LEGENDS Episode 110 "Identity" Summary & Brief Review

Martin discovers that Verax may be plotting an assassination, led by a mysterious figure named John Cameron. When Martin gets kidnapped while investigating, he's shocked at what he discovers regarding his own identity. This season one finale becomes a race against time as Martin/DCO track Cameron and uncover their plans to infiltrate the US Government.

http://www.tntdrama.com/shows/legends/season-1/episode-10/identity.html

SPOILERS AHEAD!!

Episode opens with flashback to how Sonya helped Martin in 2004. When last we left off Sonya was in a bad way, but she made it to the hospital. Aiden Odum has kicked arse in this. He goes with Tony while Martin & Crystal compare notes. She tells him about Operation Raining Fire, Martin tells her that he was there in Iraq with Verax, and that he's not Martin.

Spiller briefs DCO, has them look for John Cameron, who he says is plotting a domestic terrorist action. Verax is indeed plotting, but they plan to pin their action on Martin Odum via Cameron. Martin & Tony examine the safe house guys, Maggie finds infra-red tattoos on them via camera. Martin has one too! Spiller coughs up the info that they are Verax employee numbers, and Maggie tracks one.

Martin, Crystal & Tony go to check out the employee apartment, find a bunch of sniper equipment. Then Martin gets a call from "John Cameron." Martin is still trying to make sense of how all this fits together in his own mystery. Tony has the money they found tracked. It is found to belong to a cash shipment to Iraq, and turns out that was stolen. Verax nothing but a bunch of damn thieves. The traced call from Cameron leads to another location. Just like bread crumbs. Martin is nabbed again, and this time it's Verax that gets him. Tony Rice is getting tired of the crap. He wants to know who Martin really is, but Crystal can't tell him because she really doesn't know either. 

Verax works Martin over and the truth regarding Verax finally comes out because Shaw, the CEO, can't keep quiet about it any longer. He is gathering info but also has to gloat about Martin being John Cameron. And finally Martin remembers it, and what happened. Shaw finished the job by doing a computer generated video of Martin that framed him for the murder of the FBI Director. Martin is left then to be picked up, the damage is already done. DCO knows it wasn't him but to no avail. They have made too many enemies. A Verax-friendly Senate Committee closes the DCO after inquiry. Spiller gets the Director job, which is what he wanted all along.

Martin Odum, blamed for the murder, is on the run. He still doesn't know who he really is, but at least he knows who his friends are.

(Hurrah!)

So, a lot of the truth is now known, Verax Corporation has won this round, and the DCO paid the price of knowing too much information. But the overall war is still on. Does Martin remain Martin Odum, or need to be someone entirely new? Is he really MI6 or was that just another lie attached to a legend? WHO IS HE REALLY? I think there's enough questions still remaining for a Series 2! It's Martin Odum's mystery & Sean's stellar performance that kept me watching every week. I really like the supporting characters of Tony Rice, Maggie & Aiden Odum too, and hope to see more of them. I didn't much like them but Nelson Gates & Sonya turned out all right in the end, and they are still in the picture.

Again, here's the final S1 survey for LEGENDS, I wrote them a ton that I thought might help develop a Series 2 for Sean's highly complex & interesting character that I think has a lot of potential yet.

https://www.tvinnercircle.com/S.aspx?s=529&r=yDnaOdhVQE.UiYCvvh2dkA&so=true&a=996&fromdetect=1

#DONTKILLSEANBEAN off of TV!!

Written by Donna DeBoer (@DRLDeBoer on Twitter)

LEGENDS Episode 109 "Wilderness of Mirrors" Summary & Brief Review

Martin escapes from the Saudi's interrogation only to learn that Sonya and Aiden have been kidnapped. In the process of tracking them down, he learns more about the connection between Verax, Arcadia and his own past. 
http://www.tntdrama.com/videos/legends/season-1/episode-9/wilderness-of-mirrors.html

SPOILERS AHEAD!!

