Sunday, December 10, 2017

DC-TV Midseason report, part 2: Legends of Tomorrow (2017-18)

Don't worry, we'll get to The Flash in part 3.

Legends of Tomorrow is the anomaly in Greg Berlanti's DC-TV universe, a collection of heroes and anti-heroes traveling through time to repair chronological anomalies. It's not exactly like time travel shows of the past (i.e. Time Tunnel, Quantum Leap, Voyagers!) because our heroes do get to go home from time to time. So, let's just get right to it:
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Subject: Legends of Tomorrow.
Season: 3rd.
When it airs: Mondays at 8 (ET), beginning February 12.
Original rating: B-.

Where we are: Firestorm, the Nuclear Man, a composite of Professor Martin Stein (Victor Garber) and Jefferson Jackson (Franz Drameh), has left the team following the death of Stein and Jackson's decision to depart in the last episode. Taking their place are Citizen Cold, the Earth-X version of Leonard Snart, aka Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller, also on Prison Break), and John Constantine (Matt Ryan), the latter at least in the short term. Unfortunately, one of the writers' favorite villains, Damian Darhk (Neal McDonough), a villain who just won't go away, has returned, seemingly as an ambassador for a big bad named Mollus (voice of John Noble, ex-Sleepy Hollow).

I refer to the 4 Arrowverse shows as a tetralogy, and that's because Legends, which only links up with the other shows at least once a year, isn't like the others. Is it too campy? Not really, but the writers decided that Nate Heywood, aka Steel (Nick Zano) and Ray "Atom" Palmer (Brandon Routh) had to be comedy relief some of the time, same with Mick Rory (Dominic Purcell). Nate comes off as being too dim for someone who's a historian when it comes to non-historical issues. Mick has become a fan favorite as the resident cynic, and couldn't be happier teaming with Prison Break co-star Miller once more, although Miller figures to be leaving at the end of the season.

Original captain Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) started the season in charge of the Time Bureau, which is just a rip-off of Lowell Cunningham's Men in Black, but dealing in time instead of alien threats. Darvill, it seems, is slowly being phased out as well.

Note the date listed above for the show's return from winter hiatus. Supergirl will be bumped to make room because Legends is losing its Tuesday berth to Black Lightning next month. CW programmers, just like the writers on this show, have small brains. However, fans of Constantine will be happy to see their hero return, as he made his season debut in the last episode. Constantine vs. Darhk should be fun, if but to wipe the smirk off Darhk's face permanently. Here's a trailer for the next episode:



Three seasons, three different nights. Not good for a show's long-term future. Those of you who need to catch up with Constantine can do so online on CW Seed.

Updated rating: B-.

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