What should I write about again?: Peps' TV Series Wrap-up: DC's Legends of Tomorrow Season 1

I have a couple of titles on my catch-up roster with the little one currently on Frozen repeat sessions, which means I usually lose couch potato privileges. Most of the time, I'm relegated to watching what iFlix has to offer on my tablet (currently watching the creepy Channel Zero's first season, Candle Cove). But when I do get a chance to watch on the TV with little interruption, or requests for "Poh" (Winnie the Pooh) or "Nana" (Anna in Frozen), it's the entertaining DC TV universe. And after getting caught up with Arrow and The Flash, next up is DC's Legends of Tomorrow. I didn't quite reach my goal to catch-up to the series in time for the super crossover between the three titles and Supergirl, but I wasn't too far behind for it to affect my viewing.

http://www.etalk.ca/News/2016/January/An-inside-look-at-the-Waverider-on-DCs-Legends-of

In 2166, Vandal Savage (Casper Crump) has achieved world domination, leaving many deaths in his wake. Time Master Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) decides to stop Savage by recruiting a group of heroes from 2016. The mission is to kill Savage at an earlier point in history so that they can avoid the disastrous future. He convinces Firestorm / Dr. Martin Stein (Victor Garber) and Jefferson Jackson (Franz Drameh), Atom / Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh), White Canary / Sara Lance (Caity Lotz), Captain Cold / Leonard Snart (Wentworth Miller) and Heat Wave / Mick Rory (Dominic Purcell) to join the team, telling them that they are chosen because of their status as legends in the future. And they are also joined by Hawkman / Carter Hall (Falk Hentschel) and Hawkgirl / Kendra Saunders (Ciara Renee), whose life force are tied to Vandal Savage's immortality and are the only ones who can kill him for good. But Rip Hunter has a deeper reason for wanting Savage erased from the picture and the team might be in over their heads in their time-traveling mission.

Up front, this particular adaptation featured a fun premise, assembling a disparate group of heroes. Their personalities are as varied as their powers / abilities, and not all of them are actual heroes (Captain Cold and Heat Wave are villains in The Flash), so there's bound to be conflict and mayhem that will surely throw a wrench in Rip Hunter's grand plans. Sure enough, every episode featured Rip in various states of frustration because his motley crew has a tendency to go off plan or 'improvise' on the field. It doesn't take long for Rip to reveal that the crew he assembled weren't destined to be legends in the future, but were actually chosen because taking them from their timelines would have minimal effect on the fate of the world.

The group seems on the verge of breaking up every couple of episodes, and DC's Legends of Tomorrow make the characters work to gel together. Everyone has issues with each other on top of working on their own issues. While the show tends to get repetitive on some of the drama, such as Kendra and Ray's attempts at a romance even though she's destined to be with Carter in every lifetime, Rip endangering their mission every time he can't help but let his personal feelings get in the way, and Martin and Jefferson's constant bickering, there's a surprising emotional payoff for viewers of the series. It was interesting to see the characters grow into their new roles, especially for Sara, Snart and Rory, the former easing into a leadership role despite her troubles with the bloodlust courtesy of the Lazarus Pit, and the former criminals finding their partnership tested as Snart has an easier time falling in with the group than Rory.

http://collider.com/legends-of-tomorrow-casper-crump-vandal-savage-interview/

There are some bumps along the road in DC's Legends of Tomorrow and its storytelling. I get the feeling that they want to dive fully into their source material and all its time trippy glory, but had to scale back a little because of the limitations of a TV production budget and because they don't want to overwhelm new viewers who has no idea of the comic anthology series they are basing it from. For some reason, some episodes feel repetitive, however varied the time period and team players engaging Vandal Savage are. But when the narrative turns to why the Time Masters were adamant in preventing Rip Hunter from meddling with the timeline involving Vandal Savage and the group finally stops making all the usual mistakes, the story picks up and finally allows the series to settle into a steady momentum that they carried through and built on into its sophomore season.

With the current season of The Flash finally driving home the consequences of time traveling and Barry resolving never to mess with it again (because... Flashpoint), all time traveling related messes and cleanups should now be left to the Legends. This should cement the series's place as its own creature in the DC TV universe, without having overlapping themes with its more seasoned brethren. In truth, I wasn't expecting much from DC's Legends of Tomorrow, so I kept it in the backburner. But with CW and producer Greg Berlanti giving us an interesting viewing experience by making the characters visit each other's shows, I figured it was better to get caught up now. And I'm glad I did.

DC's Legends of Tomorrow turned out to be a fun show to watch, especially when it finally got its storytelling groove on and made use of its characters' strengths. Partner this with a cast that you know is having a lot of fun playing their characters (Miller and Purcell play their characters to beautiful exaggeration as befitting comic book villains), a solid story and a convincing Big Bad, it's not hard to look forward to what it has to offer the DC universe (the TV universe, that is) in the future.

And what I've watched so far of season 2 (the mystery of the missing Rip Hunter; the return of Reverse Flash / Eobard Thawne; Sara Lance now Captain of the Waverider and its crew; new team members) just solidifies my decision to include it in my TV viewing list.

Happy viewing!!