S01.E19: Myriad

[Kendra]

Why didn't Kara just save Kelly? lol She was JUST racing with the fastest man alive so she could have easily saved her. That whole thing was a little weak and would have had more of an impact on me if I hadn't just learned the woman's name and they had given her a line or two in previous episodes. 

[Kromm]

 Another Supergirl (the 'fake' Kara that killed a bunch of people in an early-season Smallville) was played by Adrianne Palicki -- but she's tied up in the MARVEL universe as Bobbi (Mockingbird) Morse.

I think we've done this in a few other places by now, but the "number" of Supergirls mostly varies on if you include animation voices. If you do, then Nicholle Tom and Summer Glau both get added in (Glau counts "less" though because she only did it in a Direct to Video movie, whereas Tom did the voice a ton for pretty much all of the DCAU uses of the character). 

[MDL]

 

Her inspiring speech to Kara was great.

I have liked the development of Cat's character, and I hope that it (and the show!) continue.

[Lingo]

You guys listed a whole bunch of things that bothered me, but what bugged me most was the almost complete lack of action, and the nonstop talking. Supergirl is facing the biggest threat she's ever seen -- a really good one for a season finale -- and she does nothing but sit around and MOPE for like 40 minutes of screentime. There's an admittedly good, fun but short fight scene at the beginning, then 40 minutes of moping, then a fight at the end (MM vs. Indigo) that was total bullshit thanks to Alex. Argh, I WANT to like this show but it makes it so hard sometimes.

Oh and it was hilarious to see Non stroll into CatCo on foot, like he just came off the elevator or something. I guess the show didn't have the budget for him to bust through a wall or even fly in through a window.

(Also, how long have Alex and MM been away? Where are they going? And if MM can just fly himself and Alex back to National City at a moment's notice, why is it taking them so long to get where they're going? Why are they taking a bus for gawd's sake?)

[Tara Ariano]

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

 

Supergirl Faces Myriad Problems
Now that National City's population has gone Walking Dead, expect similar solutions (i.e., a lot of talking).

[maczero]

Liked the interaction between Ma Danvers and J'onn. 

I did too.  It was nice change of pace seeing a woman Ma Danvers age have a nerdgasm.

 

 

- Major props for having J'onn use the unsuspecting form of a small kid.

Same here.  Although I did find it a tad creepy when he was nuzzling up against Alex to sell the idea that she was his mom.

 

 

- It has been how many hours since Kara first witnessed people being turned into Non's zombies...even her declaration of love and a kiss did not snap Jimmy out of his trance.  Yet somehow she somehow seems surprised that Winn and James, and Kelly are hivemind zombies and tries to just talk them out of it.

Actually I kinda suspect they're going to use the TV station to broadcast some kind of message of hope and love to break the trance.  Hopefully, I'm wrong on this.

 

 

 

Speaking of which I think it's time for another rant on how these writers continually writer nearly everyone to be morons:

1.)  Cat Grant, look I get that she is self absorbed...but I have a hard time believing anyone could believably have not noticed everyone in the dam city was a zombie...  I mean let's start at her apartment.  For starters does she not have hired help?   Does she not listen to anything on the TV or radio in the morning?   Would she really not notice there was no one on the road?   I'm sorry but the idea that she really got to work and that it was not until Supergirl pointed out the crisis that she just then noticed it...NO NO NO BS.

The sad part is that the pay off of that stupid scene was just to make a joke about how self absorbed Cat is.

 

 

2.) Kara.  Oh god what did these writers do to poor sweet Kara.  First Non says the lines "These are your friends aren't they? I have lived with loss. Let me return the favor".  Now right here without knowing anything else anyone with even a slightly functional brain would probably realize that he intends to kill her friends now.  Yet Kara seems clueless when her friends (and Kelly) stand up and start walking.  Kara just watches as everyone gets up and heads to the balconies.   She does not move instead trying to tell the zombies to stop...because talking to them has worked so so well up until now.  They exit balcony doors.  She does not move.  They stand on the balcony ledges.  SHE HAS NOT MOVED...  They start falling...and finally realization hits that maybe...just maybe she should try to stop these people from plummeting to their deaths.  AAAAAAAAARGH.   Of course at this point it's too late to save them all.  Maybe... After saving James and Winn she's content just floating and watching Kelly plummet to her death without making any effort to catch her too.  What a hero!

I think this scene would've worked better if Non had commanded the entire office to run and jump off the balcony.  It would've been a lot more disturbing and I can buy that she wouldn't have been able to stop them all.  As it stands now, I just get the impression she just didn't like Kelly that much.

 

 

What's SO funny is Superman having to be used at a distance like this to protect the integrity of the movie franchise... with the doubly rich irony that after the recent movie the process that had already started in the previous Superman movie has come to it's completion: the movie Superman's integrity is utterly destroyed now. So they've been twisting things so hard to avoid showing him just to "protect" bullshit.

