Legends of Tomorrow recap: 'The Curse of the Earth Totem'

Legends of Tomorrow, this week, Sara takes some time off for a date while unbeknownst to her, the team goes on their own adventure.

Previously on Legends of Tomorrow, Zari came to accept her place on the team thanks to some intervention from Gideon. Also Nate and Amaya are back together, and Ray told Sara that Constantine is concerned she will be possessed again.

“The Curse of the Earth Totem” begins in the Bahamas in 1717. A group of pirates bring teasure onto a island and two go to bury the chest. A pirate couple chat and he gives her a necklace. After she puts the necklace on it activates. Vines appear and encircle her, much to the horror of the others.

On the Waverider, Ray talks to Amaya and Rory about the Zambesi totems. Zambesi has five tribes and each was granted one totem: water, fire, air, earth, and spirit. Amaya says she checked but there is no sixth tribe, so the sixth totem is still a mystery. Amaya has the spirit totem, Zari the air, and Kuasa the water. Ray says the fire totem is in Detroit, citing Amaya’s granddaughter Mari’s boyfriend as his source. Ray says they should go, but Rory says Sara is going to Star City for a date. Amaya realizes it must be with Ava. When Sara comes in she tells them she has plans and to go solo to Detroit.

In Star City, Sara sits nervously waiting for Ava to arrive and when she does, they greet each other and sit down for drinks. Sara asks about work and Ava says they should try and have a normal date and forget about time travel and their worries. Sara agrees and the two toast to their totally normal date.

In present day Detroit, Amaya stares at a picture of Mari on the screen and tells Zari she wants to see her, but knows it could mess everything up. Ray and Rory come in, saying Darhk already stole the fire totem and left a note. Nate says he found out the earth totem is on Blackbeard’s pirate ship in 1717. They argue momentarily about leaving without Sara, but ultimately decide to go without their captain’s knowledge or approval.

In China, Rip tries to talk Wally into joining him on his quest to save the world, but Wally is recovering from his breakup with Jesse. Rip then offers Wally a drink.

Decked out in pirate costumes, Amaya, Nate, Ray and Rory arrive in 1717 Bahamas and start looking for Blackbeard. They get heard by a man and tell him they want to join Blackbeard’s crew. Rory and Amaya drink in a local tavern and Amaya unloads her worries to him about what is happening to her granddaughters. She knows she will not get to stay with Nate or get to change Kuasa’s past. Rory tells her to take the night off from thinking and become a pirate.

Back in Star City, Sara tells Ava about her sister Laurel. Ava admits she read the Time Bureau's file when they were looking for Sara. Ava asks for her most embarrassing moment and Sara admits to being Peter Pan in an elementary school play. When her phone rings, she finds a message from Gideon telling her the team went back in time to locate the earth totem. Sara assures Ava everything is fine and tries to focus on her date.

In 1717, Rory sees Amaya is still down and gets Ray and Nate to join him in making the tavern believe she is the fearsome pirate queen Jiwe. Blackbeard arrives and hears the rumors. Amaya realizes what the team is doing and at Nate’s urging, hits him and Ray and makes them leave. Blackbeard introduces himself to Amaya.

Ray and Nate get back to the ship and realize something is wrong with the comms. Gideon informs the Legends the ship is parked in the Bermuda Triangle. When Ray claims the stories about the area are untrue, the power goes out.

Blackbeard sits with Amaya and Rory and asks if they are trying to join his crew. Amaya says they are looking for a specific treasure he might have and describes the earth totem. He says he will give them information for a price.

Some soldiers arrive ask for Blackbeard’s papers, but then the Darhk’s show up. Nora holds a gun on Rory, while Damien uses his magic on Amaya. He steals her totem and gets Blackbeard to tell him where the earth totem is located.

In present day China, Wally and Rip drink and confide in each other. Wally feels like he failed to fit into team Flash, and Rip tells him how his mistakes led to Darkh coming back and agents dying. Rip then asks Wally for his help and he agrees. Wally takes them both back to Star City/ He steals Agent Gary’s phone and watch, then gets Rip’s coat from the Bureau.

Back on the Waverider, Zari tells Ray and Nate they have to leave immediately because the ship is malfunctioning. Gideon explains they will not survive if they stay and cannonballs are headed towards the ship. The Waverider gets hit as Damien Darhk uses soldiers to shoot the ship, so the Legends leave 1717.

Back on land the soldiers get Blackbeard, Amaya, and Rory ready for execution. Amaya and Rory attack the soldiers and fight their way to freedom. After Amaya has a sword fight with a soldier and wins, the three run away.

