Spoilers Supergirl - Season 2

[tomalak301]

I wonder if this episode was originally written to be produced earlier in the season? Hence the delayed revelation of Alex and Maggie's relationship to the rest of the DEO. Or unrelated why next week's episode is Valentines Day theme instead of airing the night before the actual day???

There were moments in this episode that felt like it should have been the midseason premiere because it connected really well to "Medusa". Other than Jonn Pining for M'Gann, it could have been a nice episode to come back from the holidays with.

 

[Christopher]

There were moments in this episode that felt like it should have been the midseason premiere because it connected really well to "Medusa". Other than Jonn Pining for M'Gann, it could have been a nice episode to come back from the holidays with.

Except that would've required a pretty major time jump, since it usually takes months between the crime and the trial. Having them in consecutive episodes, even on opposite ends of a winter break, would have been hard to swallow.

 

[The Old Mixer]

although there's certainly nothing intrinsically sinister about being a chess player

That's exactly what the chess players want us to believe....

 

[Marc]

My interpretation of the final chess move scene was to show that Lena is a very calculating person who has her own goals that she is pursuing. Maybe she truly does not approve of her mother's ideas and goals or maybe she just wants to accomplish the same goals a different way.

Or maybe Kara is Lena's White Knight who's going to help her to checkmate Lillian (just as she used the knight to checkmate Lex).

Now if she'd picked up the pawn.......

 

[Greg Cox]

Except that would've required a pretty major time jump, since it usually takes months between the crime and the trial. Having them in consecutive episodes, even on opposite ends of a winter break, would have been hard to swallow.

Then again, Law & Order got away with that for years. There you got the arrest and the trial in the same episode!

 

[Tosk]

Then again, Law & Order got away with that for years. There you got the arrest and the trial in the same episode!

Surely there can't be many shows (if any) in the entire history of TV that waited an accurate amount of time between arrest and trial? And who really wants it that way anyway?

 

[Christopher]

Then again, Law & Order got away with that for years. There you got the arrest and the trial in the same episode!

Although they showed date captions that did reflect a significant amount of time elapsing over the course of the episode. I got the impression that the episodes overlapped, that the cops and/or DAs were dealing with several different cases at a time but each episode only focused on one.

A pretty egregious case is Daredevil season 2, where the Punisher's trial is absurdly soon after his arrest -- made more absurd by the fact that the storyline would actually have been helped by a fair-sized time jump around that point, in part to let Daredevil heal from the pretty massive injuries he'd sustained shortly before.

 

[JanewayRulz!]

That seems pointless to me. Lex Luthor's father as a villain made sense in Smallville because Lex was young and hadn't turned evil yet, so Lionel was created as a surrogate for Lex, and as a partial explanation for what Lex became. But on this show, set later in Superman's career, if you want a bald male Luthor as the big bad, there's no reason not to go with Lex himself.

Also, while giving Supergirl her own Luthor family member to contend with once is an understandable choice, I think it would work against her independence as a character if she were repeatedly pitted against Luthors. It's true that Supergirl hasn't historically had much of a rogues' gallery of her own in the comics, but I'd like it if the show could find someone less Superman-adjacent to be her foe next season.

Besides, the actor they got, Ian Butcher, is someone who's mostly played fairly small background roles in Canadian TV, it seems to me. He's only once played a recurring character, in a 4-part arc on Stargate Universe, though he played what might or might not have been a recurring Observer in three episodes of Fringe. Other than that, he's only played one-shot guest roles, which suggests that the producers don't envision Lionel as anything more than that.



Why "not yet?" Why does everyone keep assuming Lena's meant to turn bad at some point? In the comics, the role of Lena "Thorul" (as she was known) was to be the good Luthor sibling, the one who wasn't even aware that she was related to this master criminal and would've been horrified to find out. That was pretty much the whole point of the character -- she was the one good and pure thing connected to Lex Luthor, and he cared deeply about preserving her innocence and making sure she never learned of their relationship. She was a friend to the Superman Family and she didn't have an evil bone in her body.

