Also, while all of this is going on, Lita is being way more helpful than Nate ever was, finding the chalice and sending back intel. And speaking of Nate, because he’s a dope that should not be unsupervised and for some reason Ray is gone, Nate ends up being tricked into drinking magic beer, and Dion gets him to spill why they really want the cup. Dionysus doesn’t like the idea of free will being taken away because his party life could end, so he sets out to stop the Legends at all costs.

The Deltas have moved quickly, and already have a hand signal and a recruitment video so that they can be eligible for the Chug Competition.

Okay I’m sorry but Sara is NOT doing a regular Delta like the rest of them and I have NO DOUBT that Caity knows exactly what she’s doing.

It’s just…the most Legends thing that’s ever existed and I love it so much I want to watch it on a loop for all time. It includes Sara blindly adjusting everyone into proper knife-throwing position and also all of them saying in unison, “Don’t call us heroes, call us Deltas.”

I’ll call you whatever you want as long as you’ll answer, bbs.

They make nachos, and one of the new recruits, a performance artist who tried to pretend she was only here ironically, thanks Astra for getting her to join; she forgot what it was like to let people in and have friends. Astra understands this and thanks her back, and Charlie is proud of her growth. Astra reminds Charlie she could still put a stiletto in her head, but she’s warming up to our weirdos, just like Charlie did once upon a time.

Also Sara can’t see Ava, but she knows she’s there, so she holds out a chip for her to eat. Love is blind.

Dion and his crew show up and tell them that they’re disqualified on account of being a potential buzzkill if they succeed and rebuild the Loom. Having followed all his stupid rules, they are quite displeased.

Astra being taller than Ava has me a bit shook, if I’m being perfectly honest. But like, shook in a swoony way.

Astra is so pissed; she tried playing by the rules like they wanted her to and it got them nowhere. She wants to do it her way, but they say they’re a team. Astra doesn’t want any part of this sisterhood if it means having to change everything about her though, so she’s done.

Astra being on a different plane than our girls, their backs to us the way she feels their backs are to her. Between them but not with them. Shots like this are why I get out of bed in the morning.

The girls watch as Astra storms out, declaring she’s going to do things her way.

They need to start doing teambuilding exercises when someone new joins up instead of just barreling forward like nothing has changed and hoping the new kid keeps up.

And apparently her way is using a molotov cocktail on coeds. Luckily, Charlie stops her before she can turn this into an 80s horror movie (we already did that episode, Astra!) and Astra doesn’t understand. Where she’s from, the answer to everything – to surviving – is to fight. And Charlie gets it. She was resistant when she first got here; hell, she was a prisoner when she first was on the Waverider, too. But if she opens her heart a little, she’ll find that these dorks will only change you for the better, not change you fundamentally. Astra huffs and says she never wants to dress like a moose, and Charlie assures her it’s okay. (Hell, Constantine often half-asses his blending in outfits.)

Just then, Bro’d Out Nate stumbles by and tells them that Dion needs followers to survive, because he’s useless to whoever he’s currently being loyal to, apparently.

“Wow he really is useless, eh? And you say HE landed ZARI in another timeline?”

But this helps Charlie figure out what they need to do. They need to throw a better party.

Astra says she’s still in hell, but is smiling while she says it; she’s changing already.

On any other show I’d say it would be way too much to hope for a second f/f main cast relationship, but on this show?? I don’t feel stupid for having a wee bit of hope. (And ALSO they’re not acting in such a way that it would be totally out of the question if they stay just friends. They’re not like, flying through time and space to get each other their favorite baked goods or anything.)

The Deltas work together and throw a party but no one is there. On paper, they did everything right. Good food, good booze, good music. But Charlie says since following the rules hasn’t gotten them anywhere, maybe they should take a page from Astra’s book and think outside the box. Astra is more than happy to take center stage and lead them in a little mischief.

Everyone’s party outfits were top notch. Full marks all around.

Astra’s plan, by the way, is simple: Sabotage. Charlie and Sara are immediately in. Zari hacks into the music to make it yodeling to harsh everyone’s vibe, they kill Dion’s beer supply.

Surprised they didn’t just send Sara in to punch the speakers and the kegs because ARMS.

And then they hijack the party. And I loved this moment because at first it seems like they’re about to infiltrate and slowly convince people to switch teams but instead charlie just yells that she heard there’s a rager across the street, and the partygoers flock like flamingos across the street.

