This spin-off, superhero show, created or developed by Greg Berlanti and his team, has become increasingly disconnected from the rest of the Berlanti superhero shows. Berlanti created the series
Arrow (2012), which was about a Batman-like character from DC Comics. Since then, Berlanti has created more spin-off shows from
Arrow. This series was the third spin-off Berlanti created. Of them,
Arrow was probably the most serious. As more and more shows emerged, the tone leaned more toward the comedic. This series is the farthest on that spectrum and is the most humorous. At this point now, it's gone all in and is the silliest and most ridiculous. It's now become a spoof that really doesn't take anything seriously. In a lot of ways, its silly and ridiculous tone makes this series the most fun and the funniest of them all.
However, it's crossed a line for me that because it doesn't take anything serious, I can't see this series as anything but fluff. Unfortunately, it makes me not care about the characters because nothing now is serious. It also doesn't help that the show has gone through so much turnover in terms of its cast that most of the original cast members are now gone or aren't even featured that much anymore. Even though it wasn't always great, the series used to have better villains that would be an integral part of each of the seasons. This season, it doesn't really have that. This season simply has a bunch of random aliens scattered around time that have to be found and stopped. There really aren't that many great action scenes here much any more either. The series just feels like it's limping to its eventual ending.
Caity Lotz (
Arrow and
Mad Men) stars as Sara Lance aka White Canary, a highly trained assassin and martial artist who has become the leader of a group of super-heroes called the Legends. The Legends travel in a space ship that's also capable of going to any date in history or future. This season, Sara is abducted by aliens and abandoned on a planet far, far away. This early part of this season is about her fighting to get back to the Legends.
One of which is her girlfriend, Ava Sharpe, played by Jes Macallan (Mistresses and Red Band Society). Up until now, it's been great to see this amazing same-sex female couple on network television. Yet, because they're separated this season, the relationship isn't as potent as it used to be. The arc for the first few episodes seems to be Ava trying to find Sara. Their separation or specifically Sara's absence as the leader has forced some new dynamics for Ava and other characters, most notably Mick.
Dominic Purcell (
Prison Break and
John Doe) co-stars as Mick Rory aka Heat Wave. He started out as a villain on
The Flash before he was redeemed and became a member of the Legends. Other than Sara, Mick is the only character who's still on the show that was present since the very first episode. Even when he was a bad guy, he was always a sidekick. At least for Season 1 and Season 2, he was the sidekick to Leonard Snart aka Captain Cold, played by Wentworth Miller. Purcell had worked with Miller for the series
Prison Break. Their friendship on the show represented a meta-commentary about their real-life friendship.
It was also cool to see that friendship because Mick is this obvious gruff, dumb, masculine bruiser-type, whereas Leonard was this intellectual, gay, sometimes flamboyant schemer. They contrasted beautifully off each other. Once Miller left the show, it left Purcell adrift. Since then, the show has tried doing things with him. He's more or less though been just in the background. With this season, the show has tried to pull him more to the forefront. The fourth episode tries to make him the leader of the Legends, but it doesn't go very far. It also makes him even more determined to find Sara than the others. However, it's still not enough to get me to care any longer.
Since the start of the show, it's been fun to see what time period the show will visit and the notable historical figures who will appear. Those historical figures have become though hit-or-miss. This season had an episode with John F. Kennedy, played by Aaron Craven, and Fidel Castro, played by Tim Perez, which was interesting. However, characters in previous episodes featured Amelia Earhart, played by Jennifer Oleksiuk, David Bowie, played by Thomas Nicholson and Spartacus, played by Shawn Roberts, who were all just throwaways or brief punchlines to lame jokes, which is really my feeling about the show at this point.
Rated TV-14.
Running Time: 1 hr.
Sundays at 8 PM on CW.
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