Josh recaps Season 2 Episode 2 of Legends of Tomorrow, titled The Justice Society of America, where the Legends meet the Justice Society of America, while dealing with German Nazis! Check out our recap and thoughts on the episode!
- His thoughts on The Justice Society of America, Episode 202 of Legends of Tomorrow
- Her thoughts on Legends of Tomorrow, Season 2 Episode 2: The Justice Society of America
So this episode begins with the Legends of Tomorrow meeting the Justice Society of America back in 1942. It isn’t a happy meeting either, as the two come to blows, and the JSA seems to have the upper hand. Meanwhile, the newcomer Legend, Heywood, meets his grandfather who was/is Commander Steel in the JSA.
After soundly defeating the Legends, the JSA discusses what to do with the newcomers, and Heywood tries to explain they are from the future, using the dog tags he has. The JSA seems to decide that these people might be telling the truth, but makes an assumption that Stein is the leader (because he is an old white guy, as the group later remarks).
Stein tells the JSA about their mission to stop Baron Von Krieger. Meanwhile, we also saw that Reverse Flash has made an appearance in the universe, and apparently has a Super-Serum he would like to give to the Nazis. He gives Baron Von Krieger a single dose to try out.
Again, there is some discussion as to how to move forward with the mission, and the Legends decide to go with Stein being the leader. Heywood, meanwhile, discovers his dog tags have gone missing, which means something in history must have changed. So, the group decides to go to the time and place they were told to not go by the JSA—Paris 1942.
The time that the Legends arrive is a time where Baron Von Krieger is at his favorite nightclub, so Stein comes up with a plan—to impersonate Max Lorenz, Hitler’s favorite singer. The team will use that to gain access to the nightclub. It seems to work until a German soldier demands that “Lorenz” perform. Stein hits the stage, and provides a very passable performance. Unfortunately, things go awry when the very same German soldier harasses Ray Palmer for not “hailing Hitler”. Ray can’t bring himself to do it, so he decides to punch the guy out instead.
This causes a brawl to break out, essentially causing chaos in the nightclub. But again the JSA shows up the Legends, bailing them out of the brawl, as Stargirl takes out the bulk of the Germans with her ability.
The JSA and Legends decide to work together to try to bring down Baron Von Krieger, and attack his German convoy. Things go south pretty quickly when Ray and Vixen pursue Von Krieger, who decides to use the Super Serum on himself. Gaining the amulet, Stein orders the teams to retreat, leaving Ray and Vixen to be caught by the Nazis.
Ray is able to keep himself and Vixen alive for some time by offering to recreate the serum Von Krieger used on himself. This works, and Ray and Vixen are taken back to a Nazi stronghold.
The two groups then argue about how to move forward. Stein is given a hard time for how he has lead the group, Sara wants to have a rescue mission, while Rex wants to assault the stronghold even at the expense of Vixen and Ray. After more deliberation, Stein reassigns his role as leader to Sara, adding that she is the more capable leader.
Sara then moves forward with the rescue mission, meanwhile the mission distracts Baron Von Krieger inside the base, allowing Ray and Vixen to make an escape, with one dose of the Super Serum.
The team then battles the Nazis, and Commander Steel manages to lure Von Krieger away from the fight. But Commander Steel looks to be in trouble, when Heywood shows up and saves the day. Speeding away on a motorcycle, Von Krieger gives chase. As they are chased, bombs begin to drop from the sky, and Von Krieger is taken out. Unfortunately, one hits the motorcycle too, and Heywood is injured severely. It’s even worse because Heywood is a hemophiliac, as Sara discovered early in the episode.
So the group reconvenes at the ship, and Heywood looks to be in danger. Ray, who has been told by Vixen he is not a “Superhero” decides that it is for the best to use his Super Serum on Heywood rather than saving it for himself. Heywood seems saved.
But things aren’t all sunshine and rainbows. Reverse Flash shows up yet again. After the Legends leave 1942, Reverse Flash shows up and murders Rex, and takes the amulet the two teams had worked to recover. So much for all that work.
His Thoughts on Legends of Tomorrow, Season 2 Episode 2: The Justice Society of America
So, for me the biggest issue is the lack of Rip Hunter. So far, this Heywood character has not been a suitable replacement for Rip, and since the episode was very sparse on talking about Rip, I am wondering if Arthur Darvill is now leaving the show. It was a pretty big distraction for me this episode, and I hope we get some resolution to his story soon. Lately I have thought CW episodes have been eliminating characters quite abruptly, as Laurel exited Arrow pretty abruptly too.
As for this episode, I thought it was done pretty well. I am curious to see how the JSA plays into it down the road. It sounds like they will be a part of the show for a while, and I am curious if we learn more about the team in the present, as they have been all but absent. Was the team killed off at some point? Did the team split up and retire? I am curious to know more about it.
It is interesting seeing Reverse Flash show up here now. It certainly was shocking to see that character pop up here, and makes me wonder if we will be seeing Barry Allen pop up in this universe too.
Overall, the lack of Arthur Darvill really put a cloud over this episode for me, so hopefully he comes back, or at the very least that other character are able to pick up the slack, if his absence is fairly permanent.
Her Thoughts on Legends of Tomorrow, Season 2 Episode 2: The Justice Society of America
One element that Legends of Tomorrow continues to have is the fun factor. That’s the best part of the show, that it’s fun, and that’s part of why I continue to watch it. Particularly this episode, I enjoyed seeing the Legends fool the Nazis, and having Stein sing a song from The Sound of Music. But at the same time, I feel like I sometimes struggle with the believability element of Legends of Tomorrow. While I’m glad that the show is at least a little diverse, having a full time African-American character in Jax, and that they were able to add another African-American character this episode with the addition of Amaya/Vixen, I’m not so sure that the two of them would have been able to get into the Nazi nightclub so easily, given what we know about the prejudices of the Nazis. However, I was glad that Amaya played such an important role. Is this the last we’ve seen of the Justice Society of America, or will we be seeing more of them? I hope we’ll continue to see them.
I also liked how the episode pointed out the gender and racial biases of the past, when explaining why Stein was assumed to be the leader of the group – because he’s an old white guy. So it was pretty awesome when Sara proved herself to be the leader of the group. I must admit, I am missing Rip though. I have a feeling we might not be getting him back, and that his sudden disappearance was just a convenient way to write Arthur Darvill out of the show…
Scenes from Legends of Tomorrow, Season 2 Episode 3: Shogun
Preview of Season 3 Episode 2 of Legends of Tomorrow
