A Head of Her Time

"A Head of Her Time" is the fourth episode of the fifth season of DC's Legends of Tomorrow, and the seventy-second episode overall. It aired on February 18, 2020.

Synopsis[]

When Sara is called away on business, she leaves Ava in charge and Ava tries to impress the team as they try to take on their latest Encore, Marie Antionette. With Zari still on the ship, Behrad convinces the team to bring her along on the mission which they all hope isn’t a mistake. Meanwhile, Constantine finally confronts someone from his past with the help of Charlie, which leads him on a journey through his past.^[src]

Cast[]

Uncredited[]

Bailey Tippen as Young Astra Logue (archive footage)
Joey Phillips as Nergal (archive footage)

Plot[]

At Constantine's house in Northumberland, Gary and Charlie listen to Constantine struggle with the spirit of Astra's mother through the door of the room she is imprisoned in. Worried that Constantine will be killed, Gary attempts to open the doors with a spell, but only manages to cause one of the door knobs to fall off. Through the hole, Gary sees Constantine knocked unconscious by the spirit, who manages to knock Gary back before escaping through the hole. Constantine opens the door and asks Gary what he has done.

On the Waverider, Sara asks Ava to take over as interim Captain while she has to take care of business in Star City. Ava is worried about taking over, but Sara believes that she can do it and leaves, with neither of them realizing they were overheard by Zari. In Hell, Astra is gambling when one of her underlings pulls her away from the table. He informs her of the Legends managing to defeat Rasputin, Bugsy and Meyers, making her plan now risky. He warns her that unless she takes action, she will end up losing everything. Blaming Constantine, she decides that she "played nice long enough" and brandishes Constantine's soul token. At Constantine's house, the spirit is running around the house after being freed. Constantine explains that her name is Natalie Logue, killed by a drunk driver years ago and her husband Alex begged him to save her. Gary says Constantine never told him that, and he admits to never having told anyone about it, but that was the night they lost Astra. Natalie throws ink on the wall to spell "Liar", and Charlie asks him to tell the full truth. Constantine asks Natalie to help him save Astra, as Natalie's spirit continues to wail. Constantine tells them that he summoned the demon who took Astra to bring Natalie back to life. Gary asks why Natalie would be a ghost and Constantine claims that he made a mistake with the spell and couldn't control the demon and the demon took Astra. Natalie killed herself after learning her daughter's life was the price of her resurrection. Two ghost children then appear and wander through the house, which Charlie says is a sign that Natalie has unfinished business with Constantine. He agrees and notes that Astra wants to "take a trip down memory lane" as he sees his past self with Alex. On the Waverider, Behrad gives Zari a tour and explains what Gideon can do, including monitoring the timeline. Realizing Gideon can tell them the future, she suggests that she and Behrad can use this information to make billions of dollars. Ava walks in and tells her that it is against the rules of time travel and asks why Zari is still on the ship. Zari says she has decided to stay on the ship and Ava warns her that she needs to stay on the ship during missions. In the medbay, Nora calls Ray to tell him how she has managed to help a child who was living in a car with her mum. Mick enters and tells Ray to leave, and Ray offhandedly tells Nora he loves her. After they are both initially stunned, Nora tells Ray she loves him too before ending the call as Mick once again tells Ray to leave. Mick tells Ray that he has been unable to eat, which Ray says is not a medical condition but an effect of having feelings for someone, something that Gideon agrees with. Mick leaves disturbed, as Ava calls for a team meeting but also accidentally broadcasts her talking to herself about how she is concerned on how she is perceived from the announcement. As the Legends assemble on the bridge, Ava introduces them to a procedure she developed at the Time Bureau called A.L.O.H.A. : Assess, Listen, Observe, Hydrate and Attack. Behrad tells Ava the Legends are more of an adapt to the situation rather than follow a strict protocol for every mission. As there is no actual mission, the Legends begin to leave the meeting, prompting Ava to ask Gideon if there is a disturbance to the timeline. To her relief, there is a mission for the Legends to go on and she announces that the Legends are going to France. As the Legends prepare for the mission, Zari appears in an elaborate dress, with Behrad apologizing that he wasn't able to stop her once she found the fabrication room. Ava refuses to let Zari come on the mission, even though Nate promises to keep an eye on her. Knowing Ava was preoccupied with the Legend's perception of her, she manages to convince Ava to let her go with them and sprays some of her "dragonesque" perfume on Ava. In Versailles 1793, the Legends arrive at the Royal Palace where Ava tells them this was the reign of terror, with executions happening around the clock. The Legends face difficulty in getting past the guards, but Zari manages to convince the guard to let them in. To their surprise, instead of executions, there is a grand party taking place instead.

