For years, The CW has struggled to find its footing on the television landscape. However, with recent critical darlings “Jane the Virgin” and “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” and a hit pair of superhero shows in “Arrow” and “The Flash,” the network seems to be on the rise. Looking to capitalize directly on the recent success of its new superhero universe, the network has developed another spin-off of this franchise with “Legends of Tomorrow.”
“Arrow” has a darker and grittier tone than “The Flash,” which acts as the emotional heartbeat of this universe. “Legends of Tomorrow” is different from both. Instead of one central hero, the “Legends” team is comprised of nine side characters from “The Flash” and “Arrow,” brought together to save the world.
The show opens in 2166, when villain Vandal Savage (Casper Crump) has successfully taken over the entire world. Time-traveler Rip Hunter (Arthur Davill) travels back from this dark future to 2016 to form the “Legends” team, and race through time to defeat Savage.
The time-traveling premise is ambitious, and the show has yet to follow through in execution. The extremely weak writing makes the production design of the different time periods looks even more cheesy than it already is. For a show selling an epic trip through time, the different eras should look more realistic.
The cast is also a mixed bag. Caity Lotz continues her larger role from “Arrow” and shines in this cast as the newly minted White Canary, and Wentworth Miller eats up all of his dialogue, looking like he’s having fun in his role as villain and teammate Captain Cold. However, Ciara Renée and Falk Hentschel are bland as their equally flat characters Hawkgirl and Hawkman.
Another major problem is the show’s inaccessibility for viewers who aren’t well-versed in “Arrow” and “The Flash.” A lot of the two-part pilot banks on viewers already knowing the characters’ backgrounds and powers, and the show would hardly make any sense to newcomers.
Despite these issues, there are some positives to the series. The CGI is quite strong for a network television show, and the action in the second part of the pilot was fun. Even the second episode of “Legends” is vastly better than the first episode.
Right now, “Legends of Tomorrow” seems to be more of a ratings ploy from the network than an actual creative addition to this admired universe. The show does have potential to be a wild ride, but with the shoddy plotting, average cast and cheesy production designs, “Legends of Tomorrow” has a long ways to go to live up to its predecessors.
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