Spoilers Supergirl - Season 1

[Allyn Gibson]

What's the cause of Kara's skin cut by simple glass? It makes one think she's a unwitting walking experiment (DEO) to serve the same purpose as Red Tornado's tech. In any case, that will be the plot of the next episode.

Spoiler: The New 52

What I picked up on from the "next time" trailer is that Kara drained her powers when she went all Super Saiyan on Red Tornado.

This is a power that Supergirl and Superman have in the New 52 -- they can release all of their stored solar energy, but when they do they're basically human for days, even weeks. No flight, no invulnverability, no nothing.

The scene in the trailer where the powerless Kara confronts a robber with a gun seems to be lifted from a recent issue of Superman where Clark does the exact same thing -- show up in costume, no powers whatsoever, and talk down the guy with the gun.

Eventually, she'll get her powers back, once she's absorbed enough solar energy. She may need to spend a lot of time under the lamps at the DEO.

 

[Greg Cox]

Given that General Lane is so upset about James "consorting" with aliens, you gotta wonder what he thinks about who his other daughter, Lois, is seeing these days?

Or is that the real reason he has a bee in his bonnet about aliens?

 

[Christopher]

The Red Tornado stuff didn't work too well for me. The power set was pretty weird for the professed purposes. It was never explained how RT got a replacement arm. Alex seemed a bit too chummy with Max Lord given what Kara clearly did tell her about the bombings (although, to be fair, they have no proof he's guilty, just guesswork). And the ending was weird -- Alex glances at a screen and somehow knows that RT has "become sentient," but it shows no indication of sentience, just going rogue like they thought it was all along, and Supergirl doesn't even care and blows it up anyway. Huh? If they'd just replaced that one word "sentient" in the script with "autonomous" or something, it would've made a lot more sense.

But the stuff with Kara dealing with her anger and pain, and Cat being the world's most screwed-up wise mentor figure, was terrific. Benoist did a great job showing a side of Kara we haven't seen before. She did get a little ticked off at Livewire ("Oh, shut up, you mean girl!"), but nothing like this.

The stuff with Sam Lane, Lucy, and James wasn't bad. I like how the show is taking the idea of Jimmy being "Superman's Pal" and really running with it as the root of his character and his complications. Most modern Superman adaptations kind of downplay the traditional role of Jimmy Olsen as Superman's best friend, since Lois has taken on more of the role of his confidante and partner in action. Which is great for Lois, but Jimmy's had trouble being relevant as a result. This show has found a way to reinstitute that relationship in a fresh way, because it isn't actually about Superman and Lois.

And the casting of Mehcad Brooks as James did end a disturbing subtext to the scene where General Lane -- a middle-aged white man -- told James that he wasn't good enough for Lane's daughter. We know Lane's a racist about aliens -- maybe it extends to certain humans as well.

Can you name one show that's on a major network that has a shorter season (and/or did not receive a full 'back nine') order that has gotten or will get renewed?

Off the top of my head, Dollhouse. Didn't get a back nine, but got a second season. And there have been dozens of series over the decades that started out as midseason replacements and thus had short first seasons; many of them have gone on to be lasting hits.

Anyway, season lengths these days are a lot less standardized than they used to be. For many years, it was always 26, then it was usually 22, but now we've got odd orders like 20 and 23 and 25 -- it's unpredictable these days. So you can't read too much into an irregularity, when irregularity is increasingly the norm.

Given the way budgets are spread across the season w/r/t the inventory available to sell ads against I can't imagine the budgetary one is a reason to only have 20.

It's not just money, it's time. Creating elaborate visual effects takes a lot of time and work. I can absolutely understand why the makers of an FX-heavy show would've asked for a shorter episode order rather than settle for rushed, less ambitious FX.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Jim takes photographs for a living.

30 years ago that might have a job, and almost difficult.

Today, everyone has a cellphone, and you don't have to risk inhaling mercury and going batshit to develop your pictures.

Years ago I read/heard about a newspaper firing all their photographers and giving their reporters new cellphones.

Recently I saw that computer algorithms were replacing journalists by google harvesting facts on a subject and creating original compositions.

If Jim is trying his hardest to benefit society, he's a fuck up.

If Jim is 1/16th assing it, to skate by professing to be an expert in a job a child or a monkey could do, while being paid four times more than a teacher, he's a lazy SOB.

