DC’s Legends of Tomorrow S1:E8 Night of the Hawk Recap starts now!
Pleasantville and spoilers await!
Harmony Falls, Oregon 1958 and a guy and his girl are drag racing against two others, late at night, on a deserted stretch of road. The race is on, and the guy and girl take the lead. Their tyre blows out and forces them off the road. The guy comes to and gets out of the car. Right beside the car is a blue glowing rock. His drag racing friends arrive, and ask what the hell that is. He thinks it might be a comet, but Vandal Savage emerges from the trees and tells them that it’s a meteorite. He was drawn to it as well, and although their presence out here was unexpected, it could also be described as destiny. Or coincidental, but our Mr Savage has a bit of a flair for the dramatic.
The Waverider arrives in Harmony Falls, the crew experiencing major motion sickness from the long jaunt. Jax says “What the hell is Savage doing in Pleasantville?” as Rip brings up some new articles. Rip surmises “Murder”. Several Harmony Falls residents have been slain, or gone missing, which does not sound like Savage’s normal MO. They assume that his presence in the town at the same time is not a coincidence, and their way to finding him is by investigating the murders.
The first murder was a piano teacher, who was slain in her own home which is now for sale. Kendra and Ray go and tour the house, and the agent tells them that there is a room above the garage for the hired help, raising an eyebrow at Kendra. Kendra informs her that her and her HUSBAND, don’t have the need for a maid. The agent then suggests showing them a house in a more accepting town, a more forward thinking one. Kendra tells the agent that she prefers her town’s backwards, thankyouverymuch.
The second murder was a doctor killed in the asylum where he worked, so Martin and Sara go and check it out. Martin poses as a doctor going for a job, but refuses to work without his nurse/assistant Sara. The doctor interviewing looks her up and down, telling her she’ll fit right in, and if Sara had her stick right then I’m pretty sure it’d be coming out of his nostrils, from the bottom up.
Jax will be going undercover to try and find out what happened to some teenagers reported missing recently. Leonard asks where he fits in, and he and Rip make their way to the Sheriff’s office, suited and hatted up, posing as FBI agents. They tell the Sheriff they are investigating the murders, and the disappearance and strong arm him to get all the files.
Jax, Sara and Martin go to the diner for a coffee and Martin waxes nostalgic about how picture perfect and idyllic everything looks. Jax points out that he only sees it this way because he is white, as he gets glared at by two jocks walking by. Sara adds that it’s because he’s a man, he’s straight, and . . . he gets the point. The girl, Betty, from the drag race is at the counter looking sad, and Jax recognises her from the news articles. It’s her drag racing buddies who are missing. Martin suggest he go and talk to her, he and his nurse have to get back to work. Sara mentions that she knows how to kill a man very slowly, over the course of days.
Jax approaches the girl, and everyone is shocked that a black man would talk to a white girl, right there, in public. They bond over fries dipped in milkshakes, until the jocks gather around telling her that she doesn’t have to slum it with this loser. Jax tells Biff Tannen to get lost, and after a nod from the diner owner they scram. Betty is impressed, and asks if Jax wants to hang out tomorrow night.
Kendra and Ray move in, and have a totally spontaneous dance in the living room. Martin and Sara go to work at the hospital, and begin reviewing all the files for violent patients. Sara and another nurse get casually sexually harassed by the same doctor as before, and Sara does the old bump the coffee cup all down his front trick. The other nurse thanks her and tells her all the doctors are like that, and most of the nurses go along with it, as they want to get married. Nurse Blondie isn’t looking for a husband per se, and Sara is picking up what she is putting down. They go on a tour, and they pass Hall H, the restricted ward, for Doctor Knox’s patients. Going by the photo on the wall Dr Knox is also known as Vandal Savage.
Kendra opens up to a knock on the door, its Mrs Gail Knox, welcoming her to the neighbourhood. With her husband, Curtis Knox. Dr Curtis Knox. Dr Vandal Savage. Okay, you get it.
A man changing his tyre on the side of the road has hit hat blown off by a sudden gust of wind. He picks up a large feather that has landed in front of him, and suddenly he is attacked by a giant bird. The talons rip into him, and leave him dead on the side of the road.
Savage asks if they know each other, and Kendra tells him she doubts it, they are from way out of town. He tells them he hopes they love Tuna Surprise, and hang on a minute. Tuna Surprise? Why would anyone want to find a surprise in their tuna? And what would the surprise be, something tells me it’s not as good as the Kinder variety. Ray arrives and Kendra does the introductions, and Ray is equally concerned by these surprises. The Knox’s invite them over to a soiree they are having later that night, telling them to just let them in whenever they can get there. Oh yeah, that sounds like it will end well.
