Challenge 2 - Previously on… Legends of Tomorrow 5x12
For my second recap I chose one of my favorite episodes of season 5 of Legends. When I started writing this, I hadn't decided yet which other episodes / shows to recap (I'm very glad about the wiggle room the extension gave me after I worked on my first recap for nearly two months, lol), but this one popped into my head right when I thought about it, so, here we are, Freaks and Greeks, aka the one with aunt Ava in a moose costume, Astra trying to murder people with forks and Molotov cocktails and Sara winning at a version of beer pong I've been assured no American has ever played, lmao.
We start with a really nice clean shot of the Waverider from the front, seriously, look at it, that's one pretty shot, wow (I'm gonna sprinkle in some pictures into this recap since I have all the screencaps of Legends anyways, so it's easy).
Then we pan to the parlour where everyone is clearly researching but also clearly not finding anything, as Nate closes a book a little to forceful, saying "nothing" in a frustrated tone of voice. I'm loving that Charlie still has the same hair from last episode it's truly epic (I know it won't last long cause she'll go all proper sorority girl soon, but still, for now I'm enjoying it).
There's some exposition now about how they need three weavers as powerful as gods to use the loom and Charlie is all happy to do it but she needs two others. Astra is all "I'm not trusting you idiots" (Zari and Ava's faces at that are priceless, talk about offended, lol), so that's one and Sara just throws out there that she's a blind, time-travelling paragon who can see the future, so why not add wannabe god to the list?
Zari asks her to use her 'Sara-vision' (lmao) to tell her what's in the book she's holding and Sara does and tells her nothing useful is in there, but that she could just read it but she's like "nah, this is faster", lol. I agree with her there tbh.
Gary comes in with sunglasses on and a giant pile of books from John's manor. The sunglasses are for Sara, who is not all that amused when Gary tries to put them on her, which, yeah, that's very understandable. More exposition follows with Charlie saying the Philosopher's stone is as real as Santa (is that a dig at Harry Potter? Lol, no idea but funny either way) but then John finds something that might be more promising, the chalice of Dionysus, which turns everyone who drinks from it immortal, though Charlie interjects and says it's only for a day since Olympians feed on devotion and once they lost their followers, their objects lost their power too. But still, immortality for a day, nice!
Obviously, since we need to find the chalice, Nate very handily is all like "I've seen that" and recounts his university days where he tried to steal a certain "chug cup" from a different fraternity. Zari cheekily comments that his degree is finally paying off, which, well, I mean, he does do a lot of history exposition, so, I don't agree completely with that, but okay.
Gideon agrees with Nate that Dionysus' chalice is at Hudson university with the frat boys and after Astra gets out another dig, Sara does her fun send off, "Better get your togas dry cleaned cause we are going Greek", complete with utilizing the sunglasses as prop, because of course she does :D
Now, I need to interject that I'm not American and for all the US media I consume, I haven't heard of the term "Greek week" before. Sure, I know fraternities and sororities and I know they all have Greek letters as names, but I didn't know there's an actual pledge week going on. Huh, learned something new.
We got the intro and then Ava and Sara are alone on the bridge, doing some more exposition about the cup being given to the winner of the "Chug Challenge". Then Sara says she'd sit this one out cause of her being not sure she could navigate an unknown campus already (I mean, she's literally been blind for one episode now so she has a point) and hands Ava the baton, all like "team loves you, you got this", and Ava being adorably insecure about college kids (honestly, I hear you there).
Cue Lita (and Mick) walking in and this is now a literal split second scene that I (and the entire fandom) freaked out about when I watched it first and which still makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and happy inside, cause she casually says "Hi aunt Ava". AUNT AVA! Aunt! Ava! *melts from the cuteness* The entire fandom had been saying this ever since they showed how Ava was always there with Mick when Lita grew up but to have it confirmed on screen! Aunt Ava! YES! So good!
Ava obviously comes on a bit strong being all like "what do kids like, how do I make them think I'm cool?" and Sara explains that their mission is at Hudson U, which prompts Lita to say she was told to apply there but can't afford it. Mick tells her he'd make it happen if she wants to do it and Ava says they should definitely take the tour since they're here already.
Before she leaves, Lita tells Ava if she wants to be cool she shouldn't wear her usual pant suit since the kids will think she's a narc. *snort* And Ava's face, lol, she's so confused. :P
Now we cut to the university and the team makes their grand entrance all in their outfits and guess what Ava's wearing? That's right, a moose costume! Yep, an honest to god moose costume, I can't with her, seriously, who goes from "no pantsuit" directly to "moose"? lmao She definitely is the cutest moose ever though, so I'm very glad she did.
Astra on the other hand went the route of least effort and was just like "if I have to, toss me the sports shirt, whatever". :P Nate is all happy to be back and Ava takes her (moose-)head off to understand things, having all adorably messy hair that Zari immediately goes to fix (of course she does) and Ava lets her (of course she does). :D Then she gives some directions to the team, Nate is with Zari and Astra storms off before Ava can even finish saying she's with Charlie.
