As the third season of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow came to a close, the Legends had managed to stop the evil demon Mallus and fix the timeline. However, Constantine warned that in the process of letting this ancient demon out to kill it, the Legends had also opened the door to other creatures. As the fourth season opens it’s been five months since those events and there’s been no sign of any magical creatures. The team has managed to fix the final anachronism, and a celebration is in order at the Time Bureau. However, this celebration is short-lived as Constantine’s prediction appears to be coming true. Now the Legends must round up all these escaped magical creatures and return them to Hell before they destroy the timeline, or worse.
What I love about this show is its fun, adventurous tone. The series knows that it can be ridiculous and over-the-top at times, and fully embraces this, making it part of the DNA of the show. The writers also throw in a lot of fun pop culture references and homages throughout the season. The series is easy to jump into at any time as the stories tend to be a fun adventure-/creature-of-the-week, but for those who watch regularly, there is also an interesting ongoing narrative, and some excellent character development. That said, the second half of this season is a little more serialized with much of the focus on the ongoing story rather than the adventure of the week.
The writers do a nice job of grounding whatever the story of the week is by tying it into some personal story related to at least one of the characters. This season, we see a lot with Nate (Nick Zano), who’s always been a disappointment to his father, who thinks his son is a slacker and wasting his life. Nate wants to tell his father how he’s been out saving the world for the past 2 years, but can’t. That is, until he his father’s work at the Pentagon brings him to the Time Bureau. Thomas F. Wilson, who is best known as Biff on Back to the Future, is wonderfully cast as Nate’s father, and of course there are some BTTF references thrown in. This season, Nate initially takes on more of a desk job back at the Time Bureau, but that doesn’t mean he still doesn’t go out on adventures, often paired with the hilarious Gary. And speaking of Gary, he finally gets a love interest this season in wonderfully-dorky food delivery girl Mona (Ramona Young), but an incident at the office soon complicates things for them.
Meanwhile, since the Legends are dealing with magical creatures, it only makes sense that they recruit John Constantine (Matt Ryan) to join them on the Waverider, to help capture and expel these supernatural fugitives back to Hell. But John also has a story of his own…someone or something appears to be hunting him down, and has warned John that its coming for him. Over the course of the season, we also see several other of the Legends face demons from their own past, and/or be taken over by demons in the present. The Legends also add another member to their crew this season, a shapeshifter named Charlie who is stuck looking like Amaya (Maisie Richardson-Sellers).
This season, the Legends find themselves in all kinds of crazy situations such as Sara and Ava becoming 12-year-olds to infiltrate a 1990s Maine summer camp, a road trip with a kidnapped President Nixon, the group becoming part of a Jane Austin story, an alien queen from one of Mick’s stories come to life, the gang’s reality getting mixed up, causing them to become ’80s action film heroes and singing puppets, attending a romantic book convention, and more. They also find themselves up against lots of wild magical creatures, such as a heart-chomping unicorn at Woodstock, witches in Salem, an evil singing Fairy Godmother, a swampy monster, a sea creature, werewolves, a minotaur, a female serial killer who can walk through walls, killer puppets, leprechauns, a monster disguised as a Mexican wrestler, an uncontrollable hand, a dragon, and more.
Unfortunately, the Legends did not participate in this season’s big DC crossover event, but there’s a fun reference to that fact in the show.
The Blu-ray release includes all 16 episodes of the show’s fourth season, split across two Blu-ray discs. I was worried about having 8 episodes per disc, but the release provides a solid video and audio presentation. The picture looks excellent and captures the special effects, colors and sights of every era the Legends visit beautifully. The audio track provides clear dialogue and an immersive viewing experience. The discs are packed in a double-disc HD keepcase with a cardboard slipcase. Inside is a sheet with digital copy redemption instructions as well as an episode guide insert.
The bonus material consists of over 20 minutes of deleted scenes, a 9-minute gag reel, and two other short featurettes. While these featurettes weren’t that compelling, I was still happy to see the bonus material included, and the gag reel and deleted scenes were quite nice.
What’s Included:
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Episodes: (11:18:17)
- All 16 episodes of the fourth season:
Disc 1: “The Virgin Gary”, “Witch Hunt”, “Dancing Queen”, ” Wet Hot American Bummer”, “Tagumo Attacks!!!”, “Tender is the Nate”, “Hell No, Dolly!”, “Legends of To-Meow-Meow”
Disc 2: “Lucha de Apuestas”, “The Getaway”, “Séance & Sensibility”, “The Eggplant, the Witch & the Wardrobe”, “Egg MacGuffin”, “Nip/Stuck”, “Terms of Service”, “Hey, World!” - 1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
- Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Italian Dolby Digital 2.0
- Subtitles: English SDH, Italian SDH
- Digital HD copy of the episodes redeemable via Vudu.
