S01.E11: Strange Visitor From Another Planet

[Kromm]

Kromm:  oh - I missed something I guess.  The last thing I recall before the break between episodes was Cat saying she knew Kara was Supergirl - maybe I was half asleep or something.  

 

Thanks

I meant you missed an ENTIRE episode. You've been speaking as if there have only been two episodes since the break, when in fact there have been three. It seems you missed the first one after the break, where this was "handled" (admittedly not optimally, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been). 

[innocuouspuff]

Kromm, I think the other daughter was whatever the Martian spelling for "Tanya," rather than Kanye.

Closed captioning just gave me a regular "Tanya" spelling along with K'hym. Every time it has Cat shouting "Ke-rah!" for Kara I crack up lol.

Calista Flockhart surprised me in this ep, all her scenes with Adam were great.

Lol at the senator wanting to build a wall, I mean a dome, to keep the aliens out.

[AimingforYoko]

David Harewood was on fire in this episode, 

I hope not, you know how MM feels about fire.

[DesertCyclist]

I'm on the fence over whether or not Winn is overreacting; he's always been shown to be the sensitive type, however, so I'll err on the side of cutting him some slack.

 

That being said, it would be interesting if Winn eventually turns out to be, as he's feared, just like his father.  Kara's rejection would be a great catalyst for turning him into an awesome villain.  The best villains take things personally.

[secnarf]

I hope not, you know how MM feels about fire.

Interestingly, he didn't seem all that concerned at the end when there was fire during the fight with the White Martian.

[BooBear]

Why is everybody around here so hard on Winn? Honestly I feel for the guy.

 

Yeh I don't see any of what people are talking about. What is he supposed to do? Keep talking with her. People would say he was still trying to get with her, stay away from her to the best of his ability he is being a jerk.  I thought it was good of him to try to avoid her. He could have sulked and made remarks.   A real jerk would have told the world who Supergirl is.  Winn is a decent guy smarting. I kind of think the show is being unfair and just trying to gauge the audience reaction and determine if they should make Winn a bad guy or a love interest or both. I feel like Adam is a bit of a stall to see what sticks. Not end game at all.

 

I wonder if they're toying with the idea to do Alex/Hank in the future.  While he's like a father to Supergirl, including the hug, it's a much more equal, adult relationship with Alex.

 

I probably need to go to Shippers Anonymous but at a certain point Alex goes right up to him and pushes her had on his chest and I thought for sure something shippy was coming. Those two kind of are like a married couple already.

[secnarf]

I probably need to go to Shippers Anonymous but at a certain point Alex goes right up to him and pushes her had on his chest and I thought for sure something shippy was coming. Those two kind of are like a married couple already.

This was the first episode where I could actually see it! And of course, then Hank has to go tell them both that he sees them as daughters.

[tennisgurl]

Wow! A guy who has actual chemistry with Kara! Miracles abound! And it looks like Cat actually approves. Go figure. I actually really liked that whole subplot, I think it worked pretty well. CF did a good job, and I liked her son pretty well. I totally called him as Cats son the very second he opened his mouth in the coffee shop though. 

 

MM backstory was nice, as was seeing his bond with the sisters Danvers. 

 

Winn wasn't being too offensive to me, and this from a person who really only started warming to him last week. He seemed to be on his way back to friendliness with Kara the second time he saw her, and I can understand him wanting to take some time to be away from her, with the situation being really difficult and awkward, I`ll reserve judgement and see how he is next week. I do hope they do not go the supervillain route with him though. I hate the idea that people are predestined to be awful just because their parents are. I would like to see him get over his crush on Kara, and deal with his issues, without resorting to supervillany. 

[Dobian]

Poor MM, such a tragic back story.  I really liked the main story this week, but could take or leave the subplot with Cat and her estranged son.  I felt like I was watching a Lifetime movie, and the vibe between her and pretty boy son seemed off.

Edited January 27, 2016 by Dobian

[slowpoked]

MB continues to be as charming as heck. And I hope she never learns how to lie. Or to fib. That scene with Adam was very cute.

Edited January 27, 2016 by slowpoked

[Winston Wolfe]

 

Why is everybody around here so hard on Winn? Honestly I feel for the guy.

