Learn Rip Hunter’s Origin in Our Recap of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Episode 7

In a stupor, Rip Hunter watches an old message from his wife and son, they’re worried about him. Hunter has been holed up in his little office for a week trying to find out where Savage is, but the trail is cold and they can’t update Gideon given his rogue status. Meanwhile the crew is getting restless, especially the very grump Heat Wave. They interecept a distress call from the Acheron, the flagship of the time fleet, and its Captain Eve Baxter. The team doesn’t know its not a trap, but it may be their only way to find Savage again. Mick volunteers to accompany Rip, who leaves Ray in charge of the ship. Dr. Stein is eager to journey through Deep Space, citing childhood love for a “Rick Starr” comics. As they approach, Gideon reveals a self destruct code has left the ship’s temportal navigation offline. It could be a malfunction or…

Pulling an Arrow, we flashback to the early days of Rip Hunter’s career as a Time Master in training. He and his future wife Miranda Coburn are under attack by time pirates, but thanks to her quick thinking she manages to get rid of them. The whole thing was a simulation, however, and the two share a steamy make out session afterward. They’re stumbled upon unfortunately and quickly reprimanded since relationships are forbidden among Time Masters. In the present, Riper Hunter, Jax and Rory enter the dim ship only to be ambushed by, you guessed it, time pirates. Their captain, John Valor, is happy to see them and has heard all about Rip Hunter.

The time pirates contact the Waverider and threaten to kill Rip if they don’t bring them ship. Hunter thinks on his feet and says a keyword outloud, triggering an attack response from Gideon, who opens fire on the ship. Unable to contact the Captain or the ship, Dr. Stein exits the ship he stayed on believing it’s all up to him now. The Acheron returns fire on the Waverider, blasting a hole in the hull. Snart and Sara go in to fix it, filling it in with the cold gun until it loses its charge and the doors close, sealing them inside. Stein locates the Acheron’s weapons systems and takes them offline before anymore damage can be done. The pirates throw Hunter and company in the brig with Captain Baxter, who makes it well known her opinion on Rip Hunter and his cohorts. We flashback once again as Rip and Miranda (not their real names naturally) are given an hour to respond to the Time Masters.

Snart and Sara sit in the Waverider freezing to death, a surprisingly unfun thing for Captain Cold. He asks Sara what dying is like and she delivers the most poignant dialogue in one of these shows, detailing how lonely and distant it made her feel. Leonard details his first meeting with Mick Rory in Juvenile Hall, the first time he almost died. He has confidence in Rory taking on the pirates though, he stood up for him ever since they were kids, so who will stand up to them now? Dr. Stein, as he beats a guard and steals his clothes.

Ray suits up to seal the hull and on the other ship Jax can’t get the door open. Rory decides to take matters into his own hands and calls for the pirates to set him free to make a deal with the Captain, he just wants to go home. Captain Valor agrees to let Rory take them to the ship but gives him a beating to give his “escape” some authenticity. Ray works on the hull as his oxygen levels get lower. Meanwhile Snart wishes he could take things back, he knows that without him Rory can get quite scary. Rip in the meantime is having some regrets of his own, such as never being able to forgive himself for failing his family. We flashback once more where the tribunal against Rip and Miranda has been canceled as she took full responsibility for their actions, allowing Rip to stay in the Time Masters. The door then powers down to reveal Space Pirate Stein.

Ray continues to work on the hull, while nodding off all the while, so Kendra tries to keep him talking. He manages to get the hole patched but passes out. As his body flies into the ship’s cargo bay, somehow, Kendra rips his chest plate off and performs CPR as Gideon warns he won’t make it. Naturally he wakes up after about the fourth punch to the chest. Rory reappears on the Waverider, but he brought the pirates with him. Snart and company stand across from them and when it appears Captain Cold and Heat Wave are back together, Snart lets the cold loose on the pirates. As the fighting breaks out on the Waverer, Rory goes after the time drive in the engine room while the team on the Acheron try to stop the remaining pirates. Sara stops Rory before he can take the time drive, but he gets the upper hand on her in their battle, only for Snart to enter and put the cold on Rory. Meanwhile, Rip finds Captain Valor and does the trick that Miranda taught him and opens up the doors on the ship to send the pirates flying into space.

Captain Baxter, despite her initial inclinations, decides not to arrest Rip and instead offers him an update from her own AI: Vandal Savage is in Harmony Falls, Oregon in March 1958. In our final flashback, Rip confronts Miranda who couldn’t let him resign from his life’s dream. He made her realize she couldn’t be a Time Master anyway, because she found love with him. The world needs the Time Masters and the Time Masters need Rip Hunter, she just hopes when he realizes why she did it he’ll think of her. Rip assures her he will since they’ll be together.

On the Waverider, Kendra looks for Ray, clearly worried for him. He tries to tell her that despite her worries when she thought he was dying, she doesn’t need him. As his self-deprecation reaches its peak, she plants a kiss on him and they swap some spit in the hall. The Legends meet up on the ship’s bridge to talk about what to do with Rory. They can’t send him back to 2016 since many of them still have family there he could attack, and the brig is not suitable for long-term housing. Snart says he’ll handle it and we see him dragging Rory to a dense, foggy wood at night. He asks what happened to them, it’s like watching a terrible break up. The divide couldn’t be more clear and Rory says he should get it over with because only one of them is walking out of here alive. Knowing that, Snart opens fire on his friend at full blast.

You can watch a preview for next week’s episode, titled “Night of the Hawk,” using the player below.