“River of Time” is episode fourteen of season one of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.
In the previous episode, “Leviathan”, Kendra had turned Carter’s mace into a weapon to kill Vandal Savage by melting her bracelet and coating the mace with it. With the help of Savage’s daughter, who Snart helped see what her father was really like, they got in and Kendra attacked Savage. And would have killed him. Only one of Savage’s guards turned out to be the Carter from that time, and Savage had found him and made it so that Carter would not recover his memories. Perhaps ever. So Kendra didn’t finish the job. On the plus side, they have now captured Savage.
This episode starts in Egypt, 1700 BC, after Rip’s failed attempt to kill to kill Vandal Savage back at the beginning of his life. Rip is in a cell and Savage arrives to see him. He says that Rip is apparently refusing to speak, not his name or why he tried to kill Savage (not that he was called Vandal Savage back then; wonder why he changed his name to that). Rip replies that he is the man attempting to save the world from Savage. Savage wants to know how that’s going for Rip, smiling, given that Rip cannot stand for lack of food and water. So Rip does stand and says he will never give up. Savage tells Rip that sky rocks will lay waster to the kingdom, and Rip along with it. The cell will become his tomb. Rip smiles briefly and Savage wants to know what Rip knows about the future that Savage doesn’t.
Rory is celebrating that the mission is, almost, accomplished, swigging from a bottle of Scotch as he does. Quite a good bottle of Scotch from Rip’s comment and Rory agrees that it’s not half bad. Sara says that they should be celebrating Savage’s death instead. Stein is not too keen on the idea of celebrating murder and points out that Carter is still brainwashed. Snart points out to the professor that murder was always the plan. Rory is happy enough to kill Savage, given that Carter reincarnates. Snart considers Savage to be a threat to all of them as long as he is on board and breathing. Kendra asks what they want to do then – kill Savage and leave Carter a brainless drone? Rory is fine with that.
Ray and Jax arrive and Ray apologises for them being late. They have found something though. They have been going through the diagnostics of Ray’s suit following the battle with Savage’s giant robot and have scanned the robot’s tech. Stein looks and says that it’s astonishingly futuristic. Kendra points out that it is from 2166. Only that’s what Ray and Jax have discovered. The technology isn’t from 2166 – it’s far more advanced. Snart asks who cares and Rip tells him that the Time Masters do. The Time Masters did not oppose Savage because he was not a threat to the timeline. Only Savage is guilty of exactly the same manipulation of time that the Time Council was established to prevent. So the Time Masters may finally sign off on what needs to be done. Rory interjects that, last he checked, the Time Council was on the edge of the timeline and the Waverider is not in great shape. Gideon, when Rip asks, says the time drive is stable. So Rip tells her to plot a course to the Vanishing Point so that Savage can face justice for his crimes. And takes a swig from the Scotch bottle himself.
Savage is in the brig and he says to Rip that it’s quite a reversal of fortunes. 4,000 years ago Rip was in the cell and Savage was outside. Savage says he was always interested to know how Rip managed to escape. This is a story for another time, but Rip does explain before the end of the episode. Rip wants to talk about the brains of Savage’s robot superweapon. Which is at least a century in advance of anything from 2166. Rip wants to know how Savage got the ability to travel through time.
Savage’s explanation is simple. He got it from Rip. When Savage saw Rip again in 1975, he realised that time travel was the only explanation. Rip showed a caveman fire and Savage had almost 200 years to figure out how to strike a flame. This explains to Rip why Savage is so difficult to locate throughout history – he’s moving through history. Savage replies that this is one of many things he and Rip have in common. They are both doing what they must to save the world. When Rip makes a comment about Savage creating a wasteland and calling it peace, Savage tells him not to misquote Tacitus to him. After all, Savage knew Tacitus well. Savage has seen civilisations rise and fall. Rip weeps for his son yet Savage has held dozens of children as they died of old age. Rip may be a Time Master but Savage is a master of time. He plays a deeper game than Rip can hope to comprehend – and, indeed, there is far more going on than is revealed yet. After Rip leaves Savage, he tells Gideon to go to maximum on the time drive. She says that this is inadvisable but Rip tells her to do it; they need to get to the Vanishing Point as fast as possible.
Kendra and Ray are with Carter. He tells them to release him or he will kill them where they stand. Wouldn’t releasing Carter make it a lot easier for him to do that? Hardly an incentive. Carter knows who they are as Savage warned him about his enemies. Carter will show mercy if they release him, killing them without making them suffer first. Well, that’s a much better incentive.