Back on the Waverider, Kendra tells the others that Vandal doesn’t think she knows who he is, and that he has the upper hand. He thinks that she hasn’t discovered her powers yet, and has no reason to kill her. Rip and Leonard have found nothing, apart from Savage being very good at making people disappear. Jax has a dig at Leonard for being good at that too, after what happened with Mick. Jax tells him that if he could do that to his best friend, he hates to think what he could do to the rest of them. Something tells me that we haven’t seen the end of old Mick Rory yet, though. Rip tells them that while Vandal is having his little cocktail party, Martin and Sara will check out Hall H at the asylum.
Sara is ransacking Dr Knox’s office when she is busted by the lovely Nurse Lindsay. She tells her she won’t find any booze in there, but she knows where another doctor keeps the good stuff.
Ray and Kendra arrive at the Knox’s, and Kendra is immediately asked to fetch someone a glass of bubbly. Kendra suggests they find a waitress, and Ray tells her that she shouldn’t take it to heart, as far as he’s concerned he has the most beautiful girl in the room on his arm. Vandal approaches and tells Ray he agrees, and offers them both a drink. Kendra and Ray decide to split up, Ray to check out the back, and Kendra will sound out Savage.
Sara and Nurse Lindsay some whiskey shots in the cafeteria and Sara asks her if she’s ever had a girlfriend. Lindsay is shocked that she would ask so openly, but eventually confesses that she kissed a girl once. Sara lets her know that she is the same way inclined, and as far as she’s concerned lesbian is not a bad word. Lindsay tells her that it is around here, and Sara tells her that it’s just as well she’s not from around here. Martin interrupts, and asks Sara for a moment of her time. He tells her off for trying to seduce the nurse, saying that it’s not fair of her to awaken these feelings and thoughts in her and then zoom off in to the future, leaving her here where it’s totally not accepted. Sara tells him that she would love for someone to drop in and tell her that the future will be better. They are interrupted by alarms and a security guard tells them that they need to get to Hall H.
Savage tries the old, do you believe in past lives line, and does she believe in fate? I would have gone for “Is that a mirror in your pocket? Cause I can see myself in your pants!” but to each their own. Kendra tells him she thinks fate is a prison and when free will has gone, there is nothing left. The house phone rings, and Savage heads in to the hospital. Meanwhile, Ray has found a locked room in the basement.
He gets to Hall H, and lets himself in to a cell where some f*cked up looking bird creatures have killed an orderly. He tells them that he was willing to let them have the occasional bout of freedom to feed, but this behaviour is just untenable. Just rude.
Jax is getting ready for his date with Betty, and Rip warns him to be careful in public, this town is certainly not accommodating towards inter-racial dating. Ray heads out in his Atom suit, and through the lock on the door to Savage’s man cave. He can’t see anything of real interest, until he finds an Egyptian looking wooden box in a chest. Kendra is keeping lookout and warns Ray that Savage has arrived home. But Ray had found the knife used to originally kill Kendra and Carter, and is reluctant to leave it. Savage enters the room, just as Ray shrinks down and flies out.
Nurse Lindsay and Sara flirt some more, and eventually share a kiss. Sara freaks and pulls away, telling Lindsay she has to get back to work.
Jax and Betty are parked, listening to music. She dives in for a kiss, and Jax is surprised that girls from 1958 move so fast. He asks what happened to her boyfriend Tommy, and she starts to tell him about the drag race, the crash and then they found . . . They are dragged from the car by the jocks, and Jax fights them off. Suddenly, the bird dudes swoop in and carry the jocks off. Jax yells at Betty to get in the car, and tries to drive away but the engine won’t crank.
A bird dude stands at the hood, and Betty somehow recognises him as Tommy. Tommy jumps on the roof and shoves his talons through the roof, and grabs Betty by the neck. He draws blood on her neck, and Jax gets the car going and they escape. Until the Sheriff pulls them over, and demands to know what Jax is up to with Betty in his car. Jax tries to tell him that she is hurt, and so are others back there on Lover’s Lane. The Sheriff tells him to put his hands on the car and spread’ em, boy. Jax refuses, gets a clonk over the head for his trouble and dragged off into the Sheriff’s car.
Rip and Leonard track Jax’s bio-signature to the cars, and they get Betty back to the Waverider for medical attention. Gideon gives her opinion that her wounds were caused by talons, and Betty manages to the tell them about Tommy. They have found traces of minerals in her blood, and she tells them about the glowing rock at the crash site. Martin recognises the this as the same type of meteorite that Kendra, Carter and Savage were exposed to at the time of their original deaths. It seems Tommy has also been exposed.
