DC's Legends of Tomorrow Episode 101 - "Pilot, Part 1"

Warning: This recap will contain spoilers for the January 21 episode of DC's Legends of Tomorr0w.

DC's Legends of Tomorrow is a very ambitious show. Spinning out of Arrow and TheFlash, the show features eight characters seen on those shows and introduces us to the time traveling Rip Hunter. Hunter, a member of the Time Masters Council, has selected eight legends to accompany him on his mission to save the world in 2166, where Vandal Savage has conquered the entire world. With such a big cast and the combination of sci-fi and superheroes, there will be a lot for the show to juggle in order to stay afloat.

As a pilot episode, viewers are introduced to each of the eight heroes. Fans of both Arrow and The Flash will recognize them all. New viewers can get the general idea of who everyone is (and an introduction of each character can be found here). With so many other shows in the superhero genre currently on air, can this show stand up to them all? Read my impressions and highlights from the episode.

• Seeing London getting attacked in 2166 sets the stage for the show. We get to see why Rip Hunter decides to ask the Time Masters Council for permission to change the timeline this one time.
• In order to gather all his recruits, Rip essentially kidnaps them all. He gathers them all on a rooftop and explains the situation plus the fact they are all destined to be legends (including crooks Captain Cold and Heatwave). He gives them 36 hours to think about it.
• As the heroes think over the offer to travel through time to save the future, we see them seek out allies for advice or simply discuss it among themselves. Ray Palmer talks to Green Arrow. Hawkgirl and Hawkman already have a past with Savage and have to decide if they can risk getting killed again. Sara Lance talks to her sister, Laurel who convinces her to seek the light and go by the name White Canary. Captain Cold and Heatwave see this as an opportunity to steal in the past without getting caught. Professor Stein and Jax are at odds over it, but Stein drugs Jax so they can both go on the mission as Firestorm.
• When all the heroes show up at the meeting place, they are wowed by Rip's time ship. He calls the ship Waverider which is a nod to the DC character who is a time traveling superhero involved in many big comic book events.
• The Waverider is operated by an A.I. named Gideon. That is also the name of Eobard "Reverse Flash" Thawne's A.I. in the future timeline in The Flash.
• The first stop is 1975. Tracking down Vandal Savage is tricky so they seek out an expert. It turns out he is the son of Hawkman and Hawkgirl from their previous lives.
• Captain Cold, Heatwave, and White Canary were to stay on the ship because their skills weren't needed. They decide to go to a bar which leads to a bar fight. This shows how this strange mix of characters can offer a variety of different situations.

• Of course going back in time seeking Vandal Savage can't be too easy. It turns out they are being hunted by a temporal bounty hunter named Chronos. He tracks them down in 1975 and attacks the ship. This causes the other heroes to band together to protect the ship and Jax inside. During the fight, Hawkman and Hawkgirl's son is gravely injured.
• The big twist in the show is revealed when Rip reluctantly explains why they are being hunted. Chronos works for the Council of Time Masters, Rip’s former employers. Rip is no longer a Time Master since he stole the Waverider. He lied to them. He also lied about them being legends. Their lives will have minimal effects on the timeline. Their help wouldn’t affect the 21st Century.

• Rip’s motives are personal. As a Time Master, he's not supposed to have any connections. Regardless, he fell in love and had a child, Jonas. Savage killed them both. The Council wouldn’t do anything despite the thousands of other families Savage killed.

• Some of the heroes, like Ray, are disappointed that their lives simply won't matter. It's White Canary that convinces Ray, Captain Cold, and Heatwave that if they could change the past to save the future, they should be able to change their fates as well.
• There's a lot going on in the show. There's a lot of characters and it seems like the special FX and sets could require a bigger budget. With so many characters involved, the writers will need to give them all a reason or purpose in each episode. With the idea of going back into different eras to hunt down Savage, the show could easily fall into a rut and I'm not completely sold on him as the main villain. We could end up with the same thing week after week--seek out Savage, try to stop him, watch him escape, repeat in a different time period. It'll be interesting to see what happens when they start to interact with Vandal. Will he remember them when they meet again or will they have to jump further back in time. Time travel stories can always get messy if there isn't caution in the execution. It's a good mix of characters and hopefully they'll all be utilized in each episode. This was just part one of the pilot. We'll have to wait to see what happens next.

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What did you think of the premiere episode? Sound off in the comments below!

I liked the first episode. Can't wait to see where this show goes.

