Spoilers Supergirl - Season 2

[TREK_GOD_1]

"Changing"--

Kara/SG: Oh, gee--getting drunk with Mon-El. Nothing leading there (sarcasm).

Kara's "James, we got this." What a way to make someone feel useless.

For all of her support of everyone else, she's QUICK to return to her prejudiced ways by judging Mon-El's race. The series should have explored that, and not allow the character to get off easy, use her positive attitude about other relationships to wipe the slate clean with Mon-El, or forget it all simply because she's glad he seems to be surrendering his will to hers regarding being a hero .

James/Guardian: The look he gave Alex was priceless; like Winn, he's placed in the position of "assistant", or the unwanted.

"If there's a cost, I'll pay it.". Bold statement. I hope he stands by that when real trouble comes.

As the Guardian, it made sense that he's still green, letting him know that an enhanced costume alone does not make you ready for the big stage.

SG: "Who are you?"
Guardian: "A friend."
--another nod to Superman's first night (and reply to Lois) from Superman (1978).

Winn: Interesting argument with James--he's finally asserting himself about his overall position which is often still) kicked to the "assistant" role.

The Star Spangled Comics van. Nice tribute.

So Winn and James finally break out the sidekick role, and are real friends. Of course, this decision means the worst will probably happen, but this is a good wrinkle for series.

Jones / The Parasite: Ah...a Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan moment.
His environmental belief as a motive to attack was weak.

Mon-El:"What if that's not me." & "Everything YOU stand for." That was the most interesting line of the episode, as fans and creators often assume anyone character with powers would just run to the spandex at the first chance--and that cannot be the case at all times.

Alex: The retconned past still seems less than a gradual, natural reaction. This should have been slow rolled in season one.

LOVING the Cadmus sub-plot. Once Mon-El's DNA is (probably) used.....good stuff ahead.

Best scene the episode:Parasite's stopping Supergirl in her tracks. Funny, in social media, some fans complain that SG "gets her butt kicked too much", but she cannot win every fight, or never struggle. Her being victorious in every fight is not only boring, but unrealistic.

NOTES:

Finally, now that the U.S. Presidential election is over, we can look back on this season's "Welcome to Earth" when Kara said (with such mocking joy on behalf of the showrunners) "How did anyone even vote for that guy?" --clearly referring to Trump. Ouch.

A Mr. O'Reilly who denies climate change? Oh come on. Enough of the childish attacks.

FX: The Parasite's were rather crude, and borrowed too much from the Resident Evil movies' "Lickers" and "Tyrant" mutation designs.

 

[sojourner]

So that first five minutes made a mess of the whole "secret identity" thing. Sitting in an alien bar in her human disguise, drinking drinks that are deadly to humans. WTH?

 

[The Old Mixer]

"This is how Chernobyl happened!" Yes, that's exactly how Chernobyl happened....

 

[Christopher]

I have to say, I wasn't crazy about this one. I generally like it when the show engages in progressive social commentary, but the treatment of climate change and denialism here was heavy-handed and embarrassing.

Also, it bothered me that they had Supergirl cross the line to killing a bad guy, and that so little was made of it. She did show regret, but there was no exploration beyond that of how it affected her to make that choice for the first time. Given the debates she and Alex had about it last season, it should've been a bigger deal for her to make that choice, just as a matter of character consistency. And personally I'd prefer if she hadn't crossed that line. Supergirl is such a symbol of hope and goodness for me, and I feel something has been lost now.

James's debut as Guardian wasn't bad, I guess, but he has the same problem as Ragman on Arrow, in that I can hardly understand a word he's saying when he's in costume. Also, it was a bit rude of Supergirl to try to x-ray him. People's privacy should be respected. It's not like he'd committed a crime; he'd helped her. Anyway, the best part was the scene where Winn convinced James not to go off half-cocked. Good writing and acting from Winn. So far I think the story of James's superhero debut is benefitting Winn more as a character. It's letting him fill a new role that's pretty interesting.

Alex coming out was well-handled, nicely nuanced. And I'm not surprised that Maggie wasn't receptive; I sensed last week that it wouldn't be mutual.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

"This is how Chernobyl happened!" Yes, that's exactly how Chernobyl happened....

Well, we should never expect a serious historical reference to be handled with sense in Berlanti-land.

They should stick to fantasy (Cadmus, anyone?), and leave that kind of mature material alone.

