DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Season 5 Review

Major Spoilers are included in this Season Review. Please read with caution.

On June 10, 2020, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow’s season 5 dropped on Netflix. I finished the fifth season—15 episodes—on June 13, 2020. Boy, it was worth the wait! The series was bonkers and meta than ever during this fifth season. In my opinion, this was their best season in a while. This was a show that learned from its biggest mistake in season 4, which was character overload. In season 4, there were too many characters running on the screen and that stuffed a lot of the episodes with too many stories at various times. However, this season had tightened the writing—and focus—on our main characters.

Season 5 centered around the Legends traveling through the timeline and stopping the Encores—evil souls out of Hell like Jack the Ripper—from disrupting history. There was also a subplot involving John Constantine (Matt Ryan) and his quest to save Astra’s soul, the main antagonist of season 5. This subplot was built off his cancelled series Constantine, which was a nice payoff to an audience that had invested in that storyline. The subplot merged with the main plot once everyone converged on the Waverider.

Let me start with the few negatives I noticed while watching the fifth season. My main issue was the exit of Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) and Nora (Courtney Ford) from the series. Ray Palmer / The Atom was an original character since the “Pilot”, so learning that he was leaving the show was heartbreaking. However, his exit was rather clunky.

During episode 8, Ray decided to leave the Waverider—and the Legends—with his new wife Nora to start their lives together in the real world. While I did enjoy his dramatic goodbye with best friend Nate (Nick Zano), the reason for Ray’s departure seemed rushed at the end of episode 7 and going into episode 8. Honestly, I loved Ray when he showed up in Arrow’s third season and never stopped. Seeing Ray Palmer leave the show wasn’t easy. He was the optimistic guy who always saw the bright side of things.

In a positive way, this creative decision helped lower the character count. The only major characters left in the fifth season are Sara Lance (Caity Lotz), Ava Sharpe (Jess Macallan), John Constantine, Nate Heywood, Mick Rory (Dominic Purcell), Charlie (Maisie Richardson-Sellers), Behrad Tarazi (Shayan Sobhian), and Zari Tarazi (Tala Ashe). Mona Wu (Ramona Young) was demoted from main cast to recurring character for this season. Mona left the team, but she returned occasionally throughout the season.

Zari’s rebooted character was such a welcomed change—very similar to a shallow Cordelia Chase from Buffy. In the season 4 finale, the Legends changed history to beat the main villain Neuron, and that victory erased the Zari Tomaz we knew—since season 3—from existence. This resulted in a new Zari Tarazi taking her place—one that had never met the Legends or had fallen in love with Nate. Her older brother Behrad was also alive in this new timeline and had become a Legend in his sister’s place.

The writers naturally weaved Behrad into the team dynamics without much effort. Behrad just “bros out” with Nate and Ray. He was a great addition to the team of misfits, and his sibling dynamic with Zari was full of great banter. Everything involving the character interactions was pretty spot-on and humorous throughout this latest season.

Speaking of characters, whoever decided the fatherhood arc for Mick Rory was a genius. Mick Rory—a former supervillain called Heatwave from The Flash—was the last main character I expected to make it this far from the “Pilot” alongside Sara Lance. The fatherhood arc was a subtle storyline that challenged Mick’s character and his desire to be a better person for his teenage daughter Lita.

I also enjoyed how they utilized Sara’s absence in the earlier episodes—likely due to Caity Lotz filming for Crisis on Infinite Earths. Due to Sara’s absence, Ava was forced to step up as Captain of the Waverider on numerous occasions. By the end of the season, Sara and Ava were a real power couple—co-captains! Sara and Ava’s romance was also developed really well over the course of the season.

Overall, I had a blast binge-watching my favorite Legends wreck history for the better. My favorite episodes were “Meet The Legends” (season 5 premiere), “Mr. Parker’s Cul-De-Sac” (season 5 episode 7), “Zari Not Zari” (season 5 episode 9), and then episodes 12 through 15 really drove the season home. There were a few hit-and-miss episodes throughout the season, but they were all entertaining at least. Season 6 will be amazing, as the main antagonists will be aliens! Finally!