Zari

For the eponymous character, see Zari Tomaz.

For other uses, see Zari (disambiguation)

"Really? You saved the world?"
"Twice!"
"Then why does it still suck?"

—Zari Tomaz and Ray Palmer

"Zari"
Information
Season 3 » Episode 3
Episode number	36 of 110
Original airdate	October 24, 2017
Written by	James Eagan Ray Utarnachitt
Directed by	Mairzee Almas
Chronology
Preceded by	"Freakshow"
Followed by	"Phone Home"

"Zari" is the third episode of the third season of DC's Legends of Tomorrow, and the thirty-sixth episode overall. It aired on October 24, 2017.

Synopsis

When Sara receives a distress call from their "befriended" agent at the Time Bureau, she learns that they have been tasked with going to the future to capture a rogue time traveler. Unfortunately, the Legends make things worse by trying to protect an outlaw named Zari, to hopefully lure in the time traveling assassin. Meanwhile, Stein tries to diagnose Amaya's condition, but Nate discovers an unusual treatment that Amaya begrudgingly agrees to.[src]

Cast

Starring

• Victor Garber as Professor Martin Stein
• Brandon Routh as Dr. Ray Palmer/The Atom
• Caity Lotz as Captain Sara Lance
• Franz Drameh as Jefferson "Jax" Jackson
• Maisie Richardson-Sellers as Amaya Jiwe
• Amy Louise Pemberton as Gideon (voice)
• Tala Ashe as Zari Tomaz
• Nick Zano as Dr. Nate Heywood/Steel
• Dominic Purcell as Mick Rory/Heat Wave

Guest starring

• Jes Macallan as Agent Ava Sharpe
• Adam Tsekhman as Agent Gary Green
• Tracy Ifeachor as Kuasa
• Joy Richardson as Amaya Jiwe's ancestor
• Jack Fisher as young Ray Palmer

Co-starring

• Dalias Blake as Guard
• Rick Pearce as Transport Officer
• Oliver Birmingham as Bully
• Gerald Paetz as Transport Driver
• Phillip Mitchell as A.R.G.U.S. Officer

Plot

It is Seattle in the year 2042. There is an anti Meta-human curfew in effect. A prison transport is taking a captive Meta-human to prison when it is intercepted by Kuasa, who was resurrected at the end of the last episode. After killing the guards, Kuasa opens the back of the truck, to find that the prisoner has already escaped. This is observed by Agent Gary Green, who worriedly radios the Time Bureau that it is a "code 9-9"

In the Temporal Zone, Stein and Nate are in the kitchen discussing Amaya, when Stein spots her channelling the ashe of a spider whilst asleep, making her stick to the ceiling. They wake her up. Stein finds this fascinating, but Amaya is worried about what would happen if she were to channel the ashe of a dangerous animal such as a lion when sleeping. Meanwhile Sara is on the bridge, listening to an intercept of Gary's distress call, and decides that they are going to help him.

In Seattle, Mick, Jax, Sara, and Ray realise that something is wrong, and the city is under martial law. They hide as a military vehicle passes, and Ray notices that it is an A.R.G.U.S. vehicle. They locate Gary, who explains that he is there because the Bureau had a report of unregulated time travel, and how the metahuman is able to control water. He has been sent to Seattle to prevent the metahuman from killing the prisoner in the van. Sarah, Nate, Ray, and Mick are able to track down the escaped prisoner Zari Tomaz, but are cornered by an A.R.G.U.S. drone which identifies them as missing and places them under arrest. Zari is able to hack the drone and escape. Ray destroys the drone, but armed A.R.G.U.S. agents arrive and surround them. The Legends pretend to surrender, then knock out the A.R.G.U.S. team, and leave. Unbeknownst to them, all of this has been watched by Kuasa.

On the Waverider, Stein has checked Amaya over, and can find nothing physically wrong with her that would explain her losing control over her powers. Amaya tells him that the problem is mystical rather than medical. Nate suggests that they ask Amaya's ancestors for help. On the bridge, Jax has looked up Zari and discovered that she has an extensive criminal record: from hacking, to metahuman smuggling, to religious crimes (Zari is Muslim, and religion is forbidden). Sara asks Mick where a criminal would go. He suggests his bar, where they find Zari. However Kuasa has also shown up. Sara fights Kuasa to keep her occupied whilst Jax and Ray get Zari out of there. Mick then starts a bar fight so that they too can make their escape. Back on the Waverider, Sara asks for Zari's help in catching Kuasa. Zari agrees – as long as they help her break her brother out of the A.R.G.U.S. prison he is being held in. The Legends agree.

Meanwhile, Nate has been researching about Zambesi culture, and suggests to Amaya that she go on a vision quest to help her find out what the issue is with her totem. He has already had Gideon synthesise the hallucinogenic drug needed, and has already taken some himself. Amaya takes the drug as well and they sit together to start the vision quest.

Sara, Zari, Mick, Jax, and Ray break into the A.R.G.U.S. Prison and disable the security. Jax sees on the security screens that A.R.G.U.S. is conducting experiments on the Meta-humans being held there. He decides to free all the prisoners, and opens all of the cell doors. Zari has used the distraction retrieve a necklace from A.R.G.U.S.'s vaults. The Legends realise that it was never a rescue mission, it was a heist. Zari tells them that the necklace used to belong to her brother, and reveals that it is a totem, just like Amaya's, but that it allows her to control wind. Zari summons a tornado to escape, with Ray in pursuit. Sara wants to recapture Zari and send her back to the A.R.G.U.S. prison. Jax argues against it, saying that they are better than that.

