Legends of Tomorrow: Destiny review

This Legends of Tomorrow review contains major spoilers.

Legends of Tomorrow Episode 15

“Oh my god, they’ve tortured him.”

“No, they’ve shown me the truth.”

First off, sorry this review is late. I just got back from London on secret Den of Geek business. Sadly (or perhaps luckily) it wasn’t London 2166, but it will have to do. Second of all, I’m sorry I didn’t review “River of Time.” I had Kryptonite poisoning something fierce last week, and was in no shape to do much of anything. And anyway, “River of Time” kinda sucked, right?

But “Destiny” sure didn’t. I’ve accused Legends of Tomorrow of spinning its wheels for weeks now. There’s little doubt that this show has been trying to stretch 10-12 episodes of actual story out over 16 installments. But “Destiny” is another example of Legends course correcting before I can really get all too annoyed at it.

Plus, it’s tough to get annoyed with this show when it looks so damn good. We really had some nifty special effects this week, and I’m a huge sucker for retro looking spaceships straight up blasting space/time stations with laser beams. Even setting aside my kind of built in love for this show based on its DC Comics connections, when Legends is really doing its job visually, it’s just a love letter to a very particular brand of 1980s science fiction sensibilities.

And it’s funny how they choose to move the budget around. At least once an episode, we’re on a set that’s virtually nothing but an empty soundstage and a spotlight or two. But if the payoff is more of the kinds of visuals we got this time around, it’s worth it just about every time. 

So while I admit that the mechanics of the Oculus, as well as most of the other time travel stuff on this show, is just this side of completely incomprehensible, it at least made for some dramatic reveals this time around. The idea that the Time Masters are evil dicks is one thing, but the idea that they are, in fact, working with Vandal Savage because they genuinely believe him to be the lesser evil, especially in the face of a mysterious alien threat (more on that in a minute!), is something I didn’t quite see coming. Gosh, do you think there’s a political allegory in here somewhere?

But it works. It’s a fine payoff for a story that the show often took its eyes off of. There’s no question Vandal Savage is pure evil, but the idea that he’s better than what awaits the world at the hands of the Thanagarians isn’t quite where I expected things to go. It seems the Time Masters are at least acting in what they think are the world’s best interests, even though they may be completely misguided. And, of course, if you get in bed with Vandal, you deserve everything you get.

But what I really didn’t expect, was the sacrifice of Captain Cold. I always figured Mick and not Len was the doomed member of the pair. But I suppose I should have seen this coming. Heat Wave was never supposed to be this enjoyable. He was never supposed to have the most believable arc on the show. Of course his more well-liked and charismatic partner would be the one to bit the big one, complete with a “stolen kiss” from Ms. Lance.

Then again, if there was ever a perfect scenario for a “this guy isn’t dead” it was this one. No body, of course. But dying at some kind of spacetime nexus like this? That’s hardly dying at all! 

Snart’s sacrifice played well against the overall tapestry of the team finally coming together, not just as a team, but as friends. The journey has been a little labored at times, and sometimes slides by on the charm of the cast, but I’m glad they got us here. Let’s see if that finale can deliver!

Bonus points for the return of “Love Will Keep us Together” this week, too.

DC Universe Time Bubble

– The Thanagarians are coming! The Thanagarians are coming! This is great news.

Thanagar is the kinda fascist planet that gave us the Silver Age versions of Carter and Kendra. Katar Hol and Shayera Thal. These two weren’t star-crossed immortal lovers, but husband and wife intergalactic cops. The Thanagarians are prone to rash, warlike actions when provoked, so if Earth is in their crosshairs in 2166 (or further on), I’d be willing to bet either someone here provoked them, or they’re being tricked/manipulated.

They did once go to war with the planet Rann, and now that I think about it, Adam Strange would be kind of a good fit for this show, wouldn’t he?

– For cryin’ out loud, somebody help me with the 4587 references on all these shows!!!

– Was that Katana’s mask in Rip’s study in “River of Time?”