Supergirl - The Final Season
Season 6 - episode 12 - "Blind Spots"
SG: Just showing up and doing something.
Alex: "you are amazing an can do anything" Enough of the constant, "empowerment" talk that's telegraphed everything from a thousand miles away.
Nyxlygsptlnz: Totems...whatever.
Diggle: Still on his "cameo of no meaning" tour, Diggle acts as BS counselor (SEE NOTES)
To even have Diggle mention Jefferson Pierce only serves as a hard, contrasting reminder of how this series is eternally hollow on the story of black life, even with one character.
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Kelly: Joey is hurt in the destruction of what was going to be his new home (BTW, you do not move anyone who has been injured and possibly suffering from internal injuries), while the cartoonish Rankin gains Imp powers via a combination of hand-waving with some gene therapy she's received.
Kelly's "I need to vent to someone who would get it" Really?...not based on James and Kelly as black people on this show.
"you don't see me" Funny, because she never looked for the reflection in that particular mirror over the time she's been a part of this awful series, so she has no ground to act outraged about a life the character never acknowledged to herself. The same with the sudden, 11th-Hour information dump about her feelings which the showrunners did not give two fucks in bringing up until the series was cancelled.
Oh, and the respirator shortage...paper thin and borderline offensive piggybacking this plot on real world hospitals dealing with equipment shortages from the demands/strains of the pandemic.
J'onn: Once again, he's claiming to know what its like to be a black man...when he could not to any degree, as being "black" was his damn choice, not genetics. As he pointed out, he could change his appearance, so psychologically speaking, that would place a permanent wedge of ignorance to the life experiences of real black people, so once again, a freaking Martian's comments on being "alien" by being black was as offensive now, as it was when he first made this statement seasons ago.
NOTES:
One must wonder why actress Azie Tesfai (Kelly), who was one of the co-writers for this episode, spent all of this time on Supergirl playing a character the showrunners never had any intent on using to explore any part of Kelly's black American experience, when every other group under the sun had episodes and arcs dedicated to their issue and/or identities. Further, black co-writer J. Holtham (scripting 6 Supergirl episodes and served as a story editor on Jessica Jones & Cloak and Dagger) brought what to this episode? Not much. The fact that Supergirl was cancelled--so close to the TV grave (in terms of episodes remaining) and only now is the series' only black American character allowed to get any sort of attention speaks volumes--all titled "The Black Experience Was Not Our Concern" by G. Berlanti, et al.
I also note that this episode was a paper thin failure based on what was not written; all one needs to do is read the scripts from the Akils, Goff, et al., for Black Lightning, or Malcolm Spellman's weighty explorations in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, then compare it to this episode, this series, where Kelly slowly (and often sheepishly) spelled out the issues of race or economic disparities as if its some new discovery--for the writers of this episode, who spun their tale like anyone else in Berlanti land.
Again, volumes.
Gotta love how Diggle is shamelessly used as the Wise Token Negro stereotype (as he was meant to be with Luke on Batwoman) imparting advice or sharing a perspective as only he could, which the writers thought they needed. Well, none of this series' black main or recurring characters (two..what a crowd) ever needed a racial self-awareness / pep talk before. But that's what you get with Berlanti productions, a company that--as noted time and again--only used black characters as tokens of their White Liberal checked boxes, when their sociopolitical concerns were never about the black experience at all, and for we in the black part of the audience, we were always aware of what game Berlanti, et al., were playing.
That was evident in Kelly being on this series for years, yet her biggest character or social concerns had nothing to the black American experience--it was the last thing anyone would ever detect about her character because Berlanti and his cronies were not thinking of that key driver of a black life. Oh, but viewers are supposed to swallow the excuse that Kelly was just burying her feelings all along. No, that's not going to sell to anyone knowing the history of Berlanti productions.
Both Black Lightning and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier repeatedly presented a world that has no feel good answers for the plight of black Americans, or even a suggestion of it; in the former, there were no "Orlando, you should get on the city council" nonsense, as if its that easy, and since Kelly would know an ex-con would have next to no chance of succeeding, it makes the writers--the BLACK writers--seem as mired in the Pollyanna bullshit as Berlanti and his cronies for having her make such a statement.
Freeland never had quickie solutions, not for metas or the common person; in fact, by having Lala--a crime lord--hand out needed food and supplies to suffering residents was a statement that the problems of Freeland--for black Americans are so out of control that even the most unlikely source felt the need to help when it barely coming from official sources.
Notice the contrast in hero debuts; in this episode, Kelly is instantly supported as Guardian, and not once is she questioned, or we're given the impression or hint that she ever will face judgement. On the other hand, in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Sam Wilson's entire, series-long struggle with inheriting the Captain America legacy/identity centered on his knowing that the second he suited, up he knew many would hate him (as he explained to the senator). Kelly may not bear the stars and stripes, but she would not need to for a large part of white society to despise her on sight. All we witnessed were insta-celebrations and not a shred of doubt--questioning that any black superhero would face (and yes, the Pierces faced it, too).
That's how divorced from the experiences of the black American two black writers were.
GRADE: F...but I can imagine someone cheerleading this as some great, thought-provoking examination of the black condition in America.
