S06.E09: Dream Weaver

[scarynikki12]

Quote

Kelly meets Joey, a young orphaned alien boy, who is acting out in foster care because he fears there is something wrong with his brother Orlando, who is incarcerated.

 

[Primal Slayer]

I know Aliens living out and about all over National City has been Supergirls thing since practically day 1 so they could do their own immigration type subplots but I wish COIE got rid of that aspect so they could explore Earth getting used to Aliens that arent Superman/Supergirl. It doesn't really gel with the rest of the Arrowverse.

Like where did these thousands of Aliens come from that decided to refuge in national city? Advancent technology to get to Earth but then robbing stores to get money.

[thuganomics85]

Heh, kind of fun seeing Susan Hogan as the foster lady since she also played Nate's mom on Legends of Tomorrow.  Chalk it up to Crisis, I guess!

Supergirl continuing to tackle all social issues, I see.  This time going after both corruption in prisons and the issues with the foster system.  I wonder how many more hot button issues will be challenged before this series comes to an end!

It kind of sucks that they waited this long to really give Kelly some meaty material, but Azie Tesfai is really shining here.  Hope this isn't the last time we see her and Kelly in the Arrowverse.

Looks like Katie McGrath and Jesse Rath got to take a break for this episode!

I barely have the energy to gripe anymore about how boring I find all of the Catco stuff and Andrea doing her best impression of J. Jonah Jameson really isn't making it any better.

Nia might have just unleashed Nxy on everyone.  Whoops!

[cambridgeguy]

Ah yes, as always the best way to solve complex social issues is for a normal human to put on a costume and go punch things.  Training montage time!  Bruce Wayne really was kind of slow since he needed years to develop his skills.  I'm sure Kelly will be fine in a few weeks.

It also looked like Andrea had a pretty clear face shot of Alex in her Sentinel garb.  She doesn't wear glasses and doesn't even try to approximate a mask like Oliver did back in his early days.  Should be pretty easy to get her secret identity.

[Humbugged]

1 hour ago, cambridgeguy said:

Ah yes, as always the best way to solve complex social issues is for a normal human to put on a costume and go punch things.  Training montage time!  Bruce Wayne really was kind of slow since he needed years to develop his skills.  I'm sure Kelly will be fine in a few weeks.

It also looked like Andrea had a pretty clear face shot of Alex in her Sentinel garb.  She doesn't wear glasses and doesn't even try to approximate a mask like Oliver did back in his early days.  Should be pretty easy to get her secret identity.

Well Kelly was in the army right up till she joined the show so she had lots of time there to work on her skills

 

And Chyler did not want to wear a mask because of her health

[DanaK]

Nia, do not trust the imp in your dream! Nxy sure is a smooth talker

I can’t quite understand why Supergirl was so determined to bring the prisoners back to that prison given she had uncovered the warden was corrupt. She obviously thought there were uncorrupt officials there but that just made her look really naive

Pretty good episode overall

[StaceyNotStacie]

I’m wondering why Nia didn’t know about Mxy. You’d think that Kara or her father would have mentioned her. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

7 hours ago, Stacey1014 said:

I’m wondering why Nia didn’t know about Mxy. You’d think that Kara or her father would have mentioned her. 

Haven't yet gotten around to watching the episode, but the general rule of thumb in the Arrowverse is that characters simply do not share information that they absolutely should be sharing and it's a lucky day when they are not actively concealing information that they should be actively sharing.

[Rushmoras]

Nia is dumb as bricks. I mean, she basically said that her mom revered owls, the owl tried to warn her, some stranger (Nia acknowledged herself that she does not trust her) is going out of her way to shoo the owl off, and yet, in the end Nia accepts the offer. I hope she will be tortured by magic just for this. I really hope, man. On second thought, that's what happens when Kara does not speak to anyone about what transpired in the Phantom Zone.

On the side note, oh, so the prison warden was corrupt? *Surprised Pickachu face* You don't say.

