After two episodes that showed the spectacle of a superhero team, this one takes a more low key approach. Part of this is by necessity as the team is stuck. They can't kill Vandal Savage because Hawkgirl's out of commission and they can't travel through time because the ship is still in need of repair. While it may have been unrealistic to expect every episode to provide mind blowing action sequences, it is an odd place to hit the brakes.
That's not to say that the episode is a total bust. It does allow for some decent character arcs, though again, we have a sub-plot heavy episode where everybody goes off to do their own thing.
Snart's story probably has the most pathos, though you could argue that his was the most superfluous. Not surprisingly, the two criminals get stir crazy and decide to take the scout ship out for a joy ride. It was good to see Jackson initially rebuke their offer to help them go steal stuff (even Snart commends him for the cajones) though he does eventually acquiesce.
This is no simple joy ride, though (which is a shame as that could have been a fun sequence). Per his stated intent in the pilot, Snart aims to steal some stuff. In an interesting twist, he wants to steal for the greater good; more specifically, he wants to alter the timeline so his father doesn't end up in prison.
Considering what we saw of Papa Snart in "The Flash" this is a big gesture. Cold does say that his father only got bad after his time in prison, adding some layers to the seemingly one off character, but it also shows that Snart isn't above doing the occasional deed for someone else's benefit.
You'd think that this would open up a Pandora's box of temporal paradoxes, but time is obstinate. Between said paradoxes and the butterfly effect, Snart probably got off lucky, as changing the timeline that drastically could have really messed things up.
Ray's subplot essentially has him go all "Fantastic Voyage" in order to remove dagger debris from Kendra's body before it kills her. No arc reactors here, I'm afraid. Surprisingly, no one mentions the movie ("Fantastic Voyage, not "Iron Man" though I suppose referencing that wouldn't have been out of left field either.) Usually when a show uses this sort of story, someone alludes to it. It's especially odd as you'd think that Ray would be the person to lampshade it. Oh well.
We see that he's still suffering from an existential crisis, resulting in some angsty self doubt, though it does result in developing a stronger bond with Professor Stein. They may not be "Science bros" yet, but they did move a bit closer to that field.
Probably the most relevant subplot to the ongoing story centers on Sara and Rip. While they can't kill Savage, Sara does suggest hitting him in the wallet to hinder his conquest. It's not a bad plan, though their strategy isn't the most effective.
Oddly enough, this episode establishes that Rip and Vandal have a history. We see that Rip did indeed try to kill Savage back in Ancient Egypt and failed. It makes sense that Rip would try this, though having them suddenly become sworn enemies when Savage didn't take notice of him before is a bit odd.
Also, Vandal apparently has eidetic memory as he declares that he's looking forward to killing Rip's family, when the ex-Time Master lets their names slip whilst avenging them. It was a great taunt that really turned things around as Savage went from being at Rip's mercy (sort of) to getting into Rip's head and robbing him of his resolve.
Really, while Vandal didn't have as much screen time, he seemed to have the most villainous presence here. He was far more menacing and unnerving than he had been in prior appearances. The cult is a bit too Ra's al Ghul-esque but it worked out here for the most part. The ritual was creepy and added an ominous atmosphere to the climax.
Of course, Sara isn't without her own character development as she continues to contend with the effects of the pit (something even Rip doesn't seem to know a lot about). It's an interesting arc, coming on the heels of "Arrow" where Thea was coping with similar issues. Here, Rip suggests that Sara just overcome the blood lust through force of will, but as we saw with Thea, that clearly doesn't work. Also, the fact that Sara did take some people out in battle should mean that the desire to kill is subsided, if only for a while, right?
The episode ends on a bittersweet moment as they say one final goodbye to Hawkman. It looks like he's really dead, though Kendra does say "come back to me". It would have been interesting if they had gone to the future to find Carter's reincarnated self and Kendra suddenly found herself trying to get him to discover his true nature. Maybe they'll do that eventually, right now though, it seems that the team is heading to the 80's. It isn't the most drastic change in setting, but it should still be interesting.
Overall, the episode lacked the wow factor that the first two episodes had, but it did manage to bring a lot to the table. Savage got to score a few bad guy points and the various plots were well balanced. It would be nice to see the team stick together every once in a while, but so far everyone has had a chance to shine, which is no easy feat with a cast like this.
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