S01.E04: Livewire

[CletusMusashi]

This week was a lot better than the others.

Yes, I know that Livewire is recycled from other media, but I also know that it's a show based on a long-running comic and so that's going to be a thing. I appreciate that instead of just having her show up and say "You're Superman's cousin? I HATE Superman!" they retooled her into a villain who is interested in this show's characters. They need to keep doing that.

The family drama wasn't really my cup of tea, but I was okay with trudging through it because I understood that they were trying to establish family dynamics, and I knew that there wasn't going to be a sappy Thanksgiving episode every week anyhow. Then, they pleasantly surprised me by throwing a decent plot twist onto the end of it.

Cat is more interesting with a few layers to her. It's not like she can't still chew scenery.

Nobody talked about Superman except in a flashaback where it was necessary to that particular plot arc.

And there was less Jimmy Awesome than usual. Oh, they still made sure to check in with him a few times, just so the entire show could come to a weird screeching halt, but at least they kept him out of the way of the main story. I wonder how many writers quit the show after finding out that James would not be attending Kara's family get-together. "But how can they possibly overcome their obstacles without HIM?"

I hope to God we don't end up still having to endure an episode about his four days in Ohio. "But we must show the viewers what he was doing! He's the star!" Um... was he being handsome and cool? And besides that, doing absolutely nothing? Already know. Didn't miss it. More actual Supergirl eps like this week please.

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

 

The Leslie Willis Fiasco
It's Supergirl versus an evil ex-radio host with a new take on current events.

[Kendra]

 

And there was less Jimmy Awesome than usual. Oh, they still made sure to check in with him a few times, just so the entire show could come to a weird screeching halt, but at least they kept him out of the way of the main story. I wonder how many writers quit the show after finding out that James would not be attending Kara's family get-together. "But how can they possibly overcome their obstacles without HIM?"

I hope to God we don't end up still having to endure an episode about his four days in Ohio. "But we must show the viewers what he was doing! He's the star!" Um... was he being handsome and cool? And besides that, doing absolutely nothing? Already know. Didn't miss it. More actual Supergirl eps like this week please.

 

I do have to agree about the James scenes in this episode not really "fitting" in. It felt like they just needed something for him to do so a random phone call in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner was the way to go. However, maybe the love triangle stuff felt forced in this episode because we didn't get to see what happened in the episode prior? 

[CletusMusashi]

No, it felt forced because he is boring.

He exudes a "too cool"ness that makes him feel more like a Special Guest Star than like a person who actually belongs on the show.

 

Also, having just read the recap.. Ojai, huh? I really thought they said Ohio.

Well, if it'll involve James in a speedo I know we're going to see those entire four days now. Yay.

[statsgirl]

I don't really blame Eliza for not telling Alex her father had died working for the DEO rather than a plane crash because the DEO is a secret organization and what could Alex do?  He's dead, so Eliza thinks.  However, I do blame her for not telling Alex, who studied bioengineering like her mom, about the DEO's existence especially since Alex was already living with an extraterrestrial in her house.

I believe that Cat may know because she has decided to throw herself into the Supergirl branding/phenomenon, that with all the time poring over the photos and interview and whatever else Cat has compiled on Supergirl, that she knows. Or has a pretty educated hunch that just needs to be confirmed.  She seems flighty, is "catty",  but also pretty canny as well. She is a media mogul and has managed to stay relevant.

Or she just wanted to have the inside track on branding Supergirl since "owning" Superman has given The Daily Planet so much cache and presumably money.  As you said, she's very canny and she wants her media empire to be on top.

 

I'm sure Cat is going to be on Team Supergirl by the end of the season, probably even by the winter hiatus. I just don't think that she knows right now.

[Snorfbat]

Granny Goodness would have lines.

So true. But Granny has a whole pack of Female Furies. If I had to choose one of those, I'd say she's Stompa.

[Perfect Xero]

I'm under the impression that the other planets were places that she visited while 12 and under before Krypton exploded. I'd doubt that she'd go anyplace in this solar system after she got chastised for just flying across the country.

 

It's possible, but they do tend to use the excuse that Kryptonians were extremely isolationist and had outlawed space travel to explain why Clark and Kara were the only two to survive Krypton.

