Legends of Tomorrow "Pilot, part 2" (REVIEW)
written by Justin Prince (@prince_justin)
The second half of Legend’s of Tomorrow’s pilot episode sees team Team Time Master tackle Vandal Savage in his 1970’s prime. Infiltrating a nefarious arms deal with Savage selling a nuclear bomb to all manner of badass villainy… including a Damien Darhk channeling his inner Jacki Chan. The whole business goes south and Team Time Master has to leap into action, giving the series its first real “all-hands-on-deck” brawl. Unfortunately, a small piece of Ray’s ATOM suit breaks off and is subsequently recovered by Vandal Savage and his team, which may seem small in 1975 but creates serious repercussions for 2016… I.E. Central City burning to the ground.
a familiar face in the 70s
Being able to track it leads Martin Stein with Sara Lance and Jefferson Jackson in tow to seek a 25-year-old Martin Stein to attain a piece of tech his younger self developed to help detect the unique particles emitted by Palmer’s ATOM suit. Of course messing around with the timeline ends up creating some more complications, but I’ll leave that for you to see in the episode.
On the flip side, Ray Palmer follows Leonard and Mick to a Russian collector’s home to steal a magic dagger once given to Priestess Shiara by Prince Khufu in their first life. This aforementioned magic dagger could give Team Time Master just the edge they need to take down Savage once and for all. Easier said than done, shit hits the proverbial fan when Martin Stein’s future is changed and Savage captures Team ACH (Atom/Cold/Heatwave) culminating in a final battle.
action packed episode
The Pilot’s second half does a fantastic job with the source material and continues down the same path paved by last week, a fun “timey-wimey” comic book romp that continues to open up these supporting cast members from Arrow and The Flash into heavy hitters as a rag tag ensemble of legends. While less character driven than last week’s episode, I took the liberty of watching part 1 again before jumping into part 2. As a whole, both episodes were in my opinion meant to be watched one after another.
Sara Lance continues to be my favorite member of the ensemble, while dancing in a bar and showing a whimsical attitude in the first half made my nerdy little heart skip a beat or two, a moment in part 2 where she manages to take down several of Savage’s guards while being stoned off her ass solidified her badass title. A moment that was made possible when the Stein/Jefferson/Lance trio sparked up some of the Devil’s Lettuce with 25-year-old Marty Stein.
a young Marty Stein
While I don’t want to spoil it, a sore point for me was the death of a key character, while mentioning death is a bit spoilery I feel I need to mention it for this review to express my disdain for it. It felt tacked on and didn’t do much to further the core narrative, while it does pull an “Agent Coulson” by inspiring the remaining living team members, especially Leonard Snart, to work together more aggressively to take down Vandal Savage once and for all… I still feel like putting it in the Pilot felt way too soon.
An interesting point to touch on is how this series is keen on empowering the female cast members. Though Kendra is destined to fall in love with Carter, she still wants to come to that decision herself rather than let destiny take its course. In the case of Sara Lance, she’s evolved from the angsty corset wearing Canary to a more powerful character, able to take control of her unique abilities and her sexuality. While the boys outnumber the girls on Legends, it’s safe to sat that the birds drive the show with Hawkgirl and White Canary leading the charge.
In all, the episode was an enjoyable romp; the chemistry the entire cast exhibits outweighs anything I’ve seen in either Arrow or The Flash’s ensemble. I can’t wait to see what happens next week when Team Time Master take a very deep dive into the past, hoping to stop Vandal Savage before he even becomes Vandal Savage.
