Romeo V. Juliet: Dawn of Justness

"Romeo V. Juliet: Dawn of Justness"
Information
Season 5 » Episode 7
Episode number	75 of 110
Original airdate	March 17, 2020
Written by	Ray Utarnachitt Matthew Maala
Directed by	Alexandra La Roche
Chronology
Preceded by	"Mr. Parker's Cul-De-Sac"
Followed by	"Zari, Not Zari"

"Romeo V. Juliet: Dawn of Justness" is the seventh episode of the fifth season of DC's Legends of Tomorrow, and the seventy-fifth episode overall. It aired on March 17, 2020.

Synopsis

The Legends continue their hunt for pieces of the Loom of Fate and find themselves face to face with William Shakespeare. Ray, Nate, Rory, Constantine, Charlie and Behrad stay a little longer on the mission making things worse after lying to Sara. Meanwhile, Ray and Nora make another big life decision that leaves the team surprised and best buds, Nate and Ray, on the outs.[src]

Cast

Starring

• Brandon Routh as Dr. Ray Palmer/The Atom
• Caity Lotz as Captain Sara Lance
• Maisie Richardson-Sellers as Charlie
• Tala Ashe as Zari Tarazi
• Jes Macallan as Ava Sharpe
• Courtney Ford as Nora Darhk
• Olivia Swann as Astra Logue
• Amy Louise Pemberton as Gideon (voice)
• Nick Zano as Dr. Nate Heywood/Steel
• Dominic Purcell as Mick Rory/Heat Wave

Special appearance by

• Matt Ryan as John Constantine

Special guest star

• Ramona Young as Mona Wu

Guest starring

• Shayan Sobhian as Behrad Tarazi
• Sarah Strange as Lachesis
• Rowan Schlosberg as William Shakespeare

Co-starring

• Art Kitching as Philip Henslowe
• Liam Howe as Sexy Fireman
• Riley Orr as "Atom" Actor
• Jesse Inocalla as "Heat Wave" Actor
• Brett Harris as "Captain Steel" Actor

Plot

Line for the bathroom.

Ray Palmer spends a few moments admiring his suit and mementos collected over his time as a Legend. Nora awakens to ask what he is thinking about, and he tells her how her father convinced him that their time on the Waverider has come to an end. Nora assures Ray that she will live with him anywhere but agrees to leave with him, as he believes that she cannot do her job as a fairy godmother well on a time ship. The two decide to wash up, but find Sara and Ava already waiting in line with Zari occupying the bathroom for her beauty regiment. Ray asks what happened to the bathroom sign up sheet he made, and Ava tells him that Mick burned it in frustration after Zari used it to book the bathroom for the entire day. As the other Legends join the line, Ray attempts to tell them that he and Nora are leaving, but Mick has already deduced and announced it, noting that it is the next logical step for a married couple. Ava asks how he will tell Nate, as the latter appears and asks what Ray wants to tell him. Uneasy, Ray claims he wanted to tell him how the wait for the bathroom is taking more than 30 mins as Zari finally emerges.

Book Club

Mick is in the galley when Mona appears. She asks him what is happening in his life and explains she is here for Nora's first book club as a married woman. She tells Mick of a troll that Rebecca Silver is facing, but Mick abruptly tells her to just ignore the troll and not contact them. Ray tells Sara that Marie Antoinette and Rasputin have disappeared, with Sara assuming that they were recalled to hell by Astra, just as Damien Darkh told her would happen to non profitable Encores. Sara suggests Ray tell Nate that he is leaving, with Ray commenting that saying goodbye to Nate is his second biggest mission, behind going to the moon. On the bridge, Charlie tells the Legends how she hid a piece of the Loom of Fate as rings, one of them hidden with an old friend in London 1594. During the briefing, Sara and Gideon attempt to provide segues for Ray to tell Nate, but he repeatedly changes the subject and asks Sara to do her signature sendoff. As she does so with a terrible British accent, Nate tells her that was terrible with Constantine also commenting that he is offended by her impersonation. In a London 1594 tavern, the Legends arrive to find Charlie's friend is in fact William Shakespeare. They attempt to intimidate him into giving them the ring but he admits to Charlie's dismay that he has already sold the ring to his producer, who threatened to cut off his hands for not yet having an ending to his play Romeo and Juliet. On the Waverider, the other female Legends invite Zari to join them for book club. Although she is initially hesitant, she in intrigued when they reveal they use the time to socialize rather than talk about books. At the tavern, Shakespeare's producer arrives with the ring on his hand. Mick suggests he just walk up and rob the producer, but as this is his final mission, Ray insists that they retrieve the ring in a "extremely well and elaborately coordinated" manner. Not realizing this is Ray's last mission, Nate proposes a complicated elaborate plan to retrieve the ring, with Ray tearing up while he is explaining. Still not wanting to tell Nate the truth yet, he claims to be moved by how good Nate's plan is. While Nate was forming his plan however, Charlie has already managed to discreetly steal the ring, prompting Mick to say goodbye to Ray since the mission is over. Nate asks why Mick would say goodbye and Ray claims to be leaving for his honeymoon. Nate demands to throw Ray a bachelor party, with Behrad suggesting the mission is technically not over until they return to the Waverider. At book club, Zari still has misgivings about joining book club, and the book club members share how this club helped them each move past their dysfunctional past. Zari is still unwilling to confide in them, and instead suggests they throw Nora a bachelorette party. Just then, Nate calls Sara and pretends that the mission hasn't ended so they can throw Ray a bachelor party. As the book club is about to do the same for Nora, Sara agrees to let them "continue their mission" instead of returning to the Waverider. In hell, Astra tells her mentor of how she gave Constantine his vitality back, since he promised to bring back her mother. Her mentor becomes upset, as her mother's resurrection would mean that she herself would no longer be in Astra's life. She suggests that Astra discover what Constantine plans to do, so that Astra could do it without him and presents to her the exspiravit ritual, which would allow her to spy on Constantine like a ghost.

