phoenics

I think the weirdest part of the dynamic to me is the whole binding thing and Nyssa making a baby in a test tube instantly. Somehow in the past I always thought of that process still taking months and months to finish? But right after binding she was able to take the baby? Weird.

Except there isn't a question about who deserves what. That's not what love is. You don't do anything to "deserve" some dude - it's just love, which is a choice. Seg isn't sitting there weighing Lyta vs Nyssa - Nyssa isn't even on his radar that way - only Lyta is. The show has been pretty damn clear that this is a story of star-crossed love between Seg and Lyta and all of the drama and dynamics that spin out from that. What's funny is this isn't even a triangle. If we're gonna be clear - it's a quad. Dev actually was closer to Lyta than Nyssa ever got to Seg. And even he realized that it was all about Lyta and Seg. The only one who hasn't seemed to get that yet is Nyssa, lol. I was pretty clear about why I believed GC's performance has been great - her BAFTA award is just me adding receipts. Do with that what you will. She's still the female lead and I hope she doesn't go anywhere unless she's good and ready - not because she got pushed out for reasons.

Hmmm... Georgina Chapman is a BAFTA award winning actress, so... I personally find Lyta, dynamic, complex and the actress has managed to give Lyta depth in a really powerful arc of star-crossed love, a fall from grace, incredible pain and torment and finally redemption. I once had a really engaging conversation with one of my friends (a tv showrunner) about how powerful tropes and stereotypes can be in writing and how sometimes similar actresses (to Georgina C) are referred to as boring and bland when they don't embody the sassy sidekick role like they've usually been relegated to play. I remember Gwen from Merlin (played by Angel Coulby) was characterized similarly. I remember reading a great article about that - about how it's so unusual to see a character embodied by a black actress be allowed to simply be "sweet" and "nice" instead of the usual sassy spitfire stereotype we've been ... treated ... to for so long. Sometimes if those characters aren't "sassy" ... to some they sadly become "invisible or bland". Personally it's really nice to get a range of personalities for black women characters. I know a lot of writers sometimes feel they have to make their black characters "perfect" in order shield them from unconscious bias and racism (my friend and I talked about this specifically), but it's great that they've made Lyta complex enough to be nice and sweet, but also tough as nails and also flawed - she makes mistakes and isn't infallible. I also love that she's given an interior life - like her mother has been too. I love that we got both Jayna AND Lyta - two great women. But I do believe that characters like Jayna are the "norm" for black women actresses and roles like Lyta usually aren't embodied by black women actresses. The norm is for those roles to be embodied by white women. And I think in general societal winds still rest more easily when the latter is the case. I'm really glad the producers and writers of this show haven't gone down that path and given us both a strong character in Jayna AND in Lyta, showing you can have variety in the characters you make available for black women actresses. I daresay Krypton has done a lot better with Lyta than The Flash has done with Iris (and I love Iris).

To be honest - after the end of S1 I had that fear just based on how the story turned (Lyta suddenly going so "bad" and Nyssa all of a sudden being "good") and how much the show promoted the 5th billed white actress over their black lead. I almost vowed not to come back. But I watched the first episode and felt a tiny shred of hope. The show appears to be avoiding those horrid "bait and switch" tropes in the writing of S2. It's surprising me, which is unexpected. I expect this show will have many twists and turns, but as long as the show doesn't marginalize Lyta, or bait and switch in the process for reasons, I'll be fine.

This is a strange framing of what's aired, imo. First off - Nyssa didn't set her sights on Seg. She wasn't watching him from afar, watching him in his affair with Lyta, pining. She was set up just as he was after he did something heroic. And IIRC, she wasn't even interested in the match and initially only got on the side of good because she found out she was a clone, had an identity crisis, and made a baby in a test tube. It wasn't about Seg at all for her. Her "fall in love with her baby daddy" trope even though she never even slept with him and hasn't had any real interaction with him except with the full knowledge that he is completely in love with Lyta just frames her as slopping up Lyta's leftovers. Basically, Lyta had to die for her ship to happen - er, not even happen. Seg wasn't even moving toward her that way. He might have - but he would never love her the way he loves Lyta. Honestly - she had more of a connection with that resistance fighter she slept with.

