Legends Of Tomorrow Season 1, Episode 1: Pilot, Part 1

After months of seemingly interminable setup by both The Flash and Arrow, DC TV's Legends Of Tomorrow is finally here.

So how was it, after all that buid-up? Eh, overall it wasn't a bad debut. It was a little rough around the edges, but that's normal with pilots, as the cast and crew get their bearing and fall into a rhythm. The series, which teams up eight different second stringers from the TV-verse, wastes absolutely no time getting started. In fact the various characters had all been recruited before the title screen appeared! The episode had to hit the ground running though, with so many different characters to deal with. 

I can see right now that characterization is probably going to take a back seat on this show. There's just not going to be enough time to give every character their due in each episode. Maybe they'll have them split up into smaller teams now and then, so the show can focus on just a couple of heroes at a time.

It appears the show's main premise is for the characters to travel to a different time period each week to stop Vandal Savage. I hope they're not going to stick to that formula every week though, because that'll get old real quick. Same goes for Rip Hunter being relentlessly chased by Chronos— I hope that doesn't happen every week as well. I'm hopeful they'll mix things up once in a while.

To get you up to speed on the cast, the main characters are:

Rip Hunter

A Time Master from the year 2166. He's basically the Doctor from Doctor Who. He's the leader of the group.

Ray Palmer, aka The Atom

A billionaire industrialist who wears a high tech suit that allows him to fly, as well as shrink. Think Iron Man crossed with Ant-Man.

Professor Martin Stein and Jefferson Jackson, aka Firestorm

Stein is a middle aged nuclear physicist, and Jackson is a twenty year old auto mechanic. The two can merge to form Firestorm. When they merge, Jackson is in control of FIrestorm's body, while Stein manifests himself as an annoying voice in his head. Like Jiminy Cricket.

Carter Hall, aka Hawkman, and Kendra Saunders, aka Hawkgirl

The latest reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian prince and priestess. The two have been killed 206 times by Vandal Savage, who gains power from their deaths. Whenever they're reincarnated, they always manage to find one another and live out their new lives together.

Sara Lance, aka White Canary

Originally just the Canary, after dying and being resurrected she calls herself White Canary. She has higher than normal strength and is skilled in many forms of combat. She's the "Black Widow" of the group.

Leonard Snart, aka Captain Cold

A criminal who uses a gun that shoots freeze rays.

Mick Rory, aka Heat Wave

Captain Cold's accomplice, who's armed with flame-throwing heat gun.

The series definitely looks good, especially the vast Waverider set. And just like they do on The Flash and Arrow, The CW somehow manages to deliver movie quality special effects on a weekly TV series. Kudos to the effects team!

Lastly, this week's episode is titled Pilot Part 1. Obviously it was supposed to be a two hour premiere, so I wonder why they split it in half instead of airing the whole thing at once?

SPOILERS!

The Plot:

In the year 2166, the evil immortal Vandal Savage has conquered the world. Rip Hunter tries to convince his fellow TIme Masters to let him travel 150 years into the past to recruit a team of superheroes to stop Savage. When they refuse, Hunter steals a time ship anyway and goes through with his plan.

In 2016 he uses his futuristic technology to abduct the Atom, Firestorm, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, White Canary, Captain Cold and Heat Wave. He tells the group they have a chance to stop Savage before he can rule the world. As further incentive, he tells them all that in the future, they're all considered legends.

The group is iniially reluctant to join his cause, but eventually all agree. Hunter says he's not sure where to find Savage, but knows someone who does-- Professor Aldus Boardman. He lives in 1975 and has devoted his life to studying and tracking Savage.

The Legends travel in the Waverider, Hunter's time ship, to 1975. There they find Boardman, who gives them all his research on Savage. He also recognizes Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and reveals that he's the son of one of their previous reincarnations. When Hunter tells Hawkgirl that Boardman is destined to die in the next twenty four hours, she insists on taking him back to the Waverider to change history and save him.

When the group returns to the ship, they're attacked by Chronos, a temporal bounty hunter. They have a shootout with Chronos, and Boardman is wounded. They manage to make it into the ship and take off into the time stream. Unfortunately Boardman dies of his injuries, fulfilling history.

