Despite having killed one of the two worst 'legends' and sidelining the other, Blood Ties still ran into more issues than it should have. That being said, there was still a great deal to like about this hour, and while the series is far from flawless, there’s evidence here that it’s beginning to find its feet.
The overall highlight of Blood Ties came through the execution of the storyline involving Sara and Rip. Sara, arguably the most interesting and best character on Legends, continued to grapple with being a “monster” as a result of her resurrection through the Lazarus Pit earlier in Arrow’s fourth season. After losing control of her bloodlust twice, causing her to flee Star City, she was once again consumed by the urge to kill. This is something that is still being explored on Arrow, albeit in a different way, but I like that they haven’t just ignored it completely. Consequences are an essential part of a given storyline. While I was far from convinced with the way in which Rip encouraged her to move past her issues - telling her that the cure was simply “being better” is such an abstract concept to use in resolving an interesting and more complex story; ideally the bloodlust is revisited throughout the season - it was what the show did in between that was enjoyable. A lot of that came down to Caity Lotz, who is consistently great in the role.
Her partner for the episode, Rip, was also great to watch as his failure to kill Savage in Ancient Egypt to avenge his family’s death came to the surface. Rip’s lies in the pilot in regards to the team being nobodies along with his motivation of revenge is pretty much the only thing that he’s got as a character right now, and I feel that the basic idea of him seeking revenge now is wearing thin already in terms of interesting story. I was pleased, then, that Legends took this opportunity to give us more of a backstory here. This was some distance from being standout television, sure. But for a show like this, it’s fine.
Away from these two, we were treated to another fun, and surprisingly deep, story with Snart. Wentworth Miller chews scenery every second that he’s on screen, but it was refreshing to see Blood Ties explore his character on more than a superficial level. The Flash told us early in season two that Snart’s sister was abused by his father, Lewis, who was also a thief. With time to kill in the 1970s, Snart thought this to be a good opportunity to try and change his own past. It seems reasonable to me that he would completely ignore Rip’s warning about messing with the timeline, even after Rory reminded him of it, and I liked that the show demonstrated that some things can’t be changed. After all, any changes made would have probably caused major issues with Snart being involved in this crew, which wouldn’t work. Instead, the emotional development explored during the scenes in Snart’s childhood home really assisted in connecting with his character. As much as he’s an enjoyable enough character just as the guy who makes frequent quips and loves freezing people, delving more into his past can only be a good thing.
I’d pretty much had enough of Vandal Savage after the first half of the Flash-Arrow crossover, and now I’m verging on the point of ignoring him each time he appears on screen. He’s not threatening, intimidating, he has no real presence within an episode and I still don’t believe that he takes over the world in a little under 200 years. As for his plan to use Carter’s blood to give his minions some immortality… in no way is that a good plot point. The less said about Ray’s adventures inside Kendra, the better. While Stein’s eventual admittance as to why he didn’t remember Ray was good enough, but it felt like a real chore to get to that point. Plus, Ray’s switch from confident to dispirited back to confident felt rushed and very poorly handled. With Carter gone, he seems to be competing with Kendra for the honour of being the most uninteresting member of the team.
Odds and ends:
- Though the Ancient Egypt flashbacks tied in far better than they have in the other episodes (both here and on Arrow), I’d be grateful if we never saw one again.
- It still confuses me greatly as to how Rip killing Savage would work. If Savage is killed in 1700BC, he isn’t alive in 2166 to kill Rip’s wife and son, which means that Rip doesn’t travel back in time to do the deed, causing him to remain alive and go on to kill Rip’s family, before starting the whole loop again? My brain hurts.
- “Kendra wouldn’t survive the time jump anyway. I pay attention.” I love how casually this line is delivered.
- “I’ve seen men of steel die and dark knights fall.”
- “Exactly how many knives do you have?”
What did you think of Blood Ties? Hit the comments with your thoughts!
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