Legends of Tomorrow: Tender Is the Nate
November 26, 2018 7:53 PM - Season 4, Episode 6 - Subscribe

Hank Heywood confronts Ava about the spending habits of the Legends, and Nate steps in to try to smooth things over by inviting Hank on to the Waverider...

The Legends then show Hank what they do by visiting 1920s Paris, trying to capture the newest Fugitive. Meanwhile, Mona is trying to make a good impression with Ava, but her over eagerness gets her and Ava stuck in Nora's cell instead.
posted by oh yeah! (17 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 


Hah. You could describe every single LoT episode as "rambunctious, slightly scattered" and never be wrong. And yet it is still an awesome show.
posted by fimbulvetr at 8:07 AM on November 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


This show just makes me smile. Every time. It is more precious than jewels.
posted by Mogur at 2:25 PM on November 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


I don't know why I was surprised to have Legends do a Midnight in Paris episode, in some ways the really surprising thing is that they hadn't done it sooner. But this was a pretty great way to make use of it - having Nate's dad fawning over Hemingway was just perfect. The minotaur was a little underdeveloped but that's just a consequence of having too much other stuff to fit in the episode, and as always I vastly prefer "too much stuff to fit in an episode" to "stringing along plotlines and padding things out with repetition" as a lot of other shows are guilty of.

In some ways this show reminds me of how much fun Sleepy Hollow was in its first season. Same kind of joyfully bonkers breakneck-pacing. Now we just need this show to get Tom Mison to guest-star in an episode where the magical monster they're after is the headless horseman...
posted by mstokes650 at 3:04 PM on November 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


Maybe it's because I'm a bit punchy from too many deadlines, but for whatever reason, the snappy one-liners really stuck a chord with me in this episode.

Yes, the team is turning Ray into a big lovable teddy bear (which is so much better than the creepy Felicity stalker version we were originally presented with in Arrow).

Mick had a few doozies: "I need a Marcel" for one. Suddenly paying attention for the loot/lute liar/lyre conversation was genius. Also, I loved that he called himself an author. That was so heartwarming.

Nora encouraging Mona to keep pressing Ava ("No, it's fantastic, keep going") was fun, even if I'm not too sure what I think of Mona as a character. She was a nice diversion when Gary was trying to flirt with her, but as a regular member of the Bureau, she seems a bit much. Of course she's a genius, who has Yale as a Plan B, and knows about monsters, and is so good-hearted that she wants palm trees in the cells, and she's not afraid of the prisoners. A little goes a long way and at this point Mona is well on her way to changing her name to Mary Sue.

Ava's reactions in the office scene were perfect. As was Sara's hair and make-up in the Paris ones. I don't know what happened and how the production values went from bad wigs to fabulous period looks, but I'm all for it.

The nitpicky part of me wants to question some of the line-items in the budget, such as condiments and costumes, since we've been under the impression that Gideon creates those things out of energy and thin air, Star Trek replicator style) but I don't want to quibble about this episode. Ray being "stuck" in the envelope was a bit hard to buy, but again, I'll let it go just for the gag value of the ladies opening the envelope, dying to know what a Ray love letter is like.
posted by sardonyx at 5:05 PM on November 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


this episode made me realize we haven't seen Ray in action as Atom very often. the last time was in the episode where they got Charlie (even though that wasn't actually Ray). I guess they're saving the budget for the magical stuff this season, but I'm all for that.

Is this the first time a popular American show casually dropped congee into a scene? That was kind of amazing for me.

NO SHIPPING THE INMATES
posted by numaner at 5:48 PM on November 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


When Tom Wilson started singing and strumming to the Minotaur, I was giddy. Like, first they gave us the BttF "make like a tree and leave" nod, and now this - they are not wasting any bit of the hog.

As was Sara's hair and make-up in the Paris ones. I don't know what happened and how the production values went from bad wigs to fabulous period looks, but I'm all for it.

