Legends of Tomorrowstarted Season 7 in the unique position of being stranded in one time period. But as it reaches the mid-season finale, “A Woman’s Place is in the War Effort!,” it has sputtered back into time-hopping misadventures. With the caveat that the team is being randomlychased through the timelineinstead of selecting their destination. Plus, it seems that wherever they land, the ugly head of 20th-century sexism and racism rears itself against the diverse, majority-female team.
This week, their time machine has yet again been knocked off-course, through the admittedly statistically unlikely event of Bishoplanding on them with a toilet. Luckily, the gang lands outside an American manufacturing facilityduring World War 2– the 1920s displaced Gwyn Davies (Matt Ryan) being shocked at a sequel to the “war to end all wars” is comedically brushed aside – which has the material to fix it. Unluckily, even in the era of “Rosie the Riveter” the female-led supply line is hampered by domineering white men like Mr. Staples who undermines and disregards his workforce, as well as sending Astra (Olivia Swann) and Spooner (Lisseth Chavez) to janitorial duty to keep it strictly segregated.
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Legends of Tomorrowhas touched on history’s troubling social issues several times, including this season with “Speakeasy Does It.” WW2 was a unique period in that the war effort opened opportunities for women, freed from regular domestic obligations, while also being regarded as a temporary measure that would evaporate (and actually worsen) once the male troops returned home. Jonathan Demme’s (director ofSilence of the Lambs(1991)) underseenSwing Shift(1984) is a fantastic examination of this period, although it’s likely theLegendswriters more hadI Love Lucyon their mind when having Ava (Jes Macallan) scramble with an assembly line.
Ava’s all-too-brief slapstick scenes actually form a microcosm of an episode theme – people being flustered by the rate of work. For Ava it’s too fast, but Astra is impatient with the slow and steady repairs Spooner is making tothe time machine, and tries to speed it up by sneaking in the part’s blueprints into Mr. Staples office for mass production. After Mr. Staples finds Astra in his office, his demeaning comments make Astra lose control and petrify him in place, leading to her secretly taking charge of the factory.
Astra at the helm actually increases the factory’s efficiency, since she actually listens to the employees’ complaints andoffers them coffee breaksand more convenient toilets (instead of the ladies being located outside). However, Astra gets a bit too enthusiastic with her changes, decreeing that the factory will become fully integrated. In a touch of depressing authenticity, not only do the undrafted male workersquit in protest, the lead working woman – who had previously said “us ladies got to stick together” – joins them, as do most of the white staff. Astra’s fellow African-American custodian had earlier advocated for ‘40s slow-and-steady progress, although Astra retorted by quoting Malcolm X: “You don’t stick a knife in a man’s back nine inches and then pull it out only six inches and call it progress.”
Still, Astra manages to rally the remaining, now integrated, workforce into building another warplane before their next inspections to save their jobs. Even after the furious Mr. Staples isunfrozen from his spell, the team effort is validated by an unexpected visit from Eleanor Roosevelt, who admires the idealistic and democratic environment Staples has “created.” Roosevel’t “deus ex machina” arrival is a touch too neat ending on an already broad-brush episode, even if “A Woman’s Place is in the War Effort!” mostly allows Astra to work through her frustrations at an interminably bigoted world.
While Astra’s A-plot is about her fiery attitude landing the team in trouble, the lighter B-plot has Behrad (Shayan Sobhian) trying to teach Nate (Nick Zano) about being asupplicant and accommodating hostto the newly-joined Bishop. See, Nate is planning to move in with Zari (Tala Ashe) to her Air Totem, but is nervous about her ancestors accepting him into their ranks.
So Behrad teaches him about the Iranian custom of Taarof, a code of civility that involves doing whatever the guests and a ritualistic triple refusal of any offering until it is accepted. But Bishop – who is oddly allowed to roam free throughout the Legends’interdimensional House of Mystery– tests Behrad’s patience through unthinkingly and arrogantly accepting his offers and demanding whatever he wants from him.
It’s within this “gracious” attitude that the two plotlines overlap, as Astra gently tells Behrad to speak his mind more.Legends of Tomorrowhas been softly hinting at an attraction between Astra and Behrad since at least last season’s“Stressed Western,”and this episode further fuels their chemistry despite polar-opposite approaches to life.
It is through Astra’s encouragement that Behrad refuses Bishop’s requests and calls him out. Bishop is gratefully humbled by this – explaining thathis clones normally just mindlessly obey him– and shows that’s he’s been building a device to harness Gideon’s (Amy Louise Pemberton) thoughts and accurately select a destination with the time machine.
This is convenient, since although Eleanor Roosevelt’s approval of the integrated factory is a lovely step for social progress, it’s a step too quick for the original timeline. Such messing with the timeline predictably alerts the Legends’ whereabouts to whom they have termed “Evil Gideon” (despite the half-hearted protests of her human counterpart).
Evil Gideon sends a surprisingly scary assault team after the Legends, leading to a tense shootout where Bishop is captured and executed point-blank. It’s a dark end for a character who had somewhat endeared himself over the last few episodes (even when acting like a jerk) and had Behrad muse he was “definite Legends’ material.” At least the rest of the team manage to escape in the time machine – although it remains to be seen after the mid-season break if it works yet – before the final reveal that thesestormtroopers are doppelgängersof the Legends themselves.
“A Woman’s Place is in the War Effort!” covers familiar ground forLegends of Tomorrow, both in character arcs (like Astra needing to tame her impulses, as in“The Satanist’s Apprentice”) or themes of balancing historical fidelity with the immediate discrimination and suffering the Legends face.America during WW2was a fascinating time when the status quo was upended, but only up to a point, and although this episode points to some of the setbacks within “Rosie the Riveter” it lacks a more thorough examination. Yet even routineLegends of Tomorrowepisodes hold bits of fun and surprising thoughtfulness, and moments of Astra’s natural “beautiful” curls being freed from her workplace shawl should not be discounted.
Legends of Tomorrow
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is one of many CW superhero shows that takes place within the Arrowverse. The series follows a rag-tag group of heroes and villains traveling through space and time to prevent apocalyptic events that would destroy the Earth and time itself.Legends of Tomorrowran between 2016 and 2022 for seven seasons. New heroes and villains filtered in and out of the series, butArrowstar Caity Lotz starred in all 110 episodes as Sara Lance, aka White Canary.
