Legends of Tomorrow has been trying to find its footing as to what the best timeline to travel to would be. Thus far, they have stayed in relatively recent timelines, so it is especially appreciated that they went way back to 1871.
The Wild West is a fantastic location to toss our time travelers as it provides an era when things are so different from a technological standpoint. Using certain tech in the future wouldn’t be such a big deal, but using anything remotely futuristic in the times of shanties and six-shooters? Definitely not something that can happen.
“The Magnificent Eight†did a nice job of showing off some more tech on the Waverider by 3-D printing time-era proper clothes, weaponry included. A nice touch of something we don’t get to see much of because it certainly wasn’t needed when going to a location somewhat similar to theirs.
Since most of today’s westerns are a bit hokey, it really does complement the way CW shows are shot in general. They all kind of have that little bit of cheese and/or relationship drama, and it fits pretty well in the western era.
“The Magnificent Eight” as an episode, really begins as boredom from the crew. Rip needs to figure out where they are going to go next to pursue Savage, so they are hiding out in a fragmentation, near a town called Salvation. It is only time until the Hunters search the other fragments in time and end up finding the Waverider crew. Why Rip actually let them out of the ship is beyond me, especially considering how often he talks about not messing up the timeline. But, when they do go outside, mayhem ensues shortly thereafter.
Of course, this wouldn’t be a western without an old-fashioned tavern brawl. Stein is a bit too good at cards and rubbed a member of the Stillwater gang the wrong way. Luckily Snart has a lightning fast trigger finger and was able to shoot the gang member. Of course this turned into a huge brawl, for which Mick was passed out because Sara was able to drink him under the table. We also get to meet a decently-known anti hero from DC comics, Jonah Hex.
Jonah Hex was introduced, but not much really came of it. He didn’t have many extensive fight scenes, nor did we really get into his backstory. It would have been perfect for a Jonah Hex centric episode to take the focus of the time-hopping heroes, but sadly we didn’t get much of that at all from him. We did learn, however that he does have some back story with Rip Hunter. Rip apparently became obsessed with saving a different city in this time period, so much so that he couldn’t leave, and when he did it was disastrous for the small town. This was certainly a nice tidbit as to why he didn’t want to actually go out and see the town with the others.
Stein also has a pretty neat moment when he saves a little boy that has Tuberculosis. It just so happens that his name is Herbert George Wells, and Stein exclaims H.G. Wells. The child likes the nickname. Having said that, I don’t necessarily understand how H.G. Wells exists in their current timeline if Stein only saved him by traveling back in time. Does this have something to do with the town being in a fragmentation? Time hopping shenanigans often have this effect, but it was a good scene nonetheless.
Other than Kendra and Sara, there really isn’t all that much to talk about with many of the main characters. Sure, Ray being extremely excited to be in the wild west was neat, and naming himself John Wayne added to that, but it is just something we’ve come to expect from the character.
Kendra and Sara embark on a journey to find out why Kendra had a memory flash when saw a woman. It turns out that that woman is her from a different timeline. It’s actually a nice set of scenes where she explains that she is essentially just hiding out in nowhere land to hide from Savage. The woman warns Kendra that she will never be able to make a relationship work with anyone other than Carter, thus adding to her conundrum with Ray Palmer. The fact that Sara has gone through so many things involving “destiny,†it is nice that she backs up Kendra by saying that she controls her own destiny.
Similar to most other episodes, we did get to see one-off baddies that Mick mentioned in a previous episode, and they weren’t really all that fierce. They were supposed to be killers, and well, they didn’t do too much. However, the fight scene was pretty nice as they usually are on the show.