I know.  For anyone who's ever been "friend-zoned" by someone they really care about, it's surely not a happy thing.  Given his pre-existing issues, I'd say he's handling it fairly well, all things considered.  And keep in mind, these are twenty-somethings we're talking about here.  I too hope TPTB don't use this as a rationale for Winn going villainous.

Edited January 28, 2016 by Winston Wolfe

[maczero]

You forgot the best one, Lucy would then get to date a character played by Channing Tatum. 

In what world is Channing Tatum a better cameo than Harrison Ford?

 

I didn';t know that the moral question was simply wehther he should KILL WM - wasnt that the goal? Aren't horrible criminals shot in battle sometiems? What's the point of arresting WM - does the DEO have life-in-prison jails for enemy aliens? Killer aliens like WM can always escape, dont they have to be killed? Wow am I confused. I hope the afterbuzz podcast will shed some light.

The DEO's goal is to capture not kill aliens.  Hank was making an exception for the White Martian for personal reasons.  Your question about "horrible criminals shot in battle" is confusing.  Shooting a gun wielding criminal who is an immediate threat to the public is acceptable.  However, a cop shooting a murderer who's unconscious at the time is well ....murder.  

 

She clearly doesn't respect people's boundaries at all. What she did to Cat was really terrible, and she never seemed to accept that it was wrong. I thought what she did was really manipulative and self-centered. 

I'm glad someone else besides me thinks that what Kara did was f'ed up.

Edited January 29, 2016 by maczero

[MarkHB]

So much love for the little Lucy/Cat moment at the conference table..."that's not how it works".  Poor Lucy may be reconsidering her employment decision already :P

I am so glad you mentioned that!  I loved JDT's little "I'm working in Crazytown" look at the end of it.

 

Interestingly, he didn't seem all that concerned at the end when there was fire during the fight with the White Martian.

They haven't really told us much, if anything, about his fire weakness, tbh.  I know at one point post-Crisis they said it wasn't an inherent Martian trait at all, but instead an intense psychological reaction on his part to the memories of his family's deaths, but I don't know if that still holds.

[marieYOTZ]

Winn wasn't being too offensive to me, and this from a person who really only started warming to him last week. He seemed to be on his way back to friendliness with Kara the second time he saw her, and I can understand him wanting to take some time to be away from her, with the situation being really difficult and awkward, I`ll reserve judgement and see how he is next week. I do hope they do not go the supervillain route with him though. I hate the idea that people are predestined to be awful just because their parents are. I would like to see him get over his crush on Kara, and deal with his issues, without resorting to supervillany. 

 

Joining the ranks of Winn supporters -- It bugs me that people who feel like he was acting 'entited' to date her also feel like Kara is, upon rejecting his advances, 'entitled' to have their relationship back exactly as it was before... As though him wanting a little space or perhaps needing to alter their relationship given their unequal feelings is an expression of some sort of passive aggressive symptom of male-entitlement.  Maybe he's just not prepared to go back to being her hair-braiding BFF confidant.  That's okay.  He's no more required to fill a role in her life that he can't than she is to fill one in his that she can't.  They're both people, they both have the right to determine bounds of their relationship that they can live with.  Sheesh. It's not like he was overtly hostile to her, he just didn't want to make chummy small talk at the elevator as though nothing had happened between them, which is what it seemed she was trying to do.  

 

I hope some episode soon that he does something to help her, even if he's still not being super pal-aroundish with her, like she's in trouble and he creates a diversion or something.  That would be a great signal that even though they're not necessarily on great terms, he still cares about her and that won't change.  

[legaleagle53]

I'm glad someone else besides me thinks that what Kara did was f'ed up.

 

It was not only messed up, it was dangerous.  If it had backfired completely (as it actually did the first time Cat and Adam met), Kara would have been guilty of permanently ruining two lives.  While firing Kara for butting in might have been a bit extreme, Cat nevertheless had a point in reprimanding her so harshly.

 

Simply put, Kara has a LOT to learn about how interpersonal relationships actually work before she'll ever really be ready for one, especially one with a human.  Winn doesn't know it yet, but in a way, he dodged a bullet when Kara told him that she didn't want the dynamic of their existing friendship to change for the worse (as she rightly sensed it would if they did get romantically involved and the relationship later went south -- there's a reason that companies generally prohibit inter-office dating, after all!).

