We Screw Things Up For The Better

Thank you so much for the tag @uncleasad!!!

Make a new post with the last sentence you wrote on your current WIP (treat this as a guideline, not a hard and fast rule!)

This week's post is a little different. Since I just covered the Season One Finale of Legends of Tomorrow yesterday, I'm going to finally announce the fic I've been planning!!! It's a rarepair ship fic between Kendra Saunders and Charlie, or as I like to call them, Fatebreaker. Set after Season Five in a timeline where Charlie never left the team, and Sara never got abducted by Gary, Kendra rejoins the team after her husband, Scythian Torvil, hits her. Charlie is immediately enamored with their mysterious new teammate, and they soon build a friendship that slowly becomes something more. The two ancient and newly mortal superheroes are forced to uncover uncomfortable truths about their pasts as they learn to accept themselves and find love in each other. And in the end, the two who have been running from fate for their entire very long lives may end up realizing that destiny can be a good thing- as long as you make it yourself.

The fic is called When Fate Is Gone, What's Left? and if you've been keeping up with my Legends rewatch posts, you'll know what that's a reference to. It's going to span four chapters, and I'll be posting them during the 20-week hiatus before my Season Two Rewatch starts on October 13th, most likely on Tuesdays. And this isn't the last sentence I wrote, because technically that was for a fandom I'm not posting about yet because I haven't finished the show, and it's not the last sentence from this fic, because that gives zero context 😅 But because I want this announcement post to be dramatic, it's not just one sentence either, so you can't be too mad at me. Here's a little scene I've written for one of the later chapters that will hopefully give you a good teaser for their dynamic and get you excited for this fic 🤭 Enjoy!

“I didn’t realize you were such a nerd.” “I’m not a nerd!” Charlie said. Kendra giggled. “I’m pretty sure you are. I mean, you like Star Trek, Supernatural, Shakespeare… those all seem pretty nerdy to me.” “Doesn’t make me a nerd,” they insisted, but they sounded much smaller and more uncertain this time. “It’s okay,” Kendra said, wrapping her arms around Charlie’s shoulders. Then she leaned in, her voice dropping ever so slightly. “I think nerds are sexy.” Charlie’s face was on fire. And if the gleam in Kendra’s eyes was anything to go by, she knew it. “Okay, fine. Just don’t tell the others. It’ll ruin my reputation.” “Your secret’s safe with me,” she smiled. Then she kissed them deeply, and all other sensations melted away.

Also!!! I will most likely be posting this fic on this blog, but I'll be posting updates and other things on my Legends of Tomorrow side blog, so please give me a follow there so you don't miss out! 🩵💜🩵

Season One Finale!!! 🎉

1x16 Destiny

More episodes here!

The Season One Finale!!! I can't believe we're here already 🥹 Only one season in, and this rewatch has been so much fun so far!!! I hope you're all enjoying it as much as I am 🥰 I'm going to miss it during the hiatus before Season Two (which starts on October 13th!), but we're not done just yet! Strap yourselves in for a very long post, because this one's about to be a doozy. But this is certainly a cause for celebration, because the Legends killed Vandal Savage 10/5/51/68 years ago today!

First things first, I have a correction to make. A few weeks ago, I said that Mick called Ray "Haircut" for the first time in Season One, Episode Eleven, The Magnificent Eight, but that is not the case. I didn't pick up on it because I hadn't thought to start keeping a list of the nicknames yet, but he actually calls him that for the first time in Season One, Episode One, Pilot, Part 1!

