“White Knights” is episode four of season one of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.
In the previous episode, “Blood Ties”, the team discovered that Vandal Savage was extending the life of his followers buy giving them blood from Kendra and Carter. Which means he has an entire cult built around him, one to which he can grant a century of extra life perhaps. Which is an enormous draw. Savage also learned the names of Rip’s wife and son, and saw their pictures. So now he knows who to look for. Sara was perhaps on the right track, when she was talking about taking down an enemy too powerful to kill, but they are still aiming high – going after all of Savage’s money for example. Perhaps they should go after him in little ways. For one thing, it looks like big changes get erased; for another if that’s done enough times over the centuries, they could bleed Savage dry. The death of a thousand cuts.
This episode opens in Washington, D.C., in 1986. Or, as Professor Stein states, at the height of the Cold War with the world poised for nuclear annihilation. What could possibly go wrong? Hopefully they won’t accidentally start World War III whilst they are there.
Rip tells them that Gideon has found a new lead, a telefax related to Savage’s last known whereabouts. Jax asks what a telefax is; Ray tells him it’s like an email. But on paper. The telefax looks less than useful, as it’s been heavily redacted. As in, all of it. So Rip wants them to steal the original file on Savage from those who are tracking him. At which point the others realise they are approaching the Pentagon. Rip tells them not to worry, as the ship is cloaked. Rory thinks this plan is awesome; Kendra that it’s crazy. Rip tells them that the fabricator will create the necessary Pentagon ID. Ray says not to forget the G-man uniforms as he’s always wanted to be a spy.
Being a spy in this case means posing as a janitor. Which is what Snart and Ray are doing. The file they are after is in the secure records room; to gain access they need to borrow a magnetic key card. Because that, according to Ray, is so much easier than shrinking down and stealing it. Snart says he will show Ray how it’s done – old school. As a woman passes she slips on the wet floor and Snart catches her. During which he stole her ID. And wallet. The ID is passed to Sara as she passes with Kendra.
The records room has security cameras, so they need a diversion. Which is Rory. Those monitoring the screens for the cameras leave the room when they hear nearby noises. Which is Rory arm-wrestling. The diversion involved rather less fire than might be expected from Rory. Finally, all personnel are searched on exiting the building so Firestorm is going to divert the power long enough for Sara and Kendra to exit. This all went surprisingly smoothly, given the team’s history to date.
Then it seems that Jax had grasped the wrong wire and the current was sent back through Firestorm, and they are blown across the room. Sara and Kendra are halted by a guard, who tells them that this is a restricted exit and he needs to see Kendra’s key card. So she and Sara start taking down the guards – then Kendra’s wings appear and her eyes glow red. Sara tells Rip that they have a problem. Now it’s going as smoothly as it normally does. Namely, not. Rory creates a new diversion, this time using the expected fire. Rip asks Sara what Kendra thinks she’s doing; Sara thinks that’s a good question. Their demigoddess has gone berserk so Rip tells everyone to abort and return to the ship. And Firestorm exits through the Pentagon’s roof; Rip would have preferred he use a door. He also scoops up Kendra on the way who is clawing at a guard’s face.
Rip is staring at them all back on the ship and Ray says they should focus on the positive. Rory thinks it was awesome; as far as he is concerned, it was all a positive. Stein replies that it was awesome in the way that tsunamis, earthquakes and other natural disasters are awesome. The team have a good go at blaming each other before Sara lays the blame on Kendra. Rip interrupts, saying that at least Gideon was able to emit an EMP which erased magnetic media. The stolen file reveals that Savage has apparently defected to the Soviet Union. So, according to the professor, the most powerful evil the world has ever known has gone Red at the height of the Cold War. Presumably to build something that kills the future.
So it’s off to the USSR they go. Rip reassures Jax that they are going too fast for anyone to track them. To which Gideon states that someone is tracking them. Rip says he thought they were cloaked; they are. Chronos has followed them – and is preparing to open fire. Rip tells Gideon to slow down, drop the cloak and make as much noise as possible. Which does not sound like a terribly good idea. Doing this results in a MiG-21 scrambling to intercept. And Ray says something which Snart recognises as being a quote from Top Gun.
The MiG fires heat seeking missiles at the Waverider, so Rip tells Gideon to cut the engines. Which results in him being asked if they don’t need those to land. It also results in the missiles targeting something else – Chronos’ craft – which they then hit. Rip tells the others they are in for a bumpy landing. As the ground comes up pretty quickly he tells them that when he said ‘bumpy’ he meant ‘crash.’ Not exactly a subtle entrance.
The Waverider cloaks when it comes to rest. Even though it’s at the end of a long crash scar, which it could be easily inferred that something made. Gideon tells Rip that the ship is fully operational. Stein wants Rip’s pilot license revoked; Rip says they are welcome to do that – he doesn’t have one. Stein has found that Savage is associated with something called Operation Svarog; Svarog being the Slavic god of fire (there’s a clue in that). It’s a secret project and presumably some sort of weapon. It seems unlikely that Savage would be working to cure world hunger.
