Spoilers Supergirl - Season 3

Vancouver has an Aquarium, Melissa Benoist was there and posted that pic on her instagram.

 

GOD YES SO MUCH!!!

 

Mon-El in his new costume: http://tvline.com/2018/04/09/supergirl-season-3-episode-15-mon-el-new-suit-costume-photos/

 

The lack of puffy sleeves is disappointing.

 

On the one hand, that suit looks really good. On the other hand, brainiac 5 was a travesty, and easily the worst costuming/make up disaster in any modern superhero show, and every other legionnaire dresses like they're members of the fucking X-Men circa the original movie. Really, I'm to the point where I'm almost as pissed off at supergirl for ruining the Legion of Superheroes as I am for Legends of tomorrow for taking a piss on the JSA, and a decent looking Mon-El suit won't fix that. I'm really glad I dropped this show, its nicer to be able to laugh and make snide comments about it instead of completely losing my mind.

 

Yeah, that's a costuming choice I really don't care for. I'm also not sure why they did it, since this show hasn't typically been afraid of a little color or seemingly ashamed of its comic book origins (which is how I usually interpret the let's-put-them-all-in-black-leather approach -- because colorful costumes are just an embarrassment, right?).

Probably healthier, given the ... er, idiosyncratic criteria you bring to bear on these things. For myself, I love the show, and eagerly await its impending return.

 

It’s Jerry’s fault.

 

Supergirl--
"Schott Through the Heart"

SG/Kara: "I cant be the one you talk to about this" While that seems like the reasonable response, you know where that's going with Mon El. I'm just waiting for one of the Legion to spill Kara (and everyone else's) fate to her.

Winn / Mary McGowan: His feelings of abandonment were understandable, but his brotherly talk with James (always welcome scenes) was just the bridge he needed to stop hating his mother. Hopefully, their rekindled relationship stays out of the dysfunctional zone.

James: Note James playing "chase Lena" (phone) while revealing he's feeling more for her...but Lena's not at that point yet--if ever. Of course, Lena not checking in for a few days suggests the plot thickening in some unfortunate manner. See Lena.

Supergirl asks James to "take the little one", so she's finally confident that he can hold his own against out of the ordinary opponents without worrying about his safety.

James admitting he blames his mother for his father's death. Interesting.

Lena: Yep, having Samantha a L-Corp custody just screams backstabbing in the making.

Alex / Myr'nn: Myr'nn suffering from Martian dementia. That is going to be grueling, and ultimately leaving J'onn feeling like the isolated alien once again, no matter what he feels for Alex & Kara as a surrogate family.

Mon-El: As if we did not know all of that "buddy" stuff with Kara was not going to lead to the predictable.
Toy(wo)man 2.0: "So rare to find a superhero in mint condition" Nerds everywhere screamed in joy--even as Kara was being packaged.

NOTES:
Finally--this series adds a brief commentary on race--about J'onn being comfortable with his adopted color, and his father's quick observation on early black rock pioneers being not being credited/compensated for their creations.

Alright, the Karaoke scene was funny...and strange at the same time.

Metcalf as Mary McGowan was good casting, as she's never had a problem playing quirky, which is what any character with a long relationship with the Toyman would need to be

Come on! Three seasons in, and the "flying monkey" CG was terrible.

GRADE: B

 

Some good stuff this week, drama-wise. A fantastic performance from Jeremy Jordan when Winn confronted his mother about his anger. And the stuff with Alex and the J'onzzes was effective.

But they really weakened Supergirl in the climactic action. What was that "action figure" blister pack supposed to be made of that she couldn't burn through it or break out of it? And why were she and Mon-El just walking through the factory instead of searching at superspeed? I know they needed Winn and his mother to be the ones to save the day, but they could've set that up more plausibly.

 

Early this year David Harewood was part of public discussion in Washington DC with numerous Black cast members from the DC tv shows. He made a comment about J'onn as a shapeshifter choose to be a Black man. Which really stood out to me at the time because it was his insight into the character that had never appeared on the show. What he said was very similar to what J'onn said tonight. Glad to see David is having influence on the writing.

I was happy to learn that in the future Mon-El already has wore is red and blue costume with the cape. It's just currently damaged. Which is a huge improvement compared to what happened with Jay Garrick on The Flash. Those writers stuck with the idea that the helmet was Hunter Zolomon/Zoom's father's. Which the real Jay just is copying now... so the real Jay ran around with no helmet for years...

 

I was surprised they didn't have J'onn tie it into his experiences back on Mars, where his people were exterminated by bigoted White Martians. There's a pretty obvious parallel, and it would've made sense for him to say that he refused to accept the same thing happening again.

I don't think that follows. After all, it was established as a vintage military helmet, so there must've been millions of them on that Earth. I assume Zolomon just modified his father's helmet into a double of the Flash's helmet.

 

There was a comic book reference I should caught but learned from an online review. Toyman's female successor's name was Jacqueline Nimball. In the 1970s a new Toyman was introduced named Jack Nimball. His jester costume design was used when Toyman was a member of the Legion of Doom on Super Friends. That is the only way most know of that version of Toyman.

By the time he appeared on the show the comics had already killed off Jack Nimball. It was revealed that Winslow P Schott had gone into retirement but was angry when Nimball copied his name and methods . So Schott came out of retirement and killed off his copycat.

 

Oh, of course -- Jack B. Nimball, as in the nursery rhyme. I remember now. I was wondering if the character was comics-based.

Come to think of it, the jester doll that Schott sent to Winn in the season 1 Toyman episode was modeled on the Jack B. Nimball Toyman.

 

The flying monkeys kinda reminded me of the parademons that we saw in Justice League.

 

Ahh! Sort of.

 

I was actually reminded of Dr. Ivo's flying robot monkeys from "Young Justice".

 

Everyone realizes the actual allusion was to the flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz, right? (Made explicit by the "Surrender Mary" skywriting.)

 

Considering the title, I was surprised there was no Bon Jovi in the karaoke bar

 

Yes, of course.

 

Supergirl--
"In Search of Lost Time"

SG/Kara: "Unresolved issues" with Mon-El, according to Alex...and the telegraphed scripts week after week...

Myr'nn's psychic effect on SG is wasted drama, since its clear her rant will boil down to a "I did not mean that" scene, then back to the usual, including marital bliss interrupted...

Jor-El reference. Not significant, but it was nice to hear anything about the other side of the family..

James: I've seen some clips from next week's episode...which explains his limited role in this story. Lena getting James to agree to secrets....yeah, that's going to work out...next week.

Lena / Samantha: Lena must have some sort of end game in mind in taunting Samantha--such as tapping into her full potential for....something.

Alex: "By the grace of God...". I see Alex is warning up to faith to a degree.
J'onn / Myr'nn: Dear 'ol dad's mental breakdown sending out negative psychic waves to influence behavior...sort of a "Day of the Dove" situation, only the trigger is not consciously trying to spark hostility.

Carl Lumbly is the best thing happening in the series during this back half of the season, but the nature of Myr'nn's condition screams

Mon-El: "I think its time we made you a Legionnaire". Down the road, this could be a backdoor wrap up for Supergirl whenever the series comes to its end.

I saw photos of the Mon-El costume last week, and in keeping with present day trends in superhero adaptations, the colors are muted. It would have been nice to see something bright to be that one contrast / nod to actual comic book coloring.

NOTES: 2nd week of the gang hanging out. Seems like the calm before the storm.

Bad CG J'onn and other creatures....yikes.

GRADE: C