In what has been a pretty lackluster start for Legends of Tomorrow, I think Fail-Safe veered the show in a much better direction this week. The focus wasn't so much on destroying Vandal Savage as it was on saving half of the team, and I liked that change of pace. Stein, along with Ray and Mick were taken last week by the Soviets because Savage and in particular, Valentina Vostok were set on creating more Firestorms. The rest of the team back at the ship were forced to come up with a master plan to save their friends but also preserve the future.
One of the many strong points about this episode was that I felt as though the scenes flowed together much smoother. It seems as though the writers have found their groove in terms of writing the different dynamics between the characters and finding new ground in old material. Each character seemed to get their moment to shine tonight which has not at all been the case in the first 4 episodes. The only real issue I had with the writing was Kendra's assertiveness that she's "not afraid anymore", really? Didn't last week teach her anything?
It was fun to see Cisco pop up in the beginning as Stein hallucinated during his interrogation. It was the first of a few times Vostok and her crew attempted to use brutal tactics to convince Stein to spit out the formula, I only wish Cisco got a little bit more time on screen. Ray and Mick also got their fair share of beating and even shared a moment with each other after Ray took the torture for Mick. It was nice to see Ray be front and center as the overall good guy of the bunch as he hasn't had a ton of material to showcase that thus far.
Sara and Snart also had some good character development as the ladder surprisingly served as her means of reason as to not kill Stein in order to preserve Star City 2016. As always Sara/White Canary had the best fight scenes. This time taking out 6 Bratva members as Snart and Rip struggled with one. Captain Cold has definitely grown on me in the past few weeks and Sara once again proved to be the most complete character on the show. I hope to see more of them together in the coming weeks.
On a side note, there was a nice nod to Rian Johnson's 2012 film, Looper, as Jax communicated with Stein through cutting his own arm, and I liked that Jax got his time to shine at the end saving Stein from the Soviet Firestorm. I think overall, this was the best directed episode of the series thus far and perhaps next week could be even better with the setting of Star City 2046. Seeing Smoak Technologies was cool, but man it seems like Star City is in a difficult situation to say the least. I'm assuming that where the team landed was the glades part of the city, which sure looks like it did after the earthquakes during Malcom's attack in season 1. Anyways, can't wait to see bearded/one-armed Oliver next week.
+Balanced the characters
+Canary action
+Snart/Sara dynamic
+Ray stepped up
+Not focusing too much on Savage worked well
-Kendra's all of a sudden fine?
8.6/10
One of the many strong points about this episode was that I felt as though the scenes flowed together much smoother. It seems as though the writers have found their groove in terms of writing the different dynamics between the characters and finding new ground in old material. Each character seemed to get their moment to shine tonight which has not at all been the case in the first 4 episodes. The only real issue I had with the writing was Kendra's assertiveness that she's "not afraid anymore", really? Didn't last week teach her anything?
It was fun to see Cisco pop up in the beginning as Stein hallucinated during his interrogation. It was the first of a few times Vostok and her crew attempted to use brutal tactics to convince Stein to spit out the formula, I only wish Cisco got a little bit more time on screen. Ray and Mick also got their fair share of beating and even shared a moment with each other after Ray took the torture for Mick. It was nice to see Ray be front and center as the overall good guy of the bunch as he hasn't had a ton of material to showcase that thus far.
Sara and Snart also had some good character development as the ladder surprisingly served as her means of reason as to not kill Stein in order to preserve Star City 2016. As always Sara/White Canary had the best fight scenes. This time taking out 6 Bratva members as Snart and Rip struggled with one. Captain Cold has definitely grown on me in the past few weeks and Sara once again proved to be the most complete character on the show. I hope to see more of them together in the coming weeks.
On a side note, there was a nice nod to Rian Johnson's 2012 film, Looper, as Jax communicated with Stein through cutting his own arm, and I liked that Jax got his time to shine at the end saving Stein from the Soviet Firestorm. I think overall, this was the best directed episode of the series thus far and perhaps next week could be even better with the setting of Star City 2046. Seeing Smoak Technologies was cool, but man it seems like Star City is in a difficult situation to say the least. I'm assuming that where the team landed was the glades part of the city, which sure looks like it did after the earthquakes during Malcom's attack in season 1. Anyways, can't wait to see bearded/one-armed Oliver next week.
+Balanced the characters
+Canary action
+Snart/Sara dynamic
+Ray stepped up
+Not focusing too much on Savage worked well
-Kendra's all of a sudden fine?
8.6/10