Legends of Tomorrow recap: Progeny

The “legends” have spent so many episode intent on murdering one man that they never stopped to think about whether what they were doing was right. Sure, they spent the first episodes wavering back and forth on whether the mission was worth it, but it isn’t until now, faced with a pint-sized solution to the Savage ordeal, that they finally wonder whether they’re stooping to Savage’s level. They’d have to kill a boy, a boy they learn would grow up under Savage’s tutelage, catalyze the destruction of civilization, and eventually be killed by Savage himself when he was no longer useful.

But as Rip admits to Mick in his visit, the only way to face a problem is to tackle it head on. He spent too much time in denial of Mick’s true nature and has to own up to pushing Leonard into trying, and then failing, to “deal with” Mick. So with that in mind, Rip decides to dive into Savage’s true nature by returning to his origin story — or rather, the origin story of Per Degaton, the young villain who would grow up, in the DC universe, to become a supervillain obsessed with time travel. (Hmm, wonder where that obsession starts…) This means exploring the Kasnia Conglomerate in 2147, when corporations really have taken over the world. Even S.T.A.R. Labs now controls Central City, which disturbs Ray.

Even more disturbing to Ray in the sleek, slightly monochromatic future? The robotic law enforcement based on Ray’s Atom suit designs. They’re more Ultron than Rosie in nature, but because they’ve eliminated crime, the human population doesn’t mind. Still, not everything’s perfect, and Rip can tell: He, along with Sara and Leonard, make it into the board meeting, during which Rip listens in on how Savage encourages population control and later spies Savage playing mentor to Per Degaton, whose father runs the board, grooming him to join the Dark Side. (Now that I think of it, Savage would be a lot more menacing with a Star Wars helmet on.)

Thanks to these revelations, the team then splits into two missions: The first pursues a kidnapping of Per Degaton because killing him is an option more than half the team would rather avoid, and the second aims to take down the robot law enforcement.

Team Kidnapping succeeds fairly easily: Sara’s aim, Rip’s quick thinking, and Leonard’s, well, cold gun manage to stop the security detail around Per Degaton in time for them to smuggle him aboard the Waverider, where they can continue to bicker about what to do — especially after Gideon reveals that little has changed because they kidnapped the kid. Team Robots, on the other hand, encounters a shocking surprise: When their guide at the corporation’s lab reveals the bust made in honor of the company’s founder (and her great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, it turns out) is a man named Palmer who looks strangely like Ray, Ray is stunned to have both had a love child and to have caused the very Ultrons he disapproves of now.

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And that’s not the end of Ray’s problems: He and Kendra have been feeling awkward around each other because he’s distracted by his love child (and love-descendants?), and she’s distracted by sepia-toned flashbacks to her time in the 1920s, when she and Carter were still together and took care of their son, Aldus. (Remember him? And no really, are her memories sepia-toned?) She recalls their time as the Hawkcouple and how her paranoia led them to move every few years, culminating in one night when they had to tell Aldus the truth. The memories leave Kendra reeling, and she admits to Ray that she still has feelings for Carter and that she feels like she’s cheating on her partner-in-reincarnation. Ray reveals his secret about the love child in return.

They’re not the only ones having a heart to heart, though: Sara stops by Mick’s glass cell to tell him that Leonard valued their partnership. After all, when she and Leonard were certain they would die freezing in that locked room aboard the Waverider, he only thought about how important Mick was to him. Mick looks defiant, but he also listened — and that gives him a boost back to humanity.

Meanwhile, Rip finally takes matters into his own hands and smiles by snatching away Per Degaton on his own. They fly beyond the borders of the Kasnia Conglomerate, and Rip prepares to shoot, telling the boy that he’s not killing him; instead, he’s saving his son’s life. That logic, though, doesn’t fly with Per the mini Savage. While Rip hesitates to pull the trigger, Per challenges him, teasing that Rip would never be a killer, that Rip is too weak to be one. In response, Rip decides not to kill the boy. He can’t imagine stooping that low.