 

 

I wish they'd just bite the bullet and cast a different person as Superman--just to give him a tiny bit of facetime here. They can then claim that the Henry Cavill Superman is an "alternate" (perhaps there's some slight difference in DNA in each universe and thus he looks different--oh and is a much bigger asshole in the Synderverse to boot) and nobody's integrity is broken.  I suppose they could also be afraid that if we actually see a Superman's face here, that viewers might not be so keep on the girlie version, but frankly anyone who reacts like that likely wasn't that into Supergirl in the first place.

So is Clark Kent off limits?  I'd really like to see Brandon Routh show up in the role (Yes I know he's Atom on LoT).

 

Why didn't Kara just save Kelly?  

See my response to this in an earlier part of this post.  I'm thinking Kelly is that co-worker who steals other people's food from the fridge.

[Lantern7]

See my response to this in an earlier part of this post.  I'm thinking Kelly is that co-worker who steals other people's food from the fridge.

So she would be worse than Siobhan?

[Dobian]

My only big question is, why does MM get his ass kicked in every single showdown fight he's in?  Memo to writers: let MM win one of these next season.

[Miss Dee]

If anyone us showing up as Clark Kent, I'm pulling for Christopher Gorham!

Looking forward to next week!

[Winston Wolfe]

 

My only big question is, why does MM get his ass kicked in every single showdown fight he's in?  Memo to writers: let MM win one of these next season.

THIS.  For "one of the most powerful beings on the planet," we've seen MM get his ass handed to him every. damn. time.  SG has pretty much established that this universe's iteration of J'onn J'onzz has all the powers of the comic book version (i.e., flight, telepathy, shape-shifting, super-strength, intangibility, invisibility and at least partial invulnerability), making him, ostensibly, more formidable than Kal-El or Kara.  I almost wish they hadn't introduced the character if he's going to be the town doormat....

 

The show's writers actually do make SG hard to love sometimes.  Another major plot hole was having Kara, Cat and Maxwell openly plot strategy in front of Non's mind-controlled minions.  It never occurred to them (or Non apparently) that Cat's lobotomized staff could be used as an active spying device?  Interesting.

 

ITA with the poster who said this episode was a bit too "talky."  There have been a few episodes where Kara spends a lot of time hand-wringing until someone, usually Kat, Alex or James, delivers the semi-weekly "pep talk."  Despite all the writer's brain cramps (and the now painful ways they are attempting to explain Superman's non-involvement), there's still a lot to like about this series.

 

Shallow notes - Helen Slater has become one hot MILF.  And while I've never been a big Calista Flockhart fan, she too is looking very good these days.

Edited April 12, 2016 by Winston Wolfe

[Chicago Redshirt]

How did Indigo get loose ?  Did I miss that ?

...

ETA2: So, if once Myriad is started it can't be stopped, what happened to all those people in Argo City back on Krypton ?  Were they euthanized after Non and Astra were captured ?

 

In her original appearance, Indigo got taken down by Winn's malware bomb, and Non used some Krypto-science-magic to retrieve the parts of her.

 

I think we saw that she sometime since in a mostly-fully funcitonal state. 

 

I have been operating under the idea that Non and Astra had been developing Myriad but were stopped before it was deployed.

 

I couldn't figure out that look Cat had when she and Supergirl hugged. Does she know it's Kara? Did she just realize it? Have her and Kara hugged before?

 

I do think that at some point Kara did hug Cat (and asked for permission before doing so) but I can't say for sure when. Maybe in helping Adam and Cat to reconcile?

 

They have had Superman vulnerable to hypnosis and mind control on other series, so that didn't bother me.

 

The trouble is when Superman is vulnerable to a form of mind control that Kara is not. The notion that Clark's having been on Earth for, let's say 20-25 years more than Kara, doesn't cut it as an explanation in my book.

 

I would rather buy that Team Non could have controlled Supergirl but deliberately let her suffer as one of the few free-minded folks to toy with her.

 

My only big question is, why does MM get his ass kicked in every single showdown fight he's in?  Memo to writers: let MM win one of these next season.

To be fair, MM is fighting pretty high level folks. Indigo, various Kryptonians, a white Martian... 

 

He did manage to beat J'emm more or less single-handed though.

[iMonrey]

So the DEO apparently has these Kryptonite bullets - Lucy shoots Supergirl in the arm with one at the beginning of the episode. So - why doesn't Supergirl just get a gun or two loaded with these bullets to take out Non? She wouldn't even have to kill him, just incapacitate him long enough to cage him at the DEO. 

[Big Mother]

I sensed a bit of flirting between Max and Cat. Do they have a history? I'd like them together.

 

I kind of felt that Indigo had been having an affair with Non or something? they seem awfully chummy.

