DVR catch up: Legends of Tomorrow
SPOILER ALERT! Catch up before you get spoiled!
O hai, Eobard! We wondered where you went!
We are now two episodes into season two of Legends of Tomorrow, airing on Thursday evenings. Seems like a good time to get all caught up.
Last season, the Legends (who were, admittedly, folks snatched from the other Berlanti-verse shows that wouldn’t be missed by their timelines. No really, Rip Hunter, the leader of this happy group, ‘fessed up and told them that they were basically nobodies, as far as history was concerned, so hey, why not help Ol’ Rip on his quest!) took on never-say-die bad guy Vandal Savage. They got him, lost one of their own (Captain Cold), then took out the Time Masters (a bunch of know-it-alls who set the rules for technology-based time travel. They didn’t really seem to weigh in on Speedforce time traveling). We left off with a cryptic warning from a fellow, telling the Legends to not travel to 1942…unless they really wanted to die.
So we start off season two with a nerdy little guy somehow dodging security and making it to Oliver Queen’s mayoral office (What? Ollie’s the mayor? Shhhh, go watch the Arrow for that one). He is Nate Heywood, a historian, and he need’s the Green Arrow’s help! He figured out how to track the Legends through history…until a big underwater BOOM in 1942. We better suit up and go check that out, right?
The Wave Rider, the Legends’ ship, is at the bottom of the ocean. Ollie and Nate find Mick, AKA Heatwave in stasis. He’s been there for the last 72 years, chilling, as he’s known to do.
Not really. He freaked out a little upon waking up. He explained what happened…in 1942: The Legends spent a little while hopping through time, being the stand-in Time Masters (since they kind of blew those guys up) and making sure any other time-traveling malcontents didn’t screw up the timeline. They don’t seem nearly as worried about the Butterfly Effect because Gideon is around to tell them “don’t do that” (except for going to 1942…C’MON, GIDEON).
They get a warning of a large shift in the timeline-the Nazis have snagged Einstein, got the A-Bomb first, and, well…commentary about speaking German. So, the Legends go to stop all that.
Of course, nothing goes as planned, Einstein figures them out, Einstein was ‘collaborating’ with his ex-wife, who knows how to make the Bomb, and the Nazis grab her instead. Oh, yeah, and Damien Darhk is back.
The Legends try to stop an A-Bomb-loaded U-Boat, and the Wave Rider takes one for the team. Rip scatters the Legends through history as a safety measure, except for Mick, because he was too injured.
So, let’s go find them!
This part was almost TOO easy. Ray is getting chased by dinosaurs, Jax and Dr. Stein are in the Middle Ages, as wizard-like jesters, Sara is a ‘witch’ in Salem, and Rip is nowhere to be found. He left them a little message, they accept Nate onto the team and head back to 1942.
They manage to stop the Nazis, all is well…and everyone’s favorite Reverse Flash, who jetted off after some Flashpoint fun with Barry, is now working with Damien. Nice. I wondered what happened to that dude!
The Legends are about to go right some wrongs when they encounter the JSA-the Justice Society of America, DC’s first super hero team (no really, these guys go way back…most of them).
We’ve now landed in Episode Two, and the JSA are skeptical about the Legends. They treat the time-hoppers like a bunch of raving looney tunes, and marvel at how they get anything done, as the Legends do seem to argue a lot. And they have no leader. Maybe Dr. Stein can be the leader, since he’s the oldest. Sure.
The Legends realize that the Nazis take out the JSA, including Nate’s grandfather, Commander Steel. They return to stop that from happening.
The JSA seems to be a very well-oiled, functioning team. They’ve got Obsidian, Doctor Mid-Nite, Vixen (grandmother to the Vixen from CW Seed, who debuted IRL on Arrow last season), Stargirl (a 90’s-created character that’s now in 1942, but hey) and Hourman.
Long story short, the Legends work with the JSA to get a mystical artifact back from the Nazis, Dr. Stein is kind of a crappy leader (snap decisions in battle aren’t his forte), Ray and Vixen get caught by the Nazis, one Nazi has a super serum that turns him into a crazed large caveman, more Nazi battles, and the artifact is retrieved. Success!
Oh, yeah, and Nate is a hemophiliac, gets mortally wounded, Ray has some of the super serum (that he’s altered to make less caveman-ragey), which he uses to save Nate’s life. And then Nate turns into Civilian Steel, looking kind of like Colossus from the X-Men.
And, Hourman is locking up his artifact and Eobard pops back up, says hey, vibrates his arm into Hourman, takes the artifact and leaves him for dead. Vixen finds him, gets his last words, and is, reportedly, joining the cast of Legends as a regular (I wonder how this will effect Seed Vixen?).
I’m glad Legends of Tomorrow is getting some of its own original characters, or at least, characters not pulled from previous casts on other shows. It felt a lot like a catch-all, and they ARE down a few crewmembers, so a historian Civilian Steel, and Grandmother Vixen are welcome additions. Technically, Vixen’s mythology is pre-established, but this Vixen is new to us.
Conversely, I do like that this season’s string-pulling bad guy is actually from another Berlanti-verse show. Eobard Thawne seemed like he was only lightly used in Flashpoint, just there like a cameo, so this will be fun to flesh him out more, in a not-Harrison Wells sort of way.
Legends of Tomorrow now feels separate enough, yet tied-in just enough that it can really grow and explore in its own way. I’m sticking around and looking forward to what happens!