Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Caity Lotz, Victor Garber, Brandon Routh, Arthur Darvill, Franz Drameh, Matt Letscher, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Amy Pemberton, Nick Zano, Dominic Purcell, Neal McDonough, John Barrowman, Wentworth Miller, Stephen Amell, Christian Westerveld, Rebecca Eady, John Rubenstein, Christina Jastrzemska, Patrick J. Adams, Matthew MacCaull, Srah Grey, Kwesi Ameyaw, Dan Payne, Lance Henriksen, Andre Eriksen, Mel Melancon, Sab Shimono, Jack Turner, Melissa Benoist.

To earn the right to call yourself a successful show or series does not always depend on viewer ratings or how it is talked about in the world of social media, it can also earn the distinction by its character. Like a human being, it is not what is talked about, but underneath that matters.

Too many television programmes in the past have relied on this type of reputation alone, the instant shock value, the headline splashed across the front page and the click bait of the modern algorithm ensuring that it gets talked about, not for its generosity of script or the interweaving of narrative and subject matter, but for seeming to be glamorous, to be trendy, to have nothing to offer but the stylish clothes it wears. This is an argument that cannot be aimed in the direction of Legends Of Tomorrow.

Time travel does not come without it own complex narrative, and it takes a special set of writers and overall vision to bring the various strands together to make it appear seamless, as well as enjoyable for the ultimate critic, the viewer. It is in this that Legends Of Tomorrow ultimately succeeds, and where season one was the thought-provoking introduction, the second series is one of stimulating curiosity and even greater understanding of its ultimate goal.

A more dynamic collection of villains is the key to the second series accomplishment of staying in the viewer’s minds and future television planners, not least because of the impact that Matt Letscher as Eobard Thawne/the Reverse-Flash has on the storyline, but also the inclusion of John Barrowman as Malcolm Merlyn and Neal McDonough as Damien Darhk as the co-dealers of pain to the team of Legends.

Time-travel is not new in television, and to suggest that the programme is ground-breaking would be nothing short of insanity, but what it does have in spades is the very core ideal of influence, the marker of what if, and to carry that off with honesty and spirit frames the narrative with persuasion, with the ultimate weapon in the arsenal of any programme of the genre, the willingness to suspend belief.

With Caity Lotz, Arthur Darvill, Dominic Purcell all adding important extra layers to their considerable characters, and Victor Garber performing superbly alongside Franz Drameh in their union of Martin Stein and Jax Jackson/Firestorm, Legends of Tomorrow will be assured of its own place in the annals of television history, one that understands it has had to graft in both writing and performance to be taken seriously and not be considered an also ran in the stable of Supergirl, The Arrow or The Flash.

Ian D. Hall