In the first part of the finale, the team is held prisoner by the Time Masters as Savage begins to solidify his power
Tropes:
- All According to Plan: The Time Masters have been manipulating everything to allow Savage to rise to power, even Rip's betrayal and his family's death was part of their plans
- All for Nothing: In spite of everything, Miranda and Jonas still die.
- Badass Boast: Mick gets an awesome one:Mick: NOBODY CONTROLS ME!
- Bad Future: The Time Masters are backing Savage in order to try and prevent one wherein the Thanagarians conquer Earth. However, Rip points out that there's really no difference.
- The Big Damn Kiss: Sara gives one to Snart after he insisted on staying behind to destroy the Oculus.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Druce shows Rip the Oculus and explains to them how they've been manipulating time all season. Naturally the team uses this knowledge to destroy the Time Masters.
- Character Death: Leonard Snart dies.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Given everything we have seen about the Time Masters, they are effectively gods as the Oculus device they created grants them omnipotence. However, by the end of the episode the Legends manage to kill them all and the Oculus as well.
- The Dog Bites Back:
- The team finds out they've been manipulated by the Time Masters all season and they decide to take back their destinies by destroying the organization itself and its means to control time.
- Also, Mick killing the Time Master who tried to torture him back into Chronos.
- The Evils of Free Will: Druce believes free will is merely an illusion.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The Thanagarians, who will lead an Alien Invasion only a few years after Vandal Savage conquers the world.
- Gunship Rescue: Just as Druce and the armed forces of the Time Masters are about to kill the Legends, Jax returns in the jumpship and blasts the soldiers away.
- Heroic BSoD: Stein and Rip both have a brief one before they are rescued (the former for being slowly dying while also prisoner, the latter for the various reveals, see below), Ray calls them out for it.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Snart sacrifices himself to destroy the Oculus.
- How We Got Here: The episode shows in detail how Savage managed to arrive in 2166 to kill Miranda and Jonas.
- Hypocrite: Zaman Druce's The Fatalist You Can't Fight Fate attitude comes across as this, as not only is his organization manufacturing and orchestrating Vandal Savage's rise to power through every angle they can in order to prevent humanity's loss against the Thanagarian invasion, but the so-called "destiny" is actually just the Time Masters' imposed will in the first place. What he says is "destined" appears to instead be a case of Because I Said So on a quantum scale.
- I Die Free: Snart declares that he won't be a puppet to the Time Masters, as he blows up the oculus.
- Layman's Terms: Mick asks for Ray to explain what he means about the failsafe to the Oculus in English. Upon hearing it...Mick: ...Not that much English.
- Loophole Abuse: The Oculus can manipulate all things within time...but since the Vanishing Point is outside normal time, the Oculus has no effect there, giving the Legends freedom from it.
- Morality Pet: Ray's becoming one for Rory, it seems.
- More Hero than Thou: Mick knocks out Ray and takes his place, in order to prevent his foreseen death. Then Snart does the same to him.
- Mythology Gag: Thanagar was the Pre-Crisis homeworld of Hawkman and Hawkwoman, back when they were aliens. Given their meteorite-related origin in the show, it's possible they're related to the alien versions here as well.
- Necessarily Evil: Druce claims that Savage is necessary to save the Earth from a Thanagarian invasion. Rip points out how utterly bullocks this is since with Savage in charge of Earth there's really nothing worth saving anyway.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Invoked by Druce when he tells Rip how each and every time they faced Savage was engineered to put him in a better position than he'd have been otherwise. On Druce's part, however, this is a...
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Druce reveals Rip the Oculus' existence, but that knowledge is used by the Legends to destroy it, and the Time Masters' hold on the timeline with it.
- Plot Armor: Deconstructed. Turns out the reason the Legends couldn't stop Savage and the reason he always managed to escape at the last second was because the Time Masters were using the Occulus to manipulate events to make it so.
- Pre Emptive Apology: Snart apologizes to Mick before knocking him out and taking his place.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Snart gets one in before he dies. Also Defiant to the End.
- The Reveal:
- The Time Masters have been manipulating time, even the team to allow Savage's rise to power. They even had Savage kill Rip's family to motivate him to stop Savage.
- The Time Masters have access to the Occulus, which allows them to observe and control time.
- Why are the Time Masters backing Savage? Because they believe he's the only one who can save Earth from an invasion by Thanagar.
- Screw Destiny: The Legends decide they control their fates, not the Time Masters. The fact they avert Ray's death, is a step towards that fate.
- Shout-Out: Snart's quote on puppets and strings is the same as Ultron from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which, in turn, was a Shout-Out to Pinocchio.Snart: There are no strings on me.
- Smug Snake: Druce, who is nothing without his armies and the Occulus. Which makes his Villainous Breakdown all the more satisfying.
- Spanner in the Works: The Time Masters can't use the Oculus to see anything at the Vanishing Point. They correctly predict Rip and the team assaulting the Oculus itself and set an ambush, but they fail to anticipate Jax returning with the escape pod from 2016, which blasts through the ambush and lets the team destroy the Oculus.
- Stable Time Loop: Jax travels back during the events of the series premiere and suggests to Prof. Stein his own drugging.
- Start X to Stop X: In order to prevent an Alien Invasion from managing to Take Over the World, the Time Masters have been aiding Vandal Savage by molding him into the right person to defend Earth from said invasion...by having him Take Over the World. Rip Hunter brings up the fact that there is basically no difference except species, as the populace will still be oppressed.
- Trash the Set: The destruction of the Oculus blows the Vanishing Point to hell.
- Traumatic Haircut: Played for Laughs. Mick says that if Ray tells anyone on the team he actually cares about them, he'll shave Ray's head.
- Unexpected Character: Well, species. Turns out the Thanagarians exist, which comes as complete surprise since Word of God stated that there was ban on all things aliens in the Arrowverse.
- Unwitting Pawn: Turns out the Time Masters have been manipulating everything that happened this season. Even Rip's rebellion which they wanted to happen.
- Villainous Breakdown:
- Druce completely melts down when he sees that Snart is about to destroy the Occulus and there's nothing he can do to stop it.
- Subverted with Savage. He's mildly miffed that the Time Masters can no longer help him, but he consoles himself that he has a time ship so he can still influence time without their help.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Druce tries to pull this by saying Savage is necessary to save Earth from the Thanagarians. Rip utterly shreds this to bits by pointing out there would be no difference if Savage or the Thanagarians controlled Earth, the entire population would still be oppressed.
- Wham Episode: The Time Masters have been manipulating time including the Legends all to allow Savage's rise to power and stop the Thanagarians from conquering Earth. This episode ends with the Team destroying the Time Masters means of time control...at the cost of Snart's life.
- You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Invoked Trope. In order to prevent Savage from leaving to kill Miranda and Jonas, Kendra calls him his true name of Hath-Set. Unfortunately, it only delays him a few seconds.
- You Can't Fight Fate:
- Druce believes everything is destined to happened and can't be changed. The Legends on the other hand...
- Played straight with Miranda and Jonas, both of which still murdered by Savage.
- You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Pissed, Snart points his Cold Gun at Sara. She retorts that he wouldn't go through with it. She's right.