Not bad. I thought the show did a good job keeping all the plates spinning, which can't be easy with such a large cast. Really liked the twist of them being a team of nobodies.

I immensely enjoyed the first episode. It was fun and it sets the stakes right from the start. I just wish they had aired this as a two hour premiere; I want to see more!

Havent got a chance to watch it.. might watch it later.. The glad its good though.

Yeah, this episode was rushed and rough. Too fast and not enough character. It felt like the bad DC animated features, all plot with little emotional pay off. Scenes aren't given a chance to really grow they just have to go to the next one so on and so forth. With this being the first of a two part episode, I'm cruious why they didn't push The 100 back a week in order to have a 2 hour premier adn get through with this stuff.

It's been interesting watching the DCWverse shows grow and with LoT actually kind of act like comic boooks with this setup and our own reader knowledge that this was happening, so on and so forth. One would think one of th advantages to this would then be a need to cut down on setup and able to just explore characters, but pilots are hard. The turn at the end dosen't really land. Think this series still has a lotta Doctor Who fun potential annoyed I'll have to wait till week three to see if that starts to really pay off or not.

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A little rushed but still I was VERY much into it. I liked it a lot. Can't wait for more. You already know its gonna get crazy!

@mrmazz: Agreed on the 2 hours premier point, CW time table is flexible. Izombie premiered a week earlier just so they could of done the Dawn of the Justice League Special. The same could of been done for The 100.

Well it was the best of all the DC show this week but that is not saying much. Sara tagging along with the Rogues was the best part for me.

This was the most rushed thing i've ever seen on tv.

@the_kidd: With The 100 running a two part intro as well it kind of complicates things a bit. They only program about 10 hours a week so they're actually rather confined but they're also trying to programm more year around now (like the rest of the networks). Eh there's nothing stopping anyone from watching this VOD as a lead into next weeks episode still dosen't change the unfullfilling nature of this helping.

And I found both Flash and Arrow episodes to be interesting (and fullfilling) dramatically in ways this did not.

Looks promising. Plus Sarah is bae

@mrmazz:

With The 100 running a two part intro as well it kind of complicates things a bit. They only program about 10 hours a week so they're actually rather confined but they're also trying to programm more year around now (like the rest of the networks). Eh there's nothing stopping anyone from watching this VOD as a lead into next weeks episode still dosen't change the unfullfilling nature of this helping.

You honestly dont think The 100 could of premiered a week earlier allowing LoT to use its spot tonight for 2 hours premier? Your point though reminded me that LoT is a miniseries with only 10 episodes, a 2 hours premier would of cause the show to last only nine weeks instead of the scheduled ten.

And I found both Flash and Arrow episodes to be interesting (and fullfilling) dramatically in ways this did not.

Arrow sure but Flash, ehh. I care nothing about Barry/Patty relationship and for the main story, having Zoom be the background nightmare villain might have sounded good but the execution is pretty poor. Zoom had like 5 minutes of screen time so far, 3 of which was spent on him whipping Barry, 1 on character development and the other just looking menacing.

Overall a solid first ep. It seemed to be in a hurry to set things up and didn't focus enough on character. I really enjoyed the scale of the show and ambition. It fells different enough from flash and arrow. I'd like the show to slow down and focus on character more.

The first episode was okay. For some reason, I find the dynamic duo of Firestorm a bit off. Jax Jackson was really annoying. I don't know. That's just me.

Vandal Savage wasn't a great villain. I didn't mind the idea that the writers tweaked his origins a bit, but the character in this show and his past appearances from Flash and Arrow wasn't menacing enough. He was supposed to stay in the shadows and let the cards play out.

The fight scene with Cronos felt weak.

This episode felt sort of rushed. Newcomers will find it hard to grasp this show because either, they haven't watched Flash and Arrow before or the fact, this show starts to feel like a "Power Rangers in Space" thing. Don't get me wrong. It actually felt like that, the timeship and Vandal's future soldiers.

One final thing, it was announced that this season will consist of 16 episodes. I don't know how long they will drag this season in order to find Savage. It might get tiresome. Who knows? Time will only tell.

Again, this episode wasn't that great. It started out solid. Hopefully, the show gets better in the future.

Acting was all over the place, characters felt weak (Really all those characters had to runaway against a single guy with a rifle?), and effects/cgi varied (much like Flash at times).

The concept is pretty much Doctor Who in the DC world and that's a pretty good concept but the execution so far fell flat for me. We'll see how the rest of the season plays out.

