We’ve officially moved past the pilot phase on ‘Legends of Tomorrow’. Unfortunately, the show is already starting to demonstrate a noticeable reduction in ambition. Worse, the plot holes are harder to ignore.
Aside from a brief flashback, we’re still stuck in 1975 for most of the episode. That flashback takes us to ancient Egypt again. This time, we learn that Rip Hunter in fact did try to kill Vandal Savage before he became immortal, but he hesitated and blew the opportunity. I thought we had previously established that traveling that far back in time was too dangerous for a human and would have too many repercussions on the timeline? Yet Hunter did it anyway. Having failed his first attempt, why not just go back one additional year and try again before Vandal Savage would know to expect him? It seems to me that there are a lot of very easy ways to nip this whole Vandal Savage problem in the bud before it gets out of control.
Well, anyway, here we are in 1975. Hunter flies the Waverider to Leipzig, Germany. Kendra is still gravely ill, so he can’t risk another time jump until she recovers. Pieces of the dagger she was stabbed with broke off and are still in her bloodstream, traveling toward her heart. (That must have been one flimsy dagger.) Despite its 23rd Century technology, the Waverider’s medical bed can’t get the foreign objects out of Kendra. Ray Palmer volunteers to use his A.T.O.M. suit to shrink down and ‘Fantastic Voyage’ through her body to blow up the chunks.
With Carter dead and Kendra out of commission, Hunter has no way of killing Vandal Savage. (Only a hawkperson can do it.) Sara suggests that there are other ways of derailing his world domination plans, such as going after his money. Hunter thinks that’s a splendid idea, so the two of them make plans to visit Savage’s bank. Snart and Mick are very upset that Hunter doesn’t want them to come along. They’re getting bored and robbing banks is kind of their thing, after all.
Palmer’s first attempt to destroy all the dagger chunks in Kendra’s blood results in his suit accidentally getting damaged. He exits with the job incomplete, gets discouraged and doesn’t want to try again. This somehow ties in with a backstory about not being able to save his fiancée in the past. (Was that covered any better on ‘Arrow’?) Eventually, Dr. Stein gives him a good pep talk that convinces him to finish the job properly. Kendra immediately starts to recover as soon as the last dagger chunk is blown up… because that’s how medical science works, isn’t it?
Posing as high-end criminals, Hunter and Sara arrive at Vandal Savage’s evil bank and tell the manager, a sketchy man named Mr. Blake, that they want to make a deposit with some very valuable gold doubloons. (I assume Hunter snagged them on some previous time-traveling exploit.) Blake leaves them alone for a second, which gives Hunter enough time to access an ancient computer terminal and find a reference to something called “The Vessel.” Sara realizes that Blake saw through their act and that the entire bank is filled with assassins. She goes all ‘Kill Bill’ on their asses and kills about a dozen guys (again, this should cause major repercussions to the timeline), the kidnaps Mr. Blake.
Snart and Mick convince Jefferson to help them steal the Waverider’s “jump ship” and fly them to Central City. (Apparently, being an auto mechanic qualifies Jefferson to pilot a 22nd Century spaceship.) They rob a priceless emerald from a museum, and then fly to Snart’s childhood home. It turns out that his father was going to get caught trying to steal that emerald in two days, and would go to prison, which would turn him violent and cause him to beat on his wife and kids later. Snart thinks that by simply giving the emerald to his father, he can fix his entire childhood. Sadly, it doesn’t work out that way. The father just winds up getting caught trying to sell the emerald and goes to prison anyway.
Hunter interrogates Mr. Blake to get more information on Vandal Savage. What he learns is that Blake is part of a fanatical religious cult that follows Savage, and the “Vessel” mentioned in the computer records is Carter’s corpse, which Savage held onto after killing him. Furious about this desecration, Hunter vows to get Carter’s body back and give it a proper funeral.
To do that, Sara and Hunter go undercover at a secret cocktail party straight out of ‘Eyes Wide Shut’. (Another character will even name-check that movie later.) They dance a tango and scope the place out, then go snooping until they find Carter’s body. Stupidly, they walk right into a trap and Vandal Savage catches them. He forces them to watch a ritual as he drinks Carter’s blood and shares it with his followers. The blood won’t make the others immortal, but it will extend their lifetimes by an extra 100 years or so.
Experiencing some sort of psychic connection with Carter’s dead body, Kendra suddenly wakes up and warns Dr. Stein that Rip and Sara are in trouble. Stein radios Jefferson, who turns the jump ship toward Hunter’s location.
Vandal Savage recognizes Hunter as the man who tried to kill him all those centuries ago. He’s already figured out that Hunter is a time traveler, but he still wonders what he must have done in the future to make Hunter hate him so much. He finds a photo of Hunter’s wife and son in his jacket, and judging by Hunter’s reaction to that, Savage realizes that he must kill them.
Snart, Mick and Jefferson arrive to save the day. They set Sara and Hunter loose, and the whole group fight and blast their way through all of Vandal Savage’s followers. (Lots more timeline disruptions there.) Hunter overpowers Vandal Savage and puts a knife to his throat. Savage laughs and tells him that he’ll just heal, then says that he’s more determined than ever that he must kill Hunter’s wife and son. Overcome by rage, Hunter slashes Savage’s throat.
Meanwhile, Sara refrains from killing Mr. Blake, which is actually a big deal because she has a powerful blood lust to kill as a result of magical stuff that happened to her on ‘Arrow’. That she’s able to hold herself back is a sign that she’s not the monster she considers herself to be.
The next day after the battle, Hunter and the gang bury Carter’s body then set course for their next stop on the Vandal Savage hunting express: the year 1986.
Episode Verdict
I’ve already pointed out that a Time Master like Hunter had plenty of opportunity to kill Vandal Savage in the distant past. Even if you’re able to let that go, why doesn’t he take Savage’s body with him after slashing his throat? He could freeze the body and prevent it from healing. That may not kill him permanently, but it would certainly keep him out of commission long enough to save 2166. Instead, he just walks away. What the hell?
Now the team is jumping to the ’80s? The 1975 Vandal Savage knows about them and will be prepared for them from now on. Logically, wouldn’t it be a much smarter move to go the other direction – to, say, the 1960s or 1950s, before they tipped off Savage?
The Snart and Palmer storylines are also pretty dumb and pointless. This is certainly the weakest of the three episodes aired so far. I hope the show does something fun with the 1986 setting in the next episode.
