As Kendra still recovers from the shock of Carter's death, Rip and Sara decide to hunt down Savage's finances in an attempt to cripple him. Meanwhile Snart and Rory decide to take a little joy ride.
Tropes:
- The '70s: The Team is stuck in 1975, though they're heading to 1986 at the end of the episode.
- Actor Allusion: When Stein tells Ray he can't miss the fragments in Kendra's bloodstream as they are "as big as icebergs", Ray jokes "tell that to the Titanic." Victor Garber played Thomas Andrews, the designer of the Titanic, in the most famous film about the disaster.
- And This Is for...: Rip accidentally reveals the names of his wife and son when he's about to kill Savage.
- Artistic License – Law: Ray cites the Scout Motto as "Be helpful to others." This is somewhat askew; the Scout Motto is, of course "Be Prepared." A portion of the Scout Oath states "...to help other people at all times...", and Point Three of the Scout Law is "[A Scout is] Helpful."
- As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Savage gave Rip the monicker "Garib", which means strange, outlandish, or foreign, when the latter Time Traveled to Ancient Egypt. Thing is, "Garib" is an Arabic word, and Savage was not yet immortal at that time to be Walking the Earth and learning different cultures (unless he's already an Omniglot).
- Badass Boast: Vandal gives a pretty good one during his A God Am I speech, then Rip turns it on him.Vandal Savage: This is the power you have no hope of defeating. Everyone here is sworn to live and die at my command. Why? 'Cause to them I am a god! I pity you. You have no idea what it's like to have people willing to follow you up to the gates. Of Hell!
Rip Hunter: Actually, I have a little bit of an idea. - Badass in a Nice Suit: Rip and several Mooks are wearing suits in this episode's fight scenes.
- Badass Normal: Jax fights well without fusing with Prof. Stein.
- Big Damn Heroes: Snart, Mick and Jax save Rip and Sara as well as Carter's corpse from Savage and his Cult during the climactic scene.
- Blood Magic: Carter's blood, as well as Kendra's, can extend longevity; Savage comments that a little drink is enough for at least an extra century of life.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday:
- Justified. Savage can't recall killing Rip's family because this version of him hasn't done it yet. Doesn't stop Vandal from bragging about it.
- In a lighter sense, Stein says that he had so many exceptional students that there's no way he could possibly remember any particular one.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: The only thing stopping Cold from killing his dad, again, is the fact Lisa hasn't been born yet.
- Create Your Own Villain: Thanks to Stable Time Loop, Rip himself causes the reason why Savage guns for his family in the first place.
- Cult: Vandal has one. They worship him like a god and are the true source of his economic power. In return for their devotion, Vandal gives them some of his immortality by using the blood of Carter and Kendra after he has slain them in their latest incarnation.
- Dances and Balls: Savage's Cult ceremony has this as a front.
- Decomposite Character: Ray reveals his late fiancee's full name as Anna Loring. In the comics it's Jean Loring, but that character already appeared on Arrow Season 2 as the Queen family's attorney and was closer in age to Oliver and Thea's mother, Moira. Whether Anna and Jean (or John) are related is not yet stated by
Word of God. - Double-Meaning Title: "Blood Ties" refers to Cold's relationship with his father or Vandal Savage sharing Carter's blood with his cult to extend their longevity.
- Due to the Dead: The Legends recover Carter's corpse to give him (and Prof. Boardman) a proper burial.
- Equivalent Exchange: Lewis Snart first went to prison when he tried to steal an emerald from a museum which turned him into an Abusive Parent, so Cold steals the emerald and gives it to him to prevent that from happening. Unfortunately for Cold, the way time travel works means that if you change something from happening, time will merely fill in the gap. So his old man gets arrested for trying to sell the emerald to an undercover cop.
- Fake-Out Opening: The intro suggests a How We Got Here plot, but it's actually a flashback.
- Fake Shemp: It's obvious that Carter's corpse is not played by Falk Hentschel.
- "Fantastic Voyage" Plot: Ray shrinks himself to enter Kendra's veins and destroy the dagger shards.
