Legends Of Tomorrow Tidbits – “Night Of The Hawk”

“Night of the Hawk” — the eighth episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow — and the final episode before the show’s mini-hiatus — sees the team travel to a small town in 1958. There, they must blend in and investigate a series of murders and missing persons. With references abound, “Night of the Hawk” was also filled with some great humor and allowed some characters, who were slightly neglected in the past, to shine.

Quick Recap of Legends of Tomorrow “Night of The Hawk”

With an update to Gideon — thanks to Captain Eve Baxter — the team tracks Vandal Savage to a small town in 1958. From newspaper headlines, they discover that a number of people have gone missing or turned up dead. Splitting off into groups and operating under some advantageous disguises — Rip and Leonard are FBI agents, Ray and Kendra are a newly married couple, and Martin and Sara are a doctor and a nurse — the team starts an investigation of their own.

They soon discover that 1958 is not what they’re use to — the small town is actually quite xenophobic and closed-minded. But that doesn’t stop Jax from going on a date with Betty, the former girlfriend of one of the missing teens. Ray and Kendra are surprised to find that Vandal Savage is one their neighbors — although he doesn’t recognize them … yet. The couple are soon invited to Savage’s dinner party, where Ray sneaks off and discovers a fortified door. The next day, Ray dons his ATOM suit and sneaks into the private room. He discovers that Savage has the ancient dagger that the Legends have been seeking.

On their date, Jax and Betty are attacked by vicious creatures who were mutated by the same meteorite that gave Savage his immortality. Jax, attempting to rush an injured Betty to the Waverider, is stopped by a cop, and is soon kidnapped and brought to Savage. At the hospital, Jax is transformed into one of the winged creatures. Meanwhile, the Legends have formed a plan to have Kendra use the dagger to kill Savage once and for all.

At the hospital, Kendra seduces Savage. However, Savage was already one step ahead of her. Holding Kendra at knife-point, Savage releases his winged creatures. Kendra fights Savage, but is overpowered by him. Ray saves Kendra just in time. At another area of the hospital, Jax attacks his friends. Leonard incapacitates him without killing him. On-board the Waverider, Martin, with the help of Gideon, synthesizes a gene therapy which transforms Jax back to normal. The cure is then given to the teens who Savage kidnapped and also transformed.

On their departure day, the Waverider suddenly comes under attack by Chronos. As Ray, Kendra, and Sara arrive at the location of the ship, they see it inadvertently take off — stranding them in 1958.

Character Highlights

After a streak of character-defining moments, Leonard Snart takes a break this week. Who shined in his place? Well, it was the duo-act of Sara Lance and Martin Stein. Both characters showed their comedy chops in “Night of the Hawk.” The pairing of a deadly assassin with a straight-laced professor was an ingenious move by the writers. How else can you get comedy gold? Martin’s awkward moments were fun to watch. And Sara’s jokes about her expertise in torture were just as equally amusing.

Easter Eggs and References

• Jax calls the town they arrive in as “Pleasantville.” Pleasantville (1998) was a movie that starred Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon about two teenagers who magically travel to a 1950s idyllic town via their television set.
• Jax also calls the town “Mayberry,” which is the name of the small town in The Andy Griffith Show.
• The creatures in “Night of the Hawk” resembled a being seen in the Hawkman “Zero Hour” storyline. The being in the comics is a personification of Horus — an Egyptian god.
• Jax calls one of the football players “Biff.” “Biff” is in reference to the character Biff Tannen, the notorious high school bully and villain, from the Back to the Future franchise.
• The show made fun of Comic Con’s famed Hall H when Nurse Carlisle mentioned that the hospital’s “Hall H” was restricted, much like the difficult access to the San Diego Convention Center’s Hall H.
• In 1958, Vandal Savage goes by the name “Curtis Knox.” In Smallville, Dean Cain guest starred as Curtis Knox — supposedly an immortal doctor. The character of Curtis Knox on Smallville was originally intended to be Vandal Savage.
• When Jax is pulled over by the small-town cop, Jax refers to him as “Boss Hog.” Boss Hog is a character from the the late 1970s – 1980s television series Dukes of Hazzard, where the setting was a small southern town.

Questions

• Who is exactly behind the mask of Chronos? The actual character may deviate from the comics because many online sources are saying that it could be … wait for it … Mick Rory!

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow returns on The CW on Thursday, March 31, 2016 at 8:00PM EST with the episode “Left Behind.”