Legends of Tomorrow season 1, episode 5, “Fail-Safe,” featured a prison break and nuclear tensions.
“Fail-Safe” continued the Cold War story from “White Knights.” With Stein, Rory and Ray locked away in a gulag, Rip sends Snart and Sara in to rescue them. Jax and Kendra are benched because Rip doesn’t want to risk them falling into Savage’s hands. He also has a side mission for Sara: If things go sideways, she is to kill Stein to prevent Savage and the Soviet Union from cracking the secret of Firestorm.
Thematically, this episode explored our team’s grasp on humanity and how it sets them apart from their enemy. For Rory and Ray, a new bond is formed when Ray takes a beating for Rory. Rory, who is used to only having loyalty to Snart, is surprised Ray would do something like that. But he ends up refusing to leave Ray behind when Snart comes in to rescue him because of that gesture. Rory is perhaps the least nuanced character in the main cast, but he had a nice little arc in this episode.
Also exploring humanity in this episode is Sara. Snart continues prodding her about Rip’s side mission, trying to talk her down from killing Stein. Just as Kendra said that Sara needs to embrace her human side, Snart did his best not to let Sara forget her target was a person and her teammate. Sara is looking toward the potential future and falling back on her experience with the League of Assassins, but Snart — who has a code of conduct of his own — doesn’t accept that. Sara ends up not pulling the trigger and the rescue mission is a success.
It’s worth noting that this is yet another notch in Snart’s belt toward his emergence as a hero. His arc has been subtle but powerful as he’s moved away from murderous criminal to thief with a code. The fact that he cared enough to talk Sara down from shooting Stein — something that would hurt her and the team — indicates just how far he has come. That he has become the voice of reason is rather incredible.
The developing dynamic between Snart and Sara is something I’m really enjoying. They began with some flirting in the pilot, but now they’re exploring some deeper concepts. They fit well together, as they both have checkered pasts but still have their own codes and loyalties. And at the end of the day, they’re working toward becoming heroes though neither believes they are deserving of the label.
The A-plot of this episode followed Stein in his effort to keep the secret behind Firestorm out of Savage’s hands. Vostok even puts him in an illusion with Cisco in an effort to get him to talk through his equation, but Stein knows Cisco well enough to recognize all the irregularities. It was a bit disappointing that Carlos Valdes didn’t actually get to play the real Cisco, but it was still fun to see him.
It takes Savage and Vostok having Ray and Rory tortured to get Stein to crack. This shows that Stein’s regard is less for himself and more for the people he cares about — an extension of his argument with Jax in the previous episode. He was cruel toward Jax in an effort to get through to him out of concern. His methods may not be good, but his heart is in the right place. Eventually, Vostok gets the information she needs and merges with Stein, but it’s Jax, who arrives on scene with Kendra, who inspires him into breaking the fusion.
Stein realizes after Vostok goes nuclear — literally — just how lucky he is to have Jax as his partner. And for his part, Jax has realized why Stein has been acting the way he has. The two come to a new understanding about the other, leading to an even stronger partnership.
The episode closes with Chronos attacking the ship and knocking them out of the time stream into a strange version of Star City — one with a Smoak Technologies skyscraper and a Green Arrow who is most definitely not Oliver Queen. Whaaaaa?
Watch a promo for the next episode