 

[Nerys Myk]

IIRC, Jimmy is mostly a photographer in live action adaptations. In the comics he's usually a reporter. (A cub reporter back in the day)

 

[Corran Horn]

Can you name one show that's on a major network that has a shorter season (and/or did not receive a full 'back nine') order that has gotten or will get renewed?

Off the top of my head, Dollhouse. Didn't get a back nine, but got a second season. And there have been dozens of series over the decades that started out as midseason replacements and thus had short first seasons; many of them have gone on to be lasting hits.

Anyway, season lengths these days are a lot less standardized than they used to be. For many years, it was always 26, then it was usually 22, but now we've got odd orders like 20 and 23 and 25 -- it's unpredictable these days. So you can't read too much into an irregularity, when irregularity is increasingly the norm.

Ok, I guess I shouldn't have left something I thought was obvious unstated - *not* a midseason show as Dollhouse S1 was.

S1 of Dollhouse ended in May. That'd really have been something if it'd gotten 9 more episodes after that.

S2 picked up in the Fall and it did not get its back 9 order.

 

[Gryffindorian]

I liked this episode a lot, although I didn't care to see Red Tornado as a villain. And General Lane was such a dick. You would think he would've warmed up to Supergirl and the DEO, but he was a closed minded bigot.

I liked how Kara had her cathartic moments, especially after Cat talked to her about expressing her anger and finding its base source. This episode resonated with me, not that I'm angry, but similar anyway.

 

[tomalak301]

Watching Benoist in this series makes me wish she had better stuff in Glee. She was wasted on that series and she's a terrific actress. I loved her scenes in this episode about wanting to be normal and her scenes with Cat continue to be the most strongest of attributes in the show. Also lived the punching out frustration scene. As for red tornado, he was ok I guess but I didn't really care all that much.

 

[Commander Richard]

I've come to know Red Tornado through Young Justice which I've been watching lately and I wish this show had developed him as well as the animated series has.

Benoist, like Gustin does well at moving between light-hearted and anger/seriousness.

 

[DigificWriter]

Can you name one show that's on a major network that has a shorter season (and/or did not receive a full 'back nine') order that has gotten or will get renewed?

ABC's How to Get Away with Murder (premiered September of 2014 with an initial order of 13 episodes, received an additional 2 episodes, and was renewed for a second season of 15 episodes, 9 of which have already aired).

 

[Guy Gardener]

I've come to know Red Tornado through Young Justice which I've been watching lately and I wish this show had developed him as well as the animated series has.

Benoist, like Gustin does well at moving between light-hearted and anger/seriousness.

Sentient and wireless (for about 12 seconds).

The AI didn't need that body, and if it was smart might have considered faking it's death to be an excellent escape maneuver.

If Hank is the Cyborg (Superman) and we have never seen him eating Oreos, you'd think that as an older AI, he would have his shit together to stomp on Red Tornado's AI before it became a problem.

 

[Commander Richard]

Sentient and wireless (for about 12 seconds).

The AI didn't need that body, and if it was smart might have considered faking it's death to be an excellent escape maneuver.

I hope so.

 

[Taylirious]

@Kara

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnYcNSvkpGA[/yt]



Great EP!

 

[M.A.C.O.]

That heat vision though. Kara's looks even more angrier than Kal's.

 

[Taylirious]

I wouldn't want to anger either of them!

 

[Guy Gardener]

Actually, Kara is bloody lucky that tornado blew up when he did if she (temporarily) exhausted her solar battery reserve, because she must have literally had nothing left a moment after defeating him... Although, wouldn't she have flown away?

Maybe it's more like the next morning after over exercising and nothing works?

 

[Aragorn]

So is DEO Agent Killjoy supposed to develop into something bigger later? Seems like a waste if that was his entire role.

Only 20 episodes, just short of the usual 22 or 23.

Still, a lot of shows these days favor having shorter seasons, because it means less filler and more time to devote to each episode. Given Supergirl's rather spectacular VFX, a 20-episode season would have more time and money per episode than a 22-episode season and could therefore have better visuals.

Can you name one show that's on a major network that has a shorter season (and/or did not receive a full 'back nine') order that has gotten or will get renewed? This show is not on AMC or even the CW. Given the way budgets are spread across the season w/r/t the inventory available to sell ads against I can't imagine the budgetary one is a reason to only have 20.

