Though DC’s Legends of Tomorrow was largely promoted as a rag-tag group of antiheroes, wanna-be villains, and “quirky” geniuses making their way through time and space in an effort to stop an immortal villain, the show has failed to find solid footing thus far. Like Arrow and The Flash before this, it’s not uncommon for a comic adaptation like Legends to experience some trouble with finding their own groove; after all, Arrow’s best season is actually it’s sophomore season while The Flash picked up a couple episodes into season one and has provided an interesting second season as well.

Unfortunately, the issue with Legends isn’t just the writing but the fact that this show doesn’t have any story that is it’s own. Both Ray and Sara were introduced in separate seasons of Arrow, part of the show’s canon well before the establishment of Legends, likewise with Rory, Snart, Stein and The Flash. As the three shows are all helmed by the same team, several episodes in both shows this season have been dedicated to setting up Legends, including using the annual crossover between Arrow and Flash for the introduction of Kendra, Connor, and Vandal Savage.

The plus side of this is that it allows for seamless use of the characters from all three universes in each show without disrupting the flow of either of the series. The downside is that, as a result of this, Legends has been leaning heavily on the canon developed in the other universes that it hasn’t managed to find it’s own stories. Take “Star City 2046” for example. This episode was easily one of the best this season. Also note: this episode heavily focused on Star City, the Arrow, Oliver and Sara’s relationship, and the return of Arrow’s arch nemesis, Deathstroke.

There are several ways this could go. Now that Rip is becoming a little more adapted to the likes of his team, they could focus on Savage but have side adventures as well, allowing themselves to explore their canon a little more thoroughly. Or they could send us to Central City in a couple weeks so we can see how Barry and the rest of Team Flash handled the Uprising of 2046.

After an attack from Kronos the Bounty Hunter, the team finds themselves stranded in Star City in 2046. The buildings, including Smoak Technologies (!!!), are smoldering around them, destruction everywhere. They’re greeted by the Green Arrow...except Oliver’s not under the hood, which means he doesn’t know who they are and isn’t interested in listening. The team keeps him at bay, narrowly escaping back to the ship.

Back in the ship, Rip’s determined to get the ship repaired to get the team back to 2016 to prevent the destruction of Star City. There’s a couple things they need first, including a prototype Felicity and Palmer Tech had been working on in 2016.

The Ship Crew

Staying behind, Kendra, Ray, Professor Stein, and Jackson get to work on repairing the ship’s damaged engine and other damage. Ray and Kendra stay upstairs, working on welding (turns out Kendra spent time as a welder/"real life Rosie the Riveter" in 1944 and Ray and I are both impressed) and joking around, unaware that Jackson and Stein can hear their entire conversation.

Thanks to their connection, Stein can feel Jackson’s annoyance rising as he listens in to their upstairs companions. He confronts him about his feelings for Kendra and encourages him to go for it, even if she is destined to be with Carter at the end. Jackson decides to take his advice, sliding in when Ray steps out for a second.

Elsewhere, Stein decides to do his own interference, trying to subtly hint to Ray that starting a romantic relationship with Kendra would be a very bad idea aboard their tiny little ship. Apparently, Ray wasn’t even thinking of Kendra that way until Stein mentioned it. This entire storyline was straight out of middle school (which Jackson smartly commented on) but was actually pretty cute. In the end, Ray beats Jackson to the punch in asking her out but she turns him down, stressing that her life is already complicated enough without adding romance to the mix.

Star City: The Second Generation

The Unholy Trinity (Sarah, Snart, and Mick, obviously) are headed out to find the piece of technology Rip needs to repair Gideon before Rip decides to join them, there to make sure Sara doesn’t get too emotionally involved in the events of Starling. The city is fighting itself, gangs running rampant while Green Arrow 2.0 fights to keep it safe. When Sara decides to run after him with a reluctant Rip trailing behind, Snart and Mick decide to do a little looting themselves. After a gang tries to mob them, they take down the “leader,” promoting Mick to the H.B.I.C.