Speaking of, now seems like the perfect time to look back at all our lists from this season!!! So far, the Legends have time traveled to:

London, England, 2166

Saint Roch, New Orleans, 1975

Norway, October 19th, 1975

Ivy Town, 1975

Leipzig, Germany, 1975

Central City, 1975

Washington D.C., 1986

Soviet Union, 1986

Star City, 2046

Harmony Falls, Oregon, 1958

Hub City, 1958

Nanda Parbat, 1960

Kasnia Conglomerate, 2147

Salvation, 1871

Central City, 1990

Starling City, 2007

Star City, 2014

Central City, 1972

Ivy Town, 1950

Central City, 1993

London, England, 2166

The Vanishing Point

Central City, 2016

London, England, 2166

And in this episode:

Star City, 2016

Central City, 2016

Saint-Lô, France, 1944

Harmony Falls, Oregon, 1958

Saint Roch, New Orleans, 2021

Norway, 1975

Central City, 2013

Next, all the potential side effects of time travel! So far, we've learned about:

Bleeding from the eyeballs

Nausea

Vertigo

Temporary blindness

Blurry vision in the left eye

Seeing three of everything

Linguistic disorientation

Temporary deafness

Temporary inability to feel parts of your body, such as your face or dick

Linguistic Dysplasia

Now, the many aliases used by the team! So far, Professor Martin Stein has gone by:

The Operational Arm of Scimitar

Elon Musk

Dr. Gregor Gavrilov, of the State Council of Science

Leonard Snart has gone by:

Amhad Ahmed Izz-Al-Din

Doctor Ray Palmer has gone by:

Dr. Hannibal Lecter

John Wayne

And Vandal Savage has gone by:

Dr. Curtis Knox

And the nicknames! So far, Doctor Ray Palmer has been called:

Haircut, by Mick Rory, 5 times

Pretty Boy, by Leonard Snart

Boy Scout, by Leonard Snart and Mick Rory

Pretty, by Mick Rory

Stringbean, by Jonah Hex

Carter Hall has been called:

Birdman, by Mick Rory

Rip Hunter has been called:

Englishman, by Mick Rory

Ghareeb, by Vandal Savage

Kendra Saunders has been called:

Big Bird, by Sara Lance

Mick Rory has been called:

Pyro, by Ray Palmer

Sara Lance has been called:

Blondie, by Mick Rory

Next, we have a short list of the items the Legends acquired from the night of Kendra and Carter's first death:

The Amon Dagger

Priestess Chay-Ara's bracelet

And now, the Out of Time Crushes the Legends have had! So far, we've had:

Leonard Snart flirts with and kisses Valentina Vostok in 1986

Jax goes on a date with and kisses Betty Seaver in 1958

Sara "liberates, with an option to seduce later," and kisses Nurse Lindsay Carlisle in 1958

Next, the many crash landings of captain Rip Hunter:

Intentionally crashed into the Soviet Union, 1986, to avoid Chronos

Crashed into Star City, 2046, after failing to avoid Chronos's missile

Crash landed after being thrown by the Leviathan, because Rip tried attacking it when they were still within its reach instead of flying away and firing on it from afar

Admittedly, I would've thought there were more, but three crash landings in five months is still a really shitty track record for a captain who's been flying the ship for over a decade.

Next, we have the things that Leonard Snart and Mick Rory have stolen for themselves while on missions so far (that we know of. Let's be honest, they probably stole a lot more):

Wallet belonging to an employee at the Pentagon

Wallet belonging to Valentina Vostok

A bottle of vodka from Yuri the Bear

And now, Gideon's secret codes! Another thing where we probably never learn about all of them, but so far, we've heard of:

"Imperiex Onslaught", which tells her to move away from their adversaries and fire a warning shot to let them know they mean business

"Kanjar Ro", which tells her to create a holographic projection of the Waverider so she can slip away undetected

And while most of these happened before this show started, we have our list of the many times Sara Lance has died:

She was believed dead after the Queen's Gambit boat crash

She was believed dead after the Amazo boat crash

She experienced a spiritual death when she joined the League of Assassins

She actually died when she was killed by Thea Queen, under Malcolm Merlyn's control

She experienced a spiritual death when she joined the League of Assassins for the second time

And finally, the list of real historical figures that have shown up as characters! So far, we've seen:

Bill Gates' father

H. G. Wells

In preparation for the fanfic I'm writing (I'll be sharing more info about it under the cut), I rewatched Legends of Today and Legends of Yesterday, the crossover episodes of The Flash and Arrow that set up Legends of Tomorrow, and I have a few things to share from those episodes!

