Legends of Tomorrow season 3 finale recap: Going out west

Legends of Tomorrow’s third season ended with an episode that featured several deaths, the return of some old friends, and the departure of one member of the Waverider’s crew.

Coming into tonight’s finale, Legends of Tomorrow’s producers had a lot of expectations to fulfill. The Mallus arc had to be brought to a close, the business with the Darhks needed to be wrapped up and fallout to Amaya’s (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) choice to alter her own past had to be dealt with. And I’m happy to report that this finale stuck the landing. In fact, this episode did such a good job bringing the show’s third season to a close, I’d say it reestablished Legends as the best part of the Arrowverse franchise.

“The Good, the Bad, and the Cuddly” began on a surprisingly poignant note with Rip (Arthur Darvill) sacrificing himself to save the Legends. Seeing that the team was overwhelmed by Mallus, Rip turned one of the Waverider’s time drives into a bomb to slow the time demon down. The team used the distraction to escape to temporal safe zone Salvation, South Dakota 1874. Also, Legends’ associate Jonah Hex (Johnathon Schaech) was revealed to be the town’s sheriff. Ray (Brandon Routh) freed Damien (Neal McDonough) and stole a time shuttle with the intent save Nora (Courtney Ford) from being destroyed by Mallus.

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Although I’ve been down and Rip this season for some of the questionable decisions he’s made, I was still sad to see him go. He was after all the team’s founder and its original main character so his loss is significant. However, over the last two seasons, Sara (Caity Lotz) had supplanted him as the show’s lead and the team has evolved past the purpose he originally gave it. In the end, I was heartened to see him redeem himself after of his many lies and manipulations. And given how hunted he was by his inability to save his family, it was fitting that he died saving his team.

“Am I crazy or is Jonah Hex hot?”

Meanwhile, Amaya (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) went on a vision quest and learned that Mallus could only be defeated by the Totems bearers acting in concert used in unison. Mallus sent an army of this season’s villains to Salvation with an ultimatum; surrender the Totems or die. Zari (Tala Ashe) sent out a signal to the Legends’ allies throughout time asking for help. Amaya repeated tried and failed to get the Legends to unify their thoughts. Thankfully, Ava (Jes Macallan) arrived with Amazonian Helen of Troy, a reformed Kuasa (Tracy Ifeachor) and a slightly older Jax (Franz Drameh). Ray and Damien freed Nora by driving Mallus into Damien right before the demon manifested.

While the plot device of bringing back all their friends that the team and made this season could’ve made this episode feel overstuffed, it ended up working well. Their appearance showed that despite their missteps, the Legends did a lot of good this season. Helen, Kuasa and even Jax are now in much better places than they were when they first encountered the group. The franchise’s other show’s should follow Legends’ example when bringing their season-long arcs to conclusion.

I also really like the episode-long flirtation between Zari and Jonah. I would’ve never predicted those two characters hitting it off but Ashe and Schaech did a great job making their interactions feel natural. Since the show’s writers often struggled to find things for Zari to do, it’d be nice if Hex made more appearances next season. Seeing an Old West cowboy and a future freedom fighter trying to make the ultimate long-distance relationship work has a lot of dramatic potential.

And while one can never be sure that a dead character is truly gone in the Arrowverse, it was bittersweet to see Damien Darhk seemingly perish. Bitter because he is by far the franchise’s most compelling and multi-dimensional antagonist and sweet because he died sacrificing his life for his daughter. If Damien is truly gone, this is a great note for him to go out on. He redeemed himself for what was arguably his most egregious crime while still remaining true to his character. As such, he has attained a level of depth and humanity that most superhero fiction doesn’t allow its villains, so he’ll be missed.

“You are so high!”

The Legends and company engaged and defeated Mallus’ army, but they were resurrected as zombies. The team once again tried to harmonize their Totems and successfully created a giant avatar of Beebo. The unholy beast proved powerful enough to destroy the time demon. The Time Bureau memory wiped the conflict’s participants and sent them back to where they belonged. Ray slipped Nora her father’s time stone before remanding her to Time Prison. Amaya returned to Zambesi but retained her memories. The Legends went on vacation in Aruba but were interrupted by John Constantine (Matt Ryan). The magician revealed that when the team freed Mallus, several other demons were also loosed upon reality.

Completing the trifecta, Amaya also seemingly departed the series with this episode. Of the three, I’d say hers was the most satisfying exit. Since she joined the crew, Amaya has effectively been living on borrowed time so it wasn’t surprising to see her finally embrace her destiny. Also, Amaya and Nate’s (Nick Vento) understated big goodbye was beautifully filmed and performed. It was really nice to see an Arrowverse relationship end of good terms and without anybody dying suddenly.

While this episode’s greatest strength was how well it tied off loose ends, I’m very intrigued by the subplots it set up. For one thing, very curious to see what happens next between Nora and Ray. Given that the characters portrayers are married in real life, I’m hoping for a complicated but not tortured hero-villain romance. I’m also curious to see where things are going with Ava and Sara. The couple’s relationship did definitively end here, but it did exactly resume either. Given the world ending circumstances of their reunion and Ava’s identity issues, I think the show’s writers were right to leave things ambiguous.

Next: Legends of Tomorrow season 3, episode 17 recap: The scorpion and the frog

I’m also very interested to see what direction Legends takes next season. Constantine’s reappearance and the revelation of a demon invasion suggest a move away from science-fiction and embrace of the supernatural. While a genre shift of that nature is risky, it could also work well. Many of the show’s best episodes have featured supernatural elements such as witchcraft, zombies, and were-creatures. Plus there’s no reason to think the invading demons will be scattered across the time stream.

Ultimately, as Legends is a show that has thrived on changing frequently, I’m feeling very optimistic about season four.

Legends of Tomorrow airs on The CW Mondays at 8 p.m.