The Legends then demand to know why Chronos is after Hunter. He reveals that he stole the Waverider to seek revenge on Savage, who murdered his wife and son. His mission isn't sanctioned by the Time Masters, which is why they've sent Chronos after him. He also admits that he chose them all not because they're legendary heroes, but because they have little or no impact on future history.

The group is furious with Hunter, but eventually they all decide they're not going to accept their bland, pedestrian fates and will do whatever it takes to truly become Legends.

In the tag scene, Vandal Savage acquires a nuclear warhead and laughs menacingly.

Thoughts:

• Somebody at the DC TV office is a HUGE Doctor Who fan. Rip Hunter is pretty much playing the Doctor here. He's a time traveler with a British accent who wears an overcoat exactly like David Tennant's. He's played by Doctor Who alum Arthur Darvill, aka Rory Williams. He's a Time Lord, er, I mean Time Master, part of an elite group that guards Earth's timeline. He even stole a time machine and is now on the run from his own people! Oh, and his archenemy is an evil immortal with a beard. The only thing missing is a sonic screwdriver and a robot dog.

About the only difference between the two characters is that Hunter travels with eight companions instead of one or two.

• Rip Hunter warns the Time Masters that Vandal Savage must be stopped. He compares savage to evil dictators such as Stalin, Hitler and Per Degaton.

In the comics, Degaton was a time traveling WWII supervillain who often fought the Justice Society Of  America. He learned the secrets of time travel from a robot named Mechanique. He was also a master strategist, and a member of the Injustice Society.

By the way, it took me a minute to understand what Rip said here. I've always pronounced the character's name "Purr DAY-gah-taun." Rip pronounced it like it was all one word, like "Per-dah-gatunn."

• Rip's time ship is called the Waverider, and is controlled by Gideon, an artificial intelligence program.

I'm assuming the ship is named after the Waverider, a character from the comics who could travel through time by "riding" the time stream.

In Season 1 of The Flash, Dr. Wells, aka Eobard Thawne, used a futuristic computer intelligence called Gideon to help him get back to his own time. When Barry Allen, aka the Flash, discovered Gideon, she told him he would invent her in 2024. 

I'm assuming Rip Hunter's Gideon is related to the one Barry invents, as it would be too confusing to have two separate A.I.s with the same name.

• It was awesome seeing Firestorm fly around the skies over Pittsburgh. But once again I'm wondering if he'll ever exhibit the transmutational powers the character has in the comics. So far he's just been a Human Torch clone.

Do the producers think transmutation would confuse the audience? Or is seeing Firestorm turn incoming bullets into snowflakes just not in the effects budget?

• After Hunter abducts everyone, they all wake up on a rooftop. Captain Cold looks to his right, sees the Professor  and says, "What are you doing here, Stein?"

How does Cold know Professor Stein? Did he ever meet Firestorm over on The Flash? 

• Hunter tries to get the group to join his cause by telling them they're all legends in his time. Professor Stein balks at this, saying, "Uh, I hate to nitpick, but doesn't a legend have to be dead?" 

What's the Professor worried about? Rip Hunter's from 150 years in the future. He could live to be a hundred and twenty and he'd still by dead before Hunter's even born. 

• When the team goes back in time to the 1970s, Captain Cold, Heat Wave and White Canary decide to sneak out of The Waverider and go out for a drink. In the bar, Heat Wave remarks that he loves the 70s because they have dollar beers. So how'd he pay for them? Modern dollar bills look quite different from the ones used in the 70s.

He also somehow starts up the jukebox without inserting any money into it.

• The Legends travel to St. Roch, Louisiana to find Dr. Aldus Boardman. Boarman's actually appeared before, via a video recording in the episode Legends Of Yesterday over on Arrow. 

Also In the comics, St. Roch was home of Hawkman & Hawkwoman for a time.

• Boardman tells Hawkgirl that in a way she's his mother. He's the son of one of her and Hawkman's previous reincarnations. Because of this, he looks like he's in his sixties while Hawkgirl looks to be twenty five or so.

There was a very similar storyline a few years ago on Doctor Who. Amy Pond and Rory Williams (played by Arthur Darvill, who stars as Rip Hunter here) were both in their twenties and found out that they were the parents of time-travelling cat burglar/assassin River Song, who appeared to be in her late forties or early fifties.

• After meeting Boardman and returning to the ship, a temporal bounty hunter called Chronos appears, looking for Rip Hunter.

