Legends of Tomorrow’s 7^th season has featured the team being trapped in 1925. After a lot of misadventures, they’ve met up with Dr. Gwyn Davies and his prototype time machine in an attempt to get back to 2021 or so, where they hope to get enough equipment to find their way back to the Waverider. The good news from last episode is that the time machine works. The bad news is it still has some bugs, and they don’t end up quite when or where they were aiming for. Now the Legends struggle with anxiety, each other, and their new ally, while we learn a lot more about what’s happening with an antagonist, and what’s happening in their future. There are definitely some interesting developments in “Deus ex Latrina.”

One of the things they do differently this episode is spend a fair amount of time away from the team. In 2213, at AVA Corporation, Administrative Ava is worried about Bishop’s secret project. He’s diverting a lot of money away from the rest of the company, and no one knows what he’s up to. He’s eager to show her, and we see, in a special hidden hangar, Bishop’s recreation of the Waverider. Ava has an entertaining reaction to the name as Bishop brings her aboard and boots up his pirated Gideon. Gideon brings herself up to speed, there’s some banter about the infamous one bathroom on the ship, and Ava expresses a few concerns that Bishop ignores. Gideon accepts Bishop as Time Master of the ship, and they take off to get Bishop’s revenge on the Legends. The team themselves are trying to figure out where they are, handle Dr. Davies’ temper tantrums, and figure out how to get the machine running again. Nate, with some help from Astra and Spooner, gets a read on everyone, sends them off to do useful jobs that are also distractions, and takes some time to set up camp and give himself some space. He’s easy to overlook among this crowd of oddballs and such, but Nate has actually become an effective leader, and shows this very well here.

Taking his new toy for a maiden flight, Bishop revels in watching the Temporal Zone, while Ava keeps bringing up some valid concerns. Drunk on power, Bishop responds to a report about Odessa, Texas by going there and, as we’ve already seen, destroying the original Waverider. Bishop is thrilled, Ava less so, and Gideon reports more problems. Separated from the group, Davies throws another temper tantrum and slams on the group in general and Behrad in particular. As the camera pans back, we get an idea of where they might be, and it’s nowhere good.

Back on the Waverider II, Bishop gets a disturbing notification from Gideon. The AI has no problem lecturing Bishop about his rash actions and the repercussions from them. This is sort of a behind the scenes look at where the Hoover-bot came from, and a chance for Ava to get in a few more classic movie lines. While Bishop is smug and delighted with himself, “our” Ava is off with Astra (it’s interesting that Astra went with Ava and Spooner with Sara, paring off the letters). Ava is clearly beyond fed up, and takes out her aggressions while completing her chores. Astra is content to let her vent and help her with a few minor nudges and a prop.

Bishop makes some more changes, which please him and Ava, but not Gideon. They get a warning about the Hoover-bot, and we see some more footage from earlier in the season. Annoyed, Bishop comes up with a new plan, which he and Ava press Gideon to accept against her better judgement. This, too, reveals how something that was puzzling a few episodes ago came about. twelve hours later there are more complications. Ava advocates going back home, but Bishop presses on. Nate makes some impressive progress getting camp set up as he talks to himself about a major decision. I have to admit, this storyline is making me wonder if he, too, is leaving the show. I hope not. After they come back with some food, Nate politely but firmly sends Gary and Gideon away again, both so they can get more supplies and he can get some peace. Behrad does his best to get Davies back in a decent frame of mind, but the scientist isn’t in the mood to listen. He storms off, spewing insults, and Zari charges after him.

The pirated Gideon has a very distinctive look on this ship, and at first it seemed like just a vague nod to another classic movie. The next scene shows it goes further than that as Gideon decides to make her own changes to ensure her vision for the mission. An irate Zari catches up with Davies and starts off lecturing him, then realizes the man is suffering. Switching gears, she does her best to help him, and it’s very much an uphill battle. Sara and Spooner are out hunting and have managed to improvise a spear (not that hard) and a bow (much more impressive). Ava works out some aggression as an amused Astra watches. She more or less pulled the classic Tom Sawyer painting the fence trick. Off on their own, Gary and Gideon share their unique perspectives on the human experience. A few question and answer bits lead off in an unexpected direction for them.

Bishop begins to learn the meaning of “created a monster” as he gets some surprising news and realizes he might be in over his head. Davies finally breaks down and shares his story with Zari, and it’s an ugly one. We learn what he believes is his “divine mission,” and what has fueled his obsession with time travel. Zari doesn’t get a chance to follow up on any of this as they learn they are not alone and the newcomers aren’t friendly.

As Behrad follows his sister and the professor, Bishop gets several more shocks. Gideon has been quite busy without him. Bishop tries to hide from her and call for help, and gets another major surprise. He also learns how far off his perspective has been, and begins reevaluating everything he’s been doing. While a stunned Bishop tries to take in the extent of how far things have gone off track, all the groups but one return to the Legends’ camp. They all seem to feel better, some better than others. The captured Legends get shoved in a store room and Zari gets the rest of Davies’ story out of him. It actually explains something I thought was wrong in a previous episode, and I’m glad that this was addressed, even if no one else particularly cares. Zari says some nice things about the team, Behrad does some skulking around, and makes an important discovery.

Behrad brings the other two up to speed, which takes a bit longer with Davies since he doesn’t know their history, which is his future. Davies shows he’s new to time travel but his heart is in the right place. Distraught, Bishop drinks and argues with Gideon about his purpose. Some of Bishop’s earlier prejudices have definitely passed on to Gideon. Davies makes his bid to change history, although there are a few things he says that really don’t work for his background. Convinced their actions are going to bring the other Waverider down on them, Behrad and Zari get moving, although there’s a nice touch of Davies being distracted by something.

The main portion of the team is enjoying their campsite and having a few moments to relax. Sara and Ava even have time to wonder about something they’ve noticed with two of the team when things kick into high gear again. Behrad, Zari, and Davies return, tell them where they are and what’s been happening. As the team leaps into action, Gideon tells Bishop where their next stop is, and uses some reasoning for extreme action that should be familiar to those who watched Marvel’s Loki series. Things build to a head and come to an unexpected conclusion as the team races to get the machine working again, Gideon tries to carry out what she sees as her mission now, Bishop makes a break for it, and several things come together as there’s another time jump to end the episode.

What I liked: The smaller teams worked out well. Nate isn’t as flashy as some of the team, but he’s a really important part of the group now. While he’s often reduced to comic relief, I admire Behrad standing by what he believes and shrugging off insults. The stuff with Gary and Gideon was unexpected, and I’m curious to see where this goes. I’d gotten to the point of loathing Bishop, so the fact that this episode didn’t have me still wanting him dead speaks volumes for the writers and Raffi Barsoumian who plays him. They did a good job of shedding light on some of the earlier events of the season. Administrative Ava got in some good lines, and I’m not sure we’ve seen the last of her necessarily.

What I didn’t: As mentioned above, Davies shouldn’t have known some of what he did, vocabulary wise. It’s kind of a stretch that the team ended up exactly where and when they did, unless Davies’ machine shares some similarities with the TARDIS.

It was another enjoyable episode. I’ll give this a high 3 out of 5. Their next landing and the few minutes immediately afterwards should be interesting.