'Legends of Tomorrow' Premiere Recap: Everything But the Kitchen Sink
Warning: This recap for the “Pilot, Part 1” episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow contains spoilers.
The arrival of a second Arrow spinoff now means that you can see DC characters on TV four nights a week. It’s a good time to be a comic book fan and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow gives those people — though not many others — everything they want out of a comic book show.
The Plot
Time Master Rip Hunter travels back from the year 2166 to recruit a team of heroes (and sort-of heroes) to stop Vandal Savage, an immortal madman who subjugates all of Earth 150 years from now. They travel back to 1975 to meet Dr. Boardman, the only known expert on Savage, who turns out to be the son of Hawkman and Hawkgirl. Before he can help them, the team is attacked by Chronos, a bounty hunter sent by the Time Masters. Rip reveals that he actually stole the ship and they’re actually fugitives, not heroes. Despite that, they all decide to stick with him to defeat Savage anyway.
WTF?
This show is bonkers. In the first episode, we already have laser gun fights, time travel, two children murdered (technically, Aldus is Kendra and Carter’s child), a brawl in a ‘70s biker bar, and Welcome Back, Kotter. It’s got everything but the kitchen sink — and they’re probably saving that for the midseason finale. It’s a perfect representation of a something that’s commonplace in comics, but rare anywhere else: the superhero team-up.
The thing about a team-up in the comics is that they’re always goofy as hell. Through some hideously contrived circumstance, Archie and The Punisher have to work together even though they hate each other. It’s completely artificial and if you try to make sense of it, you’ll just get a headache.
Related: 'Legends of Tomorrow’ Review: Nutty, Anarchic Fun
Legends requires a lot of buy-in. If you’re not ready for laser six-guns and fistfights choreographed to Captain & Tennille and everlasting reincarnations, no judgement — the show’s not for you. It’s ridiculous and that’s intentional. The science is laughable and the bounty hunter’s gun is loaded with lasers that only hit peripheral characters at dramatically appropriate times.
But that mish-mash is the whole point. The show is at its best when ancient Egyptian gods are butting heads with 22nd century technology; when Heat Wave is complaining that TV in the '70s only shows reruns; when Rip Hunter drags White Canary out of a scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
The Effects
Remember three years ago, when we all wondered how Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was insane for trying to do a weekly superhero show? How could you make something like that on a TV budget? Well, it turned out they couldn’t — they made a spy show instead. But then The Flash came along and did make a weekly superhero show, special effects and all. And now, here we are. Legends features three flying heroes, ice rays, lasers, two kinds of flame effects, and enough fight choreography to make Jackie Chan stop in his tracks. Legends is a marvel of modern visual effects technology, but it’s also clear that the producers have worked some dark magic to slip their budgets past The CW’s accountants.
What Kind of Heroes Are They?
The weakest part of the show is Arthur Darvil as Rip Hunter, which is less of a criticism than it sounds. In the comics, Rip is cut from the cloth of the old swashbuckling heroes of the ‘30s and ‘40s, all manly swagger and ego. Darvill, who many will recognize as Rory from Seasons 5 through 7 of the rebooted Doctor Who, has a bumbling charm quite the opposite of that kind of persona.
There are flashes, though, of what Hunter — and the team — almost certainly will become. Lines like, “In very rare instances, there will be some, uh… bleeding from the eyeballs,” and “Will you people please stop hitting me!” are where Darvill is at his best: gamely trying to keep everything from completely falling apart. The pilot sets the team up as cocksure heroes, but what they need to be are underdogs — on the run from the Time Masters, Vandal Savage, and Time itself.
Legendary Ponderings
The woman who White Canary hit on in the bar was Heat Wave’s mother, right? Captain & Tennille was on and he says that his mother played it a lot.
Are all the sentient programs in the future called Gideon? Did Barry Allen invent the equivalent of Siri? Or was Eobard Thawne a Time Master too?
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.