Granted, Katie McGrath does have a history playing good girls gone bad (in Merlin and Dracula), and she is really sexy as a bad girl, but that doesn't mean it's bound to happen here. I think maybe they cast someone with a "wicked" air to her so that it would be ambiguous, so that we'd initially be unsure whether she was good or bad. But we've now seen two consecutive Lena appearances where we've been led to suspect she was evil only to have it turn out that she was good all along. How many more times does she have to prove herself before the audience realizes she's not meant to be evil?




But that is a lack of trust -- in his judgment and his ability. It's not believing him when he tells her this is a calling rather than some passing whim or something he's just "playing" at.

Why "not yet"?

Umm, because I was leaving myself an "out" in case TPTB decide later in the season to "make" Lena bad.

Remember, I was the one defending Kara's defense of / belief in Lena, so obviously I don't think she's bad. I think Lena's just someone who never had love in her life after her mother died, except perhaps for the love she felt for her brother and her father.

Her budding friendship with Kara viewed from the perspective of such a lonely person would make every positive interaction between the two seem like manna in the desert to Lena. Just as unbelievable as it was miraculous. That is why, although Supergirl saved Lena, she really does look at Kara as her hero.

And regarding my suggestion that Daddy Warbucks would be season 3s big bad... that was part joke and part plea, based on the idea that if we have to have a Luthor adversary for Supergirl, I would prefer it to be someone other than Lena.

Now, as for the idea that there is subtext between Lena and Kara, gosh I sure hope not. Kara has already had to shoot down Wynn, James, and Monel in the last two seasons, (yes, I know she's changed her mind about Monel), it would seem like going back to the well too many times and would rob Kara of another female friend BESIDES her sister to talk to... especially with Cat Grant being AWOL.

 

[Romulan_spy]

Sneak Peak for the next episode:

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[TREK_GOD_1]

"Mr. & Mrs. Mxyzptlk"--

SG/Kara: Awww two guys pining away for Kara, and its all giggles and more "will they/won't they". Its like...CW through a TeenNick filter.

"you have to let it find you" / "putting someone else's needs above your own" ...like we did not know that was referring to the temporarily spurned Mon-El.

She certainly got over that Mon-El having no issue wanting to murder Mxyzptlk business in the blink of an eye (or the history of doing that on his homeworld).

Mxyzptlk: Dressing as Superman while doing the mocking act...seems like someone was paying close attention to the Loki as Captain America scene from Thor: The Dark World--

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Winn: Look! More swiping--A Star Wars Cantina fight rip-off scene. But hey, he gets an alien girlfriend!

Mon El: Wha--? Trouble in paradise when Mon-El reveals his tradition of killing beings such as Mxyzptlk. Trouble did not last long with all of the predictably cutesy bickering.

James: Who?

NOTES: I expect some will defend the appearance of Mxyzptlk by bringing up his history in the comics, but his TV handling is so (painfully) typical of endless trickster/annoyance characters that have been not-so-graceful additions to TV series decade after decade. He is too much Q and not as much any (classic) version of Mxyzptlk from the comics...and anything resembling a character who wore out his welcome in TNG's pilot is not a good thing.

Shoehorning Hamilton into this?

Series in need of Luthor and Cadmus. ASAP.

GRADE: D.

 

[sojourner]

Took me about half way through the episode before I realized who the actor playing Mxyzptlk reminded me of. He's the spitting image of a young Roger Daltry.

I laughed out loud when Mxyzptlk transported himself and Mon-El to the stage. My gut reaction to the costumes was Squire of Gothos.

 

[DigificWriter]

"Mr. & Mrs. Mxyzptlk"--

SG/Kara: Awww two guys pining away for Kara, and its all giggles and more "will they/won't they". Its like...CW through a TeenNick filter.

"you have to let it find you" / "putting someone else's needs above your own" ...like we did not know that was referring to the temporarily spurned Mon-El.

She certainly got over that Mon-El having no issue wanting to murder Mxyzptlk business in the blink of an eye (or the history of doing that on his homeworld).