Charlie goes after her and says she won't let her use the loom if she can't work in a team and Astra goes off all like "we should take the stupid cup by force and btw, I'm done working for a fate". Yep, definitely some work to be done here still, but she'll come around, they all do in the end. :D
We're now with the college tour and are meeting one of those super arrogant "I'm an alumni here and my son obviously will follow in my footsteps" fathers complete with also stuck up son and wife. Mick is already mortally annoyed ("I'd like to wring your neck with that scarf" levels of annoyed lmao) and after talking about the fire resistance of the building (lol) tells them he studied in Iron Heights (the prison), Lita interjects that it's a very prestigious art school and tells Mick to just go with it. He rolls his eyes out of his head but does, cause he's a good dad. Awww, Mick. :)
Nate and Zari are casing the joint and Nate is all excited, saying they used to call him shotgun Nate. One of the college kids overhears and asks Nate (or, rather, 'pops') if that's true, tossing him a can of beer. Nate is offended by the pops and opens the beer with his keys (?? I think), chugging the whole thing at once and tossing the empty can into a nearby trash can. The college kids are very impressed but Zari is less so, all like "yep, okay, let's go grandpa". :P
A loud siren blares and the Sigma Psi Phi's (the fraternity that has the chalice) make their grand entrance. Nate calls Ava and the team reconvenes to confront the Sigmas, Zari not missing the opportunity to tell everyone how the entrance of the head honcho (carried by six guys on a sort of patio recliner) was just like hers to the 2044 VMA's. :D I have no idea what that even is, but respect. :D
The head honcho gets everyone's attention and produces the Chug Cup, saying the pregames will begin. Astra is all gung ho just wanting to grab the chalice but Nate's holding her back, first having to talk about head honcho, who's name is Dion and who was already the head of the Sigmas when Nate was in school.
Nate: "He hasn't aged a day." *chuckles* "we have so much in common!"
Everyone else: *eye roll*
Charlie is grinning widely, telling Nate that 'his' (hehe) Dion is actually Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and revelry. I mean, makes sense he'd be a frat boy, lol. Charlie is all happy to see him, while the others are just awkwardly standing around. Really though, how cute is Ava with her moose head in her hands, all confused and trying to make sense of those college kids' rituals. :D So cute!
Charlie says to leave it to her and goes to greet Dion, telling him who she is, which apparently, to Dion is 'the Loombreaker', which he clearly holds in highest regard, chanting her name and being all happy she's there. He also put the chalice down to hug her and when he gets introduced to Charlie's "squad" with Nate being all flustered (lol again) Astra sees her opportunity and goes to grab it, just to fail and have Dion be all disappointed in Charlie and still smug, since he has power over the chalice and only those he deems worthy, who are in a fraternity, sorority or frorority (my new favourite word, lol) and won the Chug Challenge, can use it. Well, that's a snag that especially Astra is not particularly happy about. Ooops.
Ava needs to think and everyone goes "nooo" when Astra says she has an idea, lmao, well, yeah, her idea right now wasn't all that great, so, understandable. Zari drives the point home by saying "something that does not involve maiming" :P. Yeah, I think she's fresh out of those, lol.
Charlie does come up with something useful when she sees some sorority girls walk past though, and back on the ship they're bringing Sara (and Gary) up to speed about how their plan is to join a sorority. Astra is not amused but Zari sees this as a challenge right up her alley. But since we're team bonding, Ava tells Charlie and Astra to pledge Theta Lambda Ro. After they left, Ava's expression is priceless and Zari is all like "she's exhausting!", lol, well, you did invite her into your team after she tried to kill you a bunch of times, so… :P
Back with the college tour, the son (I have no idea what his name is, lol) is now bragging about his extracurriculars and telling Lita she wants to build out her application because she won't get into this place just with just having been in band for a while and having a part time job. He himself is pretty confident he'll get in since there's a building named after his grandfather (of course there is). This clearly gives Mick an idea and when Nate stumbles in, all like, no, I'm not a prospective student (snort), I'm actually a doctor, Mick tells the arrogant family that Nate is Lita's dad and when both are really confused he just echoes Lita's earlier "just go with it" and leaves. Lita is clearly disappointed by this, since she was hoping to spend time with her dad, poor bb.
At the sorority pledge picnic, or whatever it's called, we are introduced to our young guest stars for this episode, a really excited girl who already loves everyone and is all happy they could be sisters soon, an unamused goth girl who only pledges as a performance art piece ("my empty teacup is a commentary on the emptiness of this charade", okay, girl, chill :P) and Zari's tiny clone, wannabe influencer girl who wants them all in a group chat immediately. I already love all of them, of course. :D
Head girl is speaking now and oh, it's a luncheon, right. She's all happy about new members, but you do have to make the cut, of course. Astra is already very bored and brings out a flask, which Charlie immediately grabs, telling her to try and fit in, which prompts her to very loudly talk about how her tea is weak and needs to be replaced. Charlie facepalms but head girl is impressed with Astra's fire and gives her the house paddle, their most sacred object (yeah, I already knew this was going to go waaayyy south :D).
Astra takes the paddle and answers the quite innocuous (you'd think, right?) question of "what did you do before college?" with a complete retelling of her growing up in hell, which Charlie is again unamused by but which further impresses head girl. Charlie goes now, saying she travelled around the world with a bunch of friends. Astra can't stop herself from interjecting "more like a bunch of rejects" which head girl is still amused by.
But then it gets much more intense, Charlie and Astra getting into a full blown fight about Charlie's sisters which ends with Astra throwing the table over and both of them fighting for the paddle. Head girl tries to intervene, but only makes it worse and the paddle breaks in half (surprise! Not :P). She's visibly heart broken and exiles the entire table. Which I think is a bit of an overkill, the three other girls didn't do anything, but okay.
Back on the ship, in the galley, they meet all the others and Charlie says she needs a drink (Sara: "Ah, the refreshing sound of failure", yep, she knows her team :P) and she and Astra continue their argument, which leads to Sara holding Astra back from physically attacking Charlie and Ava saying nobody is killing anybody, but Sara has seen something and tells Zari to hide her fork since Astra was definitely gonna go for it. Lol, that's one way to use your vision.
