David Ajala was pretty good in Falling Water, especially the superior first season. Obviously once you do "genre" actors are expected to slum for the rest of your life, getting no respect. About the only actors who get away with it are British stage actors with an established reputation, and Tom Cruise.
Supergirl - Season Four
- Thread starter Kai "the spy"
- Start date
You have two ears and two eyes and two programs to watch... I'm just saying, multitasking is the way
I suck at multi-tasking.
I was actually going to guess that the guy at the end was Manchester Black, just based off of his clothes. He's a weird choice for Supergirl (I really can't see the character working unless they firmly establish that he fought Superman first), but an interesting one. I'm guessing that Brainiac is in some kind of human disguise to explain why he's not in make up (which would usually be annoying to me, but anything is better then seeing that awful Brainiac 5 make up).
I'm only part way through watching Season 3 of Supergirl on Netflix, but I might have to keep going and try out Season 4, just because Witwer and Manchester Black are interesting.
Yeah, I'm not a fan of the makeup for Brainy either.
I did think of one reason why it might have ended up the way it did, green screen. I'm not sure if they use green or blue screen, but if they do use green screens, then he can't be green, because if he was he might disappear.
Well, they definitely use green screens sometimes (Kevin Smith tweeted a picture from the supergirl set in front of a green screen recently), but I got to believe that this has come up in other shows and work arounds have been discovered. Honestly, even if he was green the make up would still look weird and....cheap, I guess is the right word.
In a few weeks Outlander is back too, so for me this is turning into a trilemma.
And TCM is showing vintage horror movies every Sunday night in October.
Brainy being blue-skinned also has animated precedence:
Oh god, I forgot about that. I guess the name "Coluan" in the Arrowverse must translate as "Godawful make up job"
.Eh, thinking about it they have screwed over literally every Legion member shown on screen (Saturn Girl isn't a British brunette, Mon-El isn't a prince and Daxam isn't next to Krypton,etc), so it would actually be inconsistent in brainiac 5 resembled the real version in any way.
One thing I keep thinking about is how Smallville has ended up being easily the best DC live action show ever when it comes to things like costuming and adapting many different superheroes, which is hilarious from a show made by people who refused to let Superman fly or wear a costume. Still, they hit it out of the part with the JSA, Martian Manhunter, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes version), Zatanna, etc. Sure, their Aquaman, Cyborg and Flash weren't very good from a costume point of view, and its Green Arrow and Black Canary I'm a bit indifferent about, but its still an impressive track record for a show a lot of people nowadays dismiss.
Supergirl--
"American Alien" - Season 4 premiere
SG/Kara: Of course that "under control" line was the tip off for the season being anything but smooth sailing for SG.Making Supergirl play clueless & arrogant in her conversation with J'onn (her not thinking there was a hate crime committed as part of the break-in) is a poor set up to make the Very Special Speech of the Week. Subtlety, folks, its not a lost art in screenwriting, and the message does not have to come at the expense of the series lead.
James and Lena: James wanting to handle things through the D.A. was expected, but their seemingly happy relationship will undoubtedly go the spoiled route when Lena steps in. Once he finds out, I still see her being a ticking time bomb for James, in one screw-tuning way or another. I think it no secret James--despite the D.A.'s warning--will become the Guardian again, and at that point, I would like to see all Hell break loose with the vigilante angle not going away quietly.
Alex: She's very frustrated in her new position. I can imagine where that will go as her sister's double goes on the rampage and she's forced to act against her, but at least the series addressed losing Winn was part of her dressing down of Brainy.
SM/Clark: So, Superman is "off world". I'm guessing that means he will drop in when SG2.0 is too much to handle, or James is facing prison time when he's back in costume.
Nia Nal / Dreamer: Making her a newbie was an odd choice, considering where the character will go. Sure, someone has to be the new intern, but I'm hoping her journey is not just a re-tread of Kara's early years.
Mama Luthor and Mercy: With Marsdin exposed as an alien, the showrunners cannot play down the outrage a population would have toward that. To comment on real events to any degree demands that the Supergirl characters mirror that outrage, and how there would be no universal call for acceptance.
NOTES: Nuance and subtlety were tossed out of the window (again): according to SG, the anti-alien campaign is "bigger than anything" Supergirl has ever faced? Really? So all of those potentially world-ending threats over the past three years were not as bad as xenophobic terrorists…..okay. It must be remembered that at the time she said that, she only believed Mercy, Otis and Cadmus stragglers were behind the attacks, so her statement was nonsensical.
4 seasons in, and the CG is just as low rent as always. That's not acceptable this late in the CG as standard EFX game (now well over two decades old).
Still, there is some potential here in this opener, but I just hope the James storyline (which is the most grounded of all in the series) is not smothered by the anti-alien plot.
GRADE: C+
"American Alien" - Season 4 premiere
SG/Kara: Of course that "under control" line was the tip off for the season being anything but smooth sailing for SG.Making Supergirl play clueless & arrogant in her conversation with J'onn (her not thinking there was a hate crime committed as part of the break-in) is a poor set up to make the Very Special Speech of the Week. Subtlety, folks, its not a lost art in screenwriting, and the message does not have to come at the expense of the series lead.
James and Lena: James wanting to handle things through the D.A. was expected, but their seemingly happy relationship will undoubtedly go the spoiled route when Lena steps in. Once he finds out, I still see her being a ticking time bomb for James, in one screw-tuning way or another. I think it no secret James--despite the D.A.'s warning--will become the Guardian again, and at that point, I would like to see all Hell break loose with the vigilante angle not going away quietly.
