Legends of Tomorrow, “River of Time” recap

21 May

Welcome back! Last time, the team finally got Vandal Savage where they wanted him, but had to take him prisoner when they made a startling discovery. Their teammate, Carter, has been reincarnated and turned into a brainwashed drone of Savage, and only Savage can cure him! So how can they get Savage to cure Carter, while dealing with the whole threat of Time Masters still breathing down their backs?

Evidence. Before we get to the episode at hand, let’s talk about the brief flashbacks to the day before our heroes take off on their mission through time. We see almost everyone meet and talk to friends about this: Ray to Felicity (back when she was in a wheelchair), Sara to Nyssa (who was still locked up thanks to poisoning the Lazarus Pit), Jax with his mom, and Stein with his wife. Obviously this is all to show some doubt from our heroes as to whether they should go, but we know how that goes.

Meanwhile in the now, the Waverider is riding through the timestream, and our team is reflecting on kind of achieving their goal by capturing Vandal Savage and holding the reincarnated Carter. There’s obviously some concern over letting him live, but there’s also some fascinating info Ray and Jax have dug up. Savage’s giant robot they fought in 2166 has technology that is way more advanced than anything produced from that era. That presents an opportunity for Rip to show Savage has been jumping through time and poses a viable threat to the timeline. They can maybe get the Time Masters off their back for good with this, so the ship is rerouted to the Time Masters’ HQ in the Vanishing Point.

Time Master vs. Master of Time. Meanwhile, Ray and Kendra are checking in on Carter, who’s still brainwashed, and oh yeah, will kill them all at the first opportunity. So that’s going well. Rip visits Savage in his cell and confronts him with knowledge of his time travel, which Savage admits he got the idea from him. Once he saw Rip in two wildly different time periods, he spent his time learning how to create technology for time travel, which is also how he’s been able to mask himself throughout the timeline. And then Savage gives us a brief reminder that he’s seen civilizations rise and fall, many of his offspring grow old and die, and that Rip has no clue how deep his plans are.

This disturbs Rip enough to tell Gideon to get to the Vanishing Point faster, despite the damage they have incurred already. Also, we learn that snatching up Savage does not change what happens to Rip’s family. Well, Gideon was correct in advising against pushing the ship because the ship’s time drive conks out before they can get to their destination.

Rip Hunter: drinking his award for Worst Timeship Captain Ever.

Pawn Sacrifice. So needing the time drive fixed, Rip sends Jax down below to work on it while Sara is sent to watch over Savage. Their creepy prisoner alludes to Rip not putting the team’s best interests at heart, especially when it comes to saving his family. Down in the engine room, Jax gets the time drive operational, but ends up getting hit by a burst of particles that is now causing him to age rapidly. Rip mulls over the fact he may have sent Jax on a suicide mission to avoid risking his own life to Sara, which, don’t tell the assassin lady something like that!

Also, they are not completely stranded, as the jump ship is programmed for a one-time jump back to 2016. Just keep that noted for later.

Devil(s) Among Us. Back with ol’ Carter, he almost kills Kendra before Ray knocks him out. Wanting this to be fixed, he goes to Savage to get the solution for Carter’s brainwashing. Savage lets him know about one point where one of the reincarnated Kendras was his, until that Carter came along. If Carter is restored, does Ray want to risk losing Kendra? I say, whatever, go ahead.

In the med bay, Snart and Rory are checking in on the clearly older Jax, and none too happy their captain allowed this to happen. So they go to Rip and ask to take the jump ship home, and he is all, “fine, whatever, send me a postcard”. Ray finally goes back to check on Kendra, who is trying to jog Carter’s memory by reading their ancient love poem to him. Ray notices this, and Kendra assures him its just to help Carter remember, but we’ll see how Ray really can’t shake that stuff off so easily.

“So, NO ONE missed me?”

Split Decisions. Stein visits Savage and asks about that weird blood ritual they witnessed in the 70’s and if it can cure Jax. When that seems a dead end, Stein realizes there is one way to save his friend. He takes Jax to the jump ship, drugs him, and sends the jump ship back to 2016, where the trip should reverse the aging effects. I guess. Look, its all gobbledygook to me. Anyway, Snart and Rory are none too happy that Stein sent their only life raft away.

But even less happy is Ray, who returns to Savage’s cell, OPENS IT, and starts wailing on him. Do I need to say what happens next? Sigh. Fine…Savage knocks Ray out, and escapes his cell. Ray Palmer can be a real idiot sometimes, can’t he? Savage disables Gideon and frees Carter, and without Gideon online, they can’t get out of the timestream.

Sailing In. Fortunately for us, that “time is a river” metaphor is literal, and all Rip needs is Stein and Sara’s help to look at a few charts and they can steer the Waverider through. Like I said, gobbledygook. As for Savage and Carter, Ray, Snart, Rory, and Kendra are left to deal with those two. And those four don’t fare well there, making Rip leave to help while leaving Sara to fly the Waverider. Wouldn’t it be easier to send Sara…sigh, forget it.

Just as Savage is getting all creepy touchy with Kendra AGAIN, Carter’s memory kinda snaps back into place to fight Savage. Carter gets stabbed by Savage, who shoots Rip in the shoulder as he gets in front of Kendra. She hawks out and knocks out Savage, and even better news, Carter isn’t dead. Oh, and Sara hasn’t flown to the ship to its death. In fact, they have made it to the Vanishing Point, which is a big conglomerate of space stations in the middle of nowhere.

Little did Rip know that Savage and Druce have been longtime Facebook friends.

The Magic Trick. With Carter recovering, Ray decides he should split up with Kendra, which, thank goodness that plotline’s over. Meanwhile, Rip is transferring Savage over to the Time Masters, when Savage asked how he escaped from Egypt 4,000 years ago. Rip used a topless girl novelty pen he picked up back in 1944 to trick the guard and make his escape. So, question answered. Rip brings Savage in front of the Time Masters and his ol’ buddy Druce, and presents evidence of Savage’s time manipulation. To which Druce says, “Oh, didn’t you get the memo? We totally knew that already, because we helped him!”. So yeah, Rip’s bosses are working with Vandal Savage.

Back on the Waverider, the Time Masters’ security starts taking the crew into custody, except Snart and Sara, who gets suspicious enough that they decide to hide. Savage goes to see the now imprisoned Rip to let him know he’ll be going back to 2166, and paying his family a scheduled visit!

–Comic book connections: Jurgens Ridge is likely a reference to comic writer/artist Dan Jurgens, who worked on the infamous Death of Superman and Return of Superman arcs in the 90’s. Also, he worked on the DC event Zero Hour: Crisis In Time, and was the artist who introduced a time traveling character called…The Waverider.

–Yeah yeah, you got shot in the shoulder, Rip, no need to brag about it.

–Pretty sure Stein sending his Firestorm connection back into time can’t go well for him.

–“Great bone structure?”

–“You roofied me again?”

–“Why are all the snacks in the future sugar-free?”

–“Leonard Snart, robber of ATMs!”

That’s it for now, but comment below and come back next time for the recap of “Destiny”…