Legends Of Tomorrow episode 16 review: Legendary

This review contains spoilers

1.16: Legendary

The first season of Legends Of Tomorrow has come to an end. Looking back, it’s been something of a mixed bag featuring loads of big ideas and plenty of great performances alongside lapses of logic and some major superhero ineptitude. (Remember when Rip admitted he’d screw over everyone to save his family? Or when a nuke went off in Russia and The Waverider crew just wandered off?)

The finale episode carried on in this vein, with another huge-but-not-very-well-executed sci-fi concept being lobbed at this mostly likeable band of characters. We’ve spent all season building up to a showdown in 2166, only to find out now that Savage doesn’t actually want to rule the future at all. He wants to destroy it, and reset the universe to ancient Egyptian times (whatever that means…). To do this, naturally, he needs three alien meteorites and three different versions of himself. Oh, and Carter and Kendra’s blood.

Keeping up with this plot was something of a struggle, no matter how many times Stein tried to explain it. I’m still not quite sure which part of this crazy bad guy plan (well put, Jax) means that Savage is mortal again. But, hey ho, for some reason he is. And rather than locking him up or putting him on trial or even pausing for a second thought, the Legends take the chance and kill him. The end. 

Confusing plot aside, it was an immensely relief to finally see these heroes get the job done. They’ve confronted Savage so many times now, that anything less than this epic triple murder would’ve felt like a cop-out. On top of this, Savage, Kendra and Carter have been three of the weakest links this season for me, so having them out of the way should hopefully make for a better second run.

But I’m getting ahead of myself there. Let’s talk about that triple murder. Wasn’t it brilliant? I’ve been saying all season that I prefer the fist fights to the laser beams, and the idea to split the gang into three parties meant that everyone got to partake in the fisticuffs this week. Sara walloping Savage with her stick was a particular highlight. 

As always, there were neat character moments in amongst the time jumps and the punch ups and the Nazis. Sara’s reaction to Laurel’s death over in Arrow felt totally in character, with Sara’s rage bubbling to the surface again as she demands that Rip take her back in time to save her sister. After all, she’s spent ages trying to help Rip save his own family. Rip’s explanation that Laurel’s death was actually some sort of best case scenario didn’t really cut the mustard for me. 

That’s the problem when a universe gets this big. With time-travel, multiple timelines, various Earths, a (now destroyed) Lazarus Pit and magic all existing in The CW’s superhero universe, excuses have to be made when the writers actually want to kill someone off for good. And it’s hard to make them sound convincing. 

Speaking of dead characters, Mick’s visit to 2013 Leonard at the end was hugely emotionally resonant. Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell always have great chemistry, of course, but here Miller brought the old, evil version of Snart back to life and consequently reminded us of how much his character had grown before his untimely demise. This hammered home those ‘feels’ once again.

So, the logic of this episode may not have been easy to follow, but there was still some great fight scenes and touching character moments. The ancient Egyptian meteor stuff has finally been resolved, and now we can hope for a more coherent second season with some new villains. And some new heroes, like Hourman, judging by that Justice Society Of America tease from the closing minutes.

It cant just be me who thought of “It’s your kids, Marty!” during this scene, which was fun. As was the Sgt. Rock tease with that helmet, earlier on the episode. I’m looking forward to finding out what the future holds, and what all these teases are building towards, now that season 1 is over. It’s been a mixed bag, yes, but there’s still a great show in there somewhere.

Read Rob’s review of the previous episode, Destiny, here.