NEXT: It’s not easy being the older models…

By the time Rip brings him back into the Kasnia Conglomerate, all hell has broken loose near the Waverider. The team had originally intended to chase after Rip and figure out what’s happening, but when Savage leads the army of robots and gun-toting weapons, they gear up (very quickly!) and fight back. Ray tackles the army of robots, drawing them away until they knock him, the older model, onto the ground. After Firestorm takes over, Ray and Kendra head back to the lab to find a way to shut down the robot law enforcement, only after Ray convinces his great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter he’s there for good reasons, she backs down and reveals that the bust is for Sidney Palmer, Ray’s “stupid” brother. (No, really, that’s the only detail we get on him — for now, anyway.) So hey, you didn’t have a love child, Ray! Congratulations?

And so when Per Degaton sees that Savage has gotten the upper hand in the fight and taken Sara by the throat, the “little bastard” (Leonard’s words, not mine) encourages his father to have Savage slice Sara’s throat so he wouldn’t have to be exchanged. Instead, when his father negotiates the deal to bring him back, Per Degaton shakes his head. But hey, at least the team got their best assassin back! Congratulations!

With everyone back together (Kendra and Ray might just make things work!), Leonard finally takes some time to see Mick, and the two make a deal: They’ll fight to the death, with the winner being able to leave and do whatever they want. But as they’re fighting, Mick finally hesitates and refuses to hurt his former partner any more. But with this in mind, he alerts the rest of the crew to the fact that more bounty hunters like Chronos will be coming. After all, the Time Masters will stop at nothing to chase them down.

In a closing montage, we see that the team’s actions only sped up the darkest timeline. Savage pressured Per Degaton into stabbing and killing his father, and Savage made plans for the virus that would decimate the population to be used years earlier than it had been released in the original timeline. Rip’s face falls as he realizes this.

Cheesiest Line of the Night: “I can see it in your eyes, you’re not going to do it. You’re like my father, weak.” Based on dialogue like that, Per Degaton is so becoming a supervillain in the future.

This Week’s Winner of the Unofficial EW Legends of Tomorrow Scenery Chewing but in a Good Way Award, a.k.a. The Legend-ary Ham of the Week: Brandon Routh. Finding out you have a love child and then finding out you don’t would send anyone on an emotional rollercoaster, but Ray also found out his figurative child — his tech — ended up destroying the world. And because of that, Ray just looked like he was about to fall apart in every scene. All these twists — they’re too much to handle for the brainiac. Really: He even used “Dr. Hannibal Lecter” as an alias when he’s definitely smart enough to have thought of a more, well, respectable doctor.

Team MVP: Rip. Still no smiling, but this week, he actually carried out a solid plan with his team and tried to follow through on his mission. And the reason for not killing Per Degaton isn’t shabby at all: He simply realized he could never be as awful as Vandal Savage and shoot a child in the face. Plus, he’s the one who brings Per Degaton back to exchange for Sara. That wins him points.

Time-wimey notes:

• Rip vs. (Mick) Rory. Some of you know why I chuckled at that.
• Hey, look, it’s Jewel Staite, a.k.a. Kaylee from Firefly! She’s so randomly in this episode in a totally un-Kaylee role that my reaction to her guest appearance was basically…

• Okay, this is nitpicky, but you can’t call everything “crime-free” if a man can still snatch a woman’s purse. Yes, he’s stopped immediately after doing so by the robots, but this isn’t exactly precrime in the vein of Minority Report. Try harder, Kasnia Conglomerate!
• “Great, we’ve gone from infanticide to child abduction. Progress.” Antsy Ray is funny Ray.
• Don’t read this, Nyssa! Sara’s been dreaming about “a young nurse.”
• Sara also has no idea what just happened on the latest hour of Arrow. When do you think that will come up on Legends?
• So now that we’ve had Hawkcouple scenes and Ray-Kendra scenes: Which coupling do you prefer? Or is it neither? (Kendra can exist alone, you guys!)
• Sara tells Leonard to work out his feelings. “About you?” he teases back. The friendship between these two is delightful:

• While the Waverider is attacked, Sara’s hair is straight. Right after the team dashes outside in full costume, it’s wavy. Does the Waverider provide hairstyling in case of emergency?
• “People seem to think we should have a heart-to-heart.” “We don’t have hearts. Where does that leave us?” Mick Rory, Mr. Literal and Joker Extraordinaire.
• Finally, that wig Hawkgirl had to wear in the 1920s flashbacks? Awful. Poor Edith.