Spoilers Supergirl - Season 3
- Thread starter dahj
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In his first adventure, Superman saved an innocent from the death penalty, fought domestic violence, investigated corrupt politicians and lobbyists, went after an arms manufacturer and ended a war in South America instigated by American economic interests. Just sayin'.
I'm not sure it's really asking much for TV to be just a little bit cerebral to be honest. We had years of on screen superheroes being dumbed down compared to their paper counterparts and frankly we aren't exactly talking about War and Peace here, just an acknowledgement that even the most mundane of shows aren't made in a vacuum.
"Truth and justice" aren't just rescuing people from falling off cliffs and stopping supervillains then making speeches about being polite and how bullying is bad, vacuous easy morality that challenges precisely no one and nothing. They are ideas whose meaning are in dispute, which need exploring because we live in fractured times. Once upon a time it was enough to have superman (or supergirl) be a champion of "the American Way" without actually asking what that meant, but not any more.
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The smart thing would have been to wait for Winn to develop those non-lethal weapons before making an announcement about phasing out guns, but I guess that would have detracted from the 'message.' Also, it would have made sense to say that guns would always be available in an emergency (such as an alien invasion) but would not be available for everyday duties (similar to how police officers work in the UK).
And in the Superman radio series post-WWII, they routinely did stories where Superman and his allies fought against racial and religious bigots, anti-immigrant fearmongers, authoritarian demagogues, and corrupt politicians, and openly asserted their belief in liberal and progressive values.
J'onn did say that they'd begin a gradual phase-out, not that it would happen all at once.
I agree. As long as they could avoid working with outside contractors who might sell weapons based on their designs to the public.
True. I'm just saying that holding off on the announcement would have been more kind to his agents. He could have staged a demonstration of the new weapons and then made the announcement about the phase-out. That would have alleviated most concerns about agents being able to protect themselves.
Of course, it's a bit hard to have a realistic debate about guns when the decision to ban guns is based upon Winn being able to create some high-tech non-lethal weapons. I doubt the gun debate would be quite as strong if everyday people had the option to purchase star trek phasers permanently set to stun. Though, that would likely add another public policy concern (criminals stunning random people for nefarious purposes).
Not to mention that the DEO also has the advantage of having 3 superheroes (Kara, J'Onn and Mon-El if he sticks around) that can defeat any earthly threat and even alien threats. So the DEO can afford to go the non-lethal route when it has superheroes to back it up. We don't have that option in the real world.
Again, why are we asking for realism in a policy of the Martian director of an agency for dealing with extraterrestrial threats? Fantasy is aspirational. It's about what we wish could be the case, and it can make statements that can be relevant to the real world by analogy, symbolism, and allegory, not just literal realism.
In this case, it's not about what the solution is; that's missing the point. It's about the fact that a lead character makes the choice to pursue an active solution rather than just throwing up his hands and claiming it's hopeless. Our solutions can't be the same as theirs, no, but what matters is finding the will to step up and do something.
We also don't have alien threats or even terrestrial ones requiring a superhero in the real world......
1. If Imra isn't born yet, then Mon-El is a pedophile.
2. The real world police departments have tasers. Cops only reach for their real guns because... Racism?
2. The real world police departments have tasers. Cops only reach for their real guns because... Racism?
Which reminds me that he was addressed as Director Jonz - guess the Hank Henshaw cover is long gone and that people also know he's the Martian Manhunter.
His cover now is John Jones of the FBI. That's how Supergirl introduced him to Sam's mother a few weeks ago. The gun exec here called him Director Jones with a "J" sound rather than J'onnz with a "ZH" sound, and expressed the belief that he was supplying guns for a division of the FBI.
Further, J'onn's authority is not absolute; for example, a random general in the U.S. Army could not independently make a similar, sweeping change to what weapons the army issues or uses in the field. That would (ultimately) fall to the Department of Defense to make such decisions. Similarly, J'onn answers to higher powers and would need the approval from that world's mirror organization before calling for a weapons change, so in the end, the act was a showrunner feel-good moment, but lacks teeth because its more "what we would like to see" which--in consideration of gun support in the U.S.--does not have a real world (rather, American-based) possibility for the chief concern of commercial gun manufacturing/access.
