Last night we got the surprising – yet understandable – conclusion of Legends Of Tomorrow’s “Pilot” episode. And whereas it did bring the team together and gives us more threats to the timeline, it still suffered a strange disjointed feeling. Had the two part “Pilot” been aired back to back, many of these problems could have been fixed, but there are still hurdles to come. So let’s take a Closer Look at Legends Of Tomorrow “Pilot (Part 2)” – and as a whole – to see what this show gets right and what needs a little work/adjustment of expectations.

All In Due Time – Series Verdict Thus Far:

In all honesty, it does this show – and yourself – a disservice to try to compare it to The Flash or Arrow. It is not only its own entity, but also has a completely different focus in that it’s “focus” is on relationships rather than the individuals themselves. At the end of the day, The Flash and Arrow are about their title characters and the relationships they have with those close to them. Legends Of Tomorrow is about the relationships forged between a group of 2^nd tier characters collectively. So to some it might seem very unfocused and hard to keep track of since it follows so many characters; but that’s the point. It’s not meant to be Rip Hunter & The Legends Of Tomorrow nor Sarah Lance & Her Bitches – although I’d totally watch that show! This is the LEGENDS of Tomorrow and the thing you should focus on is how all these characters we’ve come to know over the years interact with people they’ve NEVER interacted with previously.

Sad to say, but Hawkman’s death makes a lot of sense in this case since we never got the emotional tie in/set up for his character. Everyone else on this show has basically had their own stories that never intersected with another – besides Firestorm and Heatwave, but even they’ve had strong emotional and continued set ups from past seasons. That is why the true focus – and enjoyment – of this show is seeing these heroes and villains who would otherwise never interact with each other form bonds. Seeing Sarah interact with Snart last week was wonderful. Seeing Heat Wave continually compliment Stein on his “special kind of crazy” is hilarious! And seeing old Stein watch young Stein flirt with Sarah was one of the most awkwardly hilarious things I’ve ever seen.

So give this show a chance. Yes, the times and characters seem a little less focused; but it’s a TEAM UP show taking place THROUGHOUT time. There’s no standard location or hero to focus upon, but you rather have to spread your gaze a bit further to appreciate this show. And besides: The Flash started as kind corny, but then got AWESOME!!!!! Supergirl started as kinda corny, but then got AWESOME!!!! Haven’t you learned to trust the Arrow-verse writers by now?

Darhk looking very Bond-villainesque

Episode/Series Theme: Can You Change Time Or Does Time Change You?

Between this show and The Flash, we have been getting a very varied experience of Time. When does time self-correct itself to avert change (ie: Hawkgirls son dies)? When does time create a completely separate yet similar chain of events (ie: Joe kidnapped on The Flash -> Cisco kidnapped on The Flash)? And when does time not care and just let things change (ie: Stein’s wife)? The truth is, there’s a reason we call time “wibbley wobbley timey wimey stuff”. It’s confusing as all hell and in all honestly, real life time travel would probably destroy the fabric of space and time. In fiction we can usually follow theoretical rules, but much like in reality Time is always an unknown entity that deems some things as “fixed points” and others as “inconsequential” (ie: Kronos killing those two witnesses).

There’s no way to tell when Time will be “in flux” and thus changeable, but when it is, that’s when the true problems arise. This show’s main theme isn’t “this is how time works” but rather that messing with time is dangerous in general – and that is what holds every experience together. Yes, we learned now that time can be changed – for better or worse – but it takes a while to become permanent. In that time a million things can go right/wrong, but it seems the only thing harder than changing time might be changing people.

Rip explained that even countless years in the future, people still are people and argue rather than come together. Additionally, we see this firsthand as Savage admits that even millennia later he still loves Kendra. Perhaps in the end, people and time don’t really change; but rather just become better or worse versions of itself. This idea certainly holds together all those various forms of ‘time interaction’ we’ve seen thus far. So I guess the question is “when” our heroes change the future, will the new future be more or less preferable than what they started with?

Legends Of The Episode – Easter Eggs, Quotes & Other Notables:

• AHHHHH Damian Darhk cameo!!!!! Wow, he really has been sipping from the Lazarus Pit if he’s still the head of H.I.V.E almost 40 years ago
• Stopping an arms deal creates an even more dangerous weapon? Man, Time has a really sick sense of irony
• Just in case you needed this show’s theme summed up in a handy conversation: Hawkman asked Kendra “what part of destiny do you not understand”, to which she replies “the part where I have to stop thinking for myself”. Though interestingly enough, Kendra admits to loving Carter after he’s dead… so she chose, but her choice was her destiny.
• “Thinking like that is what makes you a criminal” – “No it makes me a survivor and one day you wish you were too” Palmer and Snart had some great exchanges this episode as one tried to understand the other, but this exchange was particularly ‘foreshadow-y’
• Hawkman dying could potentially explain why the future newspaper article from The Flash only mentions Hawkgirl joining and not both.
• The dagger’s incantation was to bind lovers’ souls together for all of time. Sadly, it’s Kendra’s dagger so both Carter and Savage were bound to her since both love her.

• Favorite Quotes – Winners: Sarah & Stein:
  • “You’re a special kind of crazy… I like it!” – Heat Wave to Stein
  • “Okay, fine, whatever I’ll do it” – Snart volunteering to break into a place and steal things
  • “You spend all your time and money inventing a super suit and what do you do with it? You fly around like some incredible shrinking schmuck trying to save the world” – Snart
  • “Stop flirting with me” – Stein
    • “YOU were flirting with me!” – Sarah
  • “We would not want my younger self tempted by some sexy assassins from the future” – Stein
    • “Awww, you think I’m sex….” – Sarah
      • “DO NOT finish that sentence” – Stein

With Carter now dead, the team has something to rally around in a sort-of Avengers-esque style (with Carter playing the role of Coulson). But now that Savage knows about them, when will they go next? Will they travel forward or back even further. Although, since Savage knows about them in 75, he’ll know about them all the way till the future and COULD devise some time travel of his own and alert former versions of himself – which supports my ‘Twist Theory’ from last week. Guess we’ll have to keep watching. So see you all next week Legends!