Beebo the God of War

Franz Drameh stars in the episode as Jefferson Jackson, this marking his final apperence as a regular.[1]

Preparation on the episode began October 3, 2017 and concluded on the 12th of the same month. The final draft of the script was finished the next day. Filming for the episode ran from October 13 through October, 25.[2]

After "Moonshot" this was the second episode to be written by Grainne Godfree and James Eagan which was directed by Kevin Mock. The episode's title is a reference to its basis in Norse mythology. With Norse Myth's being polytheistic they have a war god being Tyr. However, for the sake of the title, Tyr has been replaced with Beebo.[3]

The concept behind Beebo was the writers attempt to fully delve the series further into chaos.[4] However while the episode was in production the cast and crew felt concerns that the episode would result in Legends of Tomorrow jumping the shark and the idea of Beebo would be unsuccessful. However this was untrue and the character had a spin off Christmas special tilted, Beebo Saves Christmas.[5]

The episode features the departure of Jefferson Jackson from the Legends. The characters exist was a creative decision as oppressed to a personal choice.[1] This left the door open for the character to return which he did in the season finale, "The Good, the Bad, and the Cuddly".[6]

Main cast members Caity Lotz, Tala Ashe, Nick Zano, Brandon Routh, Franz Drameh, Amy Louise Pemberton (voice), Dominic Purcell, Maisie Richardson-Sellers appear as Sara Lance / White Canary, Zari Tomaz, Nate Heywood / Steel, Ray Palmer / The Atom, Jefferson Jackson / Fire Storm, Gideon, Mick Rory, and Amaya Jiwe / Vixen.[7]

This is the first episode of Legends of Tomorrow to not feature Victor Garber as a series regular due to the death of his character in the previous episode.[8] However, a younger version of Martin Stein appears, this version is played by Graeme McComb.[9] McComb previously portrayed this version of the character in "Pilot, Part 2" and "Compromised".[10][11] This is the final appearance of Franz Drameh as a series regular.[12] Drameh's departure comes as a direct result of Garber's exit from the series.[1]

The guest cast includes Jes Macallan as Ava Sharpe, Matt Ryan as John Constantine,[13] Courtney Ford as Nora Darhk, Neal McDonough as Damien Darhk,[14] Wentworth Miller as Leo Snart,[15] John Noble as Mallus[16] and Ben Diskin as the titular Beebo.[17] Ryan reprises his role from the canceled NBC, Constantine television series.[18] This marked the characters second appearance in the Arrowverse which retroactively added the series as a part of the universe.

"Beebo the God of War" was first aired in the United States on The CW on December 5, 2017. On its original broadcast it was watched by 1.61 million viewers, holding a 0.6/2 share among adults ages 18–49. The episode placed fifth in its time slot, behind The Mick, Black-ish, SEAL Team, and Will & Grace.[19] The episode was the third highest viewed of the season . After factoring in seven-day DVR viewership, the episode received an additional 1 million viewers totaling 2.61 million viewers.

On September 25, 2018, the episode was released on both DVD and Blu-ray as a part of the Legends of Tomorrow season two box set. It has not been released as a physical individual disc. However it is available on Amazon Prime Video and Vudu. A trailer for the episode was released to YouTube on November 29, 2017.[20]

Despite initial concern that Legends of Tomorrow was jumping the shark,[21] "Beebo the God of War" was met with positive reviews from critics. Jesse Schedeen of IGN said rated the episode a 9.8 of 10 and made the claim that it was the best follow up to the tragic ending of the previous episode.[22] The A.V. Club's Oliver Sava gave it a rating of an A-. He praised the episode for its use of Damien Darhk saying that while he had grown bored of the character it was still well executed.[23] In a review for Den of Geek, Jim Dandeneau said that while he found the episode hilarious he was still emotionally impacted by the departure of Jefferson Jackson in the conclusion. While Dandeneau called the episode perfect he rated the episode a 4.5 of 5.[24]

Despite initial concerns the character of Beebo was met with praise from fans and critics alike. There was a demand from fans of the show of merchandise.[25] Beebo had a spin off Christmas special titled Beebo Saves Christmas which was received positively by critics.[26][27] The Beebo return multiple times through the series in different forms such as in "The Good, the Bad, and the Cuddly" as the totem avatar[28] and in "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Five" as a magical manifestation.[29] He also appears on Legends of Tomorrow's parent shows Arrow and The Flash in the episodes "Level Two" and "The Elongated Knight Rises" respectively.[30] Beebo also serves as the cover for both the DVD and Blu-ray of "Legends of Tomorrow: The Complete Series"[31]