When heroes aren’t enough, you need legends.
Note: this is a spoiler-free advance review of the first episode of Legends of Tomorrow, which will premiere on The CW on Thursday, January 21 at 8pm EST.
While the fears of movie theaters becoming over-saturated with superhero films seem mostly overblown, it is a legitimate concern when it comes to the TV landscape. We’re rapidly approaching the point where there will be multiple DC Comics-based shows on the air every weeknight, to say nothing of Marvel’s own growing lineup and various other adaptations and original projects. There are only so many superhero shows a viewer can physically consume in a week. But at least DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is a relatively known quantity. This show is the latest offshoot of the Flash/Arrow universe, offering DC fans the closest thing to a live-action Justice League series they’re likely to see anytime soon. And if Legends of Tomorrow isn’t quite as successful as The Flash was right out of the gate, it at least feels like a unique and worthy addition to this superhero universe.
The basic premise of Legends of Tomorrow is that an unlikely team of heroes have been assembled to travel through time and prevent the immortal Vandal Savage (Casper Crump) from his inevitable to power in the 22nd Century. That team includes a variety of familiar faces who have all appeared on The Flash and/or Arrow to some extent over the past three years – the Atom (Brandon Routh), White Canary (Caity Lotz), both current halves of Firestorm (Franz Drameh and Victor Garber), Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller), Heatwave (Dominic Purcell) and Hawkman (Falk Hentschel) and Hawkgirl (Ciara Renee). The one new addition to this lineup is Rip Hunter (Doctor Who’s Arthur Darvill), a time-travelling adventurer who rallies this unlikely team to the defense of mankind.
In addition to the familiar cast, Legends of Tomorrow features a recognizable crew of executive producers, including Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, Marc Guggenheim, Sarah Schechter, Chris Fedak and Phil Klemmer (who also serves as showrunner). Berlanti’s name alone should be reassuring for viewers, as he has something of a Midas Touch when it comes to DC superhero shows.
We want to hear it.
One element The Flash had working in its favor when it debuted in 2014 is that it had little need for setup or exposition. Barry Allen’s origin story had already been well established in a previous two-part storyline on Arrow, and so the show was able to hit the ground running (pun intended). Legends of Tomorrow is in a similar position. Both The Flash and Arrow have devoted no small amount of time over the past few months to exploring these characters and setting the stage for the spinoff. That said, there is a certain reluctance in this first episode to dive right into the thick of the conflict. It certainly opens on a big, dramatic note, showcasing Hunter’s future world and the devastation wrought by Savage’s regime. The scope and ambition in these scenes is about as big as anything we’ve seen from the Flash/Arrow universe, and it nicely sets the tone for the show.
But from that point, the conflict slows down as Hunter begins his recruitment drive and each character in turn ponders whether they truly want to abandon their life and become a time-travelling defender of mankind. This also allows the show to draw in all the obligatory guest stars. These scenes serve a purpose as far as adding context to each character’s actions, but they do stall the momentum of the plot. Perhaps the writers should have taken a page from Arrow and presented that material as recurring flashbacks rather than in one giant lump? The episode also drags in a sequence that recounts the shared history between Savage, Hawkgirl and Hawkman. Again, this information is probably necessary for the sake of newcomers not exposed to the characters, but it does feel a little redundant coming so soon on the heels of December’s Flash/Arrow crossover.
Choppy pacing aside, this episode does a lot to endear viewers to the show. Right away it becomes clear that Legends of Tomorrow is a much different beast from its sibling shows. Not so much because it’s a team-based superhero series. Arrow and The Flash both lean pretty heavily on their ensemble casts as it is. It’s the sense that Legends of Tomorrow is less a colorful superhero epic than a rousing science fiction adventure. There’s a very Doctor Who quality to the show, which may be why Darvill was tapped to play Rip Hunter in the first place. Hunter immediately makes for a compelling team leader. He has a scoundrel-y charm that’s offset by a sense of pathos and clear vendetta against Savage.
The character dynamics are easily the highlight of this first episode. While the ensemble approach may not be novel, the fact that every core member of the cast is a superhuman certainly is. These are characters who, for the most part, have remained one or two degrees removed from each other in the past. Seeing them all thrust together in a futuristic spaceship is a great way to allow their warring personalities to clash. It’s a lot of fun to see fellow science geeks Ray Palmer and Professor Stein bonding and butting heads in equal measure. It’s equally fun to see Sara Lance strike up an unlikely friendship with Leonard Snart and Mick Rory, neither of whom are particularly psyched about the idea of being heroes. This episode also digs deeper into the growing bond between Hawkgirl and Hawkman, with some great payoff by the end. Both Renee and Hentschel seem to be more confident in their roles, and that injects their dynamic with an added air of tragedy and sexual tension.
We want to hear it.
Oddly, the one character dynamic that doesn’t quite work here is Stein’s relationship with Jefferson Jackson. Both characters behave fairly oddly at times. Stein commits a very questionable act early on, and in general his willingness to leave his life and family behind at the drop of a hat is bizarre. And despite Jax’s entire character arc in his previous appearance revolving around a desire to reclaim the glory of his short-lived football career, he spends this entire episode trying to bail on his big second chance. Suffice it to say, there are some kinks with the show’s portrayal of Firestorm that will need to be ironed out.
Savage himself remains a bit of a problem, as well. Regardless of medium, superhero projects often live and die on the strength of their villains. Both Arrow and The Flash boast great villains this season, whether it’s the intensely charismatic Damien Darhk or the terrifying Zoom. Savage failed to measure up to that standard in the Flash/Arrow crossover, and he’s not much better here. Part of that is down to Crump’s fairly bland portrayal of the villain, but it’s not as if the show gives him much to do outside of one particularly bloodthirsty scene.
Ultimately, Legends of Tomorrow’s greatest strength is that it portrays its cast of heroes as flawed, conflicted individuals. For all the talk of these characters becoming legends in the future, they’re clearly anything but at the moment. And as random an assembly as this group of heroes may seem, they’re all united by the fact that they’re all damaged individuals. Many of them have undergone literal or metaphorical deaths and resurrections. All of them are at a loss as to their place in the world. This is where the show finds its dramatic weight, more so than the fight against Vandal Savage. Legends of Tomorrow has the chance to strike a happy medium between The Flash’s happy-go-lucky humor and Arrow’s brutal darkness. Once the kinks are ironed out, it could just become the best of both worlds.
DC’s legends of Tomorrow isn’t exactly flawless right out of the gate, but there’s more than enough in this first episode to hook fans of The Flash and Arrow, or just anyone who craves a good Doctor Who/superhero mash-up. The team dynamic is strong. Rip Hunter is a great addition to this ever-expanding DC Universe. And while the show makes some freshman mistakes in terms of characterization and pacing, some of these problems will hopefully be non-issues by the time the second episode rolls around.