[legaleagle53]

It's possible, but they do tend to use the excuse that Kryptonians were extremely isolationist and had outlawed space travel to explain why Clark and Kara were the only two to survive Krypton.

 

Actually, the classical explanation is that nobody else believed Jor-El's predictions that Krypton would explode, so nobody bothered to prepare for it. Even Zor-El (Kara's biological father) didn't believe him; Kara's birthplace only survived Krypton's explosion due to a fluke when Argo City was miraculously flung intact from the explosion that destroyed the planet.  Here, the classical explanation appears to have been retconned to state that Zor-El and Alura did believe Jor-El's predictions, which is why they knew that he was sending Kal to Earth and agreed to send Kara along with him to be his babysitter and protector there.

[stealinghome]

The sense I get is despite that statement from Winn and despite super-abilities that should be able to detect physical manifestations that he's crushing on her, Kara has no clue that he's into him.

imo MB played it as if Kara had a moment of realization when Winn kissed her on the cheek toward the end of the ep. Not sure if it will stick, as she immediately turned her attention to James, but I did think Kara's lightbulb went off at that moment. That said, I don't really think the onus is on Kara to do anything at this point. Does it suck to be crushing hard on someone who's totally uninterested? Sure, we've all been there. But Winn can do what everyone else in the world does and get over it. Kara isn't leading him on or making false promises or anything like that. She's treated him like a friend and nothing more/else. If Winn can't handle being friends with his crush, it's on him to go to Kara and say that he needs some time apart.

 

I come down on the side of thinking Cat does NOT know the secret at this point. I agree that her knowing would be a better story. Which is why I don't think these writers could have come up with it.

[Kromm]

I'm under the impression that the other planets were places that she visited while 12 and under before Krypton exploded. I'd doubt that she'd go anyplace in this solar system after she got chastised for just flying across the country.

It's possible, but they do tend to use the excuse that Kryptonians were extremely isolationist and had outlawed space travel to explain why Clark and Kara were the only two to survive Krypton.

That sounds more like the Daxamites than the Kryptonians, really. But I guess it must have extended somewhat to the Kryptonians too, because the comics never really spent much time explaining why such an advanced civilization didn't bother with colony planets. Even isolationism doesn't well explain it, because you can still have a colony or two and try to stay out of the way of other races (and in fact, Daxam was allegedly one of those colonies in some versions of the DCU).

Here's my opinion on how to take Kara's comment: Kara saw other planets specifically BECAUSE her mother was a judge. This version of the Kryptonians weren't isolated on their planet and policed their whole stellar neighborhood. Possibly there are still displaced Kryptonians out there, but we'd never know because this version of Earth doesn't have deep space travel either. Kal and Kara were sent to Earth specifically to get them far away from that area of the Galaxy, because perhaps the Kryptonians left it a mess (and it wouldn't be safe). Something like that.

[Perfect Xero]

That sounds more like the Daxamites than the Kryptonians, really. But I guess it must have extended somewhat to the Kryptonians too, because the comics never really spent much time explaining why such an advanced civilization didn't bother with colony planets. Even isolationism doesn't well explain it, because you can still have a colony or two and try to stay out of the way of other races (and in fact, Daxam was allegedly one of those colonies in some versions of the DCU).

Here's my opinion on how to take Kara's comment: Kara saw other planets specifically BECAUSE her mother was a judge. This version of the Kryptonians weren't isolated on their planet and policed their whole stellar neighborhood. Possibly there are still displaced Kryptonians out there, but we'd never know because this version of Earth doesn't have deep space travel either. Kal and Kara were sent to Earth specifically to get them far away from that area of the Galaxy, because perhaps the Kryptonians left it a mess (and it wouldn't be safe). Something like that.

 

Maybe I was thinking of Mon El from the Legion of Superheroes. Or maybe it was something from Superman: TAS or just some fan theory I took to heart? Oh well, I always thought it was a solid explanation for why such a technologically advanced species (one that gains god like powers under yellow stars at that) didn't have any off world colonies and at least a few ships worth of people off planet at the time Krypton exploded.

[Kromm]

Maybe I was thinking of Mon El from the Legion of Superheroes.

