DC’S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW – SEASON 4 / CERT: 15 / SHOWRUNNER: PHIL KLEMMER, KETO SHIMIZU / STARRING: CAITY LOTZ, BRANDON ROUTH, DOMINIC PURCELL, MATT RYAN, NICK ZANO, TALA ASHI / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 4TH
Special Features: Two featurettes / Deleted scenes / Gag reel
Having brought Season 3 to a close with a demonic Mallus vs. giant Beebo battle, the ragtag team of Legends are back in action for a fourth season which looks to take the crazed time-travelling antics of Season 3 and turn it up to 11.
Unfortunately for our heroes, Mallus was just the tip of the iceberg as they now have to deal with a whole host of magical and mythical creatures and characters – from the Salem Witch Trials, to a Minotaur, to unicorns, to fairy godmothers, to professional wrestling, and everything in between. Of course, as is ever the case for the Legends, each and every mission involves travelling through time and exploring a host of different periods from the past and the future.
For fans of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, you’ll be well are that the series is the more light-hearted of the Arrowverse shows. And let’s face it, it’s kinda hard to constantly remain po-faced when one week you’re dressed up as a cowboy in the Old West, the next you’re in the ‘70s and trying to convince a young George Lucas to make Star Wars, and the next you’re mingling with pirates and a faux Furby. The point is, Legends more often than not has its tongue firmly within its cheek. Despite that, mind, the show does indeed address some serious topics and is masterful in how it manages to balance out each core ensemble in a way that allows each character to traverse their own arc while simultaneously being a part of the ongoing season-long narrative or MacGuffin.
Sure, it’s easy to be swept up by the sheer imagination of Legends’ time-travelling gimmick and all that that offers up, but the series is first and foremost about some brilliant characters who are all allowed to breathe – and Season 4 is no different. This time out, however, there are a few changes to the Legends line-up, most notably with Matt Ryan’s John Constantine becoming a fully-fledged member of the team. Constantine’s presence is a welcome one, as the demonic sorts that the Legends often find themselves up against in this season are right up the street of ol’ Hellblazer.
To summarise Legends’ fourth season, you could well say that it’s the most Legends season of Legends yet. As in, it’s usually over-the-top, it’s never afraid to be loud and colourful, inclusion is always a key factor, it constantly features an array of fascinating characters who all bounce off each other brilliantly, and there are some genuine gut-punches of emotion waiting around the corner.
All in all, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow’s fourth season is fun, thoughtful, and poignant in a way that continually makes it stand out from the ever-expanding landscape of capes ‘n’ tights TV shows.
In terms of additional material, it’s all relatively brief on this home release. Two featurettes clock in at a combined runtime of just eight minutes, while the deleted scenes and gag real are fine for what they are. All of these are decent and always dripping with the sense of fun that so often surrounds Legends, yet some fans may have been hoping for just a little more bonus content to flesh out this release.
