In the present, the three are having no success with Rip. Eobard solidifies his leadership with violence after Malcolm steps out of line. Malcolm quickly suggests using hypnosis to trigger Rip’s lost memories. The Legends propose multiple avenues in rescuing Rip: Mick wants to trade the medallion for the “Englishman”; Amaya thinks they should identify the speedster first. Sara thinks both their points are valid. To that end, Martin has an idea to pull someone out of 2017 to help.
Merlyn’s hypnosis efforts prove to be a failure. The Time Master’s old self is long gone. Damien tries his hand at it by pulling out Rip’s molar—which contains account information for a security box in 2025 Switzerland. Before Eobard speeds off, he commands the two to investigate. Martin and Jax arrive in 2017 Central City. Surprising Jax, Martin’s “help” is his daughter, Lily. She scans the medallion and accidentally activates it. Martin takes her on board the Waverider for more privacy.
Martin finally drops the bomb on the rest of the Legends that he now has a daughter. Sara thinks this is a bad idea, as Lily seeing the Waverider will cause even more aberrations. Martin implores the team not to tell his daughter that she’s an aberration herself. Arriving at the bank, Malcolm and Damien disagree on how to approach the robbery. Malcolm’s option finally wins out, so he goes back to retrieve Rip. Returning to the bank, the two make Rip retrieve the deposit box as his old self. Malcolm is growing suspicious that Eobard is purposely pitting them against each other. However, Malcolm’s warnings only fall on deaf ears. As for the robbery, everything goes well until Rip is required to speak the access code. The three quickly escape after a brief firefight with security
Ray and Lily successfully hook the medallion up to Gideon. During a celebration drink, Mick accidentally slips out the fact that Lily is an aberration. With the failed robbery, Damien and Malcolm are now at each others’ throats. The arguing escalates to a fight to the death. Lily confronts Martin about not telling her the truth. Martin’s usual rambling doesn’t help. The conversation ends badly after Lily reaches the conclusion that Martin never wanted children in the first place.
Damien and Malcom’s fight reaches a stalemate after the two end up with daggers at each others’ throats. Rip stops them and proposes that Eobard may be pulling the same tactic seen in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Convinced that Eobard is using them, Malcolm and Damien agree to partner against the speedster.
Jax visits Martin due to their psychic link, which allows them to share emotions. Jax encourages Martin to tell Lily that he loves her. The professor soon reveals that he originally didn’t want to have children because of his fear of being cold and distant, like his own father.
Amaya questions why a speedster would need to change reality. Nate has a eureka moment and proposes that the speedster may not exist—he may be an aberration himself. That’s why there’s no record of this speedster. Martin deduces that the speedster is most likely Eobard—because he was erased from history when Eddie Thawne sacrificed himself. The Speed Force may have protected Eobard from complete nonexistence.
Malcolm and Damien break into the bank and use a manager’s override to gain access to the vault. Rip frees himself, but is intercepted by Eobard, who quickly speeds off after learning where his cronies went.
Damien and Malcolm discover a disk-like device in the deposit box. Eobard speeds in and tells them that it’s a mnemonic device—housing Rip’s memories.
Back on the Waverider, Nate hypothesizes that Eobard may need to keep moving so that his nonexistence doesn’t catch up to him. Martin proposes testing that theory by trapping Eobard.
Malcolm locks the three of them in the vault to renegotiate the terms of their partnership. Eobard gets visibly nervous when his alarm goes off. Growing more desperate, Eobard reveals that when he was taken out of the timeline, something that was more powerful than a Speed Wraith came after him. The entity (seen as Black Flash, the former Hunter Zolomon / Zoom) can sense the Speed Force.
Malcolm and Damien quickly create a plan. Since Black Flash is attracted to the Speed Force, Eobard needs to stop running. Eobard is used as bait and is told to remain perfectly still. Proving their theory correct, Black Flash cannot sense Eobard’s presence. The three finish executing their plan and quickly trap Black Flash—solidifying their partnership as equals.
Martin speaks to Lily and admits that he never wanted children. However, he tells her that time is very good at giving them what they need—and he very much needs Lily right now. Lily makes him promise to never keep secrets from her. He responds by revealing his Firestorm identity, but she thinks he’s joking.
Eobard is ready to give Rip his old memories back. However, before doing so, he makes some adjustments. We soon see the result of those “tweaks.” In 1776 New Jersey, Rip (with his British accent intact) promptly executes General Washington.
Legendary Moment(s) - The Legion of Doom finally working together like a well-oiled machine and temporarily trapping Black Flash.
Thoughts for Tomorrow
Definitely not much action for the Legends this week. However, the view from the villains’ end … ahem … the Legion of Doom (sorry, Sara) was just as entertaining. It was great to see the writers put a twist on the superhero team-up trope. You know, the usual formula of let’s-do-some-infighting-and-the-learn-a-lesson. In this case, the villains learned to work together over selfish reasons.
Rip is sort of back, but thanks to Eobard’s tinkering, he’s evil now … which makes me think Rip is probably even more dangerous. We’ve definitely seen the damage he could do when he was at full capacity. The big question now is: What does killing George Washington have to do with the Spear of Destiny? We’ll just have to wait till next week for that answer.