Well Mon-El WAS a Daxamite (his real name was "Lar Gand" and "Mon-El" was just something Superboy cooked up for him).

[Dobian]

Okay, she's a "shock jock", I get it.

 

I don't mind the first season "freak of the week" format like early Buffy and Smallville.  Eventually they'll get to the long and heavy-handed story arcs that will crush the show under their weight.

 

Alex is so concerned about no one else finding out Kara is Supergirl, yet here comes Supergirl flying through the window of her apartment in broad daylight and she doesn't even flinch.  How many people down on the street see her coming and going from that apartment all the time, lol.

Edited November 19, 2015 by Dobian

[legaleagle53]

Alex is so concerned about no one else finding out Kara is Supergirl, yet here comes Supergirl flying through the window of her apartment in broad daylight and she doesn't even flinch.  How many people down on the street see her coming and going from that apartment all the time, lol.

 

Considering that Kara can actually fly at the speed of light, if not faster (we just haven't seen her do it yet), I'd say probably no one has because she would simply enter and exit too fast to be seen with the naked eye. And she has to exit and enter her apartment somehow.

[Jordan27]

Wow are we reading this differently.

 

I think this show has less angst than any Superhero show I've ever seen.  The conflicts they DO have never weigh that heavily on Kara, and rarely are dragged on between episodes.

Name one character she doesn't have angst with.

Yeah, for me it's like... if someone thinks this is angsty, they must be wanting a cartoon instead (and a really kiddie one too). 

Actually, it comes across more like a cartoon than Flash or Arrow.

[Dobian]

Considering that Kara can actually fly at the speed of light, if not faster (we just haven't seen her do it yet), I'd say probably no one has because she would simply enter and exit too fast to be seen with the naked eye. And she has to exit and enter her apartment somehow.

 

Well she can always use her front door like everyone else, lol.  I don't know about the speed of light (though in one episode when they were testing her speed she was breaking the sound barrier, not the light barrier), looked like she was doing about twenty coming through the window.  ;-)

Edited November 20, 2015 by Dobian

[Jordan27]

Seems to me for some reason Supergirl the Show (and the character) has been subject to a real "can't win" thing from fan analysis. If she has trouble she's "got no credibility".  If she DOESN'T have any trouble, the script has no credibility (and likely is boring, to boot). Similarly, if she's got any interpersonal conflict, she's suddenly Super-Angst Girl, if she doesn't have any conflict, she's Super Boring Girl.  If Superman isn't mentioned, the show is "dodging it". If he IS mentioned the show is "relying on him too much". If the baddies were Superman A-listers, I'm sure that last charge would be extended even more, but since they aren't they're all "B list" and thus unworthy of the show (I know that's not literally what was said by the last poster... I'm just taking the argument to an extreme equal to some of these others). If the Superhero tropes are too fully bought into, many seem to not be able to look past them, but if they're challenged by the show, some others seem to think that's too gimmicky.

 

Honestly it's a wonder anyone is watching at all if it's all "can't wins" like these.

Well, the criticisms mean that someone is watching and cares.  But, this is certainly the least quality superhero show on television.  The show is caught somewhere between comedy and drama and isn't exactly doing either one very good. 

 

I wanted to really like it, and save for Melissa's performance, nothing is really that that compelling. 

 

Let's see if it can improve.

[Chicago Redshirt]

Name one character she doesn't have angst with.

 

"Angst" is too strong a word for her relationship with any of the characters outside of Cat and Henshaw at present, and probably even then.

 

"Friction" might apply, but that's to be expected in a drama. 

 

Her friction with Jimmy so far is that she's into him and there's another woman in the way (plus she was upset with him because he called in Superman and she wrongly thought that meant he doesn't have faith in her.)

 

Her friction with Alex is really entirely on Alex's side -- that Alex felt/feels like her parents liked Kara best and Alex felt like she couldn't measure up to Kara.

 

Her friction with Winn is entirely from Winn's side, that he's crushing out on her and she's (apparently) oblivious to it.

 

She seemingly gets along fine with SM, even though he has been kind of an absentee mentor, failing to tell her about Kryptonite and such.

