TV Review: LEGENDS OF TOMORROW: Season 1, Episode 15 Destiny [The CW]

The CW‘s Legends of Tomorrow Destiny TV Show Review. Legends of Tomorrow: Season 1, Episode 15: Destiny revealed the truth about the Time Masters, and the team lost a valuable member. Destiny was all about the freedom to forge one’s own path with no strings attached.

There were so many revelations that changed the course of our characters’ fates. The Time Masters revealed themselves to be nothing more than puppeteers using the Oculus to see and manipulate events in time. More than most, they have focused this power to help Vandal Savage (Casper Crump) throughout time. The Masters revealed this much to Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) who has been being manipulated by the Time Masters all along. Every move the team has made was part of a plan designed by the Masters. Time Master Druce (Martin Donovan) seemed to relish explaining the power of the Oculus to Rip, like they had all been itching to tell this secret.  Druce even showed Rip how Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) would die.

The worst part was the horrible revelation that Vandal Savage killed Rip’s family with the Time Masters’ blessing and assistance. With their assistance, Savage sought to repeat that terrible event, even though Rip’s main mission was to stop the grisly murder of his family. Strapped in Savage’s time ship, Kendra (Ciara Renée) was forced to witness Savage’s brutal resolve first hand. As if being his prisoner, and knowing she and her lover were at his mercy was not torture enough. The Masters’ motivation for aiding Savage: he is the only one who can defeat the Thanagarians who will eventually invade and conquer Earth. So, they back a monster, allowing him to tear people’s world apart throughout time, just so he could be useful in one moment  in time.

We came into the episode with the crew locked away in cells the size of condos while Mick (Dominic Purcell) weas reconditioned as Cronos, or so we thought. Mick is by far the biggest badass whether inside the Cronos suit or not. Snart (Wentworth Miller) and Sarah (Caity Lotz) are his first targets, but they are not running away. Not that Snart failed to show his disdain for making any effort at launching a rescue. He made it clear he wanted to leave the others behind. Sarah was able to keep him loyal. She obviously has a way of getting under Snart’s skin and influencing him, but then maybe that is because Snart was attracted to her.  Perhaps it was the way Sarah took charge in the ship and did not accept his nonchalance. The Wave Rider is a marvelous piece of machinery, and Sarah piloted it like a pro. She handled Snart too. Meanwhile, Mick was still Mick, and quickly dispatched one of the masters. The way he stomped one guy out of existence was the type of necessary roughness that the crew needed in order to get out of there.

Later, Mick and Ray had a heart to heart that left Ray a little stronger and Mick a little softer. Ray was down about the news of his imminent death. Mick gave him a perspective that changed Ray’s whole outlook. Mick was able to resist the Cronos conditioning due to sheer will. It may be that their destinies are predetermined, but Mick was not going to let the Masters control his mind. Ray should not either. Mick’s message was to make sure whatever happened in life (and death) it would be done with clear eyes and according to one’s own will.

“Discovering one’s life is already been predetermined is ironically liberating,” (Dr. Stein is totally quotable). His words summed up much of the moral struggle in this episode. How can the crew be sure they were ever in control of any actions or thoughts they had? How could they be sure that their “choice” to destroy the Oculus was not prearranged? It was all a question of free will.

2016 Dr. Stein (Victor Garber) met the future Jefferson (Franz Drameh) who enlisted Dr. Stein’s help in fixing the jump ship in order to arrive at the opportune time to save the crew from being destroyed by the Masters. It was a total mind bender, but if Dr. Stein could accept it, so could I. In the previous episode, Stein and Jefferson separated in order to save one’s life. To see Firestorm reunited was a fantastic turning point in the episode. Apparently, The Masters were aware of the crew’s plan to attack the Oculus, so the crew walked into a trap. With Firestorm in the mix, they had an unexpected advantage.

In the end, Ray’s death seemed inevitable, since he needed to be present to ensure the Oculus exploded. Except, his death was avoided, which changed The Masters’ plan. In fact, it seemed like everyone wanted to be the hero who died and screwed up the Masters’ plans. The crew played hot potato with the dead man’s switch that would blow up the Oculus and set them free. First Ray, then Mick, then Snart…and that brings us to the big event. Avoiding Ray’s death changed Snart’s character and fate. He not only chose to be a hero, he did it with a glad heart. As he sneered at the enemy with his hand on the button quoting Pinocchio, “There are no strings on me.” He basically thumbed his nose at destiny.

With the Time Masters’ Oculus destroyed, you would think so are their plans. Yet, Savage still killed Rip’s family as planned. So was Rip’s destiny avoided? He already knows that his family was killed as a manipulation to have him form this crew and embark on this odyssey which only aided Savage this whole time. What would his choice be now? Let it go and live his life? Fate or not, he would have to mourn all over again.

Meanwhile, Savage still has Kendra and Carter (Falk Hentschel). The remaining crew chooses to pursue Savage and rescue them. They do this freely. Without the Oculus, Savage is on his own with a time ship, but without a purpose. Setting him free will have unforeseen consequences of carnage for sure. Nevertheless, we recall Ray’s words to Mick. This episode left us essentially tabula rasa or with a “clean slate” because now the team and their enemy are forging their paths with no masters pulling the strings. The new regime: Rip Hunter and friends – minus Captain Cold – on the Wave Rider, rudderless with their new pilot, Sarah Lance. Fitting that a bird is the one flying.

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