Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 Episode 2 review

Oh man, was I in love with this episode. I was even able to forgive the awful CG super nazi because of how much I loved this episode. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

So the Legends met the Justice Society of America? And it was brilliant! Cheesy? Yes. Low budget? Definitely. But I don't care, I can look past that in a show like Legends as we continue this roller coaster ride through the DC universe.

The team consisted of Hourman, Star Girl, Obsidian, Dr Mid-Nite, a different incarnation of Vixen (the grandmother of the 2016 version) and of course, Dr Nate Heywood's grandfather, Commander Steel. Suddenly a huge piece of his character fell into place. Coupled with the revelation that Nate was a haemophiliac and was protected from the world by his parents, his love of history and dream to live the kind of life his grandfather did fleshed him out into a real likeable character and a great inclusion to the team.

And can I just gush about the JSA a bit more? I have no idea who they are or what exactly their powers are but, a guy that can turn day into night? WHAT?! A kick-ass babe with an energy casting staff? I NEED more of these characters. CW, please! Give The JSA their show show!

Ahem.

The Legends are shown what a real super team look like, especially when they work together under a proper leader, a position Martin Stein is way too eager to fill with Rip gone. Obviously this goes disastrously wrong, leading me to wonder why Martin, the wisest of the group, would think for even a hot second, that he's suited to command the team in a battle with Nazis.

Oh and the good old fashioned Nazi smashing, so good!

When Nate's dogs tags, which belonged to Commander Steel blip out of existence the Legends figure they have to step in to help save The JSA from dying in their latest mission, making me ask once again if the writers of this show understand the concept of time travel and changing history. If the dogs tags were erased, that is to say history played out in such a way that they were never handed down to Nate, how would he even know they were missing? Then I remember that the people writing this show probably don't care about stuff like that so I sit back, relax and enjoy the show.

The Reverse Flash is at it again, messing with history by delivering a super soldier formula to a Nazi commander on the promise of more if he brings him an amulet that Hitler has taken an interest in. The Legends and The JSA work together to nab the amulet but not before running afoul the super jacked up Nazi (the previosuly mentioned GG mess) and losing Vixen and Atom in the field. This leads one one of the more genuinely intriguing, more nuanced scenes in the episode, where Hourman says he's willing to call in a bomb strike on the Nazi's position and sacrifice their people if it would help bring the war to an end sooner.

Seeing as the Legends know that the war is going to last another 3 years for The JSA, they see only futility in the move, something they obviously can't really impart to the WW2 heroes. This lead me to really hoping that the show plays with this a little more. In time travel shows, the future is always flexible, but the past is always concrete. I obviously understand that that just follows the nature of these concepts to us as humans, the future is unknown and that the past is well, known, but if you're going to do a sci-fi story, then dammit, you have to play around with these concepts. What if a character from 2050 was decidedly quiet on the subject of the Legends, all of whom are from 2016, trying to prevent a catastrophe in their own time? This is why I hate it when time travel show (yes I'm looking at you Doctor Who) always have characters from the present day travelling through time. I get that it's easier to write, but it's not as interesting, precisely because of the avoidance of that challenge.

Nate getting the “you don't need powers/to be a soldier to be a hero” speech from Commender Steel lead him to prove his heroism, by saving the Commander from the very jacked up super Nazi with the bad CG, but not without nearly getting bombed halfway to hell. This lead Ray, who had created an improved version of the super serum that presumably wouldn't turn you into a CG monstrosity, using it to save Nate's life. So hey, this episode was an origin story for the new Commander Steel too? Awesome.

Depicting legacy characters, whether they be real Golden Age comic book heroes of earlier versions of modern character such as Amya Jiwe as Vixen, is kind of a cheap trick to make me love your show, but it worked. It also introduced a new potential love interest for Ray with the new Vixen, Ray clearly developing a crush on her only a few seconds ahead of me doing the same. It's a shame that's not going to end well as the Reverse Flash dropped in on The JSA's headquarters, killing Hourman, taking the amulet and leaving him to impart his dying words to Amya; “Time traveller.” The Legends beter hope they don't run into The JSA again.

Oh who am I kidding? I want them to run into them as soon as possible!