DC's Legends of Tomorrow S05E07 Review: King Lear

DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Season 5, Episode 7: Romeo v. Juliet: Dawn of Justness

As we close off the batch of available episodes for Legends of Tomorrow (production of many of the CW shows are delayed thanks to the whole health situation worldwide) it's kind of fitting that this episode is a conclusion to as well, to one of the original members of the Legends of Tomorrow's cast for the past five seasons, and a member of Arrow's cast for at least a season or so. Brandon Routh hasn't been written as the best adaptation of DC's superhero the Atom, but he sure has been a very well-written character and one that has been a fun source of laughter in this show. And, again, while I keep emphasizing just how much Legends of Tomorrow is now a show that has been taken over by the zaniness of its actors and its own personal tone, it's still quite sad to see a main character leave. Between this episode and the previous one, though, I have to say that having Ray and Nora leave as a solidly wedded couple, and this final episode basically Ray angsting on how to tell his best bro-mate Nate that he's going to leave is a fun, if sad, story.

There's a huge theme of "if you truly love the characters, they deserve a great ending" going on throughout this episode, with the time hijinks plotline being that William Shakespeare is angsting on how to end Romeo and Juliet, and our heroes getting caught up in the expected wackiness that follows them wherever they go. It's definitely a bit too meta for my tastes, especially considering the irreverent endings that Legends and CW in general have given many of their other characters, but... eh, at least it fits the episode.

There's no Encore this week (instead, the plot-device-of-the-week is the piece of the Loom of Fate hidden as Shakespeare's ring) and there's no real expansion of the Constantine plotline beyond a brief moment where Astra attempts to scry on Constantine (egged by her mysterious Old Lady Demon friend), and the primary focus is cutting back and forth the wild insanity of the Legends' bachelor/bachelorette party, which... it's absolutely batshit insane. It's honestly expected, but it's still really fun to watch, from Nate planning the crazy heist to Ray angsting about just when to break the bad news to the insanity that the girls get up to on the Waverider, which would take too long to describe, and words aren't enough anyway.

Instead, after a drunken bachelor party after they swiped the plot device, the boys end up causing a huge bar brawl with superpowers, and Nate accidentally mind-wipes the team instead of the locals, causing Shakespeare to write a huge superhero epic instead of a romantic epic. Typical Legends stuff, and, of course, they end up playing dress-up to solve the day, while Ray gives Shakespeare a pep talk, Nate ends up realizing Ray's going to quit the team and gets pissed off, and later on making up with Ray and having the bro-est of the bro hugs. It's sappy, it's crazy, it's basically what you expect from an episode like this. 

There's a short C-plot with Mick as well, and while it's admittedly a bit of an odd direction to take the character, it allows poor, under-utilized Dominic Purcell a lot of chances to flex his acting muscles as he drunkenly spills the beans about how he has a daughter, and the bit of vulnerability he shows Mona later on at the end of the episode is well-done. Mona also sees Mick as a bit of a father figure, which is a huge d'awww moment. Another great moment is actually giving time for Gideon to join in the sass when the team tries to get Ray to tell Nate about his leaving, and later on Ray actually saying goodbye to a crying Gideon.

Anyway, there's not really a whole ton to say. It's a great, appropriately sappy and appropriately goofy send-off to Ray Palmer.



DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• The title of this episode is, of course, a riff on the super-long title of the DC movie Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.