S01.E05: How Does She Do It?

[John Potts]

I actually like Max Lord as a villain. He does seem to have something of a beef with the government - he's not just pissed that "Superman made me bald!" which has been Lex Luthor's motivation (at one point in Super history). Still evil, obviously, what with setting bombs just to test Supergirl, but so far within limits. No doubt as the series progresses he'll get more unhinged and we'll get "I stubbed my toe - this is all Supergirl's fault, she must die!"

 

Incidentally, isn't Max Lord the comic book character

who Wonder Woman killed? For admittedly justifiable reasons, but it did cause her to be shunned in some Superhero circles.

 

Did love Cat's son saying "Her legs!" when his mom asked about Supergirl, because that I believed. He may be a nerd, but he's still a teenage boy. But I did love Kara lapping up the "Supergirl is awesome!" from him.

 

Kromm Yes, those famous Kansas Mountains

 

You'll be telling me that all of the States don't look like Vancouver next!

[MarkHB]

I still remember the way folks who actually knew the dead-flat dusthole that is West Texas's Permian Basin ridiculed the first season of Heroes for trying to pass off the California hills as said dusthole :) .

 

@John Potts, yes, your spoiler is correct.  I don't see this Maxwell Lord as going to that place, though... he seems more like the manipulator with an off-base moral compass that he was when Keith Giffen invented him than what he evolved to later in the comics.

[Shades of Scarlet]

They did kinda show how fast she is when it only took her a few seconds to change into her civilian clothes (that were folded up really small?*) when she flew in to pick up Carter.

 

*(Whatever, I'm just going with it.)

 

 

Ah, good call, I was enjoying the comedics in that scene and completely missed that!   Yeah, as others have said she has some sort of pouch in her cape to compress stuff - I've never been sure how that works with (say) high heels, though.  Perhaps she wears those under the boots?   

[lion10]

One huge continuity snag I noticed was that in "Livewire" Cat asks Kara what happened to her parents and she says that she's sorry when Kara reveals that they're dead.  In this episode Cat asks what Kara's relationship with her mom is like and then says she doesn't really care.  It makes Cat look hilariously callous.

[legaleagle53]

One huge continuity snag I noticed was that in "Livewire" Cat asks Kara what happened to her parents and she says that she's sorry when Kara reveals that they're dead.  In this episode Cat asks what Kara's relationship with her mom is like and then says she doesn't really care.  It makes Cat look hilariously callous.

 

It's not a continuity snag. This episode was originally supposed to air before Livewire, but the two got switched because of the Paris attack two weeks ago.  Thus, the episodes are out of sequence, and Cat simply doesn't know in this episode that Kara's biological parents are dead.

Edited November 28, 2015 by legaleagle53

[Kromm]

One huge continuity snag I noticed was that in "Livewire" Cat asks Kara what happened to her parents and she says that she's sorry when Kara reveals that they're dead.  In this episode Cat asks what Kara's relationship with her mom is like and then says she doesn't really care.  It makes Cat look hilariously callous.

 

It's not a continuity snag. This episode was originally supposed to air before Livewire, but the two got switched because of the Paris attack two weeks ago.  Thus, the episodes are out of sequence, and Cat simply doesn't know in this episode that Kara's biological parents are dead.

Not only that,  but there are probably in total at least a dozen references that make a lot less sense because of the order switch. That one is far from the worst.

[jaytee1812]

I didn't mind those, but I'm sure they'll switch the order back for repeats etc.

[lion10]

I knew that the two episodes were switched I meant that if someone didn't know they were switched Cat's new attitude about Kara's parents would be seen as pretty mean.

[statsgirl]

I'm actually impressed that switching the episodes made so much difference on this show.  (It made zero difference on NCIS.)

 

As well as Cat's parents comment here and saying that Carter was spending Thanksgiving with his father in the next one (Carter? Who's Carter?), we see that Jimmy's relationship with Lucy is already in trouble if he's phoning Kara just to chat on Thanksgiving when he's on a trip with Lucy.

[Tara Ariano]

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

 

Supergirl Is A Not-So-Super Nanny
Kara's being asked to handle every ball -- except the ones she wants to.

[Jordan27]

So Supergirl can fly at least as fast as Mach 2.  Given that she ought to be able to take down some of these villains using her speed; I'd like to see that depicted or have the writers address it.

 

[Melissa continues to be adorable.  What a doll, in either persona.

 

Agree on both points.  The show acts like Supergirl doesn't have Super speed. 

 

And Melissa's portrayal for me is the only really good thing about the show.   Everything else is poor or average.

[KirkB]

Kara may have super speed but she isn't the Flash. The thing is, I basically agree with you. But if Kara (and for that matter, Barry) used her speed and full powers the way she 'should' most fights would be over in about half a second and make for really boring episodes. 

[Shades of Scarlet]

Kara may have super speed but she isn't the Flash. The thing is, I basically agree with you. But if Kara (and for that matter, Barry) used her speed and full powers the way she 'should' most fights would be over in about half a second and make for really boring episodes. 

 

 

The comics repeatedly demonstrate (not a spoiler) that Superman is definitely slower than The Flash, but not significantly.  So if you figure that Kara is still figuring things out unlike her cousin, she might be a couple or three steps slower than The Flash, but not much more.  (I am really hoping that the rumors of a crossover in the spring are true so this is played out on screen.)  

 

I agree with your other point, but comic book writers have been figuring out ways for decades upon decades for all three characters to deal with villains while taking their speed into account instead of ignoring it.    

[quarks]

The comics repeatedly demonstrate (not a spoiler) that Superman is definitely slower than The Flash, but not significantly.  So if you figure that Kara is still figuring things out unlike her cousin, she might be a couple or three steps slower than The Flash, but not much more.  (I am really hoping that the rumors of a crossover in the spring are true so this is played out on screen.)  

 

 

Though the subplot in last night's episode of The Flash was all about how Barry isn't running fast enough.

[AudienceofOne]

Though the subplot in last night's episode of The Flash was all about how Barry isn't running fast enough.

 

 

Yes, but that was stupid. According to that episode, Barry runs at supersonic speeds (Mach 2). Which means that supersonic aircraft should regularly, accidentally travel back in time. For him to have travelled back in time while running, he'd have to break the speed of light. Which is a) impossible and really really stupid and b) much faster than Mach 2. I'm just pretending none of that ever happened because every time that show says something "sciency", Hawking sobs and Einstein rolls in his grave.

 

We know that Superman can break the sound barrier so let's put Flash at his peak runs at hypersonic speeds and the 'Supers' run at supersonic. Or let's just say "both run faster than the speed of sound but Flash is faster" and leave it at that.

 

It's fast. It's fast enough that Supergirl should never just be standing there watching things unfold with her mouth open. It's fast enough she should have just evacuated the train herself and then shoved it into space.

[Chicago Redshirt]

Just rewatched this episode. Some random thoughts that stuck out with the benefit of having seen other episodes.

 

Carter talked about how Kara and he had an epic Nerf fight and she's awesome at Settlers of Catan. I'm a little sad that this all happened off-screen. (Or are we supposed to think that Carter just lied about all of this?) But I think it's cool that Kara actually does seem to enjoy games and it fits with her and her friends having a regular game night.

 

It sounded like Lucy was sort of over being a JAG as a separate issue from her feelings for Jimmy. So her quitting is not necessarily out of the blue.

 

I am curious if we are to think that Kara never had a boyfriend before. The dialogue where Supergirl was talking about how Lucy smelt nice and how she wanted to date Lucy might be a little too much.