Previously on Legends of Tomorrow, Vandal Savage murdered Rip Hunter’s wife and child but since Rip Hunter is a time master he decided to use that to advantage to kill the bastard so he stole a time machine and assembled a team of eight people he hopes he can turn into legends.
We open in Norway, 1975. They didn’t time jump, because they have a lead on Savage, but they did fly to the fjords. Kendra suggests maybe skipping back a few hours and saving their son, but Rip tells them that they can’t interfere with things they do while they’re time traveling because The Doctor said so.
Sara’s like cool great got it, but why Norway? Turns out there’s a meeting of arms dealers and terrorists that they’re going to crash. Kendra kind of smirks and asks, “What does one wear that’s apropos for a party that’s also a crime?” But don’t worry, the Waverider has a special costume creation room because of course it does.
The three delinquents try to get into the meeting with a stolen ID, but when they run into trouble, the Professor jumps in for the save. Sara is impressed…and wearing a bandana.
They slink into the meeting, trying to act normal, and also slinking around is Damien Darhk. Forgot that douchecanoe was immortal. Also, as if that wasn’t fun enough, it turns out Vandal Savage isn’t there to buy a new fancy toy…he’s there to sell one.
And of course, in this summit of evil, Darhk is bidding on the bomb that Savage describes as having the power of a megaton of TNT. (I ship DarhkSavage just because it’s an epic ship name.)
Vandal can sense the Hawks and looks around for them, and instead spots a group that sticks out like sore thumbs. Darhk too is suspicious of this group, especially since they outbid him for the weapon of mass destruction. The Professor starts to sass Vandal, accusing his missile of having performance issues, but then he messes up by saying “this era” which might have gone unnoticed if spoken to a normie but was picked up by this clever immortal.
Up on the roof, Firestorm Jr. senses the danger and sends the Hawks in after them. Vandal shouts that the heads of these intruders will be as effective as a Bed Bath & Beyond 20% off coupon, but for a bomb, and chaos breaks out. They all start doing their thing; Atom gets tiny, Captain Cold and Heat Wave shoot their guns, the Hawks spread their wings, and Sara whips out her staff.
Vandal is a little confused but pretty impressed. Before the Hawks can get him, Vandal sets off the timer on his bomb and disappears. Before the bomb goes off, Firestorm merges and flies it to a remote location, and when it explodes, they absorb the energy. It works, leaving a big crater but no casualties behind.
When they get back to the Waverider, they’re like, “Well, the battle’s done, and we kinda won?” but Rip won’t let them sound a victory cheer. They were supposed to have the advantage; no one was supposed to know they were a team, that they had skills, or that they were from the future…and now Vandal Savage AND Damien Darhk know all those things.
ALSO ALSO Savage has a piece of Ray’s suit. So they have officially ruined the future. Luckily for them, there’s still time to save it, because it will be a little while before Vandal can use the tech to make bigger badder weapons.
They all split up, and Kendra finds Carter looking at a newspaper article he found in their son’s jacket. It’s about a fancy knife, and Kendra recognizes it as the one Savage used to kill them in their first life.
Meanwhile, Captain Cold is pointing out to Ray all the ways he screwed this mission up. But Ray and the Professor nerd out a bit and realize they only have to track the alpha particles in the suit bit. And lucky for them, they’re in the time when a 25-year-old version of the Professor is studying just that.
The Hawks explain the knife thing to the team, and Kendra says she thinks they can use the knife to kill Savage.
So they split up. The Hawks do research on the inscription on the blade, Captain Cold, Heat Wave, and Ray go to steal the dagger, and both halves of Firestorm and Sara go to talk to Young Professor Marty in Ivy Town.
And, because the world is sometimes kind, Sara is in full ’70s garb, complete with go-go boots.
They find young Marty, and to distract him from all his questions about this familiar-looking older gentleman, Sara turns the flirt up to 2000. She makes her voice extra sultry and says she wants to “pick his brain.” He is more than happy to oblige. He asks which type of physics she is interested in, and she smirks and says, “I love them both.”
In the Waverider, Carter tries to help Kendra remember their first lives as Chay-Ara and Khufu so that she can read the hieroglyphics, but mostly all she remembers is the sex they had. She tells him so, and says how weird it is to remember something like that, and he gets all grabby and tries to kiss her. But she is NAHT having it.
He gets frustrated, asking what she’s not grasping about the whole destiny thing. But she doesn’t want to stop thinking for herself; he can say they’re “meant to be” as many times as he damn well pleases, but she’s not going to acquiesce just because he says that’s how it’s always been. She’ll make her own damn choices thank you very much.
In a lab somewhere, Savage yells at his team of scientists to figure out what the piece of advance tech is and how it works in 24 hours OR ELSE.
Across town, Ray and the Duo case the house that has the knife in it. Ray thinks he’s got this, but the big oaf ruins everything once again. Luckily, the Duo knocks the guards out right quick, and they sneak on in.
At the university, Marty is inviting them all to have a little Mary Jane with him. The Professor is a little uncomfortable, and a lot embarrassed, and Jax can’t partake without getting the Professor a little high too (I think?), but Sara. is. loving. this. Legitimately obsessed with this whole situation. When young Marty runs to get some snacks, the Professor yells at Sara, telling her to stop flirting with his younger self.
He says this is the day he meets his future wife, and he can’t risk his younger self getting distracted by the-and I quote-“Sexy assassin from the future.” Well, Sara thinks that’s just about the nicest thing anyone has ever called her, but the Professor has no time for more antics. They have to find the alpha particle tracker.
