Seeking to find who killed Hourman, Vixen joins the team on a trip to ancient Japan. Meanwhile, Nate discovers side effects of the serum that saved his life.
Tropes:
- Achilles' Heel: The ATOM suit has only one real weak point, which causes it to blow up. Naturally, Ray tells Nate to go for it.
- Adaptational Sexuality: The real-life Tokugawa Iemitsu was gay, whereas this one is implied to be straight, given that he is The Bluebeard.
- Antagonist Title: Directly referring to the Villain of the Week.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Amaya refuses to believe in ninjas, despite everything she's seen.Sara: I hate to break it to you, but I'm basically a ninja.
- Armor Is Useless: Played straight with samurais Sara fought, averted with the samurai armor Ray wore when fighting shogun, as several times the armor is hit and protects him. This is referenced earlier, when Ichiro seemingly tries to convince Ray that it's not about the armor, it's about the man. Ray takes it to mean that he doesn't need armor to face the shogun, only for Ichiro to tell him that he'd be cut down in a second.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Mick's complaints as they leave the Yamashiros? The ATOM suit is destroyed, the food sucks, and no one is going to believe that Mick met ninjas.
- Artistic License – History: The ninjas seen in this episode are wearing the stereotypical black suits and masks, even though real historical ninjas didn't wear those. Also, the Shogun is represented as a small-scale local lord with a few dozen men and a single fortress, instead of the effective ruler of an entire country.
- Bad Future: Barry will be in dire straights down the line...but he doesn't want the Legends to help him.
- Batman Can Breathe in Space: Nate in his steel form evidently needs no air, as he gets sucked into the vacuum of space and time and survives.
- Bittersweet Ending: The Shogun is killed and the villagers are saved, but Ray loses his suit in the process...but still accepts that even without it, he is a hero. Also, whatever Future!Barry's message was that Jax and Stein listened to, it was clearly about something bad... but they can't tell the others.
- The Bluebeard: Apparently Tokugawa Iemitsu is quite openly one.
- Bookcase Passage: Rip had a secret chamber in the Waverider, containing an arsenal and comms panel with a message from Future!Barry.
- Brought Down to Badass: In order to defeat the Shogun (wearing Ray's ATOM suit), Nate and Ray have to get it to blow up, leaving Ray just a normal, every day genius capable of building a super suit that can fire photon blasts and shrink.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: When Vixen accuses Mick of "killing him", meaning Rex Tyler, Mick dryly states "I've killed a lot of people. You have to be more specific."
- Combat Pragmatist:
- When the first fight of Sara vs. the Shogun's right-hand man takes too long, Vixen knocks him out using her totem.
- During the second fight, Sara fights dirty using a hidden knife to end him.
- Continuity Nod: Ray knows of the Yamashiro Ancestral Weapon because he fought with Tatsu before.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: When Vixen and Mick won't stop bickering, Sara threatens to maroon them on a random time period...together! They immediately shut up.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: A transformed Nate knocks out Vixen in the blink of an eye.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: How the Shogun died after Nate destroyed the ATOM suit.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Nate says "I'm having a little problem accessing my powers." Sara makes the comparison obvious by calling it performance issues, and Ray later says he needs to be able to harden.
- The Dragon: The Shogun's chief enforcer is a trained samurai, boasting about which master taught him. Like the Shogun, the Dragon is a complete jerk, who likes to use his strength and power to abuse others. He has no respect for women, foreigners, or ronin (masterless samurai).
- Drama-Preserving Handicap: It's likely the Legends would have had an easier time with the Shogun and his army had Jax and Stein come with them.
- Emergency Transformation: Nate can only become Citizen Steel in the most dire of circumstances, and even then it's inconsistent.
- Eskimos Aren't Real: Vixen is convinced ninjas are just a myth. After all, she was recruited into a WWII from a rural African village and has no particular reason to know about what would be, at that point, an obscure style of espionage from feudal Japan.
- Feudal Japan: Nate and Ray's shenanigans in the Waverider caused them to land in 17th century Japan at the Kansai region.
- Fictionalized Death Account: The Shogun dies 10 years before his actual death from wearing futuristic armour when it explodes.
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: Subverted: after Gideon cues up "Time Is On My Side", she mentions that it was Rip's favorite song. Cue the reassurances that they will find him.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: Mick is able to fight off a horde of trained ninjas with only his basic, dirty street fighting style.
- Healing Factor: Any injury Nate sustained before using his powers will automatically heal once he finally does use them.
- Hidden Depths: Mick proclaims his love for ninjas by listing movies that have them.Sara: Never took you for a cinephile.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: While Tokugawa Iemitsu
was indeed the shogun of Japan in 1641, he didn't go around marrying random women only to murder them afterwards. - Homage: The episode is basically a giant love letter to the age of the samurai and the films of Akira Kurosawa.
- How Do I Shot Web?: Nate had trouble activating his Citizen Steel mode earlier. Luckily, he managed to transform just in time to save the day.
- Instant Expert: Zig-zagged. While the Shogun is able to quickly figure out how to use the ATOM suit's Hand Blast functionality, fortunately, he does not learn about its flight or miniaturization capabilities.Sarah: How does the Shogun even know how to operate your suit?
Ray: I designed it so that an idiot could use it.
Mick: An idiot does. - Job Title: Literally since Shogun is the official title of a ruler in Japan.
- The Knights Who Say "Squee!":
- Nate is practically skipping with glee at the idea of having superpowers.