Zari hides the fork in her cleavage (ouch? That really doesn't seem that practical to me, lol) and they say they're screwed without a sorority, which gives Zari the idea to start their own. Sara thinks she's joking and Ava isn't much more on board.
Ava: "starting a sorority by tonight? I mean the paperwork alone…"
Zari: *looks at her expectantly, waiting for the penny to drop*
Ava: *actually thinks about what she just said and suddenly freezes when she realizes that there's paperwork! For her! To do! Of course she's in!* Let's do it!
The others are kinda fine with it, though Astra is not amused and says she should have killed them all when she had the chance, lol. Nope, bb, you're a Legend now, this is how it goes, deal with it. :D
Zari: "Go, sisters!"
Everybody: *blank stares*
Zari: "We'll get there"
Aww, I love her, she's soo cute.
Meanwhile, Nate and Lita are strolling down Greek row, with Lita worrying about her dad a bit but Nate reassuring her that he's fine. Then they pass by the Sigmas and Lita is unimpressed, while Nate gets all flustered when Dion (shirtless, because of course he is) invites him to the party. Lita asks if he has a mancrush and he says it's unrequited (aaawww). Dion comes to talk to them directly and Nate says he can't party right now because "responsibilities" (very not covertly pointing to Lita who's unamused, lol). Dion leaves them and Nate wants to go on but Lita says since these are the guys who have the chalice, they could go in and he could party and she could do some scouting, find out where they are keeping it. She's quite inventive and eager, that one, I love her (obviously). Nate agrees (again, obviously, lol).
Back at the ship, Ava is all happy with a folder in her hands, calling to order the sisterhood of Legends. First step, a house. Astra's idea to steal the Theta's place by smoking them out is immediately vetoed (wonder why, lol) and they instead take over a horrible house on Greek row, doing some trickery by opening a portal in the doorway into Constantine's manor. Talking about behind the scenes reasoning for a second, I first thought that was just a gimmick that let's them save budget on sets, but the fact that they are technically now in England inside of this house is going to play a major role in the next episode, so that was quite a clever way to achieve that.
But back to this episode. They now need three more sisters and the choice is obvious, the three they got kicked out of Theta. First up, excited girl, aka Inez Martin, voted out of pep squad for being too enthusiastic, lol, I obviously love her already.
Ava pretends to bump into her and then turns around and asks her if she wants to, not being able to finish that sentence because Inez already is like "yes, yes, I'm in, I don't care what it is." :D Yep, love her.
Next up, Lisa Lindhome, the wannabe Zari girl, who went viral with a video where she snarted (prompting Astra asking what a 'snart' is - something I also didn't know but I can guess, lol and Sara stopping Zari from explaining, cause you know, let's ease Astra back into life on Earth slowly, lol). Zari obviously is the one to go after Lisa in a really adorable way, having a text message conversation nearly entirely in memes (one of them a gif of Beebo, which like, yep, I see what you did there, show :D). So cute.
Last one is goth girl, or Silvia Hines, who created her own major in performance art. Astra and Charlie go to recruit her and they're not starting well with Silvia saying they were the ones who tried to kill each other at the luncheon. And then, when they bring up their sorority, she's very reluctant but then Astra wins her over:
Silvia: "What is the point of partying with a bunch of brain-dead wasteoids?"
Astra: "I get it. Seems impossible to feel any kind of power in a cruel, dying world, right? But have you considered that winning the masses over with the illusion of fun might be the perfect way to ply them to do your bidding?"
Silvia: "I'm in!"
Like, yeah, sure, why the hell not. :D Charlie is all, okay, great. And we cut to Constantine's manor, where Sara does the introductory speech of "now you're Legends". Inez is all gung ho, but Silvia interjects that they need a motto and Ava comes up with "We might not have it all together, but together, we have it all" which they settle on. I mean, it fits very nicely.
Nate gets the Sigma's house paddle broken over his steel bum (yes, this is an actual scene that actually happens, like, wow, okay, they went there :P) while Lita is looking around and finds the chalice in a store room, but gets a text and leaves before she can try to take it (which wouldn't work anyways, so). Dion gets Nate his 'special stash' of beer and of course Nate drinks it right from the keg, predictably getting under the god's spell and spilling all of their plans to him as he turns into 'shotgun Nate', a frat boy whose only goal is to party and who's very loyal to Dion. Yeah… Funny enough, this version of Nate isn't that bad, he's just a cute, naïve party boy who wants to have fun. Though it doesn't bode well for the others that Dion now knows about them and is not happy about their plans to put the loom back together, cause he thinks it would mean the end of his party.
Now we go into a commercial reel for the new sorority, which is such a fun spoof of the show itself, it's hilarious. "We've assembled an elite team of women to save this campus from the cliques and cruelty of the common Greek house." Interspersed with the girls learning to throw knives (at posters saying 'hazing' among other things), all of them dancing and generally goofing off. At the end, they all pose with the sorority's initials, which spell 'AXE' because of course they do. :P
Zari enters them into the Chug Challenge and everyone goes for a snack party. Silvia talks to Astra about how nice it is to actually have friends, and Astra is clearly considering that for herself too, begrudgingly admitting that their plan, though stupid, seems to be working.
