Legends of Tomorrow’s second season set an example the CW’s other shows should follow
Let’s compare this to The Flash: Betrayal Season 3: The Tears of Barry Allen. The Flash had an amazing first season that incorporated some of the character’s goofiest villains and made them fun, from Weather Wizard and Captain Cold to, of course, Reverse Flash. There were serious moments, but so much of it was filled with Flash learning how to harness his powers, encountering villains for the first time, and growing his relationship with the members of his team. Then there was the mystery of “Who is the Reverse Flash?†The show soft-revealed it early on, but played with our expectations, making us wonder time and time again. Harrison Wells’ betrayal of Allen was fresh and it stung. Hearing him say “Run, Barry, run!†early in the season was one of those early fist-pumping moments, and it made the betrayal painful.
The second season did have some very fun moments with the Speed Force, dimension-hopping, and time travel, but it was ultimately once again about Barry being betrayed by a mentor who was not who he said he was. Instead of being an engaging character we cared about, though, Hunter Zoloman was just a cornbread cardb0ard-cutout hero who wasn’t convincing enough as a hero to make his reveal as a villain feel meaningful.
And now with the third season, we’re once again waiting on a betrayal. We know one of Barry’s compatriots is destined to be Savitar, the God of Speed, and the list of who it could be is pretty short. One of the answers seems likely, while another feels cheap. But it’s all about the mystery and betrayal-by-speedster once again. It has this air of sadness hanging over it, as all the characters know that Iris is supposed to die on a certain date. I’m pretty sure someone has cried in every episode except the Invasion! crossover episode and the musical episode.
Every time it seems like the show is about to get fun, the fun gets sucked out of it with some drama putting Barry in a situation with no good answers. That’s fine once in a while, but it’s been relentless this season.
Similarly, Arrow has been this constant process of the writers dragging Oliver Queen down, down, down, and forcing him to ignore really obvious information while the villain takes pot-shots at him. It doesn’t help that the identity of the villain, Prometheus, was obvious right from the beginning. Like, Westworld-man-in-black-hat obvious. But we’re used to that from Arrow. It’s always been trying to claw its way out of darkness, and has been admirable for that. The Flash started bright, but has been steadily applying emo makeup and growing its hair out since the second season. That’s all coming to a head when Barry visits the future in the next episode, set for the end of this month, and actually finds emo Barry Allen there, complete with long hair.
Legends of Tomorrow had a rough first season, even had a bumpy few episodes this year, but it stuck to ideas at the core of what makes a show like that one tick and it came out on top, leaving me not just excited about, but eagerly anticipating the third season. I never thought I’d be saying that about what felt like a doomed show.
Article source: https://www.technobuffalo.com/2017/04/08/legends-of-tomorrows-second-season-set-an-example-the-cws-other-shows-should-follow/