TV Review: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Season 5 Episode 1

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Season 5 Episode 1 “Meet the Legends”

Director: Kevin Mock

Starring: Brandon Routh, Caity Lotz, Jes Macallan, LaMonica Garrett, Nick Zano, Dominic Purcell, Jon Cryer

Rating: TV-14

Runtime: 42 minutes

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow‘s distinct, intentionally silly tone caused some issues in its special, pre-season Crisis on Infinite Earths episode but the actual Season 5 premiere has a mixture of comedy, action, and character development measured out perfectly.  “Meet the Legends” is a top-tier episode of the show, and given that, despite the last season leaning a little too far into the absurd, this is still one of the best shows on TV at the moment, that means this is a very, very good episode of television.  Bolstered by an exceptional performance from Caity Lotz, who continues to excel with the extra-emotional material being written for Sara Lance, it brings the show back to its historical parody roots while also presenting a characteristically crazy (in a good way) romp.

After returning from their Crisis missions with the other Arrowverse heroes Sara, Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh), and Mick Rory (Dominic Purcell) are surprised to find a camera crew on the Waverider in addition to the other Legends.  The Season 4 finale ended with the Legends’ existence (and that of time travel) being exposed to the public for the first time and while this has for the most part turned the team into beloved celebrities (a fun montage of photoshopped and otherwise doctored footage shows members hanging out with the Obamas and attending the Oscars, among other things) but not everyone are fans.  The U.S. government is hesitant to continue allowing our favorite team of lovable screw-ups to gallivant through the time stream so to avoid the Senate taking it away from them Ava Sharpe (Jes Macallan), filling in as leader while girlfriend Sara was away, agreed to allow a documentary filmmaker to shoot a film on the Waverider, in the hopes that the team can prove what responsible heroes they supposedly are.  While most of the team, Nate Heywood (Nick Zano) in particular, enjoy hamming things up to prolong their fifteen minutes of fame, Sara is very upset to have her time traveling home full of cameras when she was hoping to relax among her friends so she could get over the death of Oliver Queen.  The mockumentary style is a perfect fit for Legends (although surprisingly enough it’s not the first Arrowverse show to use it) that emphasizes the show’s comedic strength but Sara’s struggle also gives the episode a significant emotional charge.

The documentary crew gets the adventure they were hoping to film when a new threat to history emerges.  It turns out Rasputin (Michael Eklund) has returned from the dead and is once again terrorizing early 20th century Russia.  The team, surprised at having to deal with a genuinely resurrected historical baddie refers to Rasputin’s reemergence as an Encore and sets out to make sure his reign of terror ends once more.  John Constantine (Matt Ryan) and assistant Gary Green (Adam Tsekhman) (working off a sentence for his villainous turn last year) head off on an investigation when the former starts to suspect a larger supernatural threat is behind Rasputin’s return.  As the viewer knows, at the end of Season 4 Astra Logue (Olivia Swann), the girl John once failed to save from being abducted to Hell, has obtained the souls of some of history’s most dangerous villains and is releasing them back into the world, and it’s good to see that the show won’t be keeping John and the Legends in the dark about the nature of the latest threat for too long.  Even before Constantine became a regular presence on the show Legends has featured magical storylines and characters much more heavily than any other Arrowverse series but Season 4 went overboard with the supernatural and played it too much for laughs, to the point where the time travel element that should always be at the show’s core often seemed like an afterthought.  The Encore storyline manages to bring danger and tension back to the magic side of things while also returning the show to a focus on the historical rewrites that are its bread and butter. Elkund doesn’t get a ton of room to flesh out his take on the Russian tyrant but his performance is menacing enough that Rasputin becomes easily the best one-off character on the show in a while and his genuine immortality thanks to Astra makes him a much more effective threat than most of the magical creatures from last year.