First, in Season 2, Episode 8 of The Flash, Legends of Today, Vandal Savage is surprised to hear them call her the name "Kendra". This confirms what I speculated in Season One, Episode Thirteen, Leviathan, that that wasn't actually her name during the life that she had a flashback to. She just couldn't remember what her name was then, so her mind filled it in with what her name is now. And, during the fight with Barry Allen and Oliver Queen in the church, Vandal Savage comments on how he's never encountered a speedster before, saying that Barry's abilities are "Astonishing!" He is, of course, quoting the beloved catchphrase of Professor Martin Stein, foreshadowing the fact that he's going to meet him later on in the show DC's Legends of Tomorrow- and that, for him, he already has.

Next, there are a few things to say about Season 4, Episode 8 of Arrow, Legends of Yesterday. First, the unfortunate plot hole it creates. When Teams Arrow and Flash are trying to learn more about Savage so they can figure out how to take him down, Felicity finds a video of Aldus Boardman talking about Savage. Aldus Boardman is, of course, Kendra and Carter's son from a past life, as we learn when we meet him in Season One, Episode One, Pilot, Part 1. Yet, when they go to meet him, just a few weeks later at most, they show no signs of ever having seen him before. And another unfortunate thing about this episode is just how horrible Carter is to Kendra throughout it. We've been seeing glimpses of what a terrible person he is throughout Legends of Tomorrow, but I'd say this episode has the most examples of it. First, when Carter shows Kendra their Hawk Suits, he tells her that it's something they find in each life, and that "sometimes I find it, sometimes you find me, and we look for it together." There's absolutely no way that, in all their 206 other lives, Kendra has never been the one to find the Hawk Suits first. But of course, he has to make her believe that she's supposed to be dependent on him. Otherwise, she'll realize that she doesn't need him, and he'll be left with nothing. Another example of this is when he tells her, "I'm typically the one who makes the plans." Learning that he hasn't learned to listen to her in 4,000 years is disappointing but not surprising. And, possibly worst of all, during the scene where he's training her, he kicks her while she's down for absolutely no reason!!! It wasn't to teach her anything; it was just because he's a piece of shit who likes hurting and controlling her 🤬 And the episode doesn't shy away from that fact, either. Carter tries to help her unlock her powers, but he can't; Cisco is the one who does. And speaking of Cisco, like Mick, he's a master of nicknames, and he gives Carter two: He-Man and Mr. Agro. And lastly, in this episode, we learn that they are action figures of Leonard Snart in-universe. Which makes sense from the perspective that The Flash is a superhero they make merch for, and kids need villains for their Flash action figures to fight. But when you consider that Leonard Snart is a wanted criminal who has killed multiple people, making an action figure of him was a questionable choice, to say the least 😂

Now, finally, the season finale! There wasn't a whole lot to talk about in this episode, but I don't think anyone can complain about this week's post being short 😂 But the one thing I do want to talk about is how Rip is, like Carter, still a piece of shit. Tragically, in this episode, we learn that Sara's sister, Laurel, has been killed by Damien Darhk. Sara is obviously heartbroken by this news, and she begs Rip to take her back in time so she can save her. Rip tells her that in the original timeline, before he recruited her to be a Legend, Sara was going to die in the fight with Damien Darhk, too. And while that might be true, he also tells her that the outcome would still be the same even if they bring the whole team to try and save her. This is a bald-faced lie; there is no way he could possibly know that. It's stated directly in this episode that Gideon can no longer monitor the timeline now that they've destroyed the Oculus. And even if she could, they haven't tried it yet, so that timeline doesn't and has never existed. And it simply doesn't make sense logically; if they were to go in, the whole Legends team and Team Arrow, armed with the knowledge of how the fight originally went down, what Darhk is going to do, and how Laurel is going to die, it is highly, highly unlikely that they wouldn't be able to come up with a plan to defeat Darhk without sacrificing any of their lives. He just can't be bothered to put any time or effort into a mission that doesn't interest or benefit him, because he's the fucking worst.