Also, regarding Kelly as Guardian, well, at least they gave that one line in bypassing that she will be trained for that role, unlike Jimmy's out of nowhere karate-black-belt champion routine.

Edited September 3, 2021 by Rushmoras

[Trini]

I really liked how they showed how superpowered and non-superpowered heroes can work together to solve problems, with both civilian and super skills. It was a much better balance than they've had on The Flash.

[legaleagle53]

On 9/3/2021 at 9:15 AM, Rushmoras said:

On the side note, oh, so the prison warden was corrupt? *Surprised Pickachu face* You don't say.

 

Yeah, the fact that he became belligerent and practically ORDERED Kara to stop investigating and not to publish anything set off all kinds of alarm bells for me. That's when it should have dawned on Kara that she needed to do even MORE investigating -- as Supergirl.

And William and Andrea also have a point, Kara. Honestly, now that this particular crisis is over, would it kill you to let William interview you as Supergirl in order to give Andrea what she wants?

[tennisgurl]

I normally love Nia, and I know that she is feeling all out of sorts lately, but she is being a real idiot. Now she has released Nxy, someone who is clearly extremely sketchy and powerful, on the Earth just on the word of the aforementioned sketchy super powered imp that she can bring people back from the dead. Even as the owl that is clearly connected with her moms keeps trying to get her to stop, smooth move there Nia. Of course, if Kara never bothered to mention the super powerful and evil Imp she met in the Phantom Zone, this is kind of on her too, which also raises the question of why Nia isnt telling people about the Imp who keeps popping up in her dream world wanting out or talked to anyone about it before she did it, so there is just a real issue with communication all around. 

I am glad that Kelly is finally getting some good material, even if I do rather roll my eyes at her apparently deciding the best way to deal with systematic issues in the foster care system is to put on a mask and punch systematic issues in the face. So did they not say what is going to happen to the other alien kids in the foster home? Where are they going to go, and will things be any better there? Or do we just only care about main guest stars? Considering James managed to get never before mentioned fighting skills as soon as he put the Guardian mask on, I assume its a magic mask and Kelly will do the same, or else her becoming an ass kicking superhero in about a week. At least Kelly was in the army, so it will make a bit more sense. Also, wow, you mean a Warden on a tv show is sketchy?! I am shocked, shocked I say. 

I don't really like or care about Andrea, but she does have a point that the Superfriends are news and that people would like to hear from them. You would think it would be easy to just talk to William with masks on and talk a bit about the issue of the day or what is being done about the latest threat, this really shouldn't be that big of a deal. If anything, Nia and Kara dragging their feet is just making it all take longer and is wasting more time that they could be using to find stories they want to write or solve crime. 

Because this show is trying to fit in as many issues as it can in before it ends, this week we get tons of speeches about both issues in the foster care AND prison systems, but with extra superpowers this time. This show has more very special episodes and plots than your average 80s sitcom, stay tuned next week for when Kara teaches a alien to read for a very special lesson about literacy and Alex gets catcalled by an alien tomcat to teach us a lesson about sexual harassment. 

This sounds a bit nitpicky, but if it just me or was the owls "it is wisdom to listen to yourself and not others" advice utter nonsense? Yeah its good when a supervillain is trying to sweet talk you into opening a door into your world for you, but in general shouldn't you at least listen to people when you need help? Like Nia wants to do with her mom? Shut up owl, go lick a tootsie pop. 

I sound like I was down on this episode and I really am not, I mostly thought it was pretty good, but when we are getting close to the end of the show, I am hoping for a bit more substance. I also missed Lena and Brainy, that could be it too. 

Edited September 4, 2021 by tennisgurl

[legaleagle53]

41 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

I don't really like or care about Andrea, but she does have a point that the Super friends are news and that people would like to hear from them. You would think it would be easy to just talk to William with masks on and talk a bit about the issue of the day or what is being done about the latest threat, this really shouldn't be that big of a deal. If anything, Nia and Kara dragging their feet is just making it all take longer and is wasting more time that they could be using to find stories they want to write or solve crime. 

And as William pointed out, letting people get to know them is the way to get people to trust them as a group they can turn to for help when trouble comes. Obviously, they don't have to reveal everything about themselves -- even Andrea wouldn't expect them to divulge their secret identities, after all -- but yeah, give the public some personal information about their habits and their likes and dislikes so that people will identify with them and connect with them.

[Quark]

I guess Nia is desperate to see Kate Burton back on this show again. Fair enough!

Decent episode.

[Primal Slayer]

5 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Because this show is trying to fit in as many issues as it can in before it ends, this week we get tons of speeches about both issues in the foster care AND prison systems, but with extra superpowers this time. This show has more very special episodes and plots than your average 80s sitcom, stay tuned next week for when Kara teaches a alien to read for a very special lesson about literacy and Alex gets catcalled by an alien tomcat to teach us a lesson about sexual harassment. 

This sounds a bit nitpicky, but if it just me or was the owls "it is wisdom to listen to yourself and not others" advice utter nonsense? Yeah its good when a supervillain is trying to sweet talk you into opening a door into your world for you, but in general shouldn't you at least listen to people when you need help? Like Nia wants to do with her mom? Shut up owl, go lick a tootsie pop. 

I sound like I was down on this episode and I really am not, I mostly thought it was pretty good, but when we are getting close to the end of the show, I am hoping for a bit more substance. I also missed Lena and Brainy, that could be it too. 

That has always been something I felt has held Supergirl back from being the best show it could possibly be. The writers have always felt that because she is Supergirl and a woman that she needs to deliver a message to everyone and that message has to be loud and clear. If only they were good enough writers to weave those topics in like Buffy was able to throughout its run. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

On 9/4/2021 at 3:11 PM, tennisgurl said:

I normally love Nia, and I know that she is feeling all out of sorts lately, but she is being a real idiot. Now she has released Nxy, someone who is clearly extremely sketchy and powerful, on the Earth just on the word of the aforementioned sketchy super powered imp that she can bring people back from the dead. Even as the owl that is clearly connected with her moms keeps trying to get her to stop, smooth move there Nia. Of course, if Kara never bothered to mention the super powerful and evil Imp she met in the Phantom Zone, this is kind of on her too, which also raises the question of why Nia isnt telling people about the Imp who keeps popping up in her dream world wanting out or talked to anyone about it before she did it, so there is just a real issue with communication all around. 

I am glad that Kelly is finally getting some good material, even if I do rather roll my eyes at her apparently deciding the best way to deal with systematic issues in the foster care system is to put on a mask and punch systematic issues in the face. So did they not say what is going to happen to the other alien kids in the foster home? Where are they going to go, and will things be any better there? Or do we just only care about main guest stars? Considering James managed to get never before mentioned fighting skills as soon as he put the Guardian mask on, I assume its a magic mask and Kelly will do the same, or else her becoming an ass kicking superhero in about a week. At least Kelly was in the army, so it will make a bit more sense. Also, wow, you mean a Warden on a tv show is sketchy?! I am shocked, shocked I say. 

I don't really like or care about Andrea, but she does have a point that the Superfriends are news and that people would like to hear from them. You would think it would be easy to just talk to William with masks on and talk a bit about the issue of the day or what is being done about the latest threat, this really shouldn't be that big of a deal. If anything, Nia and Kara dragging their feet is just making it all take longer and is wasting more time that they could be using to find stories they want to write or solve crime. 

Because this show is trying to fit in as many issues as it can in before it ends, this week we get tons of speeches about both issues in the foster care AND prison systems, but with extra superpowers this time. This show has more very special episodes and plots than your average 80s sitcom, stay tuned next week for when Kara teaches a alien to read for a very special lesson about literacy and Alex gets catcalled by an alien tomcat to teach us a lesson about sexual harassment. 

This sounds a bit nitpicky, but if it just me or was the owls "it is wisdom to listen to yourself and not others" advice utter nonsense? Yeah its good when a supervillain is trying to sweet talk you into opening a door into your world for you, but in general shouldn't you at least listen to people when you need help? Like Nia wants to do with her mom? Shut up owl, go lick a tootsie pop. 

I sound like I was down on this episode and I really am not, I mostly thought it was pretty good, but when we are getting close to the end of the show, I am hoping for a bit more substance. I also missed Lena and Brainy, that could be it too. 

In fairness, Kara had no particular reason to think that Nxy had hitched a ride and was also suffering from PTSD from her time in the Zone, so I can rationalize her not dwelling on the details of her  time there. I would think that people would want to know about it, but also could see that they might not push until they thought she was ready to talk about it. 

Nia definitely should have gotten a clue that Nxy was up to no good. When the owl basically all but says "Nxy is a lying skank!"...The writers could have easily have made Nia look a whole lot less stupid if they wanted to. Make it so Nxy's manipulation of things was subtle, and Nia hadn't heard of imps to suspect that they are generally up to no good. 

I was under the assumption that the kids would be in the home with a better person -- perhaps even Kelly herself -- running the place. 

I could more easily buy the notion that James, a 6'+ person who had been getting into situations with Superman for decades, has some form of self-defense training and experience than 5'5" Kelly's training as an army psychologist. 

Not only does Andrea have a point, it would be singularly easy for Kara to whip out an article about what she and her friends like to do. For her to deliberately drag her feet on the assignment is kind of obnoxious. If she doesn't want to work at Catco any longer, and there's no real reason she should -- she can figure out other ways to make money, and she could simply write for her own blog or any other number of possible outlets in 2021 -- she should quit. Also, did I miss something? When did they get to be known to the world at large as "the Super Friends"? I know Dreamer had made a public debut and was covered in Catco, but when were Sentinel or Brainy mentioned? Hadn't J'onn kept out of the spotlight too?

Part of the problem with trying to use aliens as a metaphor for real world problems is that sometimes it just doesn't work. I just will not buy the notion that an alien with an EMP power felt like he had no choice but to turn to a life of crime to feed himself and his kid brother, or to eke out an existence on minimum wage. 

Nia's whole problem is that she lacks confidence in herself and her abilities and she wants to be told how to handle them by someone else. Her dream owl is telling her something that she really needs to hear: that she needs to trust her instincts and not be so desperate to listen to other people. Obviously there's a point where ignoring advice from others is potentially as dangerous as following advice from random people, if not more so. But where Nia is now, she probably needs the "trust in yourself" message highlighted first.

[legaleagle53]

5 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Nia's whole problem is that she lacks confidence in herself and her abilities and she wants to be told how to handle them by someone else. Her dream owl is telling her something that she really needs to hear: that she needs to trust her instincts and not be so desperate to listen to other people. Obviously there's a point where ignoring advice from others is potentially as dangerous as following advice from random people, if not more so. But where Nia is now, she probably needs the "trust in yourself" message highlighted first.

Nia's lack of confidence comes from the fact that she's now the only one in her family who has her powers and her mother died before she had a chance to teach Nia how to use them. Nia's ability to see the future in her dreams is useless (and potentially dangerous) if she doesn't know how to interpret what she sees correctly. The only other experienced family member who could train her is her 31st Century descendant Dream Girl, whom she's never even met for obvious reasons.

[Trini]

4 minutes ago, legaleagle53 said:

Nia's lack of confidence comes from the fact that she's now the only one in her family who has her powers and her mother died before she had a chance to teach Nia how to use them. Nia's ability to see the future in her dreams is useless (and potentially dangerous) if she doesn't know how to interpret what she sees correctly. The only other experienced family member who could train her is her 31st Century descendant Dream Girl, whom she's never even met for obvious reasons.

Well, there's also Nia's sister, who the show doesn't want to revisit since they left off with her not accepting Nia, but she does have some dream interpretation knowledge, even if she didn't have the powers.

[Chicago Redshirt]

12 hours ago, legaleagle53 said:

Nia's lack of confidence comes from the fact that she's now the only one in her family who has her powers and her mother died before she had a chance to teach Nia how to use them. Nia's ability to see the future in her dreams is useless (and potentially dangerous) if she doesn't know how to interpret what she sees correctly. The only other experienced family member who could train her is her 31st Century descendant Dream Girl, whom she's never even met for obvious reasons.

I understand why Nia lacks confidence. That doesn't change that her lack of confidence or at least, going down this particular route to address her lack of confidence, is pretty stupid given what the show has established.

The show has established that there are certain Naltorians who have the same abilities as Dreamer and have been for generations (and will be for generations stretching into at least the 30th century with her ancestor Nura). The show also established that there's a bunch of books that Nia's sister had been studying thinking that she would be the one to inherit the Dreamer powers.  We have been given no information that Naltor has been destroyed or is difficult to access or anything like that. 

So among the sources of information that would help Nia potentially better control her powers that she would have potentially have access to and that would definitely be better than trusting a sketchy imp who your dream is yelling at you to distrust:

1. Her sister. OK,, let's say that the sister's jealousy and transphobia have persisted to the point that she won't help Nia.

2. The books that her sister had and presumably exist elsewhere. There presumably are other media that exist as a Dreamer Powers For Dummies that she could potentially access.

3. A number of currently living Naltorians who also have the power. Or even other Naltorians who don't have the power, but who have family members who have, or who have studied the ability, etc.  As rare as the power might be, there have to be at least some other Naltorians besides her sister who could help.

4. Kelly. As a psychologist, she has (presumably) some grounding in dream interpretation.

5. J'onn. His general psychic abilities probably could help Dreamer better use her powers.

6. Brainy. Not only had he worked with Nura Nal in his future, but he has a goddarn time ship that could take Nia to a point in any number of points in the past/future that would let her learn directly or indirectly from Nia's mother, Nura, or any number of people with the powers.

7. Any number of aliens from other races who might be familiar with Naltorian dream abilities. 

Rather than pursue any of these or other avenues, Nia has fixated on her mother as the one route to get to better understand her powers. That's crazy. 

A lot of this just are problems created by the writers. Instead of showing us that Nia's got massive difficulties with using her powers or that Nia's wish to see her mother again is about grief rather than understanding about her powers, we get what we've gotten. Nia basically failing at the most superficial dream analysis possible. It shouldn't take Nia five seconds to connect the caged pink cat in her dream with the pink cat that she saw every day that she went to work at Catco, for instance. And when a dream owl tells her "don't trust others" you have to be super bad at dream analysis to be like, "the first thing I'm going to do is trust someone from a species I have been led to believe is untrustworthy, who is telling me exactly what I most want to hear even though I have no reason to believe it's possible."

Edited September 7, 2021 by Chicago Redshirt

[Primal Slayer]

16 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

 

Not only does Andrea have a point, it would be singularly easy for Kara to whip out an article about what she and her friends like to do. For her to deliberately drag her feet on the assignment is kind of obnoxious. If she doesn't want to work at Catco any longer, and there's no real reason she should -- she can figure out other ways to make money, and she could simply write for her own blog or any other number of possible outlets in 2021 -- she should quit. Also, did I miss something? When did they get to be known to the world at large as "the Super Friends"? I know Dreamer had made a public debut and was covered in Catco, but when were Sentinel or Brainy mentioned? Hadn't J'onn kept out of the spotlight too?

 

She could work for Iris's little blog that somehow has somehow topped Catco and is like 3 spots down from The Dailey Planet lol. 

[Lantern7]

I liked the episode. Also liked the last scene with Alex and Kelly. Now they get to bond over being superheroes! Also, generic superhero names.

On 9/6/2021 at 10:32 PM, Primal Slayer said:

She could work for Iris's little blog that somehow has somehow topped Catco and is like 3 spots down from The Dailey Planet lol. 

Given that their owner (or whatever his title) was revealed to be an alien, how is the Daily Planet still on top? Or should I give up on connecting Superman & Lois with the other DC shows?

[legaleagle53]

27 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

Given that their owner (or whatever his title) was revealed to be an alien, how is the Daily Planet still on top? Or should I give up on connecting Superman & Lois with the other DC shows?

National City isn't necessarily going to care who or what runs the Daily Planet, since they were never affected by Morgan Edge's attempt to destroy humanity in order to resurrect Krypton. After all, they're used to living with aliens now, whereas Metropolis wasn't.

[Chicago Redshirt]

13 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Given that their owner (or whatever his title) was revealed to be an alien, how is the Daily Planet still on top? Or should I give up on connecting Superman & Lois with the other DC shows?

We did see that Morgan Edge rewrote a piece that Lois wrote about him, and that he did arbitrary layoffs (or at least, I would consider any set of layoffs that would result in Clark Kent as an acclaimed journalist for about two decades getting fired arbitrary, I had speculated that Edge deliberately targeted Clark knowing he was Superman, but nope, Edge only found out the Secret midway through the season). But the fact that Edge did these things and was an evil alien might not affect the overall quality of the Planet. 

Also, the rankings could have been from before the reveal of Edge as an alien.

Also also, the rankings could have been less a measure of actual quality and based on such things like buzz, reputation or clicks/circulation. In which cases, the Planet has a huge edge because Metropolis presumably has like 8 million citizens and because it pretty much owns the franchise on reporting on the Big Blue Boy Scout.

I'm hoping that next season S&L will be more connected to the Arrowverse than it has been so far.

[angora]

Loved getting more focus on Kelly. Her and Kara working together was cool (not to mention Kara combining both reporting and superhero skills for the win!), and as a character who's usually the one giving the pep talks, I'm glad that Kelly got some support of her own from Alex - on the Balcony of Pep Talks, no less! Although, while I'm cool with Kelly taking up the Guardian mantle, I don't see the specific leap from "the foster care system is broken" to "I will punch and kick it into shape!"

Man, poor Nia. This whole thing is obviously Bad Idea Jeans, but she's been struggling with this for quite a while and has clearly conflated her grief over her mom with her difficulties with her powers, latching onto her mom as the only thing that can help. OF COURSE Kara didn't tell the others about Nxyly, sigh, but I understand why she might not have given everyone a play-by-play of her time in the Phantom Zone yet. And honestly, as shady as Nxyly is, I can buy Nia getting taken in. 1) She wants this so badly and feels so desperate that she's ignoring warning signs, and 2) Nxyly is one seductive imp, in a manipulative sense. Peta Sergeant is doing such a good job in this role - I KNOW she's bad news, but all her sob stories sound so convincing, she almost makes me wish I COULD believe her.

[bettername2come]

Okay, I’m still completely not interested in the Olsens as superheroes. You can be a hero without a metal suit, I promise. Although I will admit I did enjoy Kelly using the shield during Crisis.

I want Nia’s dream dress. Perfect for many occasions such as running through the forest like you’re in a perfume ad, blatantly ignoring symbols of truth, and breaking universal laws against necromancy. I know people make poor decisions when they’re sleep deprived but this is ridiculous. I was amused at her falling asleep while standing in Andrea’s office, but I really appreciated how even though she seemed angry she sent Nia home on a mental health day. Also, when she was introduced Nia said she had narcolepsy, but do we know if that’s any kind of real diagnosis she could put on file at work or just an excuse she used while hiding her powers? 

The little girl at the group home is super cute but I half-expected her to get revealed as a villain at the end.

No warden in charge of imprisoned super criminals can be trusted in this universe. The one on The Flash  was involved in human trafficking and now this.