TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Legends Of Tomorrow Season 02 Episode 14: Moonshot

You have to wonder if the writers of this show just have a childhood wishlist that they go, “Oh! I always wanted to go here, let’s send the Legends there!” Because that’s basically what Season 02 of this show is, and I’m perfectly ok with that.

“Moonshoot” once again put the Legends of Tomorrow in an epic place in history. In this case, what was supposed to be the “doomed yet heroic” flight of Apollo 13 (seriously, go see the Tom Hanks movie, it’s great). Yet, much like recent episodes, it turned expectations on our heads, in more ways than one. First off, we got to see Commander Steel again, but instead of a superhero, he was apart of Mission Control at NASA! Nice touch writers.

It was great seeing him react to not only Rip, but Ray, Amaya, and of course, Nate. All the while revealing where he put the Spear of Destiny. On the moon!!!!! Brilliant. Though spoiled, we also got to see Thawne being oh so villainous, mainly taking the place of one of the Apollo 13 astronauts to try and get the spear, and yet, he also got to show off his human and scientist side, and even forge a connection with Ray in the process. Again, it’s the simple things that make this show work. They could’ve easily kept Thawne tied up and let Ray save the day, but instead, they took a more fun and personal approach and force them to work together multiple times.

Which was something that could not be said for Rip and Sara. Who had to butt heads because it wasn’t clear at times who was Captain. Yet, this was fine, and very natural. In fact, it would have been wrong for Sara to simply take a backseat to Rip after all the growing she’s done as Captain in Rip’s absence, and Rip still has a place on the ship, there’s no doubt about that.

The best part though, was the Steel/Nate/Amaya dynamic. You’d think being a historian, that Nate would understand that his grandfather couldn’t return home, yet, you totally understood that he didn’t care, he wanted his father to be happy in life and maybe not turn out like he did, and he was willing to risk his entire existence in order to make that happen. This of course led to Amaya learning about her own future (in more ways than one), which may seal her fate. Or possibly…create a new one. Hard to say at present.

But the heartbreaking moment was Commander Steel’s sacrifice. Unlike a certain sacrifice in tonights Flash episode, this one felt more real, and more tragic. Commander Steel had his grandson in front of him, and his son back on Earth waiting for him, yet he had to sacrifice himself in order to save everyone. It was a beautifully tragic moment.

Now, this wasn’t a perfect episode, there were things that felt odd, like how Apollo 13 would be remembered in this timeline if the Legends changed just about every part of their doomed flight, including the fact that one of the astronauts was Thawne and not the real one…which makes you wonder what history would do without him (he became a Senator in real life for the record), as well as what people would think happened to Commander Steel, and how Nate’s interaction with his father might have changed his own history…but…hey…time travel. Am I right?

In the end though, “Moonshot” was every bit as epic as you can get on this show. The question now is…what happens now? The spear fragments are all found, the Legion has some, the Legends have some, so what’s next?