Martin goes off to see if there is a cure for the exposure, and poses the question of what Savage is doing in town, if it’s not him doing the killing. Ray says it doesn’t matter, and produces the knife. Rip tells them they have two missions, recover Jax, and a full on assault on Savage. Kendra decides that she is Savage’s weakness and she needs to take advantage of that.
Sara is not feeling great over what happened with Lindsay, not because she has made things difficult for her, but because she made Sara feel things that she hadn’t felt since her resurrection. And that terrified her, made her realise how much you can hurt someone, and get hurt.
Jax wakes chained up at the Asylum, the Sheriff having delivered him to Savage. Savage explains he is going to start treating him with some extra-terrestrial therapy, and injects him with fluid drawn from the meteorite. Jax’s eyes turn fully black, and the next we see him he has the f’ed up teef and talons, and is chained by the neck to the wall. The Sheriff returns and tells Savage he has a visitor.
It’s Kendra, and she starts the conversation about fate again with Savage. Her places her bag aside, and takes her coat. Ray is out in the ward listening in via comms, dressed as a patient. Sara orders that he be taken to his room, and Rip acting as an orderly takes him out. Martin and Leonard are searching the asylum, and Martin is concerned as he can no longer feel their psychic connection.
Savage tells Kendra that his specialty is interpreting dreams, and she tells him that she’s dreamed of them together before. Savage kisses her, and Kendra reaches behind her to get the knife from her bag. It’s gone! Savage raises it to her throat, wondering how long she was going to play that game. Her turning up on his door step, and the knife going missing, much too much of a coinkidink. He asks who else is with her, and she says no one, Savage replies that he hopes she is better at lying in her next life and hits the alarm.
Rip and Ray head to Hall H, but are stopped by the Sheriff. Martin and Leonard find the bird dudes, and Leonard says “Just when you think you’ve seen everything.” He shoots them with his cold gun, and they realise what has happened to all the missing kids. Kendra hears the screeching, and asks Savage what he has done. He tells her he was trying to create an army of Kendras, but they have not turned out quite so beautiful. She takes the opportunity to fight back while he is distracted, and gets away from the knife at her throat. She pushes him away, and gets the upper hand in the fight.
Jax emerges to attack Martin and Leonard, but he doesn’t recognise them. Leonard raises his gun, and begs Jax to not make him do this. Tommy appears from behind Leonard, distracting him, and Jax moves to swipe at him with his talons. Leonard manages to shoot the air conditioning pipes, and they escape through the resulting smoke.
A bird dude takes out the Sheriff, and Rip stays to take care of the rest, while Ray goes to find Kendra. The birds are attacking the wards, and nurses, doctors and patients are all being taken out. One goes for Lindsay, and Sara pulls her metal stick from somewhere, I really don’t want to know where. Sara takes it out, and tells Lindsay that she can explain, just not right now, and heads off to batter some more birds.
Ray arrives as Savage starts to get the better of Kendra, and blasts him out the window. Leonard and Martin meet Jax again, and he corners them but Leonard refuses to shoot. Sara arrives and bonks Jax with her stick. She tells them it’s time to go, and Martin insists on taking Jax with them, or what’s left of him anyway.
Back on the Waverider, Gideon and Martin have developed a gene therapy treatment for Jax and the other boys. He injects it into Jax, telling Leonard that is should start to work immediately. Martin praises Leonard for his heroics, and for helping to save Jax. Jax starts to change back to his normal self, thank bob.
Sara goes to see Lindsay, and asks how the other bird dudes are doing. She tells her that they are all beginning to change back, and should be completely fine. They kiss and Lindsay thanks Sara for rescuing her, and Sara replies that she was just returning the favour. They say their goodbyes, Lindsay saying that she should have known better than to fall for a ninja. Sara tells her she might be back one day, you never know.
Jax has got Betty a new car to replace her old one. She tells him she wishes he didn’t have to go, but he tells her that he doesn’t belong here, and neither does she. Tommy appears and Betty runs to hug him, and Jax tells them both that they need to get out of Harmony Falls. That there is a better world out there.
Jax apologises to Leonard for all the digs about killing Mick, that Martin told him that he refused to kill him. “After last night, I know enough about being a monster to know that you’re not one.” Jax tells him that he gets what he did, that he was protecting them, and that it makes him a part of their team. Martin and Rip arrive, and they all agree that it is time to get the F out of Harmony Falls. They are just waiting for Sara, Ray and Kendra to return. The ship is attacked, and it’s that doggone Chronos again. He breaches the starboard hatch, and makes his way to the flight deck. Chronos takes down Rip, and Leonard fights back with his cold gun. Rip recovers and fires back, and Martin and Jax consider merging, but decide it’s too dangerous within the confines of the ship.
Sara, Ray and Kendra are approaching the Waverider, when it suddenly takes off and leaves them stranded in 1958.
