Legends of Tomorrow: Raiders of the Lost Art Recap With Spoilers
01/24/2017 09:59 pm EST
The episode opens with a familiar sight from the Season 2 premiere - the Waverider about to collide with the underwater atomic bomb in New York, 1942. Rip Hunter hurries through the ship, double-checking the ship's repair procedure with Gideon. He locates a spear hidden within the floorboards, before shutting down Gideon's systems and preparing to grab a ball of energy in the ship's time drive.
In the present day, Stein wanders through the Waverider in the middle of the night. He finds Mick, talking to another hallucination of Snart. Mick convinces Stein to help fix his brain, but threatens that he needs to keep it a secret from the rest of the group.
Also late at night, Nate reads a book and listens to music in the library. Ray and Amaya complain to Nate about his music, and Nate reveals that he's trying to figure out what the Legion of Doom - his name for Damien Darhk, Malcolm Merlyn, and Eobard Thawne - want with the two amulets.
Nate reveals that he carbon-dated the amulet Sara briefly took from Damien Darhk, with its origin around 30 AD, but that he can't find records of either amulet. Amaya discovers the the two amulets are actually parts of one amulet, which Nate recognizes as the Longines Medallion.
Nate wakes up the rest of the team to tell them about the Longines Medallion. According to him, the blood of Christ fell onto Longines' medallion and spear, granting it magical powers. The amulet calls its wearer directly to the spear, and the spear has the ability to rewrite reality. Nate reveals that while time aberrations can be fixed, these changes to reality from the 'Spear of Destiny' are permanent.
Malcolm Merlyn and Damien Darhk follow the amulet's direction through 1967 Los Angeles. Merlyn admits that the amulet is unspecific in the location of the spear. They approach two bikers, who threaten to rob the pair.
In the library, Nate and Sara discover via Gideon that the two bikers were killed, causing a minor time abberation. Sara recognizes the technique as a League of Assassins move, and plots a course to find Merlyn and Darhk before they find the Spear of Destiny.
Sara, Nate, Ray, Amaya, and Jax arrive in 1967, where they find a studio backlot for a film called 'Legends.' Inside, actors run through a scene, playing the roles of Captain Rip Hunter and Vandal Savage. The real Rip Hunter - now with an American accent - is directing the project.
Rip takes his friend George aside to ask for advice on the project, only to be approached by Merlyn and Darhk. The Legends arrive, instructing the villains to get away. Rip doesn't recognize the team. The Legends fight Merlyn and Darhk, while Jax tries to extract Rip from the scene to no avail. Police arrive at the scene and arrest Rip while the Legends and villains escape.
The Legends return to the Waverider, the script to Rip's film in hand. While Jax, Ray, and Sara question how Rip doesn't remember them, they realize that Rip might have the Spear of Destiny.
Stein and Mick have a sort of therapy session, which is interrupted by Sara. She shares the news about Rip, and tells the two of them that they need to help on a mission to get him out of jail.
Sara, Stein, and Mick arrive at the 1967 police station, with Stein pretending to be Rip's therapist. They discover that Rip has been going by the name Phil Gasmer while in the 1960s. They are led to Rip in a holding room, where he does not recognize the team and screams for help. Mick knocks Rip out, and they escape with him from the police station.
Merlyn and Darhk show up at the precinct, looking for the Legends.
The Legends find an exit on the roof of the precinct, where Rip tries to escape from them, insisting he is currently hallucincating. Just then, the Waverider appears in front of him, causing him to pass out.
Merlyn and Darhk arrive on the roof, firing their laser guns at the Legends. The team scrambles onto the Waverider, which flies away.
With Rip now in the medical bay, Gideon reveals to the team that Rip's brain has been completely reprogrammed as Phil Gasmer. Ray and Stein suggest that this was done through Rip's physical contact with the time drive, as a way of helping him travel out of the Waverider. Ray is provoked by that notion for an unknown reason and leaves the room. Gideon also reveals that Rip grabbed the Spear of Destiny before making contact with the time drive.
Mick suggests to Stein that they use Gideon's brain scanner to determine what is wrong with Mick's brain. Stein believes that that will not work, instead suggesting that Mick's hallucinations are caused by totally normal emotions he is feeling about Snart's demise. Mick refuses to believe that, and asks Stein to use the brain scanner anyway.
Ray finds Amaya and Nate, who are looking for descriptions of the Spear of Destiny throughout history. They tell Ray that Sara has asked him to help reverse the effects from the time drive on Rip's brain. Ray and Nate discover that they have been having lapses in memory since the altercation at Rip's film set.
Amaya and Gideon discover that Rip's friend George, who was on set during that fight, is actually George Lucas, and that his being at the fight led to him becoming a car salesman instead of a director. This aberration caused him to never make Star Wars or Indiana Jones, films that made Ray and Nate go into their respective careers.
Without those movies in the current timeline, Ray and Nate do not have the skills to help the team. Sara determines that the team needs to find George Lucas and get him back into filmmaking to fix the aberration.
George Lucas exits a film school, dumping a box of his props down a garbage chute. Ray, Nate, and Amaya approach George outside. Ray and Nate try to talk to him, to no avail. Amaya pulls George aside, asking him to reconsider his decision to quit film school, and to think about the millions of people his stories will inspire in the future.
