The first season for the CW’s Legends of Tomorrow is now over and we thought we would review it as a whole instead of each individual episode.
The concept for the show was intriguing right from the start. Combining the forces of a time travelling Time Master (Rip Hunter), new superheroes who haven’t quite got the concept yet (ATOM, Firestorm), a reborn vigilante (White Canary), Reincarnated lovers with superhuman powers (Hawkman & Hawkgirl), and two criminals (Captain Cold & Heat Wave).
Throw in one of DC’s baddest villains (Vandal Savage) and you have the makings for an interesting show.
Let’s rate each individual character before we dive into some of the show’s highlights and also low lights.
Rip Hunter: Arthur Darvill’s portrayal was adequate. His main goal is to assemble a team of individuals to help him stop Vandal Savage and also save his wife, and son from being murdered in the future from Savage all while on the run from his former bosses’ the Time Masters. He had his moments. Who can forget the wonderfully campy episode in the Wild West where we met Rip’s friend Jonah Hex and we also learned Rip had a fascination with that time period? His shining moment came in the season finale when he pushed the knife into Savage’s chest even more and it was truly a searing screw you moment. Although some points we did find him a bit lack luster, he is a good character.
Ray Palmer/ A.T.O.M.: Brandon Routh’s take on Ray Palmer was perfect. He combined the right amount of hope as he was recruited and he also conveyed resignation when he realized Kendra (Hawkgirl) would never return his feelings. We would love to see more of him using his highly advanced intelligence in the next season though.
Sara Lance/ White Canary: Caity Lotz shined in Legends. She still kept her angst ridden vigilante M.O., but she also showed a sense of humor, which is something we never really saw on Arrow. Her interaction with all members of the team were stellar,but it was the flickering of attraction between her and Len Snart that really got our attention because it came out of no where and led to his unfortunate death. Her fighting skills were above par and we look forward to seeing her story continue in season two.
Firestorm/ Martin Stein/Jefferson Jackson, ‘Jax’: Victor Gabor and Franz Dremah’s characters are perfection. The two play so well off of each other and we couldn’t imagine any other duo trying to recreate this character. The show has only scratched the surface on what Firestorm can actually do and we finally saw in the finale, Firestorm using the firestorm matrix to turn any object of matter into something else.
Hawkgirl/ Kendra Saunders: We thought Ciara Renee was a decent Hawkgirl. At times her character seemed to always be in a struggle and the one moment where we kind of hated her was when she refused to kill a brain washed Carter to eliminate Savage once and for all. We were surprised in the finale when the flying couple decided to go off on their own because the home planet of Hawkgirl, Thanagar was mentioned.
Hawkman/ Carter: We’re just going to say it. We do not like Hawkman. In our view he has always been the most useless character in DC and so it is difficult for us to be objective. Falk Hentschel was okay. We were happy when they killed him off so soon in the season and we are even happier that he left with Kendra to go off to a new nest in the finale.
Bye, bye.
Captain Cold/ Len Snart: We’re not going to even pretend to be unbiased. We loved Wentworth Miller’s portrayal of this character on The Flash and we loved him even more on Legends. We know that he is ‘dead’, but we have heard that he would be making cameos on The Flash and Legends so let’s keep our finger’s crossed for some more of our favorite chill anti-hero. Even if it is a slight cameo in Legends, we would love it. Our main hope is that he creates the Rogues gallery in The Flash and be the villain in the next season.
Heatwave/ Mick Rory: Dominic Purcell’s Heatwave is awesome. He’s single minded in the fact that he is a criminal and he has no qualms about admitting that. His character went through many changes in the season, but it was the season finale where we got to see a different side to him as he meets his dearly departed friend in the past (Len Snart) for a drink.
We also love the interaction between him and Ray Palmer. These two are the most unlikely friends and we can’t wait to see more of them in season two.
Vandal Savage: Casper Crump was the epitome of this iconic villain. His portrayal was so good and on point that we actually think he could easily reprise this role on the big screen. Bravo Mr. Crump.
Highlights: The best aspect of the show was the time travelling and how they always seemed to charmingly mess up each mission. When they did score a victory, you could actually feel their joy in their accomplishments. We thought they did a great job of showcasing each characters amazement over each time period they were in and we liked how they took time to remark on the differences, whether it be in fashion or lack of technology.
The fighting scenes were always top notch and the special effects weren’t bad. Overall the originality was what made us excited to watch it each week and we didn’t feel repelled by the blatant campy vibe.
Low Lights: There were definitely some lows to the show. The pace seemed to falter near the middle to end of the season and we wanted to shout at Rip and Kendra to just pull the trigger. The seemingly forced love story between Ray and Kendra was also a drag for us, and we didn’t feel like it needed to be thrown in. The CGI had some problems, but we can overlook that because it is television.
So where can Legends of Tomorrow go? At the end of the season finale, our team had assembled together after going their separate ways for a bit and we can assume they are their own team of Time Masters.
We also were introduced to a new character Rex Tyler a.k.a. Hourman.
So who is Hourman? Tyler has a number of superhuman abilities, like enhanced strength, reflexes, and healing — but only for an hour at a time. His abilities are given to him by Miraclo, a drug he designed himself.
It was not the introduction of Rex Tyler that was so mind blowing but when he mentioned that he is a member of The Justice Society of America.
Marc Guggenheim had this to say about the arrival of Rex Tyler and what this may mean for the direction of the show.
“With his final words in the finale, he planted a pretty deep flag about where we’re headed in season two, which is not just introducing Hourman but introducing his teammates in the Justice Society of America. For comic book fans, everyone knows the Justice Society is really the precursor to the Justice League, so it’s a pretty big move in our DC universe here on TV.”
Let’s dig deeper into what he means and where we think the show is heading next season, but first we must discuss The Flash. The last episode of The Flash showed us many different clues about where the DC Universe on t.v. as a whole may be going.
Why is this relevant? Because Barry Allen just went back in time and now we may be dealing with The Flashpoint Paradox.
For everyone who doesn’t know what The Flashpoint Paradox is, let us try to explain quickly. Basically, Barry Allen goes back in time to save his mother and we cannot emphasis how much this changes the timeline.
We do not know right now if it is going to affect all DC shows, but we’re going out on a limb and saying that signs are pointing to that it will indeed be a crossover event. John Wesley Shipp recently said that not only will he have a role on The Flash next season, but also Legends.
Why does that get us excited?
Because, as was revealed, he is Jay Garrick on Earth 3. The original Flash and leader of The Justice Society of America. The complete list of members are these heroes: Green Lantern (Alan Scott), the Flash (Jay Garrick), the Spectre (Jim Corrigan), Doctor Fate (Kent Nelson), Hourman (Rex Tyler), the Sandman (Wesley Dodds), the Atom (Al Pratt) and Hawkman.
Perhaps the team is going to help the JSA and the aftermath of Barry’s time jump. This theory makes the most sense, but we just don’t know how much of what happened on The Flash will have on other shows as of yet. We are honestly more excited now for season two because of this possibility.
The next theory we have is that at some point our team is going into space. Not only did Rip Hunter casually mention that the wave rider can operate in space, but there were many hints towards Thanagar. This would make sense if they wanted to bring back the ‘Hawks’, but we’re thinking that could be season three.
Season Grade
Seppin Grade: 7.9
Rek Grade: 8.0
If you have any ideas or questions, please leave them in the comments and we will gladly think them over.
-Seppin
-Rek
SeppinRek 
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