Legends Of Tomorrow Season 1, Episode 16 Season Finale Recap And Review: “Legendary”

By Steve Lam | May 20, 2016

The Season One Finale of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is a non-stop ride of emotions and action from beginning to end.

The Season One finale of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow has the team scrambling to save Earth from Vandal Savage’s plans. And returning to 2016 proves to be emotionally hard for each Legend—especially Sara who receives some devastating news.

Legendary Recap: The Waverider arrives back in 2166 Star City. It’s five months after they’ve left. Rip has brought them back because Savage is now lost to history. The team wants to finish the mission, but they soon discover that Rip tricked them by using his hologram to escort them off the ship. He apologizes and takes off in the Waverider to retrieve their younger selves from the Refuge.

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Sara visits the Arrow lair where she finds Quentin. He gives her the devastating news that Laurel died trying to stop Damien Darhk.

In Central City, Mick just completed a heist with a new partner, who just so happens to needlessly kill someone. Angered, Mick executes him with his heat gun. In the getaway car, Mick finds Ray. Ray tells Mick that maybe Leonard wanted them to partner up so they’d look out for each other.

Martin is at home, playing history trivia with his wife. He apologizes for being distracted and tells her that he’s left important work unfinished.

The whole team soon regroups at the site where the Waverider left them. Martin and Ray attempt to use a device to contact the Waverider.

On the Waverider, Gideon interrupts Rip while he’s watching a video recording of his wife and son. She tells him that it’s a transmission from 2016.

The Waverider soon arrives at the team’s location. They tell Rip that they’re not leaving until the mission is over. Rip admits that he’s had no progress without them.

1944, Saint-Lô, France: Kendra is pursued by someone in the woods. She runs into an American soldier. Recognizing his helmet as something she’s seen, she uses it to house a message. The soldier is quickly killed by a flying dagger from Savage. Kendra fights him, but is soon choked out.

On the Waverider, Sara is furious that Rip knew Laurel would die, but never told her. She demands to be taken back five months. Rip quickly stuns her and knocks her out. Jax unknowingly knocks over a helmet. Rip deduces that it must be chronometric repositioning—temporal changes which move an object from one place to another. He finds Kendra’s note in the helmet and has Gideon plot a course.

Back in France, Savage extracts blood from Kendra and Carter. He will use their blood to activate the Thanagarian technology that is embedded in the meteors. Once the meteors are detonated, he’ll be able to erase time and travel back to 1700 BC where he’ll ordain himself as a god.

Rip visits Sara. She pleads to him to take her back so she can save Laurel. Rip tells her that the timeline would be altered where Darhk kills not only Laurel, but Sara and Quentin as well. Sara loses all hope, but Rip tells her that Kendra and Carter still need saving.

In 1944, Savage attacks a Nazi convoy transporting one of the meteors. The team arrives and intercepts him. In the process of saving Kendra and Carter, Firestorm discovers a new ability—transmutation. In the end, the team is only able to rescue Carter, and Savage succeeds in attaining the first meteor.

Carter has no memory of his time with the Legends, but is able to tell Martin about Savage’s plans for the three meteors. Gideon pulls up surveillance footage of Savage retrieving the meteor. Jax immediately remembers a similar one from 1958.

Jax convinces Martin to see if they can repeat the transmutation power. They combine as Firestorm and attempt to transmutate a vase. Disappointingly, it fails and the vase is shattered to pieces.

In the midst of giving Jax motivation, Martin figures out Savage’s ultimate plan: Savage intends to detonate each meteor in a different time period to create a temporal quake, returning Earth to Ancient Egypt. He can only do this when Thanagar is aligned with Earth. Because Savage can time travel, he can be at three different places at once—making the plan feasible.

It turns out that the meteor’s radiation which gave Savage his immortality can also be used to render him mortal—thus, making him vulnerable enough to be killed. To be successful at this, the team will kill him at three different time periods: 1958, 1975, and 2021.

