DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: “White Knights” Review

Time to bone up on ballet.

After spending most of its first three episodes stuck in 1976, Legends of Tomorrow finally shifted forward ten years this week. The Cold War setting offered a change of pace for the show, and the new conflict allowed every member of the cast their chance in the spotlight. Some excelled more than others, but that’s to be expected at this point.

“White Knights” opened with a fun little Ocean’s Eleven-style heist sequence as the team tried to infiltrate the Pentagon. But whereas the Ocean’s crew are supremely suave and competent, the legends are still in that early phase of learning how to work together and not bungle things up. So naturally, it wasn’t long before the situation deteriorated and a simple snatch-and-grab degenerated into all-out warfare.

After that disastrous but ultimately successful heist, the cast split up and the episode explored various subplots all connected to Vandal Savage’s mysterious Soviet program. No pairing was more enjoyable than Ray Palmer and Leonard Snart. It was amusing to see Ray try to live out his dreams of being a secret agent and fail miserably while Snart picked up his slack. Wentworth Miller is quickly beginning to rival Arthur Darvill as the MVP of the show. His delightfully intense portrayal of Snart makes him a blast to watch in every scene, whether he’s taking his teammates down a few pegs or sweeping government agents off their feet and stealing their wallets. He also had by far the best line of the episode with, “Gideon, bone me.”

This episode and the previous one really make you wish The Flash had made more use of Captain Cold and Heat Wave before shipping them off to this series. There’s so much untapped potential with Cold. But to be fair, there’s little indication that the Legends of Tomorrow cast will stay consistent from season to season, and there’s no reason Cold can’t return to Central City to play a more prominent role in The Flash’s third season.

Darvill certainly held his own, though, as Rip faced a dramatic reunion with his mentor from the Time Masters. It was interesting to see him wrestle with his loyalty to Druce (played by Ant-Man’s Martin Donovan) and his commitment to this crusade of his. For as much as Rip is obsessed with bringing his family back, it’s clear he’s already developed a strong affection for his team. This probably won’t be the last time he finds himself torn between the mission and his friends.

Time-travelling bounty hunter Kronos also returned this week. Unfortunately, all the Boba Fett comparisons various characters have been making are a little too apt. Kronos looks cool but doesn’t come across as being particularly threatening or good at his job. Getting shot down by Soviet fighter jets is about as bad as Boba Fett getting knocked into a pit by a blind guy. The show would do well to focus a bit more attention on Kronos and flesh him out, as clearly the “man of mystery” angle isn’t working out for him.

Give this man his own show.

One area in which this show has quickly and dramatically improved is the characterization of both halves of Firestorm. This episode was great about exploring the growing bond and the friction between professor Stein and Jax. They have that frustrated teacher/headstrong student dynamic going for them that the Flash was never really able to tap into with Stein and Ronnie Raymond. Their interpersonal struggle culminated in a great scene where Stein lost his composure and admitted that he’s terrified of getting Jax killed in the line of duty. For a guy that was so eager to leave his life behind and drag jax along with him, it’s good to see Stein dealing with the consequences of his actions and acknowledging how close he’s become to his new partner.

The one pairing that didn’t work this week was Sara’s botched attempt to train Kendra. The halfhearted focus on and limited screen time for this subplot certainly didn’t do much for either character. I’m still waiting for Kendra to start connecting with the rest of the team and forming the same sorts of endearing relationships the rest of them share, and so far that’s not happening. It doesn’t help that I’ve gotten more than my fill of “heroes plagued by uncontrollable an uncontrollable bloodlust” on Arrow. There’s really no need for both Sara and Kendra to go through that same cycle. Nor is there a need for Kendra to keep reminding everyone she used to be a barista.

The real surprise with this episode (and a welcome one) was that it essentially ended on a cliffhanger. Following a thrilling shootout, Stein, Ray and Mick are all captives of Savage’s Soviet minions. It’s good to know that this show is perfectly willing to rely on cliffhangers and multi-part storylines, as I think The Flash and Arrow would benefit from that trying approach more often.

Also, the fact that the two heaviest hitters on the team are out of commission is going to make the rescue attempt that much more complicated. One weird quirk of this episode is that we never saw Ray don the Atom suit despite the fact that it seems like his missions would have gone more more smoothly if he had. If stealth and secrecy are the goal, why not send the guy who can shrink down to the size of a blood cell? That’s not going to be an option now.

The show has a tricky balancing act to maintain when it comes to all this advanced technology and not allowing Ray or Rip to simply science their way out of any given problem. Victory can’t come that easy. But at the same time, you have to address questions like “Why doesn’t Ray keep his suit handy at all times?” or “Why can Gideon produce instant language translation pills but not universal magnetic key cards?” lest the show become arbitrary and illogical in its rules. The best solution is going to be to build bigger and weirder threats that advanced technology alone can’t handle, and hopefully we’ll see more of that as the show veers away from the recent past and into more esoteric corners of the DC timeline.