Amaya is dreaming in the medical bay. She meets her ancestor and asks her why she is losing control of her totem. Her ancestor tells her that the strength of the totem grows as the strength of the threat she faces increases, and that she must find Zari.

Ray catches up with Zari at a burnt out building. Zari tell him that this was where she was supposed to meet her family. Her brother had powers because he wielded the totem. On the night they were supposed to escape, A.R.G.U.S. raided their home, killed him, and took the totem. Her parents are missing. Ray sympathises but says they have to go. Just then Kuasa appears. Ray calls for backup, but the Waverider is being delayed by a Time Bureau ship captained by Ava Sharpe, who demands that they return Zari to prison. Kuasa attacks Ray. Zari steps in. Kuasa offers Zari the chance of revenge on A.R.G.U.S. if she gives her the totem. Zari turns her down. On the Waverider Sara refuses to hand Zari over. When the Bureau ship attacks the Waverider, Sara flies the ship at the Time Bureau craft. Agent Sharpe backs down and time jumps away. Zari and Ray are blocked from escape by Kuasa. At that point Amaya, Jax, and Mick arrive to back them up. Amaya easily defeats Kuasa. Kuasa says she would kill her "but I'd just be killing myself" and teleports away using a time stone.

On the Waverider Agent Sharpe gives Sara a warning that if they cross paths again, she will exile them to the dawn of time. Amaya tells Nate that she's decided to stay – because of Zari, not him. Back in 2042, Amaya asks Zari to join the team, and Zari agrees.

In 1988, a young Ray Palmer is hiding from bullies in a drainage pipe, when he hears a noise behind him, turns to see a mysterious creature.

Videos

DC's Legends of Tomorrow 3x03 Promo "Zari" (HD) Season 3 Episode 3 Promo

DC's Legends of Tomorrow 3x03 Sneak Peek 2 "Zari" (HD) Season 3 Episode 3 Sneak Peek 2

Production

Preparation ran from July 19 until July 27, 2017. Shooting ran from July 28 until August 10, 2017.

Trivia

• Ray references having previously fought Kuasa with her Water Totem in the second season of Vixen​, though isn't aware that the enemy they are fighting is in fact the same individual.
• Nate tells Zari, "Come with us if you want to live", closely quoting a line by The Terminator in the 1991 film Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
  • Ray tells Nate he used that line once, referring to the events of "Last Refuge" when he said almost the same thing to the younger version of Mick Rory while saving him.
  • The line is similarly quoted in "Crisis on Earth-X, Part 3"​; when Felicity Smoak and Iris West rescue Kara Danvers, Iris tells Kara, "Come with me if you want to live."
• After Zari asks that the Legends assist her in breaking her brother out of an A.R.G.U.S. black site, Mick beams at the idea of a prison break, a nod to his actor's main role as Lincoln Burrows in the TV series Prison Break.
• The supposed cell number for Zari's brother is "4587", which is a commonly-used four-digit number in Arrow and DC's Legends of Tomorrow. It is a reference to the TV show Wiseguy.
  • In a tweet, Marc Guggenheim said, "I love the TV show, WISEGUY. 4587 was Vince Terranova's 'ident code.' Arrow & Legends both have lots of Wiseguy easter eggs."
  • "4587" would later be used as Oliver Queen's prisoner identification number in Season 7.
• Amaya's spirit guide is played by Joy Richardson, Maisie Richardson-Sellers' mother.
• This is the sixth episode in the Arrowverse and the first DC's Legends of Tomorrow​​​ episode 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"​​, and "Alex"​​.
  • This is also the third episode in the Arrowverse to only contain the character's name, after "Sara"​ and "Alex".
• This episode is the first episode of DC's Legends of Tomorrow to feature Tala Ashe (Zari Tomaz) as a series regular.

Goofs

• Meta-humans like the Flash still seem to operate in 2024, despite the Anti-Meta-Human Act of 2021.
  • Due to Oliver Queen becoming a deputized agent of the SCPD after 2018, it stands to reason that he and even several of the other heroes present were working alongside local law enforcement and possibly even A.R.G.U.S., and thus no longer considered "vigilantes" or "illegal meta-humans".
  • Also, Rip Hunter stated that the future is constantly in flux, meaning this scenario could be just one of many potential future timelines.
• The A.R.G.U.S. drone speaks Nate's full name as "Nathaniel", yet mistakenly transcribes it as "Nathan".
  • "Nathan" is a nickname commonly used by Nate's comics counterpart.
• Zari states the word "jannah" means "sanctuary" in Arabic. "Jannah" actually translates to "garden" or "paradise" in Arabic. The actual Arabic term for sanctuary would be "malja" or "maladh".
• Ray, Sara, and Mick are all listed on a meta-human registry, despite not actually being meta-humans.
  • However, they may be part of the registry for abetting and associating with known meta-humans, or for having skills or equipment making them equal to meta-human powers.