Alex: She's very frustrated in her new position. I can imagine where that will go as her sister's double goes on the rampage and she's forced to act against her, but at least the series addressed losing Winn was part of her dressing down of Brainy.
SM/Clark: So, Superman is "off world". I'm guessing that means he will drop in when SG2.0 is too much to handle, or James is facing prison time when he's back in costume.
Nia Nal / Dreamer: Making her a newbie was an odd choice, considering where the character will go. Sure, someone has to be the new intern, but I'm hoping her journey is not just a re-tread of Kara's early years.
Mama Luthor and Mercy: With Marsdin exposed as an alien, the showrunners cannot play down the outrage a population would have toward that. To comment on real events to any degree demands that the Supergirl characters mirror that outrage, and how there would be no universal call for acceptance.
NOTES: Nuance and subtlety were tossed out of the window (again): according to SG, the anti-alien campaign is "bigger than anything" Supergirl has ever faced? Really? So all of those potentially world-ending threats over the past three years were not as bad as xenophobic terrorists…..okay. It must be remembered that at the time she said that, she only believed Mercy, Otis and Cadmus stragglers were behind the attacks, so her statement was nonsensical.
4 seasons in, and the CG is just as low rent as always. That's not acceptable this late in the CG as standard EFX game (now well over two decades old).
Still, there is some potential here in this opener, but I just hope the James storyline (which is the most grounded of all in the series) is not smothered by the anti-alien plot.
GRADE: C+
Pretty solid and promising premiere, I thought. So far they're managing to make their (very relevant) sociopolitical points in a way that's obvious but not clumsy. Scenes like Kara discovering the Graveses' computer room, or her comment to the effect of, "They're the people I save every day," give the themes a dramatic resonance that makes the crucial difference between storytelling and proselytizing.
It may not have the physical immediacy of those threats, but in a way it's darker and more insidious, because it goes to the country's very essence and moral core -- its soul, if you will. This is the country, the world, the people Kara has adopted and fights for, and it's as unsettling for her has it has been for many of us to be confronted so starkly with the ugliness hiding in the hearts of so many. And it's a much harder adversary to battle, because again, it's part of the very people she seeks to protect.
Talking about Fear makes it sound GL related. Colour should be yellow BTW.
At least they gave us an explanation where Superman is. That's better than most of the other seasons.
Yet another Boston Legal star to guest star. Hopefully one day they get Shatner.
Also, Russians get a super and that's the best thing they can think of? Making tunnels?
At least they gave us an explanation where Superman is. That's better than most of the other seasons.
Yet another Boston Legal star to guest star. Hopefully one day they get Shatner.
Also, Russians get a super and that's the best thing they can think of? Making tunnels?
Pretty impressive premiere, with a nice big action opening and a solid job of establishing the character and story arcs for the season. It looks like they're trying to refocus on both the CatCo/journalism stuff from season 1 and the aliens-on-Earth elements from season 2, which is good, since I felt season 3 kind of lost touch with some of those elements. On the other hand, they seem to have decided that the whole Guardian thing is done for good, which isn't the way I was hoping things would go after James's reveal (since the point of that arc was that he wanted people to see his face when he was being a hero).
As for the end twist with Marsdin, I saw that coming a mile away. Heck, I saw it coming as soon as it was announced months ago that they'd cast the vice president (and were doing an arc about anti-alien hate).
I was glad to hear that Superman got to visit Argo City, reconnect with some surviving Kryptonians. Also interesting to get some more insight into Lex's criminal past, and a name drop for Bruno "Ugly" Manheim (who in the comics is the head of Intergang and an agent of Darkseid).
I was pleasantly surprised to see Star Wars Rebels' Tiya Sircar as a guest star, and really disappointed that they killed her off, because her voice with an English accent is really sexy. But since her killer was played (or at least voiced) by Sam Witwer, that means Darth Maul just killed Sabine Wren.
As for the end twist with Marsdin, I saw that coming a mile away. Heck, I saw it coming as soon as it was announced months ago that they'd cast the vice president (and were doing an arc about anti-alien hate).
I was glad to hear that Superman got to visit Argo City, reconnect with some surviving Kryptonians. Also interesting to get some more insight into Lex's criminal past, and a name drop for Bruno "Ugly" Manheim (who in the comics is the head of Intergang and an agent of Darkseid).
I was pleasantly surprised to see Star Wars Rebels' Tiya Sircar as a guest star, and really disappointed that they killed her off, because her voice with an English accent is really sexy. But since her killer was played (or at least voiced) by Sam Witwer, that means Darth Maul just killed Sabine Wren.
Everything DEO is still a snore.
Feel positive about Jesse Rath, Alak on Defiance, but being a tedious dork is merely conflict, which is not drama but comedy. Worse, it's petty conflict. Winn had the Toyman thing to hint at agency, though the show never used it. Brainy has less than nothing, is disinteresting.
Nia Nal? Who makes up these names, comic book writers?
Lillian Luthor gave up Bruno Mannheim on purpose.
Feel positive about Jesse Rath, Alak on Defiance, but being a tedious dork is merely conflict, which is not drama but comedy. Worse, it's petty conflict. Winn had the Toyman thing to hint at agency, though the show never used it. Brainy has less than nothing, is disinteresting.
Nia Nal? Who makes up these names, comic book writers?
Lillian Luthor gave up Bruno Mannheim on purpose.