I wish I'd read further before my response - I totally agree. I too found it manipulative. Also - them showing her being sad at Lyta's return really cast her in a bad light, imo. That's not a good look for Superman's Grandmother. And I know this is subjective, but I just don't see any chemistry between Nyssa and Seg. He gives nothing back in his scenes with her, imo. She tries really hard to "make fetch happen" but it's awkward at best. Especially when you compare how Seg looks at Lyta, vs even when Seg/Nyssa had that awkward kiss in S1. What do you mean the show has been clear on all of that? That it's about Lyta and Seg? Or Nyssa? I got confused. To me, the show has clearly shown that Nyssa is Dev's counterpart - someone with unrequited love for someone who is in love with the love of his/her life.

I agree about Nyssa telling Seg. I thought that was really selfish - especially right on the heels of Lyta coming back. Actually scratch that - I felt it was more manipulative than selfish. Nyssa needs a friend to confide in - confiding to Seg only puts him in the position of having to knowingly hurt her constantly. Which is really unfair to Seg because he's not responsible for her feelings. She should have protected her feelings better. Contrary to popular belief, you can choose who you love. She should try that and stop manipulating Seg with her emotions. What's crazy to me is how fast she was trying to move in on Seg after Lyta died. I mean - it was days, if that. I'm SO glad Lyta isn't dead. I was almost sure these producers were gonna make Lyta die for that ship and the status quo. I've been jaded by Sleepy Hollow, Twisted and so many other shows.

That wasn't self defense though - that was ninja level fighting, with the heroic "I did that ish" at the end. It was comically, ridiculously unrealistic. *gasp* Maybe it was an ode to Zack Snyder? I mean they chose the wrong character for it but the entire sequence felt like 300.

I really am not sure - other than they wanted to use slow motion effects? Because it made zero sense for the character to be that well trained in combat. She's not a Sagitari - so where did all that come from? She lived her whole life sheltered and away from combat - unless I forgot something? The writers need to be careful not to turn Nyssa into a Mary Sue character who can magically do anything and everything because reasons, because that's what she seems to be turning into. I would have preferred it if they'd kept her as being a character who manages to get by via her wits - her dad was cunning - it would make sense that she'd do that... but battle? I laughed throughout that entire ridiculous scene. If the show stuck to its own canon (what they aired), she wouldn't be able to take out the two Sagitari she killed in the previous episode when she escaped with the Cortex and she wouldn't be slicing folks up with knives like Jason Bourne in this episode either. At least the show acknowledged how unrealistic it was for her to do all that double-spy stuff she did by having Seg say outloud that it was unrealistic, lol - but seriously. Ridiculous. I hope the show doesn't think all of the women have to be badass to be viable. It actually feels a bit unfair to Jayna and Lyta to have Nyssa look so capable in battle when she has zero training and they've had a lifetime. Lyta fighting Zod was amazing though - and we know she was trained and earned every last punch.

I couldn't agree more with this. I think the writers have bent over backwards to show how in love Lyta/Seg are and how badass Lyta has been and continues to be. They've shown she was victimized and brutalized. I'm so glad she's not dead. I was worried the show caved in to the BS for a moment. But it was enlightening to uncover people's true feelings about Lyta - such a sharp turn from the "Oh I loved Lyta" platitudes when she was thought to be dead to the "she should just go away" admonishments now that she's not dead. Good for the producers not killing off their female lead.

It really didn't establish Nyssa/Seg as a couple. At all. They've already had Jor-El. And any future babies could still be had the SAME way they had Jor. Genetically in a test tube. Especially if the Man of Steel Canon is holding for this show. Neither Jor-El or Zor-El can be natural births.

If you go by the canon established in Man of Steel (which came from several Supes graphic novels, Earth 1, Birthright and Secret Origins), only Kal El was born a natural birth out of a love match. Other babies on Krypton were born via genetic engineering. Without the Zod/El star-crossed situation, this show falls flat, imo. If they hadn't brought Lyta back, I was giving up on the show because that was the most interesting angle this show had. That and she was second billed. It seems strange to cast GC as second-billed and female lead (there are news articles proclaiming that she is) and then kill her off so quickly unless 1) they were gonna bring her back or 2) they changed direction.

Damn. This is accurate AF.

I hated that they did that to The Flash - it lowered its rating unfairly because its episode happened on Sunday instead of Tuesday. Arrow didn't really earn that rating, tbh. That was scheduling chicanery.

I really hope they get some black women writers.