 

I forget who Indigo is exactly.. .I have to look it up.

[Chicago Redshirt]

So the DEO apparently has these Kryptonite bullets - Lucy shoots Supergirl in the arm with one at the beginning of the episode. So - why doesn't Supergirl just get a gun or two loaded with these bullets to take out Non? She wouldn't even have to kill him, just incapacitate him long enough to cage him at the DEO. 

All season long, it's been established that the DEO has a bunch of Kryptonite weapons. Kara was felled by DEO kryptonite darts in the pilot. Hank "J'onn J'onnz" Henshaw had a Kryptonite dagger he used on Astra in like episode 2 or so. A bunch of DEO agents were firing kryptonite bullets at Bizarra. Alex wielded a Krypto-katana to kill Astra and was wielding it in this episode as well. And they have a cage/dojo where they can apparently increase the amount of K-radiation such that people  are rendered powerless by it. (Honestly, with all this, I don't see why Kara would work there. They literally have an arsenal that is designed to get used against you and your cousin.)

 

It was established earlier in the season that Team Astra/Non had built themselves anti-Kryptonite shielding tech. (in response J'onn using the K-dagger).

 

Which, to be honest, should have been mentioned as the chief reason Max's plan was crap. Supergirl knows about the anti-Kryptonite shielding, and presumably Max does as well, since Lord Tech was raided by Kryptonians displaying it. 

 

I can see people getting behind saving the world even if it costs thousands of lives and billions of dollars in collateral damage. I can't see people getting behind that level of collateral damage to have literally no effect on the targets.

 

At the same time, Non didn't appear to be wearing the shielding, so maybe that is supposed to signify Non's arrogance. Or the writers have decided having multiple Kryptonians with no conventional weaknesses is not a good idea.

But it would have not taken much to write around that plot hole -- say Max had come up with a way to neutralize the anti-K shielding, or that the sheer amount of Kryptonite they would be using would be far too much for the AKS to handle.

 

I sensed a bit of flirting between Max and Cat. Do they have a history? I'd like them together.

 

I kind of felt that Indigo had been having an affair with Non or something? they seem awfully chummy.

 

I forget who Indigo is exactly.. .I have to look it up.

 

In the episode with Reactron, Max attended a gala that Cat threw for the publication of a magazine focused on Supergirl. They traded repartee at that that all but said they'd dated in the past.

 

Indigo is an incarnation of the classic Superman foe Brainiac. They have explicitly said that Non and Indigo used to do the deed before Non married Astra.

Edited April 13, 2016 by Chicago Redshirt

[Kromm]

See my response to this in an earlier part of this post.  I'm thinking Kelly is that co-worker who steals other people's food from the fridge.

I'm thinking she's related to the now infamous "Janice In Accounting".

Edited April 13, 2016 by Kromm

[Chicago Redshirt]

THIS.  For "one of the most powerful beings on the planet," we've seen MM get his ass handed to him every. damn. time.  SG has pretty much established that this universe's iteration of J'onn J'onzz has all the powers of the comic book version (i.e., flight, telepathy, shape-shifting, super-strength, intangibility, invisibility and at least partial invulnerability), making him, ostensibly, more formidable than Kal-El or Kara.  I almost wish they hadn't introduced the character if he's going to be the town doormat....

SG-verse SM says MM is THE most powerful being on the planet.

 

My fanwank is that MM has spent the bulk of the last 12 years playing human and not using his abilities that he is very rusty at them. Hence, his attempt to brainwash a LordTech guard to forget he saw MM -- a minor feat for comic/cartoon MM -- leads to major brain damage.

[Dobian]

I actually laughed when Superman fell out of the sky like a fly being swatted.

 

Supergirl: "Here comes Superman, we're saved!"...."eeeeokay, on to Plan B."

Edited April 13, 2016 by Dobian

[Perfect Xero]

I think the idea is that Superman's brainwaves are human enough because he was raised on Earth from the time he was a year or less old baby, aka his brain's most formative years. Meanwhile Kara came to Earth as a 12/13 year old and J'onn came as an adult and the alienness of their minds had been established.

 

Granted, I think it's a lame explanation, but that seems to be the difference they're going for. To some extent, it's the show taking the idea they've referenced a few times that Superman is much more human than Kryptonian because he's been on Earth for longer than he can remember while Kara is the true "last child of Krypton" because she still remembers it, and making it literal.

[Kromm]

It's a pretty silly idea though. For example. I doubt Cats have more human-like brain waves simply because they live with us.  

[Xenith22]

Speaking of Kelly, her fate might have actually meant something if they'd, I dunno, given her a line in a prior episode.

Ready to have your mind blown....because believe it or not she was actually a recurring character who had lines in prior episodes!

