[7.1/10] Perfectly fine start to the new season. It doesn’t really knock it out of the park, but it doesn’t have to. It’s just resetting the status quo.
The most interesting part is Luthor. I like him busting out of prison, meeting up with Gorilla Grodd, and most notably, still seeing visions of Brainiac. There’s interesting questions about whether those visions are real, or if they’re just the afterimage of Lex’s experience and his continuing desire to reattain that godlike power. Him not wanting to work with other villains, but compelled to by Grodd holding a scrap of Brainiac over his head makes for a good dynamic between the two baddies.
I also like the advent and explanation of the Legion of Doom here. The notion that the villains have to team up since the heroes have makes a certain amount of sense, and the fact that it’s basically a protection racket rather than a genuine cooperative movement like the Justice League helps explains why the notoriously prickly and untrustworthy antagonists could work together.
But the actual conflict here doesn’t do much for me. There’s something to Grodd sending Lex on a mission just to test him and, frankl screw with him a little bit. There’s something neat from a mythos standpoint to the fact that what Luthor retrieves is a special spear, considering the role that implement played in the comics.
I've gotta admit, the Blackhawks didn’t do much for me when the League went back in time to fight them, and they don’t do much for me in the present day either. There’s a cool idea to WWII vets still at it and protecting the world when it needs them. But good guys and bad guys having to fight giant mechanical condors and hammerhead sharks and piranhas is a little to silly. Plus, Lexs accomplices are a guy whose power is unlocking things (good for a thief, less so far a supervillain) and a low-grade version of Mageto.
There’s not much more going on when it comes to the hero side of things. Flash S crush on Fire is played for some retrograde laughs, and the defense mechanisms for Blackhawk Island aren't much to write home about. That said, I do like the show establishing a more sisterly vibe between Flash and Hawkgirl after all they’ve been through. And hey, the surviving member of the Blackhawks does get a little cred for proving useful in a pinch, and there’s something poignant about him saluting the monument to his fallen comrades.
Overall, this one has more in the way of potential for the rest of the season than compelling material in its own right, but it’s not bad by any stretch of the imagination.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-10-17T01:01:03Z
[7.1/10] Perfectly fine start to the new season. It doesn’t really knock it out of the park, but it doesn’t have to. It’s just resetting the status quo.
The most interesting part is Luthor. I like him busting out of prison, meeting up with Gorilla Grodd, and most notably, still seeing visions of Brainiac. There’s interesting questions about whether those visions are real, or if they’re just the afterimage of Lex’s experience and his continuing desire to reattain that godlike power. Him not wanting to work with other villains, but compelled to by Grodd holding a scrap of Brainiac over his head makes for a good dynamic between the two baddies.
I also like the advent and explanation of the Legion of Doom here. The notion that the villains have to team up since the heroes have makes a certain amount of sense, and the fact that it’s basically a protection racket rather than a genuine cooperative movement like the Justice League helps explains why the notoriously prickly and untrustworthy antagonists could work together.
But the actual conflict here doesn’t do much for me. There’s something to Grodd sending Lex on a mission just to test him and, frankl screw with him a little bit. There’s something neat from a mythos standpoint to the fact that what Luthor retrieves is a special spear, considering the role that implement played in the comics.
I've gotta admit, the Blackhawks didn’t do much for me when the League went back in time to fight them, and they don’t do much for me in the present day either. There’s a cool idea to WWII vets still at it and protecting the world when it needs them. But good guys and bad guys having to fight giant mechanical condors and hammerhead sharks and piranhas is a little to silly. Plus, Lexs accomplices are a guy whose power is unlocking things (good for a thief, less so far a supervillain) and a low-grade version of Mageto.
There’s not much more going on when it comes to the hero side of things. Flash
S crush on Fire is played for some retrograde laughs, and the defense mechanisms for Blackhawk Island aren't much to write home about. That said, I do like the show establishing a more sisterly vibe between Flash and Hawkgirl after all they’ve been through. And hey, the surviving member of the Blackhawks does get a little cred for proving useful in a pinch, and there’s something poignant about him saluting the monument to his fallen comrades.
Overall, this one has more in the way of potential for the rest of the season than compelling material in its own right, but it’s not bad by any stretch of the imagination.