“The Justice Society of America,” Legends of Tomorrow, Season 2, Episode 2. Directed by Michael Grossman. Written by Chris Fedak and Sarah Nicole Jones
Spoilers for this and future episodes of Legends of Tomorrow
The challenge I have watching the initial episodes this season of DC on CW shows is that it is a lot of setup for the rest of the season. I don’t bother with Arrow, The Flash is extending repetitive mysteries about arc villains, and Supergirl is just absolute fun. While each of those shows has its supporting cast, and Arrow expanding its own cast this season, still these are shows focused largely around their titular characters, making the shows into the protagonists’ stories and having their develop determine the major themes being explored.
Legends of Tomorrow has the additional challenge of a larger cast of characters, potentially diluting show’s focus, struggling to juggle multiple storylines and potentially conflicting themes. There are shortcuts this season seems to be taking already, such as shifting Nate (Nick Zano) to the position of our hero on the Joseph Campbell journey, and removing Rip and promoting first Stein (Victor Garber) then Sara (Caity Lotz) as leader. Yet the addition of the Justice Society of America for this episode only enlarges that cast. The Society returns later this season, for a few reasons I’ll clarify in the more spoiler-heavy discussion below, so some focus had to be given to Rex Hunter, Commander Steel (Matthew MacCaull), and Vixen (Maisie Richardson-Seliers), while their teammates take a back-seat along with the as-of-yet unmentioned Legends.
What helps Legends, even when the focus is diluted among so many characters, is the camp. When your story has the heroes fighting Nazis, however, camp requires a deft hand–or else you get something as monotonous and dark as Hellsing. And this episode of Legends is not campy enough or dark enough for that kind of content.
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