Legends of Tomorrow: The Magnificent Eight

April 13, 2016 6:05 PM - Season 1, Episode 11

The group of time travellers decide to hide out in the Old West, where they bump into D.C.'s favourite disfigured gunman, try to clean up a town, and learn a bit about themselves.
posted by sardonyx (19 comments total)

Random thoughts:

--Okay, why am I not surprised that Jonah Hex seems to have a better understanding of how time travel works that Rip's crew? He should be put in command of the timeship. Things could only get better under his guidance.

--There is no way that duster originally belonged to Jonah. The style, cut and notions (that belt buckle) are all wrong for the era.

--Where did the Waverider crew learn to shoot? I can buy our reformed villains being able to use a gun, but Jax? Seriously?

--Of course we've got to namedrop somebody famous, and of course it's got to be H. G. Wells. He's the default person that every bad sci-fi show has to bump into when then travel that far back into the past. Also how did he end up not riding in a stagecoach on his journey across the country? I don't get the impress that Salvation was a stop on the rail line. (Yes, I'm just picking at hanging threads here. Maybe he and his mother rode in buckboards to and from the stations.)

--I don't even know what to do with Old Kendra. I thought we've been told over and over again that Savage has always killed the winged lovers, so I guess she still has to look forward to that happening, despite going completely off the grid. But even beyond that part of her history, I want to know why regular Kendra just thought she was going to mosey off and not tell anybody where she was going or that she was leaving at all. How is that a good plan, or a way to keep safe? Mind you, I guess it keeps the womenfolk out of the hunting party posse.
posted by sardonyx at 6:19 PM on April 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

Hm. Overall, this was... okay, I guess? I think that may be the most enthusiastic praise I've ever offered the show though, so... good show, show.

My own random thoughts:
* I enjoyed Jonah Hex pretty thoroughly. His exchange with the gang after the brawl was particularly excellent:

Hex: You don't really think you're the first time travelers I've ever met, do ya?
Stein: Yes we do!

I don't know too much about Hex from the comics, just pop culture osmosis and his brief cameo in Justice League, but I do feel like they made him fun at least. (I appreciated that he had no interest in cosmetic surgery, too. Go Hex.)

* This week in Rip Hunter Is The Worstest Time Master In The History Of Ever, we learn that he sucked at his job long before he started moonlighting as Vandal Savage's random power up item, by way of messing up the Old West because he wanted to be cool...

* Mick is back on the team entirely too fast, but I'm cool with it. I like his upgrade, too - having one more person looped in on time stuff is helping me as a member of the audience, since Rip is so bad at his job. (I feel like Mick was a much better Time... guy... than Rip ever was.)

* I liked Kendra and Sara going off on their own. It was dumb to do it without telling anyone, but I have to admit that I wouldn't have told that crew either.

* On the other hand, z0mg give Kendra a non-romance plot! Argh but the idea she is 'destined' to always fall for Hawkman the Charisma-less Wonder is depressing, and the idea she has pretty much nothing else to talk about is worse.

* Ray finally managed to help out someplace without giving out his battlesuit technology to random past guys. Go team?

* The fight at the end where they just shrugged and cut loose with all their powers felt like them admitting they suck at this, which was both funny and sad in equal measure.

* I like the Pilgrim/Omega Protocol thing so far. At the very least, that final scene actually felt like it might have stakes?
posted by mordax at 6:37 PM on April 13, 2016 [5 favorites]

Yeah, this time it was Martin's turn to leave something (vials of TB cure in a cute plastic container) in the Old West. Because there is no way that can't fall into the wrong hands.

I like Mick's new deeper, more thoughtful character too. So like you I'm down with him being part of the team again. Besides anything that involves putting the focus on the better teammates and takes spotlight from the weaker ones is perfectly okay with me.
posted by sardonyx at 7:11 PM on April 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

How did you all see this episode a day early?

I was super-bored by this episode. Waaaaaaaay too much Rip Hunter. The Sara/Rory bar scene was nice, but, overall, what a slog to get through.
posted by oh yeah! at 7:32 PM on April 14, 2016 [2 favorites]

Canadian channels showed it on Tuesday for some unknown reason. I didn't realize the US broadcast schedule wasn't in synch until after I posted.
posted by sardonyx at 8:20 PM on April 14, 2016

How did you all see this episode a day early?

Well, the Time Masters won't let me talk about that, but let's just say that I only made Vandal Savage more powerful in the end.

Waaaaaaaay too much Rip Hunter.

I have no counterargument for that.
posted by mordax at 9:37 PM on April 14, 2016 [5 favorites]

How did you all see this episode a day early?

Blame Canada!

I don't know, like the episode before last, this episode felt like a show getting its groove. It was good, it was funny, and self-aware.

f course we've got to namedrop somebody famous, and of course it's got to be H. G. Wells. He's the default person that every bad sci-fi show has to bump into when then travel that far back into the past.

We agreed not to discuss Timelash.
posted by Mezentian at 5:43 AM on April 15, 2016

Why the heck did any of them need to get off the wave-rider? It was a very very bad idea...

Rip reminds me of Rita Leeds from Arrested Development. Michael doesn't realize she's mentally handicapped because she's pretty and British.

