After the dark future of Star City, Legends decides to move a bit internal as the heroes try to save a fellow time ship that has been captured by TIME PIRATES. Be warned, here be some spoilers.
1. TIME PIRATES
So, I am glad that this show is taking it’s time to do other things besides “This week we’re chasing Vandal Savage in year XXXX”. And introducing the concept of TIME PIRATES (something I am required to type in all caps do to its awesome) is potentially a good threat. I say potentially because, to be frank, the characters were kind of bland. Even the captain of the captured time ship is not that particularly fleshed out, serving to help begin the flashbacks to Rip’s past and origin (more on this below).
2. Ray’s a Nerd!
Whether it’s putting on a Captain Kirk impression or saying he doesn’t have a favorite color because “it’d be unfair to the others”, this version of Ray Palmer is the Tony Stark we deserve. No smarminess or the desire on my part to see him shot in the face by Bucky Barnes… I really need to stop being fixated on that part from the Civil War trailer…. Anyways, I really enjoy the sense of fun that Routh has brought to the character. Although there is one development with this character that I wasn’t a fan of. We’ll get to it below.
3. Time Masters Lords Jedi People
So, we get a bunch more information about Rip’s past, his wife (and fellow Time Master) Miranda, and a bit on how the Time Master’s operate. Yeah, we’ve got the whole “attachment is forbidden” nonsense that worked soooooo well for the Jedi. But there’s also something else we learn here: “Rip” and “Miranda” are not their real names. Apparently, when you become a Time Master, you forsake your true names in order to prevent enemies from targeting your ancestry. And that’s… actually really smart. We’ve seen a load of people with access to time travel, what with the TIME PIRATES, the bounty hunter Chronous, Reverse-Flash, possibly a very large group of teenage superhero fans from the 31st century. Having your real identity being that vulnerable could be a very bad idea and the ramifications of reprisals could be nearly universe-damaging.
4. Feck Off With This Romance
Let’s talk about the two romantic relationships here: Rip and Miranda and Ray and Kendra. Look, perhaps it’s a failing in the structure of the show or it’s still trying to shake off First Season Weirdness but both fall flat. In regards to Ray and Kendra, I talked about it last week how I wish this would be avoided and while I don’t find either character bad, it’s just going so quick, no development. And “no development” is the same problem Rip and Miranda have. I don’t doubt there could be an attraction between these two but all we get are the most bare minimum snippets of flashbacks. Again, if it had proper development, I could get behind it. Also, Miranda taking full responsibility for their fraternization and quitting the Time Masters because “she found love” is really really dumb… and probably kinda sexist too.
One last bit of weirdness: Rip and Miranda are both British, but their son talked in an American accent this episode.
5. We Rogues Have A Code
It’s not just Rip’s past we learn of: We also learn how Snart and Rory met for the first time as kids in juvie. And it continues to further emphasize that Rory is a very unstable person. And this relationship (or the breakdown of it) brings us to a big cliffhanger where Rory tells Snart that for all his bluster, he’s really still that kid in Juvie. How the end of this episode resolves? Well, we have to wait a week, but in an episode with a great deal of weakness, it was a strong way to end.
There is a load of potential to this series, but it feels like that while it’s trying to find footing, it’s also fighting itself in some places. I appreciate Savage going on the backburner for a bit, but that looks like it’s changing come next week.
