Recap / Legends Of Tomorrow S 5 E 4 A Head Of Her Time

While Sara is in Star City, Ava leads the Legends to seek an Encore in 1793 Versailles: Marie Antoinette. Meanwhile, Constantine confronts the spirit of Natalie, Astra's mother, who claims that she has a plan to save her daughter.

Tropes

• Accidental Misnaming: Zari refers to Gideon as "Gidget".
• Adaptational Heroism: In Hellblazer, Alex Logue was a Grade-A scumbag who abused his daughter in horrific ways, prompting her to summon a demon in an attempt to protect herself from him and his disgusting friends. In the show, he seems to be a perfectly ordinary man who loves his wife and daughter, and Astra's death is caused by a botched resurrection ritual.
• All for Nothing: John's past attempt to bring back Natalie from the dead. After Nergal took Astra in exchange for her, Natalie took her own life out of grief.
• Amnesiac Resonance: Eating a doughnut brings back a flood of memories for Zari, although it passes quickly.
• And I Must Scream: Quite literally, in fact; Zari gags Marie Antoinette in order to hide her theft of the latter's perfume. A gag that she can't remove on her own on account of being reduced to a mere head.
• Anti-Villain: Unlike the previous Encores, Marie Antoinette isn't actually trying to hurt anybody. At worst, she's apathetic to people partying themselves to death under her influence, and only attacks the Legends after they've re-beheaded her and locked her up.
• Artistic License – History: A minor one that only sharp-eyed viewers would notice. In real life, Marie Antoinette was executed in October of 1793, so it should be well into fall or early winter when the Legends arrive later that year. However, the first view we get of Versailles as the Waverider arrives is better suited for spring or summer.
• Ask a Stupid Question...: Astra notes, suspiciously, that the "favor" the soul coin maker is asking for sounds a lot like "sin". The coinmaker reminds her that they're in Hell.
• Bait-and-Switch: Marie Antoinette brings in a guillotine, and the Legends briefly ponder if it's the Artifact Antoinette uses as an Encore. The lethal contraption was instead used...to cut a cake.
• Bavarian Fire Drill: Zari is able to get access to the party by posing as an important noble, and has them let the rest in to “carry (her) bags”.
• Blatant Lies: John initially tries to downplay his role in coming up with the idea to bring Natalie back to life. She calls him out on it.
• Body Horror:
  • Downplayed: As it turns out, Marie Antoinette was Encored still decapitated; she just disguised the cut line.
  • Astra makes a deal in hell to accelerate John's lung cancer. Instead of slowly killing him over ten years, it hits him all at once, leaving poor John hacking in agony and coughing up blood.
• Brick Joke: Behrad tries to explain to Ava that the Legends are "foxes" - acclimating to new situations - while Ava's leadership makes her a "hedgehog" - relying on the same method for everything. At the end of the episode, he tells Sara that Ava was a "foxy hedgehog" in their mission.
• Charm Person: Marie Antoinette's perfume makes her irresistibly charming to anyone and everyone around her.
• Chekhov's Gag: John's smoking habits are what ultimately will kill him a decade from now.
• Chekhov's Gun: Zari's perfume turns out to be critical to capturing Marie Antoinette, due to it destroying the user's sense of smell, cancelling out Marie's own perfume, and the launch event is the site of the episode's climax.
• Chekhov's Skill: The A.L.O.H.A. itinerary Ava provides comes in handy in the climax.
• Cliffhanger: The episode ends with John collapsing as Astra accelerates his lung cancer.
• Continuity Nod: Natalie is revealed to have been part of John's old punk band, Mucous Membrane, and in a flashback mentions a 'Lester', most likely referring to Gary Lester from Constantine's solo series.
• Cowardly Lion: Gary actually steps in and uses what little magic he can conjure up to help John when the latter is brutalized by Natalie's spirit. Unfortunately, it does more harm than good, see Nice Job Breaking It, Hero below.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: John ends the episode by having ten years worth of lung cancer hit him all at once.
• Deal with the Devil: The coinmaker expects a favour from Astra in the future for killing John.
