While the Legends contemplate how to get to New York City, Behrad discovers Hoover has train tickets to DC and Sara and Ava come up with a plan. With the help of Gary, Nate will have to impersonate Hoover, but he soon learns it is harder being Hoover than he expected. Since Zari is stuck without the internet, she is forced to take a digital detox and becomes obsessed with figuring out who blew up the Waverider. Meanwhile, Astra and Spooner have stayed behind in Texas and are dealing with the aftermath of Astra's special spell.
Tropes:
- Asshole Victim: Nate lampshades the fact that Hoover was a horrible person. However, it does not make Nate feel any less guilty about accidentally killing Hoover.
- Becoming the Mask: Behrad and Gary are both a bit worried about Nate adapting a bit too well in playing Hoover.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: Gary has multiple stomachs. All of them don't take Hoover in very well.
- Brick Joke: When Sara handcuffs herself to Ava so they can pretend that "Hoover" has captured the Bullet Blondes, Ava mutters to Nate that her Safe Word is "core competency". Later, when Ava doesn't believe that Zari could hear her and Sara upstairs, Zari replies "Core competency."
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Played with, as Igor accuses "Hoover" of this, already being violently interrogated by him in the past, when the real Hoover was on the hunt for Emma Goldman.
- Continuity Cavalcade: In their attempt to decipher the origins of the evil Waverider, Zari and Ava make an extensive list of suspects that includes many major and minor foes, allies and organizations from past seasons, as well as name-dropping known threats from all across the Arrowverse like doppelgängers, time witches and paragons.
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: One of Zari's suspected targets, while high, were actually robots. She gets proven right.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: The two supposed FBI agents work for Al Capone.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Zari, though not with alcohol, but with her brother's weed gummies, being high as hell for the majority of the episode.
- "Eureka!" Moment: It comes from being high but Zari is onto something when the discovery of a fridge that keeps replenishing whiskey bottles makes her consider that, somehow, the Waverider will keep being destroyed by the other Waverider no matter what the team does.
- Grievous Bottley Harm: Sara smashes a bottle of whiskey against Hoover, leading to a Robotic Reveal.
- Hidden Depths: Behrad knows how to fix cars.
- Irony: When one of the passengers tells Gary (who literally ate Hoover) that Hoover leaves a "bad taste in his mouth".
- It's All My Fault:
- Nate is guilt-ridden over Hoover's death, even outright calling himself a murderer, despite the fact that it happened by accident while he was defending himself.
- Astra is also on the edge throughout the entire episode, blaming herself for not being able to fix the Waverider and accidentally recreating Gideon as a human.
- Just Train Wrong: The Legends travel on the fictional Imperial Railroad to get to Chicago from Texas. There were trains traveling that way during 1925, but the issue is more with the form of motive power getting them there—a 2-6-2 tank engine, which was not explicitly built for mainline service due to lacking the capability of getting from one place to another without frequent water stops. And when the train is stopped on the siding? She inexplicably gains a tender while still having both of her tanks attached. Even ignoring that, a 4-6-2 would have been a more appropriate locomotive to have on a mainline passenger train.
- Kick the Dog: After being on the edge due to her own perceived inability, Astra finally blows up at Gideon, telling her that she wished she could undo her creation.
- The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Villainous version, as Capone's men (and apparently also the man himself) are huge fans of the "Bullet Blondes".
- Married to the Job: "Hoover's" justification of turning down the lady in the train who hits on him.
- Ms. Fanservice: Ava spends a significant part of the episode without pants.
- No Social Skills: Gideon, who is adjusting to her new human body.
- Oh, Crap!:
- The Legends rely on the fact that Nate can pretend to be Hoover as long as people do not look too closely. Then they discover that a close friend of Hoover's is on the train and they are seconds from being exposed.
- When Al Capone's head enforcer demands that Hoover be turned over to him, Nate tries to sacrifice himself only to discover that the potion that made him look like Hoover has stopped working.
- One-Man Army: The robotic Hoover makes short work of Capone's men, even executing them once they are wounded and surrender.
- Out of Focus: Sara is conspicuously absent for most of the pocket dimension plot, presumably to accomodate Caity Lotz's directing duties for the next episode.
- The Reveal: The foes of the Legends this season are robots.
- Robotic Reveal: When the robotic Hoover loses his organic face mask.
- Shout-Out: The robot's design is obviously based on Terminator.
- Spoiler Opening: The new intro very clearly shows Matt Ryan's new character, Gwyn Davies, a few episodes before he debuts.
- Suddenly Voiced: Gideon gains a voice at the end of the episode.
- Talking the Monster to Death: Nate actually manages to talk down Capone's men...but then the robotic Hoover appears on the scene.
- The Voiceless: Gideon, for the majority of the episode, is unable to talk. This changes at the end after electrocuting herself.
- Wham Shot: First Hoover appears, apparently still alive. Then, he is revealed to be a robot.
- You Are Not Alone: Astra and Spooner empathize with Gideon, assuring her that she is not useless, she is just figuring herself out, same way as the two of them.
- You Will Be Beethoven: Nate takes a potion that makes him look like J Edgar Hoover in order to take the deceased Hoover's place to prevent the timeline from unravelling.