In Star City, Ava is telling Sara a story about a teenage birthday party when she notices Gary. When Ava leaves to go speak with him, Sara notices the Waverider falling from the sky and immediately calls the team. Gary tells Ava about a speedster stealing his stuff and Rip’s coat. They get back to the table they find Sara gone and the bill paid. Ava is upset but tells Gary they need to go focus on finding Rip because he could be causing trouble. At that moment, Rip and Wally are in 1992 Tokyo, drunk and singing karaoke.

Sara gets back to the ship and asks the team what happened. Nate brings her up to speed and Sara comments she will never have a normal life. She tells Zari to get the Waverider working correctly so they can go get Amaya and Rory.

Nate tells the others a new anachronism appeared and shows them a picture of Damien Darhk as an admiral. Sara is insistant they get back to 1717, but Gideon reminds them returning to the Bermuda Triangle is a bad idea. Ava transports to the ship, both hurt and angry at Sara for ditching their date.

Back in 1717, Amaya and Rory try to convince Blackbeard to come with them to go find the earth totem. Blackbeard refuses, saying the treasure is cursed. Amaya and Rory go back to the tavern looking for crew and a ship. Amaya rallys the crowd, saying Blackbeard’s a coward, so they should take his ship and go look for the treasure. Blackbeard returns then and declares he too will follow the pirate queen Jiwe. The pirates and the two Legends take the Queen Anne’s Revenge to the island to get the treasure.

As the Legends and pirates go toward the buried treasure, Darhk and his people are beginning to dig it up. During the journey, Blackbeard finally admits what happened to his romantic partner, Anne Queen. He says she became a monster, and Amaya tells him the totem brings out the best or worst of its bearer. When the vines overtook her, he shot her and buried her with the gold. He says she is not truly dead and the scene turns to the Darhk family unveiling Anne’s body. Nora reaches for the necklace and Anne attacks. The group hears the screams and Amaya tells them to be brave. When they get to the clearing, they find Anne attacking everyone.

While Sara and Ava aruge, Nate figures out they can use the Time Bureau tech they have to go save Amaya and Ray, so they do and arrive in the middle of the fight. Sara and Ava continue to talk and Sara brings up the fact that she cannot be normal. Ava says normal is not what she wants and the two kiss. Blackbeard and some pirates notice the time breach and board the Waverider, claiming it for their own. Ava and Sara grab some weapons and start fighting the pirates.

Amaya tries to talk to Anne, but Darhk snaps her neck before Amaya makes any real progress. The Darhk’s then start sword fighting with Amaya and have her cornered until Nate and Ray arrive to help. Nora starts draining Amaya’s lifeforce and so Ray shoots her with the gun he made to fight Kuasa. While Darhk is distracted by his injured daughter, Amaya grabs the earth totem and they pull Ray back to the ship. Sara and Ava finish off the pirates and hold Blackbeard at swordpoint.

Blackbeard thanks Amaya for sparing his life and she sends him back to his time. She then meets Nate in the library. He feels guilty because her totem was stolen on a mission he proposed. She says losing it is hard, but freeing in a way. The two are still in their pirate outfits and roleplay a bit before making out.

Ava and Sara drink rum floats together and Sara notices the rum bottle now features a picture of Captain Jiwe. They talk over what happened and agree to discuss their jobs as part of their relationship. They flirt a little and Ava suggests they go to Sara’s room.

Meanwhile, Wally gives Rip some water and medicine for his hangover. They discuss how lonely they both have felt and Rip says it is time for Wally to join a new team: a team of Legends.

Rory goes to see Ray and finds him worried about Nora because he knows the gunshot will be lethal. Rory reminds him Nora is the enemy and that he saved Amaya. Even so, Ray remembers Nora as a kid and believes people can change if given the chance.

Ray takes the shuttle back to 1717 and tells Darhk he has a cure for Nora. He says he will trade the cure for Amaya’s totem and Darhk immediately throws the totem at Ray. Ray injects Nora and after she heals she attacks him, but Darhk stops his daughter, saying Ray may be of use.

“The Curse of the Earth Totem” is another fun, action packed adventure for the third season of Legends of Tomorrow. I liked the episode and thought Amaya as a pirate queen was great. I also like that avalance (Sara and Ava) finally happened and that the two are trying to work on their communication and understand each other. While the big bad storyline for the season focuses partly on the Darhk’s, they feel overused at this point. I hope the show has a couple more adventure of the week type episodes coming up this season without the Darhk’s.

Legends of Tomorrow airs Mondays at 8 pm on The CW. The trailer for the next episode can be viewed below.