I'm sorry to leave it on such a depressing note 😅 but I do have one more thing to share before the cut! I have compiled a list of every song used in Season One of DC's Legends of Tomorrow!!! Starting with the songs used in the show's trailers:

"Novocaine" by Fall Out Boy, "Deities and Destroyers" by Damned Anthem, "Bang a Gong (Get It On)" by T. Rex, and "Time Has Come Today" by The Chambers Brothers

1x01 Pilot, Part 1:

London 2166 / Set a Course, You Are Legends, Boarding the Waverider / Back in Time, "Shining Star" by Earth, Wind & Fire, "Love Will Keep Us Together" by Captain & Tennille, and The Lie

1x02 Pilot, Part 2:

Nuclear Missile Sale, "Disco Inferno" by The Trammps, "Stranglehold" by Ted Nugent, and Destinies

1x03 Blood Ties:

Atom Goes Inside to Save Kendra, "Fight the Power, Pt. 1" by The Isley Brothers, "I Got the Fire" by Montrose, Leonard Goes Home, and Two Waltzes, Op. 54, B. 105, No. 1 in A Major: Moderato,

1x04 White Knights:

String Quartet No. 48 in C Major, Op. 64, No. 1, Hob.III:65: I. Allegro moderato, Time Masters Offer a Deal, and Nevsky Prospect 4

1x05 Fail-Safe:

Russian Problems and "We'll Meet Again" by Vera Lynn

1x06 Star City 2046:

"Hawt" by Brillz & Ghastly

1x07 Marooned:

Broken Oath for Love and Rory Betrays, Snart Handles Him

1x08 Night of the Hawk:

"Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and His Comets, "Fall in Love with Me" by Joe Montgomery, "She Used To Be My Girl" by Tony Perkins, and Things Get Batty / Left Behind

1x09 Left Behind:

"Like Twist" by Bobby Page & The Riff-Raffs, They're Not Coming Back, and Rescuing Sara from Nanda Parbat

1x10 Progeny:

"Hello Gorgeous" by Anders Johan Greger Lewen and Tale of Oedipus Rex / The Hunters Are Coming

1x11 The Magnificent Eight:

The Magnificent Eight

1x12 Last Refuge:

Enter the Pilgrim / Rip's Revenge and Jax Meets His Father / Mick Meets Himself

1x13 Leviathan:

Hawkgirl Fights Savage, Atom Fights Leviathan

1x14 River of Time:

Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92: II. Allegretto and Martin Sends Jefferson Away

1x15 Destiny:

"Love Will Keep Us Together" by Captain & Tennille, Escape the Time Masters, At the Oculus / Cold Hard Sacrifice, and Time Is Unmoored

1x16 Legendary:

"Slowing Down the World" by Savages, Savage Meteoritual Fight, Sacrificial Trip to the Sun, and Who's Up For More?

And if you want to listen to the whole thing, here's the full playlist!!!🎶

And now, for a few things I noticed that relate to later episodes of the show! If you're only on this episode, please be warned that there are spoilers under the cut!

1x15 Destiny

More episodes here!

Ah, the emotional and action-packed penultimate episode of Season One! I can't believe we're almost at the finale 🥲 only one more week to go! But in the meantime, we have this episode to talk about! The Legends go to a few places in time, but they're all places they've been before:

The Vanishing Point

Central City, 2016

London, 2166

And we don't get any new nicknames in this episode, but Mick does call Ray "Haircut" again! He also calls him "Pretty Boy" again in this episode, but that nickname isn't prevalent enough to get its own list.

