DC's Legends of Tomorrow Season One Review

Certificate – 15

Starring – Victor Garber; Brandon Routh; Arthur Darvill; Caity Lotz; Franz Drameh; Ciara Renee; Amy Pemberton; Dominic Purcell & Wentworth Miller.

Running Time – 651 minutes (43 minutes each episode) plus bonus features.

★★★✩✩

IMAGE VIA WARNER BROS

It’s amazing to see how this DC TV universe has expanded from early beginnings of a man with a bow and arrow, now fast-forwarding four years to a group of heroes and villains teaming up to travel across time to battle an immortal villain.

Having witnessed Earth’s terrible future, time-traveling rogue Rip Hunter (Darvill) assembles a group of handpicked heroes and villains to vanquish the immortal Vandal Savage (Casper Crump). The creators of The Flash and Arrow deliver a superhero spinoff series that combines characters from both shows with new heroes from the DC pantheon. Join Arrow’s Atom (Routh) and White Canary (Lotz), The Flash’s Prof. Martin Stein (Garber), Captain Cold (Miller) and Heat Wave (Purcell), plus new heroes Rip Hunter, Jefferson “Jax” Jackson, who becomes Firestorm (Drameh); and Hawkgirl (Renee), as they combat a tyrant who spans the course of history – and threatens tome itself. All 16 edge-of-your-seat episodes feature thrilling CGI effects and a dynamic team of heroes – and almost-heroes – with one extraordinary mission: save our world!

IMAGE VIA WARNER BROS

The first half of the season was mixed; the two-part pilot was oddly paced and relied on exposition. It’s understandable as producers Greg Berlanti and co know fans didn't know who Rip and his time-travelling squad were. It was a smart decision as we were able to connect and know these characters moving throughout the season.

Unlike its older siblings – Arrow and The Flash – Legends established a very cinematic show and you can tell a lot of The CW’s budget went into this show. We also saw the show had real stakes with a death of a main character, but the writers still didn’t know what they wanted the show to be as they wondered throughout time. It did have a standout episode during this first half of the season – Star City 2046.

IMAGE VIA WARNER BROS

The show finally found its own voice in the second half of season one with Left Behind and The Magnificent Eight being standout episodes. The final four episodes really gathered pace and reaffirmed the conflict between Savage and the team with the season finale setting the groundwork for season two.

Performances wise, the two top tier standouts were Darvill and Miller.

Miller has become one of the best actors in the DC TV universe making a character called Captain Cold both cool and complex, you saw him grow throughout the season. His chemistry with Purcell’s Heat Wave and Lotz’s White Canary were some of the best in the whole season.

IMAGE VIA WARNER BROS

Then you can see Darvill’s Doctor Who experience helped when becoming a time-traveling pirate. You can also see growth with his character from being selfish to becoming the den mother of the group. The season also goes into some dark places with Rip and you can see it by the end of the season as he realised he needs the team.

IMAGE VIA WARNER BROS

Lotz and Darvill had great chemistry and you see becoming the unofficial co-captain of the Waverider and I hope they develop this relationship in season two.

The likes of Routh, Garber and Drameh were all solid throughout, but Reese (while obviously gorgeous and having moments to shine in Life Behind) and Falk Hentschel’s Hawkman were pretty bland and in Reese’s case couldn’t live up to her co-stars. It would have helped if she was more of an aggressive badass, similar to the Justice League animated show.

Crump’s Savage was the biggest letdown and was an underwhelming villain. It didn’t help Crump’s thick Danish accent wasn’t convincing anyone he was an ancient Egyptian warlord and compared to the other villains like Zoom (The Flash) and Damien Darhk (Arrow), Savage was below par.

IMAGE VIA WARNER BROS

Verdict

Legends ended season one strongly and hopefully it’ll transfer to season two, but the show still has issues with an underwhelming villain and love triangles. The show started off slowly, but now it has its own voice with the performances making the show a success.