Warning: Spoiler Alert
We begin tonight, still in 1975. This time Finland 1975. Despite Aldus’ passing, he did leave behind his Vandal Savage little brown book. Rip thinks Savage may be in Finland. Kendra and Carter inquire as to why they can’t simply go back in time and save Aldus. Rip seems to take some level of enjoyment giving them the ‘Doc Brown’ explanation on just how easily time can fold over on itself by messing with events they were directly involved in. His pleas fall on deaf ears and his sense of control falls apart as well once Rip realizes his deception was not a small thing.
There is a meeting of rather unsavory characters, terrorists and a like meeting with Savage. The unorganized version of the Legends of Tomorrow attempt to infiltrate that meeting. Cold leads with his by now typical flair, the door man isn’t buying it. Once he sees this, Stein walks over and using his knowledge of world history and I assume channeling some sort of bad spy movie, Stein gets in the doorman’s face and gains entry. Actually a very satisfying moment for Dr. Stein.
Heat Wave (whispering to Stein): You’re a special kind of crazy. And I like it.
Cold believes this will be a quick snatch and grab. To this point no sign of Savage. The MC of the festivities gets everyone’s attention as Vandal Savage walks onto the stage. Savage is not a buyer he’s a seller. The bidding begins for a nuclear warhead when Savage gets that tingly spidey sense that alerts him to Kendra and Carter’s presence. In the concern to maintain their cover, Heat Wave fires his gun in the air signifying a bid. 120 Million dollars. No one else bid.
A minor fracas begins when Heat can’t keep his attitude to himself. Savage comes over to defuse the situation and looks to Stein. The question of payment comes up and Stein quickly makes it apparent that he doubts the warhead is operational. He did slip up by using the term “in this era” which naturally peaked Savages intrigue. Savage mounts the stage again and offers a 25% discount to any group that takes down our team. It doesn’t take long before Heat Wave begins burning stuff. The battle cry as it were that signals the rest of the team to spring into action.
The Hawks approach Savage with their ultimatum. He activates the warhead. Atom shrinks and flies into the warhead triggering a fail-safe that drops the clock down to :30. Firestorm (merged) grabs the warhead and flies it to a safe distance then waits for it to go off so he can absorb the nuclear energy. Not all is well as a piece of Atom’s suit fell off during the fight. When they get back on the ship, Rip grandstands about the colossal damage they have already done. That one little mistake causes Savage’s men to develop a weapon and control with chaos Central City circa 2016.
Two new important details arise almost simultaneously. One, Aldus was carrying an article about an Egyptian dagger. The same dagger used to kill Kendra and Carter in their first life. Use it while reading the incantation inscribed upon it and take out Savage. Two, Atom’s suit piece is made up of a material that is easily tracked by 2016’s standards. Luckily Dr. Stein was education his 25-year-old self in just that field of study. Current Stein plans to visit 25-year-old Stein.
Cold, Heat and Atom venture out to steal the dagger. Atom thinks he knows what he’s doing until Cold and Heat inform him he just tried to hack a dummy box security system access panel. Despite the guards quick response time, they gain access. Inside they find the dagger relatively quickly. Cold and Heat’s agenda don’t exactly jive with Atom’s. Atom thought they were there to retrieve the dagger. Cold and Heat were there to steal whatever they felt like. There little tissy caused a metal cage to trap them with the ‘goodie’ they haven’t yet stolen.
Jax and Sara are blown away that Dr. Stein was ever ‘cool’. They enjoy younger Stein. After turning down a ‘hit’ from younger Stein’s ‘doobie’, young Stein leaves to secure some cookie dough. Old Stein finds the Alpha Particle Tracker just as young Stein finds him holding it. Young Stein quickly lets it be known that he and his considerable intellect don’t buy the trio’s cover story. Old Stein gives a story about a profile in a prestigious magazine. Then Sara hits young Stein over the head knocking him out.
The tracker takes Stein, Jax and Sara right to the tech. Then Sara dismantled what little defense they had and steals the tech almost literally like candy from a baby. There is a significant problem. Young Stein did not go to the mixer he was set to attend. Without going to the mixer, he doesn’t meet his future wife. Aboard the ship, old Stein notices his wedding ring vanish. Then young Stein walks onto the ship demanding an explanation.
While Heat tries to locate the fuse box to reverse the cage trapping Atom and Cold the homeowner arrives home. Its Vandal Savage. There is the witty back and forth one would come to expect with this good vs evil vs still kind of evil but playing on the side of good. Savage finds one of their coms and invites them to call their friends.
Firestorm arrives first and knocks Savage out. They meet up with the ‘Hawks’ outside. They hand over the dagger to Carter. Once again, as if they were telegraphing what won’t happen on purpose, they keep saying something to the effect of “let’s end this now, once and for all”. Which would make for a very short television series.
Savages men descend upon the property with big numbers while the ‘Hawks’ tend to Savage himself. Inside is a 2 on 1 fight that still seems to be favoring the 1, while outside is superhero destruction. Carter gets Savage in a compromised position. With the dagger in hand he recites the poem that Kendra had to translate, he stabs Savage. It doesn’t take long to discover that Savage is just toying with them. It was Kendra’s knife so Kendra has to wield it. Savage in turn stabs Carter. Carter looks at Kendra and says, “come back to me” before he dies in her arms. Kendra fights back but poorly. Savage stabs her in her side while delivering a nice monologue about the circle of death that imprisons them both. Before he can finish, he’s blasted out of the room.
The team gets Kendra back on the ship and Gideon begins working on her injury. Then that’s where Kendra goes hysterical. Rip talks her down until she falls asleep, rather quickly actually. Due to her condition, the ship cannot time jump for fear of worsening Kendra’s condition. In the meantime, Rip has something he’d like to show Dr. Stein. They return to the campus where young Stein spends his time. Rip made a call and convinced young Stein to keep his Faculty Mixer obligation, where he would inevitably meet the future Mrs. Stein.
They return to the ship and Rip puts the future of these Legends of Tomorrow in their own hands. Contrary to how the team felt early in last week’s episode, all are in complete agreement. Atom of course is on board as he can’t accept a life that doesn’t impact others. Both halves of Firestorm are voluntarily on board. And even the death of Carter seems to bring this group together. And even Cold adds his two cents with a little clever wordplay just for good measure.
Captain Cold: Look, we didn’t know Carter from Adam (Atom). But if you take out one of my crew, you’re going to pay the price.
With one strong display of solidarity, the team seems unified. And all of their mistakes not withstanding, Dr. Stein looks to Rip Hunter and as if he were speaking for the entire crew restored command control to Rip. “Where do we go next, Captain”.
