Spoilers Supergirl - Season 2

[CorporalCaptain]

I was amused that the scene of Alex cutting out her subdermal tracker was similar to Kirk and Spock's jailbreak in "Patterns of Force."

 

[theenglish]

I think Maggie actually brought up a good point which is that sometimes superheroes should step back and let regular law enforcement handle things. Like she said, if the problem is an alien monster or super meta human, or something that is clearly outside the capabilities of regular law enforcement then yes, a super hero is called for. But super heroes don't need to rush in and save the day every single time, especially when it is a situation that law enforcement is trained to handle.

She also had a good point in saying that Kara should just ask if her help was needed. It wouldn't be too hard to have Supergirl stand by and wait. If something did go sideways then she could save the hostages, but if Maggie was successful then the conflict ends appropriately without the perps being able to use the Supergirl defense.

 

[JanewayRulz!]

And the excessive force as well.

In addition to all the other confusing or lazy things everyone else has brought up, it was really odd how punch first Kara was this ep, even for her. As early as the the season 1 ep where she stops an armed robbery without her powers, and as late as a few eps ago when she and Mon-El met with Rhea, she's been perfectly ok with talking people down, so I don't know why (other than poor writing) she would be so against it now, at least until the very end of the episode of course.

Also, if this hostage negotiation has been going on for 17 hours, why did Supergirl only show up then?

I don't see Kara's attitude to be due to poor writing. She isn't the unsure rookie superhero from season one anymore. She graduated to "2nd year status" after defeating Superman's villian, Reactron and by saving not just Superman but the entire human race when she defeated her Uncle Non & carried Fort Roz back to space.

The problem with 2nd year's is they are full of themselves. They get used to winning, and doing so by such a big margin that it doesn't occur to them that they should NOT intervene all the time.

The problem with this mind set is its the beginning of "absolute power corrupts absolutely."

James Olsen was the voice of reason for Kara in season 1, explaining why Maxwell Lord fears her , but James is too busy playing superhero to be that for her in season 2. Lena Luthor is the closest thing to being Supergirl's season 2's voice of "fear of the superman" but Kara's too busy to chat with her in this episode.

More's the pity.

Why did she show up after 17 hours to save the day?

Kara told us why... because Maggie's girlfriend expected her for a double date dinner and Alex's little sister wasn't going to disappoint the woman slaving "all day" over burnt paella.

Before Maggie gets too judgemental, though, she needs to stop and see what she was willing to do for the woman she loves before time expires.

And while Maggie is at it, maybe she should stop and wonder what she would have done at 17.1 hours of negotiation if the hostages grew restless and made a mad dash for the exit which caused the kidnappers to slaughter them in a fell swoop.

I can imagine a despondent cop arriving late to the double date, asking an off duty superhero where the frell she'd been all day!

Anyway, I liked the ep... I just wish TPTB didn't stoop to using Lena as the (apparent) next member of the evil Luthor club. I would have preferred her staying in the "I think she's good but maybe she's not" club for a couple of seasons.

Oh, and on a totally shallow front... I wish Rhea kept her human hairdo... it makes her look so much younger than the Daxamite version.

 

[Noname Given]

I was amused that the scene of Alex cutting out her subdermal tracker was similar to Kirk and Spock's jailbreak in "Patterns of Force."

Yep all that was missing was a line to the effect:

"I know it's here...Jon put it here..."

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I think Maggie actually brought up a good point which is that sometimes superheroes should step back and let regular law enforcement handle things. Like she said, if the problem is an alien monster or super meta human, or something that is clearly outside the capabilities of regular law enforcement then yes, a super hero is called for. But super heroes don't need to rush in and save the day every single time, especially when it is a situation that law enforcement is trained to handle.

It was false tension; Supergirl has been fighting crime--including the kind seen in this episode for some time, yet All Important Maggie is whining about it now? If the showrunners wanted to explore the tension between the law and SG, that should have been building early in season one, where any realistic pushback of a costumed alien would occurred. Instead, the showrunners were so desperate to have all of the city see SG as Everyone's Favorite Everything--including most, if not all of a (apparently) silent police department.

