By: Dave Clark
Last week we were introduced to the Legends of Tomorrow and this week, we see Part 2 of the pilot which gives us more Vandal Savage, and more time with the Hawks! We start in 1975 Norway, so we've traveled across the globe, but stayed in the same time. The team has found Vandal Savage about to sell a nuclear bomb to an assortment of terrorist groups, included Damien Darhk. After a great fight scene, Firestorm is able to absorb the nuclear blast, saving Norway, however, Ray Palmer lost a piece of his suit which has future tech on it. This change in the time stream allows Savage to alter the future, and Central City has been destroyed and overrun in the year 2016. Martin, Jefferson, and Sara are sent to find Stein's younger self in order to help them find this piece of tech. They get a device made by Stein's younger self and use it to retrieve the tech, however, in meeting Young Stein they've changed his future as his wedding ring disappears from his hand. Rip is able to encourage the Young Stein to attend a party which causes him to meet his future wife, saving their future relationship.
The Hawks are still reeling from watching their son die. They find the dagger that Savage used to kill them in their first lives in a newspaper clipping. The Rogues and Palmer are dispatched to go and get the dagger while the Hawks attempt to translate the blade's text from the newspaper. Carter tries to help Kendra go back through her past lives in order to tap into her Rosetta Stone like abilities. Once she translates it, she realizes that the blade has a love poem inscribed onto it and the dagger was a gift from Carter. The Rogues plan to steal more than the dagger from the mansion, which causes Snart and Palmer to fight, leading to the security system being triggered. With Snart and Palmer trapped inside a security cage, the owner of the home, Savage, returns with Heat Wave. The entire team comes to rescue them, while the Hawks confront Savage on their own with the blade. In the fight, Carter stabs Savage but it does not harm him. Savage turns the blade onto Carter, killing him and then stabbing Kendra. The team gets Kendra and they escape in time to heal her on the ship where she admits that she finally got her memories and loved him just as he died.
The team regroup on the ship, ready to leave but Rip gives them all a choice. They can return to their normal lives or they can continue their mission to stop Savage. They all agree to continue in honor of the fallen Carter Hall.
Well, we're two episodes in and I'm still interested in the show. It has some flaws and some work to do to get to the level of The Flash and earlier seasons of Arrow, but it can get there. The problem they're running into is the enormous cast. It's not gonna be possible to showcase them all in every episode and we have to understand that these two episodes were essentially a two hour pilot episode. Going forward, I expect we'll get more time dedicated to fewer characters per episode, while others take a back seat for the week. We'll see.
What I Liked:
Martin Stein going all Jack Bristow. The way he pretended to be a brutal terrorist was a great flashback to one of Victor Garber's best roles.
Firestorm absorbing the nuclear blast. We saw him fly. We saw him on fire. Now we saw him doing much more with his powers.
Seeing the effect our guys have on the future when they travel to the past. The smallest thing set ripples to the present, destroying the Central City we knew.
Stein and Palmer nerding out together. I love the science talk.
The way Wentworth Miller reads his lines for Snart reminds me so much of James Spader. I love his pacing and his ability to completely become the character.
Raising the stacks by killing a main character off so early. Granted, I believe he'll back, but the death of Hawkman, at least for now, gives some weight to their fight and to Savage.
What I Didn't Like:
They're trying, but there is no chemistry between the Hawks. I'm not too into the dude playing Hawkman either.
Like Arrow last night, the pacing at the beginning of this episode was quite jumpy. I love the action sequences but because they had so many characters to service in the scene, the camera work was a bit wonky.
That's just what I thought, what did you guys think of the episode?