DC's Legends of Tomorrow.
While it had it's setup in Arrow and Flash, ultimately, it is it's own beast, abet one best described as team-up the series.
The nickname of the series is power rangers in time, as it suffers from a lot of the same flaws.
The Good
Captain Cold: My nickname for this series is Captain Cold and Friends and for good reason. His thieving, calculating, but ethical ways really acts as a rebuttal to the rest of the characters (save one). It breaks my heart he won't be in season 2, but hope this makes it because he has a bigger role in the arrowverse. I'd love him to setup the rogue gallery, but be more of the rivals for the entire arrowverse, then actual enemies (in contrast to the actual big bad). He should remain ethical enough to not be a person you need to kill, but criminal enough that you need to stop him, which is easier said then done, because he is the villainous batman.
I also loved how, despite how much of a crook he is and how much he berates his fellow heroes, you attack them, you go on his list because he is seriously a team player.
Heatwave: I honestly thought heatwave would be the first person to fall, to motivate Captain Cold for the new series. Instead he was one of the best things about the series. He and Captain Cold had something the rest of the character team didn't had: teamwork. and Heatwaves story arc where a pyromaniac thug ended up being one of the best with temporal training was one of the better arcs. The other point is his one liners, where the only person whom had better lines was Captain Cold and not always.
Plus its kinda awesome how the sidekick/henchman of Captain Cold becomes a badass temporal warrior.
White Canary: Sara was already built up, but seeing her as a regular character was one of the better parts. Because the actor had actual martial arts training, she was a hoot. Hell, the way she bonded with the thugs added a certain element (and showed how this series would have been better by making it a time bandits-like series). However, she had an angel and a devil on her shoulder (The Atom and Captain Cold), and neither was completely wrong or right that added to the dynamic. She deserved to be captain and I hope they keep her as fearless leader.
The Atom: If I had to cut back the cast, it would stop at the above three and the Atom, or as I like to call it, three crooks and an optimist. Brandon Routh confirmed how foolish we were for rejecting him as Superman. He's the screw-up, but he's also one of the smartest men on the planet. You can see how much this version of Ray Palmer is secretly Ted Kord. He is slowly but surely becoming more competent, and often acts as the heart of the team. It is really hard to hate Ray. If I had to pick one point where it was awesome, it was when he grew and fought the giant death bot. Silly as all heck, but a blast nevertheless. and he wears his heart on his sleeve and it's one of the reason he keeps screwing up, but losing it would make him not Ray.
Getting There
Firestorm: I think this one could very easily be put in the good, but I want to make sure they don't drop the ball and fix the flaws. Doctor Stein is fantastic as a somewhat ethically challenged mad scientist, with a sense of justice. It was Jefferson Jax that weighs down the concept. This isn't against the actor at all, as his acting worked well enough, but there seems to be one model for young black males that I will go into more details when I do the Flash (such as the natural athletics line). Still, Jefferson improved vastly as the series progresses with the high point is he was smart enough to study the temporal machinery to act as a repair guy, on top of his other powers.
However, there is an inherent problem with the character. He is easily one of the most broken characters in the dc universe. Now that he's figuring out his transmutation ability, he is going to do a lot more then be a flying blaster. How they treat this will remain to be scene.
Rip: "Time Rory" was a fun and descent character. He came off as a man whom lost too much and became so desperate that he was in many ways, acting as a villain. We understand why he's trying to change the past as we find out how much he didn't have as a child. However, we also confirm how having Sara and/or Leonard in charge would reduce the problems significantly. I like the character, but hope to love him in the next season.
The Concept: While I have issues with the plot, I loved some of the set pieces that were done. From the 70's bar room fight, to poor Jefferson Jax having to deal with bigotry in the 50's (and Stein having a very different opinion of the era), to Jonah <explicit remark> Hex (where both Ray as white hat and Snart as the insurance stoled the show at the same time), or when Ray and Kendra walk into a 50's house party and poor, stupid, lovable ray who doesn't have a bigoted bone in his body, doesn't get why an interracial couple in the 50's would be contentious.
The Meh
Vandal Savage: This character was both nailed and failed. The actor did a fantastic job playing a cartoony villain. However, it's hard to take this as a main villain when he is so overwhelmingly weak when compared to his adversaries. If it weren't for time patrol intervention (and the plot, see below) he would have been defeated a few episodes in. This is especially contrasted with Raj Al Ghul, who is a puppy dog whose seriously lawful evil, but with an emphasis on the lawful. Vandal either needed his own team of metahumans or he needed better escape plans and pulled a Xanatos that didn't require the stupidity of the pcs.
Hawkgirl: I feel bad for the actor. The DCAU Hawkgirl is one of the best repackaging of any character ever. Then instead of retreading a Thanagarian spy or something similar, they didn't only use the bizarre reencarnation theory, they mated her with two stalkers and make her the princess, which is annoying. She was also used as a vector to jerk around Ray, which is like kicking around a puppy.
The Bad
Hawkman: I will never dis the actor of a bad role and character, because it's been multiple times where I've seen the actor could have played the roll, but wasn't allowed too. If Savage and Kendra were dissed hard. Hawkman was by hard treated the worst by the arc. Instead of coming off as Conan with Wings, he came off as a creepy stalker, whose sole purpose is to take away Hawkgirl's agency. he died in the 1st episode and we cheered, and I feel bad for the actor because I believe he can do better. Heck when he was discovered as a brainwashed villain, his acting improved dramatically.
The Plot: It is easily was the weakest part of the series. The problem with the premise is if the heroes succeed once, the show is over. It wasn't tight enough to be a mini-series, but almost needed to have more "filler" if it was that easy. Worse, I can name at least 3-4 times when Vandal should have been imprisoned and/or eliminated that our heroes retreated because...we need to stretch the plot.
Worse, the premise ruined three good characters (Vandal Savage and the Hawks). By tying them together, they turn two great characters to victims and the third into a vampire that shouldn't have as much success as he does. Two hawks should curb-stomp a Savage, and you throw in a master assassin, a master thief, a pyromaniac bruiser, and freaking firestorm, that should last about a second.
Ultimately the plot let them down.
The other is by using time travel as a base, they didn't even follow their own rules. In one episode they were protecting themselves as children but had to be careful not to take them out of the timeline, or they would disappear. so next episode, it was ignored (head slammed on desk)
What I Want
I was very enticed by the concept of the Justice Society of America, and hope it plays a big role in season 2. I want to see the adventures of Heatwave, The Atom, and White Canary and hope they learned from the mistakes of the season. I also look forward to seeing the change up in casts and hoping they pick and write characters up to the task.
I also want to see the Thanagarian invasion and where it heads. With Vandal gone, there is a chance that the hawks can be improved significantly.
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