"Meet the Legends" is the first episode of the fifth season of the American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

television series ''

Legends of Tomorrow ''DC's Legends of Tomorrow'', or simply ''Legends of Tomorrow'', is an American Time travel in fiction, time travel superhero fiction, superhero television series developed by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg, and Phil Klem ...

'', revolving around the eponymous team of superheroes and their time travelling adventures. It is set in the

Arrowverse The Arrowverse is an American superhero media franchise and a shared universe that is centered on various interconnected television series based on DC Comics superhero characters, primarily airing on The CW as well as web series on CW Seed. ...

, sharing continuity with the other television series of the universe. The episode was written by

Grainne Godfree Grainne Godfree is an American television writer. She is well known for her significant work on The CW and Greg Berlantis ''Arrowverse''. Life and career She attended Harvard University, graduating with a degree in history. She later entered th ...

and James Eagan, and directed by

Kevin Mock Kevin Mock is an American television director, editor, and producer who is well known for his work on The WB/ CWs ''America's Next Top Model''. Career Mock got his start as a production assistant on Art Camachos ''The Power Within'' in 1995. ...

. It was the 69th episode overall.

Caity Lotz Caitlin Marie Lotz (born December 30, 1986) is an American actress, dancer and singer. She has portrayed Stephanie Horton in ''Mad Men'', Officer Kirsten Landry in the MTV mockumentary series ''Death Valley'' (2011), Annie in '' The Pact'' (2013) ...

stars as Sara Lance / White Canary, and is joined by principal cast members

Tala Ashe Talayeh Ashrafi ( fa, طلایه اشرفی; born July 24, 1984) known professionally as Tala Ashe, is an Iranian-American actress. She is known for her roles on the television series '' Smash'', ''American Odyssey'', and ''As the World Turns'', ...

Jes Macallan Jes Macallan is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Josslyn Carver in ABC drama series ''Mistresses'' and Ava Sharpe in The CW superhero comedy-drama ''Legends of Tomorrow''. Career Jes Macallan is an actor and director. Bef ...

Adam Tsekhman Adam Tsekhman is a Canadian actor best known for his role as Gary Green on the television series ''Legends of Tomorrow''. Early life Adam Tsekhman was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, but raised in Toronto, Ontario. His parents were Ukrainian imm ...

Nick Zano Nick Zano (born March 8, 1978) is an American actor. Zano is known for having played List of What I Like About You characters#Vince, Vince in The WB's sitcom ''What I Like About You (TV series), What I Like About You''. He hosted MTV's former in ...

, Matt Ryan,

Brandon Routh Brandon James Routh (; born October 9, 1979) is an American actor. He portrayed Superman in the 2006 film ''Superman Returns'', which garnered him international fame. In 2011, he played the titular character of the film '' Dylan Dog: Dead of Ni ...

Dominic Purcell Dominic Haakon Myrtved PurcellO'Connor, B,Break Out". ''Men's Fitness''. December/January 2007 Issue; retrieved 18 December 2006. (born 17 February 1970) is a British-Australian actor. He is best known for his portrayals of Lincoln Burrows in ...

Amy Louise Pemberton Amy Louise Pemberton is a British actress. She portrays Gideon in the television series ''Legends of Tomorrow'' and voiced Elaena Glenmore in the ''Game of Thrones'' video game. She voiced Slone from ''Titanfall 2'' (2016), and played Private ...

Plot

Following the events of Hey World and Neron's defeat, the Legends have become public heroes. With the Time Bureau dismantled,

Ava Sharpe ''Legends of Tomorrow'' is an American television series, developed by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Phil Klemmer, and Andrew Kreisberg, based on several characters from DC Comics. The series premiered in the United States on January 21, 2016, ...

joins the Legends and allows a documentary crew to film them so they can prove to the government that the Legends are not a threat. Sara, Ray, and

Mick Rory Heat Wave (Mick Rory) is a supervillain appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as an enemy of The Flash and a member of The Rogues along with Captain Cold. Actor Dominic Purcell has portrayed the character in The CW's Arro ...

return from the Crisis, but Sara has yet to come to terms with Oliver's death. Suddenly, a timequake takes place, leading the Legends to 1917 Russia, where

Grigori Rasputin Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (; rus, links=no, Григорий Ефимович Распутин ; – ) was a Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man who befriended the family of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, thus g ...

has returned from the dead. The Legends fail to convince Rasputin to kill his killer, so they return to the ''Waverider'', but leave a film crew member behind. As a result, the Legends form a plan to stop Rasputin and rescue the crew member before returning to 2020. They then release the documentary to the world, before claiming the film was faked. Meanwhile, in 2020,

John Constantine John Constantine () is a fictional character who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Constantine first appeared in ''Swamp Thing'' #37 (June 1985), and was created by Alan Moore, Stephen R. Bissette, Rick Veitch, and John ...

and Gary Green investigate a demon named Masher, who possessed a child in Star City. Constantine performs an exorcism, freeing the child and sending Masher back to Hell. Constantine also returns to Hell, Mick quits writing and passes on his career to

Mona Wu ''Legends of Tomorrow'' is an American television series, developed by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Phil Klemmer, and Andrew Kreisberg, based on several characters from DC Comics. The series premiered in the United States on January 21, 2016, ...