Martin was in a lot of trouble last we saw him as Sebastian Egan, he had been grabbed by the Saudis that his articles were targeting as being in collusion with Arcadia, corrupt. His objective was to find the true murderer of the Saudi prince & get Hami off the hook. Instead these guys were pummeling him to get him to admit he was an FBI agent & threatening to kill Sonya & Aiden if he didn't talk. That got Martin angry & desperate, in which he beat off & escaped his kidnappers.

Crystal & Tony find out that the bastards have taken Sonya & Aiden. Gates tells Martin, who has a present for DCO when he gets back. They use drastic tactics to get info out of the Saudi prisoner about Martin's family & identity, but he doesn't know. It's Maggie who uncovers the truth- Arcadia was bought by Verax, the government contractor that Dobson, Evans & McCombs had worked for in Iraq, and who had claimed that Martin did too. New target: Jason Shaw, former Green Beret, now Verax CEO. Martin confronts Gates & demands the truth, who tells him yes Martin did work for Verax & had been lying about his identity because of WITSEC, witness protection. Gates shows Martin the redacted file about Raining Fire, the disastrous Iraq operation of which he apparently was a part when he got hurt in 2004. Martin asks if his wife had been a part of it. Then he gets a text from Aiden. Smart kid!

Maggie tracks the cell signal & Martin, Crystal & Tony go off to rescue Sonya & Aiden. They do & put them in a safe house with Tony until Martin can get there. Crystal wants to know what's going on, but now Martin stalls her. DCO FBI bosses decide stuff that the agents don't agree with. Martin & Crystal go off in disgust. They want to know who leaked Martin's FBI identity. Crystal asks her father for info. Martin confronts the deputy FBI director Spiller. He tells Martin that Verax is rogue, bent on controlling government decisions, and shows Martin a photo that he says is John Cameron, their top agent. Martin eats it all up because he doesn't have reason to disbelieve Spiller. Yet.

John Cameron is supposed to know who Martin Odum really is. Therefore, Martin wants to find him. In the meantime, Verax is cleaning things up on their end, and they are coming after Martin next! He & Sonya do their best to hold them off but she gets hit. Martin tries to get her to come clean. She tells him that she was helping him in 2004 as a CIA agent & that he was MI6. WHAT??

That was an enormous amount of info to take in! What is Martin, or whoever he is, going to do now? How was he connected to Verax in Iraq? What sort of operation was Raining Fire? Will Sonya survive? Fortunately TNT decided not to make us wait & showed episode 10 immediately after. #DONTKILLSEANBEAN still going strong!!

Here's the final Series 1 survey for LEGENDS, the info from which I hope is used for a Series 2!!
https://www.tvinnercircle.com/S.aspx?s=529&r=yDnaOdhVQE.UiYCvvh2dkA&so=true&a=996&fromdetect=1

Written by Donna DeBoer (@DRLDeBoer on Twitter)

LEGENDS Episode 106 "Gauntlet" Summary & Brief Review

Martin takes Kyle Dobson into custody in the aftermath of a shoot-out with the smuggling crew. But when Dobson is wounded, Martin is forced to get him medical attention at a Houston Hospital. Dobson's mysterious employers, The Verax Corporation, send a team of professional hitmen to retrieve Dobson, forcing Martin to take his prisoner on the run in a frantic escape back to Los Angeles.
http://www.tntdrama.com/shows/legends/season-1/episode-6/gauntlet.html

SPOILERS AHEAD!!

Len: "I don't have to win. I just have to survive."

When last we left off, Dobson & Martin/Len, in Houston, were trying to get away from a shootout at the garage where he had found Kyle Dobson, a man whom he thought might tell him what in hell was going on with his identity & past memories. Unfortunately Dobson was hit by a bullet and so Martin/Len had to go back to being Martin the FBI agent in order to help this guy & to try to get some answers out of him. They dodged pursuit and he questioned Dobson the whole way to the hospital but didn't get any solid answers.

In the hospital some more undercover people enter the fray, agents of this new player The Verax Corporation, for whom Dobson works. They tell him that Martin's prying is going to blow their operation. Dobson agrees but what can he do while injured? They try to thwart Martin but he fights them off, retrieves Dobson & they go on the road again, told by his boss Gates that the Austin TX FBI office would be safe.