Edited January 28, 2016 by legaleagle53

[Chicago Redshirt]

Joining the ranks of Winn supporters -- It bugs me that people who feel like he was acting 'entited' to date her also feel like Kara is, upon rejecting his advances, 'entitled' to have their relationship back exactly as it was before... As though him wanting a little space or perhaps needing to alter their relationship given their unequal feelings is an expression of some sort of passive aggressive symptom of male-entitlement.  Maybe he's just not prepared to go back to being her hair-braiding BFF confidant.  That's okay.  He's no more required to fill a role in her life that he can't than she is to fill one in his that she can't.  They're both people, they both have the right to determine bounds of their relationship that they can live with.  Sheesh. It's not like he was overtly hostile to her, he just didn't want to make chummy small talk at the elevator as though nothing had happened between them, which is what it seemed she was trying to do.  

 

I don't think anyone in this thread has begrudged Winn wanting/needing space to process his feelings, or even suggested it's realistic that Kara wants their relationship to stay the same after Winn admitted his feelings.

 

But for Winn to pretend to ignore her and not say hi, is a passive-aggressive thing to do. It is in keeping with various other passive-aggressive things Winn has done in previous episodes.

 

They could just as easily had a scene between Winn and Kara where they discussed what Alex and Kara did. 

Edited January 28, 2016 by Chicago Redshirt

[Kromm]

I think it's simple. The show needed Winn to be at a distance so that Kara's meeting/eventual hookup with Adam could happen. With Winn too near her then Kara would come off like she's being insensitive to his feelings hooking up with someone else right in front of him.\

 

So the writers awkwardly made Winn the goat here, with him staying away, so that Kara had the story potential to act on her attraction to Adam.

 

It's not a great piece of writing and is unfair as heck to the character of Winn, but IMO it's clearly why he was written doing this. 

[Tara Ariano]

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

 

All Anyone On Supergirl Wants To Talk About Is Martian, Martian, Martian!
An alien invader mars Henshaw's calm exterior.

[slowpoked]

It would really be interesting if Adam and Kara started dating, because if I remember correctly, Cat's younger son has a crush on Supergirl. Would really be an interesting sibling rivalry. Heh.

[queenanne]

I enjoyed the crap out of this episode!  I liked Kara's moments with Cat and Adam and how she helped them to start talking and building a famial relationship. I also thought Adam was completely adorable (Benoist and Jenner's married chemistry is apparent for all to see) and I liked that he saw how awesome Kara was and how much did I love his pointing out that Cat was calling her "Kiera?"  That made me laugh :)

 

I'm probably looking too deeply into a storyline in a show of of this sort, but I don't think it was a good thing for the son who thinks his mother is a dismissive overbearing pile of neglect, to hear his hunches confirmed when his mother's assistant says "oh yeah, she likes to play it like I'm so insignificant and unimportant she can't remember my name - every time - even though Ms. Passive-Aggressive, or Aggressive-Aggressive, totally can - every time.  Hey, but she's really a great lady, good luck firming up a nice soft cuddly relationship yourself with her!"

 

DC Universe-wise the daughter who sounded like Kim is spelled K'hym.   I think the other name might be a show invention.

 

My hunch says that the DC writers simply didn't want to be bothered with coming up with original sounding names for every Martian that came down the pike, so they saddled them all with the silly apostrophe convention... yes?

Edited January 29, 2016 by queenanne

[brgjoe]

Not a huge fan of Winn either, but will also take a moment to defend him.  Granted, I wouldn't be too dismayed to see him written off the show.  I don't think he adds much to the overall makeup of the dynamic.  But I will say this, outside of a couple of times where he was a bit abrupt in talking to Kara, I don't see where he's done a lot wrong.  Where has he felt "entitled" to anything?  Where has he been "constantly harassing her to go out with him"?  I think he asked her once, on the first episode.  And then there was that (not so great) joke about her being a lesbian when they were on the rooftop together. 

 

Yes, he again was a bit curt to her at the beginning of this episode.  But after revealing all those feelings to her at the end of the previous episode, and then probably having his heart squished after doing so, I don't see a problem when him wanting some space.  Not in the slightest.