At the tavern, Ray gives a toast on how Nate has been the best friend he could ask for. Behrad and Constantine try to provide a segue for Ray to tell Nate the truth, but he is interrupted by Mick who reveals he has a daughter who he cannot stop thinking about. They then do a toast to collecting the Loom of Fate, with Constantine excitedly saying how he looks forward to using it to change Astra's life. Astra has used the ritual to overhear Constantine, who senses a supernatural presence. Trying to discover who is spying on him, Constantine inadvertently starts a fight with some of the tavern's patrons and the other Legends join in while he continues to confront the unseen specter. Constantine performs a spell to vanquish the specter, before realizing too late it was Astra. In hell, Astra is violently propelled backwards and rendered unconscious. In the tavern, the Legends in their drunken state use their various abilities and weapons in front of the tavern's patrons. Nate attempts to use the flasher to wipe everyone's memories but he fires it backwards in his drunken state, leading the Legends to lose all memory of the fight and head back to the ship. On the Waverider, Nora's bachelorette party is underway when Nora discovers that the time line has changed, with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet play instead becoming "Romeo V Juliet: Dawn of Justness".

Sara berates the Legends for lying to her just so they can throw a party. Romeo and Juliet is now a superhero play exhibiting parodies of the Legends, and Sara tells them the mission is not over until they fix history. As she is slurring her words, Charlie deduces that she is drunk, just before the stripper the book club hired emerges, confirming that Sara had a party on the ship as well. Sara asks Ray in private why he hasn't told Nate the truth. Ray admits that he finds it difficult to say goodbye to his best friend. Sara tells Ray how they have come so far since they first moved into the ship without knowing what to expect. Their courage then to embrace the change made them Legends. Ray tells Sara he will miss her as she reciprocates, and the two hug. Charlie, Nate and Ray go to prevent the superhero play from happening. They see parodies of Behrad, Mick, Nate and Ray being portrayed by Shakespeare's actors in the rehearsals. While Charlie and Nate collect the scripts to be destroyed and tell the cast of the change in plans, Ray goes to talk to Shakespeare who recognizes him. Shakespeare reveals how he has a plan for Romeo and Juliet to form a team with Hamlet, Viola and Puck to face Richard the Third. Ray realizes that Shakespeare does not want to say goodbye to Romeo and Juliet and Shakespeare confirms his suspicions as he loves the characters and sees no need to. He admits he always knew how to let their story end, but is unsure what the future lies once he lets them go. Ray tells him how he faces a similar situation in having decided to leave the Legends, drawing from his experience to convince Shakespeare to return to his original play, not realizing that he is overheard by Nate. Returning to the Waverider, Nate confronts Ray about the truth, insisting that he could have made the day more memorable if Ray had told him sooner. He is also upset at being the last person Ray has told, when Gideon alerts them that the timeline has not yet been fixed. Ray excitedly tells Nate the mission is not yet over, but the latter tells him to just leave since the Legends can take care of this without him. Nate and Zari meet with Shakespeare, who reveals that his producer blames him for the theft of his ring and has cancelled the play, ruining his career. Ray and Nora pack up the last of their belongings and prepare to leave. Sara checks in on Nate, who tells her of the situation and that he has given up on resolving the situation. As Sara tells Nate of how she will miss Ray too, she has an idea to fix the timeline by having the Legends carry out the play themselves.