Mxyzptlk: Dressing as Superman while doing the mocking act...seems like someone was paying close attention to the Loki as Captain America scene from Thor: The Dark World--

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Winn: Look! More swiping--A Star Wars Cantina fight rip-off scene. But hey, he gets an alien girlfriend!

Mon El: Wha--? Trouble in paradise when Mon-El reveals his tradition of killing beings such as Mxyzptlk. Trouble did not last long with all of the predictably cutesy bickering.

James: Who?

NOTES: I expect some will defend the appearance of Mxyzptlk by bringing up his history in the comics, but his TV handling is so (painfully) typical of endless trickster/annoyance characters that have been not-so-graceful additions to TV series decade after decade. He is too much Q and not as much any (classic) version of Mxyzptlk from the comics...and anything resembling a character who wore out his welcome in TNG's pilot is not a good thing.

Shoehorning Hamilton into this?

Series in need of Luthor and Cadmus. ASAP.

GRADE: D.

Somebody has an aversion to fun.

Why do you even continue to watch this show when you clearly don't like it and can't appreciate it for what it is, which is as close to the "Golden"/"Silver Age" of comics as is possible without being parody?

 

[Greg Cox]

That was fun, despite the Valentine's Day time warp. I kinda missed the imp with the bowler hat, but making Mxy say his name backwards was seriously old-school--in a good way.

 

[sojourner]

I'm not sure why she didn't just tell him that the password was his name in reverse and have him say it outloud? She already had him backed into a corner with the whole "we'll die without the password" bit. It was a fine catch-22 as is and didn't really need the added layer of tricking him into spelling it out in Kryptonian.

 

[DigificWriter]

My full review of "Mr. and Mrs. Mxyzptlk":
[Enzo Amore/Big Cass voice]There's only one word to describe this episode... and I'm gonna spell it out for ya: F-U-N... FUN![/Enzo Amore/Big Cass voice]

Only on Supergirl could you get an episode that celebrates the "Golden Age"/"Silver Age of comics without being parody (as I noted earlier), and tonight's episode - co-written by one of the only people on the planet who could legitimately be considered a Supergirl expert, Sterling Gates - was exactly that... a serious celebration of the Golden/Silver Age comics, particularly the Superman and Supergirl comics, that highlighted everything that is fun about said comics while not coming across as over-the-top or "cheesy".

I really liked seeing the way that Kara started out treating Mxyzptlk as little more than a pest before his antics started to put people in real jeopardy and carry real stakes, because it made his presence in the episode mean more than just an excuse to bring back Parasite, put Peter Gadiot in a knock-off Superman costume (which, BTW, I'm convinced we haven't seen the last of), and create some dramatic tension between Kara and Mon-El, who continues to be one of my personal favorite characters from the show this season and plays off of Kara really well since he's able to serve the same narrative purpose as Faith LeHane did on Buffy the Vampire Slayer in that he's a 'mirror image' for her and lets the writers enhance her character by showing us as an audience what she might be were she to behave just slightly differently than she does.

Speaking of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I love that Winn's new alien love interest Lyra's character makeup was evocative of the makeup they used on the BtVS characters of Darla and Harmony, because it gave her a distinctive 'look' that was both cool and cute. I also love that they made her a native of Starhaven, and can't wait to see what happens next between her and Winn. I especially loved the conversation they had at that restaurant.

I'm not really sure what the point was of retconning the positivity out of Maggie's coming-out process (which is one of the things that made Alex's coming-out work, especially in terms of the way they initially didn't just push her and Maggie together, since it gave Alex a positive example to follow and some incentive to actually "own her true self"), but I did like the end result with Maggie throwing Alex a Valentine's Prom. It was fun getting to see both Chyler Leigh and Floriana Lima all "dolled up", especially since the show usually plays up the fact that the latter actress' character is decidedly "butch", and both ladies looked great.

Kara tricking Mxyzptlk into spelling his own name backwards by threatening to kill both herself and him was clever, even though I don't really see the point of including a fight between her and a gigantic animated ice statue of Jor-El. I do hope that we get to see "Mxy" again, though, because he added an element of fun to the show that doesn't always get spotlighted so directly as often as I think it could.

