S02.E03: Welcome To Earth

[BkWurm1]

First impressions, then will catch up on the thread.  

“Should I get a blow out?”

“Oh, dear god!”

Hee!  J'onn's pain was my pleasure.

Snapper earned my love by pointing out the headline comes AFTER the story, not first.  Left over Lois Lane pet peeve from Smallville.  Also kind of earned my love by walking all over James, showing how absurd him having that job is. 

Linda Carter looks fantastic but I was disappointed by how many SS men Kara let die before she stepped in to protect the president.  Oops!

Enjoyed Winn babbling techno talk to air after Alex left. 

The dive bar scene gave me Men in Black vibes.  Liked the reboot on the show’s nearly all aliens except * are evil attitude, though the show isn’t very subtle writing in Kara’s own xenophobic prejudices is it, lol. 

Not sure what I’m supposed to make of Kara and Lena’s relationship.  So far they seem pretty chummy.  

Nitpick.  Plumeria is not a rare flower.  You can buy some right now at Wal-Mart for $9.99.  Maybe it’s a Earth3 thing??    

Oh Kara, save the podium but leave the President just standing there out in the open? Whisk her away! Oh well, all’s forgiven after the Wonder Woman spin.  Too cute. 

They really like Dolly Parton songs at the bar.  Kind of love that. Hope we see the bar lots more in the future.  I really like Maggie.  I was foolishly expecting someone a lot more like Alex, since that’s closer to the character in the animated series, but Maggie is a nice contrast.

I did NOT like that Snapper vs Olsen was resolved by James just whipping it out and reminding him who actually had the ultimate power.  I was hoping respect would be given because James’s way of doing the job made sense, but nope, Snapper now respects him cause he has to?   I miss Cat.    

Monel is a crappy name.  Really wish they’d altered it.

Wow, Kryptonians are kind of terrible for destroying both their planet and their neighbors.  Maybe Astra had it right. 

Lol, for a second, I thought Wonder Woman was going to turn out to be the rumored Miss Martian.  Thank goodness I was wrong. 

Another pretty good episode. The Catco stuff still needs tweaking but I like the other new stuff introduced so far.

Edited October 25, 2016 by BkWurm1

[BkWurm1]

3 hours ago, stealinghome said:

Third: Miss Martian! I feel looooooooove in the air for J’onn as well as Kara and Alex! I can't believe Sharon Leal is 44. She looks 25 at best. Does she have a portrait stashed in an attic somewhere?

Seriously?  44?  Agreed, she looks so young.  Now I am afraid they would push a romance between them.  Normally I'm good with dumping comic cannon but Miss Martian is supposed to be J'onn's pseudo niece. I can't handle the idea of them together.  

[The Crazed Spruce]

2 hours ago, Trini said:

To be fair, there was some flirtation between Alex and Max Lord. (And I thought they had great chemistry) But that was it.

Yeah, but also to be fair, that was mostly one-sided, on Max's part.

[Artsda]

Kara had some funny one-liners this episode. Jimmy needs to turn evil or something, he has no purpose at all. Snapper schooled him in that first meeting while James looked like he has no clue what he's doing. Cat never would have left an empire in this fools hands out of nowhere. 

Quote

 

Their first interaction is less than ideal; there's some tension and some negativity built up in their first interaction. 

 

I think they used this tv trope twice in this same episode Daxamite/Kara and then Alex/Maggie. 

[twoods]

I like James as the CEO, and happy that him and Kara can still be friends without awkwardness. 

I can see Alex and Maggie having a thing- there was definitely chemistry there and did I sense a hit of jealousy when Maggie talked about her hot date? I'm sort of bummed because I was shipping her and Max pretty hard last year.

Hank continues to have the best one liners. I saw more chemistry with him and the president than with Miss Martian but will give it time.

I can see Wynn being chemistry tested with Lena. I hope she continues to be one of the good guys because I liked her scenes with Kara. She needs a friend who is not a male or family member.

[BkWurm1]

Quote

Frankly, the ONLY thing that saved this episode was the "President is really an alien" part. Because that means the Infernian assassin was actually right and the Alien Amnesty Act probably IS just a ploy to identify the aliens for a nefarious purpose like taking out the powered people so her species can actually take over more easily.

 

4 hours ago, Primal Slayer said:

 

Didnt they already do the whole replace someone of high authority with an alien plot last season? Why revisit it AGAIN?
 