Which of course is the cue for Dion (and shotgun Nate) to enter and disqualify them from the Chug Challenge, which prompts Astra to go off on the team about how she should have done this her way from the start. They argue and the three college girls are all like "Being a grown up is weird", swipe the plate of tacos and leave. Yep, that's about the best you can do in this situation, lol. I'm loving that these three already have a friendship going, as different as they might be. I said it right after the episode but I'd love a spin off with those three and Lita in college, figuring out life and the sorority and everything. It would be amazing.
Astra is done trying to fit in, to change who she is for the others, even when they try to assure her that she doesn't need to. She storms out, wanting to make Dion pay for what he did.
Meanwhile, Lita meets Mick under a building that now sports the name 'Rory Hall'. He went back in time to donate and get Lita in, but she says she didn't need a building, she needed him to be there for her. He counters that he thought she was embarrassed to be seen with him, but she says it wasn't about him, it was about her. He says she's much better than all those leeches and she says so is he. They make up and go piss off some rich kids. Awww, such a nice father daughter bonding time. They're really shaping up to be one of my favourite parts of the show.
At the Sigmas rager, Astra takes a bottle of booze (wodka?) from a girl, takes a drink and stuffs a cloth in it, clearly intent on lighting it on fire and throwing it into the house. Okay, sweetie, we're gonna have to talk about your anger issues. Which is why Charlie followed her and they have a very cute heart to heart with Charlie saying she doesn't have to change to be a Legend, she can stay herself but she doesn't have to hurt people in the process anymore. Astra already sort of agrees to try do it the Legends way when Nate interrupts them and tells them that as long as Dion has followers, he has the power to grant people that cup. Which, of course, is the clue to this whole thing, so, good on you Nate. Pardon, shotgun Nate. :D
Charlie figures out that this means they have to take Dion's followers away and they go back to the manor with the plan to out-party Dionysus. But obviously, just making signs and getting the house ready for a party doesn't actually get people there, so everyone is just sitting around moping until Charlie asks Astra for her opinion on what she would do. She lights up (so cute) and says they also need to destroy Dion's party for everyone to come to theirs.
So they set out to do that. First, Charlie turns into Nate to get Dion out of the house, asking him to get a fresh keg. Then Zari hacks the party playlist and instead plays some yodelling. They take out Dion's booze, with Charlie changing back into herself while Dion is in the shed where it's kept, running out and Mick lighting the whole thing on fire with Lita standing there next to him, very proud. Hehe, like father, like daughter.
Final phase is Charlie and Astra telling everyone that there is a great party over at the Delta's house. Of course, they all come, and the party is a raging success. But Mick and Lita, who are on chalice duty, still don't have any success lifting it and it's immediately clear why when Dion comes in with his squad of still very much loyal goons (including shotgun Nate), who chant "bros are bros for life" at his command.
Sara interrupts this by challenging Dion to beer pong, from up on the balustrade in proper 'I challenge you to a duel' style.
Dion is very amused, since he's the undefeated champion but humors her anyways. Ava is a little concerned, since, you know, blindness and all, but Sara says she got this, since she's got her power. I mean, seeing the future will give you an edge, for sure.
Now we get to the part that was quite interesting for me, having seen it in bts footage and promos before the episode aired: the beer pong. I've read many fics in which this game is played, but not being American (as I said), or particularly keen on college parties for that matter, I've never seen it played. I guess there probably are some TV shows or movies that show it, but I've never seen any, so, I was looking forward to finally have some visuals as to how exactly it works.
Except, everyone in the fandom who is actually American was very confused by this, because apparently, this is absolutely not how you play it. They're using paddles here and a net, actually playing ping pong into cups and from what I've been told, the way you usually play is just throwing the balls into the cups, that's it. But the set up still helps with the visualizing, so, I'll take it. :D
Charlie is the referee and what follows is a very intense game in which Sara utterly destroys Dion. Obviously. :D All the bros leave him, including Nate, who joins the sisters in a group hug in which even Astra participates. It's super cute.
The moment is interrupted when Mick breaks down the door to show them that he got the cup. Everyone is cheering and Lita and Mick have a very cute moment with her saying "best father-daughter weekend ever", clearly proud of her dad and him putting an arm around her as a clumsy (but heartfelt) show of affection.
In the kitchen, the sisters do the clean up and the girls say they're gonna keep Delta house going. Again, where's my spin off? I want it so much! They wave the kids off and Ava is the first one to put her head on the table and say she needs a nap. Lol. The only thing missing is her saying she's too old for this. :P
Dion brings the chalice to Delta house (or rather Constantine's manor) and all the Legends (including John, Mick and Nate) gather around to drink from it. Charlie is the first to take the cup and after she realizes that this is a lot of responsibility, Sara has the idea that they can all drink from it, after all, nobody said it has to be only three fates. They all agree and with the exception of Zari (as we already established, she doesn't drink alcohol), everyone drinks. Then they all glow golden, which apparently means they're immortal now (for a day). Nice!
Dion leaves with his chalice after being promised that they're not gonna loom anything to ruin his party. I wonder how he takes the developments in the finale, seeing that he's a god, so he probably retains his memories but I'm assuming since the fates change everything and all there is is television and mush, they probably did mess with his party? Or maybe not, since college is probably still a thing and maybe Charlie managed to keep his party running under the radar? Hmmm, interesting question.
Nate and Dion say an emotional goodbye (lol) and then Silvia comes out of the backroom where she apparently still staid, oops. At least she didn't see the glow show, lol. Astra offers to walk her out and then, right when everything seems to have gone great and they're about to use the loom, obviously Lachesis turns up to ruin everything. Cause that's what she does. She tells Astra she's there to collect her debt and Astra has no choice but to comply. And cut! Yikes!