I didn't really knew what to expect on the show, It was fast and that's something I like. There wasn't really that much character development but it's the first episode I didn't expected to happen much.

Gunna give this a miss, Flash has already started to disappoint me with its season 2 and I mainly havent dropped it just because its something to watch

The Star Wars references are very timely, complete with Storm trooper aim for everyone...

Overall I enjoyed it. It did feel a little rushed but it is a lot to cram into just an hour.

I just hope it doesn't drag out some scenarios and become a bore after a while. 16 episodes does seem long just for hunting down Savage.

But as long as i get more Heatwave and Captain Cold I'll be happy.

This

I'm confused, I thought this was a review?

I'm surprised how many people thought this episode was rushed. To me it was going at a good pace. I thought that they handled all the characters appropriately. It was definitely much better than I thought it would be. And I'm super excited for the next episode. Also, I really hope that they at least mention Booster.

Meh.... Way too CWish

It did feel rushed, but it was very informative. It seemed to be a good starting point for the season and a reason it seemed rushed was because Captain Hunter was kinda of on the run.

It was rushed but hopefully that means they were just getting the set up out of the way so they can get on with the plot.

All I want to know is why is Rip Hunter British?

@karrob said:

Because after Rory died, he wanted to be like The Doctor and time travel (because he loved all of the adventures they went on) hence why he was revived and then re-established himself as Rip Hunter

I really enjoyed the first episode hopefully it continues down the same line!

Good first episode. But why no Agent Carter review?

I really liked it.

I don't know why everyone says the episode felt rushed. We know all of the characters except The Hawks pretty well.

And I doubt they'll solely hunt for Savage every episode. They'll enjoy themselves, Cold and Heatwave may do some stealing, Vandal will just manage to elude them, etc. Flash does more than hunt Zoom, right? And Damian isn't the only danger in Star City.

Great episode, the pacing is what you would see in a typical pilot. But it still got me hooked.

Aww come now people. That was a TERRIBLE start. So much wrong with it. None more than, 'hey i just recruited all of you guys to join this team. I need you, all of you. We are a team. We live as a team we die as a team'. *Gets to the very first mission* 'Oh yeah, we don't need you 3. Stay here.* WHAT?!? That is dumb as dirt. Then of course the show needs them to do something, so they go and get into a bar fight.

@thespoiler i recall you saying you didn't like when the first episode was called "pilot"?

You're right, I don't. And "Pilot Part 1" is even worse (Would "Beginning Part 1" have been that hard? It'd be lazy & unoriginal, but it would have been better).

I don't really see why you're bringing it up though, since it's not discussing the episode or replying to something I said about it (I've barely even discussed the show at all, and haven't said anything here).

well, i just haven't seen you in a while :3

@space_coyote: I was thinking the exact same thing. The Agent Carter Season 2 premier was enjoyable. And this is coming from someone who only started watching from this season.

The scene when Heatwave , Captain Cold and Sara fight in the bar was amazing ,this show has great potential

a lot of sexy men

Brandon Routh is a failure, a bad actor Superman degraded to a bad performed Atom

Meh...I'll keep in my DVR recordings and watch on slow weekends, but this is definitely not appointment TV. The acting wasn't that great (with the exceptions of Victor Garber and Brandon Routh), the plot points were weak and contrived (i.e. "hey, we need a fight with White Canary...let's show her beating up guys in a bar for no reason), and the logic just didn't hold up (these 8 people are supposed to take down Savage, but get their tails spanked by a bounty hunter). 4 stars seems overly generous, but to each his own.

I really enjoyed this episode looking forward to the rest of the series.

Well, that definitely seemed rushed. I hope their plan was to spend very little time getting the show started so that there was more time for great stuff afterwards.

I understand that the characters will need some time to grow, but if the 8 of them couldn't defeat a single bounty hunter then that is A LOT of growing needed.

Perhaps Legends of Tomorrow would be better off as an anthology series that changes up the featured characters every few episodes instead of having a large group of characters that have little chemistry with each other.

Also, most of the scenes seem like that will be a big bucket of special effects.

Watched the premier last night and it will be the only episode I watch. The show felt like a chore to get through and I cannot stand Ciara Renee. I will gladly stick with Arrow and the Flash.

