During freshman year, at the recommendations of my friends, I started watching the CW’s “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.” If you have never heard of “Legends of Tomorrow,” you wouldn’t be alone. Overshadowed by the bigger hits that have stayed closer to their comic book roots such as “Arrow,” “The Flash,” and “Supergirl,” “Legends of Tomorrow,” never retained the fame that it’s sibling shows did. Since season one of the show, ratings have dramatically decreased each season, seeming to drop further with each step away the time travel-centric show takes from the more comfortable and well accepted idea of the superhero genre.

However, what sets “Legends of Tomorrow” apart are the same elements that make it my favorite TV show, and why season seven, episode three traveled far beyond your typical superhero show (literally). 

From its nonsensical storylines to meta humor, the 100th episode of “Legends of Tomorrow” highlights how far the show has come. Titled “WVRDR_ERROR_100 <Oest-of-th3-Gs.gid30n> notFound,” the episode takes a look back at the earlier seasons and demonstrates  “Legends of Tomorrow’s” strengths, highlighting the rotating cast, and character-central storylines. In addition, the episode leans into the major themes the show has embraced in the past, including personal growth, family, and the challenges of being human (and a superhero) that make the show what has been renewed for seven seasons.

The Mission

Stranded in Odessa, Texas in 1925, the Legends travel to New York to find the scientist who invents time travel after their timeship, the Waverider, is blown up by another Waverider. 

Still at Gloria Cruz’s (played by Alexandra Castillo) house, Esperanza “Spooner” Cruz (Lisseth Chavez) and her mom help Astra Logue (Olivia Swann) heal after she passes out in an attempt to revive the Waverider using magic. When Astra says the last word of the spell, “unam,” while sitting among the remains of the ship, she inadvertently turns the ship’s futuristic AI, Gideon, human. 

At the beginning of the 100th episode, Gideon (Amy Louise Pemberton) is overwhelmed by the choices she has to make as a human, falling unconscious. To save the mind and memories of the original Legend, Astra and Spooner use Astra’s magic to travel into Gideon’s mind, their journey narrated by OG Legend, Jefferson “Jax” Jackson (Franz Drameh).

Traveling Through the Seasons: Meta Humor

As I am doing my best not to spoil possibly the best “Legends of Tomorrow” episode since “The One Where We’re Trapped On TV” (season five, episode 14), let’s breakdown one of my favorite elements of this episode, and all “Legends of Tomorrow” episodes: the tone. 

Over the past six years, the writers and cast have truly embraced the zaniness of the show and learned to use the crazy plots and one-liners to make the show stand out. While a regular episode is hilarious and continuously nails character moments, the writers prioritizing character-driven storylines over plot-driven storylines, such as a mission to recover Gideon’s memories, succeeds where other shows have fallen short. Even while inside Gideon’s brain, episode 100 doesn’t fail to make fun of itself with some nods to the fans, as well as reinforce the strong characters at the core of the story. 

The “Legends of Tomorrow” writers own up to some of the plot holes and other issues that fans speculated might have occurred throughout the first season. In one of Gideon’s memories, Hawkman smashes a plate of food at breakfast that splatters onto Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) in her White Canary costume from “Arrow,” leading to a remark from Astra on how her white suede suit was going to stain. 

In another old memory, Gideon replays the original team’s reaction to the Waverider having one bathroom, an issue which has been made fun of most recently in season five, episode eight of “Legends of Tomorrow” when revealing the team’s morning routine. 

“I wasn’t really surprised at their reactions at all because knowing the characters back then, they might get mad and fight about almost everything,” junior Hannah Adnan said. “It was totally like them to start a fight and get upset when they realized there was only one bathroom. I knew they would most likely be upset because I know I would be if I was stuck on a ship with eight other people and there was only one bathroom.”

In another moment much later in the episode, the Legends, with the help of Gideon, have a karaoke night. In a call back to a famous pilot episode scene, Sara sings and dances with Co-Captain Ava Sharpe (Jes Macallan) to Captain and Tennille’s “Love Will Keep Us Together.”

Later when looking for Gideon, Spooner and Astra run into Sara and Ava, who have been taken over by a new foe in Gideon’s memories. This was probably one of the funniest moments of the episode, as Sara and Ava only said the word ‘babe’ throughout the entire scene, a callout for how many times the time wives have called each other ‘babe’ over the last three seasons. 

Redefining Humanity

From Astra struggling with life outside of Hell to Captain Lance being turned into an alien-human hybrid clone, the Legends have wrestled with what it means to be human numerous times in its 99 episode history. Each episode comes to the conclusion of something along the lines of “life is beautiful and terrible, all at the same time; but if we’re only living part of it, we’re not living at all,” as Sara said in “The One Where We’re Trapped on TV.”

However, in episode 100, the “Legends of Tomorrow” humanity trope gets a new paint job, and the episode puts a spotlight on what makes this show stand out:  a character-driven story. 

“WVRDR_ERROR_100 <Oest-of-th3-Gs.gid30n> notFound” takes the audience along for the ride as Gideon is shown the moments with the Legends that made her who she is, or the moments that taught her humanity. We see Ava encouraging Gideon to put “love over logic,” Sara reminding Gideon of how important she is to the team, and how much she and all the Legends have grown over the years. Singing with Martin Stein (Victor Garber) and gossiping at Book Club with Nora Darhk (Courtney Ford), Zari Tarazi (Tala Ashe), and Ava remind Gideon that she is a part of this family.

While these lighthearted memories are a part of Gideon discovering her humanity, as in every good humanity storyline, so is facing and embracing her pain. 

Gideon faces the foe of the episode head-on, trapped in her own mind and shown a heartbreaking, tear-jerking montage of all the pain and hardships the team has faced over the past six years. This montage and the words of blame for the pain she was shown competing with the earlier montage of her key memories send Gideon into a spiral, blaming herself for everything that has happened to the team. 

If this wasn’t enough, the foe reveals a memory of Gideon’s first captain, Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) programming her to protect the Legends, reinforcing the idea that she didn’t actually develop her humanity in those sacred memories with the Legends, causing Gideon to question her desire to be human. 

This heart-wrenching scene was met by the glorious resolution of every humanity story, remembering the best moments of being a person before embracing one’s humanity. As Gideon says when asked if she knows what she’s doing by the foe after choosing to embrace her humanity, “I have no idea, but I’m excited to find out,” truly understanding what it means to be human. 

But it wouldn’t be the 100th episode of “Legends of Tomorrow” without a final message from the team themselves. After Gideon chooses humanity rather than giving into her foe, Gideon’s family lines the hallway of the Waverider, officially welcoming her to the team. In one very emotional scene, past and present Legends come together to remind newly-human Gideon and the audience alike the core message of what it means to be human and why “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” is one of the greatest shows to meet the flat screen.