But... the stolen car breaks down! Now Martin is forced to hole up in an abandoned house in the middle of some oil wells & hope that help comes before the Verax squad catches them up. Martin prepares for the siege & hopes it's enough, between badgering Dobson further with questions. He's still hurt & gives reluctant, dodgy answers. Verax attacks and Martin deals with it, but despite his best effort he loses Dobson and his answers in the fight. Another dead end.

Back at the Los Angeles DCO ranch, all kinds of hotfootin' going on. DCO now has Tony Rice & his investigation into McCombs' murder, which through Evans' death is now connected to a high level secret 2004 operation in Iraq called Raining Fire that Martin also discovered. Tony ends up sent with Crystal to Houston to fetch Martin. Maggie tells Gates about helping Martin. Gates also meets with Sonya, and now it looks like they are in cahoots with whoever is trying to cover up who Martin really is. Sonofabitch!

On twitter the Legends writers said this episode was shot like a classic western; my reply was that it was more like a spaghetti western, but I meant that in a good way as some of those films are my faves! Len Barlow is definitely my fave Martin legend so far, Sean played this to the hilt & I imagine it was great fun for him. Was Martin working for Verax too? Glad to see more of Tony Rice included, still hoping he gets a promotion to DCO. And another new player to Martin's mystery even as he loses another! Looks like a brand new legend for Martin next week. Keep it coming but #DONTKILLSEANBEAN!!

If you saw this episode of LEGENDS on TNT & liked it, please let them know what you thought in Survey #5: https://www.tvinnercircle.com/S.aspx?s=525&r=NPskDJ9b_UKihSq7U1YWng&a=976&fromdetect=1

This time they ask you to write about Sonya in detail. I told em. :)

Written by Donna DeBoer (@DRLDeBoer on Twitter)

LEGENDS Episode 104 "Betrayal" Summary & Brief Review

The Colonel and Ana Paulanos are captured by DCO when they sell Martin a briefcase of VX that turns out to be bogus. In response, one of The Colonel's followers releases real VX on a crowded bus, threatening more attacks if The Colonel and Ana aren't released. As a last resort, Martin stages a pulse-pounding "false flag" prison break of The Colonel and, with Ana's help, forces The Colonel to lead him to the VX. Time will tell whether Martin can trust Ana to betray The Colonel and help him find all the gas before more civilians are killed.

http://www.tntdrama.com/shows/legends/season-1/episode-4/betrayal.html

SPOILERS AHEAD!!

Martin as Dante Auerbach was in a tight spot last time we saw him, about to poison one of Colonel Yuri's henchmen. If he wants to make this deal & arrest the bad, Martin/Dante must do it. It was good to see that he had a problem with this later. He makes the deal. The former Russian chemist tells DCO how much he made. They are appalled. Ana asks Yuri if he knew about the warehouse. He says yes, he knows that the FBI knows. Dante is driven back to his apartment. Crystal admits that she was wrong about Martin. Ana shows up at the apartment.

 

The deal for the VX gas goes down at a park, but it's blown from both sides, fake money & fake gas in the canisters. Yuri & Ana are arrested & questioned. Then the FBI find out that the real gas was released on a public bus, with very bad results. This can't happen again so they try to figure out what to do with Yuri. With some digging they get info about Ana's relationship with Yuri & hope to use that.

The FBI springs it's plan with Martin/Dante again, who pretends to break Yuri & Ana out of custody & flies them away in a helicopter. He roughly questions Yuri himself, to get the info needed to find the VX gas & stop any further attacks. But Yuri has one more trick up his sleeve when they all get to the bank vault. A 3-way standoff between Dante, Yuri & Ana ends up with 2 of them shot & it's not Martin.

In the other storyline having to do with who Martin is, Tony Rice tells his boss that he still thinks there's something weird going on, but later looks at evidence & gets the truth from one of the vet McCombs's buddies, that a woman killed him, not Martin, but Martin was there.