 

[Kahless the Unforgettable]

LOVING the Cadmus sub-plot. Once Mon-El's DNA is (probably) used.....good stuff ahead.

o.O

That was probably the dumbest scene of the episode (which is saying a lot, given there were more than a few this time around). CADMUS's entire plot to capture Mon-El relied on him stopping to try to help a homeless guy with a cough? When for pretty much his entire time on Earth he's been a self-centered jackass? And then it's just a cattle prod that does the job? Wh... just what?!

 

[sojourner]

Oh, and the opening scene at the arctic lab, I guess none of those scientists had ever seen John Carpenter's The Thing, otherwise they would have known better.

 

[The Old Mixer]

If Mon-El needs a job, he should try being a door-to-door hairbrush salesman.

 

[tomalak301]

Is the Gaurdian supposed to look like Robocop and have the Zoom voice?

Best thing about this episode so far was the Alex and Kara scenes.

 

[tomalak301]

Decent episode but I do agree with Christopher, the Climate change stuff was a little heavy handed. It seems like they're really going all out on social commentary issues this season and some of it is starting to get a little preachy. The best parts of the episode was Kara and Alex. I was afraid making Alex come out would really impact the realationship she had with Kara and I think it only strengthend it. The heart of this show (And the main reason I watch) is the Alex/Kara stuff and I really liked seeing it here. It saved the episode for me. The Guardian was interesting but as someone who doesn't know anything about him, I got a real Robocop meets Zoom vibe from him. I will say though that the Guardian storyline might be the best thing to happen to Winn. Winn finally has something to do instead of making cracks behind a desk. Hopefully it works out for the best.

 

[DigificWriter]

Tonight once again continued Supergirl's track record as presenting stellar episode after stellar episode (27 in all so far), which makes me a very happy panda.

I'm going to post this review in bullet points:
* Melissa playing drunk!Kara was hilarious, and once again affirms that she was the perfect choice for this role. I also love that Kara ended up falling asleep at the DEO just as trouble decided to rear its head

* It was a nice touch for them to name the research facility where Rudy Jones and his fellow scientists were working after Lena Luthor's comics alias Thorul, because it shows that there's a Thorul family as well as a Luthor family in this universe and that they're separate

* I had thought that they were going to drag out Alex's misunderstanding about Kara's reaction to her confession about being gay longer than they did, but was pleasantly surprised that they didn't, especially since you really needed the two characters on the same page in order for the episode's ending to work

* In hindsight, maybe I should've been a bit more lenient on the writers for the way they handled the conversation between Alex and Maggie last episode since they paid it off in this episode in a way that I wasn't expecting and that was admittedly heartbreaking, but also very true-to-life and will, ultimately, make Alex's journey of self-discovery more poignant and resonant in the long run

* I liked that Kara's ingrained prejudices manifested themselves again in the form of her reaction to finding out that Mon-El's "job" was using his powers as a 'heavy' because it showed yet again that she's not a perfect character and does have her flaws, one of which is being very judgmental of people and expecting them to live up to the same standards that she does

* Alex basically "guilt-tripping" Mon-El into 'stepping up' and following Kara's example was a really well-written and well-acted scene, and I like that it dovetailed into the situation with Alex needing to find M'gann in order to save J'onn/Hank, which was also a really well-written subplot that almost makes up for the misgivings I had about the writers sticking to the comics with regards to M'gann being a White Martian

* I'm not one of those people who immediately prejudged the storyline involving James becoming Guardian as being either nonsensical, stupid, or 'reaching', and therefore thought it was pretty neat to see him in his full costume actually fighting. I also really like the partnership between him and Winn, especially since they weren't entirely on the same page throughout the course of the episode yet came together when it counted

* Yes, Kara trying to scan James' costume with her X-Ray vision was a bit forward and invasive, but it again plays into the character not being perfect

* Cadmus abducting Mon-El is not something I was expecting, and it'll be interesting to see where this particular subplot is leading

* It was really gutwrenching to see Alex get rejected by Maggie, but, as I noted above, it does make her reaction to Alex's underplayed coming out in last week's episode make more sense retroactively, and led to yet another example of why Kara and Alex's relationship is and will forever remain the emotional heart of the series, giving us a really nice payoff to the two characters' sisterly arc in the episode and making the fact that they didn't drag out the tension between them stemming from Alex's misunderstanding about Kara's reaction to her coming out confession pay off in a very satisfactory manner

*

Spoiler

It looks like those of us expecting them to make Jeremiah Danvers into the Cyborg Superman were mistaken and they're going to be bringing back the real Hank Henshaw after all, which doesn't have as much significance from a 'metacontextual' standpoint but should nonetheless make for some fun storytelling

 

[tomalak301]

* Alex basically "guilt-tripping" Mon-El into 'stepping up' and following Kara's example was a really well-written and well-acted scene, and I like that it dovetailed into the situation with Alex needing to find M'gann in order to save J'onn/Hank, which was also a really well-written subplot that almost makes up for the misgivings I had about the writers sticking to the comics with regards to M'gann being a White Martian

I was a little confused here. Could this lead to Jonn finding out M'Gann's true identity? I guess doesn't matter the color of martian, they are still compatible together.

