Legends of Tomorrow 7×02 “The Need for Speed” is a prime example of the different coping measures the Legends take to deal with their problems. Coping with trauma can mean different things for different people. Usually, we try to cope with problems by getting help in whatever way is best for the situation they are in. The Legends’ coping methods are quite a bit different than how people usually handle them.
Forgiving Yourself
A perfect example of this is Nate. Nate has two loves in his life – Zari 1.0 and History. So of course he feels so much guilt for what happened to J. Edgar Hoover in “The Bullet Blondes.” Hoover’s death completely messes up history and Nate can’t help but feel responsible for it in his mind. He’s wrong of course but that doesn’t stop him from doing some mistakes.
The biggest mistakes come when Gary creates a potion to have Nate look like Hoover to everyone. That makes Nate act like J.Edgar and well as Behrad points out throughout “The Need for Speed”, Mr. Hoover was not a nice person in the nicest terms.
It takes almost the whole episode but Nate finally copes with what happened by letting go of his guilt. Unfortunately, this is in front of a bunch of mobsters hired by Al Capone to kill ol’ J. Edgar. As Behrad suggests to him early on in “The Need for Speed,” Nate forgives himself for what went down. Sure history may be a complete mess but Nate knows that history will still be there to love. (Then in typical Legends of Tomorrow fashion, a robot J. Edgar Hoover shows up. Robot Hoover kills all the mobsters and self-destructs after Sara smashes a wine bottle on its head. Business as usual.)
Next is Zari who still hasn’t gotten over the loss of Constantine. Losing someone you love gives you a pain that never heals. Only time heals the wound and Zari hasn’t had the time to grieve yet. So instead, she tries different coping methods to power through the pain. First, she tries Behrad’s “special” gummy bears but all that does is make her higher than a kite. And then in her altered state, she tries to clean John’s kitchen. That fails as Zari gets distracted by a refrigerator that dispenses whiskey bottles constantly.
Time is the biggest help Zari can have right now. Time to cope, time to mourn, and time to heal.
The final member of the Legends coping with something is Astra. Astra has brought Gideon to life thanks to finishing her spell at the end of “The Bullet Blondes.” Astra copes with this by being mean to Gideon as Spooner and her mom try to help her.
The best scene in “The Need for Speed” is when Spooner confronts Astra about this and Astra explains that she feels useless and a failure. A way we cope with failure is by taking it out on others. It’s not right and not good but it’s something that we’ve all done at least once in our lives. Spooner helps Astra cope with this by explaining how she’s not a failure. She brought Gideon to life for heaven’s sake! Failing is not trying but not even attempting to try. Astra is trying to do the right thing and that doesn’t make her a failure.
Astra apologizes to Gideon for everything (after Gideon messes with some electrical wires) and Gideon speaks for the first time. What she says is not good news for the Legends of Tomorrow: They have to reach Dr. Davies in two weeks or the Legends will die!! So killer robots and two weeks to live or else. Seems like season 7 is picking up steam.
LEGENDARY THOUGHTS
- “Yeah well great men usually aren’t good guys.”
- good to see it is confirmed that Ava and Sara have loud sex. I mean we all figured as much but now it’s canon.
- The new old-timey intro was actually very good.
- Hope this isn’t the last we’ll see of Spooner’s mom. She was such a nice character on here.
- Next week’s episode is the 100th and some familiar faces look like they are back for it. Here’s a preview of the episode
Legends of Tomorrow airs on the CW on Wednesday Nights at 8/7c.