I like the Dante legend but I didn't much like the murder of Yuri's man, at least Martin had an issue with it, you could clearly see he was unhappy when making his report, and he also had a bout of panic after the bit with Yuri & Ana ended. I think he really liked Ana, but who did, Martin or Dante? I also hope this isn't the end of Tony Rice, I think it would be cool to put him in the DCO to work with Martin. Guess we start a new storyline next week, this one seemed pretty well wrapped. Who will Martin get to be next? Just #DONTKILLSEANBEAN!!

If you saw this episode of LEGENDS on TNT & liked it, please let them know what you thought in Survey #4: https://www.tvinnercircle.com/S.aspx?s=522&r=_l983R3s1k.Ta3aVc1Wszg&a=972&fromdetect=1
More questions about feeling for show, characters etc. The writers on Twitter @LegendsWriters are also asking, which leads me to think a 2nd series is seriously being considered!

Written by Donna DeBoer (@DRLDeBoer on Twitter)

LEGENDS Episode 103 "Lords of War" Summary & Brief Review

Official synopsis: Martin assumes the legend of Dante Auerbach, an international arms dealer known as the "Lord of War," in order to track the sale of VX gas and rescue kidnapped chemist Richard Hubbard. He makes contact with beautiful arms dealer Ana Paulanos, the right hand of a mysterious Chechen mobster known as "The Colonel." Martin develops a romantic entanglement with Ana as he gains The Colonel's trust - but does he trust him enough to trade him all the VX gas?
http://www.tntdrama.com/shows/legends/season-1/episode-3/lords-of-war.html

SPOILERS AHEAD!!

When we last saw him Richard the former Russian chemical engineer turned American chemistry teacher was dragging his heels at creating bad VX gas for the Chechen mobsters. As this episode opens, he is still stalling his captors in hopes of finding a lapse in attention in order to get his family out. He creates a distraction to try to do exactly that (I thought he should've melted the bad guy's face off) but his attempt fails.

Over at DCO (Division of Covert Operations), the team is preparing to support Martin Odum in his Dante Auerbach "Lord of War" legend. Crystal is still complaining about Martin's perceived unbalance, but neither her boss Gates nor the Big Boss Spiller feels he is unfit in the face of the big picture of city-wide annihilation and OK's Martin's cover continuation. Martin/Dante first goes to meet a guy Khalid in order to weasel info. He gets a lead, who turns out to be a Miss, not a Mister, Paulanos, Ana by name. Martin/Dante decides that the operation needs to have a closer look at her. He speaks to her at length. Deciding she is who they want to deal with, Martin/Dante also removes Ana's buyer from the picture and inserts himself. Later they find out Ana is their way to get to Yuri The Bad Chechen Colonel boss who has the VX gas.

There is also FBI Transportation Security agent Tony Rice, who won't let go of his suspicion that Martin had something to do with the Vet's death and that there is something fishy going on. He is told again to back off, both by his boss & by Martin's boss Gates.

Martin himself feels some more confusion in between his Dante forays, and goes to Sonya his ex-wife's house to ask some questions of her. She is concerned with his mental state. His son Aiden is glad to see him but disappointed again about weekend plans being canceled.

The DCO computer people finally get a signal that indicates where the VX gas and the kidnapped family might be. Crystal doesn't want to wait, heads the team that crashes the place, rescues the family, but... NO GAS.

In the meantime Martin/Dante is finally taken to meet Yuri, who doesn't quite believe his story about him being a buyer and asks him to test a chemical weapon product on a captive. Uh oh!

I think Dante is Martin's best legend yet! Dante Auerbach is everything I expected him to be, and I hope we see more of his slickness. Just #DontKillSeanBean!! As for the rest of the show, the plots in general, the other characters & such, I'm not so impressed. Exceptions are Mason Cook, who plays Martin's son Aiden Odum, I like the kid. I also like Morris Chestnut's Tony Rice, I could see him ending up as a partner to Martin if his inquiry doesn't go askew.