And speaking of Mick and Ray, in their scene in the galley after escaping the Time Masters, Mick tells Ray, "...if you tell the team I actually care, I'll shave your head." Not only does he not threaten him with violence, as he has in the past, but he actually threatens to give Haircut a haircut! 😂

That's just one of a few scenes in this episode that showcase the bond that Mick and Ray have built throughout the season. Another much more emotional scene is when Mick tries to sacrifice himself to save Ray when one of them needs to stay in contact with the Oculus in order to destroy it. It's an incredibly touching scene, but Mick never should've been the one to sacrifice himself. Rip was there with them, too, and if he were a good captain, he should've protected his crew and gone down with the ship. But he's not, so he didn't even say anything to Mick before he left him to die. Not goodbye, not thank you, no "it's been an honor", nothing. God, I hate him.

But, thankfully for Mick, he doesn't end up sacrificing himself after all. Tragically, Leonard steps in and does it for him. But first, he plants his pinkie ring from their first job on him. And I headcanon that Mick starts wearing it on a chain around his neck after this episode. Rest in peace, Leonard Snart 😭 He was a true hero, and one of the best of the Legends 🫡

But on a happier note, we learn what Gideon's favorite song is! When she overrides the Time Masters' ships, she plays "Love Will Keep Us Together" by Captain & Tennille over their speakers. This is the same song that Mick played on the jukebox in the bar scene from the pilot, so she probably learned it from hearing him play it on the ship 🥹 adorable Gideon moments are my favorite!

And finally, a comics reference! When explaining to Rip why the Time Masters are working with Vandal Savage, Time Master Druce tells him that "In 2175... the earth is attacked by a warlike race of extraterrestrials from the planet Thanagar." In the comics, Thanagar is the planet of origin of Nth metal, the material in the meteorite that gave Priestess Chay-Ara, Prince Khufu, and Hath-Set their powers. And I haven't read many comics about these characters, so I don't know much about the different origin stories they've had over the years, but in at least one comic run, Thanagar is referred to as Hawkworld and is the home planet of Hawkgirl and Hawkman.

And now, for a few things I noticed that relate to later episodes of the show! If you're only on this episode, please be warned that there are spoilers under the cut!

1x14 River of Time

More episodes here!

So this is two weeks in a row where I don't have much to say 😅 That might be due in part to the fact that this is the first episode of the show to take place entirely in the Temporal Zone. But fear not! It'll only get better from here; I do still have a few fun facts for this episode, and I've already got a lot planned for the season finale post, and I haven't even rewatched it yet. And as much as I love Season One, this show only gets better after this!

But for now, this episode! For starters, there are a couple of references to DC Comics in this episode. When Sara is preparing to be the navigator, she asks what "Jurgens Ridge" is. And while we never find out what it is in-universe, the name is a reference to Dan Jurgens, the writer and artist for the DC Comics series Time Masters: Vanishing Point. And when they arrive at the Vanishing Point later in the episode, Rip requests an assembly of the Time Council in accordance with General Order 52, which is a reference to the DC Comics series 52. And I doubt they knew it at the time, but the comic series 52 features multiple characters who will eventually appear in DC's Legends of Tomorrow in some capacity.

We also get a glimpse of how petty Vandal Savage is at the Vanishing Point after Rip has been put in his cell. Savage taunts him with the novelty pen that Rip used to escape him back in Egypt in 1700 BCE, which he claimed not to have known about earlier in the episode. But Savage didn't plan on being captured by the Legends in the last episode, so he couldn't have planned to have it on him to torment Rip. That means that he's kept it with him at all times in the hopes that he would get a chance like this, which is a very funny detail about an otherwise terrifying villain.

