It’s no secret that the Arrowverse has been on the decline for a while now. No matter how many seasons each of their shows have been given, none of the shows have really managed to capture the magic of their earlier seasons. I am certain that these shows still have their fans and I know that the Arrowverse is still capable of creating great content every now and then. The first season of Superman & Lois basically proved that. However, The Flash, Batwoman and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow have either gotten worse or have shown little to no signs of improvement. The Flash is getting a ninth season while Batwoman and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow have yet to be renewed for another season at this moment. I’d be lying if I said that these shows deserve to continue past their most recent season. While I could not care less about Batwoman, I am conflicted on how I feel about what will happen to DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. The most outlandish and zany Arrowverse series clearly seems to have a lot of stories that they still want to tell. Unfortunately, most of the stories that they are telling aren’t grabbing people anymore, myself included.
In regards to competent writing, Legends of Tomorrow has been extremely inconsistent. The writers clearly know what story they want to tell and it never seems like they aren’t trying with their stories. However, that does not mean the show is still good. Legends of Tomorrow originally tried to be a dark epic adventure that united the supporting characters of Arrow and The Flash against one of the most iconic DC villains of all time Vandal Savage. Unfortunately, while the first season was certainly dark and it brought together the supporting characters of the Arrowverse at the time, it was far from an epic adventure. The first season struggled to have an interesting story due to it focusing on the character of Hawkgirl, who was not very popular of a character in the Arrowverse. In addition to that, the series barely scratched the surface on the gimmick of time travel and had a very underwhelming villain with Vandal Savage. While I don’t mind the first season of Legends of Tomorrow, it seems like everyone else hated it. However, no one has voiced their disappointment of the first season as much as the cast and crew of the show. Actors like Caity Lotz, Arthur Darvill and Dominic Purcell have been vocal about how much they disliked season 1. The writers in particular have done everything in their power to distance themselves from it. There was a drive for the writers to greatly improve upon their opening season, and boy did they ever.
The second season of Legends of Tomorrow was a massive breath of fresh air for everyone who worked on and watched the show. The concept of time travel was used far better, the comedy almost always landed and the story was immensely exciting. After getting rid of Vandal Savage and Hawkgirl, the series was no longer tied down by melodramatic writing and could be the epic adventure that it desperately wanted to be when it first started. The characters were also far more well defined. While they certainly had their moments last season, it felt like Wentworth Miller’s Captain Cold and Arthur Darvill’s Rip Hunter were the only characters who were written with a level of consistency. However, this season gave much more for their characters. Caity Lotz, Dominic Purcell, Victor Garber, Brandon Routh and Franz Drameh all were given terrific individual stories that each added to the overarching plot of the season. Dominic Purcell and Caity Lotz in particular each got a phenomenal amount of focus as their characters were arguably the two main leads of the season. Sara Lance took over Rip Hunter’s role as the main character of the show in addition to that moving forward. The villains were also amazing as Matt Letscher’s Reverse Flash, Neal McDonough’s Damien Darhk and John Barrowman’s Malcolm Merlyn were brought together to serve as the primary antagonists of the season. Each of them proved to be a personal and dangerous threat to our main characters and had incredible chemistry with one another. The two newcomers also proved to be great additions. Maisie Richardson-Sellers and Nick Zano added a great deal to the season as Amaya Jiwe/Vixen and Nate Heywood/Steel.