If you saw this episode of LEGENDS on TNT & liked it, please let them know what you thought in Survey #3: https://www.tvinnercircle.com/S.aspx?s=519&r=tSnpxI.exUy18h1JCV0O9w&a=957&fromdetect=1
More questions about feeling for show, characters etc. I wrote them a another book :)

Written by Donna DeBoer (@DRLDeBoer on Twitter)

LEGENDS Episode 102 "Chemistry" Summary & Brief Review

Official synopsis: When a high school chemistry teacher and his family are kidnapped, DCO takes the case because the teacher is a former chemical weapons engineer for the Russian Army, hidden by the CIA in the Witness Protection Program. Are the kidnappers using the teacher to manufacture VX gas? Martin, Crystal and Troy Buchannan go undercover to infiltrate the Chechen mob, rescue the family and stop the production of the deadly gas.http://www.tntdrama.com/shows/legends/season-1/episode-2/chemistry.html

SPOILERS AHEAD!!

In the opening scene we see the chemistry teacher and his family being kidnapped by rouge Chechen agents, who want him to manufacture VX gas, which can be used for chemical terrorist attacks. The teacher, a former Russian Army engineer, is an expert & why the DCO is called upon to act to stop these plans. This plot is unresolved in this episode, I assume it continues in the next.

At the end of the last episode, Martin Odum was left with the warning from a deceased homeless Vet that his own person was just another legend. As this episode opens, Martin is speaking with a mental health counselor, a mandatory procedure after exiting an undercover job. The counselor tries to draw Martin out, including about his family, but he insists that he is fine. He later goes out with his son Aiden & tries to patch up their relationship, and that with his ex-wife Sonya.

Martin also asks after deceased co-worked & friend Bobby. When confronted with the dead Vet's file, which was retrieved from Bobby's apartment, Martin decides to tell his boss Nelson Gates what the man said about him not really being Martin, but kind of blows it off as the ravings of a crazy man. Yet there is other suspicion in the office: after Martin asks agent Tony Banks in the Surveillance department for some help with identifying the Vet, he wants to investigate Martin because the video revealed Martin was the last person to see him alive. He is ordered not to do it, but puts a tail on Martin anyway. He has to dodge it.

Martin, Crystal and Troy Buchannan do go undercover at a club in order to infiltrate the Chechen mob & find out where the chemistry teacher & his family are, but the cover is blown, bad things happen, the operation is busted wide open & terribly, Troy pays the ultimate price.

This is devastating to the team, especially Crystal, but the teacher & family are still in trouble and the bad guys are still at large. Martin tells his boss Gates that a bigger bait fish is needed to catch them- the legend, Dante Auerbach, nicknamed "Lord of War."

What interested me most about this episode is that Martin himself is now under investigation and we don't know what will be uncovered, but any info that is found is just as important to Martin as they are to the bureau! I'm keenly interested in this puzzle. Next episode reveals another legend who looks like a real piece of work. Bring 'em on, just #DontKillSeanBean!!

If you saw this episode of LEGENDS on TNT & liked it, please let them know what you thought in Survey #2:  https://www.tvinnercircle.com/S.aspx?s=515&r=ZyrRLUBCi0mHd_M_WwgrDA&a=945&fromdetect=1
 There are different questions about Sean's character, feeling for show, etc. I wrote them a book :)

Written by Donna DeBoer (@DRLDeBoer on Twitter)

LEGENDS Episode 101 "Pilot" Summary & Brief Review

Official synopsis: Martin Odum has the uncanny ability to transform himself into a completely different person for each job. But he begins to question his own identity when a mysterious stranger suggests that Martin isn't the man he believes himself to be.
http://www.tntdrama.com/shows/legends/season-1/episode-1/pilot.html

SPOILERS AHEAD!!

The episode opens with shots of terrorist damage 9 months previously & then switches to Martin Odum now working as legend cover Lincoln Dittmann in the camp of white supremacists in Virginia who had done the terrorist acts. He was embedded there by the FBI to meet their leader & arrest him, but had had no luck for 6 previous months until he was called in to talk to the boss there. He was about to get the meeting until an unplanned raid by another government agency almost blew his cover & that of an informer also in the camp. Martin barely escaped an explosion, was angry about that & his nearly blown cover, protested loudly to his boss when he went in to his office to report the situation & ask to salvage it. In the office his old boss Crystal (Ali Larter) didn't want him to continue on the job because she thought he was unstable, but she got overruled.