 

She was part of several meetings in Cat Grants office.  For instance she offered a potential headline of "Supergirl Gone Rogue."  in the BIzarro episode, and Cat even called her Kelly!   In the Indigo episode Cat referred to her as being Fashion and she mentioned an possible story about velvet becoming popular...  She was an non-speaking extra in several other episodes sitting at her desk or just being part of Cat's office meetings.   She never did speak directly to Kara though...

 

My only big question is, why does MM get his ass kicked in every single showdown fight he's in?  Memo to writers: let MM win one of these next season.

That is not really an accurate assessment at alll?

 

1x19 - Kicked Indigo's butt phasing through her dragging her by the foot as she helplessly clawed the ground and tossed her into the shack as if she was garbage without her landing a single blow on him.  Compare that to any of Kara's terrible showings against her.  Really he only ultimately lost because she was able to then get the drop on him due to his attention being divided between mentally shielding the awaking Alex and the residual trauma effects of the large fire he created.

 

1x17 - The real Hank Henshaw ambushed him from behind with his special weapons briefly incapacitating him.  Not really a fight.  Also in the episode it was not really a fair fight and we did not even really get to see it, but J'onn quickly subdued Colonel Harper pinning him against the wall of the truck and disarming him.

 

1x16 - He was winning the fight against Kara.  He is the one who slammed her into the ground on her back while he gently floated down and surrendered himself.  He didn't lose this fight he just didn't get to finish it as Alex nailed Kara in the back with her gun as planned.

 

1x13 - Put up an okay fight against the experienced warrior Astra.  Again this is only the second time he has really cut loose in how long (first battle he even used phasing in) in a long time.  He lands the first blows tackling Astra, dodging her punch with a phase, then grabbing her and dragging her along the face of a building before dropping her to the ground.  She recovered faster than he anticipated though and used her superior speed to land a couple quick solid midsection blows knocking the wind out of him so that she could position her knife at his throat.  So yeah technically he lost, but it was not much of an ass kicking.  Also in actuality since he wasn't even knocked unconscious it's at least possible he could have phased out of Astra's grip and continued the fight had Alex not intervened when she did?

 

1x11 - Together with Kara they managed to defeat the larger White Martian in his only battle against her.  (He sat out the scrap at the DEO due to dead family flashbacks).  It is also actually J'onn who delivers the finishing blow from the sky.

 

1x09 - J'onn gets easily captured by Non without putting up much of a fight because all the DEO soldiers eyes are on him and he does not want to risk exposing his secret.

 

1x08 - Even reluctant to use his full powers and true form in the midst of a battle among his men, J'onn still holds his own against a lone Kryptonian enemy and although he is knocked down he is not out and ultimately kills him with a K-rifle blast to the chest.

 

1x07 - J'onn delivers a beat down to Jemm and snaps his neck.

 

What am I missing?

Edited April 13, 2016 by Xenith22

[GHScorpiosRule]

I caught the second half of the episode and it confirms my strong belief that the show would be so much better if it ditched James, Winn, and Lucy.

Kara, Alex, J'onn, and Cat (with Max Lord as a recurring gray hat) make for a far more interesting, engaging show.

Cat and Supergirl's conversation was awesome (Cat totally knows) and Alex vs Kara is going to be hard to watch! Hope J'onn can manage to not die in between episodes....

 

 

THIS. And even though I've missed most of this season after the one where Kara was babysitting Cat's younger son.  I mean to catch up.  I wasn't sure if Cat knew who Kara is, but the look on her face when she hugged Supergirl? She knows now. She better.

 

Episode: JEEBUS FUCKING CRIPES! I was having visions of Justice League Season one from the DCAU when I saw Supes just plop down like he was nothing.  Bruce Timm admitted he was at fault for making him weak in the first season and corrected it by season two. I wish they would have just kept it that he was off world, so his not being there to help would be believable.  Hell, in the DCAU, Kara/Supergirl is a LOT stronger at 20, then this show's Supergirl.  When Supes was in jail, and she was fighting her clone, Kara got the shit beat out of her, but in the end, she managed to "kill" her 'roided clone at the watchtower.

 

And does this show's J'onn  have a fear of fire? Because it didn’t look like when he threw Indigo into that shed that blew up and fire was raging, that he was scared.

 

And good lord, I see Vandervroot’s acting hasn’t improved in the nearly 10 years since I saw her on Smallville. Can still hear her accent when she’s about. Sounds like “aboat.” I didn’t know who/what she was, but figured that she was this show’s version of Brainiac. The three red circles in an upside down triangle were a dead give away.

 

But I still love Melissa. I hope this show gets renewed.

 

Mehcad’s James still leaves me cold. He’s so….wooden. I see no difference between normal James and hive mind James.

 

And I still want Tom Welling to be this show’s Superman.  Just because.