• Demonic Possession: Natalie possesses Charlie to speak with John.
• Didn't Think This Through: Zari, on the topic of perfume; first, she was ready to release Dragonesque without having it properly tested; as it happens, the perfume causes an inability to smell and eventually becomes permanent with excessive use. Then, after stealing Marie Antoinette's perfume, Zari accidentally gets the whole bottle spilled on herself, whipping the crowd into a frenzy.
• Dismantled MacGuffin: Charlie took apart the Loom of Fate and scattered it across the multiverse.
• Distracted by the Sexy:
  • When Nate tells Zari that even wearing a nice dress could get one killed by the Revolutionaries...
    Zari: Uh, and you ''let'' me come out in this because...
    Nate: I'm a sucker for a corset and an updo.
  • Nate and Ray being affected by Marie's perfume initially comes off as this.
• Driven to Suicide: Constantine admits that Natalie took her own life in his former home, hence why her ghost haunts it.
• Easily Forgiven: Ava and the Legends don't hold Zari's theft of Marie's perfume against her.
• Even Evil Has Standards: The maker of the soul coins doesn't follow through on Astra's request to kill John lightly, even asking if she's absolutely certain. She also notes that dying of lung cancer is a particularly nasty way to go.
• The Faceless: DJ S'more Money is only seen with his overgrown mask.
• Fantastic Drug: Magic is treated as a drug for a young John Constantine.
• Former Child Star: Growing up as an internet star and occupying her time with social media and fashion trends leaves Zari feeling hollow inside despite her popularity. Also, given that her entire life, including her relationship, is tied to her public image, even her boyfriend's marriage proposal ends up as essentially a publicity stunt.
• Friendship Moment: Ava and Zari share one near the end of the episode.
• Fun with Acronyms: Ava, as temporary captain, provides the team with A.L.O.H.A.: Assess, Listen, Observe, Hydrate, Attack.
• Gone Horribly Right: Zari using the magic perfume causes her to be really popular...too popular that the masses started swarming toward her like zombies. To be fair, it only got that worse because Zari accidentally spilled the bottle's entire contents all over herself.
• Good Feels Good: Nora once again states how fulfilling her job as the Fairy Godmother is.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Zari's knowledge on how to act around high society and party people comes in very handy during the episode.
• Identical Stranger: For some reason, Marie Antoinette looks exactly like Nora. It's suggested she may be an ancestor, though whether it's through Damien Darhk or Ruvé Adams is unknown. Lampshaded by Ray; he even tries to show Nora (through a phone) Antoinette's head.
• Is This Thing Still On?: Happens to Ava when she uses the Waveriders intercom to call the team to the bridge.
• Jerkass Realization: Zari has one, after realizing how selfish it was for her to steal Marie Antoinette for her own fame.
• Kick the Dog: Astra makes a deal to accelerate John's lung cancer, smiling as she condemns him to a horrible death.
• Logical Weakness: Marie's magical perfume only works on people who can actually smell it, and washing it off negates the effects.
• Lonely at the Top: Zari's fame has isolated her from real friendships; as she laments to Ava, she has millions of followers, but no real friends. Ava proudly tells her that she has at least one now.
• Losing Your Head: Naturally, Marie has this happen to her. The Legends restrain her body and keep her head in the library.
• Mundane Solution: How do you abduct a party-obsessed queen from her own party? Simple: Tell her there's an even bigger party going on somewhere else and she'll come with you willingly.
• Mundane Utility: Marie Antoinette has a guillotine used to...cut a cake.
• My Greatest Failure: Or second greatest in this case. John reveals he was indirectly responsible for the death of his childhood friend/crush Natalie, whom he resurrected on behalf of her grieving husband Alex, but who promptly committed suicide again after the botched resurrection took the life of her child, Astra.
• My Sensors Indicate You Want to Tap That: Gideon telling Mick about his newfound feelings with his old flame Allie.
