Spoilers Supergirl - Season 2

[Christopher]

So, I assume "El" is meaningless in this continuity. It's not a family name. Otherwise, the character wouldn't be called Mon-El right off the bat. He would be called Lar Gand until adopted by the House of El.

It's been explicitly and repeatedly established in the show that, yes, El is a family name on Krypton. Clark and Kara belong to the House of El. But that doesn't mean it's impossible for the syllable to have a different usage in Daxamite names. Heck, lot of languages have the "el" syllable in them -- like, say, Hebrew (Gabriel, Michael, etc.). It could just be a coincidence.

Weird action sequences here. Already mentioned, the roasting of those poor agents...but How could Supergirl not see the fireballs hurling towards the Prez until they reach the podium?! And burn the document right in front or her? With Madame Heat Wave on the ground, those had to be thrown at an arc, so how could someone hovering in the air above the event not notice?!!

Last week's Flash had the same problem. Magenta kept managing to distract the Flash and get completely away even though the Flash's rescues took only a couple of seconds.

Sounds like nitpicking, but it was distracting enough to ding an otherwise solid-if a tad preachy, episode.

You know, I don't mind the preachiness. I feel that SFTV today often doesn't seem to have the kind of social commentary that it used to have. Writers these days have become so preoccupied with plot arcs and twists that there's not as much attention to theme. The other DC shows are all about the superheroes fighting evil, but there's not that much attention being paid to what ideas they're fighting for. So I find it refreshing to see a show that has something to say beyond "Tune in next week to see how this turns out."

And really, preachy social commentary is kind of in the grand tradition for the Superman universe. The earliest Superman comics were quite a heavyhanded commentary on societal problems of the day, in a rather crude wish-fulfillment way with Superman just using brute force and intimidation to deal with government corruption and warmongers and reckless drivers and the like. The '40s Superman radio series got really activist after WWII in speaking out against racial and religious bigots and anti-immigrant demagogues, in terms far more preachy than this. So this is like returning to the franchise's roots, in a way.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Would have been funny if she hadn't stumbled all over it.


Badly, perhaps.

She was not much of an actress in her heyday, so we cannot expect her to have much to draw on in her acting toolbox.

Hillary may be wanting in the charisma department, but she doesn't talk like Earth is her second planet.

...well......

What a preachy and embarrassing episode.

Yes, it was preachy, and unlike the experienced writers who excelled at such writing in TV sci-fi/fantasy of (for one point of reference) the 60s, this was a forced, incredibly immature soapbox session hammering the audience with the producers' various agendas, instead of trying to create an interesting super-hero semi-drama. The immigration affair was as mishandled as 1970s public television series aimed at instructing children. This series works best when it plays it closer to the overall tone of its source and legacy.

 

[Gryffindorian]

This was terrific. I was afraid that the show would lose its social-commentary angle on The CW, given how the other DC shows have generally avoided it. But this was the most blatant immigrant-rights/anti-racism allegory yet. It's reassuring that the show's still got it. (Although it is feeling pretty Vancouvery. That dome shows up everywhere. Last season it was the Time Masters' HQ.)

It even gives Supergirl some feet of clay with her unexamined racism toward Daxamites. That was a bit heavy-handed, but it got the point across.

Meanwhile, after a season on CBS without any LGBT characters in the show, we get Maggie Sawyer portrayed overtly as lesbian from the start -- and having clear romantic tension with Alex from the very moment they meet. That seems like a change for the better.

.

I immediately got the vibe that the detective was LGBT by the way she came off as being flirty with Alex ... and then the bar scene reinforced that when she said one of the alien women was her ex. On that note, has it ever been established whether Alex herself is gay or bi?

I loved Madam President Wonder Woman on this episode. She tells Kara, "If you think that's cool, you should see my other jet."

J'onn is no longer the lone survivor from Mars, but isn't Megan Morse supposed to be a white Martian? It would be fun to see her as an ally of Team Supergirl.

I liked Dichen Lachmann on Agents of SHIELD, so I'm looking forward to seeing her Roulette character next episode.

 

[tomalak301]

Good episode tonight but all that stuff at the end came up really fast I wonder if it was a little overstuffed. It was like each different scene was trying to outshock the previous scene.

Other than that, I enjoyed this one. Regarding the preachiness, Supergirl has been known to be a little preachy every now and then, especially in the first episode and that whole scene between Kat and Kara. It was nice commentary for the times in which we live and I didn't feel like it was heavy handed at all. I also enjoyed the alien safe haven scene and I'm looking forward to seeing more Maggie as the season goes on. I'm not sure I'm for an Alex and Maggie relationship but it could be interesting.

 

[Aragorn]

Supergirl spinning to put the fire out made me think of the Lynda Carter Wonder Woman spin.

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

^ Which was their intention.

 

[Mudd]

Hillary may be wanting in the charisma department, but she doesn't talk like Earth is her second planet.

Well, perhaps not always.

 

[Christopher]

This episode confirms what I suspected before -- that there would be an alien containment facility in the new DEO HQ, instead of the desert-HQ set being rebuilt just for the cells. Which leads me to renew my question about how wise it is to hold alien prisoners in the middle of the city. Although maybe it's just a temporary holding facility with the desert being more long-term incarceration. Still, the new cell is a major improvement on the old -- it actually has a bed and presumably other facilities.