2021, St. Roch: Savage, with Kendra bound, has opened the crate containing on of the meteors. Rip and Carter wait for the other teams because they have to act simultaneously.

1958, Harmony Falls: It’s the opening seen from “Night of the Hawk,” and Savage appears right when the meteor lands.

1975, Norway: It’s right after the team detonates the nuclear warhead in “Pilot: Part 2,” and Savage opens a crate, revealing the third meteor. He pours Kendra and Carter’s blood onto it, prompting the other two Savages in 1958 and 2021 to do the same.

In three different time periods, the sub-teams attack the three Savages. They engage in a fight where Ray and Mick are attacked by 1958 Savage and his winged mutant creatures; Kendra breaks free and goes one-on-one with 2021 Savage; and Sara battles 1975 Savage.

All three sub-teams finally overpower their respective Savages from the different time periods and kill him simultaneously.

In 2021, Savage has been stabbed in the chest by Kendra, but he’s not dead yet. He continues to taunt Rip. The moment he’s about to utter the names of Rip’s dead wife and son, Rip throws him against a transformer—killing him in a glorious display of sparks and convulsions.

Now onto the meteors: Ray uses his ATOM technology to shrink the 1958 meteor, and the explosion becomes only a small pop; Firestorm uses his transmutation powers on the 1975 meteor, transforming it into water which crashes to the ground harmlessly.

The teams from 1958 and 1975 regroup in 2021 with Rip, Kendra, and Carter. The 2021 meteor is still active and Ray and Firestorm’s abilities have no way of neutralizing it. Rip plans to use the Waverider to transport the meteor into the sun. Before anyone can say anything, Rip and the meteor have disappeared.

On board the Waverider, Rip bids farewell to the team. As he approaches the sun, he falls unconscious. He awakens to the voice of his wife and son. After he gives them a hug, he wakes up again—realizing that it was a hallucination. Gideon muses that she doesn’t want to die. Rip asks if the solar array is functioning. It is, and it’s functioning at 1200% efficiency. He tells Gideon to prepare to eject the meteor and make one last jump.

20 Minutes Earlier: It’s at the moment Rip leaves with the meteor. The Waverider suddenly returns—damaged, but safe. Rip time-jumped back after he ejected the meteor.

As he departs the Waverider, Rip tells the team that his job is to now protect the timeline since the Time Masters are gone.

Sara, with Quentin, visits Laurel’s grave. She recollects the day Laurel encouraged her to go with Rip. She wants to stay and get justice for Laurel. However, for the sake of Laurel, she’s going to continue her mission with the Legends.

Martin is spending another night playing history trivia with his wife. Jax makes an unexpected visit where he teams up with Martin’s wife to stage an “intervention.” Jax tells Martin that Firestorm was meant to change history for the better. Martin’s wife wants him to go, knowing that’s where his heart and mind are.

2013, Central City: Mick meets Leonard at a bar and tells him that “he’s the best guy he ever knew.” Though Leonard is not a hero, he’s a hero to Mick. Leonard leaves after growing uncomfortable with Mick’s sudden warmth. Exiting the bar, Mick meets up with Rip and Ray who are ready to take him back to the present.

The team is now back together. However, Kendra and Carter aren’t going. With Savage dead, they want to have a fresh start. The two thank the team for everything they’ve done and fly off.

In the distance, another Waverider speeds towards them until finally crash landing. A man exits asking them if it’s May 2016. The team soon learns that Mick from the future sent the man to warn them about boarding the Waverider. If they do, they’ll all die. The man soon introduces himself as Rex Tyler—a member of the Justice Society of America.

Next: Catch up on Legends of Tomorrow with a recap of 'Destiny'

Legendary Moment(s): There were so many in this finale. Where do I even begin?: Sara facing off with Savage; Rip standing on the Waverider as it rises up; Firestorm mastering his transmutation abilities; and Rex Tyler introducing himself as a member of the Justice Society of America.

Thoughts for Tomorrow: The Justice Society of America! I’m still processing that!