The latest episode of Legends of Tomorrow, “Blood Ties,†was the perfect episode that explained that this is indeed a team of misfits attempting to come together. Part of the fun is the team of vastly different personalities coming together and actually getting anything done, of course with some witty commentary throughout. This episode lets us peek behind the curtain of a handful of the characters in the series, namely: Rip Hunter, Leonard Snart and Ray Palmer.
Rip Hunter is really an odd character in this show, which is strange since this series exists because of him. But in this episode, we get a deeper look into his motives as to why he is blood-thirsty for revenge. And, it certainly has more than just Savage killing his family. There’s a flashback in this episode that shows Hunter hesitating when in position to kill Savage way back in Ancient Egypt. So why does he hesitate? This goes back to the usual DC Comics “schtick:†inherently good people don’t kill. But, Rip Hunter became a “myth†to Savage’s many followers; you could say the antichrist. It’s quite apparent that this is why Rip Hunter is so adamant that no one messes up the current timeline. So, take a guess who attempts to do just that?
I love how Heat Wave and Captain Cold are portrayed in the series. They are headstrong in stealing/looting something, and their banter with the more law abiding members is hilarious. Â While Snart is the smart one of the duo, his actions are far more emotional than the norm.
As we’ve seen in an episode or two of The Flash, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree when it comes to the Snart Family. Snart’s father was put in jail for attempting to steal the Maximilian Emerald, so Snart thinks that if they steal it, which they do, he will be able to simply give it to his father. In theory, this would allow his father to avoid jail time and avoid becoming the abusive father that Leonard so despises.
There’s a fantastic heartfelt scene where Leonard Snart sees his younger self and gives him some sage advice for the future. This is also when his dad puts a gun to his head. Without straight out telling his father that he is his son from the future, Leonard strongly alludes to the fact that he knows how this story ends and that he did this for his father so that he won’t have to get caught and go to prison. Well, as you’d assume, it’s not that easy slinging the crown jewel of an entire city. When they get back to the Wave Rider and Snart asks Gideon to show him the future, nothing has changed. His father still goes to prison for trying to sell the emerald to an undercover cop.
I love the dynamic they showed here. As hard as he tried, Leonard couldn’t alter the timeline, for better or for worse, whereas previously Stein nearly altered the timeline with disastrous consequences. The show seems to allude to the fact that some things in the past just cannot be changed no matter what that perhaps the net outcome will remain the same. We’ve learned various backstories of a lot of the characters, but I really hope they delve deep into Heat Wave’s, so we can find out what has made him so crazy.
The episode revolves around finding a way to take out Savage once and for all. So, how do you undermine a seemingly immortal character? Sara states the obvious. Savage was selling the warhead in the pilot episode and not buying it, so go after his money. They attempt this at a bank, but Sara notices that all the bank workers are hitmen. Holy fight scene. She absolutely obliterates all of them, and Rip even gets into the foray. Somewhat confusingly, Arrow made it seem like her bloodlust from the Lazarus Pit was over (it obviously isn’t), but I feel they meant that she just doesn’t have the intense sickness that Thea currently has. It is neat that Sara is starting to learn to control her bloodlust after talking with Rip.
The fight scenes with Savage and his goons were all quite entertaining, and it was awesome seeing Rip Hunter finally able to “kill†him, well, attempt to anyway. I still find it quite odd that they just left him there and didn’t decide to imprison him somehow until Kendra was able to deal the deathblow.
Speaking of Kendra, Atom and Stein play a little Magic School Bus and Ray shrinks down to blast the leftover particles from the Savage’s that are headed for her heart and will surely kill her. The Atom and Stein have a funny dynamic, especially since Stein was once Ray’s teacher. In the middle of his asteroid-like blasting in Kendra’s body, he freaks out and basically admits defeat. He lost all his confidence because he was remembering the time when he couldn’t save his fiancee. Stein, being the genius he is, explains that Ray was his brightest student and that even he was jealous of Ray’s genius. But, after Kendra is saved, Ray caught onto something proving that Stein made up a lie to get him to regain his confidence. The duo are great on-screen, and even though they are two of the most similar people on the show, they always bring some good commentary.