Legends of Tomorrow 1.10 “Progeny”

The Legends are off to 2147 and the Kasnian Conglomerate where Rip Hunter hopes to take out one of Vandal Savage’s most powerful allies, Per Degaton (Cory Gruter-Andrew) before he can help the immortal rise to power. In the comics, Per Degaton was a time traveling super villain that needed to be stopped by any means necessary because of his heinous crimes. In “Progeny” though, he is still a boy who, even though he is under the sway of Vandal Savage, has still not committed any of the acts that will allow Savage to take over the world. Therein lies the moral dilemma for the team. Will they have a hand in killing a child before he can become the monster that will shape the future?

As the drama of Per Degaton unfolds, Ray is horrified to see how his Atom technology is being used to maintain the iron grip of the future dictator’s father, Tor Degaton (Matthew Harrison) and has a face to face with one of his descendant, Dr. Bryce (Jewel Staite); Kendra begins to have vivid memories of her life as Edith Boardman with Carter Hall (Falk Hetschel) in the 1920s and must come to terms with her feelings for the man that fate says she is destined to love (Carter) and the man she chooses to love (Ray), and finally Rory and Snart have their ‘come to Jesus moment’ after beating the hell out of one another, which results in Rory rejoining the team and revealing that, since he failed in his mission, the Time Masters will be sending Hunters after him and the others, and they won’t stop until all of the Legends are wiped out of history.

After rebounding with a solid episode last week, Legends of Tomorrow takes another step back with a storyline that holds much promise, but just doesn’t quite deliver like it should. The dilemma of killing someone who will become a tyrant before they have even committed their first sin is ripe for dramatic mining, but the story never really pans out. Here we see Per Degaton as a bratty punk who, if he doesn’t deserve death, at least deserves a good, swift kick in the ass. Really, I didn’t see any good in him that would warrant him getting the second chance that Rip thought he should have. Also, the story is hurt as the final moments of the episode seem rushed to me too. Much like “Night of the Hawk,” this episode could have benefitted from being a two-parter.

The storyline with Ray is a little more successful, but even it isn’t 100% rewarding since the wonderful Jewel Staite of Firefly fame is so underused. Again, exploring her character as Ray’s descendant could have been so much more fun if this was a two-parter. As for the flashbacks that Kendra experiences, they do work and are the second best thing in this episode. It is great to see Falk Hetschel back as Carter Hall and very cool to see him and Kendra in one of their past lives, especially since the Boardmans were first mentioned in the pilot.

The best part of this episode is the resolution to the Heat Wave situation and how Rory and Snart settle their difference with their fists. As a lifelong fan of the Flash, this is just such a Rogues’ way of handling a problem. Plus, Wentworth Miller continues to be the thing about this show. He always delivers the goods and the best performance of the episode. Also, the Per Degaton storyline is successful in one regard and that is mirroring the dilemma with Rory at the beginning of the episode and the question of giving someone the chance to right themselves with the proper guidance. As we see by the end of the episode, sometimes the gamble pays off (as it does with Mick Rory) and sometimes you come up snake eyes (as the team did with Per Degaton).

Speaking of gambling, I’m betting the next episode with Jonah Hex will help put the Legends back on an even keel and the score for that episode will be higher than this one, which is 3 Stars.