In between all this, we meet Martin's son & ex-wife, the son misses Martin & he's apologetic for not spending more time with his son. He promises to get him Chinese food. Later we see Martin about to buy Chinese take away from the restaurant below his apartment when he sees a man he'd seen before, who had warned him that someone didn't want him to know that he, Martin Odum, was also a legend. Martin can't make sense of this right now, and gets on with his undercover job as Lincoln Dittmann.

Dittmann is instructed to meet the white supremest terrorist "Founding Father" boss in Chicago, and so he goes there. His office technical team spends some time bulking up Dittmann's legend with computer records to support his story for any background checks that will be run. They almost botch it up by misspelling "Dittman." Two N's! Dittmann meets his contact in a strip club, but then his FBI team are suspicious when they lose contact with the previous informer, fearing something bad has happened to him. It did. Crystal then goes undercover fast to bail Dittmann out, and they barely get away with the operation still intact. They regroup & send Dittmann in to the meeting with a wire so the team can listen in & provide backup. Martin, as Dittmann, doesn't like what the terrorist boss tells him, and while he is trying to figure out how to stall for time, the FBI team's presence is blown by a stray radio transmission. Chaos ensues, and Martin calls the terrorist boss' bluff & saves them all from being blown up. The bad guys are arrested. Operation done.

Back at home, after debriefing, Martin drops by his support tech Bobby's house & finds out he's been killed, perhaps because of the info that Martin was having him dig for, to identify the man that had been following Martin. Now he's really worried & upset, agrees to meet the strange man when he calls again. And then that man is killed in front of him on the train platform, still leaving him with with the question, "Who is Martin Odum?"

What I enjoyed most about this series debut episode, besides Sean's fantastic multiple performances obviously, is the suggestion that Martin Odum, the supposed "real person," may be just another legend. I think this is complicated by the presence of his son & ex-wife, with whom I assume he has a lengthy history. Or does he? Are they part of the implied lie? A mystery I am eager to follow each week as more puzzle pieces are revealed along with more of Martin's "legends" for his covert jobs. All I ask at the end of the 10 episodes of series 1 is: #DontKillSeanBean!!

If you saw LEGENDS on TNT & liked it, please let them know what you thought in this survey: 
http://spr.ly/6184mFie  There are questions about Sean's character, feeling for show, etc.

Written by Donna DeBoer (@DRLDeBoer on Twitter)

LEGENDS TNT at San Diego Comic-Con; Premieres in 2 Weeks!! #DontKillSeanBean

Just 2 weeks to go until "Legends" premieres 13 August on TNT channel in the US! Please check your local channels for date & time, I also saw it listed for Canada and for Sky in the UK. This past weekend "Legends" had a HUGE presence at San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC), here's some photos of the best TV show advertising campaign this summer:  #DontKillSeanBean!

#DontKillSeanBean

 

2 print advertisements

Promotional items given out at SDCC

There were also huge banners on buildings in San Diego and even in the airport! Bravo and many thanks to the advertising department for the huge Sean Bean love! 

 

Unfortunately, Sean himself was absent from SDCC, but it was for a very good personal reason: his daughter Molly's wedding! Congratulations to the happy couple! Her mum Melanie Hill posted a lovely wedding photo on Twitter, go here to view it:
https://twitter.com/melaniejhil/status/493791338224427008

The first episode for "Legends" was also screened at SDCC, from the viewing descriptions I saw it was a positive, enthusiastic reaction! Here is the official list of episodes & other descriptions from TNT's website:
http://www.tntdrama.com/shows/legends.html

There are also some great promotional photos there! I can't wait to see this show!! Stay tuned, I plan on posting an episode recap a few days after airing each of the 10 weeks. I also post screen captures to my Tumblr account at: drldeboer.tumblr.com

Written by Donna DeBoer (@DRLDeBoer on Twitter)