‘Legends of Tomorrow’ episode 12 review: A pilgrimage to stop the Pilgrim
For the first time in weeks, Thursday night’s new episode of “Legends of Tomorrow” got us on board with its crazy premise, and in the process told us a story that endeared us to the heroes, and showed us a little bit more of where they come from and what they are fighting for.
Also, it did that with a cohesive villain from start to finish who proved to be incredibly formidable. What makes the Pilgrim the strongest evil-doer this season is that she is the only one so far who we’ve seen capable of meeting the Legends at their level. She is actually aware of what they are capable of doing, and it challenged the team to go through the timeline quickly before she could eliminate younger versions of all of our characters. This was also a smart way to bring in Paul Blackthorne for an appearance as Quentin, and it’s a shame that we actually couldn’t get a Lisa Snart appearance in the flesh given that she’s been a fun addition on “The Flash.” (The CW may have made a mistake casting Peyton List as Lisa; she’s great, but she’s also extremely busy.)
Probably the most emotional story of all here was getting to see Jefferson have a moment with his father, a man he never really met beyond just him being on the other side of the waiting room at the hospital. He died fighting overseas in Somalia, and this moment allowed him to get some closure on a missing part of his life. There’s no confirmation yet that his actions warning the man about his impending death will change anything, but at least he got a chance to try.
In addition to seeing Rip Hunter’s Time Masters orphanage for the first time (a place that is worthy of some further exploration at some point), the final showdown with the Pilgrim was excellent as she was able to stop almost every one of the Legends put together by herself, and it took her forgetting about Rip’s younger self for her to be stopped. This was effective, mostly in that we forget about him as well. This fight was one of the first times this season that we really got the sense that the journey to get here mattered, since the Legends circa episode 2 wouldn’t have been able to figure this out.
Sure, the show still suffers from making up its own rules for the sake of suiting its story, and also from a Ray / Kendra romance that seems incredibly generic and cheesy. Yet, we’re not going to deny that we were super-entertained through most of this episode, and we’re finally getting set to have the showdown for the ages with Vandal Savage. Grade: B+.
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