Legends of Tomorrow: The Justice Society of America

Legends of Tomorrow’s new voice-over intro is done by Sara, which makes sense given the events of the episode. At the end of last episode, the Legends met a version of the Justice Society of America (also the title of the episode), consisting of Commander Steel, Dr. Midnight, Hourman, Obsidian, Stargirl, and Vixen. I’ll offer my commentary on that line up in a separate section after the main review. Typical for a first meeting of heroes, they fight at first, and the Legends get their collective butts kicked. I’m not quite sure how Stargirl’s cosmic rod split Firestorm back into Stein and Jax, but that’s another issue.

Arrow: A Matter of Trust

Arrow’s new episode, “A Matter of Trust,” has a lot of trust issues in it. Maybe it should have been “Matters”? It does open with a pretty good idea for the new team. Green Arrow is running down a drug dealer, while the team watches via some version of a body camera. That’s a pretty clever training technique, even if most of them aren’t impressed, especially the ever-impatient Wild Dog. After dropping by for a brief chat with the recruits, Oliver heads out again to a report of a gunman with an AR-15. This proves to be a false alarm by Billy Malone, Felicity’s new boyfriend and Star City Police Detective. Malone wanted to meet the archer, among other things, to warn him about Prometheus and his declared vendetta against the hero.

Agents of SHIELD: Let Me Stand Next To Your Fire

The Agents of SHIELD go classic rock for their title this week, “Let Me Stand Next To Your Fire.” It opens with an interesting revelation- Simmons and Fitz are apparently moving in together. She’s very excited about hunting for an apartment for them, but gets a surprise. Daisy lured her there because she needed help. Since Daisy left Robbie in LA, she’s been having a rough time of things, and needs Simmons’ medical expertise. But Daisy’s not entirely mean, she set up a nice surprise for Fitz and Simmons.

Flash: Magenta

The Flash has changed the intro again, which was a good switch. He doesn’t sound like he’s frantic to the point of breaking like he did in the first episode, but that’s understandable. Barry hasn’t fixed everything, but he’s at least realizing he can’t. I’m so glad Jay spoke with him about that as part of the ongoing series of “CW heroes get told to get their act together” by their nearest and dearest. This week’s episode is titled “Magenta.”

Supergirl: Last Children of Krypton

“The Last Children of Krypton” begins with the CW tradition of updating their introductory voice over, with Kara now mentioning she’s a reporter, which I still think is a bad idea. After that, Kara and Kal-El help out National City’s Fire Department when there’s a major blaze. Kara fights the flames directly while Superman does something new and different and somehow makes it rain. That’s a new power. Maybe it was a speed-vortex that sucked up the water from the hoses. Then they fly off to break up an armed robbery. That goes as smoothly as you’d expect for two normals fighting two Krpytonians. Superman even shakes his head at one of them, saying, “If the bullets don’t work, why the punching? I’ve never understood that,” echoing an in-joke among comics fans for years.

Gotham: Anything For You

I’ve been commenting that all of the comic book based shows seem to have improved a lot this season. Well, this week Gotham joins those ranks with “Mad City: Anything For You.” There are a lot of twists and turns to the complex, scheming plot, and some good character moments as well. I think it was one of their better episodes, in my personal top few favorites of the series. Because there are so many intricate plot points, there are spoilers in this review. Be warned.

Legends of Tomorrow: Out of Time

The Legends of Tomorrow are back with a new line up, new season, and the introductory voice-over by Martin Stein gives a brief rundown of the members. The season opens with the somewhat ominous title of “Out of Time,” which starts us off in a new status quo. A lot has happened since the last time we saw the team.

Arrow: The Recruits

Arrow’s new voiceover at the top of the show mentions that he’s working as both hero and mayor. I like that they adapt the voiceover/introductions for the CW hero shows as they go. It’s a nice touch, and a nod that the shows change as time passes. Arrow is now trying to deal with “Recruits.”

Agents of SHIELD: Uprising

Things are getting ugly for the Agents of SHIELD in “Uprising.” The team spends a lot of the episode scattered all over as they deal with various aspects of both the events of this episode in particular and some of the plots that are stretching over the season. It’s not a good episode for almost anyone on the team, really.

Luke Cage: Step Into The Arena

The fourth episode of Luke Cage, “Step Into The Arena,” jumps back and forth between the present and the major portions of his origin. The present isn’t looking so good, since last episode ended with Cottonmouth launching a rocket attack on Genghis Connie’s with Connie and Luke inside. I’m guessing Cottonmouth doesn’t believe in the concept of overkill. They do make the title work on two different levels, which is a nice job.