The team’s first attempt to neutralize Rasputin is a classic Legends disaster, partially due to several team members, namely Nate and Mona (Romana Young), still being concerned with showing off for the film crew.  This adds to Sara’s growing exasperation and she finally lets the group have it, angrily explaining how hurt she is that none of them offered comfort to her after Oliver’s death.  Ava takes the fall for that, explaining that she told everyone not to mention Oliver to avoid reminding Sara about him but this makes Sara more upset.  She explains the extent of what she went through in Crisis and states that she wanted to deal with it with her friends’ help and instead was welcomed home with cameras in her face.  Caity Lotz is exceptional in this scene, her vulnerable expressions conveying how Sara is barely keeping herself together as the weight of her experiences and Oliver’s death press down on her.  The writing is also commendable, and the dramatic conflict of the episode is a good example of what makes Legends‘ character work so special.  The reason all the craziness on this show is enjoyable rather than plain dumb is because there’s a real heart underneath it all as the characters progress during their time in the found family on the Waverider.  The drama on this show is some of the most relatable on TV, particularly in the superhero genre, rooted as it is in the small-scale conflicts within personal relationships.  Grief, particularly for a loved one who has died is a big emotional issue and Sara’s arc of dealing with it is something a lot of modern action-adventure shows deal with (though not usually this well) but the addition of the other Legends, particularly Ava’s, failed attempt to deal with the situation is a true-to-life detail that most shows don’t include.  Everyone can relate to what Sara’s going through because of our own experiences with loss (even if one hasn’t personally had much experience with death) but most of us have probably also been in Ava and the others’ shoes.  People aren’t perfect and pretty much everyone has screwed up a delicate situation with their friends or family at some point, despite the best intentions, and this down to earth approach to the show’s emotional dynamics is what allows all the wild hijinks to work.

Even without Crisis Legends was always going to be dealing with a changed timeline in Season 5.  The present-day events of the Season 4 finale altered history in such a way that the dystopian future in which the Legends found Zari (Tala Ashe) never came to be.  As a result neither Zari’s parents nor her brother, Behrad (Shayan Sobhian), were killed because of religious persecution.  But it also means that Behrad became the bearer of the family Wind Totem and joined the Legends in place of his sister.  It’s an unusual way to introduce a new character as the show has to act as if Behrad’s been a part of the cast for a long time but Sobhian acquits himself well.  He has an easygoing charm that is very watchable and Behrad earns a lot of viewer affection for being the first of the team to give Sara genuine, effective support, writing her a condolence card with a cartoon drawing of her, Oliver, and Laurel having tea (which contrasts hilariously with Ava’s planned, tone-deaf card).  It seems like Sara and Behrad have a sibling-like dynamic similar to the one she had with Jax and pairing the new guy off with the show’s main and most beloved character is a good way to ensure investment in him. Sobhian also has strong chemistry with Lotz and the two bring a lot of warmth to the scene.

Still annoyed with everyone else Sara brings Behrad as her only back-up to rescue the documentarian when he’s kidnapped by Rasputin, who has discovered a love of the camera.  Left with no other choice to save the Russian royal family Sara has to throw down with mind-controlled guards (and a mind-controlled Behrad).  One of the other issues with Season 4 was that it often forgot that the show is an action-comedy, not just a comedy.  It certainly did not take enough advantage of Caity Lotz’s real-life stunt and martial arts skills but “Meet the Legends” indicates Season 5 won’t be making the same mistake.  Sara’s fight here is spectacular, with director Kevin Mock’s camera gracefully weaving around the action while maintaining an angle and distance to the actors that is close enough that Lotz’s face is visible, highlighting how she’s doing all this herself, while also being wide enough that the complexity of the choreography can be appreciated.  And that choreography really is great, with Lotz/Sara doing a cartwheel off a staircase that morphs into a kick as the show-stopper.  The fun doesn’t end there, however, as the rest of the Legends eventually enter the fray making full use of their powers in ways that had become less and less common recently.  I especially liked Nate deflecting a bullet by steeling up his hand around the barrel of the gun.  Ava makes a mid-battle apology to Sara, explaining how emotions and social situations are hard for her but that she wants to be there for her regardless.  After a complicated team-up maneuver, Sara tells Ava that what she said was perfect before preparing to dip and kiss her until Ray interrupts them to point out that they still have the unstoppable Rasputin problem.  In typical Legends fashion, that problem requires a truly insane solution, with Sara throwing a shrunken Ray into Rasputin’s mouth so that Ray can use the strategy Avengers viewers jokingly hoped Ant-Man would use on Thanos, expanding back to normal size, and making Rasputin explode in a bloody mess, complete with the battle cry “Size matters!”  With the threat ended Sara embraces the reality-show spirit, giving Ava that kiss (which causes her to faint) before giving the camera a cheesy thumbs up.  It’s here that Lotz completes her demonstration of why she’s such a perfect lead for this ensemble: she’s more than capable of doing the dramatic heavy lifting, elevates every action scene she’s in and has the perfect comedic timing to bring the show’s particular brand of goofiness to life.