I could be way off base but I was hoping the twist would be that yes, she's an alien, but she wasn't an EVIL alien.  Yeah, I'm probably being very naive.  Still, Madame President says all hope is worth something.  ;)

[regularlyleaded]

I’m just going to say this to get it off my chest and out of the way: I can’t deal with shows preachifying to me anymore. I can’t. TV is my escape. It’s a fun comedic and/or dramatic diversion to make me forget the real world for an hour or two. And while, generally, it’s fine with me if writers want to deliver a subtle message to their audience (I can grin and bear it), well, this show isn’t subtle. It’s a sledgehammer beating on an anvil. And between this and the current political race to the bottom that is being stabbed into our eyes and ears like ice picks I just can’t anymore.  Please, someone, make it stop. Please? *le sigh* Oh, show, I wanted you to take me away not make me want to run away.

Welp, moving on…

This is probably a highly unpopular opinion — and definitely categorize this under YMMV — but, I did not see the chemistry between Alex and Maggie that most everyone here is talking about. I got nothing, folks. Nada. If the writers are aiming for this to be a potential romantic entanglement, then I missed the memo. Maggie was okay. She definitely came on a little too strong (IMO) to begin with, swerving well into the trope lanes as I think was intended, but this chemistry that many seem see as “ZOMG! totes!”, I’m missing it. Which selfishly, I think kinda sucks for me because I can see this is going to a popular topic no matter what actually happens in show, and I won’t be able to contribute because I don’t get it :( Oh, well. I came into this season expecting to have to fast forward through Kara/Jimmy scenes and was so glad when that turned out to be unnecessary, but I can already feel that if the writers start trying to pair up Alex and Maggie they will be what I’m fast forwarding through instead. C’est la vie. To those that do see the chemistry and love it, I salute you. Bon Voyage! 

So, I didn’t see any chemistry with Alex and Maggie, but you guys, Kara and Lena. I did a double take there. I wasn’t expecting them to click so well. Hmmmm….Verrrrry interesting. 

As for Mon-El, color me surprised. I actually liked him as a character and I truly wasn’t expecting to like him. He was a somewhat pleasant surprise for me. Mon-El actually wasn’t the bad guy, everyone just assumed he was. And, weirdly enough, I liked how he was amusingly dismissive of Supergirl when she was talking down to him in his cell. I think I’m used to Kara as Supergirl having the higher moral ground and being so open-minded about everyone that it was a nice change up that Kara was in the wrong here and Mon-El called her on it, but in a somewhat laid-back yet dismissive manner. I laughed when he said to her “You’ve already made up your mind about me, so it seems kind of pointless to keep talking to you. Bye-bye, your Highness” and mock bowed to her. Heehee, that bow. It made me laugh. Kara was spoiling for a fight and he was not having it. I like it. (See, Show, I’m easy to please. Stop preaching to me!)  I'm interested to see how their relationship progresses.

I’m very much enjoying these new characters Kara is interacting with. Kara and Lena, Kara and Mon-El, I’m 100% on board with both of these. More, please.

Speaking of people who were handing Kara life lessons in this episode - Snapper Carr. He’s mean about it, but he was right. Kara’s job was to report on someone else’s opinion not to write up her own. There’s a difference between reporting the news and writing for op-ed and it’s good that Snapper is teaching Kara that. 

And also, Yay! J’onn has a fellow green martian to hang with! I’ve always liked J’onn’s relationship with Alex, but I always saw it as more paternal than romantic, and what with being the lone survivor from Mars he felt so isolated. So it’s nice that there’s the potential for him to have a relationship (romantic or platonic) here with M’gann(sp?) who can empathize with him like no one else can. 

Some miscellaneous items: 

This doesn’t ruin my enjoyment of the show, but I‘d like to know - how the hell does Mon-El come out of the pod speaking english? How, show? HOW?!? There really is a Rosetta Stone Alien Edition in those Kryptonian pods, isn’t there.

And also, YMMV, but I was really hoping Mon-El's name wasn’t going to be "Mon-El" purely for auditory aesthetic reasons. Mon-El just sounds dumb to me. I know it’s from the comics, but still, I was hoping he'd get a different name. Oh, well. Maybe if he gets a secret human identity they’ll give him a better sounding name.

