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Recap / Legends of Tomorrow S1E11 "The Magnificent Eight"

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The team heads to the Old West to hide from the Time Masters. Inevitably the team gets involved with a local outlaw gang, and run into an old friend of Rip's.


Tropes:

  • Achilles in His Tent: Rip's decision to remain on the Waverider because he was making plans, but it's later revealed he refuses to set foot in the Old West.
  • Adaptational Attractiveness: Hex's scar is far less pronounced than the comic book version. Also, his eyes look normal whereas in the comic, the scarred side has an eye milky white and popping outward.
  • Adaptational Heroism: The TV version of Jonah Hex is a bit more honorable and heroic than the true anti-hero outlaw of the comics.
  • Adventure-Friendly World: The Wild West is presented as this and, considering what it is the Wild West of, it may be justified. Rip also cites the era's nature as this as why he grew so attached to it.
  • Badass Longcoat: Given the time period visited, several characters are wearing dusters.
  • Bait-and-Switch Gunshot: Upset with losing, Stein's poker opponent quickly draws on Stein. A gunshot follows almost instantly, and Stein believes that he has been shot, only for the other player to fall because Snart killed him.
  • Bar Brawl: After Snart killed one of the Stillwater gang members, a brawl ensued. Hilariously, Mick misses it because he's passed out from taking shots.
  • Blasting It Out of Their Hands: Snart disarms Stillwater with a lever action rifle from a second-story window. Later on, Jax manages the same trick from horseback with his own revolver.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: The old lady that Kendra bumps into the salon turns out to be her 19th century incarnation.
  • Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Stein's reaction to Snart gunning down the man about to shoot him.
    Stein: You killed him.
    Snart: You're welcome.
  • Cowboy Episode: No sooner than the team walk out into 1870, they become embroiled in a problem straight out of a Western, complete with evil bandits, saloon fights and six-shooter duels at high noon.
  • Crazy Survivalist: This era's version of Kendra has become this after Carter got killed.
  • Chronic Hero Syndrome: Rip Hunter eventually reveals that this was why had so much trouble tearing himself away from the Wild West the first time he traveled there.
  • Dark and Troubled Past:
    • Rip was once sent to the Old West and got very attached there, to the point he was Going Native. Eventually he had to tear himself away, by leaving Calvert a town he knew was destined to be destroyed, but did nothing to save.
    • Jonah Hex, naturally. When Ray becomes the new Sheriff, Hex tells him that there a few outstanding warrants for him.
  • Distressed Dude: Jax was captured by the Stillwater Gang later in the episode.
  • The Dreaded: The Pilgrim, the Time Master's top assassin. Her method is to Ret-Gone people by killing them while they're still young.
  • Drinking Contest: Mick and Sara decide to see who can down the most shots. Sara wins.
  • Facial Horror: Hex, obviously, with his infamous scar. When Ray offers to use the Waverider's technology to heal it, Hex just stares at him and Ray realizes the man doesn't even understand how horrid he looks.
  • Funny Background Event: Sara out-drinking Mick is largely treated this way.
  • Future Me Scares Me: Or rather, older Past me scares me. Kendra meets her past incarnation of this time period, who is a bitter old widow. She warns her that all relationships that are not with Carter will go downhill.
  • Gambling Brawl: An outlaw accuses takes offense at Stein standing up for a waitress while they're playing cards, and tries to shoot the professor, only for Snart to shoot him first. The result is a big Bar Brawl.
  • Going Native: This happened to Hunter during his previous stay in the Wild West.
  • Grumpy Old Man: Gender Flipped. Kendra's 19th century incarnation is quite The Cynic.
  • Hidden Depths: Turns out Stein is a very good poker player, because his dad was something of a card shark and would recruit his son in some of his scams.
  • Hollywood History: HG Wells' trip to America is entirely made up. As for the implication that seeing the battle with the Hunters started his interest in speculative fiction, that actually happened a few years later, when he was bedridden for a year with little to do but read.
  • If You Die, I Call Your Stuff: Played for Laughs. Jonah calls dibs on Rip's "new-fangled revolver" if he dies in the Showdown at High Noon.
  • I'm Mr. [Future Pop Culture Reference]: Ray Palmer adopts the pseudonym "John Wayne". Although both Rip and Snart slip up by calling him "Sheriff Palmer" before the duel.
  • Improbable Aiming Skills: For someone who's never been shown to have experience with firearms, Jax displays some impressive marksmanship. Probably justified since, as Firestorm, he focuses mostly on long-ranged attacks, so, on the very least, he had been practicing his aim for a long time now.
  • Informed Ability: The dreaded Hunters turn out to be rather easily dispatched. Mick even mentions how easy it was.
  • Miranda Rights: Palmer starts to read these after apprehending Stillwater. Snart points out that Palmer is one-hundred years early on that.
