When Rip told the team at the end of last week’s episode that Henry Heywood had the last remaining piece of the Spear of Destiny, I doubt anyone assumed he hide it as well as he did. But hide it he did!
When the crew lands in Manhattan in 1965, they think it will be easy to intercept Henry after Rip drops him off, but since Henry’s a Master of Disguise he disappears in a moment and the team is stuck searching. Luckily, they have a member of his family on their side, and it takes Nate about 2.5 seconds to discover his grandfather in the mixture of pictures coming across Gideon’s records.
Most of the crew heads to NASA to try to retrieve the Spear from Henry (who doesn’t seem all that happy to see Rip…unless a punch in the face is how you say I love you in 1965). Henry tells the team he’s hidden the Spear in the flag the American astronauts placed on the moon (because if nowhere on Earth is safe, build a space program).
With Thawne aboard Apollo 13, the crew is already behind in the race to space, so Stein, Jax, and Rory infiltrate Mission Control while the rest of the crew boards the Waverider (with Henry in tow) and head towards the moon.
Space travel takes a bit of time, and within that distance we’re able to cover a lot of ground.
For one, Henry begrudges Rip for making him leave his family behind when he was pulled from the past to guard the Spear. Henry tries to convince Nate to solve the problem by having the Waverider drop him off at the exact time he left once the mission’s over. Nate, who has lived a life full of emotions tied to his father’s behavior instantly jumps aboard the Save My Family Express.
We also see Rip struggle with the idea of not being Captain, constantly second guessing how the team will deal with things and Sara’s judgment.
But all that gets pushed aside when the crew arrives in space and discovers Apollo 13 floating aimlessly.
Ray tinies up and heads towards the ship to scope things out, but is discovered by the undisguised, powerless, yet still evil jerk, Thawne. In a shocking turn of events, Ray is able to defeat Thawne and ties him up, but not before ruining his suit (has Ray made it through a fight without destroying that thing) and the ship itself.
Ray then has to fly the limb of the ship to the moon, while back on Earth Stein and Rory work to distract Mission Control with a song and dance (Timon and Pumba style).
While Ray retrieves the piece of the Spear on the moon, Sara and crew attempt to save the Apollo 13 pilots from a meteor belt and hopefully get them back on course.
Speaking of getting back on course, while everyone else is worried about Apollo 13 crashing or Ray being stuck on the moon, Amaya takes a hot minute to remind Nate that as a historian he knows better than to attempt to alter (or encourage) the changing of history. Nate doesn’t want to hear any of her speech about the past making you who you are, and gets upset with Amaya for bringing it to mind (FTR at least now we know Nate has the ability to feel something towards Amaya other than infatuation and we get to see Amaya care for him). Though Amaya proves she’s definitely not deterred by her emotions when she goes directly to Henry to explain why he can’t go home.
Down on the moon, Ray is having the best worst day ever, complete with Matt Damon monologue when he finds out he’s stranded. Thawne proposes the two work together to get back to the ship, reminding Ray that he is a genius scientist from the future so he’s definitely qualified (remember all of The Flash Season 1 when he was technically the one working with Cisco and Caitlin…I totally forgot that too).
Thawne tries to build that villainy connection with Ray pointing out their similarities, and it doesn’t take long for an understanding to be reached. They also fix the limb in no time, which is great because when it comes to space you don’t have extra time to waste.
Sara manually pilots the Waverider to them, and they get Apollo 13 back on track. Of course, it would be too easy if it ended there. Especially for our Legends.
Stein lets the crew know there is pretty much zero chance they will make it back through the atmosphere with how badly the Waverider has been beaten (it’s just an asteroid belt, suck it up!). With Stein unable to do the math fast enough or have a clue what the answer might, Ray turns to Thawne, who knows the question before Ray even asks it.
As the ship struggles to make it to the angle Thawne says they have to be at, Henry sacrifices himself to ensure the team can make it back. Nate, tragically, has to watch his grandfather be sucked into space, and as the crew returns to Earth he collapses into Amaya’s arms.
The second the ship touches ground, Thawne passes through the glass to find the Spear. But before he can make it out the door Ray (betrayed by his new BFF on the first day), shows up to let him know he’s figured out why Thawne is on the run, and he better not waste time looking for the Spear or he’ll cease to exist.
With everyone safe back on the planet, Sara and Rip have a talk about his new place on the team. Line of the night goes to Sara as she confronts Rip telling him, “So you’re saying you don’t fit in, you’re an outcast, a misfit? Sounds to me like you’re a Legend.” Maybe that’s why I like this show so much, everyone can be the hero.
This week’s episode was filled with a lot of heartfelt moments. From Nate and his grandpa getting to understand each other better, to Nate getting to spend the first moments after his grandfather died with his father, to the moments with Sara and Rip. It was great to see everyone bonding more. Even Stein and Rory had a moment (man, I wish the Music Meister crossover was a four-parter).
With the emotional roller coaster going on it’s only fair we’re left guessing at the end. Will Thawne outrun his past? Will Rip find his place? Could Ray ever go bad? Even a little? Most of all, now that Amaya has found about her future, will this change everything in her past and present?
I really love watching them develop Amaya’s character so I can’t wait to see what they do with that. But whatever Amaya chooses to do, the future is about to get complicated.
Written by Shannon Brewer, LoT Beat Writer -- Click to read Shannon's posts
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