 

Compare that to the angst level /issues on other superhero shows ("I love her but I can't be with her because everyone around me dies"/"I'm experiencing or have experienced PTSD from being beaten-having someone die-childhood tragedy-spending 5 years stranded on a hellish island"/"I'm trying to get over the fact that a psycho murdered my mother/parents/girlfriend/etc.etc and I feel I'm to blame"/"500 people were killed on my watch"/"I have to keep my identity a secret or everyone I love will die and I'll be experimented on"/"I couldn't save X person and I'm a failure")

 

So far, Supergirl's been pretty upbeat and has shown very few signs of whining/craziness/angst in comparison with most of her counterparts.

Edited November 19, 2015 by Chicago Redshirt

[Kromm]

Considering that Kara can actually fly at the speed of light, if not faster (we just haven't seen her do it yet), I'd say probably no one has because she would simply enter and exit too fast to be seen with the naked eye. And she has to exit and enter her apartment somehow.

Nobody is saying she can fly at the speed of light. She may have been able to in some comic book version (probably silver age), but until we hear it here I don't think we should assume she can.

Being able to break the sound barrier and the light barrier are WAY far apart. We mere humans, via our puny machines, have been able to do that first for decades already. Even this show requiring a lot of comic-book-physics to explain a lot of what she does doesn't really make lightspeed travel all that likely here.

Name one character she doesn't have angst with.

Name one character where the angst has been of any consequence--where it's upset Kara for more than a few minutes of screen time, been dragged over multiple episodes in to ridiculous subplots like on most shows, or changed her overall demeanor.

[Chicago Redshirt]

Following up on the point before, the higher level of angst/friction with Cat and Henshaw have both gone down somewhat.

 

At first Henshaw shot her full of Kryptonite and was like grr grr grr...amateur alien hour up in here. But now he's started showing respect for her abilities and her sunny disposition has seemingly left him less curmudgeonly.

 

Similarly, Cat started off as a ripoff of the boss in "The Devil Wears Prada." But now she seems to be warming up to Kara. 

[Kromm]

Following up on the point before, the higher level of angst/friction with Cat and Henshaw have both gone down somewhat.

 

At first Henshaw shot her full of Kryptonite and was like grr grr grr...amateur alien hour up in here. But now he's started showing respect for her abilities and her sunny disposition has seemingly left him less curmudgeonly.

 

Similarly, Cat started off as a ripoff of the boss in "The Devil Wears Prada." But now she seems to be warming up to Kara. 

And even at it's "worst" that angst wasn't deep or dominating to the show.  Henshaw may have come down on her, but her down in dumps attitude about that lasted an entire 6-7 minutes of ONE episode. Oh woe is me, I can see how that compares negatively to shows where characters have downturns that last 2 seasons. Oh wait. No I can't!

 

Cat being a tough boss has only been nicked away at, but even if it hadn't, it doesn't seem to really depress or anger Kara (other than one scene we've seen coming where she yells back at Cat). We've seen Kara go on about wanting to make a difference to the world as more than an assistant, but that's been played so light that there's never been any seeming real threat of her leaving that job, even though it's now her second one.

 

And we saw her have conflict with her sister. And wow, that also lasted about 6-7 minutes of one episode.  Heavy duty man...

 

Of course there's romantic angst. Well we missed out on seeing the episode where she suffered from that, but really other than a few winces she seems mostly over it by the episode we DID get to see with Livewire. So one episode's worth on heavy angst (probably: we don't know for sure) with a little discomfort one episode later?  Come on. If that's dark black unwatchable angst, how is that aspect being compared to Arrow, where we've had romantic angst on and off for the characters for entire seasons?

[brgjoe]

I guess I would like to see less of the romantic angst (if I can join the "Angst Anonymous" group here).  Already it looks like we have a soap opera-ish romantic triangle (quadrangle, if you include Winn).  Though I don't.  I don't like his character all that much, but I do kinda feel for him.  We've all been there, crushing on someone who has no interest.  But Winn has about as much chance of escaping the event horizon of a black hole than he does getting out of her friend zone.

