Legends of Tomorrow Recap: Last Refuge

Violet recaps Legends of Tomorrow Season 1 Episode 12, titled Last Refuge, where the Pilgrim is trying to kill the Legends’ younger selves! Following the recap, both Violet and Josh share their thoughts about the episode.

• Her thoughts on Legends of Tomorrow, Season 1 Episode 12: Last Refuge
• His thoughts on Legends of Tomorrow , Season 1 Episode 12: Last Refuge

Legends of Tomorrow Recap, Season 1 Episode 12: Last Refuge

The Time Masters Council sentences a man to death via Omega Protocol, then informs him that the Pilgrim has made contact with his younger self. The man then drops to his knees, dying, and disintegrates into nothing. The Pilgrim comes in and receives her next assignment: the Legends of Tomorrow Team.

In Central City in 1990, the team looks for young Rory inside of a burning house, but are unable to find him. He is sitting outside, where the Pilgrim is about to attack him from behind, but luckily Ray stops her just in time.

The team brings young Rory onto the ship with them. Meanwhile, Sara and Kendra spar with batons. It seems that Kendra has not told Ray what her older self told her back in the 1800s.

Rip explains that the Omega Protocol calls for precision, and multiple attempts by the Pilgrim to travel back in time to kill them could cause irreparable temporal damage, so she only has one shot at killing each of them. Likewise, the Legends only have one shot at rescuing their younger selves before the Pilgrim gets to them. Gideon is able to detect that the Pilgrim is heading to Starling City in 2007 and targeting Sara.

A teenage Sara is visiting the Starling City police station, working on a criminal justice paper. Her father has handcuffed her to the desk. The Pilgrim suddenly attacks the police station, and young Sara is unable to run for cover. The police, including Detective Lance, fire back, but their bullets have no effect. Lance is able to release Sara and tells her to run. However, the Pilgrim is soon able to get to her. But just then, older Sara steps in and fights the Pilgrim. Rory uses his heat gun to blast back the Pilgrim, and they are able to take young Sara onto the ship with them and get away.

When Gideon tries to run another scan to see where the Pilgrim is headed next, it seems that the Pilgrim has been able to conceal her movements. She could be headed anywhere at any time. They rule out Kendra, because she can reincarnate anyway, and they also rule out Rip, because removing a former Time Master would be dangerous to the timeline. Snart points out that Rip has never told them about his past, but Rip says the less they know, the better.

Meanwhile, young Rory and young Sara have started fighting with each other. Sara goes to break up the fight. Young Sara demands to know what’s going on and why she and the older Sara look alike. However, Sara isn’t very forthcoming, though she assures young Sara that her father won’t lose her.

Kendra walks in on Ray freaking out – by eating vintage cereal. They talk about the two years they spent together in Hub City, and Ray is just about to admit to Kendra that right before they got rescued, he was going to propose to her — but suddenly, Ray falls to the floor in pain.

Kendra brings him to the med bay, where she and Rip see that bruises are appearing all over Ray. He is suffering from severe internal injuries. Gideon is able to detect a temporal anomaly in Ray’s timeline on December 19, 2014.

On that date, we see the Pilgrim attacking Ray. Then FIRESTORM flies in before she is able to kill him. While the Pilgrim is distracted, Rip tries to get Ray to safety. The Pilgrim is able to slow time and stop the blast that FIRESTORM sends towards her, and sends it back at him. The Pilgrim again goes after Ray, but Rip picks up a piece of the ATOM suit that Ray was working on, and uses it to send a laser blast at the Pilgrim, sending her crashing through the window.

Meanwhile, back on the Waverider, as Ray is suffering from his past self being thrown around, Kendra has been talking him through the pain, telling him that she wants to spend whatever time they have left with him. After he stabilizes, he gives her the credit for saving him, saying he couldn’t miss spending the rest of their lives together. She finds the engagement ring on the floor, and picks it up. He takes this to mean that they are now engaged.

Upon returning to the Waverider, Rip explains that what the Pilgrim did to FIRESTORM is called temporal micro-manipulation, which is the ability to control time in one’s immediate vicinity. Rip’s next plan of attack is to go back to their dates of birth and take their newborn selves. They just can’t take too long returning the newborns, as then history would be altered and there won’t be a home to go back to – they’ll disappear from the minds of everyone who knew them.

Sara finds Kendra sitting alone, and Kendra tells Sara about the engagement. However, Kendra isn’t so sure she wants to get married. Sara says she needs Kendra’s help, then she’ll help Kendra figure out what to say to Ray. However, unbeknownst to Sara and Kendra, it turns out that Ray has overheard their little chat.

Sara and Kendra dress as nurses and go to Central City in 1972 to take newborn baby Snart from the hospital. They coo over how cute he is, then bring him back to the ship, and tell young Sara and young Rory that they have to take care of baby Snart.

Rip makes sure that none of them participate in their own abductions. Jackson tells Stein how his own father didn’t get a chance to hold him, because he shipped out to Somalia before he was born, and died two weeks later.

In Ivy Town in 1950, Stein’s mother gives birth to him in the backseat of a car. An ambulance pulls up, and Rip and Rory, posing as doctors, take baby Stein from his father, saying they’ll meet the new parents at the hospital.

