupts them.
- John and Zari after killing Jack the Ripper, until John notices the ring on the table.
- Artistic License – History: Henry VIII introduces himself as "ruler of the British Empire". Not only was there no British Empire at the time of his reign, the term first being used under his daughter Elizabeth, England and Scotland wouldn't even form the United Kingdom of Great Britain until over a century after his death.
- Bad Boss: Astra throws a knife at one of her henchmen for allowing her collection of soul coins to be stolen, though as she notes, he'll be fine in a few hours.
- Big "NO!": Bonnie, when Clyde is killed.
- Carnival of Killers: Lachesis sends a group of Encores (Jack the Ripper, Henry VIII, Brutus, Black Caesar, and Bonnie & Clyde) to track down the final Loom piece. It isn't long before Bonnie and Clyde are killing all the others to claim the ring (and the reward of freedom from damnation) for themselves.
- The Cavalry Arrives Late: Nate and Ava show up just after Constantine and Zari have taken care of the Encores.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Enchantress appears in Charlie's flashback at the beginning of the episode. Then at the end of the episode, the landlady Mrs. Hughes is revealed to be her in disguise.
- Continuity Nod: A chat between Nate and Charlie reveals that Amaya once channeled an animal during her and Nate's romance. The story is cut off before Nate can say any more.
- A Day in the Limelight: The episode is mostly focused on Constantine and Zari, with the rest of the cast having much less screentime than usual.
- Disc-One Final Boss: It turns out that the Fates were manipulating Astra all along, which drives her to join forces with the Legends.
- Enemy Mine: Ava convinces Astra to leave Hell with the Legends and help fight the Fates, who don't have her best interests at heart.
- "Eureka!" Moment: John realizes that in order to find the ring, they have to stop actively wanting it.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- Bonnie and Clyde, obviously. When Clyde dies, Bonnie lets out an anguished scream.
- Lachesis and Atropos claim that this is the case with regards to their sisterhood, but Lachesis's manipulations of Astra and their willingness to give her Charlie's place in the trio makes it a difficult claim to swallow (to her credit, Astra only pretends to believe them).
- Even Evil Has Standards: Henry VIII sneers at Brutus's infamous act of betraying Caesar, stating that while he beheaded people, he never stabbed them in the back (which he views as cowardly).
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Lachesis writes off Astra's desire to be reunited with her mother as a "petty human desire", and expects an offer of godlike power to easily win her over.
- Foreshadowing: The old woman's casual reaction to the Encores gives away that there's more to her than there appears.
- Guile Hero: Zari and John both use subterfuge to work around the problem of the Encores, posing as Cleopatra and Jack the Ripper respectively.
- Has a Type: Nate bitterly notes that his type seem to be beautiful women from different time periods who eventually leave him.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: Zari's ability to influence people actually comes handy during the episode. And at the end, she is even able to control her Totem.
- Heroic RRoD: Sara suffers some type of temporal abnormality, possibly a result of being exposed to Atropos' true form in the previous episode.
- Idiot Ball: Ava walks off alone with Astra, who has been the Big Bad up to this point in the season. Ava gets tied to a chair back in Astra's office for her trouble.
- Internal Reveal: Astra learns of Lachesis' manipulations.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Brutus, one of history's most infamous traitors, is shot in the back by Bonnie while Brutus thought they were in a truce.
- Limited Wardrobe: Lampshaded by Zari as an insult to Constantine.
- Love Triangle: This episode sets up one between Zari, Nate and Constantine.
- Mad Doctor: Jack the Ripper is a doctor who uses his tools to cut up people.
- Mexican Standoff: One occurs when the Encores (and Constantine) all point their Hell weapons at each other.
- Neck Snap: How John kills Jack the Ripper the first time. It doesn't last very long.
- Nerves of Steel: Astra doesn't even flinch when she gets ambushed and has Genghis Khan's sword put to her throat.
- No Honor Among Thieves: Bonnie and Clyde kill every other killer in cowardly ways, even after a ceasefire is agreed upon. The only one they don't kill, despite having perfect opportunity, is Jack the Ripper, oddly.
- Not Me This Time: Ava assumes that sending all the Encores after John was Astra reneging on her deal with him, but they soon find out this isn't the case, as Lachesis stole their soul coins.
- Not Quite Dead: Atropos, to the surprise of nobody, survived being dropped into the timestream, she even has her hand back.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Ava compares Lachesis's manipulation of Astra to how Rip similarly lied to her.
- Obviously Evil: The man with the top hat and mustache is clearly up to no good, evident from his first scene. And then it's revealed he's actually Jack the Ripper.
- Out of Focus: Nate, Charlie and Sara sit out the bulk of the episode.
- Playing Both Sides: Subverted; Astra seemingly accepts Lachesis's offer to join the Fates while also freeing the Legends, intending to throw her lot in with whoever gets the Loom first, but Ava convinces her to take charge of her own life, leading Astra to form an alliance with the Legends.
- Plot-Driven Breakdown: Before Gideon can extrapolate where a large group of Encores are converging, presuming it's on Zari and Constantine at the next location of a piece of the Loom, the Prognosticator breaks down. This pushes Ava to try and stop them at the source by confronting Astra in Hell, which is why she and Nate show up late to help Zari and Constantine.
- The Reveal: The Coin Maker is actually Lachesis, the eldest Fate.
- Self-Deprecation: The show takes another jab at Vandal Savage, the series' lackluster original Big Bad — Astra has no idea who he is, and doesn't care when Gary tries to explain it.
- Ship Tease: John and Zari of all people share an Almost Kiss after fending off the Encores together. At the beginning of the episode, they could barely stand each other.
- Shoot the Messenger: Astra throws a knife at Tiberius, her demon henchmen who got fooled by a shapeshifting Lachesis into giving her the soul coins. She brushes it off, as he will be fine after a few hours.
- Shout-Out to Shakespeare: Both Zari and Bonnie quote Julius Caesar to take shots at Brutus. Bonnie's quote even serves as a Pre-Mortem One-Liner.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Zari and John, throughout the episode.
- Stab the Scorpion: When Astra looks like she's about to kill her prisoners, she instead cuts their restraints.
- Stepford Smiler: Zari admits that she's dealt with emotional blows (her boyfriend cheating on her with her best friend, or her mother complaining about her shallow personality) by burying herself in her social media presence and pretending it didn't bother her. She can't bring herself to do the same about Behrad's death, however.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Mrs. Hughes doesn't seem surprised to see the Encores standing in line at the desk and just treats them like guests. This is one of the signs that she is actually Enchantress.
- We Can Rule Together: Lachesis and Atropos want Astra to take Charlie/Clotho's place as the third Fate.
- Wicked Cultured: Bonnie quotes Julius Caesar before executing Brutus.
- Wisdom from the Gutter: Inverted; Ava's advice ends up convincing Astra to stop letting Lachesis manipulate her in favour of seizing control of her own destiny.