I am firmly convinced that the bad wigs are a deliberate comedy choice by the production. Like, there's someone in the Legends hair & makeup department who looked at Arrow's bad wigs and said "hold my beer".
posted by oh yeah! at 6:27 PM on November 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


I know not every show can be silly and heartwarming, but I'd trade all of the other Arrowverse shows for one more like this.
posted by runcibleshaw at 7:42 PM on November 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Can anybody explain the weasel reference? I thought I had a pretty good handle on Briticisms vs. American/Canadian expressions, but that one is beyond me.
posted by sardonyx at 7:48 PM on November 27, 2018


Stoat.
posted by runcibleshaw at 7:56 PM on November 27, 2018


Of course. Thanks.
posted by sardonyx at 7:57 PM on November 27, 2018


I laughed SO HARD in this episode. As Sepinwall would have said back in the day....

If they had only given us Nate's dad coming along and swooning at Hemingway, dayenu.
If they had only given us Nate being cold cocked by his "ex-girlfriend" in front of his dad while his dad was all excited to meet her, dayenu.
If they had only given us Hemingway getting cold cocked by Sara and being all "That is for being on my eighth grade summer reading list!," dayenu.
If they had only given us Ava's birthday party with alcohol and cake in a cell, dayenu.
If they had only given us Mona being all "I MUST HEAR ALL OF YOUR CRAZY LIFE STORIES NOW," dayenu.
If they had only given us "Let's read Ray's love letter, oh, wait, he's a tiny little man stuck in said letter," dayenu.
If they had only given us "I'm an author," dayenu.
If they had only given us Constantine's naked yoga in the library and uh, minotaur musk scent, dayenu.
If they had only given us singing the minotaur to sleep, dayenu.
If they had only given us Nate's giant eye roll at his dad in the medbay, dayenu.
If they had only given us "I'm a grown-ass superhero...trying to play the lute for a minotaur," dayenu.
If they had only given us "No shipping the inmates!", dayenu.

On to actual episode commentary, now I wouldn't mind if Hank was in all the episodes on the Waverider. That was a surprising delight.

As for Mona: I'm not sure what to make of her, she is the poster child for Shipper On Deck and I'm not sure why you'd hire her for feeding the creatures, and to some degree she should kinda be fired...but at the same time I was admittedly very amused and endeared. Go figure. Anyone who brings romances to the prisoners, eh?
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:11 PM on November 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


I loved this, but I'm really sad that Nate won't be on the ship for... at least a long time. I'm hoping this is temporary, because the Ray/Nate bromance is a favorite part of the show for me. Both of them are a refreshing antidote to toxic masculinity, but Nate in particular because he COULD be "one of those guys." When Nate said, "I don't have time for this macho stuff," (someone correct me on the exact line) it really warmed my heart.

At the same time, he and John have a lot of overlap. When Nate came up with the lullaby idea, the look on John's face was one of "yep, I know this, but I'm going to keep quiet and let you shine for your dad." (Note: Matt Ryan is still listed as "guest star" - what's up with that?)

I loved seeing Sarah surprising Ava...and then dodging out of Hank's vision...and then hiding under the desk...and then trying to be the kind of leader he'd want to give money to. The fact that she didn't punch him out after he mocked Nate for being hit by a woman showed admirable restraint on her part, I think.

I know in comments people have said they think Charlie is leading Rory down the path of evil. I think it's the opposite. I think Rory has been trying to show Charlie, "yep, I used to be a criminal loner like you, but it turns out being party of a team that does good is a great experience and doesn't force you to give up your whole identity." That's nice development for Rory.

I loved the"girl bonding in jail" thing. Seeing Nora and Ava duke it out for "most miserable backstory" was a delight. And Nora's whole "oh no, keep going!" to Mona felt like a very Zari line in a good way. Mona has the right idea of how to treat their magical guests. I wonder how that will come into play when Hank implements his plan?
posted by rednikki at 1:02 AM on November 29, 2018 [2 favorites]


My theory about Mona: on the Waverider, we've got Sara, Rory, Charlie, Zari, Ray and John. Back at Time HQ, we've got Ava, Nate, Nora and...Gary. Much as I like Gary, he's mainly just comic relief, and nobody else has a reason to spend a lot of time with Nora.