I immediately got the vibe that the detective was LGBT by the way she came off as being flirty with Alex ... and then the bar scene reinforced that when she said one of the alien women was her ex. On that note, has it ever been established whether Alex herself is gay or bi?

Nothing's been established about Alex's love life aside from the hints of flirtation with Max Lord last season. But in her first scene with Maggie, with the way the characters stood and interacted and the camera work and such, I actually got a stronger "sexual tension" vibe off Alex than Maggie.

J'onn is no longer the lone survivor from Mars, but isn't Megan Morse supposed to be a white Martian?

That's what I suspect. M'gann didn't change into a Green Martian until after she'd seen J'onn in that form. So it could be protective camouflage -- maybe she's really a White Martian and doesn't want J'onn to find out, much like Young Justice's M'gann with her teammates. They could be heading for an arc paralleling Kara's arc with Mon-El, aliens learning to overcome their historic conflict.

I liked Dichen Lachmann on Agents of SHIELD, so I'm looking forward to seeing her Roulette character next episode.

Always glad to see her.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Megan being a white Martian would explain why her initial reaction was to split upon seeing John's green Martian form, instead of sharing.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Yeah, that one was a bit heavy handed as mentioned. I thought it was odd though to have President Carter be an alien which would seem to undermine the message of alien amnesty. Like I could see the "build the wall" types feeling vindicated by that outcome. "See, she's one of them! Of course, she wants to let 'em in, just like the liburals."

Is that bazooka Alex's go-to weapon now? Seems a bit awkward but I guess for the threats she has to face it makes sense (though she seems to have a fair amount of resilience to alien power attacks).

I thought Maggie took Alex to a lesbian bar at first. The actress definitely sold her proclivity from the start.

These shows seem to really stick to their patterns: Flash is full of speedsters, Arrow is full of archers, Supergirl is full of Kryptonianish aliens. Legends of Tomorrow gets to break this up a little bit thankfully just due to the nature of its makeup. And just how many aliens are on Earth? Seems quite a fair number, and they all seem to be the last of their kind...

It's been explicitly and repeatedly established in the show that, yes, El is a family name on Krypton. Clark and Kara belong to the House of El. But that doesn't mean it's impossible for the syllable to have a different usage in Daxamite names. Heck, lot of languages have the "el" syllable in them -- like, say, Hebrew (Gabriel, Michael, etc.). It could just be a coincidence.

That is worthy of a political spin room.

 

[Christopher]

Yeah, that one was a bit heavy handed as mentioned. I thought it was odd though to have President Carter be an alien which would seem to undermine the message of alien amnesty.

Apparently her name is President Olivia Marsdin (based on two of Wonder Woman's co-creators, William Moulton Marston and Olive Byrne). Odd that they didn't seem to use it in dialogue.

These shows seem to really stick to their patterns: Flash is full of speedsters, Arrow is full of archers, Supergirl is full of Kryptonianish aliens. Legends of Tomorrow gets to break this up a little bit thankfully just due to the nature of its makeup.

Pretty much par for the superhero course. Heroes need villains that are appropriate to their powers and approach. I'd argue that Legends fits the pattern too, because its villains tend to be either time travelers (the Time Masters, the Reverse Flash) or immortals (Vandal Savage, Damien Darhk).

And just how many aliens are on Earth? Seems quite a fair number, and they all seem to be the last of their kind...

Well, a lot of them are refugees. The question is why they choose Earth in particular, though.

That is worthy of a political spin room.

Huh? It's hardly controversial to point out that a simple, commonplace syllable like "El" would exist in a whole bunch of different languages.

Maybe you'd prefer a suggestion I just read on Facebook -- that since Krypton and Daxam were sister planets in this reality, it stands to reason that they would've influenced each other's cultures and languages. Maybe "El" is a common family name in both languages, like how Li/Lee is a common surname in both China and Korea.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

Maybe you'd prefer a suggestion I just read on Facebook -- that since Krypton and Daxam were sister planets in this reality, it stands to reason that they would've influenced each other's cultures and languages. Maybe "El" is a common family name in both languages, like how Li/Lee is a common surname in both China and Korea.

Makes sense to me.

 

[DigificWriter]

Mon-El (with the spelling of M'Onel) is also the Martian word for "wanderer", as per the post-Zero-Hour Legion of Superheroes comics, so it's not exclusively a Kryptonian derivative name.

My review of Welcome to Earth:
This episode reminded me of last season's Truth, Justice, and the American Way in that it dealt with the concept of aliens and American values, while also expanding the narrative mythos of the series.

I've never seen the 1970s Wonder Woman series and therefore don't really have any sentimental attachment to Lynda Carter as an actress, but I liked her President Marsdin a lot, although I'm not sure what the point of revealing her as an alien was since it seemed to undermine the strength of her position.

I understand what they're trying to do with Snapper Carr, but he's a really poor substitute for Cat Grant and needs to be written differently if I'm going to even remotely care about him and see him as anything other than an annoying jack***. Watching him get verbally smacked down by James was a highlight of the episode, and my reaction was pretty much the same as Kara's.

