Tag: Legends of Tomorrow

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

* Spoiler Alert

Some unintentionally funny moments written in “Last Refuge” in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow make this episode shine. Most of it is in how Rory and Sara are being set up as the next merry couple. The still troubled romance does not have to be between Carter, Kendra and Ray. There has to be a reason in why the two are always paired up. It’s destiny. When the main plot is about saving these younger incarnations of the team from death by a time travelling assassin known as The Pilgrim (Faye Kingslee, pictured right), just why these two youths are picked up as teens and not kids must be an executive decision. When they are stuck in the Waverider’s hold, I found it funny that Rory would get fresh with the White Canary.

At long last, the memories which shaped who Rory is are revealed. He fell in love with playing with fire and lost control of it when watching how its luscious curves can destroy. He’s consumed with guilt. He could have saved his family when the house went ablaze but something else guided him that night: fear. To see the child and adult interact with each other suggests the elder wanting his younger self to develop a heart, if not compassion. In addition to a great line, “You better not drop my future criminal partner!” by the elder to the youth holding baby Snart, I’m beginning to think he’s starting to change for the better. Dominic Purcell shines in this episode and it is about time. Despite the hate the two shared at each other in the past, some respect still exists between the two career thugs.

Continue reading “Where’s the “Last Refuge” found in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow?”

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

* Spoiler Alert

As much as I like to love “The Magnificent Eight,” something was missing in this trip to the Wild West. Where’s the weird? As a western, this episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is enjoyable, but as a tribute to the material I adored from reading Jonah Hex comics, it was really lacking. The team is going into hiding in the aptly named Salvation City. Johnathon Schaech certainly put the grizzle into the performance, but I need my paranormal activity! The narrative did get science fiction-ish at the tail end, setting up a new villain for the team to fear, but I did not feel that this latest episode lived up to my expectations.

As Rip explained, there are periods in time where the Time Masters have difficulty homing in on. To find the team requires pinpoint accuracy and perhaps there’s something in this location which messes with the sensors this agency uses to find people. Whatever that may be, perhaps the reason will get explained in the future.

Continue reading “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Visit the Wild & Woolly West”

Spoiler Alert

What I like to know in last week’s DC’s Legends of Tomorrow “Progeny” is what happened to Kendra and Carter’s son? Saunders is having flashbacks to a time when both she and Carter are very happy together. Their love blossomed over the successive reincarnations, and they have to stay one step ahead of Vandal Savage otherwise all they have built can get ripped away. Perhaps with the fact they have a child, to keep running is all they can do. As any superhero story can tell you, to let your enemy know you have loved ones only means trouble. In what’s revealed from the flashback foreshadow  what’s to come in the present. Hopefully, more of what Kendra is starting to remember will reveal what the child they raised has become and what befell them in the 1930’s.

This episode, however, is set in the 2100’s. The story nicely explores a timeless debate: if given the opportunity to kill the child who would later be Hitler, would you? The main plot looks at the team arriving to change a pivotal point in history when Savage is mentoring the young Per Degaton to become the next despot. The casting for this lad is spot-on. There’s a cold heart being nurtured in Cory Grüter-Andrew’s performance and I can’t help but wonder how much crueller he will become as time passes by. Although revealed by Rip that he pales in comparison to Savage, just how nasty the series villain can be has yet to be revealed. The problem with messing with the timeline is sometimes the events that lead to the downfall of human civilization can get advanced. Hunter is not the type to say oops.

Continue reading “The Future & “The Progeny” Are Everywhere In DC’s Legends of Tomorrow”

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

* Spoiler Alert

You have to love Ray’s optimism and technical genius in “Left Behind.” He believes DC’s Legends of Tomorrow will return to pick him, Kendra and Sara up after the time ship seemingly took off. They had no idea in what happened (inside, there was a fight going on). His tenacity for keeping hope alive is what makes him charming. But he does not know when rescue will happen and, in the meantime, he uses ancient technology (by his standards) to build a beacon for that day to come. I’m wondering if he needed vacuum tubes since they were the precursor to memory chips.

Chronos sabotaged the Waverider and the amount of damage incurred can leave this ship lost in space and time forever. Rip, Stein and Jackson are in for a wild ride until Gideon’s self-repair mechanisms can reverse the damage and until they can stop to think, nobody immediately wonders why Chronos took Snart. The reason is obvious although it does not jive with his earlier efforts where he’s after Rip more. I still think there is more than one. This Rory version of the bounty hunter did say he’s been remade more than a few times, so perhaps the versions bouncing about include a past and future version with different memories.

Continue reading “Being “Left Behind” is not Easy in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow”

The 1950’s is a dangerous time for DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Not only was it ripe for B-movies to play with mankind’s fears of now living in an atomic age with mutants and meta humans prancing about but also the era was distinguished with humanity’s social indignity towards one another. The surface was skimmed about how people of colour and sexual orientation were treated publicly. A lot is said to establish what was faced back then.

The episode, “Night of the Hawk,” nicely takes a moment to remind viewers of the times. It’s not like the series can evoke change (the issues somewhat still exists today), but to make viewers aware made this episode stand out more over The Island of Dr. Moreau meets Night of the Living Dead plot, as far as the mad scientist scenario is concerned.

Continue reading “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Pays Tribute to the 50’s Counter-Culture in “Night of the Hawk””

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

* Spoiler Alert

The stand-alone episodes of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow are easy to follow and read into than the two-parters. In “Marooned,” viewers are at the half-way point of the 16 episode season. Just where Vandal Savage is can be anywhere in time on Earth, and unfortunately Rip Hunter is clueless as to what to do next. Gideon cannot even calculate where this villain is because her database is not up to date. As luck would have it, a distress call from another time-ship, helps save the day.

After the gang splits up with a crew still on the Waverider (Palmer, Lance, Snart and Chay-Ara) and another to shuttle over to the other damaged craft in space (Rory, Stein, Jackson and Hunter), the landing party discovers it was raided by Time Bandits. Terry Gilliam was not involved in the production of this series and nor would he be interested. These pirates hail from DC comics lore only long-term readers would recognize (this group is led by Captain Jon Valor, Action Comics #23) and they help flesh out what kind of world Rip is from. The future’s ridden with problems since time travelling is commonplace. This reveal shows the Time Masters have a huge job of cleaning up any displaced gaffe on the time stream.

Continue reading “Just Who Did Get “Marooned” in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow?”