In the 10th episode of Legends of Tomorrow, the crew hits up the future for the first time this week to kidnap a young boy who, under training from Vandal Savage, is a key part of a historic tragedy. As Rip puts it, this boy would grow up to instigate events that make him the equivalent to Hitler in the history books of the future with a toxic virus that puts the Earth in a dark place and prepared to be reaped by Savage.
A lot of the primary plot of the episode is centered on how to go about changing this course of history. Hunter is willing to kill the boy, and the rest of the crew believes crossing that line and committing a murderous act would make them no worse than Savage. Ultimately they kidnap him and buy time to make a decision, but not before Rip takes the boy on his own with the intention to end his life. In a chat with Hunter with a gun pointed at his head, the conversation provides more than enough evidence that this boy shows a level of evil already instilled within him either by destiny or by Savage that to viewers he looks like a ginger Voldemort. Hunter then insists to the child that his failure to kill him isn’t a sign of weakness but of goodness.
The secondary story thread of the week balances both Ray seeing what terrors his Atom technology is destined to become in the future, and Kendra having vivid flashbacks to her romances with Carter around the time they had their child in the mid 20th century. Kendra’s conflict between her 4,000 year old relationship and her current one with Ray was one that was easy to telegraph, but I never imagined it would come to haunt her so quickly after only a handful of episodes and two years in the 1950s. It makes me wonder if her lingering thoughts about Carter will indicate his revival sometime over the final three episodes of the season, but it matters very little here. Ray brings his own complications to the table once he’s done some investigating, but because he hadn’t done enough, he made assumptions about his life between 2016 and the future, and pointlessly worries Kendra throughout the hour, and ultimately makes himself look like a complete doof. When Ray gets a tour of the “Conglomerate’s” facility he discovers the origin of the company inspired by a certain scientist by the name of Palmer centuries before, with a bust that is identical to himself and his old Atom suit on display. Ray then takes this information and believes that he was a father who abandoned his child for a lifetime when he took off to travel through space-time. This, however, was inaccurate information, as it’s revealed in the back half of the episode for a cheap joke that the company was in fact founded by his brother, whom Ray isn’t really a big fan of.
The more dramatic tension of the episode lies with the aftermath of capturing Mick Rory, aka Chronos the bounty hunter, in last week’s episode. Sara convinces each of the two thieves, Rory and Snart, to settle their differences for the sake of their own peace of mind, and of course these two just know one another too well to try to accomplish this with words, so they use their fists instead. Rory somehow turns on a dime in terms of trusting the team after a good wailing on Leonard, and concludes the episode in a warning of the other hunters that will come after him and the crew of the Waverider of none of them were dead already.
Rating: (8/10)
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