The Legends of Tomorrow continue one of their odder seasons, and that says something for this show. Ray and Nora are gone now, and the team is trying to deal with their Encore problem, the search for the Loom of Fate, and Zari 2.0. Add in a few personal subplots and a sort of semi-crossover, and there are quite a few balls in the air in “Zari, Not Zari.”

The episode opens in London in 1977, just after Charlie joined the Legends. Her former bandmates get an unwelcome visit in the wake of Charlie leaving, and it doesn’t go very well for them. Her former band essentially become Star Trek redshirts, showing how the enemy attacks work. On the Waverider, Zari has a morning after without even getting drunk. It seems she’s sleepwalking, no doubt guided by echoes of her former life. There’s a lot of awkwardness and teasing and some complaints from Gideon about what Zari’s been up to. In the first of many entrance/exit crossovers, Constantine comes back to the ship just as Rory leaves to go visit his daughter. Charlie gets upsetting news, followed by drinking and sympathy that she’s not great with accepting. Ava and Sara do their best to help Charlie, but Constantine doesn’t want to wait and is off on his own agenda, not that this is anything new for the warlock.

 

Down in Hell, we learn a few important things about some minor characters we’ve been seeing throughout the season. It’s a reveal I didn’t see coming, and it adds some interesting connections to what’s been going on. As usual, the team splits up, with some going to deal with the major problems, and Ava staying behind to help Rory with complications from being a new parent. Or new to parenting, at least. Ava comes up with an interesting idea that takes advantage of the unique capabilities of the Waverider. Searching for a few missing things, Sara gets a crash course in the history of fate (well, the Fates) from Charlie. Rounding out the “What’s Everyone Doing this Week?” question, Zari has a familiar hallucination, goes to talk to Behrad, and they make a startling shared discovery.

 

Catching up, John Constantine and Sara argue about the sorcerer going off alone while Charlie gets some dire warnings that culminate in the team losing something important. Coms are also down, and they are forced to steal some props from a popular CW show they sort of cross over with this week, but not really. Making one of his few appearances this week, Nate sits in on the Tomaz siblings detangling Zari’s convoluted past. Zari doesn’t like the analogy Behrad comes up with. While Charlie slips away from Sara and Constantine, Mick and Ava enact her plan, which has a few amusing scenes, including a callback to the late, great Captain Cold.

 

Charlie has a very unwelcome reunion, and there’s a lot of arguing. Sara gets a shot at the big bad for this week, while John preps a spell to give Charlie a chance to get away. Nothing goes quite as planned in the fight. Running for their lives, the heroes (more or less) reunite later… we think. There are shapeshifters and illusion magic running around. There is a great line about thanking God in this scene. Zari has an odd conversation, then talks to Behrad some more, and he makes a suggestion she doesn’t love but goes along with. While they hunt for this week’s MacGuffin, Sara gives Charlie a talk about the family you choose versus the one you’re born into. In modern day Central City, Mick and Ava’s plan hits the kind of snag we’ve come to expect from Legends’ missions. Ava talks Mick out of doing something rash, and they come up with another solution.

 

Things continue to go south for Charlie’s quest, but Sara seems more concerned about the fate of a tv show. Zari’s earlier actions continue to have repercussions on Gideon, which delays help getting to the team that needs it. Zari, meanwhile, takes a trip and talks to herself. Charlie goes to find something while Sara ends up zombie hunting. Things are looking bad as the big bad gets what they were after, leaving chaos and bodies in their wake. Zari finds out some surprising things about what used to be.

 

The fight with the bad guy goes on in several different places. Most of the rest of the team gets involved, but singly, not together. The lack of teamwork takes a terrible toll, and there’s a surprising development I didn’t see coming. Sara, who has already come up with several surprises this episode, pulls a new one, and comes up with a brilliant solution to deal with the enemy. It does reveal something about the Temporal Zone that we hadn’t known until now. The episode ends with Zari dealing with the surprising events that have happened, and showing a new dedication to Constantine’s current obsession.

 

What I liked: Behrad and Zari’s scenes were really well done. The stuff with Mick and Ava was entertaining. I have a few theories about Sara’s surprises, but will avoid them due to spoilers. The ongoing Zari/Gideon (Gidget) feud is entertaining. The sorta-crossover was amusing, but almost felt like something else was supposed to happen and didn’t. The reveal on the supporting characters was interesting.

 

What I didn’t: I’m never going to be ok with Ray being gone. Giving Nate a hugely reduced role was an odd choice. I kinda miss Gary and Mona. The Mick bits were entertaining, but they seem to be doing their best to keep him away from the main plotlines for a while.

 

It was a fun episode, and even better in contrast with this week’s seriously sub-par Flash. I’m giving this a 3.5 out of 5.