Okay, let’s get something out of the way before I proceed any further: I love DC. I love the Arrowverse. Heck, I regularly cosplay as the Green Arrow and do a fine job of it. Still, I can’t help but be highly indifferent when it comes to DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, a series that I find to be a lot of fun but doesn’t quite reach the bar that its brethren in Arrow and The Flash do.
My reasoning is that while the cast obviously has a blast shooting this (Dominic Purcell’s Heat Wave easily steals the show) and most episodes provide for some thrilling science fiction adventures, it’d be hard to identify it as a DC show if you took words such as “Firestorm,” “the Atom,” and “Vixen” out of a number of the teleplays. Put quite simply, I think the producers try to Doctor Who this thing a bit too much if you catch my drift, and more often than not opt for team-ups more akin to Bill & Ted by uniting our heroes with historical figures as opposed to actual DC characters. Sure, utilizing the likes of Jonah Hex and the Justice Society of America was a good start, but this series is such a natural fit for Kamandi, Anthro and the Legion of Super-Heroes that I can’t help but facepalm in bewilderment. Seriously, George Washington cameos are best left to Lisa Simpson’s square dreams.
But before I get too ahead of myself, let me inform you of what this season is basically about. After the defeat of Vandal Savage and the dismantling of the Time Masters, the Waverider crew has tasked themselves with being the sole protectors of history. Unfortunate for them, though, is that their captain, Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill), has been marooned in an unknown period. Thus, the Legends must suck it up by fixing what are dubbed “time aberrations” – and this is where you really need to shut off your brain.
If you also happen to keep up with The Flash, then you’re obviously aware of the concept of Flashpoint. For the uninitiated, that event saw Barry Allen run back in time in order to prevent his mother from being murdered. Upon changing that key event, the world around the Scarlet Speedster is radically altered. Long story short, he allows the Reverse-Flash to once again kill his mom, but things aren’t set back quite the way they originally were.
The Legends, however, royally screw the timeline on a weekly basis by killing people without a second thought. Now, wouldn’t you consider this to be a violation of time traveling code at its worst? Seriously, if you kill somebody in the past, no matter how vile they may be, you’ve killed all of their descendants. And yet, no calamity arises because of this – but damn that Barry Allen for saving his mommy! Obviously, the producers think they can have it both ways and nobody will notice.
(Side note: I’m well aware that time was “broken” upon season 2’s conclusion, but that was due to the team interacting with their past selves in a period they had already ventured to, not a result of habitually murdering fools in the past.)
On the plus side, the Legion of Doom – the Reverse-Flash, Malcolm Merlyn, Damien Darhk and Captain Cold – prove to be the perfect foil to the protagonists. Pitting two all-star teams of opposing moral ideals against each other seems like such a no-brainer and I’m glad to see this put into practice in live action. To date, stuff this cool is normally seen only in comics and animation, so it was of no surprise to me that anything focused on these bad dudes were among season 2’s finer moments.
More often than not though, the series feels like it could exist independently from the rest of the Arrowverse, aside from when crossovers occur. On that note, one of the real highlights of this set is the inclusion of “Invasion!” There’s just one problem, though: Only Legends’ portion is to be found. So, if you want the whole experience, you’re going to have to pick up The Flash season 3 and Arrow season 5 on Blu-ray next month. Still, it feels weird to own the conclusion before the other two parts, regardless of how awesome it may be.
Speaking of which, the bonus feature exploring the concluding chapter of “Invasion!” happened to be my favorite of the lot, with the 2016 Comic-Con panel being a close second. Deleted scenes and a gag reel were also thrown in for good measure, but I didn’t find much to be noteworthy among those.
This might seem trivial to some, but I must pay a compliment as to how well the show is presented on Blu-ray. Truth be told, this is the first of the DC TV series I’ve owned in this format (the rest were on DVD), so to see such brilliant visual effects realized with robust colors made for hours of eye candy. Really, Firestrom and the Atom have never looked better. Additionally, the sound is incredible when compared to what’s heard over the air.
Believe it or not, I didn’t mean to sound like I was tearing DC’s Legends of Tomorrow a new rectal cavity as much as I probably did. Trust me, the positives outweigh the negatives, but I simply can’t ignore its repeated scoffing at any sense of logic. Regardless, the final four episodes are triumphs in their own right, and this collection is recommended for those looking for a different sort of superhero experience.
Fair
Despite boasting a multitude of plot holes, Legends of Tomorrow's sophomore year was certainly one for the history books.
DC's Legends of Tomorrow: The Complete Second Season Blu-Ray Review