What if a guy like The Naked Cowboy was a superhero? This is what dark comedy The Legend of Master Legend asks in the new Amazon original pilot, starring John Hawkes as Master Legend. He’s a Las Vegas hero, posing for pictures with tourists and handing out care packages to the homeless, but is the homemade superhero causing more danger by taking himself too seriously (and embarrassing his family along the way)? We’ll let you know if this is an adventure worth taking.

A Guide to Our Rating System

Opening Shot: The opening of a pilot can set a mood for the entire show (think Six Feet Under); thus, we examine the first shot of each pilot.

The Gist: The “who, what, where, when, why?” of the pilot.

Our Take: What did we think? Are we desperate for more or desperate to get that hour back?

Sex and Skin: That’s all you care about anyway, right? We let you know how quickly the show gets down and dirty.

Parting Shot: Where does the pilot leave us? Hanging off a cliff, or running for the hills?

Sleeper Star: Basically, someone in the cast who is not the top-billed star who shows great promise.

Most Pilot-y Line: Pilots have a lot of work to do: world building, character establishing, and stakes raising. Sometimes that results in some pretty clunky dialogue.

Our Call: We’ll let you know if you should, ahem, Stream It or Skip It.

THE LEGEND OF MASTER LEGEND

Opening Shot: Oh god, one of those indoor malls Las Vegas loves so much. Master Legend walks among the bright lights, greeting the tourists and homeless alike. He drops change in buckets for those in need, lets the out-of-towners know his name and his mission, all with a smile on his face.

The Gist: Master Legend is a homemade superhero, and not in the way that Tony Stark is. This guy’s got much less money (in fact, he lives in a storage unit), and even though he’s dedicated his life to protecting the entirety of Sin City from evildoers, his own family has a hard time taking him seriously. This includes his daughter Cody (Anjelika Washington) who is navigating the waters of being a lesbian teenager, her mother Tana (Dawnn Lewis), who is potentially beginning a sweet romance with security guard Larry (Eugene Cordero), and Master Legend’s brother, Peanut Head (Shea Whigham) who is already complicating things just moments after being released from prison.

Our Take: Master Legend shows the sad side of superheroes: there’s no CGI, no flying through the air, no cool glowing super powers. This is simply a good samaritan gone too far. We commend him for living a minimalist life and caring for the human beings in his community. But busting up some teens (including Cody, the girl she has a crush on, and that girl’s much older scumbag boyfriend) for drinking beers with their pizza in full garb (including an iron fist) could be (and is, by the local police) considered an overreaction.

However, there are some complex layers to this show, brought out by bringing on James Ponsoldt (The Spectacular Now) to direct the pilot. It truly is a dark comedy, with both subtly funny and LOL moments interspersed between the portrait of a man who means well, but is kind of a weirdo. By day, he earns cash chopping branches off of palm trees, and wastes no time getting right back to his “training”, which means chugging beers and practicing his throwing stars.

Sex and Skin: Not so much! At one point, a woman invites Master Legend inside her home, and clearly, as a pal points out, “She wanted some Legend.” But ever the upstanding citizen, he replies, “That doesn’t keep me on the path of doing good.” Bo-ring!

Parting Shot: Master Legend strips down and hops in the homemade shower inside the storage unit, unwinding after a long day…while Peanut Head is about to deliver him that scumbag boyfriend from earlier at the pizza place, except now he’s all battered and bloody. He took matters into his own hands, in a much less peaceful, but much more interesting manner.

Sleeper Star: Cody! Anjelika Washington as the biracial teen is a total scene-stealer. She’s bold and vulnerable and pretty slick for a high schooler. Of course she gets majorly embarrassed by her dad in a very real way, but by the end of the episode, we learn she has a very big, rather intriguing secret of her own.

Most Pilot-y Line: After Cody calls him a “piece of shit”, Master Legend fires back, “Well, you can be a piece of stuff and still do something good in the world,” replacing the cuss word like a true dad.

Our Call: Stream it! Master Legend could go very dark and very interesting, if that last scene is any indication. If that’s the route this show decides to go (if picked up for a full series), it could be a real hit. There are some sweet and silly moments in the first half hour already that make it both worth watching, and a reminder that we can all be everyday superheroes. Just don’t embarrass your kids too much, ok?

Where to watch The Legend of Master Legend