In Hell, Astra visits her mentor to ask for help with Constantine's token. While her mentor initially thought Astra wants to trade it, she reveals that she is here for help in using it to kill him. In Constantine's house, Constantine tells Charlie and Gary that Alex begged him to save Natalie, who died after they had a big fight. Constantine claimed he couldn't refuse, even though he knew he should have said no. Natalie' spirit becomes increasingly violent around the house, and Constantine finally admits that resurrecting Natalie was his idea not Alex's. A radio turns on and begins playing a song. In Versaille, Ava tells the Legends to use the A.L.O.H.A. method and Zari tells her she is trying too hard. Nate tells Zari that something is wrong since during this time nobles were being executed and not having a party, and so much as wearing a nice dress could be a death sentence. Zari asks why Nate let her leave the ship in her flamboyant outfit and he tells her that he is a "sucker for a corset and up do." A further sign that history is being changed is Napoleon attending the party instead of marching on Southern France. Ray spots a woman who looks like Nora, but Nate tells him it is Marie Antoinette who is supposed to be dead, meaning she is the Encore. Ray and Nate begin acting out of character, with Zari snidely telling Ava that their behavior is due to Ava being their Captain. She soon shortly agrees that something strange is happening when Behrad appears to start drinking. A guillotine appears and Ava suspects it to be her hell weapon, but it is instead used to cut slices of cake which everyone, including Behrad, Ray and Nate rush to eat.

A drunken man approaches Zari to ask what day it is before dropping dead. Zari observes that the man literally partied himself to death, while several other partiers begin to drop dead as well. Ava deduces that since Marie Antoinette was killed for partying while France starved, now she is killing France with a non stop party. Ava attempts to contact Ray, Nate and Behrad, but they are focused on eating the cake. Ava notes that everyone except Zari and herself are under Marie Antoinette's spell. Zari suggests that in order to quietly get Marie onto the Waverider, they need to convince her there is a better part for her to go to. Zari tells Ava to trust her and leads her away for a change of clothes. At Constantine's house, Constantine reveals the singer on the radio is Natalie herself. An apparition showing a young Constantine and Natalie appears and Constantine admits that he and Natalie were in love. Another apparition appears showing young Natalie begging a young Constantine to leave magic behind and go with her. He chooses magic over her, and she leaves heartbroken. Ashamed, Constantine yells that he refuses to play any more games as Charlie tells him to accept his past. Constantine calls Charlie a hypocrite and asks what she is really doing in his house when Natalie possesses her. In Versaille, Zari manages to get herself and Ava into the VIP area of the party and convinces Ava to talk to Marie Antoinette. Ava manages to convince her to follow her to another party, but the partiers notice her leaving and begin to follow her. They begin to follow Zari and her as Ava attempts to hold them off. While rushing away, Marie Antoinette accidentally decapitates herself and the male Legends snap out of the spell in time to bring her to the Waverider.

In the lab, Marie Antoinette's head is kept separate from her body and Nate decides to keep her head in the library instead. To thank her for her help, Ava allows Zari to use the fabricator to make an outfit for her perfume launch. In Constantine's house, Natalie asks Constantine why he resurrected her and he claims that it was because he never stopped loving her. She tells him to tell the truth and he admits it is because he wanted to prove to her he was right to have chosen magic over her all those years ago. Natalie tells him he needed to admit the truth to himself, as to save Astra he needs to do it for her and not his ego. She tells him she knows of a way to save Astra and asks him to follow her. On the Waverider, Zari ignores Marie Antoinette asking for her help. Marie tells her how everyone thought she was a spoiled brat, but she was just lonely and wanted to fit into French society. Zari relates to her and inspired by Marie saying she wish she knew the future, asks Gideon about her own. Gideon reveals that her new perfume would actually cause people to lose their sense of smell, ruining her. To prevent this, Zari tries to use Marie Antoinette's perfume and after the latter refuses, she realizes that the perfume is her hell weapon: spraying it causes the wearer to appear incredibly charming to everyone. Zari gags Marie so she cannot tell everyone and steals her perfume, not realizing that Marie's body has unrestrained herself while struggling.

