Warning: SPOILERS will follow! This review is uniquely told from a new viewers perspective!
This weeks episode was fantastic! The preview from last week made it look like there was going to be a mutiny on the ship but it turned out to be space pirates! So far in the season we have only seen them travel through time; not space. This episode we get to see the crew space travel! Another great thing is they didn’t have a mission that was directly related to finding Savage. It was nice to get a break and realize there are other threats to the crew other than Savage and Chronos.
With part of The Waverider’s crew sent off to assist Captain Baxter in her ship and the other half guarding The Waverider, Ray’s excitement about being left as acting captain was really cute; pretending to be different characters from Star Trek and Star Wars. Also, Professor Stein really stepped up this episode, taking it upon himself to go aboard the ship infested with pirates to save his comrades. I enjoyed his reminiscent mission as he gets to finally play out one of his child hood fantasies. His ‘Space Ranger Rick Starr’ persona ended up saving the crew that was being held captive in the pirates’ brig. On a side note, did anyone else notice that all the AI computer systems have a name starting with ‘G’? Gary, Gilbert, and Giddeon.
Finally, we get to see a more detailed glimpse into Rip’s past and how he met his wife! I originally thought that he would have met her on a mission where it was more of a sappy love story, where he rescued the girl and fell in love with her; that type of story. Instead we got this emotionally complicated back story which I really enjoyed. Miranda giving up her position in the Time Travelers Academy to let Rip continue with his pursuit of becoming a Time Master. Her view on love is so powerful to me, “Love’s no threat. It’s beautiful and powerful, and once you find it, love changes everything.” Her speech about love also makes me wonder if she knew she was pregnant with Jonas at this time, or if that comes later.
When the space pirates attack The Waverider, Sara and Leonard pair off to inspect the damages. Leonard uses his cold gun to temporarily ice over the hole in the ship. As soon as he is done Gideon locks him and Sarah in the compartment with the hole. Huddling together for warmth 
throughout the episode, we see the two characters face death together. Sara having already died once, Leonard asks Sara the question that has probably been on many new viewer’s minds, “What it is like… dying?” Knowing that Sara is a character from the sister show Arrow, makes me wonder if she has talked about her death on that show already, or if this is the first time that viewers get insight to that particular question. Sara explains the feelings that she had when she died, “I guess, lonely. Like everybody I loved was a million miles away.” I thought this was an interesting take on death. Was she in purgatory and able to ‘watch over’ her friends and family when she died? I hope we get to learn more about her background from Arrow later, especially from the new ‘human’ Sara. Also, did you notice Leonard gave Sara his jacket? So chivalrous!
Leonard was the most heavily impacted with the prospect of death. We learn that he has almost died once before when he was young and that’s how he and Mick met. I don’t really believe that that was the closest he had ever been to death previously, and that it was just Leonard reminiscing because of the trouble in paradise with his partner. Leonard is voicing his regrets to Sara about his most recent wrongs against Mick. Leonard is fearful that, being left alone, “Mick can be a scary guy.” They have always been partners and looked out for each other, even if it means saving them from themselves. Although, I do think this is the most extreme circumstance for them. Leonard changing, wanting to be a better person, and Mick wanting to indulge in his old criminal ways; it’s tearing them apart.
With Leonard and Sara locked in the damaged compartment, it leaves it up to Kendra and Ray to fix the ship and save their crew members. Ray uses his A.T.O.M. suit as a space suit to go outside the ship and patch the hole, while Kendra tries to keep him conscious while his oxygen levels diminish. I thought this was kind of stupid. Why wouldn’t he just go back into the ship for a few minutes to regain his oxygen levels? It would have been much safer and much less stressful. Although, if they had done that we wouldn’t get to see Kendra save his life.
“I remembered what you said to me when I was almost dead. You were wrong, B-T-W. You don’t need me. You don’t need anybody. I mean your pretty amazing and I’m lucky to be your friend.” – Ray Palmer
Kendra kissed Ray! And I love that Kendra did; I’m on team ‘#AtomicHawk‘. It is going to make for an interesting relationship arc, because I predict we will see some sort of turmoil arise due to that fact that she is still destined to be with Carter/Kofu. I do think it was a bit of a ‘cookie cutter’ beginning to a relationship, but for right now I’m glad they have each other.
At the end of the episode we see the crew gathered together trying to decide what to do with Mick. Mick has had a rough go at it this episode. Rip had insulted him, “A serial arsonist was never part of my plan to stop Savage, especially one with the IQ of meat.” Leonard changing and not wanting to be his partner anymore has cut deeper than we ever thought it would have. Mick lets his pain get the best of him, even though we don’t know a whole lot about him personally, but his partnership with Leonard seems to be all he holds dear. The end is so emotionally charged when Leonard takes him to a remote wooded area, “Only one of us is walking out of here alive.”
We are left at a cliffhanger as Leonard points and shoots his cold gun at Mick. I don’t think Leonard would actually kill Mick. After we got to see the gun create ice to patch the hull of 
the ship, I think Leonard is just going to turn Mick into an ice sculpture for a while. The crew could leave Mick somewhere they can come back to get him when they are finished with their mission; but with that comes the wrath of Mick once everything is over. I wonder if Leonard and Mick will be able to patch up their relationship or not.
This weeks episode was incredibly emotionally charged, and as a viewer starting to dig deeper into the characters’ past and their emotions, it makes me feel much more connected. At the end I realized as the credits began to roll that my mouth was hanging open; I was in shock. I was so mad that it was the end of the episode. We viewers have to keep each other strong as we await next week’s episode!
Check out the preview below – it’s going to be a good one. I love that they are going to the 1950’s!
Tweet me your theories on what happened to Mick @prmiller20!