 

I generally liked the episode though.  I happened to enjoy Livewire being the VotW.  Maybe she will come back after she escapes from the Men in Black group.  I kinda hope so.  Cat got developed somewhat.  At least we get some idea as to why she's so driven.  And expects the same from those who are employed by her.  Also looked like she was warming up to SG a bit.  I liked their scenes together.

 

It will be interesting to see what happens though in the next aired episodes, since this one was released out of sequence.   But for now I am still enjoing Supergirl.  Will be interesting to see how her and Alex team up to find out what happened their dad. 

[maczero]

I know it's not fair to compare the show to Superman: The Animated Series, but I feel the original Livewire (voiced by Lori Petty) was better than the one we got. The live-action version makes the transition well enough, but she's not as much fun to watch.

 

Anybody else think that Winn and Felicity Smoak should start a support group for children of crappy fathers?

 

I always loved STAS's version of Livewire.

 

And like Winn's father, I expect Felicity's father to be a super villain.

 

I also thought it ridiculous that Livewire immediately knew all of her electro-powers and was also a teleporter.  

The "teleporting" is part of her electricity power set.  She can turn into pure electricity, travel in that form and become solid again in a new location.  

 

Other note: I truly dislike James/Kara together I really don't see the chemistry. They need to put the romance angle of this show on the backburner for awhile......I'd rather see her with her best friend at this point if they feel the need to have a romance angle right now....

Agreed.  James fits nicely in the mentor role.  And I was fine with Kara having a crush on him since it appeared the attraction was one sided.  Unfortunately it appears that James is feeling something for Kara other than just friendship.   

Edited November 21, 2015 by maczero

[MarkHB]

Considering that Kara can actually fly at the speed of light, if not faster (we just haven't seen her do it yet), I'd say probably no one has because she would simply enter and exit too fast to be seen with the naked eye. And she has to exit and enter her apartment somehow.

 

Personally, I loved the "flying in the apartment window" bit, just because it's been such a tradition in Superman history.  It's like the determined removal of the glasses and the shirt rip.

 

So far as Cat goes, I think she's looking at Kara for signs that she's worth her time, that she's got potential to be something more than her petty servant; witness the "if you don't take credit when you do something right" speech from the pilot.  Also, I think if you look carefully at the blocking in this episode, she seems like she's trying to physically protect Kara (or it looked that way in the advance clips); those of us old enough to have ridden in the front seat of the car as small children in the pre-booster-seat era may remember our mothers pushing us back into the seat with one hand at certain moments.... same sort of idea, at least to me.

[Trini]

The flying in through the window actually reminded me more of Spiderman.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Cat has been calling Kara "Care-A" even though her name is pronounced "Car-A." I think that continued through this episode.

 

 

For reference, the closed captioning reads as "Kerah" though she has pronounced Kara's name correctly when she's in the mood for it.

 

I may be in the minority, but I think it should be "Care-Ah" as opposed to how it's pronounced on this show. I think Cat is doing it right, because in all other iterations (shows, movies) it's always been pronounced as the former. It's only on this show that they've been saying it as "CAR-A" and it bugs me. Just like on how they mispronounce R'as Al Ghul's name on the DC shows, and yes, even in the Nolan Batman movies. It's "Raysh", not "Roz."  Hell even, Timm's Batman Beyond had its Bruce correcting Terry on the correct way to say it.  And since I hold Bruce Timm's DCAU as the more superior and accurate show(s), I will defer to them.

 

It's nails on a chalkboard for me whenever I hear them say Kara's name the way they do.

[legaleagle53]

I may be in the minority, but I think it should be "Care-Ah" as opposed to how it's pronounced on this show. I think Cat is doing it right, because in all other iterations (shows, movies) it's always been pronounced as the former. It's only on this show that they've been saying it as "CAR-A" and it bugs me. 

 

Not true.  In the 1984 Supergirl movie, Kara pronounced her name as it is pronounced by everyone but Cat on this show. I tend to think that she would know how to pronounce her own name, and it's certainly the way I've heard it pronounced in my head over the past 31 years.

Edited November 22, 2015 by legaleagle53

[jaytee1812]

I assumed it was a US thing to pronounce it Kerah.

[Chicago Redshirt]

To quote Shawn Spencer, "I've heard it both ways."

:)

Perhaps when I get a chance, I will look at how different versions do it.