Is it just me, or does SUpergirl feel like it is going into Legends of Tomorrow type of over-the-topness with stuff like Rhea assuming an Earth identity with no problem (assuming Lena did a basic background check on Rhea), and fitting in pretty nicely with earth culture (like college stuff, or moreso)

Supervillain Plot Convenience. Not much time passed since the tired Mon-El Vs. Mommy episode, so how was she able to pluck all of the right references that would sell her in the field she claimed to represent, for just the right target? All too convenient just to move this plot along.

And regarding Christopher's assertion that "thank the Gods" should be normal to Lena...sorry, but that's crazy. Really, where in pop culture, other than referring to myth gods (like American Gods today, or Hercules back in the day) has anyone said anything like "Thank the Gods"? While in the deepest realms of possibility, NOT in the realm of probability.

Agreed--especially in North America (where the series takes place). As noted before, next to no one says "gods" other than those New Age types considered to be on the fringe of largely (un)accepted belief systems. Its not common, or even a sub-cultural trend, so anyone using that would naturally set off alarms that they are not who they seem to be, to use that line.

Her logic , along with other clues, was correct. Though confronting an alien of unknown power seems pretty stupid...at least not without a battleplan (or contacting Supergirl).

She a Luthor--confronting aliens (with overflowing levels of hubris) is par for the course.

We'll see ... hope it doesn't divide Kara & Lena.[/QUOTE]

I hope it does; this SG series is more focused on irrelevant side stories/messages than developing a serious, main threat for the heroine; Mama Cadmus had the most potential, but the entire Cadmus affair has been shuffled around for weak plot threads the showrunners are attempting to build. With the temporary absence of the Cadmus organization, Jeremiah, et al., Lena has to step up in the role of long-game antagonist. I remind everyone that the Lena chess scene was not misdirection.

 

[dahj]

If the showrunners wanted to explore the tension between the law and SG, that should have been building early in season one

Well they didn't really explore it here, they only raised that point to call attention to Supergirl's tendency to rush in without thinking things through.
And if they did, I disagree that it should have been done early on, tension is the sort of thing that builds up, I'm sure at first everyone was happy for the extra help, but the aftereffects like the "Supergirl defense" could start to annoy some people...

so how was she able to pluck all of the right references that would sell her in the field she claimed to represent

We've got Wikipedia now.

 

[Jax]

"The Supergirl defence" line had me

Also how many banks get robbed on Supergirl

 

[Skipper]

"Thank the Gods"? While in the deepest realms of possibility, NOT in the realm of probability.

And I'm quite sure that even in polytheistic religions the phrase "Thank the Gods" is not so common.
For example, In Hinduism (according to this Yahoo! Answer)

Generally, "Thank God/ Bhagwan". English educated Hindus usually just say "Thank God" in English, just like Americans/ Europeans say. Many esp. in interior areas of India specify the God while thanking, like "Thank Hanuman" "Thank Krishna" "Thank Durga" and so on.

Explanation: While theistic Hindus believe in and respect all the Hindu Gods & Goddesses, an individual chooses a particular one of them as his personal God/ Bhagwan/ Ishwar, so even when they say "Thank God/ Bhagwan" they generally mean their personal one of the Gods, but not always - they could instead be referring to the one universal formless God. All Hindu Gods are considered to be manifestations of a single formless reality/ super-God called Brahman (different from Brahmin and Brahma). Sometimes in a particular situation, irrespective of chosen personal God, the appropriate God is thanked, for example- a businessman who have had a profitable deal may rather thank Laxmi (Goddess of wealth including business profits) at that time. Likewise, some farming communities thank Indra for rains.

 

[Christopher]

And I'm quite sure that even in polytheistic religions the phrase "Thank the Gods" is not so common.

Not as a rule, no, but there are people who have their own idiosyncratic beliefs, like New Agers and Wiccans and Neo-Pagans and stuff like that. There are so many variations of human behavior that it's a huge leap to take any anomalous quirk as evidence of alien origin.

 

[Mudd]

Except, of course, when you are dealing with aliens possessing vastly superior technology every fucking day.

So, here's someone Lena's never heard of who pops up with world-changing gadgets not intimated at by any R&D that Lena is aware of - and this Someone exhibits cultural idiosyncrasies that read as very unusual.

Of course Lena will think "she may be from Portland."

Give me a fucking break. Unless Lena is stupid she goes straight to "extraterrestrial."

