'Legends of Tomorrow' Recap: Playing Russian Roulette

Warning: This recap for the “White Knights” episode of Legends of Tomorrow contains spoilers.

We’re out of the ‘70s and into the '80s on this week’s Legends of Tomorrow. No leg-warmers or neon t-shirts on display yet, but the team does dive right into the middle of the Cold War, we meet a new Time Master, and all the elements are in place for the introduction of another villain from the comic book world.

The Plot
The team’s Pentagon heist in 1986 goes bad, allowing Chronos to catch up with them as they track Vandal Savage to the Soviet Union. Rip gets an offer from Time Master Druce (Martin Donovan), who was traveling with Chronos: Give up and everyone gets to go back home. It’s a double-cross and Jax is injured as the team clashes with the bounty hunter. Meanwhile, Ray and Leonard go undercover to find out what Dr. Vostok (Stephanie Corneliussen) is doing for Savage. Turns out, she’s working with Savage and they’re trying to create a new Firestorm. Dr. Stein and Mick are captured by the Soviets.

Ray and Leonard
The Atom/Cold interplay may be the most fun pairing on the show. Currently, it’s weighted a bit too much in favor of Cold — he demonstrates his suaveness in Russia like he demonstrated his thieving skills back at Savage’s '70s pad — but his pained expression whenever Ray does get one up on him is a joy to behold. Hopefully, there are many more Cyrano de Bergerac moments to come in the future.

Kendra and Sara
“I need to learn to embrace my inner hawk goddess, but you — you need to embrace your human side.” This pairing seems perfect: Each woman has what the other woman needs. The problem is, what happens if they actually do teach each other how to manage their bad selves? There’s already a well-balanced Sara on Arrow: her name is Black Canary. A strong, winged demigoddess is just Roma Downey from Touched by an Angel with a mace.

Stein and Jax
Ugh. Bickering Firestorm. We don’t love Dr. Stein’s lectures any more than Jax does; why do they keep returning to it? Yes, it has a great arc. When Stein says, “You were right: I’ve risked your life enough times. Now it’s my turn,” there’s a great emotional heft to the moment and it almost justifies his earlier paternal shouting. But there’s got to be a way to explore their differences without all this grandfatherly nattering, right?

Rip and Mick
“Maybe you should start thinking more like a crook.” The strange addition of criminals to the team is making a whole lot of sense four episodes in. Not only are they handy for pilfering things, they also add a healthy does of cynicism to the general sense of altruism on the Waverider. It turns out that, indeed, Chronos and Druce were planning to renege on their offer to Rip and the Legends save his butt.

Inside Comics Moment
Since Firestorm was an expression of everybody’s Cold War fears of nuclear annihilation, of course he had a Soviet counterpart in the comics. His name was Pozhar and his alter-ego was Mikhail Arkadin. You may recognize him: He’s the colonel (played by Voytek Skrzeta) who captures Dr. Stein and Mick.

Legendary Thoughts
Did you see that slow-mo shot where Wentworth Miller went through a small explosion and sparks caught in his hair? Hey, pyro guys, could we please not set any of our Legends on fire? Captain Cold is just a name.

Line of the Night: “If I ever get my hands on you, I’m gonna get all Rocky 4 on your ass.” Fortunately, the writers of this show know that Rocky 4 is both the worst and the best of the Rocky films.

Don Draper Moment of the Night: “Let me show you how it’s done… old school.” Leonard slicks the floor and catches the officer as she slips with a laid-back, “You okay, ma'am?” If Captain Cold doesn’t write a book of smooth dating tips as merchandise for this show, then why are we even watching?

Aw. The episode is called “White Knights” and there’s ballet, but no Mikhail Barishnikov? I hope they at least called his agent.

Ingestible translators? Yes! So far, there hasn’t been nearly enough fun future technology on display. These little pills also solve a fish-out-of-water problem common to many sci-fi scenarios: How to get aliens/foreigners/sentient rocks to speak English so we don’t spend the whole episode reading? More super science please!

Legends of Tomorrow airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.