LEGENDS OF TOMORROW Season 2×02, “The Justice Society of America” recap

6 Nov

Welcome back! When we last left our heroes, they had managed to stop the Nazis from blowing up New York in World War II. But in the process, their captain, Rip Hunter, disappeared somewhere or maybe somewhen. But they do have some new help in good-looking historian guy Nate Heywood. And the source of the recent abberations in the timestream is a secret alliance between Damien Darhk and someone who knows about time travel, Eobard Thawne, the Reverse-Flash! Before our team can leave 1942 in their rearview, they get accosted by the superhero team known as the Justice Society of America! One superteam meets another superteam? No worries, then?

Meet-Ups. The Legends attempt to explain to the JSA (compromised of Commander Steel, Hourman, Vixen, Stargirl, Dr. Mid-Nite, and Obsidian) that they are good guy time travelers and, much like most of their encounters, turns into a giant fight. Only thing is, the JSA are used to fighting as a structured group and take down the Legends. They get put away at the JSA headquarters in a cell, and the JSA aren’t sure who they are, made worse by the fact Hourman Rex Tyler (the guy who warned the team away from 1942 in the first place) says he’s never met them before. So Nate assures Steel that they aren’t nutcases or Nazi spies by showing Steel something he has: Steel’s military dog tags! Nate is Steel’s grandson! After a brief talk, the JSA are content to let the Legends leave 1942.

Meanwhile in Nazi occupied Paris, Eobard visits a Nazi commander, Krieger, who he’s meeting for a deal. Eobard wants something called the Askran Amulet, and in return, will give the Nazis a super serum that will help them win the war (hell, he even gives Krieger a sample pack!). As the Waverider leaves 1942, Nate notices something odd: his grandfather’s dog tags are just gone! They weren’t stolen, so Nate consults his books and…there’s nothing on the JSA at all! Well, except in 1942 now, they are all killed by the Nazis!

Paris, 1942. After figuring out the JSA gets their ticket punched in 1942 Paris, the team makes their way there. The JSA were on an undercover mission there, so the team puts together a plan to infiltrate the Nazis. Stein gets to pose as a famous singer, while Ray, Jax, and Nate dress up to blend in. Ray immediately notices Vixen playing normal bar patron in the lounge the team goes to. While Stein serenades us all with “Edelweiss”, Ray’s Boy Scout nature blows his cover, and surprise, a fight breaks out. So once again, the JSA are not happy with this turn of events, but are less so once they find out they now are supposed to get killed.

Also, we discover thanks to Nate getting cut that he has hemophilia, which means he could realistically bleed to death if cut. So much for going out on missions, history boy!

Someone remind me why this show isn’t about these guys?

Put It To A Vote. While the JSA gets to hang out on the Waverider, our team has something to contend with: picking a new captain. Almost by default, Stein gets the job because the smartest guy there clearly is the best choice. The team gets a bead on what the Nazis were looking for in that amulet, and figure stealing it from the Nazis might fix the JSA’s fate. Team-up!

The Cargo. The Nazis are carting that amulet around in an armed convboy, which is not as tough as it seems when you got two superteams attacking them. The only problem is that Krieger is in the convoy, and takes the opportunity to try out Thawne’s super serum. Krieger “hulks” out and makes things a bit harder for the superhero team-up, and that’s not helped by Stein choking on making the big leadership decisions. The team takes a few injuries and gets the amulet, but Ray and Vixen get taken prisoner by Krieger’s men. So, great team-up, everyone?

HGH is a beast, man. Turns you from normal into a weird CGI monster.

Who’s In Charge. Back at the Waverider, the team has a bit of an argument over who should be in charge, and by surprise, settle on a new captain: Sara. Good call. Nate is having doubts on his own, seeing the team may ditch him back in the present day thanks to his hemophilia. But Steel tells him being a hero isn’t just about running into combat, but who they are inside. Meantime at Krieger’s compound, Krieger (who has returned to normal) is interrogating Ray and Vixen to the location of the amulet. In order to buy some time for the team to rescue them, Ray offers to synthesize more of that super serum to spare both their lives. Also, since they now know where Krieger’s compound is, the Allies want to blow the holy hell out of it.

Air Strike. Both teams get a slight delay on that bombing, and strike to compound to get their comrades out. Unknown to them, Ray and Vixen have managed to break themselves out and make their way to our heroes. Krieger takes another shot of that super serum, and Steel lures him out into the area of the Allies’ big bombing run. Nate however, comes to Steel’s rescue, and uses a motorcycle to get him away as Krieger gets blown up by the bombs being dropped. But, both guys are caught in the blasts, which calls for both to be taken back to the Waverider.

Steel is okay, but Nate is now bleeding to death. To save him, Ray injects Nate with a revised version of that super serum to fix his injuries. It seems to do the trick and save Nate’s life, and of course, no side effects at all.

Reverse-Flash: “Thank Barry Allen for this.” Rex: “Who’s Barry Allen?”

What Makes A Hero. The JSA are being dropped off at home, and Steel thanks his grandson for saving his life. The team is about to finally get out of 1942, but before that, the JSA gets a surprise visitor. The amulet is put in JSA headquarters, and Rex is there just hanging out, when Thawne shows up. He says he knows the future version of Rex warned the Legends because he knew of Thawne’s big plan, so Thawne deals with that by doing that creepy phasing through someone’s chest thingie on Rex! Thawne takes off with the amulet, and Vixen arrives to find her fallen comrade. He manages to utter the words, “time traveler”, before he dies. That can’t go over well.

–Comic book connections: Stargirl is not really a member of the JSA (or at least this iteration of the character) of the 40’s in the DCU, but is when the JSA was rebooted in the early 2000’s.

–Well, if you got Victor Garber on your show, of course you get him to use his Broadway talents in singing a tune from The Sound of Music.

–The way Vixen (once again, an ancestor of the one we’ve seen on Arrow) interacts with our cast, especially Ray, does seem to point to her becoming a bigger character in the series.

–How about we not discuss the dodgy CGI for the Krieger monster and those bomber planes? You can’t bat perfect all the time, you know.

–“It was…unusual.”

–“Tell him I love the New Deal.”

–“Maybe you Germans should stick to your luxury cars.”

That’s it for now, but come back next time for the recap of “Shogun”…