[Zuleikha]

I don't have any opinions on Kar-a versus Kare-a other than that I like the pronunciation Kar-a better for aesthetic reasons, but I do have an opinion on the following:

 

Just like on how they mispronounce R'as Al Ghul's name on the DC shows, and yes, even in the Nolan Batman movies. It's "Raysh", not "Roz."

. I speak Arabic."Raysh" and "Roz" are both wrong, although I would say "Raysh" is more wrong. Based on R'as Al Ghul's character history, his form of Arabic should be close to--if not identical--to the Classical Arabic pronunciation, which is well... R'as. The apostrophe represents a hamza, a sound that's not present in English and is a glottal stop. A lot of Arabic daily languages have simplified the middle sound to use a different vowel. In the ones I'm familiar with, it's still an "ah" sound but I wouldn't be surprised if there are some that are an English long "a" sound. But the "sh" is a completely different letter, and I don't know of any Arabic languages that swapped the "s" for "sh" (although Hebrew did). I shudder to think of what people are doing with the "gh" sound in "ghul," as that sound is really hard for native English speakers to make.

[John Potts]

Not being American, I didn't have a picture of when a Thanksgiving meal would normally take place, but it struck me as odd  that James Olson (in Hawaii?) seemed to have finished his meal but the Danvers (in National City - somewhere on the East Coast?) hadn't started theirs. So far I've been assuming that if Metropolis is Washington, Gotham is NY, then National City is somewhere like Miami, so a long way to commute for Clark (though not impossible, given his speed), but on the same Coast. It would also make the time difference something like 6 hours(?) so it would make sense of the day/night transition between the two.

 

stealinghome I appreciated them fleshing Cat out a bit. CF and MB play well off each other, and Cat has been in need of some depth. I have to admit I snickered at her "you have the all the wit of a Youtube comment" one-liner.

 

 

Loved that line too! I have to admit I was surprised that we didn't get one of two revelations:

 

1) "Livewire" is (or was) Cat's (presumably illegitimate) daughter, which is why she tolerated her antics

2) Cat knows Kara is Supergirl. OK, I know it's an artefact of Superman where a pair of glasses makes Clark completely unrecognisable as Supes, but (particularly an episode that makes use of Facial Recognition Software) it does punch Suspension of Disbelief in he face!

 

stealinghome ...unless they're secretly telling us Kara/Cat is endgame. ;)

 

 

That would certainly be a twist I wouldn't see coming!

 

marketdoctor   I know that in real life WOMEN TALK TO EACH OTHER (sorry for shouting) even about things other than men

 

 

You know it struck me that this show does pass the Bechdel Test, what with most of the major characters (Kara, her sister, her boss and her superpowered villain) are all women. In fact it's almost in danger of failing the Ledhceb Test (Bechdel backwards), since in the few scenes of two men talking, they're generally talking about Kara (not that I feel it's a test that NEEDS passing, but it's just interesting).

 

kirkola This "she's a special and delicate snowflake" that the biological child must I must force my biological child to watch over, was just crap from the beginning

 

It does seem odd that any parent would go, "You, squishy human, should protect your flying tank of a sister!" But parents can have weird and unreasonable expectations of their children (spoken as somebody with no children of their own, you understand!)

 

And on the subject of parents, was anyone else getting the "Coming out to your parents is hard!" vibe from just about everyone at the start?

 

wayne67  water on living lightning has no known effect since that usually isn't covered in Earth science classes.

 

 

And ain't that an indictment of modern day education!

 

 

 

[Kromm]

Not being American, I didn't have a picture of when a Thanksgiving meal would normally take place, but it struck me as odd  that James Olson (in Hawaii?) seemed to have finished his meal but the Danvers (in National City - somewhere on the East Coast?) hadn't started theirs. So far I've been assuming that if Metropolis is Washington, Gotham is NY, then National City is somewhere like Miami, so a long way to commute for Clark (though not impossible, given his speed), but on the same Coast. It would also make the time difference something like 6 hours(?) so it would make sense of the day/night transition between the two.

I'm sure it tremendously varies by family, but I've always had the impression for most people it's a mid-afternoon to early evening thing.  Which contrasts with the times Americans eat every other day of the year, but I think it's based a lot around people not having a real breakfast and traveling earlier to try and avoid traffic.

