So, it happened. The episode we were all dreading finally arrived, and it was just as unbelievably sad as we all thought it would be.
Legends of Tomorrow said goodbye to original cast member Brandon Routh, who has played Ray Palmer for the past six years, and Courtney Ford, who played Nora Dahrk for the past three seasons on the show.
Again, and we cannot stress this enough — we still see absolutely no reason to get rid of them, and we are truly devastated that they’re no longer a part of the show.
While Ray was not a super favorite of ours, his character’s optimism was always a counterbalance to all the other darker characters — especially Sara and Mick — and we just can’t see how they’re going to find that new balance without him.
So even though this week’s episode, titled “Romeo vs Juliet: Dawn of Justness,” was just classic Legends of Tomorrow with all their usual crazy shenanigans, it was also very, very sad and bittersweet.
A Shakespearian Goodbye
So, following last week’s episode, Ray decides that now that they’re married, they can’t keep living on the Waverider, because it could interfere with Nora’s job as a Fairy Godmother. Which makes zero sense, because they live on a time ship and she is just summoned away when a kid needs her. And if she needed to get back to the ship, she could always just carry a time courier on her person at all times. So there. Problem solved.
But Ray decides that’s what they need to do and Nora is okay with it. So they tell most of the team while they’re in line for the Waverider’s only bathroom. Everyone is sad, but understanding. Ray can’t find it in himself to tell his best friend — his time bro — Nate.
So, what follows is that his last mission with the team is to get one piece of the Loom of Fate that Charlie conveniently left in William Shakespeare’s possession. But Ray pretty much refuses to tell Nate he’s leaving after the mission — instead, he ends up lying to him, saying he is going on a honeymoon with Nora.
Charlie quickly retrieves the piece, so the boys decide that Ray needs a belated bachelor party.
Of course, they all get drunk, chaos ensues, and they use their powers in front of poor William Shakespeare, who decides to write superhero plays instead of his classic Romeo and Juliet tragedy.
But what really mattered in this whole plot was that Ray didn’t know how to tell Nate he’s leaving. And when Nate found out — by overhearing his friend talking to Shakespeare — it wasn’t pretty. While we absolutely hate that Ray and Nora are leaving, they did pay homage to this friendship beautifully. It was tragic, it was funny, and it was very, very bittersweet.
Brandon Routh and Nick Zano broke our hearts into a million pieces in their goodbye scene and we will never be okay with this.
The last book club
While the boys and Charlie were off on their mission, the girls were having their last book club session with Nora. Mona returned for the occasion, and Ava even invited Zari 2.0 to partake in the event. Of course, it’s Zari who suggests Nora needs a bachelorette party and Sara is completely onboard with it.
They go all out and that gave us one of the most entertaining sequences we’ve ever had on Legends of Tomorrow. For the first time, we see all the girls having the best time together — they even hired a male stripper — and getting blindingly drunk. It was hilarious, it was heartwarming, and so, so bittersweet.
What was even more hilarious was that, when they realized that the boys screwed up history once again, Sara had to call them back to the Waverider and reprimand them — while being absolutely smashed. It was one of the funniest moments this show has ever had and it was great to see our captain let go for a little while.
In the end, the team puts on a Romeo and Juliet play themselves in order to save history, and the whole thing is fantastic and laugh-out-loud funny.
This was a fantastic episode, but it left us with a very bittersweet feeling. Ray and Nora shouldn’t be leaving. And just like the team now feels that there are Ray Palmer and Nora Dahrk shaped holes in their team, we also have holes in our hearts.
Other highlights of Legends of Tomorrow
- Zari 2.0. We love her so much, man. As much as we miss our OG Zari, we just love this one so, so much. We hope that when we do get OG Zari back, some semblance of this Zari remains. Also, can we please talk about how Tala Ashe is absolutely nailing this? When Zari 2.0 stepped in to take over as Juliet for Nate, it was like it was a completely different person. Her voice changed, her posture changed, everything changed. It was amazing.
- Mick telling the boys about his daughter and how he can’t stop thinking about her made our hearts grow three sizes.
- The entire bathroom line sequence was absolutely hilarious. We love these dorks so much.
- Brandon Routh and Nick Zano made us ugly cry.
Legends of Tomorrow returns with all-new episodes on April 7 at 9/8c on The CW.