 

ETA: Because Spelling is IMPORTANT, Dammit!

Edited April 13, 2016 by GHScorpiosRule

[StarBrand]

In regards to Cat's face when Supergirl hugged her-has Kara ever referred to her as "Cat" or does she always call her "Mrs. Grant"? Or maybe she was just astounded that this superhero was so comforted by her pep talk, that she got one.

[miracole]

Mehcad’s James still leaves me cold. He’s so….wooden. I see no difference between normal James and hive mind James.

 

And that sucks because Mehcad was so lively and awesome on Necessary Roughness.  He should be more subdued on here obviously because he's not an egotistical, occasionally out of control football player, but he hardly has any charisma on here.  I don't know if it's the writing or his acting choices or a little of both.  Hopefully they get another season and he and the writers become more comfortable with his character.

 

And does this show's J'onn  have a gear of fire? Because it didn’t look like when he threw Indigo into that shed that blew up and fire was raging, that he was scared.

 

Yes. On this epi when the explosion happened he grimaced and turned away from the fire obviously upset and disturbed. 

Edited April 13, 2016 by miracole

[GHScorpiosRule]

Yes. On this epi when the explosion happened he grimaced and turned away from the fire obviously upset and disturbed. 

 

 

Thanks. Yeah, I saw him grimace and turn away. What was missing for me was the fear, that all other iterations of J'onn have shown.

[miracole]

I guess he was in big green man up mode.

[iMonrey]

 

In regards to Cat's face when Supergirl hugged her-has Kara ever referred to her as "Cat" or does she always call her "Mrs. Grant"? Or maybe she was just astounded that this superhero was so comforted by her pep talk, that she got one.

 

This one I know. Kara always calls her Ms. Grant but Supergirl has called her Cat.

[stealinghome]

In regards to Cat's face when Supergirl hugged her-has Kara ever referred to her as "Cat" or does she always call her "Mrs. Grant"? Or maybe she was just astounded that this superhero was so comforted by her pep talk, that she got one.

Hee, I took it as a moment of "holy shit, I'm hugging an ALIEN, holy f***ing shit!" But I also think Cat knows SG=Kara and is just keeping quiet because Kara is obviously uncomfortable with Cat knowing. I think Cat's going to keep quiet about it until Kara is ready for her to know and confesses, at which point Cat will be like "FINALLY...and duh, I've known for ages."

Or at least I think that's how Flockhart is playing Cat right now, anyway. But who knows if she's on the same page as the writers.

[FurryFury]

Cat SHOULD know who Supergirl is...but sadly I don't trust this show at all. 

[Xenith22]

This one I know. Kara always calls her Ms. Grant but Supergirl has called her Cat.

Supergirl also always calls her Ms. Grant out of respect too.  The one and only time she called her Cat was when she was under Red K's influence  (at the start of the conversation where Supergirl tossed Cat off the balcony).   Cat was surprised and even commented on the use of her first name.

"I wouldn't assume anything, Cat"

"Did you just call me Cat?"

Edited April 13, 2016 by Xenith22

[KirkB]

I'd have to go back and watch the scene again but I think the idea was supposed to be that while Kara should be fast enough to get to James, Winn and Kelly, she only has two hands. So she was able to grab Winn and James but had no way left to grab Kelly. However, the way the scene was actually shot, she caught James and Winn then just kind of hung there and watched Kelly fall. 

Edited April 13, 2016 by KirkB

[Ottis]

Yeah, Non? Hon, I'm gonna need more reasons and less vague as to why  you're doin' what you're doin'.

 

 

Naan, which is also a delicious bread, is the superhero embodiment of environmental activists. I love that he wants to take over a planet so he can better protect it. Forget money or power. Save the Earth!

[legaleagle53]

Ottis, on 13 Apr 2016 - 11:59 AM, said:Ottis, on 13 Apr 2016 - 11:59 AM, said:

Naan, which is also a delicious bread, is the superhero embodiment of environmental activists. I love that he wants to take over a planet so he can better protect it. Forget money or power. Save the Earth!

 

Of course.  What's a paltry few billion deaths when you're trying for the Garden of Eden, right?  If indigo has her way, there won't be a planet left for him to protect, because it will be completely devoid of its native inhabitants.

Edited April 13, 2016 by legaleagle53

[MsNewsradio]

I'd have to go back and watch the scene again but I think the idea was supposed to be that while Kara should be fast enough to get to James, Winn and Kelly, she only has two hands. So she was able to grab Winn and James but had no way left to grab Kelly. However, the way the scene was actually shot, she caught James and Winn then just kind of hung there and watched Kelly fall. 

 

The thing that got me with that was that it wasn't like they were making it hard for Kara to catch them and hold on - e.g. flailing about or whatnot. Zoom over, catch them and stack 'em like logs, and dump all three on the ground. You can hold up a jet, but three people who are literally stationary aside from having tossed themselves off a building are too much?

