DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV Series) Blood Ties (2016) User Reviews

Going in circles

[tenshi_ippikiookami · 7/10 · 2 July 2016]

The "Legends" are stuck in the 70s, and now will try to get Savage's money from him, stealing it from his bank. Captain Cold has a plan from his own that also (obviously) involves stealing. And Stein and Ray try to save Kendra.

This episode is not as good as the first two, even if it is still fun enough. The three story lines are just OK, and two of them just seem to be there to fill time (Captain Cold's detour into stealing emeralds and Stein and Ray's saving Kendra). The pace of the episode suffers from it and the fun come and goes, leaving the viewer a little bit cold at all the proceedings. There's some plot development, but the show could have taken a faster pace or thought of other more interesting excuses to fill time. With so many interesting characters and the time-travel it has more than its share of opportunities.

The cast, though, keeps the good job, and everyone's company is very enjoyable. The direction is solid enough, and keeps delivering in the action department.

"Legends of Tomorrow" is fun, but it still seems to be trying to find its purpose. Let's see in future episodes.

I've Seen Men of Steel Die and Dark Knights Fall

[ThomasDrufke · 8/10 · 4 February 2016]

While I have been critical of the first two episodes of this show, I know it has potential. This episode showed me that there is at least more to this show than great fight sequences, which it once again proved tonight. We got three different groups of the team tonight working together and I think they all worked in their own way. Sure, there are still a couple of things I'm not totally sold on, but that's typical of a show only three episodes in.

The first big moment of the episode came as Hunter referenced the now famous line "I've seen men of steel die and dark knights fall" which we all nerded out after the trailer was released a few months back. It didn't have anything to do with the episode itself, but those references are always fun to hear. Hunter and Sara went on a hunt for some of Savages goons or people who worship his presence and we ended up getting some great fight scenes in return.

I can never get enough Canary action and Hunter seemed to prove himself a little more as at least a capable fighter. Him 'killing' Savage was a little questionable though. That also made me think, how many times will they 'kill' him before Kendra inevitably does at the end of the season? I just hope 16 episodes of Savage doesn't get too boring. The creepy feeling of Savage and his goons having a ceremony for Hawkman's dead body was the type of tone that can separate Savage from other villains we've seen, but I still need to see more before I get too excited.

On Sara's front, her blood lust suddenly came back, which I guess means Constantine didn't fix everything with her back in Arrow a few months back, but it also makes two characters who struggled with blood lust after Thea had her big night last night on Arrow. Coincidence? Probably, but I just hope both shows start to stray away from that plot point as its getting pretty tiring. It was fun to see Sara show her skills out in the field as she hasn't had a ton of screen time to do that yet. Having her notice each of Savage's goons in the field was a nice touch as well.

Ray and Stein had to deal with Kendra as her body wasn't reacting well to her wounds from last week. Ray was forced to shrink and remove/destroy some dangerous fragments from inside Kendra's body as Stein coached him throughout like DC's version of the science bros. As much as this ordeal felt a whole lot like an old episode of Magic School Bus (seriously they do basically the same thing), it was fun to watch Ray pretty much be a poor man's Iron Man inside Kendra.

The third group was Heatwave, Captain Cold, and Jax going after an old relic that looked a whole lot like Kryptonite. Snart also felt the need to go visit his young self as they were in Central City 1975. This story line felt like a direct rehash of last week's side arc with Stein, so I was disinterested. I also felt like it was just a way for us to care more about Snart, who has always been unlikable for several reasons.

So in all, I enjoyed this week's episode more than the first two, but there's still plenty of work to be done. Savage is still feeding off more of a Christoph Waltz wannabe and a few other characters just aren't hitting the way I hoped but it's been fun so far. Hunter's story line also probably would have worked better if we didn't see him fighting Savage in the opening scene and it was just revealed later on, but oh well. I still have hope.

+Canary fights

+Ray as ATOM and Iron Man

+Hunter is improving

+Science bros

+Creepy Savage scenes

-Hunter reveal didn't work

-Savage still feels like a Waltz copycat

8.2/10

Bad writing

[obie_triceportugues · 3/10 · 6 February 2016]

I really, really wanted to like this series, because I like arrow and flash. The 2 previous episodes gave me hope that it could be great. But they had to screw everything up. Seriously, who's writing this? Now, spoiler alert, annoying rip manages to defeat a powerful being that lived for 4000 years, consumes the power of a semi-god and hasn't been defeat by 2 of them in episode 2. In fact, it took the whole arrow team and flash in a crossover to take him out, and some guy from the future whose combat abilities go as far as shooting some laser pistol manages to split this almighty immortal man. But no, this is not the most stupid that this episode could go. After Savage is half death, and talking (although he has his throat cut open), saying he'll heal and kill them all, they leave him there!!!! What? Can't they grab his death body and lock it in some massive prison? Or take him 5000 years to the future and let the future handle him? Or even better! Get him in that ugly ship of theirs and let hawk-girl finish the job so they can go on with their lives? I know this would end the series, so they could write the episode in a way that Savage's body would be taken by one of his followers, or let him escape. I don't know, they are being paid to write something that makes sense.

I can go on and on about other mistakes, but this is it for me.

He-Man (SPOILERS!)

[amrittamang · 1/10 · 26 May 2019]

There was this episode of He-Man where he had Skeletor hanging off a cliff. If he had let him slip and die, all problems including the show could have been concluded.