The code was not yet redeemable at the time of this review, but it is highly likely that the digital version will only include the episodes. - Post Production Theater (5:06)
This featurette opens with a Star Wars-style scrawl that explains how placeholders are used in the edit to mark where pickup shots, re-shoots or visual effects will be needed. This is a collection of those brief marker scenes, where the post-production team shows off their acting chops (or lack thereof). - DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: Legendary Storytelling (3:16)
Executive producer Phil Klemmer talks about some of the Legends’ big adventures and how they are tied to the arc of the characters. Two storylines he mentions are the women in 1940s Hollywood, and the E.T. like episode about young Ray Palmer in the 1980s, - Deleted Scenes (20:13)
Collection of 24 deleted scenes from 11 of the season’s episodes, found on the discs containing the related episodes.- “The Virgin Gary”
- Scene 18 (:43)
Mick and Nate talk at the Heywood House. - Scenes 22-23 (:46)
Sara answers a call from Gary & finds Constantine. - Scene 37 (:31)
Sara & Constantine invite Gary to join them. - Scene 39 (:58)
Mick gives Nick advice on how to deal with his dad. - Scene 42 (:25)
Nate says the timeline is back in order, then nabs a six-pack.
- Scene 18 (:43)
- “Witch Hunt”
- Scene 3 (:43)
Ray asks Zari about her mom. - Scenes 15 (:30)
The Legends watch Constantine create a magical trap for the demon..
- Scene 3 (:43)
- “Wet Hot American Bummer”
- Scene 40 (:31)
Chad brinds kid Sara and kid Ava into the cabin. - Scene 60 (:35)
Charlie and Mick bond over beers.
- Scene 40 (:31)
- “Tagumo Attacks!!!”
- Scene 12 (:25)
Charlie antagonizes Sara. - Scene 23 (:33)
Mick tries to destroy the magic book. - Scene 26 (:44)
Ava gossips with Grandma Violet. Nate gets a call from Gary.
- Scene 12 (:25)
- “Tender is the Nate”
- Scenes 27-28 (1:05)
Sara, Hank and others search the catacombs. - Scene 46 (1:12)
Charlie and Mick talk about her place on the ship, Charlie practices shapeshifting.
- Scenes 27-28 (1:05)
- “Hell No, Dolly!”
- Scene 40 (:29)
Zari confronts Charlie and Constantine.
- Scene 40 (:29)
- “Lucha De Apuestas”
- Scene 19 (1:07)
Mick, Sara and Constantine threaten Miguel. - Scene 51 (1:15)
Sara and Mick see the deleted footage and apologize to Mona.
- Scene 19 (1:07)
- “The Getaway”
- Scene 7 (1:01)
Gary drops food off to Nora. - Scene 26 (1:19)
Gary asks Nora for help. - Scene 56 (:37)
Mona fights the wolf within.
- Scene 7 (1:01)
- “Séance & Sensibility”
- Scene 61-62 (1:33)
The Legends celebrate fixing history with a drink. Sara finds Ray and Nora together.
- Scene 61-62 (1:33)
- “The Eggplant, the Witch & the Wardrobe”
- Scene 53 (1:04)
Sara and Ava clean the apartment.
- Scene 53 (1:04)
- “Hey, World!”
- Scene A18 (1:34)
Gideon detects a problem. Nate cheers Zari up. - Scene A41 (1:03)
NeRay and the Fairy Godmother discuss a plan.
- Scene A18 (1:34)
- “The Virgin Gary”
- Gag Reel (9:35)
A fun gag reel that opens with a montage set to the music of DC’s Puppets of Tomorrow. Then it gets into the usual gag reel hilarity like flubbed lines, missed cues, bleeped cursing, malfunctioning props, on-set hi-jinx, and the mandatory dance montage.
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Blu-ray:
Digital: (Redemption deadline 9/30/2020)
Extras:
Bonus material is spread across both discs, and is only included on the Blu-ray release of the season.
Final Thoughts:
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is one of my favorites of The CW’s DC lineup because it is just a crazy, fun show that never gets too dark or brooding. It perfectly blends humor with adventure-of-the-week stories as well as an ongoing story arc and character development. This collection of 16 episodes is a lot of fun, and perfect for either binging or just jumping in to enjoy an adventure here and there. You don’t need to have seen the previous seasons in order to be able to fully enjoy this latest season. The Blu-ray looks and sounds great and includes a small assortment of bonus material, but the release comes highly recommended just based on the entertainment level and rewatchability of the series itself.