I'm not certain stun weapons would do anything other than create another kind of problem, after all, as recent as 2005, Amnesty International USA argued stun guns (of the kind used by law enforcement) should be banned, thanks to several deaths said to be caused by the device. In other words, any weapon will be seen as a public safety matter, including devices created to prevent the use of lethal forces associated with firearms.
Actually, isn't their marriage one of political necessity, to unite different civilizations in the 30th cent, feelings (and sacredness) be damned?
If anyone should feel "betrayed" if he pursues Kara, its Imra's people, and then only if the dissolution of their marriage brings about war.
After all the complaints on previous pages that this episode/show is as subtle as a ton of anvils, I'm gratified to see J'onn's major point about de-arming was missed.
JJ may be super human and in no way in need of a DEO assault weapon to take down a disgruntled, divorced, fired lawyer... but he still was able to face down a broken man with a gun and talk him into giving himself and his weapon "up".
When you have a lethal choice, its very easy to choose it even when you don't need to do so.
The case of Tamir Rice in Cleveland comes immediately to mind.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...s-fired/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.aa1ed5606cdb
So often that "other" powerful weapon... the spoken word, is ignored to our detriment and then the gun is just a cheat.
Lena complains that people are trying to kill her all the time so she must arm herself... and yet most of the time she is saved by Alex or Kara or Guardian. Yes, she shot Corban in the premiere of season 2 but I'm not convinced it was necessary given Supergirl had arrived by then and could have easily saved Alex. We have also seen in season 3 that Lena was ready willing and able to take the easy / lethal option when dealing with Morgan Edge even when she was not in imminent danger.
People like Lena who insist she needs a gun for protection make me think of gamblers who only tell you when they win. Gun rights activists point out those instances where a "good guy with a gun stopped a bad guy with a gun", but they neglect to point out how many children shoot themselves or other kids or their parents when they mistakenly happen upon a gun every year in the USA.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...eekly-basis-this-year/?utm_term=.ba72744fcee9
The stats regarding child mortalilty at the Brady Center are even more frightening...
17000+ kids 19 and younger are shot annually.
2700+ of those die and only 958 of them are from suicide.
But private citizen/CEO Lena "needs" a gun to protect herself... so of course she's all for guns while the Vigilante who stands with the cops against criminals with guns is anti-gun.
I noticed that when Lena was telling all her secrets to James a few eps ago, she neglected to mention she tried to murder Morgan Edge.
I wonder if James will feel "betrayed" if and when he finds out.
At least then Lena will know how Supergirl felt when Lena shut her out after that kryptonite spying mission that James went on a few weeks ago.
That's my complaint, hence the ham-handed comment. The moral of the story was fine, it was just so badly inserted. Felt like when the paid advertisement for a car in a show goes over the top and the characters just stop the story to talk about the neat feature of the new Ford or whatever for a minute. (White Collar did that notably badly a couple times).
This episode just felt like a 90's Very Special Episode of Blossom where the characters learn about the true meaning of drug addiction or something. The monologue didn't feel like it came from a natural place, and was just dropped in. The characters respectfully inserted opposing viewpoints, they smiled and shook hands and agreed to respect each other.
That's how it began, but they did genuinely grow to love each other, according to them. (Although I have a hard time believing Mon-El didn't fall madly in love at first sight -- or at the first hearing of that silky, sultry voice. Amy Jackson is astonishing.)
Since the timeline is changed, we don't know if that situation even exists anymore. Even if it did, it doesn't follow that the end of the marriage would cause war. The marriage was just the beginning of the peace process. Obviously it wouldn't last forever, since the couple wouldn't live forever. So surely there must've been more formal negotiations and treaties and such, a better and less symbolic basis for peace than just two people getting hitched.
Excellent point, except I think you meant the opposite of "gratified."
This was a interesting episode but I agree it wasn't very subtle. They should have actually focused more on the police maybe following up on the cop who almost got shot and have the cops wanting the guns of the streets, because they don't have magical alien tech and stuff to go up against criminals. Better than focusing on the random crazy person who has just flipped out. In fact you would never even see the shooter and treat it as a standard issue and the issue is bigger than one nut and you don't get the happy ending at the end of the episode by catching the bad guy. PLus have J'onn's idea be rejected by someone higher up in the government.
Jason
Jason
As a quick fix, they could just import those tranq guns Spartan and Wild Dog use on Arrow
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