Stein and Ray then go to Central City in 1993 to get baby Jax. However, Stein is surprised to see Jax’s father there in his army fatigues, looking at baby Jax, so Stein goes back and gets Jax so that he can talk to his father. They have a brief conversation before Jax’s father has to head out. He asks Jax to give a message to his wife, that he saw their son, is proud and happy, and will be home soon. Jax seems like he wants to warn his father about his impending death, but at the last second decides against it. A few minutes later, Pilgrim goes in to take baby Jax, but there’s a note in the baby bed: “Missed me!”

The team takes the Waverider to a safe harbor where they can keep their younger selves. It turns out to be the house of Rip’s adoptive mother. We also learn that his real name is Michael. She knows all about the Time Masters, and even works for them, but her loyalty is to her children. Her place is a Refuge with an undisclosed location and time where children who have been chosen to become Time Masters can be kept safe.

Rory has a conversation with his younger self about the fire, and calls him out on starting it. He warns young Rory that there better not be any accidents here.

Rip’s mother gives him some mince pies for the road, and the Legends leave in the Waverider.

Jax talks to Stein about how he regrets not saying anything to his father.

Ray confesses to Kendra that he overheard her and Sara talking, and tries to give her an out on the engagement. Kendra tells Ray that the woman in 1871 was her, and that she told her if she ever tried to be with anyone other than Carter, it would end in heartbreak. Ray tells her to make a decision on her own.

Rip calls everyone to the deck to see a video transmission that has come in from the Pilgrim, threatening the loved ones of the team members — unless they surrender their younger selves. We see that she has taken Jax’s father hostage. Rip counters her demand, saying he will surrender himself from before he became a Time Master, because then the team would have never been formed. She accepts.

Then Rip, Rory, Jax, and Stein meet up with Rip’s mother and younger self at an abandoned Time Masters Outpost. She does not approve of Rip’s plan, but doesn’t seem too concerned as she leaves. The Pilgrim shows up not long after. She seems to have no qualms about killing a child, and is only concerned about completing her mission. Rory tells the Pilgrim that they don’t believe she has the team’s loved ones on her ship, so she agrees to a prisoner exchange – she’ll hand over Jax’s father once they start sending young Rip toward her, and then release the rest once he is in her possession. She beams Jax’s dad in and he begins walking toward the Rip and the others, while young Rip begins walking toward the Pilgrim.

Meanwhile, the other team members are hiding nearby, ready to carry out a plan of action. Ray, in his tiny ATOM suit, lands on young Rip’s shoulder and gives the signal to the others. He then returns to life size form and shoots a blast at the Pilgrim – but she slows time, leaving him suspended in the air. Snart and Sara run in, and Captain Cold and Heat Wave use their guns on Pilgrim. However, she once again slows time. FIRESTORM and Hawk Girl join in, but they get frozen in time as well, as does Rip, who tries also tries to fire at her. However, the one person the Pilgrim is not holding back is young Rip, who sneaks up and stabs her, catching her off guard, and causing her to drop the time freeze. While Sara gets young Rip to safety, everyone’s gunfire is unleashed on the Pilgrim, and only a pile of ash is left.

The team goes to Rip’s mother’s house. Rip and his mother reminisce about Rip’s first day a the Refuge, and they say their goodbyes. Rory reveals to his younger self that he’s him. He also tells young Rory that his family dying in the fire wasn’t his fault, and that he can change what he becomes. He advises young Rory not to be like him, to be better.

Back on the ship, Stein is trying to talk to his wife, but she doesn’t seem to remember him. Rip later explains that until they return their younger selves to the timeline, it will be as if they never existed. Stein says that he always thought that they would be returned to the same moment they left, so he didn’t say goodbye to his wife, and regrets not doing so. However, Rip promises that he won’t risk Stein’s marriage in order to save his own wife.

Sara’s dad is on the ship as well, and Sara gives him an amnesia pill. He hugs her and tells her how proud he is of her.

Jax talks to his dad and tells him what is going on. He also tearfully warns him about what is supposed to happen to him in the future. They hug.

Ray lets his former fiancee, Anna, who died, rest in his and Kendra’s quarters. He then apologizes to Kendra for proposing while he thought he was dying. However, Kendra says she has realized that there’s never going to be a “right” time to get engaged, and puts the ring back on. She tells Ray she wants to marry him, and they kiss.

Jax confesses to Rip that he told his dad about what was going to happen to him. Rip tells Jax that time wants to happen — but also adds that maybe time wants to see Jax and his dad together.

Rip warns everyone that the timeline from which their younger selves have been removed has begun to set, so they need to move quickly to locate Vandal Savage so that they can restore themselves to their timelines. The only thing they can do is go to 2166, when Vandal Savage has conquered the world and is at the height of his power – even though Rip had previously said it was too dangerous to go there.

Scenes from the next Legends of Tomorrow episode, Leviathan

Scenes from Legends of Tomorrow Season 1 Episode 13: Leviathan

How did you feel about Season 1 Episode 12 of Legends of Tomorrow, titled Last Refuge? Let us know in the comments below!