It’s the Episode with All The “Feels”
“Last Refuge” is probably the most emotional episode to-date coming out of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Not only was it filled to the brim with some touching scenes, it delved deeper into Rip Hunter’s mysterious past, revealing some dark aspects about his childhood. Our talented After Show hosts — Jack Hind, Rory Ross, and Carolina Bonetti (substituting for Tatiana Mariesa) — as always, take us on a tour of the highlights of this exciting episode. So let’s get started …
Let’s Ride a Wave of Tears
Like I said before, Legends of Tomorrow seems to really love teasing out the tears from its audience. And both Jack and Carolina can agree with that sentiment since they labeled “Last Refuge” as the episode with the “feels.” It’s no secret that the Legends are broken people in some shape or form: Sara was brought back to life with bloodlust; Kendra lost her one true love; Jax grew up without a father; Ray saw his fiancee get killed … the list goes on and on. I mean, seriously, I’m not even going to get started on Leonard and Mick.
So when our beloved ragtag team got to visit kidnap their younger selves, you knew they were going to be doing an about-face with some deep-seated issues. The most emotional one out of all of these was Jax meeting his father. Nothing tugs on the heartstrings more than a father telling his adult son all his hopes and dreams for him — especially when the father doesn’t know he’s talking to his actual son.
It’s probably this conversation that weighed the most heavily on Jax. At the end, Jax opted to tell his father about his fate — that is, being killed in combat. Carolina does pose an excellent question to this breaking-of-the-rules-of-time-travel: “How will that change the timeline? Will it erase this version of Firestorm?” I guess only time (pun intended) will tell. Rip did mention that time was already starting to set, so they had to start getting their “kill” on for Mr. Vandal Savage.
And since we’ve quickly touched on Rip explaining the nuances of time travel to Jax, I would have to agree with Jack’s disapproval of letting Jax off the hook way too easily. Since the start of the show, Rip has been incessantly pounding in the concept that time cannot be mucked with. Yet, right after Jax nonchalantly tells Rip that he revealed something that will save his father’s life, Rip was okay with it. This quick change of attitude seemed rather strange. Unless … Rip knows something that Jax doesn’t. After all, a dark side was revealed about our former Time Master.
He Sure “Ripped” the Pilgrim a New One
I guess there’s no better time to segue into Rip than right now. Hunter Heads … er … Rip Heads? Let’s just say, “People similar to our friend Jack.” Yeah, the Rip groupies, probably got a pretty satisfying episode that shed some light on our mysterious protagonist. And yes, Carolina, the young Rip was a total badass! I too was wondering how the Legends were going to get themselves out of this one when the Pilgrim did her temporal micro-manipulation trick.
Oh, don’t worry, because young Rip was a total juvenile delinquent — or the actual term that current-day Rip gave, a “cutpurse.” A big thank you to Carolina (Aren’t we glad someone here reads?) for educating us on what a cutpurse is. The name “cutpurse” was given to 18th century London thieves who weren’t above killing their victims in order to take their money.
The Writers Had to Go and Ruin It with Love
In true Legends of Tomorrow fashion, the overall episode wasn’t completely dire and emotionally heavy. There were some pretty lighthearted moments worth mentioning. The first one that comes to mind is Kendra and Sara fawning over a baby Snart. I think Sara’s reaction was the cherry on top. This is a person who’s an assassin and had one of Rory’s favorite quotes during the episode, which was “Who wants to have a relationship based on honesty and trust? [sound of disgust]”
And who can forget Mick interacting with his younger self? It was total Mick-on-Mick action. True, that one was wiser by a few lifetimes, but the cockiness and callous sarcasm was duplicated twice here. The scenes with current day Mick threatening his younger self had me in stitches.
The biggest weakness with this episode, like with all the rest of the episodes, is the Ray/Kendra sub-plot. The Legends of Tomorrow made it worse in “Last Refuge” by having the two become engaged. I may have laughed when Sara did her mock disgust noise, but I actually gagged for real when Kendra agreed to marry Ray at the end. Yes, how very 12-year-old of me. Seriously, who really wants to see these two characters get together? I actually can’t wait for Carter to return. I want this whole love story to end. If you guys think I’m being harsh, imagine if Tatiana was present. I mean, we all know how much she loves Ray. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
Speaking of Carter, when is he going to reincarnate and put an end to all this silliness? Carolina gives a great theory as to why Hawkman is taking his sweet time. Carter will probably reincarnate when Kendra goes back to a solidified time period because all the Legends don’t really exist — they’re all residing outside of time. Carter’s soul, at this time, is unable to find its soulmate for the purposes of reincarnation. Sounds good to me.
The “Pilgrimage” to Awesomeness
Obviously, I saved the best for last … The Pilgrim! Oh man, she was bad-to-the-bone! She was basically the T-1000 to the team’s T-800. I think Jack, Rory, and Carolina would all agree that, like Valentine Vostok, this villain needs to make a return in a future episode … soon! After the disappointing Hunters from “The Magnificent Eight,” the Time Masters finally brought out the big guns.
Yep, they spared no expense with the Pilgrim. On top of her ability to do her special temporal micro-manipulation where she freezes time in her immediate vicinity, this character was also able to survive individual blasts from Firestorm and Ray. It took the combined firepower of all the Legends to finally incinerate her. But is she really dead? Who here thinks the pile of dust and ash we see at the end is just a ruse? Her comic book biography did say that she had the ability to teleport. Could she have beamed away the second she knew she was in trouble? I really don’t care how the writers want to play it with this one … just bring her back!
What do you think? Do you want to see more of the Pilgrim? How badly do think the timeline has shifted after the events of “Last Refuge”? Jack, Tatiana, Rory, Carolina, and I want to hear your thoughts, so sound off in the comments!
You can also read my written recap of “Last Refuge” at Bam Smack Pow.
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Legends of Tomorrow After Show is where you will be joined by host Jack Hind, Tatiana Mariesa, and Rory Ross. They will discuss, review, and breakdown each new episode of Legends of Tomorrow.
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