Legends of Tomorrow season 4, episode 12 review: The Eggplant, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Sara Lance attempted to save Ava Sharpe from her own personal supermarket-themed purgatory in this week’s episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, but was “The Eggplant, the Witch & the Wardrobe” a bestseller?

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow reintroduced Ava Sharpe this week, as the Director of the Time Bureau found herself trapped in her own personal purgatory. The character had taken a leave of absence from the show following the breakdown of her relationship with the Legends’ captain, Sara Lance, and had failed to turn up for work over the past couple of episodes.

However, her absence had nothing to do with the relationship trauma and, instead, was down to the demon known as Neron. Feeding off her fears, Ava found herself trapped in a doll-selling store, surrounded by countless other Avas. Naturally, the Legends attempted to save her and, of course, things got very weird in “The Eggplant, the Witch & the Wardrobe.”

A Doll’s House

The primary focus of the episode was undoubtedly Ava’s mental imprisonment in her own personal purgatory, as Neron attempted to use her body as the vessel for the mysterious Tabitha. A neat way of furthering the main arc, no doubt, but it also proved to be an incredibly effective method of forcing Sara and Ava to deal with their recent issues.

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Arriving in Ava’s mind (so to speak), Sara attempted to help her other-half escape from her mental prison, only to discover that they were literally going round in circles. You smelling the subtext yet? Yeah, well, they had to then work together, building wardrobes, choosing beds and cleaning the dishes in a bid to figure out how to get out the demonic prison and, by extension, figure out what they truly wanted from each other and their life together.

The writers did a solid job of using these scenarios to represent their history, especially when it came to Sara having the choice of “the perfect Ava” from a series of Ava dolls (harking back to Ava’s origins as a clone). I mean, the dichotomy between demonic purgatory and domestic chores is an interesting one but one that only Legends could pull off – and it did it oh-so-well, furthering the Neron storyline while allowing Sara and Ava to patch up their relationship.

Happens In The Darhk

On the other side of things, “The Eggplant, the Witch & the Wardrobe” was instrumental in officially bringing Nora Darhk back into the fold, as Sara recruited her to assist John Constantine in taking down Neron and ultimately saving Ava. It was refreshing to see that the show didn’t dwell on her being framed for too long, as everyone quickly believed her innocence when they learned the truth. That said, it was happy to tease us with Nora’s descent back into darkness throughout the episode.

Once again, the writers did a great job of using Neron’s presence to bring up the past, as both Nora and Constantine clashed over their shared hatred of the demon. This allowed them both to revisit their history, as Nora recalled how John had been there for her during her younger days until he “abandoned” her when she couldn’t be saved. And for a moment, it looked like she might fall victim to Neron’s manipulation.

The beauty of it all was that she was the one doing the manipulating, tricking him into freeing Desmond’s body in exchange for hers…that is, until she attacked him when he was out of his vessel. Unfortunately, Ray’s attempt to protect her resulted in her taking the brunt of her own attack and, as a result, she ended up in stable-but-not-responsive state.

But it wasn’t just Nora who felt the pain of the past, as Constantine himself remained by her bedside, promising that he wouldn’t abandon her this time. No doubt, another impactful moment that highlighted the strength of the writing this season. Whether this all was truly foreshadowed in season 3 or this is just a clever way of writing around it, the supernatural saga between Nora, Constantine and Neron is incredibly compelling.

In The Palm(er) Of His Hands

Nora’s discussion with Neron was arguably the episode’s most pivotal moment. Not only did it result in her suffering a severe injury, it also freed Desmond of the demon’s grip and, apparently killed Neron in the process. But of course, we knew the format of these shows better than that and it’s simply too soon to lose the Big Bad.

So it came as no surprise (okay, it was actually quite surprising) to learn that Neron ended up possessing Ray Palmer. That’s right, when the Legends’ resident Atom attempted to save Nora from the dark cloud that was Neron himself, he somehow ended up, well, ingesting that very black cloud.

Given that Nora is incredibly close to Ray and that Mr. Palmer himself holds a position of importance on the team, it’s going to be really interesting to see how this all plays out. On a show like Legends, it can only be crazy – and that is undoubtedly a great thing.

Legendary Leftovers

• “You’re like a magical hairdryer.” – Mick Rory to Zari Tomaz (2019).
• The Sara and Ava narrative was highly engaging and, in case I haven’t made it obvious already, it served its purpose beautifully.
• You gotta love how Arrow goes to extreme lengths to make its cast look older in the flash-forwards, yet Legends just casts two older lookalikes for the aged versions of Sara and Ava.
• While the Nate and Zari romance did feel like it came out of nowhere, the writers have made up for it with a naturally slow build-up that, although on-the-nose at times, at least reminds us that these characters can feel things when they’re not on missions. Also, Nick Zano and Tala Ashe have great chemistry on-screen.
• On any other show, Nate conveniently breaking his phone before he could read a date-invite text from Zari would have come off as a little too convenient. Legends, however, just manages to get away with it.
• I’m hoping that we’ll see more of Desmond in the show. His storm-off was undoubtedly warranted but, after spending the whole season building up to his return, this felt a little flat. Of course, it’s probably not the end of this story (in which case, it was totally fine).
• Gary was outstanding this week. He’s always been a reliable source of comedy gold, but this week, he was a gem.
• “The Eggplant, the Witch & the Wardrobe” is a reference to C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe… you know, just in case you’ve been living under a rock for the last century.
• Yet another deliciously off-the-wall encounter from Legends that did exactly what it set out to do, ultimately moving all of the pieces on the board in unexpected directions.

Legends of Tomorrow returns to The CW next Monday, Apr. 29, at 8:00 p.m. ET. Did you enjoy this week’s episode? Are you excited for what comes next? Let us know in the comments below.