[statsgirl]

Since James and Lucy were on vacation just the two of them, it's possible that they didn't have a formal Thanksgiving dinner at all, just went to a restaurant for a turkey lunch.

[queenanne]

I come down on the side of thinking Cat does NOT know the secret at this point. I agree that her knowing would be a better story. Which is why I don't think these writers could have come up with it.

 

Agreed, especially based upon the delivery Cat handed out with lines like "if you'd just give me your cell phone number..." to Supergirl, a scant 30 minutes after Kara had gone "home" and left her optics it seemed.  I think moments where she comes close to the truth, are not moments where "Cat comes close to the truth", but writers' license, where they want to provide the audience with a chance to gloat in how we know more than the characters.  That little wink-wink, nudge-nudge frisson of "feel that delicious irony!  Cat IS speaking truth, but she doesn't know she knows it!"

 

Now, whether or not eventually these moments will knit themselves into actual revelation for Cat, I can't swear, but I feel like pound for pound, the fact that Kara already has cohorts who know her identity, argues in favor of an eventual "Aha!" moment on Cat's part.  If no one knew, I don't think Cat would be the first-runner edge of the wedge.

Edited December 2, 2015 by queenanne

[Shades of Scarlet]

Since James and Lucy were on vacation just the two of them, it's possible that they didn't have a formal Thanksgiving dinner at all, just went to a restaurant for a turkey lunch.

 

 

Right.  I also think that National City is supposed to be somewhere in California, hence the Ojai ("only a few hours away") reference (that's a real place in California, about 80 or so miles' drive from Los Angeles) - - so James and the Danvers celebrations were taking place in the same time zone. 

Edited December 2, 2015 by Shades of Scarlet

[Chicago Redshirt]

Not being American, I didn't have a picture of when a Thanksgiving meal would normally take place, but it struck me as odd  that James Olson (in Hawaii?) seemed to have finished his meal but the Danvers (in National City - somewhere on the East Coast?) hadn't started theirs. So far I've been assuming that if Metropolis is Washington, Gotham is NY, then National City is somewhere like Miami, so a long way to commute for Clark (though not impossible, given his speed), but on the same Coast. It would also make the time difference something like 6 hours(?) so it would make sense of the day/night transition between the two.

 

Yeah, different families might do different things. Some aim to have food ready around noon to eat while they start watching football. Some go for 2. My personal family typically says on paper we're going to eat at 4, but actually eat about 7 or later.

 

James was in Ojai, which is an actual city in California. I don't know if the comics have established where "National City" is, and I don't remember hearing of it before the show. My impression is that National City is a proxy for Washington, D.C. (FWIW, from my own understanding and the Googling I've done, both Metropolis and Gotham are in the vicinity of New York).

 

Anyway, time difference would be 4 hours. And as someone else said, since it was just the two of them, Lucy and James probably didn't have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. 

[Kromm]

Yeah, different families might do different things. Some aim to have food ready around noon to eat while they start watching football. Some go for 2. My personal family typically says on paper we're going to eat at 4, but actually eat about 7 or later.

 

James was in Ojai, which is an actual city in California. I don't know if the comics have established where "National City" is, and I don't remember hearing of it before the show. My impression is that National City is a proxy for Washington, D.C. (FWIW, from my own understanding and the Googling I've done, both Metropolis and Gotham are in the vicinity of New York).

 

Anyway, time difference would be 4 hours. And as someone else said, since it was just the two of them, Lucy and James probably didn't have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. 

Sorry National City is in California. I think we've confirmed that pretty close to absolutely.  While we don't see the Ocean, we see both the desert outside the city and the Palm Trees.  The Palm Trees could also signify Florida... but there's no desert there. 

 

The actual filming locations (the ones not in the desert) are in LA though. I think they're just genericizing Southern California as much as possible though so this could be a stand-in for San Diego, or even a non-coastal place like Palm Springs (albeit an alt-universe version of each, since Palm Springs I don't think has tall buildings and San Diego wouldn't have mountains in the distance like I think we see in some of the desert shots). 

