It turns out that Vandal Savage's intentions with the warhead he acquired aren't what you would expect. You'd think he'd use it for destructive purposes or perhaps conquest, but no, he wants to sell it. It's odd as immortality is usually shown to result in immense wealth, but I guess he has to do something to pass the time.
It does make for a nice red herring for the team as they decide to infiltrate an illegal arms auction under the impression that he aims to acquire said nuke. Many wondered why two criminals were brought along for the mission. They end up being rather useful, helping sell their status as criminals here and later breaking into a house to steal a magical dagger that could kill Savage.
It's one of several subplots that the episode showcases when the team disperses. Not only does it allow characters to go on their own journey, but it is also symbolic of the fractured state of the team. It turns out that Rip's dishonesty has robbed him of any credibility. As such, the heroes decide to do things their own way with varying degrees of success.
While the big brawl that broke out at the arms auction made for a fantastic action set piece, it causes a problem as a piece of the Atom's suit got broken off and was acquired by Savage. For the sake of the timeline, it is essential that it gets retrieved before Savage can master it and use it to serve his own nefarious ends. You'd think that such a feat leaves the heroes a lot of time to retrieve it, but Savage has ways of motivating those in his employ to get it to work in short order.
As such, Stein, Sara, and Jax venture out to find Stein's younger self so that he can help them track a specific energy that is emitted by Ray's tech. Admittedly, this plot line really makes no sense. If younger Stein knew about it, wouldn't older Stein possess this knowledge too? And why can't they just use the advanced tech from the futuristic aircraft to track the energy?
It seems that the MST3K rule applies here as the real goal is to flesh out Stein. It seems he doesn't like who he was, or more specifically, the fact that he hasn't changed that much. It worked well and both Sara and Jax seemed to get a kick out of seeing Stein in his younger days, allowing for some laughs to be had as well.
The subplot also features a nice nod to "Back to the Future" as Stein inadvertently jeopardizes his own future marriage. It's the sort of thing that has to come up at some point when dealing with time travel, but it lacks tension as the episode doesn't have time to build on it at all. It amounts to Stein's ring disappearing, and then showing up again at the end of the episode as the result of some last minute intervention from Rip. We never really feel the loss as it is never treated as anything more than an afterthought.
The other two plot lines center on the dagger mentioned earlier. Kendra tries to remember the specific nature of the thing while Ray, Cold, and Heat Wave try to steal it. The latter works as the idealistic Ray forms an odd dynamic with the two jaded criminals. One minute they seem to get along and then the next they fight. It makes sense and results in an unpredictable relationship.
Kendra's story is uneven. By and large, she and Hawkman have the same conversations they've been having as he is in love with her and wants to go back to that, but she doesn't like the idea of destiny telling her who to love.
It yields results as he ends up getting killed in the climactic confrontation with Savage. The reveal that she had just then fallen in love with him at that final moment was a bit of a stretch, but I guess they needed a reason for it to hit her hard. Apparently, just losing a friend in battle doesn't cut it anymore.
Between the time travel and the reincarnation (plus isn't he a cast regular?), you wouldn't think that this would be a big deal. You wouldn't be wrong in thinking that it would amount to "Oh my God, they killed Hawkman!" "You bastards!" but it seems more permanent as not only does Savage swallow Hawkman's soul, but his death ends up being a unifying force for the others. Whether this is an intentional nod to Coulson in "The Avengers" is unclear, but even Cold doesn't take kindly to someone on his crew being taken down.
Where the last episode had a lot of exposition to get through, this is able to get more into character. The element of fun is still there and the action set pieces remain amazing. Both the arms deal fight and the final battle really are jaw dropping, especially for a TV show budget.
Having Damien Darrkh make a cameo at the beginning of the episode was also a nice touch. It's clear that the team still has a long way to go before they become legends, but we do see them taking steps towards that ultimate goal.
All in all, this episode does a good job of picking up the momentum from the last episode and building on it. It manages to successfully balance a fairly large ensemble while also delivering epic spectacle. Hopefully things can just keep getting better from here.
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