As the team prepares to confront Savage at a black market arms auction, friction arises as they learn the dangers of time travel first hand
Tropes:
- The '70s: The Team is still at 1975.
- Amazon Chaser: Stein and Jax both admit that they can see why the former's younger self would find Sara so attractive after she beats up an entire room of Savage's guards while stoned and barely even trying.
- Artistic License – Awards: Both past and future Stein talk about a publication which has interviews of Nobel Prize candidates. The Nobel Prize committee does not release information of candidates considered for the prizes.
- Artistic License – History: "Disco Inferno" is used in the episode, but the song wasn't actually released until 1976.
- Artistic License – Nuclear Physics: Alpha particles were well known in 1905, let alone 1975, and detecting them is easy. However, they can't be detected from a distance because they can be blocked by a sheet of paper, so a building is more than enough to contain them.
- Bad Boss: Vandal Savage gives his science team 24 hours to reverse-engineer The Atom's blaster. When one scientist tells him that it'll take days or even weeks, he takes the blaster and shoots the scientist with it.
- Badass Boast: Sara about fighting while stoned.Sara: I could be unconscious and be able to kick the ass of a few rented punks from 1975.
- Bavarian Fire Drill: Stein gets the Legends access to the auction by rambling off various terrorist attacks and claiming responsibility for them.
- Big Fancy House: Turns out Savage lives in one.
- Blade Enthusiast: Vandal Savage has been collecting knives for thousands of years, and he commented that the Egyptian dagger that he used to kill Carter and Kendra 4000 years ago is his favorite.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: When Carter's initial attempt at stabbing Vandal Savage fails, Savage informs them that it has to be Kendra for it to succeed, likely setting up his own downfall somewhere down the line. Downplayed, however, since it was already known that had to be either her or Carter to do it, and he says that after showing that Carter couldn't kill him, also Carter dies shortly after that, so it would have been up to Kendra anyway.
- Brick Joke: After he was rescued from Darhk in Arrow Season 4, Ray compares H.I.V.E. to S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Here, Damien Darhk is shown dressed identically to Charles Gray's Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever.
- Continuity Cameo: Damien Darhk appears as a bidder at Savage's auction, looking the same as he does now with the exception of the Nehru suit he's wearing.
- Curse Cut Short: Gideon asks if "whoops" means "oh—" before being cut off by Rip. Given the context, it likely means "oh shit" or something similar.
- Delayed Ripple Effect: According to Rip Hunter, "Time is like concrete...it takes time for it to settle", which is the reason why the team has a limited amount of time to retrieve Ray's tech from Savage before the new Bad Future of Savage conquering the world in 2016 becomes permanent.
- Due to the Dead: The Team decides to continue fighting Savage after he kills Carter.For Carter!
- Eat the Bomb: A variation occurs when Firestorm is forced to absorb the explosion of a nuclear warhead moments after it detonates.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Even the Rogues want to avenge Carter's death. Also, when Rip shows them the image of a destroyed Central City in 2016, the two are actually rocked. They may be thieves but the mass destruction of their home is something they want to stop.
- Eviler than Thou: Snart and Rory might be a pair of unrepentant criminals, but Savage is much worse. Shown in a great way when he has Mick at gunpoint, with the latter being unable to do anything about it and looking obviously terrified.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Ray and Snart start to approach it after their Snobs Vs Slobs bickering.
- Firing in the Air a Lot: How the buyers at the auction bid for the nuclear warhead. Given it's all inside, it's unlikely the bullets will cause lasting harm.
- Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: As Rip tries to assert his authority, the team reminds him that half of what he said in the last episode was lies so they have little reason to respect his authority.
- Hidden Depths: Mick gets to show it. After mostly displaying hot-headed arrogance and Book Dumb tendencies, he shows himself quite skilled at the rules of theft, and shows compassion and a liking for Stein. He's still a crazy, violent pyromaniac though.
- Higher Understanding Through Drugs: Young Martin likes his doobies, it helps him think. White Canary later steals his pot and uses them for herself.
