Legends of Tomorrow has finally returned, and as the title says we get to “Meet the Legends” in the season 5 premiere. However, the team that we meet in “Meet the Legends” is a little bit different from the team we’ve known and loved the last 4 seasons. So how much has changed with our Legends, and how much has stayed the same?
Hey, Who’s the New Legend?
“Meet the Legends” lets us get our first real feel of the newest member on the Waverider –Behrad Tomaz, the brother of Zari, who replaced her on the team in the season 4 finale. My initial impression of “B” as Sara calls him, is one of cautious approval. Behrad does provide some solid moments of comedic relief, but the show has more than enough characters to do that.
Behrad’s best moment in “Meet the Legends” is when he and Sara are trying to fix Gideon, and he gives her a drawing he made of Sara, Oliver and Laurel all together. It’s those kinds of emotional moments that makes Legends of Tomorrow one of the best comic book shows out there. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that not only does Legends make you laugh, but it can also make you cry as well.
Also don’t think for one second that we didn’t miss Zari, because we really really did. And thanks to the message that Zari left for Nate before the timeline got wiped out, the one that Gideon rediscovered, so does Nate.
Crisis Scars
The events of Crisis on Infinite Earths left some scars on all the heroes of the Arrowverse and especially to one Captain Sara Lance. Throughout “Meet the Legends” Sara is in a very somber mood, and everyone does the wrong thing to try to help her. Despite some noble efforts by Ava and the team to be of assistance, it ends up not working at all.
Sara endured a lot during Crisis — She saw someone she cared about die, twice. She saw worlds, universes, go extinct in seconds. Sara saw the universe at the beginning, and saw the creation of a new one. Those kinds of things are hard to bounce back from just like that. Caity Lotz knocks it out of the park with just the emotion and pain she shows in her eyes and her face every time someone mentions Oliver to her.
“Meet the Legends” also showcases how much Sara has grown as a character over the years. Sara in the past would have isolated herself from everyone and everything. The Sara Lance we know and love now instead tries to explain how she feels to her family. To the people she loves.
Ava realizes this, and in the middle of the climatic battle with Rasputin (more on that in a minute) , Ava reaffirms to Sara that she will be there for her in whatever way she needs. Avalance still is going strong my friends, and I’m very glad it remains a steady constant on Legends of Tomorrow .
Documentary Now?
The main plot of “Meet the Legends” deals with the Legends letting a film crew document their efforts to stop Rasputin from changing history in the past. I can’t say it was the best Legends of Tomorrow plot of all time, but I did enjoy some of the characters interactions with the TV crew – Ava’s oversharing on everything to our glimpses into the new lives of Mona, Mick and Nate.
“Meet the Legends” was a solid open to the new season, but also showcased the mix of humor and seriousness that people love and/or hate about Legends of Tomorrow . It’s hard for a show to nail down the right mix of both but I believe Legends did a good job of doing that.
The documentary story wraps up with the Legends lying to the audience at the premiere screening of it, declaring it all fake. While in the world we live in now, where there’s always someone who believes in every conspiracy out there, it seems time travel is a step too far from some. Now this felt forced to me, because after all the crap that has happened in the Arrowverse, it doesn’t really connect that some would believe that time travel is that step too far. So just remember that for the people of the Arrowverse :
Aliens: COMPLETELY REAL. SEE THEM ALL THE TIME.
Time Travel : WHAT ARE YOU? SOME KIND OF NUT?
So our Legends of Tomorrow are back, protecting the timeline from every threat out there. This show may be silly and wacky at times but also it has a ton of heart. After all, that’s why they aren’t just heroes. They’re Legends.
Legendary Thoughts
- Gary and Constantine have a little side adventure that leads to Constantine finding out that Astra has freed a lot of the baddest of the bad from Hell, to raise a little, you know, hell throughout time. John decides to take a little trip down there to go confront Astra. Hopefully it goes better than the last time he did.
- Mona leaves the team after realizing that she needs to travel to get a feel for becoming the new Rebecca Silver. Not sure if this is the last we’ll see of Ramona Young but if it is , I’m glad they didn’t kill off Mona. We see that far too much nowadays on TV shows when a character exits.
- Mona does get to name all the evil spirits that have returned from Hell “Encores”. Have to admit that is clever.
- AvaLance romantic kiss after a fierce battle? Check.
- Wondering why Charlie hasn’t been mentioned? Well she leaves early in the episode because she’s bored, and decides to take the jump ship for a little joyride. Not sure why they couldn’t have had her with John if they needed something for her to do.
Legends of Tomorrow returns on February 4th on the CW at 9 pm.