..it would explain a lot about Rip. Maybe brain damage caused by too many time jumps?
posted by FallowKing at 8:49 AM on April 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

The minute all of them set foot on the town I groaned and wanted to stop watching. I made it through solely because of Jonah Hex and Mick. Not enough Snart and Sarah for me.

Like, you're all adults, if the guy who consistently screws up the timeline tells you it's probably a bad idea to leave the ship, stop whining about your childhood fantasy and stay on the damn ship.

Everything after that was super predictable and a few parts were just dumb. I'm gonna take this off my DVR.
posted by numaner at 9:38 PM on April 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm gonna take this off my DVR.

And miss Ma Hunkel, the (original) Red Tornado? Wesley Dodds? Sgt Rock?

I'm not quite where you are, I think a few of the episodes, like this one, show the potential of the show, and I have nothing better to watch the night when it airs... and I really want to see how they pull the above off.

I'm optimistic for season two. Unless they're still fighting Savage. And, even then, if they go all Obscure DC, I'll still stick by it.
posted by Mezentian at 1:40 AM on April 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm sort of at the midpoint on this one: I watch some stuff because it's a glorious train wreck. Right now, that keeps me tuning in for Scandal and Gotham, which are failures on almost every level but are so completely nuts that I'm curious what's going to happen next.

Some stuff, I watch 'cause it's awesome. This season, that's The 100, iZombie, Better Call Saul. Stuff I consider actual art, and I pick apart to try and see how it ticks.

Some stuff, I stay with out of hope. I don't really think Legends of Tomorrow is going to get much better. Maybe a little, especially if they finish the Savage arc this season, but I don't really think so... and yet, I want to believe. It's just such a fun premise inhabited by characters I sympathize with that I'm going to stick it out with an open mind anyway.
posted by mordax at 11:52 AM on April 16, 2016 [2 favorites]

Except about Rip Hunter. Poor Arthur Darvill, but Rip is just the worst here. I'll always remember him as Rory instead. (I'd love if they pulled a Harrison Wells with him and replaced him with a non-awful version in S2 from a parallel timeline or something. Only way to rollback his awfulness now.)
posted by mordax at 11:54 AM on April 16, 2016

I'm not one of those "turn off your brain" people, but this show is about what I hoped it would be, and while it occasionally levels up here and there (and sometimes stumbles), I enjoy it and am not sure what those who don't are looking for. It's breezy and funny and cool things happen. There's no agonizingly baroque continuity to follow, the one truly insufferable character was immediately killed off, and there are no ten-minute stretches of pointless dialogue that exist to pad out the runtime (looking at you, Daredevil). It's not Better Call Saul, but it isn't trying to be.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:37 AM on April 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

Like, you're all adults, if the guy who consistently screws up the timeline tells you it's probably a bad idea to leave the ship, stop whining about your childhood fantasy and stay on the damn ship.

Yeah, Rip is not Costanza-wrong where you can just assume that the opposite thing is the right way to go. He is 32 flavors and then some wrong about shit. But to say "if the guy who consistently screws up the timeline tells you" should indicate he has some reason to know... that presumes a capacity to learn from his mistakes, which has all evidence to the contrary.
posted by phearlez at 2:08 PM on April 18, 2016

I have nothing better to watch the night when it airs

The 100, with all its problems, is still a much better show. Have a nice unplugged dinner while this airs and digest while you watch The 100.

There's no agonizingly baroque continuity to follow

The whole show is about time travel and its effects. You can't do a time travel show without some continuity. The problem is that they don't seem to remember how they've been screwing up the timeline. This ain't Quantum Leap, where you really can turn off your brain (and even then that show usually makes sense in an episodic way).

that presumes a capacity to learn from his mistakes

This was coming off of him speeding up a disastrous future because he failed to educate a child. So even if he can't seem to learn from his mistakes, the rest of the team was right there seeing him fail. Surely at least a couple of them can learn from the mistakes of others.
posted by numaner at 6:13 AM on April 19, 2016

Hey, folks - I didn't get a chance to post the episode 12 thread before work this morning and I won't be home til late, so, if someone else wants to do it please feel free.
posted by oh yeah! at 8:06 AM on April 22, 2016

Done.
posted by Mezentian at 9:15 AM on April 22, 2016

Holy crap, that was Anna Deavere Smith as Old West Kendra!

I liked the fight in the bar going on for several cuts, and then seeing Mick passed out on the bar.

I just realized I'm the Rip Hunter of my own life.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 10:53 PM on April 26, 2016

This show is so ridiculous, if I didn't super like a few of the characters I would not be watching. Super eye rolls on "Yup, we're just gonna leave the ship and go get into a bar brawl because we want to and that's the plot."

Jonah's half-lockjaw scarring was freaking me out. Just saying.

I did not get at all that that woman was supposed to be an older version of Kendra. Hated that entire plot. CARTER IS AN ASS AND YOU KEEP TRYING TO CONVINCE ME THEY ARE AWESOME SOULMATES. And it's NOT WORKING, show. Also, are they seriously implying that Kendra should just off herself every time Carter dies without her or something? Come onnnn. I so don't look forward to Carter's inevitable return.
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:35 PM on May 13, 2016