Spoilers "Supergirl": the 6th and final season

When they discussed (a few episodes ago) that the Phantom Zone was fractured after Crisis, it makes me wonder - do we even know if the Zor-El that Kara is interacting with is her Zor-El (from the Earth-38 reality)?

 

That seems it would complicate things more than necessary. Especially with so few episodes left.

I do wonder were they are going with Zor-El. I was a fan of Jason Behr on Roswell. But he has been given little to do so far. He has been stuck in a hell for decades. So it’s fitting that he has a defeatist attitude. Also for his daughter to counter with her eternal optimism. It so far it’s limited his emotional range. There was a brief moment last night when he showed a spark of hope.

That new opening did have Erica Durance as Alura. Also Erica is Canadian. I would imagine she would have a different quarantine time than American guest stars?? Probably easier to get her to appear. I expect some type of family reunion.

 

What they said was that the single Phantom Zone had fractured into the different sub-zones we've seen the characters moving between. They never said anything about it having people from different realities trapped in it, just that the Zone itself had fragmented. I don't think they have any intention of doing a story about alternate realities; it's just a plot device to keep the team from finding Kara and make it harder for Kara to find her way out.

As I understand it, the original plan was just to have Kara in the Zone for an episode or two, but Benoist's pregnancy leave meant they needed to shoot her scenes later than the others', so they extended her stay to multiple episodes. So they came up with the fracturing of the Zone as a way to drag it out. I don't think there's anything more than that intended.

That was just a clip of a scene from several years ago. They wouldn't shoot a whole new scene just for the recap. I remember they reshot and extended the scene of Kara's departure from Krypton with Durance as Alura. It was probably sometime in season 3, connecting to the Reign backstory.

 

I was aware it was footage from an old episode. But I just meant they are reminding the audience what she looks like. It would have been easy not to show her at all in that intro. Maybe it means nothing. We will see,

 

It's just to illustrate the part where she says "I was sent to Earth to protect my cousin." Durance has been Alura since the start of season 3, much longer than Laura Benanti was, and her last appearance was in Crisis Part 1, less than a season ago (though more than a year ago due to the delays). So we're well past the point when anyone should need to be "reminded." That's just what she looks like now, so of course that's the image they use.

Surely if they had intended to include an Alura scene as a reminder, they would have saved it for an episode she actually appears in. This is just the latest edit of the show's generic "main title" opening sequence, not a "Previously on..." recap.

 

Can't say I'd mind that; Sergeant's been a highlight of this generally lackluster run of episodes.

 

The runtime was only 38 minutes and change, instead of the normal 42. It's certainly possible they tried to do some padding but still came up short and decided to just sell another eight commercials. It was weird the updated intro didn't mention Kara's current status quo; at first I thought the CW people had uploaded the wrong episode to iTunes until I started recognizing recent clips, then I thought that it was some sort of metafictional mind-screw leading into a dream or illusion sequence where Kara was tricked into thinking she'd made it home.

 

Story does feel rather padded. It hasn’t really taken off yet.

 

I wonder if the intro was partially to reassure casual viewers this is still Melissa Benoist’s show? With her limited screen time now those not aware of her pregnancy might feel the show has changed too much. So it was an attempt to make the episode closer to old format?? Total speculation here. I know networks are infamous for making suggestions and demands that show runners think are unnecessary.

I watched the episode live on CW and I also did a double take for a few moments. It also felt like an old episode at the start to me. Nothing like other episodes this season.

 

Until Benoist is back working full time again, the whole show is basically padding. The next two episodes are set in the past with a young Kara, so I'm guess she not in these ones much either.

All of which wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't the final season.

 

Yeah, the time-traveling Midvale prom episodes are clearly part of the continuing workaround with respect to Benoist’s availability, but to me they’re the best possible workaround. Every fan probably has a mental list of things they’d like to see in the show’s final season, and Vidovic’s and Nikkanen’s returns as young Kara and Alex would be high on mine.

 

That's the problem--audiences were going to know its padding, so the showrunners had a job to write a B plot that was good enough to take audience's minds away from Benoist's reason for not being in many episodes going forward. Instead, its like any other series in TV history where one of the stars had to take a leave of absence (pregnancy / another job / problems with the job / already leaving but contractually obligated for a certain amount of appearances, etc.), and story concocted to explain the limited appearances or total absence is obvious filler.

 

Even if it's completely Krypton Prime's Phantom Zone, it's still Krypton One's Kara.

Either Krypton One's Kara's soul was shoved into this girl, or a recording of Krypton One's Kara's brain waves was shoved into this girl.

A 15 billion year old Phantom murdered and assimilated his daughter.

I suppose no one has to tell him.

Although...

The plan might be convert Earth Prime Zor-EL into Earth One Zor-El, which would be probably zero change to his memories, but still bloody murder.

 

I daresay the majority of the audience has no idea about Benoist's maternity leave or how it's affected the storytelling. The small percentage of us who pay attention to behind-the-scenes details tend to assume that our way of engaging with fiction is typical, but we're the exception.

If anything, I'm often startled by how hard it is to get other people to discuss a work of fiction in terms of the creative decisions that shaped it rather than simply the surface level of what happened within the story. They're just not interested in how the sausage was made. Or they don't want to see the illusion shattered by acknowledging the artifice behind it.

 

Hearing that opening again reminded me how much I appreciated Benoists dramatic tone of voice when she says both Superman and Supergirl: it feels like she's talking directly to any kids watching.

 

My wife catching up.

End of season 4, they referenced "the woman's march".

But Trump never became President on this Earth.

They may have matched for a slightly different reason, but there wouldn't have been any Pussy Hats.

 

Pretty good episode but 2009 doesn’t feel that long ago for Brainy to make computer/tech jokes. It’s also crazy to think that the twins would be around and be 2 at this time.
I also noticed Supergirl’s heat vision is still blue. I thought they changed that to red post Crisis.

 

Well, that was a delight. I haven't enjoyed an episode of Supergirl so much in years, not since the end of Season 4. Funny, even silly at times (and not by accident), but still hitting enough serious notes to give it weight -- Kara and Alex's fight, Nia struggling with the temptation to contact her mother. Vidovic and Nikkanen are still casting perfection, and Eliza Helm is a lot of fun as "C. J." Grant. So glad it's a two-parter, because I need more.

"The male in Metropolis was ... a lot."

"There's nothing women like more than physics well applied."

 

That was great fun. Nice to get a true 2 parter. With season long arcs that is extremely rare these days . Sure it’s part of getting Kara out of the Phantom Zone. But being a time travel story the Midvale events in 2009 will be resolved next week.