WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for "The One Where We're Trapped on TV," the latest episode of DC's Legends of Tomorrow.
DC's Legends of Tomorrow executive producer Marc Guggenheim used his directorial debut on "The One Where We're Trapped on TV" to poke a little fun at himself. In the episode's Friends parody Ultimate Buds, Nate played an actor who auditioned for a show about a crossbow-wielding vigilante who fights crime in Starling City.
When Ultimate Buds picked up, Zari was busy preparing dinner in anticipation of her boss' visit. As she chastised her brother Behrad for picking up the wrong groceries, they heard a knock on the door. For one heart-stopping moment, she thought her boss had arrived early, but it was only their neighbor Nate Heywood.
"I don't know this Nate you speak of," Nate announced with a horrendous British accent. "Me name is Robin of Locksley of Starling City." When Zari asked why, he dropped the accent and explained, "I got an audition to play Robin Hood in Arrow, a show about a vigilante."
"Hm. Sounds dumb," Zari shot back.
"If it was dumb, why would I stop crime with this?" he said, holding up a crossbow with a scope on it. He accidentally fired it, just barely missing Behrad with an arrow. In response, the live studio audience laughed uproariously.
From there, Legends of Tomorrow got the ball rolling with a signal from the Tarazis' air totem. When it began to glow and vibrate, Nate picked it up, only to get burned. He dropped it, which made way for a shadow of Zari's previous self to emerge. The two Zaris looked at one another for a moment, then Zari 1.0 stepped into Zari 2.0's body and took possession of it. With her memories intact, she led Nate and Behrad to find the rest of the Legends, who were scattered across other TV shows.
Guggenheim, of course, co-created The CW's Arrow. The first ever Arrowverse series, from which the shared universe now derives its name, followed Oliver Queen after he was shipwrecked on a deserted island called Lian Yu. When he returned home to Starling City, he put on a Robin Hood-esque costume and became a vigilante known as the Green Arrow. This scene from "The One Where We're Trapped on TV" is clearly a good-natured jab at Arrow.
Airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow stars Caity Lotz, Dominic Purcell, Nick Zano, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Tala Ashe, Matt Ryan and Jes Macallan.