So, unless you want most HQ scenes to be Ava pedeconferencing with Nate, you need another character in the mix - preferably one who has a reason to interact with Ava, Nate, Gary, the creatures and Nora. It's true, they overloaded the character to give her heft in every possible combination of scenes (if the HQ side was a stand-alone, she'd be two or three characters), but as has been pointed out above, the show as a whole is already kind of character-heavy, so I am guessing that they chose to add just one and use her for everything.
posted by Mogur at 9:34 AM on November 29, 2018 [2 favorites]


Also, she's freakin' adorable.
posted by Mogur at 9:34 AM on November 29, 2018


I really liked Ramona Young in Santa Clarita Diet and I'm glad to see her on this show. What's amusing is her character on that show is also named Ramona. And with her being Mona on here, I wonder if she has that problem some actors do where they miss their cues if they don't hear their real name (like Tony Danza). Or the Legends writer fully recognized the amusement and named her character Mona.
posted by numaner at 10:09 AM on November 29, 2018 [1 favorite]


I was prepared to be a little down on this episode, because I don't have strong feelings about Nate either way and the whole conflict with Bigshot WASPy Dad is just...ugh, so trite. But actually, I loved this episode!

Like rednikki said, Nate being like, "I don't have time for this macho stuff" and just moving on was SO refreshing. I liked him so much for that line. Like, YES, thank you for just rolling your eyes and not getting caught up, dude! Appreciated.

Lots of good lines in this one, really. Lute/loot and lyre/liar is so fun. "Impolitically correct." Etc.

I also loved how Nate's heart melted when his father sang to the minotaur. Seeing Nate's heart melt made my heart melt, too.

Sarah looked phenomenal. I have always had a little bit of a crush on Sarah Lance, same as probably 98% of viewership, and seeing her kick ass while looking like a gorgeous silent movie star was just so fun.

Actually, I would be interested to see how Hank and Captain Lance (meaning Sarah's dad) would get along. I've always loved Captain Lance and I feel like he and Hank would clash in an interesting way. They're similar on a superficial level (well, I'm mostly thinking of the similarity of their jobs), but Captain Lance was always so warm and down-to-earth in the exact ways that Hank isn't, and...it would just be interesting. I would also like to see Sarah's relationship with her dad contrasted against Nate's with his, because one of the things that I've always loved about Sarah is that her relationship with her father is so great. And honestly, I don't really understand the problem between Nate and his father? I mean, I find Hank a little overbearing, too, but I feel like it's actually Nate having super high expectations for friendship and mutual understanding with his dad that is causing the problems between them.

I also really enjoyed Hemmingway having a little crush on Mick, who is the exact kind of guy who Hemmingway wished he were. And Mick really not reciprocating. I feel like just like Hemmingway is Hank's idea of "a real man," Mick is Hemmingway's...and meanwhile, Mick is a pretty modern person who isn't really that caught up in the machismo oneupmanship. I like that Mick is also just quietly not a misogynist. Of course, I can't imagine how wrapped up in macho bullshit a man can even be if meanwhile his lifelong bff is the Katherine Hepburn of villains, Leonard Snart. I always like Mick, though -- it's hard not to have a soft spot for Mr. Grumpy.

The literary cameos were hilarious, and I'm glad they were cameos rather than bigger roles. It was so fun to have the Fitzgeralds just flitting around in the background. I think that having all these luminaries partying on the periphery of the story is actually what gave the episode such a fun, lighthearted atmosphere of "Gay Paris."

Nora was a ton of fun in the Friendship Incubator, I liked her snarkiness and all the hints that she's healing and opening up her heart again (like how she secretly devoured the romance novel). She also looked surprisingly fantastic in that jumpsuit. Unfortunately, I just can't warm up to Ava, though. I try and try but she always comes off as such a wet blanket. Undecided on Mona so far. I'll probably grow to like her, but right now she's just so one-note.
posted by rue72 at 8:11 AM on February 1, 2019


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