There was a Chronos in the comics, but he had a vastly different look and origin. He was a supervillain who used clock-themed gadgets, and often clashed with the Atom.

• The Atom's suit blasters sounded exactly like Iron Man's repulsors. You know, that "wheeeeeee" sound that's similar to a camera's flash attachment recharging, followed by a blast? I shouldn't be surprised by this, since the Atom is very, very similar to Iron Man. I guess Marvel didn't copyright their sound effects?

• Ray Palmer was one of Professor Stein's students. Typically for Palmer though, the Professor doesn't remember him.

• While I enjoyed the episode overall, there was one part I absolutely hated.

After Rip Hunter recruits the various heroes, Professor Stein is keen to sign up, eager to travel through time and see the wonders of the universe. His partner Jefferson is terrified by the prospect, and refuses to go. 

So what does Stein do? Have a calm and rational discussion with his friend? Promise him anything if only he'll go? Nope! He simply slips him a roofie and kidnaps him! Worst of all he performs these shocking actions with all the dispassion that a normal person would display in making toast. Jesus Christ! 

This was a HUGE misstep on the part of the writers. Besides the creep factor involved with a middle aged man drugging a twenty year old boy for his own purposes, there's the fact that these are most definitely not the actions of someone who's supposed to be a super hero. Heck, even Captain Cold and Heat Wave seemed appalled by Stein's actions.

Worst of all, the entire incident is quickly swept under the rug, forgotten by all the other characters, along with the writers who are probably desperately hoping the audience forgets about it too.

By the way, why the hell does a middle-aged professor like Stein have such easy access to roofies in the first place? It's almost like this isn't the first time he's done this...

Later on when the group finds out they were chosen because history doesn't remember them, Stein sits down with Jefferson and has an actual heart to heart conversation with him. He says he wanted to go on this mission because he's getting old, and he doesn't know how many more chances he'll have to experience the wonder of the cosmos. Jefferson can understand a sentiment like that, and agrees to accompany him.

Too bad the writers didn't use this scene earlier and scrap the roofie debacle.

I'm worried that the writers may have irreparably damaged Professor Stein's character with this little stunt. Hopefully they'll find a way to redeem him somehow.

The Flash Season 1, Episode 18: All Star Team Up

The Flash is back— again! Jesus, these thrice-damned breaks in the schedule are getting out of control. At this rate the season finale's not gonna air until August.

This was a more lighthearted episode, most likely the last one we'll get for a while as the season enters its Reverse Flash-centric home stretch.

Once again it's always great fun when Felicity Smoak pops up in an episode. I've not been
following Arrow lately, so I wasn't aware she was dating the Atom. It seems like the two of them are a better fit on this show than they are on their own grim & gritty series.

This week Barry finally decides to tell Cisco and Caitlin everything he knows or suspects about Dr. Wells. Could this be what sets them on their inevitable paths? Will it cause Cisco to become a hero (Vibe), while Caitlin goes over to the dark side (as Killer Frost)? Stay tuned!

I'm also foreseeing that Eddie's situation with Iris will blossom into resentment of Barry, if not full blown hatred somewhere down the line, which could lead him to his ultimate fate as well (as another version of the Reverse Flash).

It's looking more and more like Dr. Wells' secret will be revealed in the season finale. That's too bad, because I don't see any way he can remain a regular on the series once that happens. He definitely won't be hanging around STAR Labs in a wheelchair once his secret's out! I doubt they'll kill him off, given his role in the murder of Barry's mom, which probably won't be resolved for a few seasons yet. Maybe he'll still make the occasional guest appearance?

SPOILERS!

The Plot:

Barry uses his super speed to help Joe and Eddie round up dozens of criminals in Central City. Despite the fact that this is a good thing, Eddie doesn't seem to approve. Maybe he thinks it's cheating? The same night, a robotics professor at Hudson University is killed by a swarm of bees. Barry examines the professor's body and realizes the bees didn't leave any stingers behind. You know what that means— super powered bees! It's always something in this city.

Meanwhile, Iris is becoming suspicious of Eddie, who tells Joe he can't keep lying to her about Barry's secret. Joe says he has to for Iris' safety, which apparently makes sense to the writers. Barry wants to tell Cisco and Caitlin about Dr. Wells, but once again buttinsky Joe warns him not to. He's afraid the two may be secretly working for Wells.