Ray says that there is a female Russian scientist associated with the project, Dr Valentina Vostok. Snart suggests they put two bullets in the back of Vostok’s head. Ray replies that they don’t know anything about her. Snart says that Vostok is working for Savage; that’s all he needs to know. Ray wants to approach her, scientist to scientist. It’s pointed out that it’s 1986, he’s American and he doesn’t speak Russian. Vostok will think Ray is a spy. Rip has something to help with that – ingestible translators. Which Ray tries out and Snart tells him he is now annoying in multiple languages. Vostok is a fan of ballet and Snart is going to be Ray’s wingman. Ray studies the doctor’s work; Snart ballet.
Ray approaches Dr Vostok at the Bolshoi Theatre. She tells him she isn’t interested in a student. Ray says he is a fellow scientist; Vostok turns and leave. Snart is not impressed. On the Waverider, Gideon detects a temporal anomaly; it looks like Chronos went down outside Moscow city limits. Rip asks Rory if he wants to accompany him on a little mission. Rory asks if he will get to use his gun; Rip tells him it’s a near certainty.
Ray tries again with Vostok, saying he is an investor (in the USSR?) who could help fund her research. As it’s important knowing who is funding research. Such as Operation Svarog. This is not going well when Snart cuts in, asking Vostok if she needs help. She replies that she isn’t a damsel in distress; Snart replies that’s fine, as he isn’t a white knight. Snart had also studied up on ballet, and has more success with Vostok, who invites him to walk her home. Vostok invites Snart into her apartment, to warm the place up, but he replies he has other business. When Ray approaches, Snart reveals he took her key card and Ray replies that at least Snart didn’t steal her wallet. Which he did.
Rip and Rory are looking for Chronos when a man appears, one that Rip knows, whom he addresses as Time Master Druce. Druce tells Rip that Chronos was killed in the crash and he was sent to scuttle the timeship before it was discovered by the Soviets. And left the temporal anomaly to lure out Rip. Druce tells Rip he has turned his back on the institution he was sworn to serve. Their job is to protect time and thereby protect all life. They work alone, as a team makes it hard to make the tough choices. Rip tells Druce that the Time Council refused to make the tough choices. Druce has been sent to offer rip a deal. If he returns, all charges will be dropped and, in a few hundred years, they may be able to fix all the problems Rip has caused. His team will be returned to their own times unharmed. Druce asks Rip to consider the offer and return in an hour. After Druce has gone, Rory tells Rio he needs to think like a criminal. Because Druce is planning to kill him. Rip asks why he didn’t do it then and Rory replies because he wants Rip to bring the whole team.
Rip tells the others about Druce’s offer, and that they can return to the time they left. Only Stein points out that Starling City might be a part of the USSR when they return, thanks to their efforts. Rip says that’s one reason to consider the offer; the Time Council will correct the mistakes they made. However, the council considers Savage to be part of the natural course of history, and therefore to not need fixing. Rip admits he wasn’t forthright in his motivations at the beginning of the mission, nor how dangerous it would be.
During the mission, Sara approaches Rip and says they have a problem. He asks that she be a little more specific. Specific is Kendra. Sara says she is unstable; back at the Pentagon, the psycho priestess Chay-Ara took over and clawed a guard’s eyes out. Rip says that perhaps Kendra needs a bit of time to deal with Carter’s death; Sara tells him that Carter will not be the only dead body if Kendra doesn’t get herself under control. Rip thinks that Sara may be right – and he has the perfect candidate to do the job. Sara. She does not agree. Rip cannot think of anyone better suited. Sara tells him she isn’t a fan of feelings and can’t help Kendra talk about her grief. Which is not what Rip wanted; he says Kendra needs someone to help her get her warrior side under control.
So Sara goes and finds Kendra and throws a metal pole at her, telling Kendra that warriors train every day. Kendra says that she is not in the mood; Sara doesn’t think that will help the guard Kendra attacked. Kendra replies that two months ago she was a barista. She had no idea that there was a psycho hawk goddess inside her, but Carter convinced Kendra to let her out. With Carter gone, Kendra can’t control her other side, and can’t risk letting the monster out again. Sara tells her the monster isn’t going away; Kendra needs to learn how to control her. So they spar, Sara gets Kendra to wing-up and then when Kendra retaliates, Sara’s own blood lust comes out. Rip actually had another reason for wanting Sara to train Kendra – to learn to control her own blood lust.
The team is still not behaving truly as a team. Stein lays into Jax for never listening to him, but the truth of the matter is that the professor is worried that Jax will end up like Ronnie – dead. Things still not go right – the team are so far causing more problems than they fix – and events continue in the next episode, “Fail-Safe”.