Supergirl might survive to Season 2 and might have gotten a shorter order because it started later than all the other new shows but I'd have been much happier with a full 'back nine' order.

The second half of Lost had less than 20 episodes per season while the first three seasons were 22+.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I liked this episode a lot, although I didn't care to see Red Tornado as a villain.

He had to be established, but he could not come in like someone from The Super Friends. I like the idea of another long-lived DC hero (47 year old character) added to flesh out / world build this series.

And General Lane was such a dick. You would think he would've warmed up to Supergirl and the DEO, but he was a closed minded bigot.

I say again that is a positive for the series--as it was for DCA's S.T.A.R. / Cadmus plots. I prefer to see the superhero element inspire enemies from the government than minor, random villains few care about. The government threat is pervasive to a group of characters that are (mostly) human, and one always merging her life with humans. That threat can affect main character lives on a crushing and inescapable level.

You cannot get that feeling from...Livewire.

I liked how Kara had her cathartic moments, especially after Cat talked to her about expressing her anger and finding its base source. This episode resonated with me, not that I'm angry, but similar anyway.

She needs a balance in her sounding boards. Cat is still a largely a soulless, self-serving person (and that's not an act for business alone), and her incessant complaining about her life status is not the example Kara needs to understand her place in the world.

If Hank is the Cyborg (Superman) and we have never seen him eating Oreos, you'd think that as an older AI, he would have his shit together to stomp on Red Tornado's AI before it became a problem.

Henshaw cannot play his hand up front. We now know Lane (and by association the rest of the government) is completely suspicious of DEO's alien technology and working relationship with aliens, so he knows eyes are on him. For all we know, he's suspicious of the sisters and believes they could be his pawns or a dangerous, random element.

In other words, he has no reason to expose his true nature....at the moment.

 

[Guy Gardener]

You mean like when he pulled a metal bomb casing apart with his bare hands in episode 4?



Hacking Red Tornado, would look like squinting at worst if Hank is reasonable at multitasking... Not that we know for sure if he can control other computers/machines with his mind. Although if he could control other computers with his brain, he wouldn't have had to have gone Cookie Monster on that Bomb last week.

Hank could be an alien infiltrator. After the original human is found and reclaims his stolen life in season 2 or 3, it is then that Henshaw may go through the origin of turning into the Cyborg (Superman) with mechanopathy on his own personal journey to Villainy. It's what happened with Wells in the Flash. Kill off the baddie, but keep the actor around because there are other characters with the same face.

Have we seen him shy from fire?

I'm not thinking John Jones right now, but what about a nasty White Martian?

 

[Christopher]

IIRC, Jimmy is mostly a photographer in live action adaptations. In the comics he's usually a reporter. (A cub reporter back in the day)

Originally on radio, he was a copy boy -- basically a messenger who would carry reporters' copy between departments. Once Jimmy graduated to cub reporter, the radio series invented a new copy boy, Beany Martin, who was played by narrator Jackson Beck doing a nasal comedy voice. Beany never caught on as widely as Jimmy.

I think his first stint as a photographer was in the '48/'50 serials, judging from some photos I've seen. In the '50s TV series, I don't think he was a photographer. I just rewatched that show's pilot the other day, and White ordered Lois and Jimmy to go cover a story and take a photographer with them, so that certainly wasn't his role at the start of the show, anyway. I have the impression that it was the '78 movie that codified Jimmy as a photographer in audiences' minds.

Ok, I guess I shouldn't have left something I thought was obvious unstated - *not* a midseason show as Dollhouse S1 was.

Why would you want to exclude midseason shows? After all, Supergirl itself premiered in late October, about a month later than typical, so the fact that late-premiering shows often have shorter season orders is clearly relevant here.

I loved her scenes in this episode about wanting to be normal...

The most wrenching part of that was in her workout scene with James, where it came out that, to Kara, a normal life is a Kryptonian life. That's the world she was born into and spent the first half of her life in. Which makes her interestingly different from other superpowered characters who yearn for a normal life. For her, unlike for Superman, Earth will always be an alien world. Her wish for normality isn't just about not having to fight crime or not having to sacrifice her social life -- it's driven by a deeper grief at the destruction of her home. I hope next week's episode remembers that.