TV REVIEW: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow S1E1 – “Pilot – Part 1”

Plot Summary:

In the year 2166, the world is ravaged by war and chaos at the hands of Vandal Savage. The time masters refused to engage in earth’s matters which leave Rip Hunter to take matters in his own hands and assemble a team of people to stop Vandal Savage once and for all. He went back in time to the year 2016 and recruits the likes of Firestorm, The Atom, White Canary, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Captain Cold, and Heatwave. The new team complying to Rip’s request to be in the team will be another problem.

THE GOOD:

Catching up with the B-team

The show’s premise doesn’t exactly follow an existing roster of superheroes in the comics; everything this show will ever have is all but new material and nothing more. It is a better idea to explore these B-List characters more in one show together than leaving them be in the dark corners of their respective shows and wait for the limelight to shine upon them. But is it at least safe for new watchers to jump in on this show without knowing any of the characters? The answer is both Yes and No. As everything was introduced for Rip Hunter, it cuts to a montage of the current superheroes doing their own thing in the Arrow and Flash world and more so establishing their motivations in joining Rip to defeat Vandal Savage. They’ve said enough of what has happened to them in Arrow and Flash so people would never be lost that much but if you’re a new watcher of this but haven’t watched Arrow or Flash, it will ruin your experience a bit (if you were to go back to those shows).

When the announcement was made that the Flash or Green Arrow wouldn’t be involved in their adventures and has the B-Team be the focal point instead it was quite weird. More so that they have missed an opportunity with a time travelling device that could recruit the greatest super-powered beings of each time line into one team than having all of the superheroes from one generation. They did in fact address those concerns as to why they were recruited and it was quite a clever and an absolutely savage explanation.

It’s weird to say that these characters work well more in a team that has nothing to do with Team Flash or Team Arrow. In some way they feel freer than they had always been in their own shows. Notably, it was nice to see Garber’s Dr. Stein and Ray Palmer having more fun and geeking out in science-y things, Heatwave and Captain Cold are over the top and their campiness actually worked, and even some subtle hints were explored for Lotz’s White Canary (it’s around the bar scene). The Hawk duo, were the focal point of the episode since the threat is more drawn to them and there were some great new material they touched upon for them. If only Hawkman would do his best to carry the weight of the material he has being that he did the weakest performance of the bunch.

Setting up the Rules

The tone and formula is more in line with The Flash; which is more fitting since this show is all about time travel and the exploring the realm of sci-fi fantasy. The show definitely is CHEESY but it’s a good kind of cheese since much like the Flash they made it work in a way that it is effective for the characterization of the cast and the amount fun in this adventure. The formula on the other hand It doesn’t necessarily have a “freak of the week” vibe yet, but what I meant for the formula was that it, it doesn’t extend clichéd story arcs or character tropes for 2 or more episodes but instead be the focus in just minutes. So you won’t see anything like the characters doubting about their self-worth for 2 or more episodes, they do touch upon that and ends it in just a few minutes. One could argue that it did felt rushed but if they did develop it in another episode of two you would go back complaining that it went out for too long. For me, it was nice that they set-up the rules in just one episode to get us into the action already.

THE BAD:

Forced Drama

I feel like this will be more of the show’s flaw in future episodes; considering the huge cast they have, they may not flesh out the other that much so they may result to them giving them some sort of forced character arc. It is as if they wanted to give them something of use outside of the action scenes.  An example would be how Ray Palmer is sulking from most parts of the episode of not being relevant to the world and never being remembered even though he had a part of the city named after him and a lot of people legitimately grieved. It’s a small gripe, but it does bother me a tad bit considering what he went through in the Arrow. Granted, I still love the resolution and how it relates to other characters as well but it’s just weird that it had to be Ray.

Conclusion:

In the end, there’s going to be a lot to look forward to in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Not only would be there be some kick-ass action scenes with a smorgasbord of superpowers being thrown out. But also see just how much you would love to see this cast of characters play off with another. The characters feel more at home in this show than they had ever been and the new characters popping out from DC’s history books are a good welcome. If this was a ploy to flesh out the B-characters more, then it makes out for an entertaining one.

Catch new episodes of “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” on JackTV every Friday; 9pm Primetime, and 2pm Via Satellite.