Season 3 seemed to continue the show’s winning streak. The season was given more episodes than its predecessors and it brought in a great talent like John Noble to voice the main villain Mallus. Tala Ashe also joined the cast as Zari Tomaz. While she wasn’t an amazing addition originally, the character has greatly improved over time and Ashe has become one of the best actors in the series. Neal McDonough was even brought back to play Damien Darhk. It’s amazing how this show turned a character who very few people liked that served as the main antagonist of the most hated season in the Arrowverse into a fan favorite villain. The season leaned more towards the comedy and for the most part it worked. There were definitely a number of jokes that didn’t land but they never detracted from the overall quality of the season. Following the incredible crossover Crisis on Earth-X (which is what I personally consider to be the magnum opus of the Arrowverse), the show went through some changes with its cast. Victor Garber and Franz Drameh both permanently left the series, leaving a big void to fill moving forward. While I was greatly saddened to see the two actors of Firestorm go, I was optimistic about the show’s future. The show even managed to temporarily fill the void left by Garber and Drameh by bringing in Keiynan Lonsdale’s Wally West/Kid Flash, who was a terrific replacement as the character was used much better on this show compared to The Flash. While I don’t love this season much as its previous installment, I still greatly enjoy it and consider it to be a terrific experience for most DC fans.
After the second and third seasons, it seemed like there was an upswing in quality. The third season even managed to be a hit in comparison to the lackluster third seasons of Arrow and The Flash. However, after season 3 something felt off with the show. It focused far more on the comedy, got rid of its remaining original cast aside from Sara Lance and has dropped nearly all of its connections to the lore of DC. There was a sign that Legends of Tomorrow was becoming more different than it was during the first three seasons and it was not a good one. Each season got progressively goofier and became more focused on jokes than the actual story. It’s okay to lean more towards comedy if the heavier moments in a show aren’t working anymore. However, to be a comedy show you have to actually be funny and while Legends certainly had its moments after season 3, almost none of the comedy landed. Most of the actors who were terrific with the humor like Garber, Drameh, Darvill, Lonsdale and Miller had since departed from the series. Dominic Purcell and Brandon Routh still did a great job with the comedy, as did Matt Ryan as the iconic comic book character John Constantine, but the writing, story and characters became too ridiculous for their own good.
The first half of season 4 wasn’t awful. There was still some of that charm from the second and third seasons, but it was easy to tell that the show was different from what it was a season prior ago. Not only was the story heavier on the jokes but the writing was far more ham-fisted and cringe inducing. John Constantine was a far more underwhelming addition to the team than I expected. If anything he caused more problems for the show than ever before. There was a greater focus on the supernatural elements, with magical creatures being the primary threat. On paper, this might sound exciting. Unfortunately the show goes the route of trying to tell a message of why the magical creatures need to co-exist with humans. If you want to have a moral in your season, then that is fine, but it needs to be done well in order for it to work and in my opinion it doesn’t.
Aside from Constantine, this season saw four new additions to the main cast. Ava Sharpe and Nora Darhk were promoted to the main cast after serving as recurring characters last season while an original shapeshifter character named Charlie replaced Amaya as part of the main cast for really no other reason than to have an excuse to keep Maisie Richardson-Sellers on the show. The other new addition to the main cast was a girl named Mona Wu, who to this day is possibly the most insufferable main character to ever appear in the Arrowverse. Not only did she only provide cringeworthy humor, but the character forms a romantic relationship with a Kaupe. I don’t know if the show realizes this or if there’s any other way to say it, but that is beastiality. That thing was not human. The character of Gary Green was given a much larger role this season and he was honestly so annoying that I was wondering if the show was trying to make me hate him. I’m sure these actors are trying their best. I have seen them be excellent in other projects but they were all horrible additions to the series, especially Mona and Gary. If I could say one good thing about this season, it would be the relationship between Nate and his father Hank, played by Thomas Wilson in a clever casting gag. The two had great chemistry and the show does a great job at exploring their relationship. Other than that, this season was not very good at all and yet somehow it isn’t the lowest point in the show’s run, which speaks volumes on how much the quality dropped after season 3. I could go on for hours on why this season was bad, but I think I’ve made my point on it.