The ending notwithstanding, this was a really fun and light episode, focused on character development (mostly Astra and Charlie but Lita and Mick got their moments too) and team building. Aka, all the things I love the most, so, yep, one of my favourites for a good reason.
We start with a really nice clean shot of the Waverider from the front, seriously, look at it, that's one pretty shot, wow (I'm gonna sprinkle in some pictures into this recap since I have all the screencaps of Legends anyways, so it's easy).
Then we pan to the parlour where everyone is clearly researching but also clearly not finding anything, as Nate closes a book a little to forceful, saying "nothing" in a frustrated tone of voice. I'm loving that Charlie still has the same hair from last episode it's truly epic (I know it won't last long cause she'll go all proper sorority girl soon, but still, for now I'm enjoying it).
There's some exposition now about how they need three weavers as powerful as gods to use the loom and Charlie is all happy to do it but she needs two others. Astra is all "I'm not trusting you idiots" (Zari and Ava's faces at that are priceless, talk about offended, lol), so that's one and Sara just throws out there that she's a blind, time-travelling paragon who can see the future, so why not add wannabe god to the list?
Zari asks her to use her 'Sara-vision' (lmao) to tell her what's in the book she's holding and Sara does and tells her nothing useful is in there, but that she could just read it but she's like "nah, this is faster", lol. I agree with her there tbh.
Gary comes in with sunglasses on and a giant pile of books from John's manor. The sunglasses are for Sara, who is not all that amused when Gary tries to put them on her, which, yeah, that's very understandable. More exposition follows with Charlie saying the Philosopher's stone is as real as Santa (is that a dig at Harry Potter? Lol, no idea but funny either way) but then John finds something that might be more promising, the chalice of Dionysus, which turns everyone who drinks from it immortal, though Charlie interjects and says it's only for a day since Olympians feed on devotion and once they lost their followers, their objects lost their power too. But still, immortality for a day, nice!
Obviously, since we need to find the chalice, Nate very handily is all like "I've seen that" and recounts his university days where he tried to steal a certain "chug cup" from a different fraternity. Zari cheekily comments that his degree is finally paying off, which, well, I mean, he does do a lot of history exposition, so, I don't agree completely with that, but okay.
Gideon agrees with Nate that Dionysus' chalice is at Hudson university with the frat boys and after Astra gets out another dig, Sara does her fun send off, "Better get your togas dry cleaned cause we are going Greek", complete with utilizing the sunglasses as prop, because of course she does :D
Now, I need to interject that I'm not American and for all the US media I consume, I haven't heard of the term "Greek week" before. Sure, I know fraternities and sororities and I know they all have Greek letters as names, but I didn't know there's an actual pledge week going on. Huh, learned something new.
We got the intro and then Ava and Sara are alone on the bridge, doing some more exposition about the cup being given to the winner of the "Chug Challenge". Then Sara says she'd sit this one out cause of her being not sure she could navigate an unknown campus already (I mean, she's literally been blind for one episode now so she has a point) and hands Ava the baton, all like "team loves you, you got this", and Ava being adorably insecure about college kids (honestly, I hear you there).
Cue Lita (and Mick) walking in and this is now a literal split second scene that I (and the entire fandom) freaked out about when I watched it first and which still makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and happy inside, cause she casually says "Hi aunt Ava". AUNT AVA! Aunt! Ava! *melts from the cuteness* The entire fandom had been saying this ever since they showed how Ava was always there with Mick when Lita grew up but to have it confirmed on screen! Aunt Ava! YES! So good!
Ava obviously comes on a bit strong being all like "what do kids like, how do I make them think I'm cool?" and Sara explains that their mission is at Hudson U, which prompts Lita to say she was told to apply there but can't afford it. Mick tells her he'd make it happen if she wants to do it and Ava says they should definitely take the tour since they're here already.
Before she leaves, Lita tells Ava if she wants to be cool she shouldn't wear her usual pant suit since the kids will think she's a narc. *snort* And Ava's face, lol, she's so confused. :P
Now we cut to the university and the team makes their grand entrance all in their outfits and guess what Ava's wearing? That's right, a moose costume! Yep, an honest to god moose costume, I can't with her, seriously, who goes from "no pantsuit" directly to "moose"? lmao She definitely is the cutest moose ever though, so I'm very glad she did.
Astra on the other hand went the route of least effort and was just like "if I have to, toss me the sports shirt, whatever". :P Nate is all happy to be back and Ava takes her (moose-)head off to understand things, having all adorably messy hair that Zari immediately goes to fix (of course she does) and Ava lets her (of course she does). :D Then she gives some directions to the team, Nate is with Zari and Astra storms off before Ava can even finish saying she's with Charlie.
