After a widely praised Legion of Doom centric episode, the team took on a rogue version of Rip Hunter after he was apparently taken captive by Thawne last week. Yeah, not the best way to follow up a great episode.
Following along the typical Legends style episode, 'Turncoat' took the team back to 1776 as they were forced to save George Washington from the likes of Rip Hunter and restore the America we know today. A couple of things worked and a couple of things didn't. For one, why completely throw away Rip's strange 1960's alter ego from the last few weeks? It was working, and a much more relatable way to welcome him back into the fold after he wasn't so well received in season 1. Perhaps a villain turn is what the character needs, but we all know it's not going to last long. There's no way that he doesn't rejoin the team by season's end.
The current captain, Sara, took a hit this week as she was on life support and was basically dead for a good chunk of the episode. Every member of the team, in fact, took a huge blow this week. No power on the ship meant no Gideon, Jax & Stein couldn't Firestorm up (shocker), Ray was stuck in his shrunken suit, Rory was captured, and Nate had performance issues (though not in bed). If you think about it, Rip did way more damage to the team by himself than the entire Legion did last week. Weird how that works.
But speaking of Nate and
.Amaya? I could have sworn Ray and her had a thing a few episodes ago, but it's no surprise that a CW is trying out multiple lanes for their characters' relationships to go. I'm not opposed to the idea of Nate & Amaya, but the uncomfortable way in which they got together was poorly executed. I've liked the two on the show so far, but the dialogue just came off as a really awkward and childish.
The one thing that really did work though was how well the team is starting to build a bond and trust together. The chemistry is way more believable than it was when Rip randomly picked them off the street last year. Aside from the strangely timed Christmas theme, it was more of the same for this episode. Hopefully the Rip situation is figured out sooner or later. Let's see a little bit more of the Legion, right?
+The team works well in high stress situations
-Awkward romance
-Evil Rip
6.8/10