TV Review: THE FLASH: Season 2, Episode 8: Legends of Today [The CW]

The CW’s The Flash Legends of Today TV Show Review. The Flash: Season 2, Episode 8: Legends of Today officially kicked off the two-part crossover between The Flash and Arrow as both Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) and Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) must work together when they face a new threat. The episode also introduced some new players, Hawkman (Falk Henstchel), Hawkgirl (Ciara Renee), and the immortal villain Vandal Savage (Casper Crump). The episode also will help set up the new spin-off series Legends of Tomorrow before it launches next year. The episode ended up being a great hour of DC television, even though there were a few bumps along the road.

The episode featured the debut of Falk Henstchel as Carter Hall/Hawkman while Casper Crump made his ominous appearance as the classic DC Comics villain Vandal Savage. Both of these characters were done well, but they didn’t really stand out during the episode. Henstchel was given that much screen time besides the fight scene between him and both Oliver and Barry. Henstchel did put on a great performance, but it was abundantly clear that he was trying to hide his German accent on screen.

The episode did a great job tackling the complicated Hawkman/Hawkgirl mythology from the comics. This proved that both Arrow and The Flash aren’t afraid to go beyond their respective shows facing all kinds of dangers. This DC TV universe shows how crazy this situation is when dealing with a reincarnated couple who are being hunted by an immortal being. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out in Legends of Tomorrow when we explore more on Hawkman and Hawkgirl’s complicated relationship.

With Savage, the only conflict is that he didn’t really come out as one of the better villains that The Flash and Green Arrow has faced. Both of these shows have done remarkably with their choice of villains, but Savage doesn’t really come off as this terrifying force of nature like in the comics. Before he had his hands on the Staff of Horus, Savage wasn’t all that powerful to begin with. Makes us wonder if they are saving all that for Legends of Tomorrow, but there is still one more episode this week in the crossover to really show what Savage is made of. Hopefully, Savage comes out as a stronger villain the next time we see him.

It was fun seeing both Team Flash and Team Arrow catching up and bickering amongst themselves. Things got a little shaky between Oliver and Barry as they both butt heads at times when it comes to fighting an enemy. Both of these guys have went through some hard times, especially with these powerful villains that they each are fighting with, so it’s understandable that they aren’t itching to stop what they are doing and come together to fight a new enemy. Things did get tense between the two heroes, but not so much that they were going to duke it out like the last crossover event.

Cisco (Carlos Valdes) also was one of the main highlights of the episode. He had some great chemistry with Team Arrow, especially with Felicity (Emily Bett Richards) as they both were helping their respective teammates. It was refreshing also to see Cisco at the center of the conflict as he was facing the assumption that his new girlfriend is actually a reincarnated Egyptian priestess. He will have some more drama coming, as his relationship with Kendra will become difficult when she must fully accept her fate.

The episode often suffered from weird pacing and story development. The two-part crossover also incorporated the Zoom storyline to continue the arc on The Flash. The plot followed Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) and Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanaugh) as they continued to find a drug to help Barry increase his speed. It was great that the episode didn’t totally ignore the Zoom arc as it focused on a new enemy. This really questioned whether a crossover episode was really necessary. Team Arrow was pretty much forced into the storyline and weren’t really needed in some parts of the episode like when Kendra was trying to transform and their fight against Savage. Damien Darhk’s (Neal McDonough) quick appearance didn’t fit into the plot and even Malcolm Merlyn’s (John Barrowman) random entrance was forced in order to shed light on Savage. The writers could’ve done a good job with seamlessly fitting these plotlines into the episode.

It was a shaky start for the first part of the Arrow/The Flash crossover, questioning viewers on whether Team Arrow was really needed. Other than that, the episode was a lot of fun to watch as we witnessed two heroes coming together and tackling on this new threat. With the crossover event halfway done, Arrow’s episode hopefully delivers a powerful finish.

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