- A God Am I: Vandal Savage declares this (after a fashion) in a particularly scenery-chewing moment.Vandal Savage: Everyone here is sworn to live and die at my command. Why? Because to them I am a god!
- I Am a Monster: Sara says this verbatim after she explains where her blood lust comes from.
- In Spite of a Nail: Despite his efforts to stop it, Snart discovers his father goes to jail for five years after all, seeming to indicate Snart was destined to become a criminal.
- Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Sara spends this episode wearing gowns and kicking ass.
- Money Is Not Power: Played with. While there isn't a direct mention of this, there is mention of how rather than money being the source of Vandal Savage's rise to power, it's the belief of his cult.
- My Future Self and Me: Leonard Snart visits his old house and sees his past self.
- Mythology Gag:
- Rip mentions he's seen "men of steel die and dark knights fall."
- The Atom in a "Fantastic Voyage" Plot is relatively common.
- The emerald that Snart steals looks a lot like Kryptonite.
- Nerf: Savage uses the very same technique with the Staff of Horus that killed the rest of Teams Arrow and Flash sans Barry to the Legends, but it didn't obliterate them. Justified, as he has incomplete powers due to not being able to absorb Kendra's life force like last time.
- More likely that Savage can vary the power of the technique, as nuking the room/building/city would be inadvisable when the cult making up his power base is in said room/building/city.
- Noodle Incident: How did Rip escape from Savage's men in Ancient Egypt?
- Not So Above It All: Jax really tries to stop Snart and Mick from stealing the jump ship, until Snart points out how really cool it would be to fly it.
- Ominous Latin Chanting: Savage's Cult do it literally.
- One-Steve Limit: Younger Snart goes by "Leo".
- Pretty in Mink: Sara is wearing a fur trimmed coat in the bank fight scene, which doubles as Badass Longcoat.
- When infiltrating the party, she wears a black coat with a white fur collar.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: The scene during Savage's Cult ceremony is shot in red sepia, invoking this trope.
- The Reveal: Turns out Rip tried to kill Savage before he became immortal, but he hesitated and was caught by the guards.
- Sherlock Scan: Sara uses one to determine that the "bank employees" A) are Professional Killers and B) are onto her and Rip and are planning to kill them.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Snart stealing the emerald so that his father won't go to jail ends in vain Because Destiny Says So that he will go to jail.
- Shout-Out:
- Ray compares his mission to save Kendra to playing Asteroids.
- Stein (Victor Garber) tells Ray that a fragment in Kendra's blood is the size of an iceberg and can't be missed and Ray wonders if that is how they felt on the Titanic. Victor Garber appeared in Titanic (1997) as Thomas Andrews.
- Mick compares Savage's Cult to the ones shown in Eyes Wide Shut.
- The Smurfette Principle: There's only one female Mook in the bank fight scene. Likewise, Sara is the only active female member for the heroes as Kendra is still injured.
- Start of Darkness: While Lewis Snart was never a great parent, he was still somewhat decent until he went to prison. Then everything went to hell after that. Snart tries to prevent this, but history isn't having any.
- Stable Time Loop: Savage figures out that he kills Rip Hunter's wife and child in the future and is now looking forward to doing it. Also, Rip lets their names slip during an And This Is for... moment, so now he knows who to kill.
- Time-Shifted Actor: Leonard Snart sees his child self (see above) and a much younger Lewis.
- Trailers Always Spoil: Played with. The main trailer shows the graveyard scene at the end, but it didn't specify who was buried, thus not spoiling that it was Carter (and Prof. Boardman).
- Will Not Be a Victim: Snart tells his younger self to have this mentality.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Rip to Sara and Stein to Palmer. Sara also gives this to Rip when he tells her how he had a chance to kill Savage in the past and failed:Sara: Killing is never easy. Especially for a good man.
- You Are Not Alone: At the end, the team resolves not sneak off anymore and be more open with each other.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Snart's father became an abusive asshole after spending five years in Iron Heights for stealing a precious emerald. Snart tries to change this by stealing the emerald and giving it to his dad, but according to Gideon, his dad gets arrested trying to sell it to an undercover cop and does five years in Iron Heights anyway.