I really like Maggie Sawyer and am glad that Alex has someone to play off of, but I'm not feeling any sort of 'attraction vibe' whatsoever between the two of them.

Kara and Lena Luthor are another story, though. The two of them were laying down some major 'heat' in both of their scenes together, even though they were at odds in the first one, and I'm more convinced than I already was that the writers are building towards Kara realizing that she's at the very least bisexual.

I don't know how J'onn/Hank found out about Maggie's alien hangout spot, but his first meeting with M'gann was pretty cool, and it sounds as if they've made her an actual Green Martian as opposed to a White Martian masquerading as a Green Martian, which is good because it simplifies things for general audiences.

All in all, I think Welcome to Earth is the best of the three Season 2 episodes aired so far, giving us some really good world-building and setting up some nice stories for the future, such as Kara and Mon-El getting to know each other, J'onn and M'gann getting to know each other, and the the tension of whether or not the Alien Amnesty Act will actually work.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Apparently her name is President Olivia Marsdin (based on two of Wonder Woman's co-creators, William Moulton Marston and Olive Byrne). Odd that they didn't seem to use it in dialogue.

I just liked the President Carter pun.

Maybe you'd prefer a suggestion I just read on Facebook -- that since Krypton and Daxam were sister planets in this reality, it stands to reason that they would've influenced each other's cultures and languages. Maybe "El" is a common family name in both languages, like how Li/Lee is a common surname in both China and Korea.

I do think that sounds a little less contrived (not meant with negative connotation).

 

[Christopher]

I really like Maggie Sawyer and am glad that Alex has someone to play off of, but I'm not feeling any sort of 'attraction vibe' whatsoever between the two of them.

Surprised to hear that. I have a history of not noticing same-sex subtext (though maybe less so now than I used to), but I felt the romantic tension between them was obvious right off the bat. And I've seen others online saying the same thing.

Kara and Lena Luthor are another story, though. The two of them were laying down some major 'heat' in both of their scenes together, even though they were at odds in the first one, and I'm more convinced than I already was that the writers are building towards Kara realizing that she's at the very least bisexual.

I agree Katie McGrath is giving Benoist some smoldering looks, but I'm not sure I've ever seen McGrath look at anything in a way that wasn't smoldering. That's just kind of built into her face.

I don't know how J'onn/Hank found out about Maggie's alien hangout spot

Because Alex knew about it and agents give reports to their bosses, I assume. Or possibly he already heard about it through the alien grapevine or whatever, but didn't have the courage to go until now.

, but his first meeting with M'gann was pretty cool, and it sounds as if they've made her an actual Green Martian as opposed to a White Martian masquerading as a Green Martian, which is good because it simplifies things for general audiences.

I didn't see anything that would rule out her being a White Martian. As I said, we didn't see her adopt a Green Martian form until after she saw that J'onn was one, so she could've been adopting the disguise for his benefit. And her first reaction to J'onn was to run away. Why would she have done that if she were really a Green Martian? Wouldn't she have been thrilled to find that she wasn't the only one left?

 

[DigificWriter]

@Christopher:
I'm basing the conclusion that they've made M'gann an actual Green Martian both on what we see and things that the producers have said about her and J'onn's relationship dynamic and their reasoning for bringing her into the show.

Kara was giving Lena as much 'side-eye' as Lena was giving her, and it's happened in all of the scenes the characters have shared thus far.

 

[John Clark]

Well, they just aired the first episode here last night so I'm a little late to the party.

I did enjoy Tyler as Clark and Katie as Lena. (I can also see why people are shipping Kara/Lena)
Enjoyed Alex kicking ass too.

I did think the James situation was mishandled though. Glad the show's back.

(They also had a few adverts with Keep Calm and Kara on though).

 

[UssGlenn]

Well, a lot of them are refugees. The question is why they choose Earth in particular, though.

Reminds me of MIB
"Did you ever seen the movie Casablanca? Same thing, 'cept no Nazis."

 

[Christopher]

@Christopher:
I'm basing the conclusion that they've made M'gann an actual Green Martian both on what we see...

Which is obviously inconclusive when discussing shapeshifters.

and things that the producers have said about her

Which could be deliberately misleading if they want to surprise the audience. (Cumberbatch isn't Khan, honest!)

and J'onn's relationship dynamic and their reasoning for bringing her into the show.

Unless you've been in the writers' room, you're only guessing what their reasoning is. And having J'onn get close to M'gann and then learn she's a member of the race he despises has clear possibilities as a relationship dynamic.

Kara was giving Lena as much 'side-eye' as Lena was giving her, and it's happened in all of the scenes the characters have shared thus far.

Possibly. But it's too early to say for sure.

 

[DigificWriter]

The producers have spelled out their reasoning behind bringing M'gann into the series pretty clearly and succinctly in interviews they've given talking about the show recently (especially Andrew Kreisberg). They brought her in to be someone for J'onn to connect with and bond with over not being the last survivor of his kind, and it would drastically undermine that idea if she were to be a White Martian in disguise.