 

Of course Non would likely have then just had them all do something else to harm/kill themselves, but still, the way that whole scene was done (up to and including the fact that after Non basically says "let me show you what the pain of loss feels like", Kara, Max, AND Cat stand there like idiots while the others go walk outside and don't react until the last possible moment, when it was incredibly obvious what was intended) made it just look like she really didn't try super hard.

[justjoan]

 

Ready to have your mind blown....because believe it or not she was actually a recurring character who had lines in prior episodes!

 

Ahhh, she's the CatCo version of Agent Vasquez. I had noticed Vasquez before she earned a name, but the CatCo minions generally blend together for me. Sorry, Kelly. Something to look for on the rewatch, I guess.

 

Whatever flaws this episode may or may not have, the scene with Eliza and J'onn was excellent. How often do we get to see a middle-aged woman getting her science geek on? She was so excited and happy, and his face had so much going on at once. I'd love for her and J'onn to become friends after all the craziness dies down. His social circle is pretty tiny.

 

Re: Kara catching the jumpers- I was willing to roll with "she only has two hands" explanation (I'm extremely forgiving with this show), but alternatively the writers could have made use of the fact that there are strong limits to how much the human body can withstand. Even if she had zipped around catching all three (or more- Non had a roomful of victims and only picked three?), she could still have failed and lost Kelly. If Kara's having to whip around at superspeed overloading her arms with three large, awkward, squishy targets, there's no way she could simultaneously protect them from the effects of any of that. How horrible would it have been for her to catch all of them and think yay, they're safe! Non failed! But then, oh no, Kelly's been Gwen Stacy'd! Too much for 8 PM on CBS, maybe, but it would have been very effective, I think.

[secnarf]

I thought this episode was great, until you think too much about the plot. The biggest glaring issue for me was the Kryptonite shields that Non et al supposedly have, closely followed by Alex's stupid decision and the other solution available besides a Kryptonite bomb.

 

I still like Alex/Hank/Cat/Kara best, and I could easily do without any/all of the others.

 

Non better have a different plan for Kal, or having Kal come back at all is just nonsensical.

[Guest]

Actually I kinda suspect they're going to use the TV station to broadcast some kind of message of hope and love to break the trance.  Hopefully, I'm wrong on this.

 

I thought they said that outright, but I also thought the idea of Supergirl giving that message of hope would be too lame to have any chance of working.  I also briefly considered that they would send the image of the 'S' into people's brains.  I finally settled on cat (feline variety) videos having the best chance.

[Chicago Redshirt]

I'd have to go back and watch the scene again but I think the idea was supposed to be that while Kara should be fast enough to get to James, Winn and Kelly, she only has two hands. So she was able to grab Winn and James but had no way left to grab Kelly. However, the way the scene was actually shot, she caught James and Winn then just kind of hung there and watched Kelly fall. 

Even putting aside that she was standing around gawping when it was obvious that Non was going to have her friends jump off the building and should have taken them out of harm's way, she should still be able to rescue all three relatively effortlessly.

 

She is strong enough to carry all three simultaneously. Having only two hands shouldn't be an issue, as she can grab more than one in a given hand (for instance, holding two by their clothing in one hand, and the third with the other; or embracing one with her right arm then getting the other with the right hand). Heck, there is nothing stopping her from holding one in each hand and wrapping her legs around the third if she really wanted. Or literally juggle them. 

 

She is fast enough to grab each of them individually, and put that individual person down to the ground and pick up the next one. She can fly at Mach 2, after all.

 

All of this doesn't matter much because Non could literally keep having James, Winn and Kelly (RIP) attempt to off themselves, as well as any number of faceless folks. Supergirl can't save everyone every time.

 

Along the same lines, it doesn't make sense that Non and Indigo were like, "Darn it! Supergirl stopped our attempt to free the DEO's prisoners. If only we had a few million mind-whammied slaves we could get to make another attempt...or the mind-whammied DEO agents still under our control...or some sort of super-powers where we could do it ourselves...or a living computer who could hack the DEO's computer and free them."

Edited April 14, 2016 by Chicago Redshirt

[KirkB]

It slipped my mind, but you're right. Kara knocked out Lucy and then left the DEO, right? So unless she tied everybody or stuck them all in cages, what's to stop them from waking up and opening the cages anyway?

 

I also keep coming back to the fact they have Kal under their control and are just leaving him wandering around the city, while hoping Alex in her powered suit will be enough to stop Kara.

Edited April 14, 2016 by KirkB

[Xenith22]

She is fast enough to grab each of them individually, and put that individual person down to the ground and pick up the next one. She can fly at Mach 2, after all.

