Story
I'm going to give the plot without as many spoilers as I can... but let me tell you now... some of this might be even too much information, so you might want to skip to the actual REVIEW rather than what happens in the episode.
Chloe is once again the damsel in distress as she is approached by a mysterious man in a dark alley, surprisingly her threat is not this man but whoever kills him later... somebody with ice powers.
- and Cue"Somebody Save me" theme.
There's a hospital scene where there's this blonde girl's introduction (Courtney Whitmore) and the mysterious last phone call of Wesley Dodds.
The Canary and Green Arrow relationship is teased.
There is a deaths and the letters JSA splattered with blood...I'm not going to tell you who though but if you have to know:
Here's a clip that shows what I'm talking about:
Cue bad guy introduction, who has a score to settle with JSA... and is trying to out them all
An old "Golden Age" video in the archives of the Daily Planet introduces Al Pratt, Ted Grant, Jay Garrick, Alan Scott, Abigail Hunkel and adds an even bigger mystery to their connection with one another.
Dr. Emil Hamilton is back.
The next guy on the call list Carter Hall and then there is the intro of Kent Nelson and Nabu..
Here's a clip that show's this scene:
The Star Rocket Racer appears with a book of info on Smallville's JLA
Here's a clip that shows this scene:
The team starts getting together and the mention of Shiera is the reason for a full blown team-up.
By the way this is all just the intro of the story...
Oliver, Clark, and Chloe are now mixed in this huge mystery that lead into the few JSA that are left to be brought back together into a battle against this ice man!
Obviously I'm not going to give you the whole story... you have to watch it yourself!
Review
To start off the episode the scene was too familiar. Chloe as the damsel in distress, not an exciting start but the story picks up after this.
So first with the
positive
:The story is a solid telling of these amazing characters, and I loved the fact that although this ties into the Smallville universe, yet you don't have to watch episodes before this to understand the plot.
This TV-movie had a lot going on, and yet there was time to discover deeper like Hawkman's and Stargirl's past, which was something that worried me about these characters. The story had enough space to show the complexity of these characters, and hint at various comic book moments and themes.
There were a lot of acknowledgements to the DC Universe, such as the introduction of Checkmate, and minor characters like Amanda Waller.
Plus the Suicide Squad!
John Johns returns sporting clothes that are very similar to the Martian Manhunter's wardrobe. (Red X over Green).
The battle between Stargirl and Icicle is downright awesome!
Now
negative
:This 2-hour episode had a lot of expectations and hype, too much if you ask me, especially with the low-ress effects.
Smallville never did have cool action packed effects, but I was expecting a little bit more for these two episodes.
The worse effects were on Hawkman's wings and whenever he flew, but surprisingly these did not bother me as much as the totally fake cold breath in every scene with Icicle.
I must say I love those battle scenes where everything slows down so you can see where the hits and kicks are but on this particular event, even the slowing down only made the last battle more tedious...
In the end Martian Manhunter gets spotlight... Read between the lines.
I have only read a few issues of JSA, so most of these characters were new to me, and to be honest the less I knew about them the less picky I was about their portrayal.
Rating
4 out of 5
I think if the special effects were amped 10 notches up the I would've given it a 5...
@Mods/Staff: Can somebody help me with the SPOILERS I put on this, for some reason they don't hide the content. Thanks!
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