The fifth season was not a return to form for the show at all. However, it was definitely an improvement over the last season. The premise was very exciting going into the season. The Legends fighting the most evil people in history (referred to as Encores) was a fantastic concept that was used greatly during the first half of the season. The season also brought in Zari’s previously deceased brother Behrad who was a very charming and likable character. The episodes in which the Legends were being filmed in a documentary style and trapped in television were also a great deal of fun, showing the show had not been out of good ideas by this point. Unfortunately, that is the most this season has in terms of good aspects. Once again the season leans heavily on the comedy and it rarely ever works. Ava also joins the Legends after her Time Bureau is shut down and she is really overused with the comedy. I have no doubt that Jes Macallan is a good actress but Ava does not seem like she was meant to be the butt of the jokes. I could see that for Gary, Nate or Ray but Ava just does not feel right for that part at all.
Olivia Swann as Astra was given a large role in the season as part of John Constantine’s story and while I bought her as a villain, her redemption and transition to being a member of the Legends felt so forced and unearned. She was bringing back the most infamous dictators and serial killers of all time just to spite Constantine. She is not a character who earned their redemption and as of recently she still definitely hasn’t. Not to mention that she really doesn’t fit as a main character on the show at all. The concept of the Encores was also basically dropped midway through the season, with the writers feeling that it was too dark of an idea for them to go further with it. The amount of potential that was lost because the writers got cold feet on how much they should use this idea was so frustrating. if they were going to drop the concept early on then they should not have done it at all. Possibly the most infuriating thing about this season is that Brandon Routh and Courtney Ford were both forced to leave the series for little to no reason. Routh has openly stated that he would have stayed on the show and the fact that the series go rid of one of its original cast members just to make a statement of the Waverider time ship being a temporary home to outcasts before they find their place in the world is ridiculous, insulting and shows how little the writers understand what made the show so great during the second and third season.
When it was announced that aliens would be the main threat for the sixth season of this show, I was very curious to see what famous DC villains the Legends would go up against and with the fifth season being a slight improvement over the fourth, I had figured that this show could possibly be getting things on track again. Sadly this was not the case. Season 6 is not just worse than season 5. It is without question the worst season of the show. The sixth season separates Sara from the rest of the team by having her get abducted by aliens and now the team is unsure how to operate without her. These are grown adults who have navigated just fine without her. Just because she happens to be the leader of the team doesn’t mean that she was the one who always knew what to do. For most of the first half of season 6, we are watching the Legends fumble even more in their missions because Sara is not there, while Sara herself is stranded on a planet with Gary, who is revealed to be an alien in a twist that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. The season is just full of dumb moments that don’t make any sense. We are introduced to a character named Esperanza “Spooner” Cruz and she is one of the most bland characters I have ever seen in this show in terms of personality. The amount of “no-nonsense tough girls” are a dime a dozen in the Arrowverse. Nothing about Spooner makes me believe that she should be a main character despite the show’s insistence of how important she is. Ava once again gets too much screen time and is arguably the main character alongside Sara now. I know Jes Macallen is a very talented actress, as is Caity Lotz, but I have never liked Sara and Ava as a couple. They really don’t have any romantic chemistry with each-other. Their relationship does nothing but weigh the characters down. I don’t know what it is about their performances when they are together but they have done nothing to show me why they should be a couple other than because the writing says so. The concept for the aliens being the main threat was completely squandered. For whatever reason, all of the aliens were original characters created solely for the show. Does this series just hate comic books now? There are hundreds of choices for aliens that they could have used. So many iconic villains haven’t been seen in live action yet and this was the perfect chance to do it. The possibilities were literally endless. I do not care how ashamed these writers are of their first season. The show is called DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. DC is still in the title. It sometimes feels like the series is embarrassed to be a DC property.
