“The Chicago Way” is episode eight of season two of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and the mid season finale.
The episode opens in Chicago, 1927, and several men with Tommy guns are walking somewhere in the dark. Their leader is hailed by Damien Darhk and Eobard Thawne. His name is Al Capone. The two have a proposition for him. They are impressed by his empire and wish to offer their services to improve it. Capone isn’t impressed and has his men point their guns at the two. Darhk sighs and asks Thawne which of them should do it. Thawne decides to and removes all the others. With those gun, Capone is told that there are new enemies coming to Chicago. He asks if the two of them can help then. Except it’s not two, it’s three. The third is Malcolm Merlyn.
Ray and Nate are sparring – testing the new Atom suit that Ray had created in The Flash episode “Invasion!”. He thinks it needs modifications. Sara arrives with Jax and demands to know what they are doing. Calibrating Ray’s new suit. Jax says that the last time the two of them sparred they wrecked his cargo bay. No, Sara does not believe that warrants a high five. As they leave, Sara tells Jax it’s sibling rivalry. Nothing to get worried about.
Professor Stein is looking at a picture of his daughter, Lily – who he met for the first time in The Flash episode “Invasion!” – when Jax enters. Stein claims he is catching up on his reading – The Fundamentals of Motorcycle Repair – researching the amulet Sara took from Damien Darhk in “Compromised”. Jax tells the professor he’s a terrible liar. Every day Stein is recovering more memories of her daughter. Jax thinks that sooner or later the time aberration will be discovered. The professor replies that if her impact on history is small enough, Lily will remain undetected. So, of course, at that point an alarm goes off signalling that the time seismograph has discovered an aberration.
The aberration is at Union Station, Chicago, October 17th 1927. Professor Stein thinks that’s fantastic, visiting Chicago during Prohibition. Mick, who checks that Prohibition means no alcohol, is less impressed. Nate tells him that, under Capone, Chicago was a haven for illegal drinking, gambling and prostitution. Mick likes the sound of that rather more.
That date is when Elliot Ness arrives in Union Station. Ray tries telling him that his life is in danger, but two Chicago PD officers arrive and say they are Ness’s security detail and lead him away. Nate, when he arrives, tells Ray that the Chicago Police Department at the time was the most corrupt police force in history. Most of them are on Capone’s payroll. Those officers are going to throw Ness in the river. Jax and Stein are warned, but the professor is distracted by new memories of Lily and Ness is taken.
Gideon tells them that now Capone becomes far worse than a criminal – he becomes a politician. And Mayor of Chicago, rather than going to prison. Capone is currently about to dump Ness in the river. Thanks to a comment from Mick about Ness swimming with the fishes by the time they find him, Nate knows precisely where Capone is going to kill Ness. Ness is thrown in the river with cement blocks on his feet but the Legends arrive and drive away Capone, rescuing Ness. However, this was apparently bait. Ness also has brain damage, which will take some time to repair according to Gideon.
Ness’s team got Capone’s ledger, and the IRS’s case rests on that ledger. No Ness, no ledger, no arrest. Ness is in no shape so one of them needs to do it. Both Ray and Nate want to; Sara chooses Nate for having more knowledge of history. So Nate is Elliot Ness and Ray is his associate. Bob DeNiro. Sara, Jax and Professor Stein head to a speakeasy to act on the inside. Nate leads the raid and they are warned to get out. However, Darhk appears before the three, then Thawne speeds off with Stein and Sara.
Jax tells the others that, in “Shogun”, they found Rip’s secret armoury, where Future Barry’s message was. And he has a weapon that is intended to be used against speedsters. However, they need a new plan. Rory tells them they can’t do it the nice way, they have to do it his way. Like a criminal. Which involves hijacking one of Capone’s trucks.
Sara and Professor Stein are captives and Malcolm Merlyn comes in to make Sara an offer. Nine years of her life back in exchange for the amulet. Because Malcolm was the one who blew up the Queen’s Gambit, which set off the whole chain of events for Sara, including the death of Laurel. And Tommy Merlyn, in the Arrow episode, “Sacrifice”.
Amaya is concerned about Mick, and wonder if he’s okay. Given that Mick is seeing the, dead, Leonard Snart, that might be a no. Snart is trying to put Mick back on the right path to being a criminal. There’s something that can be seen coming before it does, especially if a piece of technology in the hands of the Reverse-Flash is recognised. Lily Stein’s existence of course comes out as well. Thawne reveals what he wants the amulets for and, at the end of the episode, there is a bit of a surprise.