I’ll preface this by saying I love the fact that there’s even a TV show with JSA in it. While ‘The Justice Society of America’ episode was better than the Legends of Tomorrow premiere, it’s still my least favorite show out of Supergirl, Arrow and The Flash. Incorporating JSA into Legends is an ambitious idea, especially for a show that, generally speaking, is already doing too much. Legends can be exciting and epic at almost all times, but often lacks progression in the characters themselves. That’s exactly what happened in Season 2, episode 2, “The Justice Society of America.” The oldest superhero team got lost in the time-traveling sauce.
There were certainly strong points in the episode. For starters, the first battle between the two superhero teams: Watching the Legends get their asses handed to them by Obsidian, Dr. Mid-Nite and Stargirl. The contrast between the way each team operates also kept their budding partnership fun and interesting. JSA’s brownstown compared to the Waverider ship, Hourman’s reaction to AI, and the initial scene where the Legends are in JSA’s holding cell, convincing themselves they’re the better team: all of these were high points.
The dialogue in this show always has been (and probably always will be) cheesy. It can be hard to look past, but White Canary and Nate Heywood certainly have good chemistry. As do Vixen and Ray, which will be an interesting dynamic moving forward now that Vixen will be on the Waverider full-time, investigating Hourmans’ death.
I also really like White Canary as the new leader. I saw this coming, which was why Dr. Stein taking on the role was hard to watch for a number of reasons. Him being so eager about taking on the position, then complaining about it and freaking out was very annoying. You turn into a ball of fire and are a nuclear physicist, how can you not handle the pressure? The interactions between Jax and Stein about his new leadership position were really drawn out.
The Reverse-Flash popping up in 1942 to give the Nazis super soldier serum was an awesome plot twist, but not in exchange for Hourman’s life. How do you kill Patrick J Adams in the first episode? Reverse Flash used his signature hand phase through the chest to kill Rex Tyler before we even got to know him. Even though Hourman is no more, Eobard Thawne is a highlight of any episode he’s in, especially with the looming threat of Legion of Doom.
Nate meeting his grandfather took up a lot of time in the episode. We didn’t get to see other JSA members interacting with the Legends characters, which made the episode feel a bit crowded. Obsidian, Dr. Mid-Nite, Stargirl and Mick barely said a word. It may have helped if fewer JSA members were introduced, or perhaps Commander Steel’s storyline would have been better explored in a later episode.
Simply revealing Nate Heywood as Citizen Steel as the cliffhanger, instead of leaving off with White Canary becoming team leader would have made the JSA’s debut a lot more exciting. Citizen Steel looks amazing! Despite the JSA reveal, their weren’t any eye-popping moments in the episode itself. The Nazi super soldier was underwhelming and didn’t seem to be a worthy big bad for two superhero teams. The absence of lasting impact is why the episode didn’t feel as big as it could have been.
Legends of Tomorrow airs Thursdays at 8 p.m.
