A hero dies, Zari meets Zari and a Supernatural crossover in the latest Legends of Tomorrow

The CW’s wildest superhero series wasted no time coming back with a bang from its brief hiatus. We get the death of a hero, a long-awaited meeting of the minds between the two Zaris, and a bizarro CW semi-crossover — all in one episode.

Spoilers ahead for “Zari, Not Zari,” the latest episode of The CW’s Legends of Tomorrow, which aired Tuesday, April 21, 2020.

So lets get the big news out of the way first: Behrad is dead, at least for now. Zari’s brother, who was written back into the timeline at the end of last season and supplanted her on the Legends when the timeline was rewritten, was killed try to take down Charlie’s sister while she was recovering another piece of the Loom of Fate. He died a hero, as she pulled his “string” of life and noted he shouldn’t be here in this world (since, you know, he died in Zari’s original, more apocalyptic future timeline). 

Behrad’s presence on the show has always been a weird one, suddenly showing up as if he’d always been there in a very “Dawn in Buffy” kind of way. That said, Shayan Sobhian did a fantastic job bringing this fun loving, carefree totem bearer to life this year. Once fans caught up to who he was, he really was a great presence to have on the team. And his death came just as fans were really getting to know him and accept him on the ship. 

Even worse for Zari, his death hit literally at the moment she was able to reconnect with her “original” self from the pre-Heyworld timeline. Having new Zari meet OG Zari in a totem-fueled mind meld was a great way to handle that story, as they’re able to talk through their differences and own insecurities over just how much their lives diverged when the timeline was changed. It’s also nice to see the original Zari hasn’t been completely erased, so to speak, and that version of her is still out there — even if she is seemingly trapped in some kind of totem afterlife.

The CW

We’ve gotten to watch this new version of Zari as she’s gained some depth, both by her experiences with the Legends and the memories seeping back in from her previous life. But with Behrad’s death, it’s clear something has snapped in her now. Zari storms in on Constantine and makes it clear she won’t be leaving his side until they recover the Loom and bring Behrad back to life. She might’ve started this season as a visitor among the Legends, but now she’s the totem bearer. She’s the once-vapid debutante, now a burgeoning hero forged in grief — and that should make for one heck of a good story to watch.

What about that long-teased Supernatural crossover? Well, there wasn’t much to it. Sara, Charlie and Constantine’s search for the loom takes them to a wooded area where Supernatural is shooting (so yes, the series is still a TV series within the Arrowverse, apparently, so you can scrap any hopes for a full-fledged crossover of those worlds). They stumble upon the set of the Winchester brothers’ famed car “Baby,” and Sara fangirls over being a fan of the show, but we don’t get any surprise cameos or the like. It’s still a fun bit of in-network cheekiness, but not much more than that.

As for Charlie’s sister Atropos, in addition to killing Behrad she almost does the same to Sara and Constantine along the way. She left both for dead (and there are some lingering questions for how exactly Sara survived, since Charlie makes clear she should be dead), though thankfully they’re a bit harder to kill than the average punk rocker. Her trip aboard the Waverider to steal another piece of the Loom also culminates in a stellar fight with Sara. After Sara realizes their magical sword has no affect on Charlie’s sister (she is a god, after all), she takes her into the time stream and kicks her off the ship mid-flight. If anything can kill her, maybe it’s crashing head first into the time stream, right? Here’s hoping, though this probably isn’t the last we’ve seen of her.

Ava and Mick also got an excellent, poignant side story amidst all this chaos, dipping back into history to allow Mick to insert himself into key moments of his newly-discovered daughter’s life. She hate Mick for not being around while she was growing up, so they take full advantage of their time machine to pop back to a few critical moments so she’ll have some memories of Mick growing up. It’s a sweet idea, but like most things, there are no shortcuts in parenthood. Those fleeting moments weren’t enough to make Mick’s daughter love him, as he realizes that even with his best efforts for a day, nothing makes up for missing all those years with her.

Mick has always been a fun character, but this storyline has been a way to really explore him in a new and interesting way. Here’s hoping they keep digging into it in the weeks to come. Also, his daughter dressed up as Captain Cold one year. Adorbs!

Next week: The team heads to hell. This should be fun. Oh, and to be clear — next week’s episode is expected to be a new one, barring any last minute CW scheduling changes.