Legends of Tomorrow: “Left Behind” Review

Last week, as the Waverider launched into the sky above a desperate Ray, Kendra, and Sara, we felt equally left behind. What will happen to them? Will they ever be rescued? Do we have to wait a whole week to find out?! “Left Behind” did not disappoint – everyone got rescued, and the episode was bursting with awesome combat, character development, and plot twists.

The sci-fi aspect was turned up a notch this episode, and it worked beautifully. We finally got to see a full-on battle between Chronos and the team, and his technology overriding Gideon showed us how powerful the future can be. However, the green wavy sky that the Waverider travels through is still corny and reminiscent of 80s sci-fi… so unless Legends of Tomorrow itself is time-travelling, we need some better CGI.

It’s always enjoyable seeing the various match-ups of characters that occur in this show – it nicely solves the problem of having a ridiculous amount of main characters. Ray/Kendra/Sara’s match-up was interesting, as Sara’s pragmatism contrasted nicely with Ray’s naïveté when he thinks the Waverider will return. It was also great to see Ray and Kendra living together and settling into a simple life; ‘simple’ is nice to see from a reincarnated demi-goddess and a brilliant scientist who can shrink to the size of a bug. (Sadly, only one of the two liked it.)

Let’s get to the stinger, though: Chronos is Rory?! I never saw that coming; I assumed the reason Chronos took Snart was his gun, which is arguably the best weapon aboard the Waverider. Rory’s journey to become Chronos – driven insane in the woods, training for years with the Time Masters – was heartbreaking. However, dangling Snart’s sister in front of him was predictable and rendered Rory’s character archetypal. And I’m not sure rehabilitating Rory is a good idea; that move felt a little too warm-and-fuzzy for me. I hope it backfires. (Sorry, team Legends! I have nothing against you, I promise.)

It makes sense that Sara would go back to Nanda Parbat, and that was a nice tie back into the Arrowverse. Her and Kendra’s combat was well choreographed… almost as well choreographed as Snart’s fancy footwork trying to escape! Kendra’s hawk-out (is that what we’re calling it, now?! like hulk-out?) was epic. Unfortunately, their battle was cut short – this is one time I wish Sara was more violent.

But Legends is forgiven, of course, because the battle against Chronos/Rory (“Chrory”?) was incredible! Ray fought without shrinking, Kendra used innovative moves like grabbing Chrory’s shoulders and flapping her wings, Sara kicked him in the head, and Firestorm zoomed around (and flabbergasted Ra’s al Ghul). Battles like these are where Legends of Tomorrow shines.

 

“Left Behind” was packed to the brim with interesting developments, and had an exceptional balance of character exploration, combat, and plot twists. However, it fell flat when it chose stereotypical outcomes over novel ones and rushed epic battles.

 

• Snart: “We left the ladies in 1958!” “What about Ray?” “Like I said.”
• Can’t Ray and other tech-savvy members of the team tinker with Gideon to make her totally impenetrable? Hopefully, they’ll do this in a future episode.
• “We’ll recover the future tech and any lucky ceramics”, said Professor Stein. Also, I loved him interjecting for Ray when Ray and Kendra (as prisoners) were talking about losing their powers and abilities. Always the meddler, aren’t you?
• I just realized that Kendra and Ray both used to be betrothed to Carter and Anna, respectively. That’s an interesting symmetry in their relationship.
• Rip did his thesis on the League of Assassins? That’s… oddly fortunate.
• Snart: “I don’t think there’s a pension plan for old bounty hunters.”