The team travels to 1973 to try and figure out why Nixon is, all of a sudden, telling the truth. This aspect of the plot becomes tertiary at best, as Hank's desire to stop the Legends from figuring out his plan becomes more of the focus.
On paper, this episode had potential. You've got the team road tripping in an RV, you've got a mystical bug that forces people to tell the truth, you've got police chases. The results, alas, aren't what they could have been. It's not a bad episode, but it doesn't leave an impression the way other episodes have.
Part of this could be because the episode is much more grounded. There's no big action sequences, nor is there the zaniness that previous episodes have delivered. There's still good stuff to be seen, though. The truth bug, while a plot device, does bring a decent amount of comedy, character development, and even a dash of squick for good measure. Sara and John have a nice scene where John gives a fake pep talk that somehow manages to still work. Nate and Hank have some great moments as well.
Alas, there's also quite a bit of filler. It negatively affects the episode's pacing.
While Nixon takes a backseat to everything else, he was still a detriment. A part of it is due to the actor never really selling us on the idea that he's actually the former President. The jokes at his expense were also largely obvious and have been done to death. Really, the only joke that landed on that one was John's "dick in a box" line. His final speech about how he had become inspired to be a better person and leader was a nice moment that was amusingly subverted when the team had to "undo" it to preserve the status quo. Other than that, though it was a bit of a dud humor wise.
As far as the over-arching plot, this episode does move the needle a bit. Hank is dead, killed by Neron after trying to back out of the arrangement. Nate also mistakenly believes that Nora is responsible, as she had broken out to try and help.
The big reveal about Mona is also followed up on. To her credit, she does repeatedly try to tell Sara what her deal is, but keeps getting brushed off. It comes to a head when she transforms again and Sara has to talk her down.
You can see what the episode was trying to do, and Lotz does what she can to bring the scene some emotional weight, but it's undercut by the creature makeup effects which are..not good. It's odd as the show can, and has, done better, but this time around, it ended up taking me out of the scene. The fact that she's supposed to be bawling in grief really didn't help matters.
Overall, the episode passes the time well enough. It does have its strengths, but it doesn't pop as well as some of the show's earlier episodes had. We'll see where things go, though. As I noted, it does plant some seeds for things down the line, so it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.
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