The One Where We're Trapped On TV

"Wait, just accept your fates! Don't walk out that door..."

"On the other hand... why not?"

—Charlie and Zari 1.0, as the Legends refuse to accept their fates

"The One Where We're Trapped On TV"
Information
Season 5 » Episode 13
Episode number	81 of 110
Original airdate	May 26, 2020
Written by	Grainne Godfree James Eagan
Directed by	Marc Guggenheim
Chronology
Preceded by	"I Am Legends"
Followed by	"Swan Thong"

"The One Where We're Trapped On TV" is the thirteenth episode of the fifth season of DC's Legends of Tomorrow, and the eighty-first episode overall. It aired on May 26, 2020.

Synopsis

After Charlie does the one thing that goes against her nature when it comes to her sisters, she tries to protect the Legends by scattering them in different television shows. Of course, in true Legends style some can't just be blissfully ignorant and happy but figure out a way to end up messing with the system.[src]

Plot

Mona Wu does her job and continues to rewrite history; all evidence of free will throughout history must be erased. This is now "Loomworld"; the Fates ("Fates be praised", as anyone who says their name must invoke their benediction) have re-created the world and society to where everyone eats mush, different colors allowed, and after work gets to watch four different TV shows.

When Mona gets home from work, where her boss died as Atropos personally and literally told him that his time was up, she makes a bowl of mush to watch Ultimate Buds by Clotho Productions. Unusual things happen on this episode: a ghost possesses Zari Tarazi while she is making dinner for her boss causing roommate Behrad and his best friend Nate Heywood to hide her. Tomaz asks Nate about Mona; Mona cannot believe that she was named on television. Tomaz and the men then start a crossover with Highcastle Abbey.

Mona watches as the characters of this show, John Constantine, Natalie and Astra Logue, interact with the others; she realizes that the crazy guy, who yells outside her job that the world is wrong, might be right, so she invites him to her home to watch the impromptu crossover. When the two shows extend the crossover into Star Trip, starring Captain Lance and Captain Ava as they battle the anger of Dahn, then Mona knew that something needed to be done. She and Gary went to Clotho Productions and learned how the writing of the show truly worked.

Clotho made a promise to her sisters that the Legends could live in their new world, but only as television characters that did not cause trouble. With the Legends having their memories and demonstrating free will, they might start a rebellion against Loomworld, which will cost them their lives. Clotho continued to explain that, to keep them pacified, she gave them their hearts' desires: Sara and Ava were co-captains with un-killable crews who always had adventures as they fought Mick who wanted to be a criminal; Constantine was showing penance to Astra who was reunited with her mother; and Nate and Zari were with Behrad again.

Part four of the crossover began in Mr. Parker's Cul De Sac; Lita and Ali started watching back at part three.

Clotho used Mr. Parker to send the Legends back to their individual shows. Behrad was afraid to go, so Clotho gave him "his" Zari back, giving him two sisters.

In their own shows again, the Legends could not mentally handle being fictional characters, so they each rebelled against their scripts and enacted free will; the audience loved it as they now had examples of freedom. Clotho tried to cancel each show before the rebellion could be televised, but it had now begun. The Legends together again for the first time as they will now take the fight to the Fates ("Fates be praised").

Cast

Starring

• Caity Lotz as Sara Lance/White Canary
• Maisie Richardson-Sellers as Charlie
• Tala Ashe as Zari Tarazi and Zari Tomaz
• Jes Macallan as Ava Sharpe
• Olivia Swann as Astra Logue
• Amy Louise Pemberton (credit only)
• Nick Zano as Nate Heywood
• Dominic Purcell as Mick Rory/Dhan

Special appearance by

• Matt Ryan as John Constantine

Special guest star

• Ramona Young as Mona Wu

Guest starring

• Shayan Sobhian as Behrad Tarazi
• Adam Tsekhman as Gary Green
• Mina Sundwall as Lita
• Alice Hunter as Natalie Logue

Co-starring

• Lisa Marie DiGiacinto as Ali
• Erik Gow as Mr. Parker
• Sophia Johnson as Pretty Boss
• Tara Burnett as Mrs. Hutchins
• Kurt Teixeira as Officer Maala
• Jarett John as Security Guard Lalo
• Jillian Zavazal as Production Assistant
• Manraj Sidhu as Geoffrey Burch

Uncredited

• Courtney Ford as Nora Darhk/Fairy Godmother (archive footage)
• Joanna Vanderham as Atropos

Trivia

• This episode marks the directorial debut of Marc Guggenheim.
• The title is a take on the episode title format the TV series Friends used to name every episode, except for the two-part finale, in which the title begins with "The One".
• This episode has many similarities to Season 2's episode "Doomworld".
  • Both were penultimate episodes of their respective seasons.
  • Both had alternate villainous takes on the title card.
  • In both episodes, the Legends are trapped in an alternate timeline because the season's big bads acquired the reality-changing item the team was hunting for.
  • Both also have a major character who are trying to save the legends from an alternate reality such as Mick Rory and Charlie respectively.
• The episode makes an homage to the George Orwell novel Nineteen Eighty-Four as a framing device, also known as "Loomworld", using it to rewrite and suppress rebellion and free will throughout history, similar to the total totalitarian and repressive society in Nineteen Eighty-Four.
  • Atropos appears on a monochrome screen, similar to the telescreens of Nineteen Eighty-Four.
• A number of television series stream on Fate+, likely a parody of Disney+ and other related streaming services. These series are themselves parodies of existing real-world media:
  • Ultimate Buds is a parody of Friends.
    • Behrad is a substitute for Chandler Bing, Zari for Monica Geller, and Nate for Joey Tribbiani.
  • Highcastle Abbey parodies Downton Abbey.
    • Constantine is a substitute for Thomas Barrow (as a queer butler), and Natalie and Astra presumably substitute the Crawley family.
  • Star Trip is a parody of Star Trek: The Original Series.
    • Sara is a substitute for James T. Kirk, and Ava for Spock.
    • It also parodies Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, with Rory (as "Dhan") a substitute for Khan Noonien Singh.
    • The Gromulans, played by Constantine, Astra, Nate, Zari and Behrad, parody the Romulans.
  • Mr. Parker's Cul-De-Sac is a parody of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
    • Mr. Parker is a substitute for Mr. Rogers.
• On Ultimate Buds, Nate mentions how he got an audition for the role of Robin Hood on a show called Arrow, about a vigilante; an obvious nod to fellow Arrowverse series Arrow.

Production

Preparation ran from December 12 until December 20, 2019. Shooting ran from January 7 until January 17, 2020.