Edited December 2, 2015 by Kromm

[Chas411]

After watching the episode I'm pretty sure the reason Kara doesn't know anything about Winns personal life is because she never asked. The friendship is incredibly one sided.

Also hating Kara/James giving each other the gooey eyes while Lucy stands there. They make this mistake with the leading love interests way too many times in TV shows. It really turns me off the couple in supposed to root for when there's third parties involved.

[AudienceofOne]

Also hating Kara/James giving each other the gooey eyes while Lucy stands there. They make this mistake with the leading love interests way too many times in TV shows. It really turns me off the couple in supposed to root for when there's third parties involved.

 

 

The only one I could handle was the games one when their side eye seemed to be about their shared secret over her being Supergirl. The other ones are just gross. Maybe it's just a personal thing but if I liked a guy who had a girlfriend and he kept sharing secret little glances with me while she was there, I would be over him in a heartbeat. That's got asshole written all over it.

 

NOTE: I watched these episodes back to back and now I'm not sure if the games night scene was in this one or the next one (which should have been this one). So it still applies, it might just be premature.

 

You know it struck me that this show does pass the Bechdel Test

 

 

The show definitely passes the Bechdel Test. And I love that her sidekicks are exclusively male. That's one area where this show got the dynamic they were going for right. But passing the Bechdel Test is merely a statement on representativeness. So meeting it is good but it's only the first step.

 

For example, we're supposed to believe that the immortal and invulnerable being is so weak and pathetic she could be defeated by electricity. Because, and I don't know if you've noticed, she's a GIRL. Just in case you missed it.

[legaleagle53]

The only one I could handle was the games one when their side eye seemed to be about their shared secret over her being Supergirl. The other ones are just gross. Maybe it's just a personal thing but if I liked a guy who had a girlfriend and he kept sharing secret little glances with me while she was there, I would be over him in a heartbeat. That's got asshole written all over it.

 

NOTE: I watched these episodes back to back and now I'm not sure if the games night scene was in this one or the next one (which should have been this one). So it still applies, it might just be premature.

 

 

The show definitely passes the Bechdel Test. And I love that her sidekicks are exclusively male. That's one area where this show got the dynamic they were going for right. But passing the Bechdel Test is merely a statement on representativeness. So meeting it is good but it's only the first step.

 

For example, we're supposed to believe that the immortal and invulnerable being is so weak and pathetic she could be defeated by electricity. Because, and I don't know if you've noticed, she's a GIRL. Just in case you missed it.

 

She's invulnerable, not immortal.  She still has the ability to die -- it would just take a hell of a lot more to kill her than it would to kill a human.

[AudienceofOne]

You're confusing the two words. Somebody can be invulnerable and not immortal (i.e. they can't be killed but can grow old and die). Or somebody can be immortal but not invulnerable (they don't grow old and die but they can be killed). On Earth, Kryptonians are both. Unless they face something not of Earth. So my comment stands. It's just boring. I actually wandered away from the TV at the end of this. Because she was literally in no danger. And if the writers say she is, it's only because of her gender and that is even more annoying.

[Chicago Redshirt]

We don't know exactly how immortal SG or other Kryptonians are in the SGverse, or how invulnerable they are. We have seen that she can be weakened by Kryptonite and we now have seen that she can burn through her storage of solar energy if she is not careful and that would leave her vulnerable to just about anything. 

 

For the purposes of story telling, however, it's pretty irrelevant. Because like Flash, Arrow, the Agents of SHIELD, Lt. Gordon or pretty much everyone who is the star of a genre show, we know that she is not actually going to be in mortal danger and is protected by Plot Armor. 

Edited December 8, 2015 by Chicago Redshirt

[John Potts]

AudienceofOne But passing the Bechdel Test is merely a statement on representativeness. So meeting it is good but it's only the first step.

 

 

Sure - I was actually trying to say "It passed the Bechdel Test and it hadn't struck me until now," which is probably a good thing - but I would no more claim that it shows TV is no longer sexist than I would that the fact that Barack Obama was elected shows that there is no longer racism in America, because that would be patently untrue.

[mrspidey]

I was getting ready to applaud this episode for being the first episode without a mention of Superman but then they had to go and ruin that in the epilogue flashback...