I also liked the way that Kara and Mon-El reconciled at the end and finally kissed, especially given the way that the show has slowly built to that moment. I also thought it was a nice touch that Kara had her glasses off throughout the entirety of that scene from beginning to end, as it shows that she was fully ready to "wear her heart on her sleeve" in a way that we don't often get to truly see (since she spends most of the series wearing her glasses, which, as per Ali Adler, are a sort of "security shield" for her).

This episode may not have been the most consequential in the series' history, but it was really enjoyable because it allowed the writers to cut loose and just have fun with the characters in a way that they don't normally do while also bringing one of the season's longest-running subplots to a fitting and much-anticipated conclusion in terms of actually getting Kara and Mon-El together.

 

[Christopher]

It's amazing how much like comics and animation these shows manage to be. Supergirl fighting the giant ice sculpture of Jor-El! I did not see that coming, and it was a really neat idea. And we got a classic story of the Super-person matching wits with Mxyzptlk and managing to trick him into saying his name backward -- although I thought Supergirl was going to go through the pretense of the marriage and have Mxy recite the vows in Kryptonian, including the word Kltpzyxm.

I wish they'd mentioned that Superman had dealt with Mxy before -- every time a classic Superman villain gets introduced here as a newcomer, it makes me wonder if Superman has just spent the past dozen years going after petty crooks and gangsters like in the George Reeves show. But at least they didn't say he hadn't met Mxy before. Maybe nobody thought to ask him.

Odd that when Winn was talking to Lyra about being okay with dating an alien, he didn't mention that he'd already been in love with an alien (namely Kara). I guess maybe the producers just want to leave that storyline in the past.

I kinda missed the imp with the bowler hat, but making Mxy say his name backwards was seriously old-school--in a good way.

I've seen all these articles on comics sites saying "Why doesn't Mxy look like a little guy with white hair?" and all that, but I don't see why it's even a question. He's a fifth-dimensional being with reality-bending powers. What we see is not his true appearance, it's an illusion he creates to interact with us. So if he wants to romance Supergirl, of course he's going to make himself look handsome.

(since she spends most of the series wearing her glasses, which, as per Ali Adler, are a sort of "security shield" for her).

She doesn't really. She often spends the majority of an episode in Supergirl costume (indeed, she spent the second-last episode of season 1 entirely as Supergirl), which is something that stands out for me because it's so unusual in live-action superhero TV. Although for some reason, she's been in Kara mode more often the past couple of weeks, even at the DEO, which is just strange to see.

 

[Commander Richard]

• That was a really fun episode made better by having Mxy dress up as Superman.
• I took a liking to the character right away with his antics in Kara's apartment. There was no need to threaten Kara later on but aside from that, I liked what I saw of him and his Q-like demeanor.
• I'm surprised that Superman never encountered Mxy. Unless they're all named Mxyzptlk.
• I love the ambiance. Everything seemed very well lit. The battle in the street especially reminded me of the one in Superman II.
• Looks like Kara finally got the chance to turn in her V card. I wondered if and how they'd handle that.

I laughed out loud when Mxyzptlk transported himself and Mon-El to the stage. My gut reaction to the costumes was Squire of Gothos.

Yeah, that part made me think of him as Trelane. Peter Gadiot would make a pretty good Trelane actually. Can't decide between him or James Callis.

I'm not sure why she didn't just tell him that the password was his name in reverse and have him say it outloud? She already had him backed into a corner with the whole "we'll die without the password" bit. It was a fine catch-22 as is and didn't really need the added layer of tricking him into spelling it out in Kryptonian.

I was totally about to say that. That would have worked perfectly. I don't see how spelling his name counts.

 

[DigificWriter]

@Christopher: I guess I should've specified that she spends most of the series wearing her glasses when she's KARA DANVERS rather than Supergirl, which makes the moments when she doesn't have her glasses but isn't "in costume" stand out since it means she's setting aside her "security shield" and allowing herself to feel emotion and be vulnerable.

 

[Commander Richard]

She's been wearing a lot of button-up shirts with pants lately.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Mxy bringing statues to life is a long tradition going back all the way back to his first story written by Jerry Siegel.