In ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ #TeamHunter have finally secured Vandal Savage but things are not going well for the heroes in River of Time. Hunter is double-crossed by the Time Lords Masters and most of the team feel double-crossed by Rip when he decides not to kill Savage but instead opts to turn him over to the Masters.
The Kendra/Palmer/Carter Hall triangle finally resolves itself but not until after Ray allows himself to be goaded into attacking Savage in his cell. (Something that was never going to end well.) Savage escapes and wrecks havoc on the group almost killing Carter and beating Kendra pretty badly, as well as taking out most of the team before being taken down.
Now is the River of Our Discontent:
Everyone hates Rip’s sudden U-turn in the matter of dealing with Savage. To give the leader credit, this was down to the outcome of his family’s death not changing after the capture. Hunter also believes that he is sacrificing his team, this “turning in” of Vandal could be his way of compensating for his self-perceived coldness and selfishness.
Jax is injured fixing the drive; his metabolism is aging at a greatly accelerated rate and he is dying. The klepto and the pyro are upset about Jax’s condition and Rip’s readiness to endanger him. They also believe that this happened because of his “Plan B.”
Savage takes his captivity as a ticket to disrupt the team and to sow the seeds of discontent. Sara, Mick and Leonard confront Hunter and he reminds his volunteers that they could quit at any time. Rory and Snart are so disgusted by Hunter’s about face that they decide to take the pod back to 2016.
The duo are annoyed to learn that Dr. Stein used the pod to send Jax back to his time in an effort to save his life. Savage frees Carter and shuts down Gideon.
Looney Tunes Dialogue:
There are at least two “Looney Tunes” bits of dialogue in this episode. Although one, “You Bumbling idiot” could be classified as a comic cliche, the other “I keep these here in case of emergency” sound so close to the Foghorn Leghorn line, “fortunately I keep my feathers numbered for just such an emergency.”
Bring Out the Straws:
In Looper the future version of Joe (Bruce Willis) shouts at young Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) that to explain time travel they would talk about it all day and have to make “diagrams with straws.”
At this point in ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ all the younger versions of Hunter’s team have been placed in a safe house. This action necessitated the rash move against Savage at the height of his power. Leaving all mumbo-jumbo aside, Martin sending Jax back to 2014 should have doomed the younger man to death, not saved him.
(Unless I have that completely wrong. If so, use the comment section below to explain, in three paragraphs or less…)
While talking of time travel and bringing up the cross-over nature of this series, a number of possibilities arise. The most obvious being that after the mission, which they must win, even if only temporarily, surely Sara Lance can return in time to help out at the prison and then save Laurel’s life.
It that could happen, why couldn’t Snart (Wentworth Miller) return to the verse of The Flash and change the outcome of the Rupture? (“I’m okay, Iris! God!”)
Final Thoughts:
Apart from now having Rip Hunter take on the guise of Foghorn Leghorn since the emergency line, the end of this episode proved what Hunter had apparently forgotten. No one in the Time Masters likes Rip or supports his quest. They turn Savage loose so he can return to 2166 and kill most of the world.
Hunter is arrested and the Time Masters’ thugs come onboard the waverider to arrest the remaining team members.
Speaking of things forgotten, why did Kendra not grab her bracelet coated mace/cudgel and bash Savage’s head in? It was three feet in front of her (Bonus points if anyone can tell me where that line comes from and who says it.).
‘Legends of Tomorrow’ may have a few plot holes and boo-boos big enough to drive a lorry (semi-truck) through but it is good fun and all the players bring something to the DC table. (Even Kendra, when she is not being all angsty about Ray Palmer and Carter Hall, is a team member worth watching.)
Next week’s episode ‘Destiny’ is the penultimate of season one and ‘Legendary’ is the season finale. What will happen? Preview pieces seem to indicate that Snart saves the day and that he may even like being the hero.
Snart gets the best line of the episode (although Rory’s “bumbling idiot” comes a close second) with his reply to Savage during the brief waverider battle:
“Leonard Snart, robber of ATMs!”
‘Legends of Tomorrow’ airs Thursdays on CW.
