The Legends are stranded in 1975.
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
The first episode of DC's Legends of Tomorrow was an enjoyable experience, even if it was clear the latest addition to The CW's DC lineup had some room to improve. What surprised me most about the second part of the pilot is just how quickly the show is moving to address those early flaws. If you weren't already sold on this new series, this week's episode should clinch the deal.
It definitely helps that "Pilot, Part 1" got most of the early setup and exposition out of the way. This follow-up chapter had more room to dig into thew newly assembled team and exploit the time-travel premise to its full potential. The scale of this adventure was a bit smaller in the sense that the Legends spent the entire episode stuck in 1975. No futuristic sci-fi warfare this week. Even so, there was plenty of spectacle to be had thanks to two flashy battle sequences that book-ended the conflict. The first battle sequence this week was especially impressive, what with all the panning and slow-mo fighting and energy blasts. Director Glen Winter deserves a lot of credit for giving these first two episodes a cinematic, Hollywood-caliber vibe.
That spectacle was all well and good, but as with The Flash and Arrow, it's the character dynamics that are the real meat of the show. The first episode hit on the crucial element that's going to distinguish Legends of Tomorrow from its sister series. This isn't a team of heroes. It's a group of miscreants and losers that are doomed to be forgotten after they die. Every character on the show is lonely and emotionally damaged in some way. This episode was great about exploiting that element and playing these characters against one another in both comedic and dramatic ways. Arthur Darvill's Rip Hunter played a very small role compared to the premiere, but the rest of the group had plenty of time to shine.
Captain Cold and Heat Wave might have been the MVPs this week. From the moment Wentworth Miller sauntered up to the warehouse guard masquerading as the world's most affected terrorist leader, I was hooked. He clicked in the role in a way he never did on The Flash. Miller and Purcell both have a very precise, deliberate way of playing their characters, and that approach seems to work better as part of this large ensemble cast rather than when Cold and Heat Wave are the central antagonists. This episode got a lot of mileage out of pairing Cold and Heat Wave with Ray Palmer and letting the goody-goody billionaire genius butt heads with two Central City roughnecks. Along the way, there was a clear sense that Cold does crave more out of his life, and that maybe the idea of becoming a legend does hold some appeal for him.
Running alongside that team-up, this episode focused a lot of attention on Professor Stein venturing off with Jax and Sara and encountering his younger self circa-1975. Here the show essentially became "Back to the Future with superheroes." With the subplot about Stein trying to save his marriage and watching his wedding ring disappear, it's obvious there's a lot of love for the BttF franchise on this show. Everything about the Stein subplot was hilarious, whether it was the younger Stein flirting with Sara or the elder Stein pining for the days when he still had thick, luxurious hair. Actor Graeme McComb did a solid job in the role of young Stein. The physical resemblance was iffy, at best, but McComb focused so much on nailing the cadence of Victor Garber's speech patterns that it didn't really matter.
This subplot had the added benefit of addressing some of my criticisms from last week. It was nice to see Stein cop to the fact that he basically kidnapped Jax and didn't allow his partner any say in whether Team Firestorm would help out Rip Hunter in his quest. Jax got the belated opportunity to make his own choice and continue his character arc from The Flash. We also got a reminder that Stein does genuinely love his wife, even if he didn't seem to mind jumping into the Waverider and embarking on a long-term adventure without warning her beforehand.
Clearly, it was Hawkman and Hawkgirl who had the biggest shakeup this week. No sooner did Carter help Kendra remember a key piece oft their past and rediscover her love for him that Carter was killed in battle with Vandal Savage. I honestly didn't expect any major casualties this early into the game. And on some level, it might have been nice to see the writers explore the "Just because we're destined to be together doesn't mean I'll automatically fall in love with you" angle a little longer before taking Hawkman off the board. Still, there's a compelling tragedy to the idea that Kendra lost her eternal lover mere moments after falling back in love with him. She's now lost the man she never knew she loved and the son she never knew she had within a matter of hours. She's going to have a very interesting character arc this season. And after spending most of her screen time with Carter in these two episodes, it'll be fun to see Kendra butt heads with the rest of the team in future episodes.
You can argue that Hawkman is an easy sacrifice for the writers to make. They can easily send the team farther into the 21st Century to pick up the next reincarnation of Hawkman and plug that hole. But is it really going to be that simple? What happens when only one of the two is killed by Savage? Does Kendra have to die too so her lover can be reborn? And are there consequences to Hawkman dying while displaced from his normal time period? This show has some pretty rigidly defined rules about what our heroes can and can't do with time travel. Hawkman's death could easily feed into that.
This episode addressed most of the flaws with the premiere, but not all. Vandal Savage is still very much the weak link of the show. In the recent Flash/Arrow crossover it seemed the problem was due, at least in part, to a lack of material for Savage. He didn't have the opportunity to own the screen in the way villains like reverse-Flash, Deathstroke and Damien Darhk so often do whenever they appear. But at this point, it seems Casper Crump's underwhelming performance is the real culprit. This episode delved deeper into Savage's history and emphasized his unrequited love for Chay-Ara, and yet the villain still lacks the charisma he needs to be the driving force of the conflict. Crump's heavy accent and lack of screen presence really aren't doing Vandal Savage any favors. The fact that Damien Darhk had a brief appearance and practically stole the show from Savage didn't help.
The Verdict
Legends of Tomorrow started off pretty well and only got better in its second episode. The second half of the pilot addressed some of the problems of the first when it came to characterization, though Casper Crump's Vandal Savage remains a weak link among the main cast. Still, the immensely enjoyable character team-ups and the epic superhero spectacle went along way towards cementing Legends of Tomorrow as a worthy addition to The CW's DC lineup.
Editors' Choice
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