“An immortal psychopath and racists. I’m beginning to like this quaint, little town less and less.”
- Ray
We now find ourselves in 1958: the time of the juke box and rampant homophobia and racism. Just what the civil rights attorney in me wants to watch. But hey, at least Ray got to have some humorous one-liners! Before we find the team, though, we gets some teenagers drag racing down lover’s lane. They have the misfortune of happening upon a meteor that’s also attracted one Vandal Savage. That’s not good for the kids, that’s for sure. Since it seems Savage has settled into this little Oregon town (and some strategic murders have taken place), the team splits up. Sara and Stein pose as a doctor and nurse at an insane asylum and Kendra and Ray are a married couple new in town. Jax is going to use his youth to cozy up to some of the town’s local high school crowd to get some info on those missing kids. And Rip and Snart get to pump the police for some information (with Rip doing a weird American accent).
Kendra and Ray are the first to get a shock when their new neighbors, the Knoxes show up to invite them to a dinner party. Sure that’s a nice sentiment but it is creepy as hell coming from Savage. At this point it is very unclear whether he recognizes her and the team. But thanks to that invite, she and Ray find out that he’s got a man cave that Ray is going to break into. While they are susses out Savage, Sara and Stein learn a few things at the hospital. First, Knox (aka Savage) has a restricted wing where he keeps psychotic patients. Well it isn’t quite psychotic as grotesque bat-people. Sara also finds a repressed lesbian nurse who is kind of adorable. Sara saves her from a misogynistic pig of a doctor. They bond a little over drinks while Sara and Stein are supposed to be searching the hospital and then they kiss (initiated by the nurse).
Not surprisingly, Jax faces the hardest situation of the team (even more so than Ray and Kendra being an interracial couple) because he cozies up to a white girl who was the girlfriend of one of the missing teens. First he gets hassled by some football players and then when and the girl go out on a date, the same football players track them down and start hassling them. This of course is interrupted by the bat people (aka the teenagers that have been mutated by the meteor) and the girl gets her throat slashed. Jax, in an effort to get her help, gets pulled over by a racist asshole cop and then knocked out.
Things aren’t all bad (well sure, Jax gets turned into a bat thing but you know I’m sure Stein can save him). Ray’s mission into Savage’s house yields the dagger Kendra needs to kill Savage. She plans to go to him alone and take him out but the rest of the team isn’t very comfortable with that plan. I don’t blame them. She hasn’t exactly proven herself a strong, capable warrior. She’s still just kind of bland. Sara is a much better fighter and way more badass, even as she deals with emotions for the first time post-Pit. The rest of the team is strategically in place at the hospital when Kendra goes to meet Savage. Kendra tries to get the knife out of her purse and stab Savage with it but he get the upper hand. And to keep the rest of the team busy, he lets out the monsters. This leads to quite the chaotic scene at the hospital and Stein and Snart sort of team up (well okay so it’s mostly Snart and his freeze gun doing all the work). Sara gets to save her nurse and even Rip and Ray get to take on a piece of the action. I’d say it was a win when Ray punches Savage out a window but the bad guy has the knife again so it’s really a loss.
Jax is cured as are the other kids and things are starting to settle down for the small town folk. Jax has gifted the girl (who has recovered from her wounds) with a tricked out ride and he makes her promise to get out of town because things are changing in the world and she deserves to see it. Sara also says goodbye to her nurse who seems much happier now that she’s kissed a girl (several times) and liked it. Sara seems happier, too. I’m sure Nyssa would be happy to see her girlfriend smiling again. Ray and Kendra apologize to each other for how they acted (getting caught up in the moment and all). Jax even gets to apologize to Snart for the way he acted about the Rory situation (from the conversations throughout the episode I think he’s still dead). They don’t get much of a chance to chat because Chronos shows up yet again and he’s got new Time Master toys that let him breach the ship. It’s unclear whether the guys get to the jump ship in time to escape but the Wave Rider takes off before Ray, Sara and Kendra are aboard. So I guess we aren’t quite done with the 1950s yet. Maybe Sara can go on a date with that nurse after all. Of course the team left onboard (if they are onboard) are probably going to have a very bad day now that they are in Chronos’ clutches. I am sensing a pattern of non-Savage centric episodes and Savage-centric ones. It isn’t a bad way to formulate the show but it does seem like they just keep flipping back and forth and they aren’t really accomplishing much of their ultimate goal as they bumble along. I know they aren’t legends yet but they really don’t seem to be as effective as they should be given their combined skillsets and technology.
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