The return of Legends of Tomorrow has just about everything you’d want from the show – twists, time travel, romance, betrayal, and lots of weird DC Easter Eggs. Strap in, folks.
1. Time Wave? Fire Master?
OK, so this was an amazing reveal, right? It makes a lot of sense, it was a legitimate surprise, and was handled incredibly well. Having Heat Wave as a prisoner of the team/a Time Masters pawn is far more interesting than I think any of us were expecting his character’s arc to be, right? The growing gulf between he and Snart is making for some interesting TV, and an interesting lesson in how to build complex characters.
Because, let’s be real: Snart is still sort of a prick. The show isn’t turning him into Superman; it is just making him more of a real, complex character than the cliched guy he was on the first season of The Flash. Giving Mick some interesting motivations and an allegiance with an intergalactic time police force is about as far from the Heat Wave of 2014 as you can possibly imagine, and isn’t that cool? It is great to be surprised once in a while.
2. Poor Ray
Again, the show made an interesting choice by having the most technologically minded member of the team resign himself to life in the 50s and adjust to being a settled, somewhat boring man. But the heartbreaking part was seeing how Kendra just wasn’t for that. Ray is the show’s optimistic center, and he was acting as such: this is the reality, let’s make the best of it. But he’s also someone who easily adjusts – his becoming a superhero wasn’t met with any scorn or deliberation, he just did it and that’s that. So, it also makes sense that he would adjust here, and dig in deep to this life.
We sometimes forget that, while 2 years rush by, they also contain thousands of moments that build up a life. The rest of the team blinked and were back – Ray and Kendra made friends, had fights, probably forgot how to use elements of their iPhones, simple stuff like that. Their lives are radically different than they were when they were stranded. I hope the show plays with that more going forward.
3. The Return of Ra’s
The other abandoned member of the team, Sara, returned to the League of Assassins to further her training but, more likely, just to find someplace where she belonged. I don’t think Nanda Parbat has wifi or an espresso machine – 1960 or 2016, it is probably just the same. So, this is a place that Sara can go, fit in, and not focus on what she’s missing. And it works.
Maybe a little too well, actually. We know that Ra’s al Ghul can be a manipulating figure, and one that brings with him a certain odd code of honor. The fact that Ra’s, at the end of the episode releases Sara from her League duties was a little odd, but again, Ra’s isn’t the type of person to act in the way you expect. Sure, he runs an evil cabal, but he does so – or so he says – for the good of the world. These scenes were a fun trip back into that world. They also led to…
4. Talia!
People (including maybe this guy) didn’t like that Arrow chose to introduce Nyssa al Ghul instead of Talia, and were wondering if maybe that name was off-limits for use. Well, if it was, it isn’t now: Talia was introduced as a pre-teen in 1960, and looks to be about 25-30 years older than Nyssa, who wouldn’t have been born until, probably the late 70s/early 80s.
This begs a few interesting questions, if we are believing that Batman does/could exist in this world (which, he doesn’t, but play along). If he and Talia are reasonably considered contemporaries, than he would be an AARP member in 2016. It also means that Ra’s has another daughter out there to potentially try to take the reins of the League from Nyssa. Even when the CWverse looks backwards, it gives fun ideas going forward.
Continued below5. The Future
So, where does the show go from here? Is Mick going to stay in his prison cell the rest of the season? Unlikely? Will we see more limbs be regenerated? Possibly. Will Jax and Ray punch each other over Kendra? Probably.
But that’s the best part of this show: it could do almost anything. A (possibly fake) Bleeding Cool article today introduced a potential team member addition that would make me very, very happy, and here’s the thing: it could work. Actually, scratch that: anyone could work. If tomorrow DC said to Berlanti and co, “Go ahead, pick any character in our vast library and bring them on the show,” they could and it would work. They could be plucked from an alternate Earth, an alien planet, the distant past or future, and it would fit the show like a glove. The possibilities are limitless, and because of that, the show feels fresher and more exciting than almost anything else on TV, despite the high levels of cheese and CW-ness found in each episode.
Sound off on all things Legends in the comments!