At the event, Zari catches up on what she has been missing and learns that her celebrity boyfriend wants to propose to her in a week as part of a publicity stunt. On the Waverider, Ray calls Nora to show her how Marie Antoinette looks like her, but Nora points out that Marie is decapitated and gagged. Ungagging Marie, Ray learns what Zari has done and informs the Legends. Ava also realizes that the perfume is the hell weapon, with herself and Zari unaffected due to Zari's dragonesque perfume making them unable to smell. Just as they are about to head to the event, they discover that Marie Antoinette's body is missing. At the event, everyone is swooning over Zari after she used the perfume. Her boyfriend decides to propose to her on the spot and accidentally causes Zari to spill the entire bottle of perfume on herself, causing the crowd to mindlessly approach her. On the ship, Ray finds Marie's body and stops Mick from using his heat gun on it. In the struggle, the body manages to grab the heat gun and begins chasing Mick and Ray. At the event Ava, Behrad and Nate use the dragonesque perfume to protect themselves from Marie's hellfire perfume. Behrad uses the Air Totem to hold the crowd back, while Ava and Zari jump into a fountain, washing away the hellfire perfume and breaking the spell. Nate punches Zari's boyfriend before helping Zari out of the fountain and they return to the Waverider, where Ray and Mick managed to subdue Marie's decapitated body.

In Constantine's house, Natalie shows Constantine their childhood selves pretending to weave the Loom of Fate. Natalie tells Constantine that the Loom is real, and when he asks her where it is, she tells him to ask Charlie and gives up her possession. Constantine confronts Charlie and she admits the Loom was real until she destroyed it. On the Waverider, Behrad gives Zari a set of clothes to change into and invites her to celebrate over doughnuts with the Legends. With the change of clothes Zari begins to resemble her alternate timeline counterpart, something which draws Nate's attention. When Sara calls, the Legends tell her that Ava did an amazing job. Zari begins to bite into a doughnut by herself in the parlor and begins to experience the memories of her counterpart. Ava snaps her out of it and Zari claims to just be savoring the doughnut. She asks why Ava locked up Marie Antoinette but let her go free, with Ava assuring her that unlike the Encore, Zari just made a mistake, which is common. Zari tells Ava that it was impressive that Ava didn't care what anyone thought when she saved her, while she herself has been trying to get people to like her to the point that she doesn't know who she is and has zero friends. Ava offers to be her friend and she happily accepts. In hell, Astra's mentor tells her that Constantine has at least 10 years left to live. Astra asks to reduce that time to zero and her mentor agrees to in exchange for a favor, a deal that Astra accepts. In Constantine's house, Charlie explains that she is older than she appears and after breaking the Loom of fate, she scattered the pieces across the multiverse but senses something has changed recently. As Astra's mentor manipulate his soul token, Constantine begins coughing in a bloody fit and collapses onto the floor.

Production[]

Preparation ran from August 8 until August 16, 2019. Shooting ran from August 19 until August 29, 2019.^[1]

Notes[]

Facts are revealed about the soul tokens:
- They are used as currency/power in Hell.
  - They are used in poker games.
- They have gears inside that can speed up the death of someone already damned to hell.
Charlie knows the multiverse formerly exists, having scattered the pieces of the loom pre-Crisis when she broke it.

Trivia[]

The episode's title is a play on the phrase "ahead of [her] time". In this case, it can also refer to Marie Antoinette, historically beheaded during the French Revolution, who made an appearance in the episode.
In this episode, it is stated that John Constantine was set to die in 2030 from lung cancer.
While not outright stated, the spell Constantine planned to use to extend his life needed "essence of life" so to speak from a medieval knight; presumably some kind of vasectomy, or the foreskin of an uncircumsized adult male used as a potion ingredient.
DJ S'more Money is a parody of the American electronic DJ Marshmello.
Natalie possessing Charlie and using her shapeshifting powers to make her appearance like her actual self is quite similar to when Clifford DeVoe took Ralph Dibny's body and use his shapeshifting powers to make his body to look like his actual self.
During the episode, Zari stopped Behrad from drinking alcohol. This is because they are Muslim, who are religiously forbidden from drinking alcohol.
This episode aired a rerun on March 24 replacing "Zari, Not Zari" to coincide with sister series The Flash and Supergirl delaying airing of new episodes due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[2]

Goofs[]

Zari says to Marie Antoinette that she has been famous since she was six years old, but the HeyWorld event took place when she was 9.
The episode's synopsis had a spelling mistake on Marie Antoinette's name. It was spelled as "Antionette" instead of "Antoinette".

References[]

DC's Legends of Tomorrow season 5
"Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Five" • "Meet the Legends" • "Miss Me, Kiss Me, Love Me" • "Slay Anything" • "A Head of Her Time" • "Mortal Khanbat" • "Mr. Parker's Cul-De-Sac" • "Romeo V. Juliet: Dawn of Justness" • "Zari, Not Zari" • "The Great British Fake Off" • "Ship Broken" • "Freaks and Greeks" • "I Am Legends" • "The One Where We're Trapped On TV" • "Swan Thong"

[1] Keto Shimizu (@ketomizu) - Twitter

[2] ttp://tvline.com/2020/03/16/tv-schedule-changes-postponed-seasons-coronavirus/

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