The knife heist is going well, they found the dagger and easily break the glass that encases it. But Cap and the Wave are greedy little buggers and want more than just the dagger. Ray tries to stop them but ends up knocking something over, causing a cage to drop down over Ray and Captain Cold.
In the lab, Young Marty catches his old self with the tracker and realizes that Sara and Jax probably don’t even know how to spell physics.
The professor asks to borrow the tracker, but Young Marty is freaking out and insists they can’t take his tracker out of his lab. Seeing this is going nowhere, Sara knocks Young Marty out with a bong. The Professor is horrified at what she did to his young self, but Sara is unremorseful.
The Prof sets an alarm so his younger self will wake up in time to go to the party where he will meet his wife, grabs the tracker, and heads out the door. Jax and Sara follows, the latter grabbing some joints on the way out.
On the ship, Kendra finds Carter and tells him that she’s not afraid of their past, but she doesn’t want him to assume the future. Every time he says they’ll definitely end up together, she feels less and less like that would ever be a possibility. He understands, and to his credit, says that he took their love for granted; he assumed it would just happen in every lifetime, and stopped trying to prove to her that he was worth being in love with. But he says it’s okay, she’s worth the wait. And honestly, just a sliiiightly different tone would have made that a hella condescending speech but Carter pulled it off with compassion and grace.
So together they work on piecing together the past, and Kendra remembers that the writing on the dagger is a poem about reincarnation that Khufu gave Chay-Ara; it’s why they’re bound together for all eternity.
The Professor, Jax and Sara find Savage’s den of scientists, and Jax is a little hesitant to put Sara on the frontlines because she’s totally stoned dude, but Sara is for real not worried about it. She easily kicks everyone’s ass, and the Professor says he can see why his young self finds her attractive. So does Jax.
On the way back to the ship, Sara says being on a team that saves the world is a little more fun than being in a League of Assassins (4/5 stars. Could use more ladykisses). But the Professor isn’t ready to celebrate yet; his wedding ring starts to fade-Marty must not have woken up for the party! But just kidding, he did, he just followed them instead. He steps on the ship, and his mind is BLOWN.
The Professor realizes that he’s just as arrogant and stubborn as ever and that all the evolving he thought he did over the years wasn’t real, but Jax gives him a sweet little pep talk-Firestorm to Firestorm-and says he’s a good dude. All while Sara shuffles little Marty out the door.
So in an unfortunate turn of events, the house Ray & Co. broke into was Vandal Savage’s house. Vandal knows they’re from the future, and tells them to call their friends. The team swoops in, the Hawks grabbing their dagger, and we break out into the big group number again. This time, the Koof stabs Vandal, but Vandal just laughs; he stabs the Koof right back, saying only Chay-Ara can kill him.
Kendra goes to Carter and holds him while dies, crying as Savage absorbs Khufu’s life force. Vandal stabs Kendra too, but the team saves her from a fatal blow. They rush her back to the ship, where Gideon performs surgery and saves her life.
While Kendra is still healing, they can’t time jump, so Rip takes the Professor on a field trip. Young Marty went to the party after all, and met his future wife, just as planned. Rip then says something that I think is quite jaded and not true at all: Time changes, people don’t.
Back on the ship, everyone except the Hawks gather ’round, though Sara assures them that there’s no change in Kendra’s condition.
Rip essentially gives the six of them a choice: Go back to 2016, right back where they left off, with nothing about their present or future changed, or try, try again.
Even Captain Cold and Heat Wave can’t abide someone killing a teammate, so they’re down to stay. Despite being coerced the first time, Jax is in, and obviously so is the Professor. Ray and Sara have nothing better to do. So they’re all in it to win it.
What did you think of the second half of the Pilot? I know it was a little weird, what with all the elaborate group fight scenes, but I think it’s showing real potential, especially for still being in its expository stages.
You guys have been killing it with the #cawcawmfs tweets already, two eps in! Here are some of our faves from this week:
Sara has a special weapon. She can flirt with everyone. But keep it for Betty please. #LegendsOfTomorrow #CawCawMFS
– Audrey (@pamplemoussee76) January 29, 2016
Is that a… did she just knock him out with a…. I <3 her #cawcawmfs
– Marie (@buknerd) January 29, 2016
Sara Lance in #LegendsOfTomorrow aka White Canary aka @caitylotz beimg extra sassy is my favorite Sara Lance. #CawCawMFS
– Mo: Space Chicken (@Moreh_SC) January 29, 2016
I love that Kendra is like “just bc we hooked up 206 times in the past don’t mean we will again, step off” #cawcawmfs #LegendsOfTomorrow
– Tabatha (@DanceUponMyToes) January 29, 2016
Bar Fights, Bandanas, Go-Go Boots, Joints – Sara Lance is having a great time in 1975 #LegendsOfTomorrow #CawCawMfs
– Caroline (@cb104) January 29, 2016
It’s like a year later, and the name Snart makes me laugh. Every. Single. Time. #LegendsOfTomorrow #cawcawmfs
– M H (@hmgflyer) January 29, 2016
I’d really like a scene where Sara teaches Hawkgirl how to fight. #cawcawmfs #LegendsOfTomorrow
– enginerd (@enginerd_90) January 29, 2016
Ugh you Hawks have failed this city. And timeline. #LegendsOfTomorrow #CawCawMFS
– The Other Nic (@CloneNic) January 29, 2016
Yes once again the future is saved thanks to Sara Lance #cawcawmfs
– nerdgirlwalking (@nerdgirlwalking) January 29, 2016
