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Legends of Tomorrow "S1E6 Star City 2046" - Review: Fantastic fan fullfilment


Legends of Tomorrow "S1E6 Star City 2046" - Review: Fantastic fan fullfilment
9 out of 10

In 2004's Hellboy, John Mayers asked us, “What makes a man a man?... Is it his origins? The way he comes to life? I don't think so. It's the choices he makes. Not how he starts things, but how he decides to end them”. He was wrong though. What makes a man a man?.... Why his beard, of course! For years, Arrow fans have been teased by Stephen Amell’s styled stumble, wondering just when we’d see him sport Green Arrow’s iconic chin accessory of the comics. Thanks to Legends of Tomorrow, that day has come but 30 years into the future Oliver’s facial hair isn’t the only thing that’s changed.

Star City 2046 – After crash-landing into the potential future of a ruined Star City, many of the team are shocked by what they find as Deathstroke owns the streets and a very different Green Arrow fights desperately against them. Meanwhile, back on the ship, while making the repairs, some team members try to make new connections.

So far, we’ve seen Legends have a lot of play with history by pledging Vandal Savage and his minions as string-pullers behind the scenes with the occasional Easter Egg towards existing Flarrow-verse characters and continuity (like crossing paths with Damien Darhk in the '70's). It’s been fun and enjoyable but this week, that approach is ditched entirely for full-blown fan gratification and the results are awesome. Giving us different adaptations of the fictional DC TV Universe and the pledged concept of “potential futures” makes the possibilities limitless. When the 30 years-older Oliver Queen walks onto screen, it may take a moment to get past some of the imperfect aging makeup but everything else that follows is gold. It plays excellently on our existing experiences of an Oliver viewing himself as broken and defeated to seeing that personified in every way imaginable; enhanced by the eerie setting of the abandoned Arrow Cave. As well as the beard, we even get a Dark Knight Returns, referencing amputation and bionic replacement. The show made no secret of Conor Hawke’s inclusion as a Green Arrow successor (as seen at the end of last episode) but some concerns were voiced over severing the direct family connection to Oliver.... forget them. This Conor Hawke is connected to the bigger picture in the most perfect way imaginable. Actor Joseph David-Jones does a great with him, a firm contrast to Stephen Amell yet still a likeable hero.

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Ditching the bigger Vandal Savage picture for a week allows the episode’s events to carry much more wait, and as such, reach greater dramatic heights. There’s no worries about how a villain will escape away to fight another day. It also helps the said antagonist is the most fan demanded character return: Deathstroke. It may not be Manu Bennett but Jamie Andrew Cutler as the next generation Grant Wilson is a worthy compromise. Cutler can’t muster the same menace with his helmet removed as our beloved Aussi growler but when masked, he’s brilliant, bringing some real energy to the fight choreography. The climactic Green Arrow/Deathstroke showdown is some of the best fight action we’ve seen from any superhero show this year. It makes a fitting swan song for Deathstroke as Marc Guggenheim recently confirmed that the character has now been made off limits to DC TV adaptations.... I know, it hurts but in time, we’ll heal. The ruined martial law city takes much inspiration from Batman’s No Man’s Land story, as did Arrow’s Glades takeover episode last season (both of which use the term “uprising”). With a slightly deeper purse Legends produces some great ruined street settings to really give the feel of a hopeless place.

At least a hopeless place for some, Dominic Purcell continues to show just how much of an asset his comedic skills are to the show as he instigates hysterics by staking his claim on the local gang territories. I mean who cares about the end of the world when you’ve got a fur coat, babes and a chalice? However, there’s so much more to these scenes than just comedic indulgence as they ultimately showcase the growing differences and tension between Snart and Rory. Rory represents the pair before the series started by thinking more about himself whereas Snart has come to embrace the bigger picture and Rip Hunter’s mission. The dialogue is very well-delivered to give them both relatable viewpoints. While Snart is right about the greater good, Rory is also correct about Snart convincing him to come along for big criminal scores. Rory is being nothing but himself whereas Snart has notably changed. The two characters that seemed inseparable now, in conflict, have the most interesting relationship on the entire show. That’s more than can be said for some.....

While almost everything outside the ship is fantastic, within its bulkheads, things take a turn for the worse. Now, the intent of the Kendra/Jax/Ray/Stein feelings fest was clear: to provide a lighter element to the episode, balancing out the more grim tone the overrun Star City. That’s fine, and it even produces several funny moments. The trouble is it’s just dumped into the episode with not even the slightest prior inkling of Jax or Ray having feelings for Kendra. Its relationship drama injected for the sake of relationship drama. Legends, as a show, has a great cast and excellent chemistry. It’s better than this and it knows it. Not to mention that Carter/Hawkman only snuffed it recently. Making either of the boys dive in straight away makes them look inconsiderate and showing Kendra in any form of consideration devalues the prior connection with Carter (which was supposed to be kind of a big deal!). The episode does address this eventually but it comes far too late leaving so much of it feeling awkward. The Jax & Stein bonding scenes still stay enjoyable with great comedy as they pick up on each other’s emotions (you have to feel for Stein dealing with someone else’s teen angst), but otherwise this is a poorly constructed subplot at the expense of its character’s reputations.

Dodgy love triangles aside, this was the best Legends of Tomorrow episode to date. It’s epic entertainment and a mere hour produces a better redemption story for Oliver Queen than anything we’ve seen on Arrow. It’s almost heartbreaking that so many faces may never be seen again but where there’s a will (and mass fan Internet harassment), there’s a way.

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