Back at STAR Labs, Felicity Smoak wanders over from the Arrow set for another visit. She brings her new boyfriend Ray Palmer, who's hoping Cisco can help him improve his Iron Man, er, I mean A.T.O.M. suit. I guess Ray doesn't care who knows his secret identity either. At first Barry's taken aback that Felicity has a boyfriend, but eventually comes to terms with it.  Cisco and Ray bond while working on the suit.

Just then another robotics professor is killed by bees, and Barry rushes to investigate. Despite the fact that he can literally move faster than lightning, he's attacked by the bees and dies from anaphylactic shock (!). Cisco is able to revive him with a defibrillator that's built into the Flash suit for some inexplicable reason. I guess Cisco put it in there just in case Barry was ever killed by bees.

The STAR Labs Gang manages to capture one of the bees and discover it's a robot. They contact Dr. Tina McGee, who tells them they're dealing with Brie Larvan, a disgruntled former employee. Larvan was working on a robotic bee project to help the agriculture industry, which isn't a bad idea, but was fired when she began weaponizing them for the military. Now she's apparently targeting those who "wronged" her. Joe wants to put Dr. McGee into protective custody, but she declines, providing the writers with a third act.

Iris confides to Barry that Eddie's keeping secrets from her. He gently reminds her that Eddie's a cop, and there are always going to be things he just can't tell her, which makes perfect sense. Iris brushes off Barry's advice and tells Eddie that either he spills his guts or they're through, in a plot development that makes a woman who controls robotic bees seem realistic and sensible.

The STAR Labs Gang's magic computer somehow tracks the robot bees to Mercury Labs, where Dr. McGee is indeed being targeted. Tony Stark, er, I mean Ray Palmer blasts off in his Iron Man, I mean A.T.O.M. suit to save her. Felicity traces the bees' wifi signal or something to Larvan's lair, and Barry speeds away.

He confronts Larvan, now known as the Bug-Eyed Bandit, but she sics her bees on him. Felicity manages to hack into the BEB's computer and shut down the bees. One bee somehow survives, and just as it's about to sting Ray, Cisco intercepts it and is stung. He too dies, but gets better when Barry uses the power of... static electricity, or vibrating hands or something to bring him back to life. If you're scoring at home, that's twice in one episode that they incorrectly depict how defibrillation works.

Later Barry's apparently decided he can trust Cisco and Caitlin, and invites them to his office where he tells them that Dr. Wells is the Reverse Flash. Cisco believes him, because he's inexplicably been having "dreams" in which Dr. Wells kills him. Caitlin's less impressed with the evidence and doesn't believe him.

Thoughts:

• In the opening scene, Barry zooms around the city, depositing numerous criminals into Joe and Eddie's squad car. Realistically (!) every episode should play out exactly like this. After all, as we were shown a couple weeks ago, Barry can move faster than lightning. He should be able to clean up the entire city in under a minute.

• Felicity barges right into STAR Labs just in time to deliver a pithy one liner. Her appearance seems to surprise everyone, as she doesn't set off any alarms or intruder alerts. Apparently anyone can just stroll into this hi-tech lab full of dangerous equipment (with a jail full of super villains in the basement yet). Does that seem right?

This got me to thinking— it appears there are only three employees of STAR Labs, plus Barry. We've never seen anyone else working there, ever. It looks like a pretty big place too, easily as large as a sports arena. Who mops the floors and empties the trash? Who maintains the grounds? I bet the place is getting pretty dusty right about now.

• Felicity brings her new boyfriend Ray Palmer to STAR Labs on the pretense of seeking help with his Iron Man, er I mean A.T.O.M. (Advanced Technology Operating Mechanism) suit. She sheepishly admits she told Ray about the Flash's true identity, meaning there's now yet another person who's in on Barry's secret. Jesus, again I ask: why is he even bothering to wear a mask at this point?

Later when Eddie finds out that Ray knows about Barry, he says, "So everyone but Iris knows?" Hey, I know how you feel, Eddie.

• I've only seen the first season of Arrow (sorry, but I don't have time to watch everything) so this was my first exposure to the TV version of the Atom. He's pretty much Tony Stark, but without the cocky attitude. He's a billionaire owner of a tech company, he's a brilliant inventor and he has a flying suit of armor that's pretty much identical to Iron Man's. It even fires energy blasts from the gloves!