Charlie goes after her and says she won't let her use the loom if she can't work in a team and Astra goes off all like "we should take the stupid cup by force and btw, I'm done working for a fate". Yep, definitely some work to be done here still, but she'll come around, they all do in the end. :D
We're now with the college tour and are meeting one of those super arrogant "I'm an alumni here and my son obviously will follow in my footsteps" fathers complete with also stuck up son and wife. Mick is already mortally annoyed ("I'd like to wring your neck with that scarf" levels of annoyed lmao) and after talking about the fire resistance of the building (lol) tells them he studied in Iron Heights (the prison), Lita interjects that it's a very prestigious art school and tells Mick to just go with it. He rolls his eyes out of his head but does, cause he's a good dad. Awww, Mick. :)
Nate and Zari are casing the joint and Nate is all excited, saying they used to call him shotgun Nate. One of the college kids overhears and asks Nate (or, rather, 'pops') if that's true, tossing him a can of beer. Nate is offended by the pops and opens the beer with his keys (?? I think), chugging the whole thing at once and tossing the empty can into a nearby trash can. The college kids are very impressed but Zari is less so, all like "yep, okay, let's go grandpa". :P
A loud siren blares and the Sigma Psi Phi's (the fraternity that has the chalice) make their grand entrance. Nate calls Ava and the team reconvenes to confront the Sigmas, Zari not missing the opportunity to tell everyone how the entrance of the head honcho (carried by six guys on a sort of patio recliner) was just like hers to the 2044 VMA's. :D I have no idea what that even is, but respect. :D
The head honcho gets everyone's attention and produces the Chug Cup, saying the pregames will begin. Astra is all gung ho just wanting to grab the chalice but Nate's holding her back, first having to talk about head honcho, who's name is Dion and who was already the head of the Sigmas when Nate was in school.
Nate: "He hasn't aged a day." *chuckles* "we have so much in common!"
Everyone else: *eye roll*
Charlie is grinning widely, telling Nate that 'his' (hehe) Dion is actually Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and revelry. I mean, makes sense he'd be a frat boy, lol. Charlie is all happy to see him, while the others are just awkwardly standing around. Really though, how cute is Ava with her moose head in her hands, all confused and trying to make sense of those college kids' rituals. :D So cute!
Charlie says to leave it to her and goes to greet Dion, telling him who she is, which apparently, to Dion is 'the Loombreaker', which he clearly holds in highest regard, chanting her name and being all happy she's there. He also put the chalice down to hug her and when he gets introduced to Charlie's "squad" with Nate being all flustered (lol again) Astra sees her opportunity and goes to grab it, just to fail and have Dion be all disappointed in Charlie and still smug, since he has power over the chalice and only those he deems worthy, who are in a fraternity, sorority or frorority (my new favourite word, lol) and won the Chug Challenge, can use it. Well, that's a snag that especially Astra is not particularly happy about. Ooops.
Ava needs to think and everyone goes "nooo" when Astra says she has an idea, lmao, well, yeah, her idea right now wasn't all that great, so, understandable. Zari drives the point home by saying "something that does not involve maiming" :P. Yeah, I think she's fresh out of those, lol.
Charlie does come up with something useful when she sees some sorority girls walk past though, and back on the ship they're bringing Sara (and Gary) up to speed about how their plan is to join a sorority. Astra is not amused but Zari sees this as a challenge right up her alley. But since we're team bonding, Ava tells Charlie and Astra to pledge Theta Lambda Ro. After they left, Ava's expression is priceless and Zari is all like "she's exhausting!", lol, well, you did invite her into your team after she tried to kill you a bunch of times, so… :P
Back with the college tour, the son (I have no idea what his name is, lol) is now bragging about his extracurriculars and telling Lita she wants to build out her application because she won't get into this place just with just having been in band for a while and having a part time job. He himself is pretty confident he'll get in since there's a building named after his grandfather (of course there is). This clearly gives Mick an idea and when Nate stumbles in, all like, no, I'm not a prospective student (snort), I'm actually a doctor, Mick tells the arrogant family that Nate is Lita's dad and when both are really confused he just echoes Lita's earlier "just go with it" and leaves. Lita is clearly disappointed by this, since she was hoping to spend time with her dad, poor bb.
At the sorority pledge picnic, or whatever it's called, we are introduced to our young guest stars for this episode, a really excited girl who already loves everyone and is all happy they could be sisters soon, an unamused goth girl who only pledges as a performance art piece ("my empty teacup is a commentary on the emptiness of this charade", okay, girl, chill :P) and Zari's tiny clone, wannabe influencer girl who wants them all in a group chat immediately. I already love all of them, of course. :D
Head girl is speaking now and oh, it's a luncheon, right. She's all happy about new members, but you do have to make the cut, of course. Astra is already very bored and brings out a flask, which Charlie immediately grabs, telling her to try and fit in, which prompts her to very loudly talk about how her tea is weak and needs to be replaced. Charlie facepalms but head girl is impressed with Astra's fire and gives her the house paddle, their most sacred object (yeah, I already knew this was going to go waaayyy south :D).
Astra takes the paddle and answers the quite innocuous (you'd think, right?) question of "what did you do before college?" with a complete retelling of her growing up in hell, which Charlie is again unamused by but which further impresses head girl. Charlie goes now, saying she travelled around the world with a bunch of friends. Astra can't stop herself from interjecting "more like a bunch of rejects" which head girl is still amused by.
But then it gets much more intense, Charlie and Astra getting into a full blown fight about Charlie's sisters which ends with Astra throwing the table over and both of them fighting for the paddle. Head girl tries to intervene, but only makes it worse and the paddle breaks in half (surprise! Not :P). She's visibly heart broken and exiles the entire table. Which I think is a bit of an overkill, the three other girls didn't do anything, but okay.
Back on the ship, in the galley, they meet all the others and Charlie says she needs a drink (Sara: "Ah, the refreshing sound of failure", yep, she knows her team :P) and she and Astra continue their argument, which leads to Sara holding Astra back from physically attacking Charlie and Ava saying nobody is killing anybody, but Sara has seen something and tells Zari to hide her fork since Astra was definitely gonna go for it. Lol, that's one way to use your vision.