- I Hate Past Me: Martin is irritated at his younger self's arrogance....and then realizes he still has that same arrogance in his old age.
- Internal Reveal: In 1975, Vandal Savage learns of the nine heroes trying to stop him, and that they have travelled through time to do so.
- It's Personal: Now that Savage has killed Carter, the rest of the Legends go from wanting to stop Savage out of general nobility to wanting to avenge their fallen comrade. Also, Snart and Mick got their egos bruised by how easy Savage got the better of them and they want a rematch.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Carter doesn't oblige Kendra to love him in this lifetime if she doesn't want to.
- I Was Quite the Looker: Professor Stein couldn't stop admiring how thick his hair used to be when he was a 25 year old young man in 1975. His wife Clarissa doesn't look bad either.
- Meaningful Echo: Carter has the same last words as Prince Khufu. As it turns out, it's part of a love poem.
- Morality Chain: Snart is confirmed to be this to Mick.Mick: (when the entire auction turns against the group) Can I burn some stuff now?
Snart: I wish you would. - My Future Self and Me: Stein meets his past self. It won't be the last time...
- Near-Villain Victory: Savage successfully kills Carter and nearly does the same to Kendra had the others not intervened.
- Never the Selves Shall Meet: Rip warns Stein about this. Of course, he didn't listen.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- A piece of Ray's suit drops off which in a potential future Savage reverse engineers to speed up his conquest.
- Also, Stein lets it slip to Savage they're time travelers meaning Savage can keep an eye for them in the future.
- Sara interacting with the younger Stein and eventually knocking him unconscious causes him to not go to the faculty mixer where he meets his later wife (for a brief period anyway), temporarily negating Stein's marriage to Clarissa.
- No, You: Martin is not amused with Sara hitting on his past self.Martin: Stop flirting with me.
Sara: You were the one flirting with me. - Odd Friendship: Mick seems to have come to really like Stein. Especially after he proves himself pure awesome in getting them entrance to the auction.
- The Oner: An impressive one in the black market action scene.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: The Legends stick out like a sore thumb at the arms auction, that it doesn't take long for them to acquire unwanted attention.
- Pet the Dog: Rip convinces Hippie!Martin to go to the shindig where he would meet Clarissa since he sees little reason why somebody else should lose their family.
- The Reveal: Only Kendra can use the knife to kill Savage.
- Sacrificial Lion: Carter is killed by Savage.
- Sarcastic Clapping: Rip Hunter makes one when he berates them for failing to stop Savage and leaving a piece of Ray's suit.
- Saying Too Much: Stein, when trying to buy time for the others, attempts to prove his credentials by saying that he believes it is "highly unlikely that [Savage's people] have gathered enough fissionable material in this era" for the nuclear warhead to be operational. Unfortunately, Savage hears the "this era" part.
- Shout-Out: 1975 Damien Darhk dresses and has his hair styled identically to Charles Gray's Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever.
- Snobs Vs Slobs: Ray and the Rogues are at each other's throats for most of the episode. Snart eventually comes to respect Ray's knowledge even if he's repeatedly frustrated at his naivety.
- Stealth Pun: After he and Ray was captured, Snart made several attempts to literally break the cage they were trapped in.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Turns out Stein was quite an Insufferable Genius in his youth. He later admits he hasn't changed as much as he'd like to think.
- Trash the Set: In just one episode, the Legends destroyed Savage's black market, laboratory and his mansion.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: There are no less than 3 subplots involving Kendra and Carter, Martin, Jax, and Sara, and Ray and the Rogues respectively.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Martin gives Sara one for hitting his younger self in the head with a bong, fearing that it could injure his magnificent brain.
- Wham Episode: Savage kills Carter, and reveals that Kendra needs to be the one to slay him.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Jax tells Martin this when Martin tells about how arrogant he was and still is.
- Zeerust: Younger Stein's works looks futuristic from a 70s point of view. Ditto Savage's lab.
