DC's Legends of Tomorrow Season 1, Episode 3 Review and **SPOILERS**

Director: Dermott Downs
Writers: Marc Guggenheim and Chris Fedak
Release Date: February 4, 2016

Legends of Tomorrow has managed to accomplish something that many of DC's other media outputs failed to do; form a team of C-list characters and actually make them interesting. The Atom, Rip Hunter, White Canary, Captain Cold, Heatwave and Firestorm have joined forces in order to face the immortal, Vandal Savage, every Thursday night on the CW. Last episode, I was impressed by the quality in both character development and action that the show presented. Can this episode match that? Lets find out...


Explain it!

This episode begins with the team having finally come together on the wake of Carter Hall's death. Hawkgirl for some reason is injured in a way that cannot be cured and once again, all our heroes are unsure of what to do. After all, without Kendra, Vandal Savage cannot be killed. Before I start to get Revenge of the Sith flashbacks, however, Ray Palmer figures out the science behind Kendra's injury and a possible cure. He is going to have to shrink down...

Meanwhile, Rip Hunter sits in his room thinking about his next step; when Sarah Lance arrives with an answer. What to do if they can't kill Vandal Savage? Well.. As Sarah points out, steal Savage's money. Thus, they strut into Vandal's bank and try to scope the place out. Unexpectedly, they are immediately recognized and attacked. Sarah handles herself with her usual skill, but Rip reveals that he is not as martially useless as he seemed. Eventually, they are left with only one goon and decide to take him in for questioning.

On the other side of the ship Captain Cold and Heatwave try to convince Jackson to join them in a private job. For some reason, Jackson accepts. Team Cold's quest leads them to steal a huge emerald; which Cold believes will keep his father out of jail. It does not.

Ray Palmer, tries and fails to heal Kendra, via the classic Atom move of shrinking down into a patients bloodstream. In order to cheer him up Stein reveals that he was trolling Ray all this time by pretending not to know him. And with that in mind, Ray succeeds in destroying Kendra's infection, but then reveals that he knows Stein just pulled a double bluff. While the old scientist truly did not remember the Atom, Ray will give Stein a reason to remember him now.

After breaking Vandal's goon (with the weakest punch I've ever seen on television), Rip and Sarah go undercover to Vandal's secret ceremony. To no ones surprise this time, they get caught. Vandal then shows them that he can can give each of his henchmen 100 years of live; via the desecration of Hawkman's corpse. In order to stop him, Rip calls in the rest of the team and they fight their way out. For no reason, Rip decides to fight Vandal one on one and surprisingly wins. Of course, Vandal is immortal so all that Hunter truly accomplishes is to reveal the names of his wife and child to the man destined to kill them.

Once everyone is back on the ship; the computer conveniently manages to locate Vandal's next appearance in time. The team is finally ready to go...

Bit's and Pieces:

Straight up I have to say this episode was not as good as the last. The character development was not nearly as deep and the action was not nearly as impressive. There were some moments in which the plot obviously directed the characters' choices; without explaining why those characters would make those choices. But on the other hand, these choices lead to more information about most characters. We got to see the Atom's relationship with Stein evolve and a little bit of both Cold's and Rip's backstories. Plus, we got the classic Atom bloodstream scene and that just hits my fanboy heart in the right place. So with all of that in mind I have to give this episode an...

8.0/10

(all pictures courtesy of: http://www.flickeringmyth.com/2016/01/promo-images-for-dcs-legends-of-tomorrow-season-1-episode-3-blood-ties.html)