And this is purely speculation, but throughout the episode, Leonard talks about a job he and Mick once pulled that went south, called "Alexa". It didn't happen today, but I vividly remember watching this episode for the very first time and our Alexa being triggered every time he said it. And considering the Alexa had been out for about a year when this episode was filmed, it's entirely possible that this was done intentionally as a prank on the viewers. It certainly seems like something Leonard Snart would approve of 🤣

And now, for a few things I noticed that relate to later episodes of the show! If you're only on this episode, please be warned that there are spoilers under the cut!

1x13 Leviathan

More episodes here!

Thirteen down, three more to go! They're going right into the belly of the beast now, because the whole episode takes place in:

London, 2166

We also get the third entry into our list of Rip's crash landings, with the most easily avoidable crash yet:

Crash lands after being thrown by the Leviathan, because Rip tried attacking it when they were still within its reach instead of flying away and firing on it from afar

He really is a fucking dumbass. And speaking of having even more reasons to hate the assholes in this show, we learn about a couple more ways that Carter is an asshole in this episode! The first example comes in the form of a comparison with Ray. When Kendra tells the team that the bracelet Cassandra is wearing belonged to her and that she was wearing it the night of her first death, Ray chimes in to say it's great that they found it, since objects present the night of her first death can be used to kill Savage. Kendra then looks at him in surprise, to which he responds, "You're my fiancée. I listen to you." This is extremely in character for Ray, so it shouldn't be surprising to someone who has been dating him for over two years now. The only reason this would be surprising to Kendra is if it were a stark contrast to the way she's been treated in the majority of her relationships throughout all her four thousand years of existence. It's definitely something that we've been shown before, but this scene just serves as even more proof that every incarnation of Carter has always been terrible at listening to Kendra.

The second example comes from the flashback Kendra gets when she touches Carter's mace. Back in 1941, we see that that incarnation of Carter forgot their anniversary. His excuse is that it's hard to remember all of them. But even if it were terribly difficult to remember all eight anniversaries they've ever had, all he had to do in this life was remember this one, and he couldn't even do that. It's not surprising, just disappointing. Kendra deserves so much better.

Another unfortunate thing about this flashback scene is that it is probably the biggest plot hole we've seen so far. Legends of Tomorrow has surprisingly few of them throughout its entire run, and while I always do my best to suspend my disbelief and think of reasonable explanations for things, I think I would be doing you all a disservice if I don't point out the show's (very) few flaws. The flashback is set in 1941, but as we know from the pilot episode, their previous incarnations, Edith and Joe Boardman, died in 1925. Even if these incarnations were born later that same year, they would still only be sixteen years old. Now, they did have Caity Lotz play Sara at nineteen just an episode ago, so I can't be certain, but I'm pretty sure they're meant to be older than that in this scene. And this is much more of a nitpick, but this incarnation of her was also named Kendra, and according to this source I found, there were no uses of the name Kendra until 1946. Now, this could of course be because Kendra's memory isn't complete, and she hears him call her Kendra because she can't remember what her name was at the time. Her incomplete memory could also explain why the year is wrong, but I will admit that I'm definitely reaching for an explanation there. But thankfully, this isn't a plot hole that really affects anything aside from our mental timeline of Kendra and Carter's past lives. It works just as well if we pretend that the flashback was set a decade later, which is exactly what I'm going to do for my own peace of mind.

I regret that this rewatch post has been so negative; these are meant to be love letters to my favorite show of all time, but aside from praising the many incredible things that you see directly in the episode, I didn't have much else to comment on. But have no fear! It's not all doom and gloom; this episode contains one of the few noteworthy bloopers from the Season One blooper reel! When the team is discussing their kidnapping of Savage's daughter, Jax says the line, "And this lid is gonna be very upset when he finds out that we took his pot." But there was at least one take where Franz Drameh accidentally said, "And this lid is gonna be very upset when he finds out that we took his weed." Now, we don't have any evidence of this, but I don't think it's too far-fetched for me to say that I could see Jax mixing these words up on accident, too. 🤣

And now, for a few things I noticed that relate to later episodes of the show! If you're only on this episode, please be warned that there are spoilers under the cut!