Legends of Tomorrow is one of the most interesting comic book TV series that I have encountered for several reasons (both positive and negative). Here are my overall thoughts on the first season of this bizarre yet pretty entertaining show that no one in their right mind saw coming when it was first announced.
On a positive side, the whole time travel element was one of the most fascinating ideas to see realized in a comic book TV series that takes place in the same universe as The Flash and Arrow. What made this concept so brilliant was the fact that we as fans of these shows were able to dive into possible outcomes and alternate takes on different events that took place in this universe. We also got to see familiar faces throughout history such as Damien Darhk and Ra's Al Ghul who are both season villains on Arrow interacting in the past before Oliver Queen even existed.
Aside from fun cameos, we also got to see new DC characters make their debut such as Rip Hunter, Jonah Hex, and a few other names who we would've never encountered in the other linked series. This is why I think, on paper, Legends of Tomorrow is one of the most interesting, unique, fun, and bold ideas that the CW has ever thrown at its audience as the show centers around the popular phrase "What if...?".
From a future world where the Green Arrow has a robotic arm and is fighting Slade's son in a post apocalyptic future version of Star City, to the Cold War era where the Soviets attempt to utilize the Firestorm matrix for themselves, this series shows that the sky is the limit in presenting us with several interesting scenarios to keep us entertained. This value of entertainment is the single most important element of the show that I hold pretty high up over other comic book series.
As far as other positives go, this very diverse and unique group of characters for the most part are fun to watch as they interact with each other through comedic and dramatic situations. The action scenes can be pretty spectacular in its visual flare at times (especially in the first couple of episodes) and the visual FX overall are some of the best that the CW comic book universe has ever delivered in my opinion.
Unfortunately, the show does have a few issues that really sinks it down from being anything more than just "a fun watch". As I've stated in previous episode reviews, there is a significantly distracting sense of forcefully inserted character moments that sometimes bring an artificial feel to the overall tone of the series. Moments where characters who recently met are already interacting as if they've been partners for a very long time or emotional moments that scales up a bit too high given the context of where those scenes take place in the history of these characters' lives with each other. Essentially, it feels as though the show moves a lot more faster than the characters naturally should which is a serious problem for any show that is character driven.
This can be centered on the behind the scenes direction of the series with producers trying to shove in as much content as they possibly can in the midst of a 16 episode run with several characters to develop relationships or something else entirely. Either way, this highly rushed sense of pacing is unfortunately felt very strongly on the surface during many of the dramatic or other strong character driven scenes despite how entertaining they might've been at times.
There's also the issue that I had within the overall story and lore of the Time Masters. It literally took me about 13 episodes to finally get somewhat interested in the Time Masters side of the universe (which plays a huge part of the central plot). This was highly problematic considering the short amount of episodes in the season to begin with. Time traveling stories in films and television series can be a hit or miss situation depending on how the concept is being presented to its audience. This series honestly didn't do its concept justice for me from the way the writers would attempt to constantly explain its complexities in certain scenes utilizing the very dull and honestly boring lore of the Time Masters.
Rip Hunter's story and character was also one that simply didn't work for me overall. There are several scenes where he comes across as a jerk using the team for his own gain which is fine to a degree until they quickly but slightly redeem him in the end of those same episodes with a big elaborate rescue scene. Much like the Time Masters themselves, Rip Hunter only became interesting to watch towards the last few episodes where things truly started to elevate once again regarding the massive scope of the show. Sadly, his personal story revolving his family was never something that made a huge impact on me whatsoever which made his emotional moments easily forgettable.
As far as the villain go, much like the time traveling idea, there is something quite fascinating about fighting an immortal through different periods of time. However, I've never thought of Vandal Savage as being anything more than your typical mustache twirling baddie constantly ending up in the same predicament more than often with the heroes. There's actually a few moments in the show that truly felt as though I was watching a Saturday morning cartoon where the central villain would get defeated only to show up in the next episode for another major defeat.
Yes, there are a couple of twists down the line that adds an extra layer to the character, but there's honestly not much here to get fully invested in where Savage is concerned. He's simply the "evil doer" that has to be defeated in a very specific way which takes an overly long time to get to via a constant streak of obstacles. However, I will say that his final defeat was pretty cool to see in the way that they executed it.
If you'd like to know what I think about the main heroes of the show individually, I've pretty much stated my thoughts in my Episode 2 review. However, I can say that I do really appreciate the overall evolution of each individual throughout the course of the show. We actually see these characters transition into completely different people from the season premiere all the way down to the finale where criminals became anti-heroes and inexperienced or naive characters became more focused and matured. So in that sense, there is a level of deep character development offered here in some shape or form. You'll just have to take everything in as one big collective journey in the end to fully accept how far these characters have come.
Overall, Legends of Tomorrow is one of those rare gems that comes around on TV in the form of an awesome idea being delivered in a pretty mixed bag of a package. There's a lot of goodies in said bag via fun action scenes, entertaining individual character moments, a couple of new comic book character debuts alongside familiar ones from the shared universe, and an adventurous tone that encourages the viewer to keep watching for potential surprises along the way.
Although the journey from beginning to end was a bit too fast for my liking, as was the central plot point feeling a little dull overall, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't at least have tons of fun along the way. I also have to point out the "Justice Society of America" line in the end which really spoke volumes to my inner nerd. I'm actually really excited to see what comes next in Season 2. Perhaps a certain massive alien invasion or a Legion of Doom-like force is on the horizon? We'll just have to wait and see.
Season Rating: 8/10
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