 

I really did like this episode.  It was strong where it needed to be (the back story to MM and the White Martians) .  And while I didn't like the idea of Kara (Kira!) writing Cat's son like that, but once that story did get rolling, I thought it was very well done.  All the actors were great together.  And I thought the dialog was reasonably intelligent.  One of the better episodes lately, IMHO.

[statsgirl]

I wasn't bothered by Winn's behavior. At first he was cold towards Kara, she'd hurt him, but by the end of the episode he was wondering why she was being so distant.  I suspect he'll be back to being her best friend within a couple of episodes.

 

My only problem with Winn is that the show doesn't need both him and James. And now that Adam is being added to the mix, I can't see any way they're going to be able to make this interesting.

[Jordan27]

What is it with this show and characters behaving extremely stupid?   I mean Hank telling the White Martian he was onto her...jeeeeeezus.  I mean how freaking stupid can you get?  Wait until you lure he into a trap or you have a dozen guns trained on her or something before doing that.  Aaaaargh.  It absolutely is 100% his fault that his agents died.

 

It was.  Also, when they find the Senator at the end and never think the alien could be impersonating her again.  Dumb, dumb, dumb.

 

I think they should call this show Supergirl 90210.  With all the soap opera storylines, it isn't even close to Arrow or Flash as a show.  And when a show can't figure out is it a comedy, drama, that isn't good.  This show doesn't know.

 

Still, nothing about this show is compelling.  Just stuff happening.

[romantic idiot]

If you'd just watched the last episode and this one you'd be wondering. But the showrunners have failed in Winn's characterization from the beginning. I suspect because he's going to end up the villain but it demonstrates again these showrunners are either very inexperienced or a little juvenile.

 

Kara keeps calling him her "best friend" but we have literally never seen this on screen. He was introduced as "guy from work who keeps hassling her to go out with him". They obviously wanted to lay the groundwork for the inevitable mental break that would come from Kara's continued rejection, but it made her "he's my best friend" statement come out of left field. He's been possessive, passive-aggressive and even bitchy about Kara's relationships with other people and has rarely displayed any "best friend" qualities I've seen.

I'd say that's a fairly radical interpretation of the text there. IMO I've seen Wynn do plenty of best-friend-y things - from the costume, the secret room sign up, looking after Cat kid and through to monitoring the radio. I'm not sure my best friend will get that much of use out of me. Or my crush.

[Zuleikha]

I probably need to go to Shippers Anonymous but at a certain point Alex goes right up to him and pushes her had on his chest and I thought for sure something shippy was coming. Those two kind of are like a married couple already.

I know! I was all about Alex and Lord, but then the show pushed Lord into mega supervillain territory. Alex and Hank have great chemistry, too. 

 

But for Winn to pretend to ignore her and not say hi, is a passive-aggressive thing to do. It is in keeping with various other passive-aggressive things Winn has done in previous episodes.

I don't think it is. He told her directly last episode that he couldn't just go back to bottling his feelings and being her best friend. IMHO, it is 100% normal to need space and time in that situation. Sometimes you can get over it and repair the relationship, but there needs to be some healing of wounds first. 

 

I wish Kara/Alex had a conversation about why she has no interest in Winn, though. It still seems odd to me that given how much she values him and loves spending time with him and that he already knows she's Supergirl... why not? It's clearly not that she's so hung up on James because she's willing to go on a date with Adam Foster even though she knows very little about him, and he doesn't know she's Supergirl. 

 

I thought Hank Henshaw was such a boring character and David Harewood was stiff in the pilot, and now he's one of my favorite characters and I'm blown away by Harewood's talent. I was legit tearing up at his scene with Alex when he talked about the death of his people. I did think he should have killed the White Martian, though. It's too powerful and too dangerous.

[Chicago Redshirt]

Thing is, being a best friend is more than doing X,Y or Z for someone. It's also confiding in each other, having your own inside jokes with that person, having that person in the forefront of your life.

 

I don't think Kara has confided in Winn other than with her secret identity, and Winn hasn't really confided much in Kara except in so far as his feelings for her, and a little about his fear of becoming his dad.

 

I don't have a sense that Winn and Kara have much in the way of shared experience or history.

 

I don't know if I can point to any scenes that indicate Kara couldn't do without Winn, or that she considers him any more important to her life than Alex or Jimmy.