With the Rasputin debacle over (his remains are put in jars to prevent them reforming until they can find a more permanent solution), the team attends the premiere of the documentary.  But Ava and the others redeem themselves when they declare the whole thing a hoax and claim time travel isn’t real.  This allows them to go back to business as usual of screwing things up for the better, without having the added baggage that comes with fame (Mick stole a rare fabergé egg during the mission so they don’t have to worry about funding anymore either).  Between this and dismantling the Time Bureau, it’s clear the show is moving back to its original formula of almost exclusively keeping the team either on the Waverider or in history somewhere, which is welcome.

The one exception is Constantine, who continues to flit in and out of the ship more often.  He boards the Waverider briefly at the end of the episode and drinks Rasputin’s blood and remains to gain entry to Hell to find the source of the Encores.  It’s a hilariously disturbing sequence capped off nicely by Sara’s farewell to her sorcerer friend where she tells him to “be careful, you lunatic,” a line which pretty much sums up their odd but endearing relationship.  Ryan’s presence and the ability to draw from the Constantine-centric Hellblazer comics have both been great assets to the series as John’s character and the world he inhabits brings a welcome dose of darkness to the Legends’ zany adventures but it does sometimes feel like he’s sort of just starring in his own show that occasionally weaves in and out of the team’s lives.  I hope this season can do a better job of fully integrating its lighter team-centric material with its darker Hellblazer stuff.

If there’s one major complaint I have with “Meet the Legends” it’s how it uses its secondary characters.  After the mission, Mick and Mona share a scene in which the former, impressed by the latter’s writing abilities, turns over control of his series of erotic fantasy novels to her.  It’s a nice moment but also a pretty obvious way of writing Mona off the show, or at least drastically reducing her role, as she leaves the ship to focus on her new writing duties.  Now I think this is overall a good decision.  First of all, it gets Mick back to primarily being the show’s resident thief, which is welcome.  The initial shock of finding out about his “Rebecca Silver” alias was very funny but the joke’s become a bit overused since then.  And more importantly, I do think Mona had to go.  The character just never really became compelling, many of her storylines were a more uncomfortable kind of weird than the show usually trades in, and Ramona Young’s performances were often rather awkward.  But the way in which her exit is brought about is very abrupt.  It would have been better for the show to introduce this new development for the character more gradually so Young could have a better exit.  Ironically, this is probably her best episode so keeping her around for a couple more would have also allowed the creators to see if they could reconcile the character by taking her in a different direction.  Also problematic is the minimal amount of screentime given to Nora Darkh (Courtney Ford), who is only seen while talking to boyfriend Ray over video-call while performing her duties as a fairy godmother (don’t ask).  Ford and real-life husband Brandon Routh were both written off the show this season, against their wishes, which has already caused the show to take some well-deserved criticism from fans.  Routh is at least being given the chance to get a worthy send-off, especially given his reprisal of his Superman role in Crisis, but Legends needs to make better use of Ford in her remaining episodes so she can have the same.  Lastly, Charlie (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) gets an even shorter appearance, standing around for thirty seconds before going off on her own for some reason.  But there’s no evidence that Richardson-Sellers is leaving the show so this is at least less distressing.

This one weak area doesn’t detract too much from the episode, however.  “Meet the Legends” is overall an exceptional hour that reminds viewers why Legends is one of the best shows on TV, with Caity Lotz stealing the show.

Notes:

•  Aside from Constantine’s departure for Hell, the episode provides one more dramatic tease for the future when Nate finds a very Star Wars-esque message from the past timeline’s version of Zari, who tells him to find her.  Tala Ashe’s work was one of the best things about the last two seasons so it’s good to see Zari probably won’t be out of the picture too long.
• Speaking of Nate, while his reaction to his brief death at Heyworld is mostly played for laughs one of his scenes with Rasputin hints he might be traumatized by it to some extent.  That’s an interesting idea I hope future episodes expand on.
• Arrow was the first show in the franchise to stage a mockumentary in Season 7 episode “Emerald Archer”.
•  Jes Macallan’s delivery of Ava’s condolence card, in which she critiques the illicit nature of Sara and Oliver’s past romances and says she hopes she “never loved him anyway,” is hysterical.