This show has so far been disappointing. The story consists of mere story elements. There is no coherence. Nothing makes sense, including the characters themselves.

Now comes the third episode. The immortal bad guy is defeated, throat slit. Yes, he will recover but why, WHY, would they just leave him behind without any, ANY, reason? If you have an immortal defeated but you cannot kill him, then you imprison him. A hint: the Face of Bo, Doctor Who. You could burn the immortal down as much as possible and then cast the remains in resin, cement and/or other substances. Then you watch the prisoner.

That should give you enough time to fill a season and defeat him for good.

This show is only for people who don't care about a story and coherence. DC just cannot get it together it seems. Honestly, I wanted to give the show a chance but that is just too plain stupid.

Meh - my general impression of this series. - spoiler

[meneermalik-1 · 2/10 · 4 June 2016]

I thought I'd give this series a try but after three episodes I won't be wasting my time anymore.

Overall I enjoyed the three episodes but the show is all about killing this monster immortal Savage. What they actually need to do is just stop him. In this episode they actually have a chance of doing that. Rip cuts his throat and at that moment he 'dies' after saying something like "I'll heal from this" and then falls to the floor "dead".

What really got me is this - they leave his body there and then proceed in the next scene to start tracking him again!!! Holy crap. Take his damn body and stick it in a vault of some kind and bingo. He might heal but if he's stuck in a box he won't be killing anyone. Or chop up his body into a hundred pieces and stash those in individual vaults hidden through time.

Absolutely idiotic and it totally put me off the show.

Corny, over dramatic and unrealistic.

[lkinforyou · 3/10 · 5 April 2019]

I understand this is a comic book story but the decisions these so-called super heroes make are just stupid.

Let me make this entire series irrelevant.

Once they "kill" this villan and cut his throat in this episode, all they have to do is take him and lock him up in a steel box and dump his immortal body in the ocean. Done!

Option two, Cut him up into little pieces and take the pieces to the four corners of the Earth. Sound familiar? Also, put the pieces in steel boxes..OR TOMBS..OR ANY-FING-THING!!!

These episodes are made for 12 year olds.

But NO! Let's just leave his dead body where it lies so he CAN come back to life to cause more trouble.

The cast tries

[clsiewert · 3/10 · 1 March 2021]

I'm sure the cast tried, but the writers are terrible. I don't know the source material, so I can't tell if the limitation is fidelity to the source material. But this is dumb. The characters mostly say 'significant' lines at each other, no logic, no feedback. The doctor being afraid to use the ant suit after one attempt-so melodramatic. The scene with the assassin and the Rip is ridiculous -why would he be surprised she's a killer? Why do none of the bad guys carry guns? Why do they leave Savage if the mission is to stop him?

Superhero Time Travel In All Its Beauty

[veikkohoffman · 20 March 2016]

"I've seen darker days. I've seen men of steel die and dark knights fall, and even then I accomplished my mission no matter what". With this epic line, Rip Hunter sets the tone for another splendid episode of Legends Of Tomorrow. It's often the little things, like this reference to DC's most distinguished superheroes, that make this series so fun to watch. However, this episode succeeds on a larger scale as well. The main plot of the season advances well enough, but it's the individual story lines of this episode alone that are truly remarkable.

Take the subplot with Ray, Kendra and Dr. Stein for example. It keeps the viewer entertained with short scenes throughout the episode, providing some well-written character development - as well as admittedly cool sci-fi scenes. The storyline with Leonard Snart trying to alter his past for the better was even better. It brought a good measure of emotion to the episode, as well as an interesting addition to the aspect of time travel in the show. The character development works there as well; it's becoming clear that of the two criminal buddies, Rory is more "rotten to the core", whereas Snart has a good heart but was driven to his way of life through a rough traumatic childhood. It'll be interesting to see if working with the team of good-willed heroes will guide Snart towards redemption - and if it will ever affect Rory in any way.

In my review for the previous episode, I pointed out how Vandal Savage isn't such a great villain. However, this episode made his character more interesting. This happened through revelations of his past with Rip Hunter, as well as the utter creepiness in the scene with Savage and Carter's body. I'm intrigued to see what else the writers have in store for this increasingly compelling villain.

The action, as always, is outstanding. The fighting scenes with White Canary were enjoyable to watch, if slightly worrisome for the character. The Lazarus Pit clearly had a strong effect on her humanity. Despite all of the bloodlust business, I still find Sara to be a likable character. Rip also remains a strong protagonist, especially now that he has (allegedly) decided to be completely honest with the group. It remains to be seen whether he will stick to this promise or not.

The ending of the episode sets up for an exciting follow-up - in the 1980's. The time travel in the series has gotten more interesting, after a first impression that made it seem like a Doctor Who rip- off. I haven't read any of the comics, so I can't say how well the time travel is adapted from the source, but I do like the way it's written into the show. As the episodes go by, more layers to it are uncovered and explored, making for good storytelling. All in all, the third episode of DC's Legends Of Tomorrow is a great one, and I can't wait to see what comes next.

STILL TOO FAST FOR BEGINNERS

[nebohr · 4/10 · 22 October 2021]

I am not, nor is my wife, a fan boy/ girl. These writers obviously write to a very NARROW group of people who are. It's TOO F*UCKING HARD. That is unfortunate if they want to have long term employment.