 

[sojourner]

*

Spoiler

It looks like those of us expecting them to make Jeremiah Danvers into the Cyborg Superman were mistaken and they're going to be bringing back the real Hank Henshaw after all, which doesn't have as much significance from a 'metacontextual' standpoint but should nonetheless make for some fun storytelling

Spoiler

If you're referring to the preview for next week, that could be Jon J'onz suffering from some side effects from the white martian blood.

 

[DigificWriter]

I guess doesn't matter the color of martian, they are still compatible together.

Except there are indications that they're not, since J'onn's hand started shaking towards the end of the episode after he'd lapsed back into unconsciousness, indicating that things may not be as benign as they seem in that regard.

Spoiler

If you're referring to the preview for next week, that could be Jon J'onz suffering from some side effects from the white martian blood.

Spoiler

Next week's episode is about Cyborg Supes, though, so it's likely the real Hank.

 

[shivkala]

So that first five minutes made a mess of the whole "secret identity" thing. Sitting in an alien bar in her human disguise, drinking drinks that are deadly to humans. WTH?

Everyone in that bar has a secret to hide, I'm guessing. Many are, like Kara, pretending to be humans. I'm guessing it's a "mutually assured destruction" kind of thing. They'd have to reveal something they'd rather not be known. I'd say that even goes as far as Maggie Sawyer, as I'm sure the rest of her department wouldn't be happy to learn she spends a lot of her free time in a secret alien bar.

 

[Jax]

I love how quick they went to Norway and back again...

Not too mention they just took a guy out of a remote quarantined zone, to a base in the middle of a major city and then let the guy go. Come on writers, get it together. Also Supergirl was so sloppy in combat despite earlier in the episode being the opposite in training. Rule 1 if the enemy can suck the life out of you, don't engage it in hand to hand combat, especially when you have heat vision and Ice/Freeze Breathe.

Also did Supergirl make the parasite absorb NUCLEAR RADIATION and then it blew up...erm Dirty Bomb anyone?

Also another Berlanti show that's going to drag out a relationship for stupid reasons. Hey Berlanti you ever figure that maybe the drama could come from being in the relationship, not trying to get into one.

but the treatment of climate change and denialism here was heavy-handed and embarrassing.

The only thing embarrassing are the people who deny Climate Change, I didn't see anything that was particular heavy-handed.

 

[Kahless the Unforgettable]

I love how quick they went to Norway and back again...

"Oh, Supergirl's drunk. So I guess instead of me flying someone out there with me, we'll just take a jet. Instead of, you know, just letting Supergirl sober up a bit which would easily take waaay less time than it would to take a jet out there."

The only thing embarrassing are the people who deny Climate Change, I didn't see anything that was particular heavy-handed.

To be fair, I think he was talking primarily about the two bosses who were denying it. I'm pretty sure the director was all "Okay, be a colossal dickbag, and... go!"

 

[Vendikarr]

If Mon-El needs a job, he should try being a door-to-door hairbrush salesman.

And call himself Bob Cobb?

 

[Christopher]

Decent episode but I do agree with Christopher, the Climate change stuff was a little heavy handed. It seems like they're really going all out on social commentary issues this season and some of it is starting to get a little preachy.

Yeah -- they shouldn't be so strident about it that it alienates people. You can't change people's minds by yelling in their faces. You just give them reason to dismiss you as irrational.

The Guardian was interesting but as someone who doesn't know anything about him, I got a real Robocop meets Zoom vibe from him.

Well, this version of the Guardian isn't much like the comics version, particularly since there's a completely different person inside the suit. The original Guardian was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby a year after they created Captain America, and he was pretty much the same sort of character, just without the super-soldier serum. The guy under the helmet was Jim Harper, who was reinterpreted last season as the bigoted, Cadmus-associated military man who arrested J'onn and Alex. So they've really shuffled things around here.

http://www.cbr.com/15-things-you-need-to-know-about-supergirls-guardian/

* Melissa playing drunk!Kara was hilarious, and once again affirms that she was the perfect choice for this role. I also love that Kara ended up falling asleep at the DEO just as trouble decided to rear its head

Hard to believe that even alien liquor can intoxicate a yellow sun-charged Kryptonian, but yeah, she was entertaining.