Nate hugs Ray goodbye

The Legends prepare for the play, with Gideon providing the Legends their lines via their comms. As the play begins, a confused Shakespeare recognizes his play, and is encouraged by Charlie to enjoy watching it. The play goes well, with a delighted Shakespeare watching, until Nate as Juliet begins to regret his previous encounter with Ray and runs backstage. Zari convinces Nate that change is hard but it is not too late for him to say a proper goodbye to Ray, offering to take his place as Juliet. As Nate runs off, Zari assumes the role of Juliet with Constantine portraying Romeo. On the Waverider, Ray says his goodbye to Gideon and they hope to see each other again. As he turns to leave, a digital tear rolls down from Gideon's eye. Nate attempts to contact Ray to no avail, and encounters the producer and his men who remembers him from the fight but he manages to easily defeat them and continues his way to the ship. It appears that he arrived too late, but Ray reveals that he has not yet left. The two apologize to each other for the way their last encounter ended and they tearfully have one final hug to say goodbye.

Afterwards, Sara tells Nate that Zari did well as Juliet and ask how he is feeling. Nate tells her how he surmises that while friendship allows both parties to grow, it also means the two parties will also need each other less as time goes on. Sara offers to give Nate a "bro-hug" whenever he misses Ray in the future. Mona looks for Mick in his room, who is reading King Lear. She tells him to talk to his daughter, revealing that Zari told her about his daughter. Mick confides in her that he is not hiding from his daughter, but protecting her and shows Mona his burns, remarking that "nurturing fathers don't run in my family." Mona tells him she herself is better off because Mick is in her life, and she is sure his daughter will be too. Mick tells her it is good to see her and the two hug. In the parlor, Charlie explains to Sara and Constantine that all Loom pieces are disguised as ordinary rings, so that humans will not combust spontaneously at the sight of its true form. Constantine tries to take the piece with him, but Sara and Charlie insist that it be kept on the Waverider as the piece means too much to him. Charlie tells them that this piece can be used to locate the others. In hell, Astra awakens and tells her mentor that Constantine is looking for the Loom of Fate. Her mentor is taken aback by this news, and tells her it is one of the most powerful tools in existence and could rewrite Astra's life, but asks if Astra wants to entrust this power to someone like Constantine. Later that night on the Waverider, Nate and Sara are in the galley as they are unable to sleep while missing Ray. They discover that Mick is there too, drinking some of Ray's green juice, but he denies being sentimental and claims to just be clearing out the fridge. The other Legends join them and they have a toast of Ray's green juice in his honor, reminiscing about what Ray has done for them. However, Zari is the only person who finds the green juice to not be disgusting and the Legends scramble for the bathroom after drinking it.

Production

Preparation ran from September 12 until September 20, 2019. Shooting ran from September 23 until October 3, 2019.

Trivia

• This is the last episode of DC's Legends of Tomorrow to feature Brandon Routh (Ray Palmer) as a series regular.
• The title of the episode is a play on two famous titles: Romeo and Juliet, a famous Shakespearean tragedy, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, a film in the DC Extended Universe.
  • As Ray and Nate are saying their final goodbye, Zari recites the final lines from the famous balcony scene: "Good night, good night. Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow".
• The episode's working title was "Romeo v Juliet: Dawn of Justness".
• As of this episode, Sara, Mick, and Gideon are the only three Legends left from the original team.
  • Kendra, Scythian, Jax and Ray have retired.
  • Carter, Leonard, Martin and Rip have died.
  • Nate, Amaya, Zari, Leo, Wally, John, Charlie, Mona, Nora, Behrad, Ava and Gary joined in later seasons with Amaya, Leo, Wally, Mona and Nora leaving during the seasons.
• Nate says to the cast of Romeo V. Juliet: Dawn of Justness that they have been replaced by Riverdale, a nod to The CW series with the same name which in turn is based on characters from the Archie Comics.
• Ray and Nate's tears and "I love you" during their goodbye scene were unscripted.
• This episode marks the second time Constantine wears special attire in a mission after "Wet Hot American Bummer".
• This is the first time Gideon has cried despite being an artificial intelligence.

Goofs

• In the Legends' production of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo (Constantine) and Juliet (Zari) share a kiss at the very end of the balcony scene, but this kiss doesn't occur in the actual play.
  • Zari said she would do the play her way before going on to the stage.
• Behrad drinks during Ray's impromptu bachelor party which is against (in most sects of) Islam.
  • He's also shown to be a stoner, which indicates that he does not take the part of the rules seriously.