 

[tomalak301]

"The Supergirl defence" line had me

Also how many banks get robbed on Supergirl

You know thinking about the line makes me wonder if people's perception of Supergirl has changed in national city. I remember at the end of season 1 Supergirl had to work hard to regain the trust of the people and she was able to. Maybe in season 2 they haven't done a good job developing national city, or just ignored the human citizens entirely, but that whole dialogue thing with Maggie seemed to contradict what happened at the end of season 1.

Also is the Supergirl defense like the Chewbacca defense?

 

[Christopher]

You know thinking about the line makes me wonder if people's perception of Supergirl has changed in national city. I remember at the end of season 1 Supergirl had to work hard to regain the trust of the people and she was able to. Maybe in season 2 they haven't done a good job developing national city, or just ignored the human citizens entirely, but that whole dialogue thing with Maggie seemed to contradict what happened at the end of season 1.

I think that what defense attorneys argue on behalf of their clients in court is a very distinct matter from what public opinion is like. Naturally it's a defense attorney's job to use any feasible argument on their clients' behalf, and superhero activities tend to be outside the normal rules of law enforcement, which means there are a lot of potential loopholes to exploit. This is sometimes cited in comics as an explanation for why supervillains never seem to stay in jail very long, or why Batman rogues tend to get hospitalized in Arkham rather than imprisoned.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Except, of course, when you are dealing with aliens possessing vastly superior technology every fucking day.

Of course.

So, here's someone Lena's never heard of who pops up with world-changing gadgets not intimated at by any R&D that Lena is aware of - and this Someone exhibits cultural idiosyncrasies that read as very unusual.

Of course Lena will think "she may be from Portland."

Give me a fucking break. Unless Lena is stupid she goes straight to "extraterrestrial."

Again-of course. the tech is beyond anything on earth, and her "gods" expression is on the extreme fringe to the point where no one in mainstream society ever uses / hears it.. Add the flood of aliens running around the city, very likely using odd expressions, and Lena's mind would naturally move to "she's not local."

 

[Skipper]

Again-of course. the tech is beyond anything on earth, and her "gods" expression is on the extreme fringe to the point where no one in mainstream society ever uses / hears it.

I tried to google a little about it. Even in polytheistic religions they don't thank every single god. In a similar situation, for example, why should a Shintoist thank Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto too, god of the moon or an Induist thank Durga (also know as Kali).

Usually they thank the god whose aspect is the most pertinent to the situation (it seems to me quite logical, I mean, when logic applies to religion...)

So, if she was a follower of a terrestrial polytheist religion, she would thank a god of luck, wisdom or something similar. And if she followed some neopagan religion where she have to thank every single god, I'm sure that she would so accustomed to puzzled looks of her interlocutors that she usually would say something like "Don't mind it, I'm a follower of this new religion" after her thanks to gods.

 

[Guy Gardener]

There must be a reverse Prime Directive enforced (even though a reverse prime directive, is essentially still the prime directive.) by TPTB where Earth heritage is guaranteed from being ####ed by introducing Alien technology that would cause %99 of the work force to be made redundant instantly.

If Lena had accepted the tech, and Teri hatcher had not destroyed the planet... Every freight company, courier and postal service would be instantly bankrupt, and have left their employees unemployed without the faculties no more to honour their pensions.

Whereupon there would be no public to pay or use Lena's teleporter gate, and martial law would be declared, and America is rearranged into a fascist dictatorship where citizens are now cows who are looked after by the state, because money lost all value, and it's never coming back.

 

[dahj]

Whereupon there would be no public to pay or use Lena's teleporter gate, and martial law would be declared, and America is rearranged into a fascist dictatorship

She is a Luthor after all...

 

[Christopher]

Heck, I sometimes swear by "the gods" as an affectation, because I'm non-religious but sometimes find that kind of oath useful for emphasis. So it could be just a metaphor rather than an expression of belief.

 

[dahj]

Heck, I sometimes swear by "the gods"

Hmm...

 

[Skipper]

Hmm...

Right...
Did anyone see the @Christopher's long form birth certificate..?

Just asking....

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Way behind here but I hate episodes where the villain is 100 steps ahead no matter how illogical. Anyway, I thought it should've ended with the son in prison with his dad getting what he wanted in a twisted way.

Thank the gods that one's over...