Ava and Sara’s relationship goes through their biggest test – Purgatory- as the Legends deal with Neron in “The Eggplant, The Witch and The Wardrobe.”For the last few episodes of Legends of Tomorrow, Ava has been MIA with no explanation whatsoever. Well “The Eggplant, The Witch and The Wardrobe” lets us know what happened to Ava and also further advances several key plot points for this season of Legends of Tomorrow. One ship rises while another stays level but gains a name (Sorry Mona but ‘Natari’ is not a terrible ship name for Nate and Zari). And we get one hell of a surprise to end the episode! So lets start off our thoughts on this episode with one of the most popular ships in the DC/CW universe: AVALANCE!
AS/IS
AvaLance has been up and down all season long with a lot of angst thrown in at times. For every sexy birthday dance, there’s been a argument about personal and professional problems. Finally we get to see Ava and Sara deal with those problems and while not all have been answered, at least they know that they will always be there for one another.
Sara (with help from Constantine and Nora) finds Ava in a beat-up hotel room and in a coma. Short story made even shorter, Ava’s soul has been captured and put into purgatory. Thanks to John, Sara is able to enter Ava’s purgatory to rescue her. As anyone knows, purgatory is where your deepest fears and anxieties are known to lurk. So what other place would anxiety creep up on you worse than in a retail store aka Ava’s own personal hell.
Sara finds Ava and together they go step by step through purgatory to find the way out. However , it’s not easy as each task not only forces them to do certain things like build a door or choose a mattress but also confront Ava’s questions about their relationship. The first task is building a door and they both work on it in the same way they do with their relationship – Sara by winging it without any rules which leads to a failed door – Ava by following every instruction to the letter which builds the door but also forgets a piece to it. Ava is distraught until Sara rightly points out that not everything can be perfect. Doors like relationships aren’t always their most perfect but like AvaLance, the door works for them. No couple is perfect, no ship is perfect and Ava realizing this lets the door work and they go onto the second part of the journey.
This leads them into a mattress store and the goal here is to choose a mattress. The REAL test here though is Ava’s worry of growing old together with Sara. The joy, excitement, fear and everything in-between that couples have when they are with one another for a long time. Ava wants that and I believe Sara wants to be with Ava for as long as she lives.
The mattress sends them to a version of their apartment where domesticity becomes the true test as different things around the place start breaking and the conversation goes to Ava’s fear of Sara getting tired of being with her during the less than exciting moments. Sara tries to convince her that she won’t go but this leads to another fight and Ava getting put into a stockroom full of different kinds of Ava’s. (Adventure Ava, Domestic Ava…that sort of thing.)
Sara is able to find her Ava thanks to help from a subconscious in the form of Gary and signs that say AS/IS. This works for Ava and Sara as they will never be the ideal couple aka the one in the Hallmark movies that never argue and always get along. No, they have flaws and arguments but that’s what makes them real. AS/IS means accepting the person you love AS/IS. As they are. Sara will never follow every rule as Ava will never be wild and free but they love each other because of things like that. Sara accepts Ava as is and I believe Ava now accepts Sara as is.
So Sara is able to rescue Ava and they hug and embrace each other in the real world. Is everything cured for AvaLance? No, because every couple with have rocky roads in their future. But this trip through purgatory only highlights that even hell can’t keep Sara Lance and Ava Sharpe apart.
THE DEVIL INSIDE US
The other main story of “The Eggplant, the Witch and Wardrobe” has Neron finally being confronted by Constantine and Nora after tricking him with a Charlie-impersonated Ava. Captured, Neron plays mind games on the Legends while revealing that he’s waiting for someone even badder than him to come soon – Tabitha. Neron’s plan was to capture Ava so that Tabitha could enter and take over her body. After that, they’d make the earth a devil’s playground so to speak.
There were some nice callbacks to Nora and John’s first meeting a long time ago when Neron tries to convince Nora to free him. I thought after he offered up to bring back her father Damien, that might be just enough to sway her. Instead Nora proves that her path to redemption is still strong as her, and Constantine and her are able to trick Neron into freedom only to lay a spell on him to get out of Desmond’s body. It looks like they will succeed in destroying the demon but good ol’ Raymond Palmer interrupts the spell – See, this is why you should let everyone in on the plan. There’s always going to be a misguided but foolish team member to screw things up if you don’t!
Desmond is saved but Nora pays the price as she is knocked into a coma. They wouldn’t be the Legends without winning while also losing at the same time. Except where oh where did Neron escape off to?
As the episode ends, we see Ray meeting up with a nice doggy who immediately starts barking at him real loudly. WARNING WARNING WARNING – Always trust a pup’s instinct. Suddenly Ray starts whistling the same tune as Neron did in the cell and 1+1 = Neron is inside of Ray’s body!
It will be interesting to see how this plays out through the next episode. Will Neron keep himself hidden in Ray or reveal himself? Is Neron going to try to get one of the other Legends to be the vessel to Tabitha? WHO IS TABITHA? It truly is hell waiting a week to find out what is going to happen next.
LEGENDARY THOUGHTS
- My MVPs of the episode are Caity Lotz and Jes MacAllan for just the scene where they talk about growing old together and it’s so beautiful and touching. Sara and Ava’s relationship would be a touching as it is without these two and their very strong chemistry with one another.
- Nate and Zari’s stories were C-level at best as Zari tried to figure out the best way to text her feelings to Nate as Mona, Charlie, and Rory helped. Zari is able to ask Nate out on a date but thanks to a wrecking ball, Nate doesn’t receive the message. And in typical rom-com fashion, Zari pretends she didn’t send it the next time she meets up with Nate. My thoughts : EITHER MAKE IT HAPPEN OR DON’T. LIFE’S TOO SHORT FOR ANGST.
- Nate’s story involves HEYWORLD and still dealing with what happened with his father. Serviceable story but very forgotten with the other things happening in this episode. Though “Unicorn Jousting” is something I’d never though I’d hear on any TV show.
- Gary standing watch over Ava and Sara during their purgatory adventure was creepy creepy creepy.
- “I just need to know if you are on my team.” “I am always on your team.”
Legends of Tomorrow airs Mondays at 8/7 on The CW.