LEGENDS OF TOMORROW Season 1 Episode 3: A Savage Ceremony and a Team Divided


“Wealth is not a power, belief is.” 

The less messy we are the better. The more adversity that can stretch out from character to character without making the story complicated... the best. 

Episode 3 of LEGENDS OF TOMORROW took us further into our story. It also split up its complications between characters in a very easy to follow along way. We were even teased with the line we heard from the trailer about Men of Steel and Dark Knights. Could we be seeing a bigger DC universe soon? Before the episode even began to take shape, a line of dialogue was spoken that I believe summed up much of the entire episode. 

“Simple don’t seem easy.” 

From the get-go, one of my biggest highlights from this episode was the bank scene with Rip and White Canary. It seems we may be going on a trend of 1-2 scenes per episode of stylized action and well-choreographed fights. Simply to say, these moments are pure fun. It was also a good advancement with the character of Rip. We saw him formulate a plan with the help of his new teammates, to attempt to take Vandal down. Although I did think it was paced well, the bloodlust plot point with Sara was a little overdramatic to me. Plus, after this week’s ARROW, I thought her effects from the Lazarus Pit weren’t nearly as bad as Theas. 

Breaking away from Rip and Sara, we were presented with Ray and Professor Stein trying to save Kendra. In these moments we were able to see Ray shrink down and jump into Kendra’s blood cells, something that made for very entertaining TV. I was impressed with how this episode was able to maintain space within the dilemmas of the separate characters and not get too messy. Continuing this idea will let them stretch the story of Vandal and his conquest out for the remainder of the season. 

Ray and Professor Stein both displayed good chemistry and teamwork in this episode. Although they both are relatively new to the hero game, I like the beginnings of the mentor and student relationship we’re seeing. I was a little lost with the idea of Ray being a former student of Professor Stein but I understand its inclusion in the story. That boost of confidence in Ray helped him get further as a hero and strengthened the relationship between Professor Stein and himself. You can’t go wrong with a Victor Garber Titanic joke either. 

I think I’m making it a trend of talking about these two characters, but I was yet again impressed with both Captain Cold and Heatwave. Leonard Snart answered a lot of questions in this episode that fans wouldn’t expect the heroes to do. Would someone mess with the timeline to change their future? What would the outcome be? He also continued to show another deeper moment for his character when he confronted his younger self and warned him to “don’t ever let anyone hurt you.” 

Although I was impressed with the team centered drama at hand, I think the moments with Casper Crump as Vandal Savage took the cake for me with this episode. His ceremony with “the vessel” a.k.a. the remains of Hawkman were important and interesting to his character. As a big fan of the character, I thought Savages mention of Jack the Ripper in this episode was phenomenal. 

I’m willing to predict a bit of a slow burn with the storytelling of Vandal Savage. Come the Season 1 finale, we may be presented with a villain so monumental that it takes numerous seasons to defeat him. The audience got to see more out of his character and see his evil reach higher places. I thought that idea was highlighted throughout the scene, especially when he was placed under the red light. The color matched perfectly with his sadistic and cult- like nature. 

Have anything you want to say about this week’s episode? Comment below and expect to see a few big faces from the DCU in episodes soon!

Written by Mark Storey, LEGENDS OF TOMORROW Beat Writer - Click here to read Mark's posts.


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