This show doesn’t waste any time making major plot developments. I’d say it’s faster than even The Flash. Less than 10 minutes into the new season, the Legends are already frakking things up. I love it! Damien Darhk was more dynamic and better used in this episode then entire season 4 of Arrow. Then the frakken Reverse Flash shows up?! Finally the whole flippin’ Justice Society of America. The writers are really not going to hold anything back, are they?
Rex Tyler (of the Justice Society of America) showed up at the end of the Season 1 finale, addressing all of the Season 1 Legends sans Captain Cold. Whatever happened to that meeting?
Nope – I like the kitchen-sink approach to the early Arrowverse episodes so far. Though I hope they do find time for some anthology-ish episodes for Legends – those were the strongest S1 episodes IMHO (e.g. the Jonah Hex Old West episode, the “Lost in the '50s” episode).
Are Hawkman & Hawkgirl meant to be gone for good? Or is that something we can never really say so long as the Waverider can still fires?
Wasn’t he part of the JSA crew at the end? In any event, Mick mentioned that Rex had warned them not to travel to 1942. So of course they traveled to 1942.
Commander Steel (probably-it might have been Hourman wearing the horrible '80s version of the costume his son wore. The color was off on my set and I couldn’t tell)
Dr. Midnite (who they made black)
Star Girl (because…hey…Geoff Johns is involved)
Some black or Hispanic woman who’s probably Fury since Wonder Woman and Black Canary are off the table.
Obsidian (with a very accurate but totally period-inappropriate costume. I mean, it looks great–exactly like the comics, but not for 1942)
And Steel/Commander Steel will be guaranteed to appear since you’ve got that Heywood guy running around.
I normally don’t mind racially diverse casts, I prefer them, but for 1942? I dunno. I’d almost prefer a lilly-white team and have Jackson call them out on it. I’d like to see the mistakes of the past portrayed and dealt with, not just (pardon the pun) whitewashed.
I didn’t like season 1 that much. It was ok, with moments of brilliance, but there was just soooooooo much bad.
I have to admit to being presently surprised by episode 1 of season 2. I really enjoyed it a lot. As stated above, they’ve hit the ground running and that’s exciting.
I enjoyed last night’s episode, but at the same time, it felt (culturally) sloppy. I can’t believe that as much as I hated the “relevance”* movement in comics, I had some real problems with a JSA that’s half “negro” and nobody commenting on it in 1942. They touched on the (especially from our point of view) casual sexism of the time and there was just a split-second when Steel just casually assumed that Doc Stein was the leader because he was the oldest white male that I thought Jax was going to speak up…but no. I don’t want an entire episode about it, but this seemed too glossed over. I would have been happier to lose some of the grand-daddy issues for one good interchange between Jax (or Canary) and Steel.
Also, some of the uniforms/hairstyles were way out of place (Vixen(?!) did not have the right look at all for a black woman from 1942. She was smokin’ hot, but way out of place. Ditto Stargirl’s outfit. It didn’t look '40s. Also, her staff should look like metal, not plastic)
All that said, I largely loved the episode. And with Rip gone, I’m enjoying this season a lot more than the last one.
*In the early '70s, there was a push for super heroes to deal with “real-life” issues. It was infrequently done well (the drug issues of Spider-Man) and often done ham-handedly (the O’Neill/Adams Green Lantern/Green Arrow). I hated “relevancy”.
I didn’t hate Hawkgirl, but I totally hated Hawkman. And more than that I hated the Hawkgirl/Hawkman storyline eating relationship that took over every plotline. I wouldn’t mind if they brought her back, as long as he stays dead and gone and there’s no angst about it.
The first part of the episode was just comedy gold. I was laughing almost continuously from the moment the Legends got their asses handed to them by the JSA to the point where they tried to take on an entire nightclub full of Nazis. Loved Prof. Stein’s singing and the Back to the Future reference. Speaking of which, apparently timeline changes on this show work like that movie, which seems different from how the Flash changes the timeline.
Reverse Flash is even more menacing without Barry Allen around to stop him. I literally gasped the both times he appeared. Poor Rex Tyler! What were his powers anyway? I don’t think we actually got to see them.