It was alright, but the "team" aside from "the Hawks"doesn't have, IMHO< proper motivation to travel throughout and, leave their regular lives behind to chase an immortal maniac. Maybe Cold and Heat Wave, well, because they're kinda crazy anyhow, but Canary, Firestorm and especially Atom, I think I need better reasons for why they agreed to do this. Atom said "He didn't matter" and wants to make up for that. So..go back and invent some better tech. I mean, really, joining a time traveling bounty hunter team is where a guy like him is going to find meaning? I'm not so sure I buy that.

I felt the first segment was rushed. Beyond that, I enjoyed it quite a bit. I wouldn't accuse it of greateness, but it was a lot of fun and shows potential for much more.

I feel it was rushed because we had so little time to see the characters as they were introduced. I know most people know them from Flash and Arrow, but many do not, and even for people like me who know these characters, it still felt too choppy. As soon as we got in a groove with one character, we cut to another character. If they had just slowed down a little bit more to give us a better sense of where these characters were, it would have worked a little better. Sure, we knew who they were from other shows, but they had all left Arrow and Flash to go unknown places and do unknown things. I think a bit more time spent on what they had been doing would have been better for old and new fans alike.

I like him as Atom.

He didn't do particularly well as Superman, but that whole movie was a mess, and Routh was one of the smaller problems. I hate to crap on an actor when the director was obviously having issues. It's hard to parse out who deserves the blame in those cases.

If White Canary getting into a bar fight was out of character, I'd agree it was contrived, but White Canary has shown a willingness to fight for little reason in the past. Hell, she was an assassin for years just because she fell in with a group of assassins. Putting a guy whose a little to handy in his place is totally in keeping with Sarah's admittedly underdeveloped character. The fight scene may have been a bit convenient, but convenient excuses to fight occur in these shows constantly. It's part and parcel with the superhero genre.

Regarding the weakness of the team, it's clear Hunter had to pick relatively weak members to make up part of his team; that's kind of the point of the revelation that they are not legends. If they were major players, then removing them from the time stream would create havoc.

Also, I don't think it's really fair to say Chronos kicked the team's ass nor to dismiss the team as especially weak because of it. First, we have no idea who this bounty hunter is. He might be one of the toughest guys in the universe in which case we would expect him to beat the team. More importantly, he didn't really kick ass. Chronos managed a sneak attack where he damaged a defenseless craft and murdered a defenseless human, and he held his own with only a few members of the team attacking him at once. A couple of the tougher members of the team, Atom and Firestorm, were not armed through most of the encounter. Another three only showed up at the end of the conflict. At least one member of the team was tied up bringing the Hawks' son on board Waverider. The team fled instead of standing to fight which was probably a prudent decision when they had no time to form a plan and no experience fighting together.

Now if in the next episode we find out that Chronos is a no name bounty hunter and he defeats an armed and prepared team of Legends, then the criticism is fully deserved, but I doubt that will happen.

I really dug this episode, didn't feel rushed at all.

And I'm glad they're giving Sara an actual personality, unlike in Arrow.

I apologize for bothering you with this comment since nothing you said really deserved a five paragraph response that you're getting between the last comment and this one, but I think I'm just having fun discussing the show.

I watched the episode a second time, and I watched the fight against Chronos carefully. The team totally didn't get their asses kicked. In addition to the factors I already discussed, Hawkgirl single-handedly disarmed and nearly beat Chronos herself. Chronos did get the best of her, but Hawkman showed up and knocked him over. If he had pressed the advantage, they possible could have one in that instant. The rest of the fight has the team facing him one at a time or laying down cover fire for an escape. At no point does more than two members of the team even try to fight him.

You could argue that this was a bad move on the team not to attack at the same time, but it's not unreasonable to flee when the situation is murky and the abilities of the enemy are unknown.

Regardless, we never saw the team truly fight him and we Chronos' biggest feat is killing an unarmed and powerless old man. This is not an ass kicking.

I really liked it. I think the story was paced well and each character was given a decent amount of time to establish themselves. The production value was very impressive. There were moments that resembled movie quality effects. I liked the humor and found the steaks to be high and entertaining. For a pilot this showed a lot of promise. I look forward to the next episode.

I don't think I'll have time to watch this, but I'm glad that Sara's White Canary costume looks good, and hope her role in the show is interesting. I wish she was staying with Arrow.

I liked the intro up untill fire and ice showed up.

Those two should stick to breaking out of prisons because they can't act for shizz.

And the entire plot of this show would not have been necessary if team Arrow brought a vacuum cleaner when they killed Savage.

I thought this was a very solid first episode. I think this could be more enjoyable than Arrow and Flash if they can avoid the soap opera nonsense that plagues a lot of CW shows.