, and Nate sees an old message from

Zari Tomaz Zari Tomaz and Zari Tarazi are fictional Character (arts), characters portrayed by Tala Ashe in The CW's Arrowverse franchise, primarily the television series ''Legends of Tomorrow''. Loosely inspired by the characters Andrea Thomas (character), ...

, asking him to find her in the new timeline.

Production

Development and Filming

The episode is the intended opener to the fifth season; however, it was the second to premiere due to " Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Five". The episode began development on July 15, 2019 and concluded on July 30.

Writing

The episode was written by

and James Eagan. This is the second episode written by Godfree and Eagan to be directed by

Casting

The episode stars

, Matt Ryan,

, as

Sara Lance Sara Lance, also known by her alter-ego White Canary, is a fictional character in The CW's Arrowverse franchise, first introduced in the 2012 pilot episode of the television series ''Arrow'', and later starring in ''Legends of Tomorrow''. The c ...

Zari Tarazi Zari Tomaz and Zari Tarazi are fictional characters portrayed by Tala Ashe in The CW's Arrowverse franchise, primarily the television series ''Legends of Tomorrow''. Loosely inspired by the characters Andrea Thomas and Adrianna Tomaz, both of ...

, Nate Haywood,

Ray Palmer Ray Palmer may refer to: * Raymond A. Palmer, science-fiction writer and editor * Raymond F. Palmer, medical professor * Ray Palmer (pastor), American pastor and author of hymns * Ray Palmer (Arrowverse), a TV show character based on his comic boo ...

Gideon Gideon (; ) also named Jerubbaal and Jerubbesheth, was a military leader, judge and prophet whose calling and victory over the Midianites are recounted in of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible. Gideon was the son of Joash, from the Abiez ...

(as a voice actor). Principle cast members

Courtney Ford Courtney Braden Ford is an American actress. She is best known for her roles on television, such as playing Christine Hill on ''Dexter (TV series), Dexter'' (2009), Portia Bellefleur on ''True Blood'' (2011), Lily on ''Parenthood (2010 TV serie ...

and

Maisie Richardson-Sellers Maisie Richardson-Sellers is a British actress. She is known for her recurring role as Eva Sinclair on The CW series '' The Originals'', as well as her starring roles as King Saul of Israel's daughter Michal in the ABC Biblical series ''Of King ...

are both absent this episode. This is the first episode in which

Ramona Young Ramona Abish Young (born in Los Angeles, California) is a Chinese American actress. She is known for her recurring roles on the television series ''Man Seeking Woman'', ''The Real O'Neals'', and ''Santa Clarita Diet''. Young is also known for he ...

does not appear as a series regular since she join the cast in the fourth season as

. Young instead appears as a guest star as she does in the season finale.

and

Michael Eklund Michael Eklund is a Canadian television and film actor who is known for playing the role of the villain or antihero. His characters are often described as being "creepy". His roles include a kidnapper who terrorizes characters played by Halle ...

also guest star as Gigori Rasputin and Gary Green respectively. Shayan Sobhian makes his second appearance as

Behrad Tarazi ''Legends of Tomorrow'' is an American television series, developed by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Phil Klemmer, and Andrew Kreisberg, based on several characters from DC Comics. The series premiered in the United States on January 21, 201 ...

after the characters debut in the season four finale, " Hey World!".

Release

Broadcast

"Meet the Legends" was first aired in the United States on

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

on January 21, 2020. It was watched by 0.72 million viewers with a 0.3 share among adults aged 18 to 49.

Critical reception

In a ''

Den of Geek ''Den of Geek'' is a US and UK-based website covering entertainment with a focus on pop culture Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gan ...

'' review by Jim Dandeneau, he stated that the episode could be the best episode of ''Legends''. ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

''s Jesse Schedeen gave the episode a 7 of 10 saying that it was a good episode the humor was overdone. On writing for ''TVfanatic'' Sarah Little praised Caity Lotz in her portrayal of Sara grief after losing Oliver. Allison Shoemaker of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' praised the episode for the way it handled reintroducing the Legends post-crisis, the review was paired with a B+.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Arrowverse 2020 American television episodes Legends of Tomorrow episodes Television episodes about time travel Television episodes directed by Kevin Mock Television episodes set in Russia Television episodes set in the 1910s Television episodes written by Grainne Godfree