Claire Kaplan

Tired of gritty? Bored of angst? Well, have I got a show for you! Legends of Tomorrow, started seemingly as a dumping-ground for interesting characters from other CW shows who no longer fit into their respective narratives, has become a wonderful, zany concoction. After season one was weighed down by its villain, the show abandoned its strict structure for a paper-thin (and feather-light) premise: a group of misfits and wannabe-heroes traveling through time correcting "time aberrations" (aka dressing up in period costumes and going on adventures). They find new team members and lose old ones every season, and surprisingly little of the season one cast remains, but the team never feels unfamiliar and the variety is refreshing. The core of the show is Caity Lotz as Sara Lance and Dominic Purcell as Mick Rory, and as long as we have those two the show will always be a delight. The plots are gleefully wacky and sometimes over-the-top (last week's episode featured an accursed nipple; the season premier saw the team fight a sparkling murderous rainbow unicorn) and you can tell everyone involved is genuinely enjoying themselves. The writing is CW-quality, meaning it varies from sublime to awkward, so I can't call it a masterpiece. I'll still watch it till the end, though. Not only because the wackiness actually works rather than feeling forced, but because this is a sincerely happy show. It's a show about friends, and fun, and even when things go bad you know it will turn out okay. Nowadays that's more than welcome.