Legends of Tomorrow - Season 3 Review
This review of Season 3 of Legends of Tomorrow is spoiler-free!
For those of you that know me, I was a long-time proponent of the CW universe of superhero shows. Perhaps because of my considerations of the sunken cost fallacy, I was unable to accept the belief that the shows had fallen so far and felt that since I had sunk so much time into them, I needed to see them through. Well, push came to shove and I decided I had had enough of Arrow, Supergirl, and The Flash. Following a rather formulaic and annoying formula of the hero having to be underpowered to make the need for a supporting team was really aggravating. But, for those of you that know the superhero shows put out by the CW, there's one show that's connected to these others that I left off that list. That show is Legends of Tomorrow. The only show of the four to get better with age, Legends is a unique beast. Let's talk about it!
Legends of Tomorrow's third season focuses once again on our group of misfits and nobodies who weren't needed in their own time. But, for those who watched the previous season, you know that the season ended with the defeat of the Legion of Doom and any surviving members being taken back to their time. But, once the Legends returned to the Waverider and sought to protect history, they realized that the way they defeated the Legion broke time. In season 3, the Legends have to fight back against these anachronisms, and Rip's new organization known as the Time Bureau who seeks to do things by the book. Eventually, a new evil arises trying to control time itself and seeks out past enemies and new foes to join his ranks. Ok, I'll acknowledge it right away, I know this story sounds absolutely wonky and ridiculous. Truth be told, it is! But the best part about Legends is that it knows its story is ridiculous and out of this world, and goes with it! I'm not sure what happens between when these writers do Arrow and The Flash, then come to Legends; but it's absolutely incredible just how well they understand this show.
Speaking of understanding the Legends, let's talk about some of the characters we have in this newest season of Legends of Tomorrow. I can immediately state that there are some cheesy moments in this show that manage to make me wince or feel a bit weird, but that's all part of the fun that this show brings to the table. We have some excellent leads on this team like Caity Lotz' Sara Lance who has her own love story this season once again, along with another great standout effort by Brandon J. Routh's Ray Palmer. We don't see much of these characters in this superhero outfits as they travel through history, and I'm sure that's part of the budgetary restrictions this show faces, but I can't help but say I just truly love how this show manages to balance everything going.
One of the best strengths that Legends of Tomorrow have had throughout its three seasons on the air is that it can take characters who have been either written poorly in the other shows, or just not given their fair share, and make them household names. For example, Damien Darhk is once again a major player in the season and if I don't see another return from Neal McDonough's excellent character I'll be disappointed. Once considered to be a member of the worse season of Arrow to hit the air, Darhk has become one of the best characters in the Arrowverse. Another example of a revitalization is Wally West. With the loss of Firestorm this season, a bit of budget was opened up to introduce another powered character. Immediately rumors flew that Wally West would make the jump after spending a majority of the early going this season in The Flash trying to find himself. Fortunately for all fans of Legends, this did happen and Wally has gone from wallowing in sadness to being an absolutely giddy and joyous character that fits right in with the Legends. It's a great change for the character and I'm glad Keiynan Lonsdale has finally found the best place for his critical character.
Legends of Tomorrow has proven time and time again that creating a good superhero show is to have fun with it. Shows like Arrow and The Flash once were the stars of the show on CW, but still trying to be extremely serious has caused them to take a turn for the worse. But when the finale of Legends involves a giant blue stuffed toy, I can't help but say that the silliness of Legends makes it great. It's not a show that will receive critical acclaim for it's acting and it's story, but it's the best that fun superhero television has to offer and I look forward to seeing where they go with these characters moving into next season. Perhaps maybe then I will return to the other CW shows and give them one more chance at redemption as well. But remember all my fellow fans of Legends, Beebo loves you!