[romantic idiot]

Which is fine - a person can have multiple best friends - its a class, not a ranking - and IMO Alex should be the most important relationship in her life right now. In terms of being a confidante, I would say that one is unlikely to lead with the biggest secret of one's life. 

 

Re: why Kara is not interested in Winn tat way though, maybe she goes for people with a longer / oval face who are taller than her. Fits her family as well.

[statsgirl]

Given how socially awkward and nerdy they both seem to be, I can see Winn and Kara gravitating towards each other at Catco and then hanging out together after work and on weekends, and then instituting Game Night.

 

Like Felicity on Arrow, Kara doesn't seem to have any other friends except Winn and now James.

[Chicago Redshirt]

Which is fine - a person can have multiple best friends - its a class, not a ranking - and IMO Alex should be the most important relationship in her life right now. In terms of being a confidante, I would say that one is unlikely to lead with the biggest secret of one's life. 

The trouble is that Kara has described Winn as not just among her close friends, but her BEST friend, the one she could not live without. 

 

That's why I am feeling a disconnect between what has been portrayed on the screen and those sorts of lines. 

 

Not to be aligned with Jimmy/Kara or whatever their ship name would be, but the writers have put together several scenes across episodes where it seemed like they were friendly, hanging out, getting things off their chests -- Kara and Jimmy's beating up their frustrations, Jimmy calling on Thanksgiving to see how Kara was doing, Jimmy sharing about his dad, are among the ones that come to mind (on top of Kara and Jimmy talking about Jimmy and Lucy's relationship).

 

I don't remember the equivalent of Kara/Winn scenes until Childish Things.

[Perfect Xero]

Kara and Winn being best friends is backstory to the series. The show told us that they were besties in the first episode and she trusted him so much that she told him the Supergirl secret right away. And, indeed, Kara seems to have had no other friends in her life until James showed up.

 

The series just picks up at the moment where Kara's world is suddenly expanding beyond being the awkward/shy girl in the office whose only friend was the awkward/shy IT guy in the office. Reconnecting with her sister, a new friend/crush in James, a new father figure in Hank/J'onn, and even IM bonding with the most famous man in the world over the superhero thing and their shared heritage.

 

I think that Winn has spent most of the series acting like someone whose only friend (that he also has a big crush on) is suddenly branching out and feels like he's being left behind.

[Delphi]

I'm so behind on this show, but it keeps getting better. The CGI is actually pretty impressive and was honestly moved by the death camp flashbacks. I liked the nod to Kim Ostrander with J'onn's daughter.

But dang, I would have fired Kara so quickly, what kind of drugs was she taking thinking that would be an okay thing to do at all. Jesus.

[miracole]

And I have no idea why some of you think Kara should have told Adam who she is.  She barely knows him and that secret should be for those she really trusts and knows really well.

 

Exactly. I need  for her not to be another Barry Allen who basically sends out fliers about his secret identity. 

Edited February 4, 2016 by miracole

[Miss Dee]

If MMalex is wrong, I don't want to be right.

[John Potts]

Kira SO deserved to get fired here: it might be acceptable to set up a friend with their long lost son but to do it to your boss is right out of line. Then again Kara really lacks boundaries: I got embarrassed when I had to call my boss when she was on call (more so when her boyfriend answered!) even when that was what I was meant to do. Though I loved Cat going "She's free!" when Kara was so flustered at getting asked out by Adam - turnabout is fair play after all.

 

I thought the Senator's turnaround was too abrupt: wouldn't people be suspicious of her suddenly disappearing after an alien attack only to suddenly change her tune? She could still say "So some aliens are OK, but how do we know when they can potentially destroy us? We need to keep an eye on them to be sure!" Actually I was surprised there ever WAS a "real" Senator - I was thinking that she was (like Hank) always an alien.

 

innocuouspuff Lol at the senator wanting to build a wall, I mean a dome, to keep the aliens out.

 

I was going "What - over the world (or at least the USA)?" Building a wall around the USA might be crazy but it's at least technically feasible - building a dome over America isn't even technically feasible (and reminds me of the awful "Under the Dome" which as Sarah D Bunting could tell us, made everyone "Dome"r!). Though I didn't see any political parallels to contemporary American politicians - I mean her hair looked entirely natural!

 

romantic idiot a person can have multiple best friends - its a class, not a ranking

 

Tell that to Sheldon Cooper! Or Barney Stinson!