* It was a nice touch for them to name the research facility where Rudy Jones and his fellow scientists were working after Lena Luthor's comics alias Thorul, because it shows that there's a Thorul family as well as a Luthor family in this universe and that they're separate

Does it? I was expecting it to mean that the Arctic base was secretly funded by Lena or by Dr. Luthor. Maybe we'll find out more about it later in the season.

* I had thought that they were going to drag out Alex's misunderstanding about Kara's reaction to her confession about being gay longer than they did, but was pleasantly surprised that they didn't, especially since you really needed the two characters on the same page in order for the episode's ending to work

As I said before, I was hoping for Kara's Kryptonian perspective to come into play -- like, maybe she was raised in a culture where sexual orientation wasn't seen as a big deal and just took it very casually, or said that she'd always known that Alex was into girls and was surprised that she hid it from herself, or something. But on reflection, I guess it's just as well they didn't go that route, because this needed to be about Alex rather than about Kara.

* It was really gutwrenching to see Alex get rejected by Maggie...

I think "rejected" may be too strong a word; it's just that Maggie's not in a place where she's ready for a new relationship, nor does she want to take advantage of a friend who's just coming out. It might still be possible for something to happen between them in the future, just not now. But I can certainly understand why it felt like a rejection to Alex. She's only just discovered this side of herself, so it's like she's a teenager again, experiencing love for the first time. And that means it's all incredibly heightened and the attraction is exciting and terrifying and being turned down, even gently, feels like the end of the world. Plus it took so much courage to take the chance and express this feeling, so failing on her first attempt is devastating. I like how multilayered and real this feels. I have to wonder if much of this is maybe coming from showrunner Ali Adler's own autobiographical experiences with coming out. It feels authentic, at least to an outsider like me.

I love how quick they went to Norway and back again...

Well, they did have a DEO-issue jet at their disposal. Plus, we don't know how long it took for Kara to sleep off the alien hooch.

Not too mention they just took a guy out of a remote quarantined zone, to a base in the middle of a major city and then let the guy go. Come on writers, get it together.

Yeah, this is exactly what I was talking about when they replaced the DEO set. This is just the sort of situation where you'd want to take the subject to the remote, isolated base out in the desert instead of a skyscraper in the middle of the city.

Also Supergirl was so sloppy in combat despite earlier in the episode being the opposite in training. Rule 1 if the enemy can suck the life out of you, don't engage it in hand to hand combat, especially when you have heat vision and Ice/Freeze Breathe.

Exactly. That's part of why I'm so unhappy that they had her kill him. It wasn't even necessary. The alien parasite was frozen in ice for 5000 years, and she has freeze breath. They had the perfect nonlethal solution right in front of them. Plus it would've allowed them to bring back the Parasite as a recurring villain.

Also, whatever happened to that huge DEO army they brought out all the time in season 1? We never see them anymore. Did they get demobilized under the amnesty act?

Also did Supergirl make the parasite absorb NUCLEAR RADIATION and then it blew up...erm Dirty Bomb anyone?

Also, plutonium doesn't glow blue. It's just a silver metal.

Also another Berlanti show that's going to drag out a relationship for stupid reasons. Hey Berlanti you ever figure that maybe the drama could come from being in the relationship, not trying to get into one.

If anything, the conventional wisdom in TV has long been the opposite: That shows built around romantic tension tend to get less interesting once the romance finally happens. Or else they have to keep contriving increasingly ridiculous ways of generating tension and conflict within the relationship, because a happy and fulfilled relationship isn't very dramatic.

Anyway, if you're talking about Alex and Maggie, it's hardly stupid. Maggie's reasons make perfect sense and are actually very mature and considerate. Alex is at a vulnerable time right now, and it wouldn't be fair to her to use her as just a rebound relationship. Plus, there are too many TV shows that use lesbian makeout scenes as titillation. Having Alex deal with coming out in the context of not being in an active sexual relationship is a good way to avoid that.

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

The only thing embarrassing are the people who deny Climate Change

Hear, hear!

Melissa playing drunk!

Melissa Benoist is so cute she can do no wrong in my book!