• Necromantic: A platonic example. John, both at the request of her husband and over John's guilt of her dying because of him, once attempted to bring Natalie back from the dead. Although he ultimately reveals the main reason was he wanted to prove to her that he was right about picking a life of magic over a life with her.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • Gary's attempt at helping John against Natalie only ends up releasing her spirit into the house.
  • Zari bringing Marie's perfume to the future for her unveiling goes as well as one would expect.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: The guy Zari is dating (and is supposed to get engaged to in a publicity stunt) has a S'mores gimmick.
• Off with His Head!: Expected, given who the episode concerns itself with, but at the same time, surprising: at first, it seems like Marie Antoinette was resurrected with her head reattached to her body. But, Ava and Zari are outrunning the mob of partiers while making off with her, she is hit on the head by a rafter...and her head flies off.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • The fact Napoleon Bonaparte is at a party run by nobles is the first hint that something is off.
  • While Nate and Ray goggling at Marie can be brushed off as two guys falling for a pretty face (especially as said face is identical to that of Ray's actual girlfriend), Zari and Ava realise that something is wrong with the male Legends when Behrad (who is Muslim and therefore doesn't drink alcohol) tries to down a glass of wine right in front of them and is only stopped when Zari physically snatches it out of his hand.
• Out of Focus:
  • Sara only appears in the beginning and the end. The in-universe reason is because she is away in Star City. The out-universe reason is that Caity Lotz had directorial duties for the following episode ("Mortal Khanbat"), so she could not appear much.
  • Nora also only appears in a couple of scenes, as Courtney Ford pulls double duty as Marie Antoinette.
• Poor Little Rich Kid: Zari laments that she has millions of followers, but zero friends. Ava objects.
• Pride: John eventually admits that he didn't try to resurrect Natalie because of her husband's pleading or any desire to reunite Astra with her mother, but to prove to Natalie that he was right to choose magic over their relationship. He wound up destroying his, Natalie's, and Astra's lives in the process.
• Really 700 Years Old: It's not specified how old exactly, but Charlie is revealed to be quite ancient, having destroyed the Loom of Fate a long time ago.
• Retcon: Astra's death at the hands of Nergal wasn't just a simple exorcism, as it was treated as before. It is now revealed that John was actually trying to bring back Natalie, who died in a drunk driving incident. Unfortunately, Nergal took Astra as payment.
• The Reveal:
  • The reason Charlie has been MIA as of late is because she senses that something has happened fairly recently that's affected the multiverse.
  • John was fated to die of lung cancer sometime in 2030, until Astra decided to speed it up in a matter of seconds.
• Running Gag: Zari continues the tradition of new (relative to the crew) Legends causing trouble with the timeline almost immediately after joining.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: Gary is present while Natalie's ghost pressures John into detailing the circumstances of Astra's damnation, but when they get to discussing the more plot-relevant Loom of Fate, he is the only one not absolutely needed, so child!Natalie takes him by the hand and drags him out of the room, leaving John, Charlie, and ghostly Natalie alone.
• Sophisticated as Hell: Gideon remarks to Mick that "the results of my body scan indicate that you do, in fact, like like her".
• Survivor's Guilt: John in regards to Natalie's suicide.
• Time Abyss: Implied with Charlie. When asked how old she is, she simply says "old".
• Two Lines, No Waiting: The Legends' and the Constantine storylines run parallel and are both equally important.
• What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Mick confuses his romantic feelings for Allie with an illness or an STD.
• Wham Episode: In addition to Charlie revealing she scattered an Ancient Artifact, Astra decides to deal with Constantine once and for all, accelerating his life span so that he dies of lung cancer 10 years early.
• Wham Line: When John asks Natalie, possessing Charlie, why he hasn't heard of the Loom of Fate.
  "You're asking the wrong person. Why do you think I brought her here?"
• You Are in Command Now: Sara takes some time off to deal with something in Star City, leaving Ava in charge of the team. At first, she is having a hard time, with nobody really taking her seriously, but by the end they all tell Sara what a great job she did.
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Antoinette was actually captured rather early in the episode. The remainder deals with Zari's theft of Antoinette's perfume charm.