"Legends" Pilot Review

Zachary Goodier

Sean Bean makes his return to television in a new series that feels like a more mature Bourne Identity. In this new series, Bean plays Martin Odum, a deep-cover operative, who assumes a “legend,” or new identity, in order to infiltrate domestic terrorist, or other criminal groups to gather intelligence and find the criminal masterminds.

Meet Martin Odum

The story is really interesting, as it both maintains the suspense of Odum’s job, while adding some intrigue about Odum himself.  Odum is considered to be a potential liability by his agency, since he has been deemed unstable by many of their expert psychologists.  The reasons for this include innate trust issues, which is demonstrated early on by the fact that he went AWOL for 6 months while infiltrating a domestic terrorist group; but more importantly, he has identity issues, resulting in him unknowingly switching between “legacies.”  A lot of this carries a Bourne undertone, which is only strengthened when Odum meets a man who claims that he isn’t truly Martin Odum.

All in all, this carries a lot of the themes that carried us through the Bourne trilogy, so is it worth the watch if we’ve seen it all before?

Odum apparently has a family, but with his identity crisis, could it all be some sort of ruse?

In short, oh, yes.  Sean Bean really nails this role, especially when he’s playing a “legend” with both an American accent and a stutter.  This is all about Bean, who really plays his role convincingly, with a mix of humor and sternness that really entertains while keeping the suspense going.  The supporting cast wasn’t anything amazing, but not disappointing in the least.  In truth, this pilot was all about Martin Odum, not the rest of his agency or his family.  His role was established, and his story with set up, so there really wasn’t room in a 40-minute episode to delve into the other characters, and what roles they will play in the coming episodes.  The only character I can see having significant involvement throughout the series would be Crystal, who both serves as Odum's partner and likely romantic interest further on in the series.

Odum's who life is being thrown into question.  How deep does this rabbit hole go?

The main draw here is going to be the mystery of who Martin Odum really is, if he truly isn’t who he believes he is.  The show doesn’t give any solid leads, only asking the questions.  This is what a pilot should do in order to whet the appetite of the audience, so we’ll want to keep coming back for more.  And, of course, we’re all going to be watching intently to make sure Sean Bean doesn’t… lose his head, or anything like that (pun intended). 

Here's hoping he can hobbit his way through this series and stay alive.

Overall, this pilot episode was a solid start, and we’re looking forward to seeing more of Bean’s Martin Odum in the coming episodes, as he struggles with the mysteries presented.  It appears that Odum will be tackling different cases each week, but it is likely that Odum’s struggle of identity will become more relevant as the season progresses, and Martin delves deeper into the apparent conspiracy he has become involved in.  The series hasn’t blown our minds yet, or done anything to set itself apart, but with a pilot episode, it’s all about setup, and this show sets itself up for potentially great and exciting things down the road.

Good:

-Sean Bean… that is all… oh, and he hasn’t gone all Ned Stark or Boromir on us, yet (insert “One Does not Simply” joke here).

-Lot’s of interesting setup for both weekly and overarching storylines as the series progresses, as well as character development all around.

-Mix of humor and intensity that carries you through without exhausting.

-Starts out right in the thick of it, making the viewer keep up rather than exercise a lot of tedious introductions and exposition to spell everything out for us.

Bad:

-Supporting characters didn’t really impress all that much.

Scully Rating: 8.5 out of 10