Well she probably could not fly quite that fast while carrying someone as normal humans would not be durable enough to survive that but yeah she can still surely fly faster than their fall speed.   I was also actually thinking that she could have smashed through a window after catching James/Winn tossed em inside leaving her hands free to catch Kelly and land her on the ground.   Worst case scenario James/Winn walk out of the building again, but by then Kara should have her hands free to be able to catch them again without problem.  Not really sure what the limit of her superbreath is either, was also thinking maybe she could have tried using that to try to slow Kelly's fall or buy her a little more time by blowing her back up...couldn't have hurt to try something as Kelly was guaranteed dead anyways with her doing absolutely nothing.  

It slipped my mind, but you're right. Kara knocked out Lucy and then left the DEO, right? So unless she tied everybody or stuck them all in cages, what's to stop them from waking up and opening the cages anyway?

 

I also keep coming back to the fact they have Kal under their control and are just leaving him wandering around the city, while hoping Alex in her powered suit will be enough to stop Kara.

Kara completely destroyed the main control panel, so I am assuming that is why the prisoners could not be released again? (Of course then I have no explanation for what she did with Maxima if she could not open a cage to put her in?)  Really though I have no idea why Non would have actually wanted an army of rogue criminal aliens.  I mean if his plan was just to conquer Earth then so far it seems Kal, Kara, and J'onn are the only heroes on this version.   Non already has at least a dozen loyal Kryptonians and an Coluan to deal with them.  So he really did not need them, and odds of them falling in line for an extended period of time seem kind of slim.  I mean they are criminals after all...cannibals, psychics, etc.  Why risk it?

[Wishing Well]

I'm going to assume she destroyed the "brain" of the DEO prison system. Since each individual cell seems to have a keypad too.

[Perfect Xero]

Non better have a different plan for Kal, or having Kal come back at all is just nonsensical.

 

I'm pretty sure that Kal is only there so that when Kara's inspiration plan saves the day he can send her a text about how she inspired him at the end of the episode.

[Chicago Redshirt]

Kara completely destroyed the main control panel, so I am assuming that is why the prisoners could not be released again? (Of course then I have no explanation for what she did with Maxima if she could not open a cage to put her in?)  Really though I have no idea why Non would have actually wanted an army of rogue criminal aliens.  I mean if his plan was just to conquer Earth then so far it seems Kal, Kara, and J'onn are the only heroes on this version.   Non already has at least a dozen loyal Kryptonians and an Coluan to deal with them.  So he really did not need them, and odds of them falling in line for an extended period of time seem kind of slim.  I mean they are criminals after all...cannibals, psychics, etc.  Why risk it?

 

I'm fairly sure that even if the computer controlling the cells is destroyed, having thousands of humans physically and mentally at your disposal, you should be able to repair the main computer or come up with brute force ways to free the prisoners at the DEO,

 

Indigo was putting the notion of using Myriad to rule beyond Earth. Who knows what lifeforms are out there beyond Earth, or if Kryptonians in SGverse can breathe in space unassisted or what?

 

Anyway, it could be conceivably useful to have various aliens at the ready in case some of the species prove to be Myriad-proof.

 

It also could be just a vendetta against the DEO or an aversion to the notion of superior beings imprisoned by lesser beings, or other things.

[Xenith22]

I'm fairly sure that even if the computer controlling the cells is destroyed, having thousands of humans physically and mentally at your disposal, you should be able to repair the main computer or come up with brute force ways to free the prisoners at the DEO,

Sure he probably could have tasked people to repair the console, but probably decided at the time that it was not worth it.  He wanted to see what the humans brain power could accomplish so it would have been wasting resources by taking them away from solving the big problems.  Especially after Kal-El fell easily under his control as he may not have been expecting that and thought taking on "Superman" would require a significant fight and thought having unfamiliar species might provide an edge?

 

Indigo was putting the notion of using Myriad to rule beyond Earth. Who knows what lifeforms are out there beyond Earth, or if Kryptonians in SGverse can breathe in space unassisted or what?  Anyway, it could be conceivably useful to have various aliens at the ready in case some of the species prove to be Myriad-proof.

Yes Indigo may have had plans to go universal, but presently Non is the one in control of things and he was initially strictly focused on Earth.  Even now if he is thinking bigger he probably still wants to finish conquering/saving Earth before moving on to the next planet so there is not really a rush until the time comes that he is ready to move on.

 

It also could be just a vendetta against the DEO or an aversion to the notion of superior beings imprisoned by lesser beings, or other things.

Keep in mind that the majority of the DEO prisoners are likely the prisoner from Fort Roz, ie beings that were imprisoned by the Kryptonians?  While Non and his people were jailed for trying to save their planet through drastic means....that is not the case with many of the other Fort Roz prisoners who were drug runners, murderers, cannibals, etc.  So I don't really see that he would be too fond of many of them beyond being a means to an end?

