Tender is the Nate

"When I first stepped on to this ship, I was, you know, trying to get away from all my baggage back home, and I can't believe I'm gonna say this.... Hemingway once wrote "Can't get away from yourself by moving from one place to another." And thanks to you guys, I don't have to run anymore."

—Nate Heywood

"Tender is the Nate"
Information
Season 4 » Episode 6
Episode number	57 of 110
Original airdate	November 26, 2018
Written by	Phil Klemmer & Matthew Maala
Directed by	Dean Choe
Guest stars
Matt Ryan as John Constantine (special appearance by) Tom Wilson as Hank Heywood Andrew Lees as Ernest Hemingway Jason McKinnon as F. Scott Fitzgerald Meganne Young as Zelda Fitzgerald Darien Martin as Konane
Chronology
Preceded by	"Tagumo Attacks!!!"
Followed by	"Hell No, Dolly!"

"Tender is the Nate" is the sixth episode of the fourth season of DC's Legends of Tomorrow, and the fifty-seventh episode overall. It aired on November 26, 2018.

Synopsis

When Hank Heywood confronts Ava about the spending habits of the Legends, Nate steps in to try and smooth things over by inviting Hank on to the Waverider. The Legends then show Hank what they do by visiting 1920s Paris, trying to capture the newest Fugitive. Meanwhile, Mona is trying to make a good impression with Ava, but her over eagerness gets her and Ava stuck in a cell instead.

Production

Preparation ran from August 23 until August 31, 2018. Shooting ran from September 4 until September 14, 2018.

Trivia

• The episode's title is a play on the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel Tender Is the Night.
  • It may also be a pun referring to Nate's retirement from serving with the Legends as the superhero Steel.
• Sara asks Hank if he ever got hit by a girl, a reference to Back to the Future (1985), in which Biff (who, like Hank, is portrayed by Tom Wilson) gets smacked by Lorraine McFly.
• Gideon gets a new look in this episode.
• During the American accent lesson on the Waverider's bridge, a mask worn by the female DC superhero Katana can be seen on the shelf behind Constantine.
• Mona refers to Ray and Nora as her generation's Rachel and Ross, a reference to Friends.
• As of this episode, the only characters from the first two seasons who are still on the Waverider are Sara Lance, Ray Palmer, Mick Rory, and Gideon.
  • Rip Hunter, Leonard Snart, Carter Hall, and Martin Stein are all deceased.
  • Kendra Saunders, Scythian Torvil, Jefferson Jackson, Amaya Jiwe, and now Nate Heywood have all retired from the Legends.
  • However, Nate will most likely remain a series regular as an agent of the Time Bureau.
• As of this episode, there are officially no meta-human members of the Legends, due to Nate's leave of absence becoming his retirement.
• This episode features many references to older episodes:
  • The death of Henry Heywood in "Moonshot".
  • Rip's sacrifice in "The Good, The Bad and The Cuddly".
  • Ava finding out she is a clone from the future in "I, Ava" and her brief experience of childhood in "Wet Hot American Bummer".
  • Nora's start of her own darkness in "Daddy Darhkest".
  • Nate talking about "that heart of yours" to Ray, which is a parallel to "No Country for Old Dads".
  • Nate's goodbye is similar to that of Jax in "Beebo the God of War", with both revealing their retirement to Sara, hugging her goodbye, receiving a surprise dinner, giving a speech about their growth aboard the Waverider, and finishing with a toast.
• This is the 14th episode in the Arrowverse and the fourth episode of DC's Legends of Tomorrow to be named after a character in a civilian sense, after "Sara", "The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak", "Who is Harrison Wells?", "My Name Is Oliver Queen", "Alex", "Zari", "When Harry Met Harry...", "Run, Iris, Run", "I, Ava", "Schott Through the Heart", "Harry and the Harrisons", "Nora" and "The Virgin Gary".

Goofs

• At one point during the pizza party, Nate is holding beer in his right hand and rubbing Ray's shoulder with his left, but the camera returns to him a second later with these actions switched.
• Hank Heywood claims that the Legends have spent $1.7 million on historical costumes. However, previous seasons have shown that the Waverider creates both historical clothes and equipment for the crew for free using Gideon's programming.
  • He also made a similar complaint about the Legends' food supply, which is actually provided by Gideon as well.
  • The only situations that seem likely is that he was somehow misinformed about the Legends' actions, or that Gideon creates them out of some unknown material, like a 3D printer, which means the process costs money.