Legends of Tomorrow, Season 1, Episode 9: Left Behind
Legends of Tomorrow hasn't really been good ever since... well, episode seven. I'm caught up with it, and it's a fun show, but no good reviewer would look at this show, especially from episode, oh, 10 onwards, and say 'damn, it's a damn good show'. Because it's not. And it's a shame, because I really loved Legends of Tomorrow in spirit and concept if not in execution. But, hey, I think I'll get caught up to all the superhero shows this month, so let's add Legends of Tomorrow into my retinue of overdue reviews. I'll try to be more concise.
This episode was half-decent, thankfully. The odd twist that Ray, Kendra and Sara were stranded for two years in 1958 because time travel... doesn't... allow the Waverider team to appear two hours after they left... because of reasons? Well, at least they attempted to brush it over with some time travel rules, unlike previous (or future) inconsistencies. We get some rather... odd but rather heartwarming relationship building between Ray and Kendra, who lived together for two years. Kendra is more than eager to go back to fighting Vandal Savage, but Ray's just being kinda sad that he didn't get to propose. Is there a point to all this stupid Ray/Kendra shipping? No, not really. I would've rather the show left it at that, but sadly this would get explored even further in future episodes to be a love triangle when Carter inevitably returns, much to my chagrin... it isn't helped by the fact that Ray and Kendra doesn't really have that much of a chemistry going on between them.
Sara, meanwhile, rejoins the League of Assassins, um... because? I dunno, we've already went through Sara trying to escape her nature as a killer both in Arrow and in Legends of Tomorrow, and there really wasn't a big tension to whether Sara will choose the League or the Legends. It does allow Sara to deliver an ass-kicking to Kendra, which is welcome to see.
Ra's Al Ghul's role was built up in promotional material, but ultimately he didn't get to do much other than deliver some dialogue and nod sagely, so pretty much daily business as his ultimately disappointing role in Arrow. He was surprisingly chill and played a good game for the time-travelers, though, and while I expected his appearance to be more related to being the episode's weekly villain, I can appreciate his more passive role here. Though I'm curious if Ra's meeting Sara in the past was what made him so edgy and eager to write Sara off during the events of Arrow's third season?
Also, Talia Al Ghul shows up! As a child, yes, but hey, Talia! Talia was always the more prominent Al Ghul daughter (Nyssa showed up very recently compared to Talia in the comics) but her closer ties as a Batman character probably prevented CW from ever using her in their works. Until now.
Other than the slight disappointment with Ra's passive role, though this week is full of nice swerving plot twists. Well, only the one, really, with the revelation that Chronos, who has been uninterestingly bland and a walking plot device for the past eight episodes, reveals his secret identity not as David Clinton, the classic comic-book alter ego of Chronos, but rather... Mick Rory! No one believes that Snart killed Mick, of course, so the twist that he would be alive would not be interesting. The fact that the time masters got to him, brainwashed him and made him work for them, though, is a different twist.
It's a great moment as this faceless plot device turned out not to be a character we already know, but rather one of the main characters. It's a bold move to be taken, but one that works wonders for the show. Heat Wave's been gradually developed from just Snart's pyro buddy into something more, and this burning (pun fully intended) resentment against the perceived betrayal is a nice angle to explore. It's a great episode for both Rory and Snart, as the latter tries his best to stop Rory and his new friends from killing each other. The two have been the best parts of the show without question, and seeing this relationship get torn apart is really great to watch.
Not so great is Snart freezing his own arm and shattering it in an attempt to break free from those handcuffs. I mean, yeah, Gideon regrew Snart's arm later, but it's still quite cringe-inducing to watch. Kudos for the visual effects there.
Overall, a relatively strong episode, with a welcome cameo from Ra's Al Ghul and some great moments for the Captain Cold/Heat Wave relationship. The show's sadly about to enter a bit of a rough patch starting in the next few episodes, though.
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