Edited April 15, 2016 by Xenith22

[anonyposter]

Cat must know that Kara is Supergirl, otherwise she would have wondered why everyone was droning at their desk except Kara.

 

If J'ohn J'ones is still alive, wouldn't he have stopped Indigo from taking Alex to the hiding place?  And would Indigo really not finish him off?

[Chicago Redshirt]

It wouldn't make sense to me that it would go from being worth it to free the prisoners when Supergirl intervened to not worth it after, especially as I said when there are multiple ways to achieve that objective that wouldn't take that much effort.

 

We don't know the entirety of Non's agenda. Maybe it was originally confined to taking over Earth. Maybe he wanted to expand well before Indigo suggested it. 

 

I don't know if I agree with the premise that the majority of DEO prisoners are Fort Rozz escapees. My understanding is that a) most of the Fort Rozz escapees managed to lay low b) there's been a dozen years or so (minimum) of the DEO operating in which they presumably have bagged and tagged numerous other aliens c) a number of the Fort Rozz aliens we have seen have died rather than be captured. Ultimately, there's no way to be sure as the show hasn't really established it one way or another.

 

In any event, it seems like Astra and Non were willing to put aside whatever personal feelings they might have had about other inmates to sign them up.

 

 

Cat must know that Kara is Supergirl, otherwise she would have wondered why everyone was droning at their desk except Kara.

 

If J'ohn J'ones is still alive, wouldn't he have stopped Indigo from taking Alex to the hiding place?  And would Indigo really not finish him off?

 

Cat, if we are to take her at face value, barely noticed that the office was acting dronelike in the first place. She probably had not processed where Keira was. To the extent she has, she also already knows that a) Keira has often been AWOL and thus could have been and remained elsewhere when mindwhammied b) the aliens behind this could have decided to have Keira drone elsewhere.

 

J'onn could have been left too weak to put up a fight with Indigo, or was knocked out. It's practically comic book convention that villains are overconfident and leave their enemies weakened but do not put in a finishing blow. 

[KirkB]

Just to go back to the DEO for a minute. Did destroying the console also destroy their ability to control the cells? What I mean is, maybe it autolocks the doors but what about stuff like opening ports for air, or mechanisms which inhibit their powers? Even if Lucy can't open the doors can't she turn off whatever it is that keeps Maxima and the others from breaking out on their own?

Edited April 15, 2016 by KirkB

[Chicago Redshirt]

We'd all just be speculating about what destroying the console might or might not do. My best speculation would be that even assuming destroying the console would prevent the one-and-done opening off all cells, there would be nothing stopping people from physically going to each prisoner's cell and opening it there. We saw Lucy open up Maxima's cell personally. Any one of the individual drones could still do that for each prisoner. Or Non could deploy a hench-Kryptonian to open each cell up.

[AudienceofOne]

Poor Kelly Redshirt :(

 

Supergirl walks in building and approaches redhead we've never seen before

"Kelly!? Kelly!?"

Me: "Kelly's dead".

 

It made the whole "send her 'friends' off a building" thing so fucking contrived. As was a lot of what happened this episode. Up to and including the stupid fight at the end. You know what Supergirl can easily avoid with superspeed and flight? Almost everything. Since she didn't need to stop Alex from doing something, there was literally no reason for her not to fly away to avoid the fight. And don't get me started on Alex being there in the first place. I also won't get started on Superman because... the fuck.

 

You guys listed a whole bunch of things that bothered me, but what bugged me most was the almost complete lack of action, and the nonstop talking. Supergirl is facing the biggest threat she's ever seen -- a really good one for a season finale -- and she does nothing but sit around and MOPE for like 40 minutes of screentime.

 

What about Indigo's endless monologue about how they should be conquering the Universe instead. Endless filler.

 

Not that Cat's conversations with Kara were filler. They were amazing. As was her finally realising Supergirl was Kara. So there was some really good stuff in here with Max Lord and Cat and the bomb plan. But there wasn't enough material for a two-parter and so there was a lot of padding.

Edited April 16, 2016 by AudienceofOne

[ottoDbusdriver]

What about Indigo's endless monologue about how they should be conquering the Universe instead. Endless filler.

 

So there was some really good stuff in here with Max Lord and Cat and the bomb plan. But there wasn't enough material for a two-parter and so there was a lot of padding.

 

Indigo's kind of putting the cart before the horse -- they haven't even conquered anywhere outside of National City and she's already talking about the universe.

 

There was a lot of padding this episode, which means there will probably be even more in the season finale.  Can't they just get better writers so that they don't have put so much filler in ?  Is it really that difficult ?

Edited April 16, 2016 by ottoDbusdriver

[MarkHB]

Trying to conquer the universe is very much a Brainiac thing to do, though. I can imagine that she views taking over National City as akin to waiting for an oil change.