For several months, the CW has been hyping up DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.  All the way back at SDCC, we have been hearing about this show of superheroes working as a team to save the world.  This week we get to see if the show lives up to the hype, and, well, there are some mixed reviews with the first half of the pilot.

For over half of the first episode, we see the team coming together for various reasons. It was really awesome to get some of the back story with Rip Hunter, who was associated with the Time Masters.  Even cooler that former Doctor Who actor, Arthur Darvill seems to be playing an amalgam of the Doctor and Captain Jack, all the way down to the trench coat.

We all know the assembled team from both Arrow and The Flash.  How interesting that while both Ollie and Laurel was consulted, no one spoke to Barry.  Honestly, there could have been less time putting the team together, or better yet use the crossover episodes of Arrow and The Flash to do that so that when the pilot begins, the team would be, dare I say it, assembled.  Also if there is a two part pilot for something this epic, why not premiere them together? CW shot themselves in the foot on that one.

*SPOILERS ALERT*

It was awesome to see Sara, finding her trying to still deal with the blood lust side effect of being resurrected.  She is most easily the fan favorite, even though Martin Stein, and even Ray, are most at ease with the mission of time travel.  It was also more realistic that not everyone wanted to be part of this team, Jax was kidnapped by Stein to maintain the Firestorm power and Kendra lost to Carter in a battle where the winner chooses if they would be part of this Legend’s mission.

Another face I doubt many were expecting to see was Gideon, the AI Barry Allen will create in the future, as the AI who runs almost all functions of Hunter’s ship, The Waverider. There has to be a story there.

The first jump was obviously to 1975 which was mentioned in this season’s The Flash/Arrow crossover.  A scientist was documenting Vandal Savages lives throughout history, showing how he was part of every brutal piece of history, manipulating things from behind the scenes.

There were some nice jewels in this first episode, finding out that Dr. Aldus Boardman, also first mentioned in the crossover, is the son of Joe and Edith Boardman, reincarnations of Prince Khufu (Hawk Man) and Priestess Chay-Ara (Hawkgirl).  I was hoping that Dr. Boardman would be the non-superhero on the team, that his expertise would be knowing the historical points where Vandal Savage had been.  I guess we will be getting that in the journal he gave Rip.  Unfortunately, he would be the first death of the Legends, and a motivator to pull the team together.

The bar scene had no relevance to the show (so far), but oh my goodness it was fun, and it started to bond Sara (White Canary), Leonard Snart (Captain Cold) and Mick Rory (Heatwave) together.  Before what hopes to be a great second part of the pilot next week, the team needs some fine tuning.

We also find out that Rip’s motivation for defeating Vandal is not only saving the world, but in avenging the deaths of his wife and son.  Also noteworthy, Rip stole The Waverider and the Time Masters have sent Chronos to capture him and stop his mission.  It’s much more interesting that Rip saw that Vandal needed stopped, and even though the Time Masters wouldn’t interfere (how very Star Fleet of them), Rip went rogue and assembled…. nobody the timeline would miss.  Rip lied to the team, telling them that they were legends.  Instead of going after Batman, Superman or even Green Arrow or the Flash, he assembled this group because they had no temporal significance.  What happens next is why DC’s Legends of Tomorrow has me coming back for part 2 this next week.  Each of the team (well, minus Snark and Rory) decided to hell with Hunter’s history, that was his world, and their mission was to change the world.  Sara was the first to give this team hope.

The first part of the premiere started pretty slow, but it built up momentum along the way and there is so much potential in this show.  There are so many personalities with even more dynamics.  I think there might be a thing between Sara and Leonard down the road, they could be very good and oh so bad together.  I love Rip’s story, it is a story like Jax said, “I can get behind.”

The second part of this pilot looks pretty amazing with both Vandal Savage and Damien Darhk in it.  My suggestion for anyone like myself, left longing after this premiere, after next Thursday watch both episodes together, I bet there will be much more satisfaction.

Bring on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow! Let’s see where they go from here.  Every Thursday on the CW at 8pm/ 7pm central.