Legends of Tomorrow - S1E11 - The Magnificent Eight

Previously on Legends of Tomorrow, ‘Progeny’

With The Hunters hot on the legends’ asses, I expected more this week, but what we got was still very good.

Rip takes everyone to the Wild West, to a town called Salvation, to hide out while The Hunters search for them through fragmentations in time. His plan is to stay aboard the ship, but we all know what happens when Rip has a plan. Everyone is anxious to explore the one-horse town and hit up the local saloon. As always, watching the team in the costuming of different eras is a real treat. They’re like big kids playing dress up and they all throw themselves into their parts.

Images: The CW

The episode’s highlight was supposed to be Rip reuniting with Jonah Hex (Jonathan Schaech) as they work through their tumultuous and secretive past in order to protect the town from bandits, but I honestly found the “side missions” more interesting.

Kendra runs into an older version of herself from a former life. She’s been widowed a long time and warns Kendra that any love she finds that’s not with Carter will end badly. Of course, this leads to more doubts and soul-searching - we really gotta find something else for this relationship to be about - before Kendra decides (once again) that she controls her destiny and she loves Ray. However, his “I love you, too” to her at the end of the episode didn’t feel all that convincing.

Stein goes against Ray’s wishes and uses the medicine aboard The Waverider to cure a young boy’s tuberculosis. It’s both comical and annoying how they truly stop giving a damn about altering history or revealing the fact that they’re time travelers. Still, the little boy turns out to be H.G. Wells so… worth it? Victor Garber is simply amazing.

Snart didn’t have much to do, but the general hanging out, kicking ass, and being witty was more than enough to allow Wentworth Miller to shine.

More than anyone else, Ray takes to the old west and eagerly accepts being the town’s sheriff after running off the bandits who’d been terrorizing them. Though they probably should have re-boarded their ship and minded their business, that’s not what heroes would do and we all know Ray is adorably chivalrous.

Everyone gets to shine when The Hunters eventually show up and we get a signature Legends battle with panoramic badassery. The fight won, the team leaves, but it’s clear we’ll be seeing Jonah Hex again.

It occurred to me a few episodes ago that I wouldn’t mind if this show was about standalone adventures in time where the legends help people in need. Sure, that’s been done before, but I’m finding myself less and less interested in Vandal Savage and this confusing connection to Carter and Kendra. The Time Masters have proven to be savvier and more threatening than Savage. With The Hunters coming up empty (which was a bit of a disappointment since Mick really talked them up last week), they’ve unleashed someone called The Pilgrim on the group and she’ll travel back to any time in their past to kill their younger selves. Awesome!