‘Legends of Tomorrow’ season 2 premiere review: Albert Einstein meets Martin Stein’s fist
We’re a little bit late with the review for the “Legends of Tomorrow” season 2 premiere, but we do think it’s worth it in this instance, given that we have a chance now to take a much deeper dive into this first episode than we would’ve been able to otherwise.
As a whole, we’d say that the premiere episode delivered from a few different vantage points, with the most important one being that there is a sense of actual direction to what is happening beyond “let’s chase Vandal Savage through every given time period.” There’s a lot more fun and adventure, a little less melodramatic romance, and there’s a good use of Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen to boot. He provided an opportunity to introduce Dr. Nate Heywood (Nick Zano) to the mix, a historian who could prove useful in actually making sure that the team of Legends doesn’t screw up the timeline any more that they have already. They were scattered all over history, and it became the responsibility of Nate to eventually find them all after waking up Mick Rory, the last person stuck in the present.
The one casualty — at least for now — of this journey is Rip Hunter, who has disappeared in the wake of what happened in the premiere. Is he gone? Probably not, but in his absence, maybe we’ll find ourselves with a fun power struggle as the Waverider looks to find a new leader.
The biggest thing the premiere had going for it was the humor, which came from everywhere from Sara Lance hooking up with a French Queen to Martin Stein punching Albert Einstein in the face once he realized that he was a womanizer and hardly the man he thought he was. (Also, he needed to kidnap him seemingly to stop Damien Darhk from getting an atomic — not nuclear — bomb in the 1940’s.) Ray Palmer got to use his powers as The Atom more than before, and Rory’s hatred of Nazis was inspired and entertaining.
If there is a major weakness to the show still, it’s that almost nothing when it comes to time travel makes any sense. While we don’t need to understand all of the rules, the ability of so many random baddies to travel through time is odd. At least on a show like “Timeless,” we understand better why Garcia Flynn is out there. This show still needs that, and while we love Darhk and Eobard Thawne, they need to still establish themselves as proper villains for for this season.
Grade: B. Overall, a nice start to the season. While disposable, it was certainly better than the season 1 premiere.
Next episode – Click here to look at the Justice Society of America, who debuted at the tail end of tonight’s episode. (Photo: The CW.)