- When Mick finally gets his wish and sees some ninjas, he's practically dancing with glee.Mick: I don't wanna shoot you guys. I love ninjas.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Jax and Stein don't tell Sara about Rip's secret chamber or Future!Barry's warning.
- McNinja: Mick disguises himself as a Ninja. This technically applies to Sara as well, given that the League of Assassins hire anyone regardless of ethnicity.
- Moment Killer: Nate's attempt to kiss Masako is cut short by Ray calling out that he found him. The former is very much annoyed.
- Mythology Gag:
- As in the comics, Nate discovers the serum transforms his skin into actual steel.
- A future version of the Flash giving a warning to the heroes? Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, is that you?
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Ray and Nate fooling around in the cargo bay is what triggers this episode's events.
- No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: The ATOM suit—created during the events of Arrow Season Three—is one-of-a-kind, so once it's destroyed it's gone for good.
- Not Named in Opening Credits: Grant Gustin is not credited in the opening credits for the voice he provides as Future!Barry.
- Not What It Looks Like:
- Because of Rex's last words being "Time traveler", Vixen assumes the Legends (specifically Mick) killed him. As such, she snuck on board the Waverider to get revenge.
- Downplayed at the end: Vixen throws a throwing star into the table Mick is at. Not as a threat, but so that he could have proof of seeing ninjas.
- Off Screen Moment Of Awesome: Mick is somehow able to kick two ninja's butts despite them last seen having the upper hand.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Mick has one when Vixen uses her totem against him.
- Sara, Vixen, and Mick have one when the shogun turns around wearing Ray's armor.
- The Shogun has one when a transformed Nate catches his sword and then when the suit is destroyed.
- Only Sane Woman: Vixen sure as hell feels like this at first, especially after Ray and Nate almost get everyone killed by screwing around.
- Origin Story: Ends up being this to the Soultaker Katana.
- Plot Hole: When Jax and Stein discover a secret compartment, it's protected by passcode lock. How did they get the code or how did they get through without it is never explained.
- Politically Correct History: None of the samurais Sara faces seem to be the least bit shocked about woman possessing the swordfighting skills she has, even though something like that would've been unthinkable in 17th century Japan. Downplayed Trope: The more-pressing concern of the Japanese people in this time period seems to be that there are non-Japanese people in Japan. The samurai, who were warriors and thus likely historically encountered other nations' warriors, likely find it a cultural difference and are internally commenting that those "less-civilized" nations would dare train a woman in the art of the sword. Also, none of the samurai seem to recognize that she is better than them, given that even after she takes down a handful of them by herself they still think they can beat her.
- Power Incontinence: Nate has trouble controlling his steel form.
- Protagonist-Centered Morality: The protagonists alter the timeline in a major way by killing Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu in 1641, even though in Real Life he only died in 1651. Even though this sort of meddling with history is exactly what the Legends are trying to stop the villains from doing, it seems that when the heroes do it themselves, there are no repercussions and no regret. Then again he did get his hands on Ray's ATOM suit and was unlikely to part with it willingly so...
- Revenge Before Reason: Vixen quickly assumed that The Legends are the ones who killed Hourman.
- Running Gag: Mick has an obsession with finding ninjas in feudal Japan. He finally does, in the climax, when he fights a few who are working for the Shogun.
- Seppuku: According to Ichiro, his son Oda was so popular among the troops that the jealous shogun ordered him to kill himself. Being a loyal samurai, Oda obliged.
- Sequel Hook: Future!Barry's words of warnings to Rip.
- Shout-Out:
- Jefferson makes a reference to Lost when saying it's always a bad idea to open secret hatches.
- Nate quotes Master Yoda as a training lesson.
- Single-Stroke Battle: Sara engages in one with The Dragon. She wins with a hidden knife.
- Sixth Ranger: Vixen joins the team to find Rex Tyler/Hourman's killer.
- Smug Super: After discovering his powers, Nate gets a tad bit too cocky and almost dies for it, as he doesn't have much control over his abilities.
- Stable Time Loop: The team save the Yamashiros and Nate is unintentionally the origin of the tradition of their female warrior-protectors, which will result in the 21st Century with Tatsu training (and saving the life) of Oliver, who was later responsible for saving Ray's life and getting Nate on the Waverider, and it was their goofing off which resulted in them arriving in Edo Japan so Nate could kick the whole thing off.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Almost literally. Despite them clearly being drawn to each other, Masako decides that she and Nate don't have a future together since he must return to the stars.
- Suspiciously Small Army: For some reason, the ruler of all of Japan only has about a dozen warriors under his command.
- Took a Level in Badass: Ray has some pretty impressive showings this episode even without the ATOM suit, being able to knock out his jailers and escape captivity and even fighting the Shogun (wearing his suit) with only a sword and a feudal armor.
- The Un-Reveal: We don't find out Future!Barry's message...yet.
- Upgrade vs. Prototype Fight: Ray and the Shogun's fight is a variant of this: the Shogun is in the ATOM suit, Ray is in samurai garb, wielding a sword. And of course, Ray has the advantage of knowing where to strike the suit to take out its key components before Nate comes along to help finish the job.
- Worthy Opponent: Subverted with the Shogun's Dragon. He says that Sara and Vixen have fought with honor....and will now take it into their graves. This bites him in the ass somewhat, as Sara then uses a dirty way to win against him.
- You Already Changed the Past: As shown by The Reveal of who the Legends befriended makes clear that they always went back in time to save them and go through the family tradition of the katana. This makes their killing of the Shogun long before his famed acts less abrasive.
- Young Future Famous People: The family the Legends befriend are the Yamashiros, the ancestors of Tatsu Yamashiro's husband.