“No, it can’t be, I’ll just ignore. But then she’s never looked at me that way before…”

Dion comes into the party with his bros by his side and says that not even a better party can break the bonds of brotherhood, so this plan isn’t going to work. But then, the Captain steps in. Sara struts down the stairs and challenges Dion to a game of beer pong. If she wins, they get to drink from the cup.

i will never stop thanking Beebo, Rao, and all the gay gods for the gifts this show gives us.

He’s undefeated, and also a literal god, but she is unfazed. Calls him D-Bag, which is hilarious, and requests they play by Dartmouth rules, which we will later learn are very different from typical beer bong rules.

“I wear my sunglasses at night.”

Ava believes in her girlfriend, she does, but also she like JUST woke up from a coma and also cannot see. But Sara reassures her that she’s got this, and Ava isn’t one to argue with Sara about what she can and cannot do.

“You’re little but you’re big.”

So Sara and Dion shake on it, and whether she’s using her foresight from that handshake, or her assassin skills and reflexes is anyone’s guess, but Sara absolutely OWNS at beer pong.

Adding “Beer Pong Champion,” Sara is rivaling Daenerys in her list of titles.

I’ve never seen beer pong played with actual paddles IRL, though we usually played beer pong on a door someone took off its hinges and spread across some chairs, so I guess my college experience was just different from these kids’ experience. Frankly I’m glad some of the frat bros I played beer pong with didn’t have a weapon in their hand when they lost.

But anyway the game is fun to watch in a way sports usually aren’t for me, and when Sara wins, she gets a victory kiss from Ava.

I, too, kissed a lot of my sorority sisters.

They celebrate with a group hug, and even Astra allows it.

Having won the cup fair and square, they start to break up Delta Chi Sigma, but the girls they recruited from the college had too much fun to quit now. They’re going to keep the chapter going on their own, and make it a sorority of misfits. Which is very relatable to me personally, because the sorority I was in was called the “non-sorority sorority” by the other sororities on campus (a title we bore proudly) because we didn’t take things nearly as seriously as everyone else. Our mascot was Jessica Rabbit and our sorority song was I Touch Myself by The Divinyls. We participated in just enough Greek Life to stay active, but we mostly just had fun. Our rush/pledge process didn’t select girls based on appearance, and our “hazing” process involved a scavenger hunt through Manhattan. We were just a bunch of girls who were looking for community in a huge school, and we were grateful to have found each other. (Don’t get me wrong, there was drama and drinking and all the other staples of a sorority, we just weren’t stereotypical vapid petty bitches is all I’m saying. In fact, few sorority girls I’ve met in my life are. Though all the frat boys I’ve met fit the tropes. ANYWAY.)

The Legends send off their little misfit friends and tell them to say no to drugs because that’s what role models do, right?

I want these printed in business card size so when someone asks me why they should watch this show I can just slide it across the table like it’s an offer they can’t refuse.

When presented with the cup of Dionysus, the chance to be a god for a day, and the Legends realize that while they’re breaking rules, who says there has to be only three Fates?

How did they get this picture of me during quarantine?

So everyone (except Zari because it’s “super haram”) takes a sip of the magic wine and they all start to glow a bit.

The art student drunkenly stumbles in, confused, and Astra takes her little muse and puts her in a cab. But while she’s outside, she’s approached by Lachesis, who says she’s calling in a favor she’s owed.

That feeling when your mom shows up to pick you up from the party when you were JUST starting to have fun.

I love this show so much, and this episode, with its hyper-focus on the ensemble of badass women they have at their fingertips, was absolutely perfect. Yes, we spent an entire episode trying to get a sip from a goblet, but we also saw Sara growing more and more comfortable with her new normal, Charlie going from needing the pep talks to giving them, Astra learning how to Legend, Zari trusting the team to save her brother, Ava managing to fit in with the people who matter, and even Lita learning that she doesn’t want to blend in, she wants to find her people. This show is doing what so very few shows have ever done before, and it’s staying true to its values and leaning into its strengths, only getting BETTER in its FIFTH season.

Some…other shows…are struggling at this point, floundering perfectly good characters they already have to elevate new ones that aren’t nearly as strong. But Legends swaps people in and out effortlessly, shifts the focus often, and never dwells too long on any one character. This show has slowly crept up over the years from my go-to just-for-fun show to genuinely one of my favorite shows on TV ever. And I’m very glad that this is one of the few Arrowverse shows that didn’t have to cut its production short since they wrapped in January, so we’ll get the last three episodes of the season in all their glory as the good Beebo intended.

Next week…zombies! Because why not!

Pages: 1 2See entire article on one page

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!