Zari hides the fork in her cleavage (ouch? That really doesn't seem that practical to me, lol) and they say they're screwed without a sorority, which gives Zari the idea to start their own. Sara thinks she's joking and Ava isn't much more on board.
Ava: "starting a sorority by tonight? I mean the paperwork alone…"
Zari: *looks at her expectantly, waiting for the penny to drop*
Ava: *actually thinks about what she just said and suddenly freezes when she realizes that there's paperwork! For her! To do! Of course she's in!* Let's do it!
The others are kinda fine with it, though Astra is not amused and says she should have killed them all when she had the chance, lol. Nope, bb, you're a Legend now, this is how it goes, deal with it. :D
Zari: "Go, sisters!"
Everybody: *blank stares*
Zari: "We'll get there"
Aww, I love her, she's soo cute.
Meanwhile, Nate and Lita are strolling down Greek row, with Lita worrying about her dad a bit but Nate reassuring her that he's fine. Then they pass by the Sigmas and Lita is unimpressed, while Nate gets all flustered when Dion (shirtless, because of course he is) invites him to the party. Lita asks if he has a mancrush and he says it's unrequited (aaawww). Dion comes to talk to them directly and Nate says he can't party right now because "responsibilities" (very not covertly pointing to Lita who's unamused, lol). Dion leaves them and Nate wants to go on but Lita says since these are the guys who have the chalice, they could go in and he could party and she could do some scouting, find out where they are keeping it. She's quite inventive and eager, that one, I love her (obviously). Nate agrees (again, obviously, lol).
Back at the ship, Ava is all happy with a folder in her hands, calling to order the sisterhood of Legends. First step, a house. Astra's idea to steal the Theta's place by smoking them out is immediately vetoed (wonder why, lol) and they instead take over a horrible house on Greek row, doing some trickery by opening a portal in the doorway into Constantine's manor. Talking about behind the scenes reasoning for a second, I first thought that was just a gimmick that let's them save budget on sets, but the fact that they are technically now in England inside of this house is going to play a major role in the next episode, so that was quite a clever way to achieve that.
But back to this episode. They now need three more sisters and the choice is obvious, the three they got kicked out of Theta. First up, excited girl, aka Inez Martin, voted out of pep squad for being too enthusiastic, lol, I obviously love her already.
Ava pretends to bump into her and then turns around and asks her if she wants to, not being able to finish that sentence because Inez already is like "yes, yes, I'm in, I don't care what it is." :D Yep, love her.
Next up, Lisa Lindhome, the wannabe Zari girl, who went viral with a video where she snarted (prompting Astra asking what a 'snart' is - something I also didn't know but I can guess, lol and Sara stopping Zari from explaining, cause you know, let's ease Astra back into life on Earth slowly, lol). Zari obviously is the one to go after Lisa in a really adorable way, having a text message conversation nearly entirely in memes (one of them a gif of Beebo, which like, yep, I see what you did there, show :D). So cute.
Last one is goth girl, or Silvia Hines, who created her own major in performance art. Astra and Charlie go to recruit her and they're not starting well with Silvia saying they were the ones who tried to kill each other at the luncheon. And then, when they bring up their sorority, she's very reluctant but then Astra wins her over:
Silvia: "What is the point of partying with a bunch of brain-dead wasteoids?"
Astra: "I get it. Seems impossible to feel any kind of power in a cruel, dying world, right? But have you considered that winning the masses over with the illusion of fun might be the perfect way to ply them to do your bidding?"
Silvia: "I'm in!"
Like, yeah, sure, why the hell not. :D Charlie is all, okay, great. And we cut to Constantine's manor, where Sara does the introductory speech of "now you're Legends". Inez is all gung ho, but Silvia interjects that they need a motto and Ava comes up with "We might not have it all together, but together, we have it all" which they settle on. I mean, it fits very nicely.
Nate gets the Sigma's house paddle broken over his steel bum (yes, this is an actual scene that actually happens, like, wow, okay, they went there :P) while Lita is looking around and finds the chalice in a store room, but gets a text and leaves before she can try to take it (which wouldn't work anyways, so). Dion gets Nate his 'special stash' of beer and of course Nate drinks it right from the keg, predictably getting under the god's spell and spilling all of their plans to him as he turns into 'shotgun Nate', a frat boy whose only goal is to party and who's very loyal to Dion. Yeah… Funny enough, this version of Nate isn't that bad, he's just a cute, naïve party boy who wants to have fun. Though it doesn't bode well for the others that Dion now knows about them and is not happy about their plans to put the loom back together, cause he thinks it would mean the end of his party.
Now we go into a commercial reel for the new sorority, which is such a fun spoof of the show itself, it's hilarious. "We've assembled an elite team of women to save this campus from the cliques and cruelty of the common Greek house." Interspersed with the girls learning to throw knives (at posters saying 'hazing' among other things), all of them dancing and generally goofing off. At the end, they all pose with the sorority's initials, which spell 'AXE' because of course they do. :P
Zari enters them into the Chug Challenge and everyone goes for a snack party. Silvia talks to Astra about how nice it is to actually have friends, and Astra is clearly considering that for herself too, begrudgingly admitting that their plan, though stupid, seems to be working.
Which of course is the cue for Dion (and shotgun Nate) to enter and disqualify them from the Chug Challenge, which prompts Astra to go off on the team about how she should have done this her way from the start. They argue and the three college girls are all like "Being a grown up is weird", swipe the plate of tacos and leave. Yep, that's about the best you can do in this situation, lol. I'm loving that these three already have a friendship going, as different as they might be. I said it right after the episode but I'd love a spin off with those three and Lita in college, figuring out life and the sorority and everything. It would be amazing.