Seriously, those shots of him flying over the city couldn't have looked more Iron Man-y if they tried. They even had close-ups of his face inside the helmet!

I was very surprised that he doesn't seem to have his shrinking power yet, which you'd think would be a given for someone who calls himself "The Atom." I guess they're saving that revelation for the Arrow season finale?

• By the way, Brandon Routh seemed to be having a blast playing the Atom. Maybe he's just happy wasn't totally ruined by Superman Returns.

• The Bug-Eyed Bandit is played here by Emily Kinney, aka Beth Green of The Walking Dead fame. I have to admit, when I saw the robotic bees and her honeycomb-patterned clothing, I thought she was supposed to be the Queen Bee, another insect-themed supervillain in the DC stable.

UPDATE: I guess I got my wires crossed or something. The Bug-Eyed Bandit is indeed Queen Bee here. I think she started calling herself Queen Bee in a later appearance or something.

In the comics, the Bug-Eyed Bandit was a man named Bertram Larvan. I guess he got a gender change in order to placate our overly sensitive, politically correct excuse for a society. Bertram invented a mechanical bug that could wipe out insect pests, but couldn't raise funding for the project, so he turned to crime and stole the money he needed. He then built an army of robotic insects (not exclusively bees) and went on a crime wave.

The Bug-Eyed Bandit was primarily an Atom villain, so it makes sense that she'd pop up in this episode.

• Fun lines in this episode:

Cisco: "Bees. Why did it have to be bees?"

Caitlin: “Is that a bird?”

Cisco: “It’s a plane?”

Felicity: “It’s … my boyfriend.”

Ray: "I can't keep it up."

• A guy who can run faster than lightning and vibrate through walls ought to be able to avoid being stung by bees. Even robotic ones. I'm just sayin.'

• Sigh... once again a TV show erroneously depicts the way a defibrillator works. What a surprise! As an added bonus, The Flash even gets it wrong twice in the same episode!

I won't go into the explanation again here, but I will say that your heart is not like a car battery, and a defibrillator does not work like jumper cables. There's much more to it than that.

I'm also at a loss to explain why Barry's Flash suit would contain a defibrillator.

• I know it's a standard scifi trope (as seen in the Yesterday's Enterprise episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation), but I'm struggling to understand how Cisco can "remember" events that happened in an alternate timeline. I don't "remember" eating pizza last night after I decided to eat spaghetti instead, so I don't see how he can "remember" being killed.

• Help me understand the Bug-Eyed Bandits' plan here. She was working at Mercury Labs developing robotic bees. She was fired when she began weaponizing the bees for the military. She's now bitter and angry that her research was destroyed and her life was ruined, and vowed revenge against those who wronged her.

Yet she's somehow able to set up an advanced lab full of sophisticated computer equipment, as well as recreate her research and construct an army of robotic killer bees that obeys her every whim. Sounds like she's doing OK to me. She must have received a hell of a severance package!

If she was able to create a setup like that, why'd she need Mercury Labs in the first place?

• Iris senses Eddie's keeping something from her, and gets all pissy with him. Of course he is keeping a secret from her— Barry's identity. But he's a policeman! How does she know he's not working on some top secret case? There're always going to be things he can't tell her. It's part of his job.

She's supposedly a reporter— aren't they supposed to their sources a secret? So why can't she understand that the same deal applies to Eddie? Add to that her ultimatum that he tell her everything or they're through, and she comes off as very childish and petulant in this episode.

This whole subplot is a huge misstep in my opinion, and further evidence that the writers have no idea what to do with Iris. At this point Eddie's better off without her.

• Dr. Tina McGee returns, and tells Barry that the night Dr. Wells' fiance died, it's like he became a different person. Oh, Tina, you have no idea!

• Insane Theory Of The Week: In the comics, Cisco Ramon is the superhero known as Vibe. Some fans have pointed out that a few episodes ago, Dr. Wells killed Cisco by plunging his rapidly vibrating hand through his chest. Then in this episode Barry appears to use his vibrating hands to bring him back to life.

Either they're just foreshadowing here, or maybe all this vibrating will somehow turn him into Vibe.