I'm still not sure how I feel about "Legends of Tomorrow". I liked Ray more in "Arrow" and the thought of these eight random rogues working together is baffling. But the more I watched the more I learned to accept the show for what it is: comic book eye candy. That's really all it is. There's occasional moments of good acting; they're rare but they happen, mainly from Garber and Miller who fit like a glove into their characters Dr. Martin Stein and Leonard Snart (Captain Cold) respectively. None of the acting is offensively bad actually. It's the writing that's the bane of the show. These characters are constantly saying and doing the stupidest possible things in any given situation. It's one thing to suspend disbelief but it helps to have a modicum of common sense to keep us grounded, which many of these characters do not.
The writers clearly don't care. The concept of time is asinine. They go back and forth through time with no coherent explanation, reasoning, or consequence. Vandal Savage is wasted as a villain. Casper Crump plays him as an over-the-top Christoph Waltz type baddie, and he's fun to watch but the character itself is hollow and awfully written into the show. Every confrontation between the Legends and Savage end up with Savage escaping in an inexplicably dumb fashion, and then the group continues their search to attack him in a different time. Characters say things that make you upset at the TV, like, "Did you really have to do that? Now I have to dislike you."
The plot itself is ass. Rip Hunter gathers a team to find and kill Vandal Savage by attacking him at different points in time. But it's like, who cares? You can accept it because it's so confident in its insanity and so insistent on constantly shoving money at the screen to distract us, and for the most part, it works. The first few episodes are tough to stomach because the writing is SO gratingly awful from the get-go, but once the characters develop more and gain some semblance of chemistry (between some of them at least, namely Snart and Sara) and when they experiment with different time periods, that's where the show starts to get fun. The Wild West episode is entertaining, as are the ones where they explore the '50s and the racism and sexism that come with it. And the characters do grow on you. Snart was carrying the first few episodes but now it's more balanced. It's difficult juggling so many main characters and the show suffers for it, but the fun comes from watching these misfits interact in their absurd surroundings, making for some fun character building moments and the occasional comic relief. I actually don't hate Sara anymore, and Mick does his best Batman impression which makes for some hilarious moments, intentional or otherwise.
As it stands, "Legends of Tomorrow" has a lot of potential. Clearly the special effects budget is satisfied - the action sequences are fun to watch - but the writing needs to come together if this is going to continue as a series longterm. If nothing else, it's better than "Arrow" this season (though that's not saying much). If you're a fan of the other DC shows or a sci-fi nut in general, you might get some popcorn-level entertainment from "Legends of Tomorrow".
