Legend -- Episode 1: Birth of a Legend

Synopsis in 3 sentences or less:

Ernest Pratt is a down-on-his-luck novelist whose books feature a heroic character called Nicodemus Legend.  People start confusing Pratt with his character, especially when a scientist in Colorado (unbeknownst to Pratt) uses Legend's likeness and celebrity to help some townspeople engaged in a land and water dispute with a ruthless landowner.  Pratt goes to Colorado and meets the scientist, and together they team up as Pratt begrudgingly accepts the part of Nicodemus Legend. 

Memorable Quote:

Separately, you and I are heroes to no one.  Together, we could become legendary.  ~Bartok

Highlight:

I like the Coe character (the older, legendary gunfighter who is brought in to take care of Legend), and I enjoy the scene where Legend sits down with him in the saloon and convinces him that he could make more money by going into writing.  The scene is a bit too long, and of course it's preposterous, but it's also entertaining and creative, and we get a look at some skills involving talking and persuasion that Legend brings to the table.  Also he's wearing a pretty sweet hat and suit.

Lowlight:

The scene with Vera Slaughter (the landowner) and her son Silas at their dinner table is unnecessarily bizarre and uncomfortable.  When we first meet Silas, it seems like he might be a capable villain and gunfighter, but that ends up not being the case.  His low point is the scene at the table where Vera calls him out for not being half the man his father was.  He storms away, but then she calls him back and then cuddles him in her bosom and talks to him like he's 6 years old, and then they briefly kiss on the lips.  Just a weird scene.

After this first episode, I assumed that these two characters and their storyline would be present throughout the whole season, but according to IMDB the two of them are not in any more episodes.  

Other thoughts, observations, and questions I didn’t ask when I was in fourth grade:

• It's been a while since I've written an episode recap of any kind, and it's fun to bring back the old MacGyver format, minus the "season" (since there is only 1) and "MacGyverism" sections.
• Right off the bat the style of music is extremely familiar.  The composer, Ken Harrison, scored many MacGyver episodes beginning in season 3, and the similarities here are very evident.
• The gunfight in the beginning is a good way to start the episode (even though it's part of Pratt's book and not actually happening).  Unfortunately it's one of the rare action scenes we'll see over the course of the 90 minutes (more on the episode length later). I'm not someone who needs an overabundance of action, but I found the episode to be slow.  
• In RDA's first scene, we see him taking a shot of whiskey -- clearly this is a very different character than the teetotaling MacGyver.  We also get a glimpse of RDA's sense of humor (which John Considine, who served as story editor for Legend, recently talked about in my podcast) in a way we didn't see when he played MacGyver as the straight man.    
• Speaking of RDA, I have no idea what he's doing with his "accent" which seems to change from scene to scene.  And then for some lines he has his natural voice (which I think I'd prefer, even if it makes him seem less zany).  
• The show's concept of a writer being mistaken for the character in his book is ridiculous but also original.  It made me wonder, though, couldn't they instead have just made the show be one big MacGyver dream, ala Serenity and MacGyver's Women?  It could have been similar in terms of plot to the existing show, but instead MacGyver would just be dreaming that he was Legend.  And then as events unfolded, there could have been some throwback moments to past episodes.  A few that came to mind as I was watching were:
• They could have somehow indicated that the Colorado town was actually the same ghost town from Target MacGyver. 
• When the little village girl looks up at him in admiration, he could give her a doll made from socks like in Slow Death.  
• When the Hungarians were dancing, they could have brought back some characters from Thief of Budapest. 
• When he's hang gliding at the end, maybe they could have gotten Danny Cooksey from Eagles to be on the ground and wave as the glider goes by. While holding a golden eagle.  I should have been hired as the MacGyver consultant...
• The mystery in the first half of the episode is good in that it makes the viewer wonder what is going regarding Legend's supposed appearance in Colorado.  What he really there before or not, and what is the explanation?  A good hook.
• About midway through we get our first glimpse of Janos Bartok, the brilliant experimental scientist played by John de Lancie, who MacGyver fans will remember as the sinister "Brother Brian" from The Escape.   Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, so now his character and RDA's character are on the same side (unless they're setting us up for a double cross!).  I think de Lancie is an excellent actor and does a nice job with the Eastern European accent (especially considering he's American), but I do feel like it would have been good for the script to include a little more background and context on the Bartok character, like what exactly is he doing in his science lab and what are his motives?  It is only the first episode, so maybe those answers will be given in time.  
• I was watching this DVD on my television (so there was no indication of the time remaining), and I kept waiting for the episode to end but it kept going on and on!  For a minute I thought maybe I had accidentally selected Play All Episodes.  It's interesting that they have 6 episodes on 1 DVD, including one that is 90 minutes.  I wonder if other shows that have 4 episodes per DVD do that so that there are more DVDs to appear that there is more content. 
• How about poor Thomas Edison getting thrown under the bus for sabotaging Bartok's life and career!
• Funny scene at the end where Legend and Bartok are in the balloon basket getting the hang glider ready, and then a minute later the female lawyer appears in the basket out of nowhere.  I was watching this with my wife who said, "where did she come from?!"
• After Legend punches out Silas, I was really curious to see if there would be a shake. Sadly, there was not.  And I didn't get why Legend was running away from the horse -- wouldn't he be happy to see the horse since he and the little girl were in the middle of nowhere?
• Good scene at the end when Legend notices the lawyer cozying up with Coe, and he (Legend) has a look of regret, like maybe he would have had a chance with her. Surprising to me that she and Coe, like the Slaughters, are not in any more episodes. While the episode was unfolding, I thought for sure they were setting her up to be a love interest for Legend. 

Final Analysis:

All in all, this first episode didn't do much for me.  It was fun to see RDA, and I like westerns in general, but I didn't find it particularly engaging, humorous, or suspenseful.  It was also fairly slow and light on action, and I had to think for a bit to come up with my highlight -- there wasn't one that jumped out at me.  On the other hand, it was well filmed, well acted, and had good special effects.  For now, since it's the only episode of Legend I've seen, it goes to #1 on my list of favorite episodes!