Astra is done trying to fit in, to change who she is for the others, even when they try to assure her that she doesn't need to. She storms out, wanting to make Dion pay for what he did.
Meanwhile, Lita meets Mick under a building that now sports the name 'Rory Hall'. He went back in time to donate and get Lita in, but she says she didn't need a building, she needed him to be there for her. He counters that he thought she was embarrassed to be seen with him, but she says it wasn't about him, it was about her. He says she's much better than all those leeches and she says so is he. They make up and go piss off some rich kids. Awww, such a nice father daughter bonding time. They're really shaping up to be one of my favourite parts of the show.
At the Sigmas rager, Astra takes a bottle of booze (wodka?) from a girl, takes a drink and stuffs a cloth in it, clearly intent on lighting it on fire and throwing it into the house. Okay, sweetie, we're gonna have to talk about your anger issues. Which is why Charlie followed her and they have a very cute heart to heart with Charlie saying she doesn't have to change to be a Legend, she can stay herself but she doesn't have to hurt people in the process anymore. Astra already sort of agrees to try do it the Legends way when Nate interrupts them and tells them that as long as Dion has followers, he has the power to grant people that cup. Which, of course, is the clue to this whole thing, so, good on you Nate. Pardon, shotgun Nate. :D
Charlie figures out that this means they have to take Dion's followers away and they go back to the manor with the plan to out-party Dionysus. But obviously, just making signs and getting the house ready for a party doesn't actually get people there, so everyone is just sitting around moping until Charlie asks Astra for her opinion on what she would do. She lights up (so cute) and says they also need to destroy Dion's party for everyone to come to theirs.
So they set out to do that. First, Charlie turns into Nate to get Dion out of the house, asking him to get a fresh keg. Then Zari hacks the party playlist and instead plays some yodelling. They take out Dion's booze, with Charlie changing back into herself while Dion is in the shed where it's kept, running out and Mick lighting the whole thing on fire with Lita standing there next to him, very proud. Hehe, like father, like daughter.
Final phase is Charlie and Astra telling everyone that there is a great party over at the Delta's house. Of course, they all come, and the party is a raging success. But Mick and Lita, who are on chalice duty, still don't have any success lifting it and it's immediately clear why when Dion comes in with his squad of still very much loyal goons (including shotgun Nate), who chant "bros are bros for life" at his command.
Sara interrupts this by challenging Dion to beer pong, from up on the balustrade in proper 'I challenge you to a duel' style.
Dion is very amused, since he's the undefeated champion but humors her anyways. Ava is a little concerned, since, you know, blindness and all, but Sara says she got this, since she's got her power. I mean, seeing the future will give you an edge, for sure.
Now we get to the part that was quite interesting for me, having seen it in bts footage and promos before the episode aired: the beer pong. I've read many fics in which this game is played, but not being American (as I said), or particularly keen on college parties for that matter, I've never seen it played. I guess there probably are some TV shows or movies that show it, but I've never seen any, so, I was looking forward to finally have some visuals as to how exactly it works.
Except, everyone in the fandom who is actually American was very confused by this, because apparently, this is absolutely not how you play it. They're using paddles here and a net, actually playing ping pong into cups and from what I've been told, the way you usually play is just throwing the balls into the cups, that's it. But the set up still helps with the visualizing, so, I'll take it. :D
Charlie is the referee and what follows is a very intense game in which Sara utterly destroys Dion. Obviously. :D All the bros leave him, including Nate, who joins the sisters in a group hug in which even Astra participates. It's super cute.
The moment is interrupted when Mick breaks down the door to show them that he got the cup. Everyone is cheering and Lita and Mick have a very cute moment with her saying "best father-daughter weekend ever", clearly proud of her dad and him putting an arm around her as a clumsy (but heartfelt) show of affection.
In the kitchen, the sisters do the clean up and the girls say they're gonna keep Delta house going. Again, where's my spin off? I want it so much! They wave the kids off and Ava is the first one to put her head on the table and say she needs a nap. Lol. The only thing missing is her saying she's too old for this. :P
Dion brings the chalice to Delta house (or rather Constantine's manor) and all the Legends (including John, Mick and Nate) gather around to drink from it. Charlie is the first to take the cup and after she realizes that this is a lot of responsibility, Sara has the idea that they can all drink from it, after all, nobody said it has to be only three fates. They all agree and with the exception of Zari (as we already established, she doesn't drink alcohol), everyone drinks. Then they all glow golden, which apparently means they're immortal now (for a day). Nice!
Dion leaves with his chalice after being promised that they're not gonna loom anything to ruin his party. I wonder how he takes the developments in the finale, seeing that he's a god, so he probably retains his memories but I'm assuming since the fates change everything and all there is is television and mush, they probably did mess with his party? Or maybe not, since college is probably still a thing and maybe Charlie managed to keep his party running under the radar? Hmmm, interesting question.
Nate and Dion say an emotional goodbye (lol) and then Silvia comes out of the backroom where she apparently still staid, oops. At least she didn't see the glow show, lol. Astra offers to walk her out and then, right when everything seems to have gone great and they're about to use the loom, obviously Lachesis turns up to ruin everything. Cause that's what she does. She tells Astra she's there to collect her debt and Astra has no choice but to comply. And cut! Yikes!
The ending notwithstanding, this was a really fun and light episode, focused on character development (mostly Astra and Charlie but Lita and Mick got their moments too) and team building. Aka, all the things I love the most, so, yep, one of my favourites for a good reason.