In a dark alley, Sara and Rip finally corner the new Arrow, who reveals to them that not only is Oliver Queen dead, but the destruction of the city is due to the return of Deathstroke fifteen years ago. In a nice twist, turns out Deathstroke isn’t Slade Wilson but his son, there to get revenge for his father. Though New Arrow helps them escape, they realize they’re still a little out of their league.

As Sara struggles to accept this possible reality of Star City, Rip begs her to stay focused on their original mission, reminding her that this timeline is not reality. The bright side? Connor knows where Felicity’s tech has been relocated: back to the 2016 foundry. Making their way down, Rip remarks correctly that their “base of operations has certainly seen better days.” They don’t get much time to look around before they’re interrupted by the Ghost of Foundries Past: Oliver Queen (full pointy beard and all!) himself.

This new Green Arrow? Turns out he’s actually John Diggle Jr. but has been going by Connor Hawke in recent years. He’s clearly (and understandably) upset at Oliver for having played dead all this time, especially after the death of his father, but Oliver doesn’t feel any remorse. Everyone’s gone, having been destroyed by Sara and Ray’s disappearance and the events of the return of Deathstroke Jr. In an effort to get them to leave him alone, he tells them where the prototype they’re looking for is located.

Mick is handling his newfound position of power in the gang world immensely while Leonard is trying to get him back to their mission. The party’s interrupted, however, as Deathstroke comes around, ordering everyone to get back on the street to kill the Green Arrow and his new companions, Rip and Sara. Leonard is trying to convince Mick they need to save Sara and Rip, asking him to table their current tensions.

Sara’s not handling this timeline well. She’s feeling guilty that things progressed at this level because she and Ray weren’t there. As she, Rip, and Diggle Jr. (erm, Connor) explore the warehouse, Sara finds a blast from the past while Rip finds the prototype they were looking for. At that moment, more of Deathstroke’s cronies ambush them, closely followed by Mick and Leonard who help their Time Traveling Team. They still manage to get distracted, meaning Connor’s taken at Wilson’s request.

Sara wants to go after Connor but Rip stresses that this timeline is only a potential timeline for them and they don’t have time to go after him and tinker with the events of this version of Starling. As they go off to discuss, Mick and Leonard resume their conversation...for all of three seconds before Leonard knocks him out.

On the ship, Sara’s eager to get back out there and rectify her mistakes. “All my friends and family are dead. Except for Oliver Queen, who’s dead inside and missing his left arm,” Sara deadpans, giving the best line of this episode. She goes on further to suggest that Rip is being selfish, only worrying about saving his timeline, no matter what happens in anyone else’s. He gives Sara one hour before he leaves, with or without her.

Fortunately, they have a plan. Right before Wilson Jr. can execute Diggle Jr., a soldier reveals he’s captured Sara Lance. She provides the perfect distraction for when the OG Arrow shows up, bionic arm and all. As Sara and Oliver take on Deathstroke’s army, Connor takes on Deathstroke. They’re joined by the rest of the Legends, Oliver switching places with Connor. Together, they subdue Wilson, with Oliver officially passing on the Green Arrow title to Connor. I’m assuming the lesson of this week’s episode was very simple: the city will always need a Green Arrow, just like Oliver will always need a Diggle watching his back.

Also making amends? Rip apologizes to Sara, admitting that she was right. “Every future is worth fighting for,” he tells her. It’s about as much humanizing we can get out of Rip but don’t get me wrong: there’s definitely something up with this guy. He’s got to be fueled by something more than the loss of his wife and son.

Unfortunately, not all the relationships fared so well this week: after Leonard knocked out Mick, he locked him up. Rory’s convinced that Snart’s gotten off the track of their original mission, having grown too attached to the team. Snart’s not so sure; after all, he and Mick have one goal still in mind: “to watch the world burn.”

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.