Back on the Waverider, Stein takes the brain scanner into Mick's living quarters. The scan reveals that Mick has a device implanted in his brain that essentially functions as an antenna. Stein suggests that Snart may have bonded with the time energy after his death, creating a sort of 'time ghost' that Mick is able to see.
Mick reveals that the device in his brain was implanted by the Time Masters while they were brainwashing him into becoming Kronos. Mick then begins to have a conversation with Snart's time ghost. Mick begs Stein to help get the device out of his head, and Stein suggests that he and Gideon will figure out how.
Rip finds Sara in the Captain's quarters. Sara tries to convince him of his true identity, but Rip still doesn't believe her. She shares her story about Rip recruiting her to the Legends, a decision which gave her life purpose.
Jax comes in, discovering that Rip has put versions of the team inside his screenplay. Rip reveals that the plot of his screenplay revolves around finding pieces of the Spear of Destiny, inspired by an old piece of wood he had. When Jax and Sara ask where the piece of the Spear of Destiny is, Rip reveals that he gave it to his prop master, George Lucas.
Ray, Nate, Amaya, and George are back at the film school, which George has decided to stay enrolled in. They are quickly confronted by Merlyn and Darhk, who fight with Ray, Nate, and Amaya in the hallway. Merlyn steals Amaya's totem, and he and Darhk demand George find the piece of the Spear of Destiny.
Merlyn and Darhk hold the four hostage in George's dorm room. Ray and Nate realize that due to the timeline changing, neither of them have the ability to suit up. Darhk confronts George, and when George reveals that he dumped the Spear of Destiny in the garbage, Darhk asks where the nearest city dump is.
In the Waverider, Sara and Jax suit up to find the spear. They find Stein getting ready to operate on Mick in the medical bay, but quickly disregard it.
Merlyn and Darhk take the group of four to the city dump. The villains push the group inside a dumpster to find the Spear of Destiny. To make the group move faster, Merlyn activates the trash compactor, closing in the walls of the dumpster.
George finds the spear, but the group tells him to hide that from Merlyn and Darhk. George disagrees, believing that the villains will kill the four of them anyway. Darhk gets ready to shoot one of the four, only for the Waverider to swoop in and shoot both him and Merlyn down with lasers. Sara and Jax land the Waverider and fight with Merlyn and Darhk.
Rip, now alone on the Waverider, insists to Gideon that he is an ordinary guy and isn't Rip Hunter. Gideon reminds him that Rip Hunter was also ordinary, but that it was his courage, not any superpowers, that made him a hero. Rip questions what exactly Rip Hunter would do to save the day.
Back in the trash compactor, George insists that the group give Merlyn and Dark the Spear of Destiny, even if it gets the group killed. Amaya, Ray, and Nate refuse, reminding him that he needs to believe he will go on to make movies to help Ray and Nate become their true selves. George decides to believe, causing Nate to regain his steel powers and Ray to get back the Atom suit.
The team escapes from the trash compactor and helps fight Merlyn and Darhk. Amaya gets her totem back from Malcolm, regaining her powers as well. Merlyn and Darhk start to run away, leaving the amulet behind them. The team grabs it, only for all of them to be knocked down by Eobard Thawne.
The Legion of Doom starts to determine which of the Legends to kill first, only for Rip - armed with his Captain Hunter outfit and his British accent - to join the scene.
Rip aims his gun at Thawne, but it doesn't fire. It's clear that Rip is still stuck as Phil Gasmer, and was just pretending to be Captain Hunter. In a last-ditch effort, Rip asks Gideon to fire at the Legion of Doom.
The Waverider sends a laser beam at the Legion of Doom, knocking them to the ground. The Legends and George Lucas flee into the Waverider, but Rip lingers behind. Before the team can get to him, Rip is taken by Eobard Thawne. The Waverider flies away, Sara distraught that Rip has been taken.
Sara sits in the cargo bay, looking at the piece of the Spear of Destiny. Jax walks in and reassures that Sara couldn't have saved Rip before Eobard had gotten him. Sara understands that, but still feels like she failed her responsibilities as captain. Jax promises that the team will rescue Rip, insisting that it's not just a promise, but a prophecy.
Mick tells Stein that he isn't seeing Snart's time ghost anymore after the removal of the chip from his brain. Stein reveals that although he did successfully remove the chip, it hasn't been functioning in months. They question if Mick is really second-guessing the team, as the visions of Snart suggest.
Now that George Lucas' movies are again part of the timeline, Nate sets up a movie night for Ray and Amaya in the Captain's quarters. They debate which of Lucas' movies to watch first, but then decide the mood is too somber after losing Rip again. Gideon suggests that Rip would want the team to enjoy themselves, and the trio settles in for their movie night.
Rip is restrained to a chair in a mysterious room. Eobard confronts him about the Spear of Destiny, and Rip insists that he was bluffing back at the junkyard and doesn't know anything about his true identity or about the spear. Merlyn and Darhk approach Rip, preparing to torture him.
Disclosure: ComicBook is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.