Legends - General Discussion

[SimoneS]

Overall, it was an good ending to season 2. Farewell, Legends, a convoluted show with wasted potential. Sean Bean off my tv screen will always be a bad thing.

 

Episode 1:

 

I cannot believe that they showed yet more flashbacks from yet another character. The showrunner is insane and apparently was determined to doom this show.

 

Poor Kate, it just keeps getting worse and worse for her. Well, her mother told Martin that she killed her husband. So this is how Ballard lost his leg, guess Martin was responsible after all. However, Ballard has got to be one of the dumbest FBI agents ever. 

 

Episode 2:

 

Way to go, Gaby! I am glad that she got to be the hero. I thought that she would have found that her husband killed himself when she got home. Poor Kate, just when you think that it cannot get worse for her. If she was really tough, she would have killed her aunt. I am glad that the CIA chick is helping Martin. I was glad that he told IIyana to go home, nothing good could come from them starting back up again. So the Russians are trying to con Martin in exchange for helping save Kate. 

 

Shit, I had not seen the film of the two towers exploding since it happened. I purposely avoided it all these years. Watching it shocked the shit out me and took be back to that terrible day. Ballard's expectation that the FBI would care about Russian mobsters after 9/11 was so ridiculous.

 

Episode 3 - Season finale:

 

Unbelievable, now Martin is really a Russian double or triple agent? This show really is a nightmare. I could not help chuckling when Kate told General/President that she had sex before. It was very brave even though it did not work. I cheered when she stabbed him in the neck. I am glad that she got home safe. 

 

Gaby's husband is such an ass. I enjoyed watching his smug ass arrested. I cannot believe that they wasted even more precious airtime on flashbacks of dead Ballard.

 

Did they ever explain the cause of Martin's memory loss or did that remain a mystery? 

Edited December 29, 2015 by SimoneS

[Noirprncess]

Season 1 mentioned that Martin/Alex/Alexei had some sort of incident in Iraq that probably messed up his memory. It was never clearly explained.

I guess Kate is more like her mom than she will ever know since both of them killed their first husbands.

I had to chuckle at Gabi turning on her husband. Even in the flashbacks, it was never clear why she picked him over Ball-hard.

Tamir was silly to try to kill Martin in the car while they were driving along.

Given the circumstances, Ballard was lucky to just lose his leg. If Dmitry was a real gangster, he would have been dead.

Goodbye convoluted season 2. The show and premise had potential but that was squandered on too many flashbacks which work in a book, but not so well in this format.

[SimoneS]

Season 1 mentioned that Martin/Alex/Alexei had some sort of incident in Iraq that probably messed up his memory. It was never clearly explained.

 

Thanks. I thought that was mentioned in the previous season. However, tonight they now seemed to be suggesting that both Martin and Terrence experienced the ringing in their ears which was linked to their memory loss. This show was such a mess.

[Noirprncess]

I think they were trying to suggest that there was no coincidence that Terrance and Martin have memory problems but the idea got lost in the convoluted story.

I think if they had used that idea, it would have made more sense and could have linked to the Russian connection.

The reveal of his Russian birth would have more impact if it had been presented in a different manner. The last episode seemed like a rush job to cover all of the unanswered questions.

[SimoneS]

The reveal of his Russian birth would have more impact if it had been presented in a different manner. The last episode seemed like a rush job to cover all of the unanswered questions.

 

I didn't think that it was a rush job rather they set up a cliffhanger ending with questions to be answered in the next (no longer happening) season.

 

Looking back on the season, the flashbacks did provide clues that Martin was Russian; the incidents at the school, Martin accusing Terrence and their people of killing his wife, and his instructor saying that he learnt to speak Russian like a naive. Unfortunately, these clues were overshadowed by too many flashbacks about so many different characters. 

[seacliffsal]

Ugh, I just couldn't believe that they added two additional timelines and new characters. I fast forwarded every Ballard flashback-it's like they thought that how he lost his leg was worthy of a season long 'mystery.' Not so much. He's dead, didn't care about his background. The season was too dependent on flashbacks-especially flashbacks of minor characters. I was watching for Sean Bean's character and storyline. The season was way too muddled. I am sad that it's been cancelled, but, quite frankly, it was such a mess of a storyline that it really did deserve to be cancelled.

[Hanahope]

I really loved the second season.  Yes, sometimes it was harder to follow because of the flashbacks, it definitely made me have to sit and think and put it in sequence in my mind.  I did like how it all came together in the end.  How the English agent became the teacher to the Russian boy, who was then 'recruited' by the turned MI6 agent (due to info received from the first English agent), and how both knew who was really controlling their actions, at least until Martin/Alex lost his memory in Iraq.

 

I also liked getting the background info on the other characters, how Illyana ended up with Doku and how the General always lusted after her too, which made it easy for him to transfer that lust to Kate.  How Gabi really loved Ballard, but didn't realize it until it was too late.  Why Ballard was so hung-up on Dimitry even when he knew Dimitry was 'working' with the government.

 

Of course, my big question is how Martin ended up working for the Americans in S1, which must have happened after Iraq and his memory got all messed up.  I guess the Martin Odum legend was exceptional and he somehow was able to maintain that legend for a decade or so.  I partially wonder why Terrance never tried to contact "Martin" after Iraq, but I guess by then Terrances' Alzheimer had really taken hold and/or he didn't realize it was Alex and believed the Russians had taken him out?  But why would the Russians not take him out? Do they let their agents go so easily? Obviously they could have easily found "Martin" in the US too.

 

And part of me laughs that in the 10 years or so that Martin spent working for American CIA/FBI (I can't recall which it was), Ballard never got to see him (probably because of that wonderful 'desk job' he had), or ever saw some other report about a guy that looks incredibly like Dimitry.

 

And now I can't recall what the deal was with Martin's "wife" in America.  Wasn't she some agent too?  How did and why did that get set up?

 

Basically, its hard to gel the two seasons together, but frankly I did enjoy the second season, flashbacks and all, better than the first season.  A more cohesive and detailed story, which pretty much all story lines/threads addressed in a coherent manner.

 

So, you think Kate continued in the Muslim faith?  I don't.

 

 

.

[alias1]

Hanahope, I agree with everything you said.  l was confused at the start of season two and wasn't sure I was going to stick around.  But after two or three episodes I was beginning to like it better and better.  And I finally watched these three finale episodes.  I loved how they managed to tie almost everything together.  I liked the Ballard and Gabi backstory.  I liked knowing how Illyana ended up with Doku (just as you said).  I ended up loving this season. The only thing I didn't like is that they ended it with him in prison.  He should have taken the deal. Then I could envision him somehow escaping the Russians.  There was no chance in prison. 

[Hanahope]

Oh, but I'm sure that was part of the set up if there was a season 3, how he get out of prison and finds a way to get back to Ilyana. And does he ever want to see his own son (I had assumed the boy in S1 was actually his).  He knew that if he went back to working for the Russians, he'd never have a family and they could possibly even be killed.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Sean Bean discusses his new show The Oath: