S06.E16: Nightmare In National City

[scarynikki12]

Quote

Kara lands her dream story for Catco but when the city is attacked by a nightmare monster at the same time as her interview, she is forced to take a serious look at her life.

 

 

[Trini]

I've always been interested in how superheroes balance their civilian lives and hero lives, so of course the episode where they explore that is the one where Kara quits Catco.  :(

So I guess the the totem hunt is still on. So was that actually Nyxly in the Lexosuit... from the future? another dimension??

A lot of up and downs with Nia and her sister, which might be realistic, but it was a lot for one episode.

So... the nightmare monster didn't actually do anything. The dome seemed to cause more damage?

[Chicago Redshirt]

I will give the show this: I virtually fist-pumped when Nia didn't inssta-forgive Maeve. 

I assume that Lex had somehow been aware of Nyxly and spying on her enough to know about her past and to pretend to be her so that she would trust his guidance and he could manifest himself. I forgot what last happened to him on the show other than him beating a rap against him. Oh well. 

[Lantern7]

I confess that I don't pay attention when watching shows. Was there any reason J'onn couldn't fill in for Kara on either end? I mean, if he had said he couldn't because of exhaustion, promise, religious holiday, whatever. I know, it was the easiest possible "out," but we wound up with Kara getting pulled from one point to another, getting increasingly frustrated before quitting her day job. In her defense, though, Andrea is the worst. It was like she and the governor knew Kara's secret, and they competed to see which one would break her first.

Oh, Maeve. What the absolute fuck? She and Nia had some sort of unity working, and then she immediately tries to grab the plot device totem. Luckily for her, Nia believes in second chances. Third chances?

Edited October 20, 2021 by Lantern7

[Noneofyourbusiness]

28 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I will give the show this: I virtually fist-pumped when Nia didn't inssta-forgive Maeve.

So, so glad that the show didn't hold back on telling Maeve everything she'd done wrong and that she deserved no pity.

[Chicago Redshirt]

29 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

I confess that I don't pay attention when wtching shows. Was there any reason J'onn couldn't fill in for Kara on either end? I mean, if he had said he couldn't because of exhaustion, promise, religious holiday, whatever. I know, it was the easiest possible "out," but we wound up with Kara getting pulled from one point to another, getting increasingly frustrated before quitting her day job. In her defense, though, Andrea is the worst. It was like she and the governor knew Kara's secret, and they competed to see which one would break her first.

There was no reason AFAIK why Supergirl was originally needed to try to shepherd the nightmare monster back to the dream realm other than she felt like she needed to be there and because the two world leaders were running late. The writers justified her decision to show up by having the army show up for no reason and start firing wildly on the nightmare monster and in the process hit the apparatus allowing them to try and get the nightmare monster back to the dream realm. By the time the nightmare monster had gone away, J'onn wouldn't have been able to get back to Catco (or wherever the interview was taking place) any faster than Kara.

To Andrea's credit, she did manage to negotiate a second-round interview after Kara blew it.

[Jediknight]

3 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

I confess that I don't pay attention when watching shows. Was there any reason J'onn couldn't fill in for Kara on either end?

J'onn: "Oh no.  I'm not doing that again!"

[cambridgeguy]

The people of National City are fickle, aren't they?  The dome was up for a few days and they were ready to riot and denounce the heroes who have been saving the day for years?

[Winston Wolfe]

7 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Was there any reason J'onn couldn't fill in for Kara on either end?

It wouldn't have created the required drama. But the saddest thing about Supergirl is that the show runners took the Martian Manhunter - "the most powerful being on the Planet" according to Superman - and consistently nerfed him, making the character pretty much useless most of the time, other than being a Father Figure to the Scooby Gang.

[legaleagle53]

4 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

The people of National City are fickle, aren't they?  The dome was up for a few days and they were ready to riot and denounce the heroes who have been saving the day for years?

They always have been. They've turned on Supergirl at least two other times before finally coming to their senses. Then again, it can't be easy living in a city that is constantly under the threat of destruction by supervillains because that's where their most powerful superheroes are based. That's what that whole Sons of Liberty thing was all about a few years ago.

[angora]

12 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I will give the show this: I virtually fist-pumped when Nia didn't inssta-forgive Maeve.

Cosign, that was amazing. Especially when Maeve was being all, "Cool, sister bonding road trip to the Dream Realm! Hey, remember this fun childhood memory?" (I know Nia cut her off when she initially tried to bring up what she'd said after the funeral, but still - NOTHING about Nia's energy said, "Let bygones be bygones.") And then to still be acting like the victim? If your go-to response to being hurt/upset is to invalidate your sister's identity, how supportive of her were you in the first place?

Also, Dr. Revee, really? omg Maeve.

And I like that, even though Nia needed Maeve's expertise to navigate the Dream Realm, they needed NIA'S powers to get it done too. Hopefully seeing Nia in action as Dreamer helped Maeve get over herself and realize that the powers are rightfully Nia's.

12 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

I confess that I don't pay attention when watching shows. Was there any reason J'onn couldn't fill in for Kara on either end? I mean, if he had said he couldn't because of exhaustion, promise, religious holiday, whatever. I know, it was the easiest possible "out," but we wound up with Kara getting pulled from one point to another, getting increasingly frustrated before quitting her day job. In her defense, though, Andrea is the worst. It was like she and the governor knew Kara's secret, and they competed to see which one would break her first.

They didn't address it at all on the show, but I could buy that it wouldn't have worked. J'onn can shapeshift into Kara/Supergirl, but he's pretty bad at ACTING like either, and interviewing the world leaders and making a statement to calm the public both would've required Kara/Supergirl at her best.

I get that the main focus was on the Superfriends causing upheaval with their unilateral action in putting up the dome, but that nightmare creature was generic af. Why was it just rampaging through the city toward a nuclear power plant rather than trapping people in their nightmares or manifesting people's nightmares into the real world or something? (Yes, I know there was that line about the creature being drawn to the nuclear plant because its energy was the same, but why did the show make that choice? So blah.)

Clearly, something had to give, but I wish we could've ended with Kara asking for a leave of absence rather than quitting. If they really wanted that note of finality, they always could've had Andrea refuse and tell Kara she has to either stay on or quit, then forcing her hand. I feel like it would've been valid for Kara to recognize she needed to focus all her energies on Nyxly/the totems right now, and one thing I have really appreciated about this season is how it's shown Kara and some of the other Superfriends struggling with trauma/trying to hold it together. It would've been powerful for Supergirl (albeit as Kara) to say she loves her work and wants to give it her all, but she knows she's not able to do that right now, so she needs to take some time away to deal with other issues before she comes back in the right headspace.

So we got an explanation for why Brainy's been staying green the last few episodes. I still say the REAL reason is Jesse Rath going, "I only have so many weeks left to be Brainiac-5, can I just please be green all the time?", but sure. Nia and casually-green Brainy being cute and domestic at Nia's apartment was fun, even if spinach pancakes sound majorly suspect to me, and there was just something adorable about them texting and Brainy being worried when Nia was in the Dream Realm with Maeve.

Nothing against Staz Nair, who's doing fine with what he's been given and who seems well-liked by the cast in behind-the-scenes stuff, but everything about William just feels like the show trying so hard to make fetch happen. And having one of the rest of the cast absent pretty much every episode (Kelly this week) while he continues to eat up screentime just makes it harder to swallow. There's only a few episodes left, we don't have time for this dude!

[Rushmoras]

So far, witty remark No. 1 from me: (from the five minute mark) nice to see that Kryptonian pods have TV inside, so persons lightyears away from other planets can catch up on daily news of respective planets. [shakes my head]

[Trini]

6 minutes ago, Rushmoras said:

So far, witty remark No. 1 from me: (from the five minute mark) nice to see that Kryptonian pods have TV inside, so persons lightyears away from other planets can catch up on daily news of respective planets. [shakes my head]

I think they over-explained when they didn't need to. I don't think Kara actually watched the peace talks in her pod, she watched it sometime after being on Earth. I think they were trying to explain how she would know about it when it happened before she landed.

[Rushmoras]

2 minutes ago, Trini said:

I think they over-explained when they didn't need to. I don't think Kara actually watched the peace talks in her pod, she watched it sometime after being on Earth. I think they were trying to explain how she would know about it when it happened before she landed.

Nah, I have the subs for the show. John asked whether she was on Earth when the Larry King interview happened. Kara answered that she was not, she was in her pod, but she watched the whole thing. Or either the screenwriters meaning got lost in translation. Either way... a sin in my book.

Edited October 20, 2021 by Rushmoras

[Winston Wolfe]

1 hour ago, Rushmoras said:

1 hour ago, Trini said:

I think they over-explained when they didn't need to. I don't think Kara actually watched the peace talks in her pod, she watched it sometime after being on Earth. I think they were trying to explain how she would know about it when it happened before she landed.

Nah, I have the subs for the show. John asked whether she was on Earth when the Larry King interview happened. Kara answered that she was not, she was in her pod, but she watched the whole thing. Or either the screenwriters meaning got lost in translation. Either way... a sin in my book.

The way she "quick answered" that question was rather odd. If it were anyone but our Kara a suspicious person might think she landed on Earth much earlier than previously stated.

[Quark]

So Lex is back.

I hope Nxly eats him.

Good episode. I thought Melissa Benoist was excellent balancing life as Supergirl/Kara.

[Zaffy]

So how many people the Dome cut in half?

I Fast forwarded most of the episode. It is the same plot again and again: Lena still trying to learn magic, Nia "dreams", Nyxly  goes after a totem and the team goes after her, Andrea is the worst boss, Kara is kind of lost and tries to find purpose in super life or whatever, etc etc.
It just feels like  they have stretched into half a season a plot that could fit in 2 top 3 episodes.
 

[Chicago Redshirt]

21 hours ago, Rushmoras said:

Nah, I have the subs for the show. John asked whether she was on Earth when the Larry King interview happened. Kara answered that she was not, she was in her pod, but she watched the whole thing. Or either the screenwriters meaning got lost in translation. Either way... a sin in my book.

All that means was that in 1995 she was in her pod, but that at some point later she watched the Larry King interview in question. Despite the name of the show, there's no reason to think that she watched that particular Larry King interview Live.

Edited October 21, 2021 by Chicago Redshirt

[Rushmoras]

1 hour ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

All that means was that in 1995 she was in her pod, but that at some point later she watched the Larry King interview in question. Despite the name of the show, there's no reason to think that she watched that particular Larry King interview Live.

sure sure.

[Wiendish Fitch]

On 10/19/2021 at 10:48 PM, Chicago Redshirt said:

I will give the show this: I virtually fist-pumped when Nia didn't inssta-forgive Maeve. 

I assume that Lex had somehow been aware of Nyxly and spying on her enough to know about her past and to pretend to be her so that she would trust his guidance and he could manifest himself. I forgot what last happened to him on the show other than him beating a rap against him. Oh well. 

 

On 10/20/2021 at 12:03 PM, angora said:

Cosign, that was amazing. Especially when Maeve was being all, "Cool, sister bonding road trip to the Dream Realm! Hey, remember this fun childhood memory?" (I know Nia cut her off when she initially tried to bring up what she'd said after the funeral, but still - NOTHING about Nia's energy said, "Let bygones be bygones.") And then to still be acting like the victim? If your go-to response to being hurt/upset is to invalidate your sister's identity, how supportive of her were you in the first place?

I dunno, the scene rang hollow after Nia said she'd give Maeve a "final chance". WTF? Nia, this bitch not only cruelly invalidated your identity after you'd both lost your mom, but she betrayed your trust and sabotaged your mission by trying to steal the totem the first chance she got. Maeve is little better than Namaari from Raya and the Last Dragon, but instead of pummeling her into glop, Nia grudgingly calls a tenuous truce. Maeve does not deserve a final chance. Maeve is selfish, myopic, callous, and entitled, and Nia should have just ditched her then and there. 

That's something that bothers me about contemporary fiction, especially on Supergirl; it feels like there's never any meaningful consequences for negative or just plain stupid actions. Everyone is easily forgiven, or given infinite chances, or their behavior is swept under the rug. No one ever, ever seems to pay the piper.

[tennisgurl]

I am really glad that they finally brought Maeve back and revisited that plot thread, I have been waiting for her to come back for awhile now. I am also glad that Nia was not quick to forgive her sister considering the awful things she said, and then she apparently just left the whole family in a huff. Even now Nia is mostly just opening things up for a second chance, which I am more happy about for her sake then Maeve's, who until just about five minutes before had still not apologized for the horrible things she said to Nia and was still trying to steal power because she thinks she "deserves" it more. 

I would think people would give Supergirl and her friends more of the benefit of the doubt that they were doing something important, but I also can understand why people aren't thrilled about the giant dome (luckily no one was cut in half I guess) suddenly cutting people off from their homes and families. The problem seems to be more of the their attitude that they always know best and that don't even really have to explain themselves to anyone, they just do things and say that its for the best thinking everyone will be cool with it. Its because they have a lot on their plate and are trying everything to save the day, but they really could use a press agent of some kind to better explain why they do the things they do. Or maybe everyone is still put off by Supergirl's embarrassing Q&A about low income housing a few weeks ago. 

Brainy and Nia being domestic in his normal green skin is adorable. 

Andrea was an idiot about downplaying how great a opportunity these peace talks would be for them, but she did give Kara tons of backing and even got her a rescheduled interview so she wasn't completely useless. I would have expected Kara to take a leave of absence or something instead of quitting, she's going to miss her Kara life if she dedicates all of her time to Supergirl forever even after this latest mess is sorted. 

The show couldn't get into its endgame without Lex.

[secnarf]

On 10/20/2021 at 1:34 PM, Trini said:

I think they over-explained when they didn't need to. I don't think Kara actually watched the peace talks in her pod, she watched it sometime after being on Earth. I think they were trying to explain how she would know about it when it happened before she landed.

This was my interpretation as well, but I did think the dialogue was clunky. 

[thuganomics85]

Glad to see a (final?) Dreamer-centric episode and Nicole Maines shined as always.  Again, while the show might be on its way out, I truly would not be against Nia (and Brainy) sticking around in the Arrowverse somehow.  Glad they brought back Maeve as well and addressed all of that stuff, and while I do think Nia was a bit too forgiving with giving her a "final chance" to be sisters again, I can chalk it up to a lot of being Nia just wanting to move on and not let that continue to weigh her down.  But I'm glad she didn't forgive her: especially since Maeve has barely even admitted any wrongdoing on her part.  Despite it being all on her.

Good old National City citizens continuing to be the biggest obstacles for Supergirl and friends!  To be fair, the Superfriends really do need to work on keeping an open communication and getting their message across better, but even then, I would have thought the citizens would be a little more forgiving considering how many times the gang has bailed out their sorry asses.  Then again, I have to remind myself that a lot of them easily drunk the Lex kool aid...

Hey, Andrea actually didn't completely suck this time (outside her first reaction to Kara's sit down pitch) and was actually helpful for once!  Of course it ends up being right when Kara finally decides to quit.

Nxy now not only has the dream totem, but it looks like Lex has finally reared his chrome-shaped head again and return to the game (a.k.a. they got the budget back for Jon Cryer's paycheck!)  I guess some kind of unholy alliance will be formed, but I imagine Lex will have another angle.  He'll probably come out ahead and like he normally does, but it would actually be refreshing if Nxy ends up outplaying him.

[bettername2come]

I liked that Nia didn't forgive Maeve and honestly wish she'd been a little angrier at the end, although I can understand why she's giving her a second chance.  I disagreed with her a little in yelling that Maeve assumed without reason that she would inherit the powers. I mean, Mom who sees the future thought Maeve would have the powers and never even considered they'd go to Nia, and it seems a hereditary power passed through the women in the family would go to the sister who was genetically female. However, invalidating your sister's identity, not speaking to your family, moving, and changing your name are bratty and selfish moves (especially immediately following her mother's death), and the way she pounced on the dream totem was flat out supervillainish.

Kara quitting her job at Catco seems a little pointless this late in the game. Plus, I want a journalist/superhero and Clark's already lost his job. I was glad Andrea didn't suck and made adjustments and acknowledged the allowances she had made for Kara because of her talents. I really don't see why Kara couldn't have made a statement to the public and done the interview. 

It's jarring to see Jesse Rath as Brainy all green-skinned in casual wear, especially that shirt that was like halfway unbuttoned. I appreciate the way they're showing him being comfortable as himself

On 10/22/2021 at 3:20 AM, thuganomics85 said:

Again, while the show might be on its way out, I truly would not be against Nia (and Brainy) sticking around in the Arrowverse somehow. 

 I absolutely think they would make good Legends. 

[legaleagle53]

And Brainy does own a timeship, so... .

[Rushmoras]

OK, that sub-topic, that super-heroes should be accountable to the society and transparent, which appeared two or three episodes ago, seems totally random. The notion of it is that the people do not trust the super heroes is rather moot, if you consider what has transpired in each major culmination since season 1. Starting from Myriad (what was that episode called? Better Angels?) and ending with virtual reality. Come on, now, if society really did not trust super heroes, then Kara would have had a much harder time with her hope speeches to begin with. Secondly, the sub-plot of Kara not able to juggle her super hero and civil life is odd, and random as well. For one thing, remember how she was bloody beaten by Reign (it was the first and only time when she was brought down a bunch of pegs), and still kept working? What did Nixly do? Oh, right, uh... hurt her feelings or something? Also, Cat Grant was much more quasi-horrible boss than Andrea Rojas is now to Kara. Sure, she did that to bring the best out in her, but come on, she had more reasons to fire herself during the first seasons than she has now. Random sudden plots are random sudden plots.

[Trini]

3 hours ago, Rushmoras said:

... Secondly, the sub-plot of Kara not able to juggle her super hero and civil life is odd, and random as well. ...

Six seasons in, she should definitely be good at it by now.

Feels like this is part of setting up her exit at the end of the show [my speculation]. Kara's found family is a good thing, but I don't like that she can't have anything else. No career, no love interest, no Justice League....

[Chicago Redshirt]

10 hours ago, Rushmoras said:

OK, that sub-topic, that super-heroes should be accountable to the society and transparent, which appeared two or three episodes ago, seems totally random. The notion of it is that the people do not trust the super heroes is rather moot, if you consider what has transpired in each major culmination since season 1. Starting from Myriad (what was that episode called? Better Angels?) and ending with virtual reality. Come on, now, if society really did not trust super heroes, then Kara would have had a much harder time with her hope speeches to begin with. Secondly, the sub-plot of Kara not able to juggle her super hero and civil life is odd, and random as well. For one thing, remember how she was bloody beaten by Reign (it was the first and only time when she was brought down a bunch of pegs), and still kept working? What did Nixly do? Oh, right, uh... hurt her feelings or something? Also, Cat Grant was much more quasi-horrible boss than Andrea Rojas is now to Kara. Sure, she did that to bring the best out in her, but come on, she had more reasons to fire herself during the first seasons than she has now. Random sudden plots are random sudden plots.

Superheroes with the powers of Kara and J'onn (not so much Kelly and Alex) probably should get a fair amount of scrutiny.  Being able to just up and decide "I don't like what you're doing, so I'm going to take all your nukes away" is a pretty scary amount of power, and while we know that Kara and J'onn have good hearts, the average citizen has no way of knowing that for sure, or that they will stay that way. There's always possibilities of brainwashing, evil duplicates, evil relatives, etc. etc. leading to havoc.

Kara's ease in convincing people is plot dependent. She managed to talk the whole world in S1 to believe, but this season she couldn't even rally people to believing in giving ex-cons a second chance. 

As for juggling her super-life and her reporter life, it's not what Nyxly has done to her that led to her giving it up (as I understand it anyway) but that Nyxly represents an imminent threat to all that is in a way that Reign, frankly, did not. There is the bigger question of why someone like Supergirl would bother with a civilian identity other than the trope of having one. She doesn't need the job for the money. Originally, Superman was a reporter because being tapped into the Daily Planet was a way to figure out how to serve justice. But eight decades later, newspapers have far less of a monopoly on information than back in 1938. Even if she really really loves reporting, it seems like it should be hard for Kara to live with herself for all those times when she's messing around with some random CatCo b.s. and she misses out on saving a life because of it. 

Also, Cat was despite all her bluster an actual journalist. Although I think it is weird and random that one of the first times that Andrea is interested in supporting Kara in an actual journalism situation, Kara's like, "Deuces!"

[Rushmoras]

51 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Superheroes with the powers of Kara and J'onn (not so much Kelly and Alex) probably should get a fair amount of scrutiny.

That's my point. This topic was only brought up a couple of episodes ago, because the writers did not know what to do with William's character. It was never brought up before, as far as I remember. The series never once focused on what the average yokel thinks about Super Friends' actions. On top of that, none of the Super Friends even once, until a couple of episodes ago, proclaimed in previous seasons: "Hey, our actions have consequences. We should be held to a higher standard and society should know what we do". Hence, my point, it was totally random and moot to do this only now. This should have been one of the plots in Agent Liberty's storyline, but it wasn't. Not really, 'cause it all boiled down to - "aliens are bad, because they are taking our jobs. Oh, and Super Friends were a dick to me".

 

51 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

but this season she couldn't even rally people to believing in giving ex-cons a second chance. 

This season, IMHO, after Kara was brought back from the Zone, everyone is acting strange and almost... almost out of character or as caricatures of their selves. I would not be surprised, but nah, that wont be the case, that all of them are under some strange Twilight Zone spell.

Edited October 26, 2021 by Rushmoras

[TV Anonymous]

I think the show Under the Dome showed it better. I know that this is a comic book show, but did anybody not get killed by the dome? Carts and bicycles were sliced clear, what about humans and animals?

Edited November 4, 2021 by TV Anonymous

[immortalfrieza]

On 10/26/2021 at 12:16 AM, Chicago Redshirt said:

As for juggling her super-life and her reporter life, it's not what Nyxly has done to her that led to her giving it up (as I understand it anyway) but that Nyxly represents an imminent threat to all that is in a way that Reign, frankly, did not. There is the bigger question of why someone like Supergirl would bother with a civilian identity other than the trope of having one. She doesn't need the job for the money. Originally, Superman was a reporter because being tapped into the Daily Planet was a way to figure out how to serve justice. But eight decades later, newspapers have far less of a monopoly on information than back in 1938. Even if she really really loves reporting, it seems like it should be hard for Kara to live with herself for all those times when she's messing around with some random CatCo b.s. and she misses out on saving a life because of it.

Finally actually watching these episodes, but yeah. Honestly it would have been much better for the show as a whole not to mention Kara's life had Kara quit Catco years ago. One of the consistent issues with the show had been for the longest time holding onto this old relic of an idea long past it's usefulness. The show had, after the first couple seasons at the most, diminished Catco's presence in the show greatly to the point that it wasn't long before Kara was spending 5 minutes there tops in the course of several episodes. Even Kara's life as Kara Danvers has had almost nothing to do with Catco, so she's not even sacrificing her civilian life by quitting. Even if she was, it's not like she couldn't build up a much more flexible social life outside of Catco. The vast majority of the people Kara knows work with her as Supergirl anyway.

Catco was an artifact passed down from Superman working at the Daily Planet, and even there it hung on long after it had any actual importance to Superman's stories. The actual comics Supergirl had no need for anything like Catco and was a vastly different character in general, as opposed to this Supergirl who is nothing more than a female Superman. Supergirl probably would've been a lot more interesting and distinctive to her cousin had she had the personality she did in the comics, which was more prone to aggression.