Reivew: Meet the Legends
Director: Kevin Mock
Writers: Grainne Godfree and James Eagan
Starring: Brandon Routh, Caity Lotz, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Tala Ashe, Jes Maccallan, Courtney Ford, Amy Louise Pemberton, Nick Zaon, Dominic Purcell, Matt Ryan, Ramona Young, Adam Tsekhman, Shayan Sobhian
Reviewer: Tony Farina
Summary
Meet the Legends begins right after the events of Crisis AND the events of season 4 meeting in the middle of some messed up time travel stew. Here is what we know for sure, Sara and Ray know what happened to Oliver and about the multiverse. No one else really does. Ava thinks she is doing Sara a favor by not bringing up Ollie’s death. She also is trying to save the team by showing the government full transparency. To that end, she invites a documentary crew on board to explain that the Legends are awesome and not a nuisance. Guess how that goes? Right. Pretty bad. Turns out Hell is kicking people out and so the evil dead (not that Evil Dead) are rising. The Legends take the film crew to investigate Rasputin’s rise. That too is a mess. That is what they do.
Positives
Time is short for Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer, so they are really leaning on him. That is fine by me. He is always fantastic and it is wonderful to see him in the suit. What he does to stop Rasputin is so perfectly Legends. Absurd is what they do best. Nick Zano totally leans into this bumbling version of Steel that he has become. It works. The final hug to Star Wars was delightful.
The best thing about this episode is Jes Maccallan. She has always been excellent as Ava Sharpe, but she just bursts off the screen in this episode. She and Caity Lotz have such excellent chemistry anyway, but I love to see Ava’s character develop as she becomes fully comfortable with her own humanity. Her comedy timing is spot on and on full display here. I am so glad she is fully a Legend now so we can have her around all the time.
Negatives
If you want your show to make sense, watch a different show. If you worry about plot holes and time travel mistakes, watch a different show. This show in general, but Meet the Legends in particular is riddled with them. I don’t really care for the way Charlie was written out of this episode. Maisie Richardson-Sellers is a star. Use her star power.
Verdict
The reasons that Legends is a great show is that it simply doesn’t care anymore about appealing to people who want to brood. There are plenty of broody superhero shows and movies out there. I like those shows and movies, but Legends of Tomorrow puts the comic in comic book properties. When Ava makes a comment about how bizarre the show is, I laughed out lout. The meta commentary of this show is what makes it a winner. Welcome back Legends!