Another very frustrating thing about this season is that Astra is also back for whatever reason and overshadows Constantine as a result. Olivia Swann does a fine job but her character’s story ended last season. There is no reason for her to still be here, let alone as a member of the titular team after Constantine leaves the show. Speaking of which, we lost our two best characters this season with Mick and Constantine leaving the team. Due to DC’s absolutely moronic rule of not having their characters be simultaneously played by a different actor in a movie and show, Matt Ryan is no longer allowed to play John Constantine. This saddens me, as Ryan was absolutely perfect as the character and one of the best casting choices ever put in a superhero show. They brought Matt Ryan back next season as a completely different character, but it really isn’t the same. Meanwhile, Dominic Purcell decided to depart from the series after making an Instagram post that slammed the studio, with him saying that they do not care. Despite promising that he would be back to appear periodically next season, Purcell never once showed up as Mick Rory, not even for the one hundredth episode of the show. It’s hard to say that I blame him, but Mick was the most entertaining character of the series and him leaving just cut the show off from its roots even more.
I had no faith in this show going into the seventh and most recent season at the moment. None of the characters that I cared about were still on the team and the show was far more removed than ever from what once made it so great to begin with. Sure enough, this season was a giant bore from start to finish. While I appreciate Amy Louise Pemberton being able to portray the team’s computer Gideon full time and I admittedly did enjoy seeing a handful of the original characters return for the one hundredth episode like Jax, Stein, Snart, Ray, Rip and even Hawkman, most of the season is just the Legends trying to find a way to take down an evil version of Gideon while being stranded in the 1920s. None of the characters were very interesting or charming like before. The only interesting character was Gwyn Davies, a scientist who joins the team in trying to time travel to get back to the present. However, this was only due to Matt Ryan’s charisma. Everything else was just a waste of time, with the few exciting moments being completely ruined such as Matt Letscher’s long awaited return as the Reverse-Flash. I felt absolutely nothing during this season. I didn’t get my hopes up once because I knew that nothing that this season threw at me was going to be satisfying. This season only takes place in the 1920s to have a ham-fisted message about racism. Unfortunately, the messages that this season is trying to present means nothing. We already had a number of powerful episodes that tackled that subject during the first three seasons so doing it here feels so hollow. The season also ends on a confusing and horrible note as the finale has Nate lose his steel powers by running through mustard gas and he leaves the team as a result. The goodbye to this long running character feels completely rushed and last minute after Nick Zano decided that he didn’t want to be on the show anymore. The season finale also brings in the popular DC superhero Booster Gold out of nowhere (with no connection to Rip Hunter whatsoever despite him being his father in the comics) simply because none of the main characters would be from the comics if they didn’t include him following Nate’s departure. While Donald Faison seems to be having fun in the role, this feels very out of left field, even for this show.
In the end, it is upsetting that DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is in danger of not being picked up for another season but it is not hard to see why there is a possibility of this show not continuing. You can only try to do so many wacky things before it becomes just as boring as the first season of this show. During an interview, Caity Lotz advised the viewers to outright skip the first two seasons of this show. While the dissatisfaction with the opening season is well documented, it baffles and frustrates me as to why these writers would not want people to watch the second season. It is sad that they don’t realize that season 2 brought the series into popularity and is one of the best seasons in a comic book show. Disregarding it is beyond ludicrous. The people who work on Legends of Tomorrow also don’t realize that the first season wasn’t completely devoid of charm. There were tons of lighthearted moments throughout it and the cast blended together very nicely. I would honestly go back to watch season 1 more than I would ever go back to season 4, 6 or 7.
Overall, the question is does this season deserve to get renewed? Personally, despite everything that this show has done wrong, I do want to see it renewed for season 8. While I do not like what the show has turned into, the second and third season showed a clear amount of passion and dedication, far more than even the greatest seasons of Arrow and The Flash. However, the eighth season should be Legends of Tomorrow’s final one. The series has gone on for too long and has struggled to be as fresh as it wants to be in my opinion. I want to see these characters get the ending that they deserve, but it is time for DC to make other shows. Whatever happens, I wish the cast and crew nothing but the best of luck. They might not have had a terrific run in my opinion, but I’m thankful that they have had such a long one regardless.
