The Legends are shocked when Rory takes command and manages to find the location of an important Alien, but he also lands them in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Ava is eager to question the Alien, but they must steal it back from the Cubans and Russians who think it is bio-warfare sent by the Americans. The team makes the decision to split up, leaving Nate and Zari to work together to stop a nuclear disaster alongside JFK while Behrad tries to leverage his newfound friendship to stop Castro from starting a war. Meanwhile, with Spooner's help, Rory makes an unlikely deal that could lead him on a solo mission to find Sara.
Tropes:
- The '60s: The Legends travel to 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
- Absurdly High-Stakes Game: Nate, the Kennedys, and the rest of the staff resolve the struggle over the nuclear football with General Kilgore and his men in a literal game of football with it.
- Afraid of Blood: Behrad has to get out of the room when Ava cuts into Kayla.
- Alien Blood: Kayla has silver blood.
- Artistic License – History: The notion of the nuclear football being fought over during the Cuban Missile Crisis is a serious anachronism, as the football didn't exist at that time; it was developed shortly thereafter, in response to concerns raised by President Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
- Artistic License – Military: As is common in fiction, the nuclear football is presented as a control board which enables a single person to simply press a few buttons and thereby order missile launches. In reality, the football just contains a series of codes, which must be called in/transmitted by at least two separate individuals in order to authorize a launch. It's rather jarring since Supergirl actually got this right.note
- Ascended Fanboy: Nate is very excited to meet the Kennedy administration, Jack and Bobby in particular.
- A-Team Firing: When the team hijacks the truck, there is a big shootout, but with no casualties.
- Bait the Dog: Just when Behrad convinces Castro not to start a nuclear war, Kayla bursts in trying to kill him. Castro mistakes this as another CIA assassination plot, causing him to order the missile strike.
- Big Damn Heroes: Mick and Spooner save Ava from being devoured by Kayla.
- Birds of a Feather: Spooner complains when Mick adheres to Ava's order not to kill anybody, liking his way of doing things better.
- Blatant Lies: Nate tells Zari that she isn't a reminder of everything that he lost, before correcting himself that she currently only reminds him of herself. Their tearful expressions at the end make it obvious that neither one of them actually buys it.
- Celebrity Resemblance: The episode makes great use of Shayan Sobhian's extraordinary resemblance to Che Guevarra.
- Contrived Coincidence: Nate’s “Steel” form resembles one of the Eisenhower Administration’s experiments.
- Cryptic Background Reference: Mick casually mentions that Putin will be ousted from power in 2044.note
- Death by Irony: General Kilgore, the man who most wanted to launch a retaliatory strike against the Cubans and Soviets, is the only person killed by the Cubans' Soviet-made missile (which had been disarmed and literally lands right on him).
- Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment: Played with. At the start of the episode, seeing Zari 2.0 in her jammies reminds Nate of Zari 1.0. While facing death from a nuclear strike, they even hold hands. Ultimately however, Nate tells Zari 2.0 that he sees her as her own person, distinct from his lost love.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: General Kilgore storms out, trying to shoot the (disarmed) missile with a handgun and promptly gets squashed.
- Eating the Eye Candy: Mick is obviously rather smitten with Kayla's human rocker chick form.
- Enemy Mine: In the end, Kayla agrees to help the Legends find Sara in exchange for a ride back into space (a.k.a. the Waverider).
- Everyone Has Standards: One of the Cuban soldiers objects when Castro launches the missile.
- Face Death with Dignity: Nate, Zari, and the Kennedys accept their impeding death with grace, knowing they chose not to take the world with them. Fortunately, Mick disarmed the missile beforehand.
- Fake Russian: In-Universe. Ava plays a Russian expert on aliens in order to get her hands on Kayla.
- General Ripper: General Kilgore is hellbent on wiping out the Cubans and Russians.
- Hidden Depths: Several of the Legends are impressed with Rory's elaborate ability to plan things out for a change.
- Ivy League for Everyone: Invoked. JFK and all his close civilian advisors are Harvard alumni. Nate fits in with them perfectly.
- Literal Metaphor: Nuclear football.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Kennedy was not made aware of Eisenhower’s experiments to create metal men, because the latter didn’t thin a “Harvard boy” could handle such a revelation.
- Manly Tears: Castro, after Behrad plays him his peace song. He then promptly wants to call JFK to broker peace. Too bad Kayla ruins it.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Mick forgets to set the Waverider's cloak on so when it shows up on U2 spy plane footage, the U.S. military thinks it's a new Soviet bomber.
- Mick and Spooner provide Castro with the stolen Soviet missile.
- Or Are You Just Happy to See Me?: Nate apparently has one when he sees Zari 2.0 in her jammies, though he tries to downplay it as morning wood.
- Stoners Are Funny: Behrad gets Castro high on his drug candy and both are having a good time.
- Too Dumb to Live: General Kilgore attempts to stop the (disarmed) nuke by standing under it and trying to shoot it with his pistol. This goes exactly how you'd expect.
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: Behrad tries to use this trope when one of the Cubans mistakes him for Che Guevara and brings him in front of Fidel Castro. He passes himself off as Che's cousin Jay, and Castro actually buys it, until the man himself calls in later...