Sara asks Rip, not wanting to sound like a 6 year old, are they there yet. Rip tells her that the time drive was severely damaged. Sara can tell that; the ship is making a lot of unhealthy-sounding noises. Rip tells Sara that the longer Savage is onboard, the greater the chance of damage to all of them. Sara wants to know if Rip means all of them, or to his family. For she has checked the timeline and Rip’s family still dies. Rip tells her that the timeline is always in flux. Once they get to the Vanishing Point all will be well. Sara is concerned that Rip is pushing the ship to its limits. Rip’s response is that he has piloted the ship for 13 years and no-one, not even Gideon, knows its limits better than him. He probably shouldn’t have said that; it’s asking for trouble. Rip promises Sara that the ship will hold together. Now, he definitely shouldn’t have said that. There’s an explosion, the ship lurches and comes to a stop and Savage smiles in his cell.
Rip wants Jax to repair the time drive. Professor Stein asks if, should Jax be unable – not a lack of confidence in Jax’s abilities – will they truly be marooned in the time stream. According to Rip, no. The jumpship can make a single jump to 2016. Stein also remembers Snart saying that Savage would be a danger to them all.
Sara has gone to check on Savage. He asks if she sees much of Laurel. He knows about Laurel as he’s had 191 years to research his enemies. Sara tells Savage she doesn’t scare that easily. Savage insists that Hunter is a threat to Sara and her family. Rip has repeatedly lied to them yet they still trust him. According to Savage, Rip chose them for his team because he could manipulate them.
In the engine room, Jax reports that there is a large crack in the time drive. Gideon reports that the level of contamination is 3% above maximum. This concerns Stein but Rip tells him that Jax should be able to finish before the radiation has any adverse effect. Not the most reassuring of assurances. Jax finishes the repairs then is blown back by an explosion of energy. Whilst out, Jax has a memory of his mother just prior to them leaving. When he comes around again, Rip and Stein are carrying him to the sickbay. According to Gideon, Jax is suffering from an extreme amount of temporal radiation exposure The professor thinks that sound ominous and Gideon cheerfully replies that it is, and there is nothing they can do to reverse the side-effects. Perhaps Gideon should be programmed so that she is not cheerful when delivering bad news. Jax’s internal organs are aging at an accelerated rate, and the rest of his body will soon follow.
Rory is eating and complaining to Snart that all the snacks in the future are sugar-free. Snart mentions a job, Alex, asking Rory if he remembers it. Snart had a feeling on that job that things were going to end badly. Rory agrees that they would have, if Snart hadn’t pulled them out. Snart has the same feeling now.
Gideon tells Rip that systems are back online but the time drive requires a master reboot before they can continue to the Vanishing Point. Rip tells her to do this and to check the timeline for any variations. There are none; Rip’s family still dies. Sara returns and tells Rip that Savage said Rip would sell them all out to save his family. Rip says that Savage isn’t wrong. Also not reassuring. Rip sent Jax to fix the time drive, although he could have done it himself. He wonders if he sent Jax because of the risk. Sara wants to know if Rip sent Jax on a suicide mission so that Rip could stay alive to save his family. Rip doesn’t know. Still not reassuring.
Kendra is still trying to get Carter to remember who he really is, including showing him a picture of their son. It doesn’t work and Carter attacks Kendra when she comes too close. Ray intervenes and tells her to stay away from Carter, as he heads to talk to Savage. Ray wants Savage to tell him how to free Carter’s mind. Savage asks if Ray is sure he wants to, for the moment that happens Ray will lose Kendra forever. Savage tells Ray they are quite alike – the second person he has said that to – using details from Savage and Kendra’s past. Savage is manipulating Ray, who has a memory of talking to Felicity just before he left. When Ray gets back, Kendra is reciting a love poem to Carter.
Jax is in sickbay along with Stein, Rory and Snart. Jax is not doing so well. Snart believes this wouldn’t have happened if they hadn’t gone with Plan B – instead going with the ‘kill Savage’ Plan A. Rory and Snart then head to see Rip; Snart is concerned that this with Jax is just the beginning. He’s also all out of faith and Sara mentions that Rip did say he would sell them out to save his family. Rip replies that it’s a voluntary enterprise and they can leave on the jumpship if they want. Sara stays and has a memory of Nyssa al Ghul in a cell, telling her to leave the place behind forever.
So, Savage is attempting to manipulate those who talk to him which results in a pretty obvious bit of gross stupidity. Stein puts his own life on the line in order to try to save Jax. Savage’s plans are, indeed, far deeper than Rip might think, even though their true depth is not fully explored. Some of what happens is not a huge surprise.