Warning: major spoilers below! You know the drill. Don’t read this recap until youâve seen the sixth episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Youâve been warned!
Following the reappearance of Chronos the Uninteresting, the team of Legends crash-landed in a Mad Max Lite version of Star City. There, they encountered a new Green Arrow, Connor Hawke (Joseph David-Jones), who proved to be a âshoot firstâ style of hero who didnât recognize anyone on the team.
âStar City 2046â turned out to have the most interesting setting on this show simply because the Arrow fans have an attachment to the characters from that series. It also provided emotional stakes for Sara Lance, because she loved Team Arrow as if they were her family (which, of course, one of them actually was: her sister Laurel). It should have done the same thing for Ray Palmer, but the episode really dropped the ball with him. Weâll get to that later.
While his âold manâ makeup wasnât entirely convincing, it was definitely fun to see Stephen Amell as an aged version of Oliver Queen/Green Arrow. Amell and Grant Gustin have been the workhorses of DCâs TV universe, and itâs impressive to see them find the time to appear in shows that arenât their own. Catching up with Oliver in this state, itâs hard not think that he âfailed this city.â
The episode didnât really deal with with Sara and Oliverâs former romance, but Lotz seemed to portray that history in her body language. Thatâs why it was believable that she would seriously consider staying in this hellhole of a future even though she could still conceivably return home to 2016. And if Connor Hawke couldnât be Oliverâs son, it was a nice surprise to see that John Diggleâs legacy lives on in this world. Although Connor/John Jr. appears to be a son that Diggle hasnât had yet.
Deathstroke Jr. (Jamie Andrew Cutler) wasnât as compelling as this episodeâs villain. Grant Wilson was one of Slade Wilsonâs children in the DC universe, but he seemed far too young to have been Sladeâs kid in this timeline… and he definitely lacked his fatherâs charisma.
Some of the more interesting character work happened in the lead subplot, as Heat Wave quickly adapted to this time period and set himself up as a gang leader, while Captain Cold was clearly dissatisfied from the start. This was the first real friction that we’ve seen between the two criminal partners, and it was because they want fundamentally different things. Heat Wave wants to live like a king, and… well, who knows what Cold really wants?
Sure, Cold told Heat Wave that he wants to be one of historyâs biggest badasses by taking down Vandal Savage, but that wasnât really convincing. As unlikely as it sounds, Cold may have actually been sincere when he called the rest of the Legends team his âfriends.â While he really doesnât seem to be on the best terms with anyone on the Waverunner other than Heat Wave and Sara, for someone like Cold, their companionship alone may have been the closest thing to friendship that heâs experienced.
Heat Wave and Cold actually came to blows over their next move, and it would have been a natural progression if Heat Wave had stayed in this time period. By the end of the episode, Heat Wave seemed to be very unsure of his partnership with Cold and that rift was not repaired. If that change in their relationship continues in the next few episodes then it would actually be a strong direction for both of their characters.
However, Legends of Tomorrow flopped this week with a tedious subplot about Jax and Ray romantically pursuing Hawkgirl out of nowhere. Legends is a CW show, and pointless romances are kind of that networkâs thing. But this was just bad TV, and horrible writing. The only real redemptive part of this diversion was Victor Garberâs Martin Stein, as he inadvertently made things worse for Jax while trying to convince Ray not to see Hawkgirl in a romantic light.
This show doesnât seem to have any idea of what to do with Hawkgirl, but at least the writers eventually reached the point where Hawkgirl told Ray that she wasnât looking to hook up with anyone after Hawkmanâs recent death. That at least made sense, and it was a nice bonding moment when Jax and Ray both realized that they had no chance with Hawkgirl. But the rest of that subplot took up valuable screentime that could have been given to the far more interesting storylines in the episode.
Rip Hunter was also problematic, as the writers went out of their way to make him a huge jerk who actually threatened to leave Sara stranded in this timeline when she insisted on rescuing Connor from Deathstroke Jr. and his gang. If the creative team behind this show wants us to hate Hunter, thatâs the way to do it. But thatâs probably not what they had in mind. At least Stein displayed his principles by standing up to Hunter, but that attempt to create drama really undercut any affection that fans might have built up for Rip.
The action scene in which the entire team helped Sara and Future Oliver save Connor was far from the showâs best sequence, but it had a great moment when Oliver officially passed the mantle of Green Arrow to his successor. The fate of Deathstroke Jr. was kind of glossed over, and yet there was something fitting about Connor and Oliver as the new Team Arrow in a city of criminals that was lost to them years ago.
On the Waverunner, the teamâs departure from 2046 featured one of the episodeâs funniest moments. Gideon almost called out Ray, Jax, and Stein for their preoccupation with Hawkgirl when they should have been fixing the ship, until Stein quickly interrupted the artificial intelligence. That was really amusing and it suggested that Gideon is watching the crew and learning from them.
If the romance subplot hadnât been included, âStar City 2046â would have easily been the best episode of Legends of Tomorrowâs run so far. Instead, it was good instead of great, and this series has yet to have an episode reach the heights of the best installments from Arrow or The Flash. âStar City 2046â was about two thirds of the way there, but it still fell short.
What did you think about the sixth episode of Legends of Tomorrow? Let us know in the comment section below!
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Image Credits:Â DC Entertainment/The CW