“You getting all native on us, haircut.”
So this episode of LEGENDS OF TOMORROW had me paying attention. I was tuned in and trying to follow the story. Hell, I was even entertained... but I’m not sure if it was for the right reasons.
There was a clear good and bad to this episode. The good: campiness aside, it was a very entertaining episode. It was without a doubt a character driven story. But most importantly it was fun. There was action. There was character development and more time travel plot dialogue references. And we even got to see a new iconic character from DC Comics... Jonah Hex.
But speaking of Jonah Hex, that’s where I felt a lot of the bad came in. Like the Connor Hawke episode, I felt more intrigued with the story of Rip, Jonah, Quentin Turnbull and the fall of Calvert, Oklahoma than everything else that was happening. Not that what was going with the team was really bad per se, there really just wasn’t much going on to begin with, other than the usual quirkiness of Ray, the annoyances of Kendra and Rory suddenly going back to his old self after wanting to previously slaughter the entire team.
I do have to admit though the town of Salvation was a nice backdrop for the time travel scenario. I thought the fact that they made the town a time “fragmentation” where they could hide out was a really cool small detail as well. It seemed to me like the powers that be behind this show made an effort to really make the settings part of this story. From the beginning the western campiness really set in, but I did like it, especially the beginning bar scene. I wouldn’t have expected anyone other than Snart to shoot someone who turned out to be a member of a murderous western gang.
Although a small part, I enjoyed Martin Stein in this episode. I think looking at the whole team; he may be the one who’s changed the most. He’s questioned a lot of his morals as the season has gone on. Including in tonight’s episode whether to give the sick child from the west medicine from the future. He’s even realized he doesn’t need his other (under-appreciated) half of Firestorm to help people. He’s broken rules, but he’s broken those rules to save lives.
Speaking of that under-appreciated half of Firestorm, where has Jax really been lately? You’d think it be good to have a sense of youth on this team, a different perspective you know? But it seems all he’s been needed for is one liners and to be a bad guys prisoner.
Being negative for one more paragraph, I think I’m really done with Kendra. She brings nothing to the table as a character. At this point in the season she just seems concerned with nothing but her hawk problems. Which you think a character would eventually come to terms with after a while. Her journey in the episode searching for the other version of herself with Sara really didn’t get her anywhere. And I think if I’m force fed anymore of a potential love story with her and Ray, I may throw up my lunch. Let’s just say I’m full.
Back to Hex again, I really think I did like him. I thought he performed well in the action sequences and the character interactions, he really seemed like he belonged. I’d like to maybe even have my fingers crossed and think he could return to Season 2. He had the look down and the important mark of the demon. But just maybe I enjoyed Josh Brolin's voice a little bit more.
Jonah Hex spearheaded what I believed was a nice small filer story in this episode. I enjoyed it enough to where I really didn’t even need to see the immortal Vandal Savage. I was interested in the Stillwater gang, Calvert and Jonah’s relationship with Ray, but it was everything on the outside that really didn’t work for me. Plus, we can only get so many stories told in one hour. What was the point of The Hunters? Just to serve a warning about The Pilgrim? Why was Rory suddenly back to the old Rory after being revealed as the psychotic Chronos? There are so many questions and so little a time.
Props to tonight’s episode for zeroing in on the character driven side stories, but we can’t the big picture get out of focus. A season can only last so long.
Next week already has a lot revealed with the Omega Protocol and the arrival of the assassin The Pilgrim, so hopefully there’s more in store then we think.
Written by Mark Storey, LoT Beat Writer -- Click here to read Mark's posts
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