  • Mr. Exposition: Mick, due to the time he he spent with the Time Masters.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • Carter was apparently DC's other western hero Hannibal Hawkes/Nighthawk in the 1800s, making Kendra's 1800's version Katherine "Kate" Manser/Cinnamon. In the comics, this is also true, with the couple being their era's reincarnations of Khufu and Chay-Ara.
    • Hex dresses as he does in the comics, his former Confederate soldier gear. He also mentions that the coat Rip wears used to be his.
  • My Future Self and Me: Kendra meets her 19th century self.
  • No Name Given: The name of Kendra's 19th century incarnation was never stated in the episode, though judging from the characterization and the comics continuity, she's supposed to be Katherine Manser.
  • One-Steve Limit: H. G. Wells' mother is also named Sara.
  • Plot Hole: Chay-Ara's 1800s incarnation identifies the reincarnating man whom she loves in each life as "Carter" instead of "Khufu," despite a) not hearing about Carter Hall at all by name, and b) having her husband named Hannibal Hawkes.
  • Politically Correct History: In stark contrast to their time in the '50s, Jax and Kendra don't have any trouble getting along just five years after the end of slavery. Somewhat Truth in Television: many free blacks went West and were accepted somewhat more than normal society at the time due to a pressing need for qualified manpower. It's roughly estimated a stunning 25% of cowboys were black. As for Kendra, Hispanic vaqueros practically started the cowboy tradition, and in some places 1 in 3 cowboys were Latino, although this doesn't explain why her gender doesn't raise any attention despite the rampant sexism of the era.
  • Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: An obvious one to The Magnificent Seven.
  • Rearrange the Song: The series' theme is modified into a more Spaghetti Western style for this episode, including a "Yee-Haw!" after the team's logos form the show's name. (The closing credits song on the online versions is also in a Western style.)
  • Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!:
    • Ray becomes Sheriff in order to save Salvation from the Stillwater Gang.
    • Stein uses his future knowledge to save a young boy from tuberculosis who turns out to be H. G. Wells of all people.
    • Rip Hunter originally left the Wild West because he realized that indulging his Chronic Hero Syndrome by saving a town that was destined to be destroyed would be a betrayal of the rules of the Time Masters. Of course, now he is no longer a Time Master...
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The original sheriff up and quits rather than risk his life against the Stillwater gang, appointing Ray his replacement on the way out.
  • Seen It All: Jonah Hex isn't in the least bit perturbed by encountering time travelers, mainly because he's met Rip Hunter before. Subverted when Hex sees Firestorm merge and crosses himself in shock.
  • Ship Tease:
    • When sharing shots, Sara gets some of this with Mick of all people, noting his new personality and flirting as he challenges her to shots (after she tells him of her many dates where guys tried to use booze as a quick way into bed only to end up under the table).
    • The episode implies a close relationship between Jonah Hex and Rip Hunter. It's revealed that Rip's son Jonas is named after Jonah Hex and that his Badass Longcoat originally belonged to Hex. Also, Hex is clearly still hurt over Rip's decision to leave.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Showdown at High Noon: Jonah Hex suggests this to solve the last issue with Stillwater's gang. Rip decides to do it himself, even though Ray volunteers.
  • Stable Time Loop: Apparently Stein always saved H. G. Wells.
  • The Stinger: Back in 1990, Mick watches his house burn down, while the Pilgrim is about to shoot him in the back.
  • Stock Scream: Poor Wilhelm gets tossed across the bar during the brawl.
  • Team Power Walk: The whole group (sans Rip) as they walk into town at the start of the episode.
  • Tragic Keepsake: Hunter's coat, which originally belonged to Jonah.
  • Wham Line: Jonah Hex asks the team where they're from, but they refuse to tell him. Then:
    Jonah Hex: Well, let me rephrase that. Tell me when you're from.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Jonah punches Rip in the face when he admits he knew that Calvert was going to be destroyed, but left anyway.
  • Whole-Plot Reference: As the title indicates, to The Magnificent Seven, the western remake of The Seven Samurai about a group of gunslingers hired to protect a village that a bandit gang keeps targeting.
  • The Wild West: The team time travels to 1870, Salvation. Given the nature of the series, it also qualifies for Cattle Punk and Weird West.
  • You Are in Command Now: Ray is made sheriff, and he's surprisingly good at it.
  • You Can't Thwart Stage One: The Hunters have been dispatched, but that only means that the Time Masters have sent out the Pilgrim to Ret-Gone the team - as in kill them while they're still kids.
  • Young Future Famous People: Stein cures a sick boy diagnosed with tuberculosis, and he turns out to be English writer Herbert George Wells, better known as H. G. Wells.

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