Legends of Tomorrow recap: Season 2, Episode 8

Well folks, the Legion of Doom has finally assembled! And it’s even boasting a few familiar names — if not faces — in Malcolm Merlyn and Al Capone himself. Because hey, if you’re going to be evil-scheming and traveling back in time, why not recruit the biggest-name mobster you can find, right?

In actuality, the plan works out like gang(ster)busters as Dahrk and Thawne teaming up with Capone causes a time aberration that brings Legends back to 1927 Chicago — thus making for the perfect distraction. Not that our heroes notice.

Stein is too preoccupied by newly forming memories of his fully grown time aberration daughter while Ray gets Eliot Ness kidnapped and almost killed because he learned all his history from movies (instead of Drunk History, like the rest of us) and didn’t know how corrupt the Chicago police was back then.

So even though the team does prevent Ness from sleeping with the fishes courtesy of Capone’s custom “cement galoshes,” Nate must pretend to be Ness while he re-cooperates, so that he does find Capone’s ledger and eventually brings him down for tax evasion. (Sidenote: If Ray is such a big gangster movie buff, wouldn’t he know about police corruption?)

Part of this plan involves shutting down one of Capone’s speakeasies. So Nate (as Ness) and Ray, pretending to be “Bob De Niro” tip the Feds off and organize a bust while Sara, Jefferson, and Stein go to said speakeasy and attempt to order a drink. But like most plans, this fails when both Dahrk and Thawne show up at the bar. Not only do they prevent Jefferson and Stein from becoming Firestorm, but they kidnap Sara and Stein just before the FBI raid the place. So when the Feds do turn up, the place is drier than the “club soda” Stein tried to order.

When Sara comes to, she finds herself (and Stein) tied up and being greeted by Malcolm. He proposes a trade. She gives him the amulet, he gives her the last nine years of her life back. But she turns him down, saying she’ll take “a nightmare that’s real over a dream that’s a lie.” Which as far as retorts go is pretty awesome.

Malcolm leaves, but Stein is impressed by Sara’s selflessness. She tells him he’s the one who taught her that, which causes Stein to tell her all about his daughter — including his new memory of how she insisted on singing the periodic table instead of the alphabet. (This alternate Stein household sounds like a blast.) Sara tries to convince him that it’s not real, but she’s interrupted by Dahrk, who has come to take Stein to be tortured.

When Stein is brought to Thawne, the speedster sticks a device in Stein’s arm that he promises will cause Stein plenty of pain instead of killing him. Judging from the poor professor’s screams, he’s right.

NEXT: A Thawne in the Legends’ side

Elsewhere, the team’s failure causes Mick to take charge; after all, the best way to catch a criminal is to think like one! (Hey, anything to put a tommy gun in Mick Rory’s hands!) So while Mick shoots everyone and everything in sight, Amaya goes to get Sara and the professor, and Nate and Ray go find Capone’s ledger — which they do, with Nate even commenting on Capone’s organizational skills and “exquisite penmanship.” (Raise your hand if you would watch Nate do an episode of Drunk History!)

As the team is leaving they run into Capone, but this time they make quick work of the mob boss, because what’s a few bullets against a team of metahumans and future technology? Only unbeknownst to our heroes, it’s yet another trap.

Upon returning, Stein is acting weird, even volunteering to look at the amulet. But Jefferson is the only one who notices. Seriously. Nate and Ray are too busy indulging in a “Bro hug.” It’s a good thing he does, though, because he sees that Stein is in fact Thawne in disguise.

However, while he doesn’t warn Sara in time, he is able to tell Ray and Nate that Stein is going to kill Sara in the library, to which Ray, a beautiful, Clue-loving nerd replies, “With a rope or a candlestick?” (Is Ray a bigger fan of the board game or the movie? Knowing Ray, it’s probably both.)

Nate tries to warn Sara, but Thawne realizes they know and reverts back to his own face and runs away. However, Jefferson shoots him with a speedster gun — only the effects are temporary, allowing Thawne to recover and strike back. Luckily, Ray was hiding on Jefferson. So the Atom quickly grows to regular size and gets in a good punch. But Thawne manages to zip away and gain control of the bridge, effectively locking the Legends out and letting Merlyn and the gangsters in.

The heroes quickly regroup before going after their own villain. Mick and a vengeance-craving Amaya take on Thawne, with her kicking his butt both with the speedster gun, and her feet. Elsewhere on the ship, it’s Merlyn versus Lance, with Sara gaining the upper hand — until Merlyn makes her an offer she can’t refuse: Stein’s life for the amulet. Sara agrees. The team rushes back to Dock 29, where Al Capone is about to push Stein off the dock, and they stop him.

Later, Sara tells Stein that some things, like family, are more important than history, and that she considers the team her family. She then asks Stein to tell her about his daughter.

Elsewhere, Nate and Ray are seeing Ness — who doesn’t remember anything beyond getting off the subway — off. They give him Capone’s ledger and tell him to check the numbers, to which Ness quips, “You expect me to believe that Al Capone will be taken down by tax evasion? Sounds screwy.” But as Ray notes, it does make a good movie!

NEXT: It’s Snart all it seems

While all of this was going on, Mick is dealing with something bigger than his current drinking binge: He’s seems to be hallucinating Leonard Snart.

But while that’s a great sign for Captain Cold fans, it’s not as great for Mick as even in his mind, Snart is capable of delivering searing burns. Mick — who clearly misses his old partner — does not need that in his life. Luckily Amaya notices something’s up with him. As a thank you for his actions earlier in the episode, she gets Mick a present: a bottle of alcohol from Capone’s warehouse.

While all of this is happening, the Legion of Doom are having a little meeting of their own as Thawne reveals that the amulets aren’t a pair as much as two different pieces of a compass that leads to the spear of destiny, which in turn can rewrite history. However, in order to use it, they’ll need Rip Hunter’s help.

Speaking of Mr. Hunter…

This reveal leads me to note two things:

• Would Ray be familiar with this Rip’s movies? Though possibly under a different name.
• 1967 is the year a certain Chevy Impala was produced. There’s probably no crossover connection. I just thought it was cool.

Episode grade: B+