Finally, with regards to Jimmy - I tried, but when it comes down to it, I think the character has become pointless on this show. I don’t dislike him, but when he appears on screen I’m just like “Why are you here?” Giving him Cat’s job, which he’s not entirely qualified for, seemed like a desperate move by the writers to give him something to do, and…it's not working for me and I’m not buying it. As such, I dub thee Laurel 2.0. Wear the title well, Jimmy.

[thuganomics85]

How did I miss that Floriana Lima was going to be showing up as a regular this season?  It must be nice to get a steady gig on a show that won't be getting cancelled anytime soon!  Already enjoying Maggie Sawyer and they are so going there with Alex.  Chyler Leigh and Lima really did seem to have instant chemistry.  I wonder if there was any testing for that, because they've pretty much hit the ground running on that front.  I do wonder how they will keep working Maggie into everything, despite being a normal cop and not a member of the DEO.

Lynda Carter showing up as the President was cool (cracked up over the obvious quip about her having "another jet.")  Not surprised she is actually an alien though.  Hopefully, she won't just be an evil alien, because that would be dull.

Yay, Lena is back!  Katie McGrath is still fantastic in this role and I like how she and Kara play off one another.  I hope they still don't make her flat-out evil, but kind of shady.

After disliking him last week, I kind of enjoyed Snapper this time.  Kara was wrong to let her own views dictate how that article should be written, and James needed someone to challenge, so he would finally step up and be the boss, because he strikes me as someone who rather just be everyone's friend.

David Harewood had the best reactions of this episode.  And I knew Sharon Leal was going to be someone big, but I didn't predict it would be another Martian!

All that said, I didn't enjoy this much as the past two episodes, because the way they addressed all the issues about bigotry, racism, and the whole anti-alien thing being used as a placeholder for real life issues, was about as subtle as a sledgehammer.  Only thing missing was a character playing this universe's version of Donald Trump.  Reminded me of the early S1 episode, where they tackled feminism the same way.  This show means well, but man, can it be clunky about it.  Also, and I hate to say, Melissa Benoist's performance for a lot of it was off.  She is usually so great, but she was way too broad at times.  Again, I think a lot of it was just because the material didn't really serve her or the character well.

Oh, well.  Hopefully, it will get back on track next week. 

[BkWurm1]

4 hours ago, RandomWatcher said:

Isn't Miss Martian a White Martian?

In the comics she was eventually revealed as such but she's not a fan of her other relatives.  

3 hours ago, Aldo Alvarez said:

I think she's a White Martian.  This is not at all good since White Martians are historically some of the worst baddies in the Justice League canon.

White Martian was my first thought about Madame President as well.  Which could nicely tie in both her character and a nice arc for Miss Martian. 

47 minutes ago, twoods said:

I like James as the CEO, and happy that him and Kara can still be friends without awkwardness. 

I can see Alex and Maggie having a thing- there was definitely chemistry there and did I sense a hit of jealousy when Maggie talked about her hot date? I'm sort of bummed because I was shipping her and Max pretty hard last year.

 

I think it seems clear they lost the actor that played Max (it's so weird not to even have a mention of him after how much he was around last year) and maybe they would have gone there but after the rumors started coming about what I assume was what we just saw with Alex and Maggie, I watched the old episodes and I'm pretty good with believing that Alex was just capitalizing on Max's interest to further her interests with the DEO.

[BkWurm1]

6 minutes ago, thuganomics85 said:

All that said, I didn't enjoy this much as the past two episodes, because the way they addressed all the issues about bigotry, racism, and the whole anti-alien thing being used as a placeholder for real life issues, was about as subtle as a sledgehammer.

This is funny. I found all the references to the anti-alien thing over the top because they just kept harping on it all episode long  but I honestly didn't feel shouted at for the real life issues since that's not what the show was talking about.  I think me not even thinking about the (now) obvious layers to the writing just earned me my geek card.

[Black Knight]

30 minutes ago, BkWurm1 said:

I think it seems clear they lost the actor that played Max (it's so weird not to even have a mention of him after how much he was around last year) and maybe they would have gone there but after the rumors started coming about what I assume was what we just saw with Alex and Maggie, I watched the old episodes and I'm pretty good with believing that Alex was just capitalizing on Max's interest to further her interests with the DEO.

There was a little something there at the start between Alex and Max, when he opened up to her about his family, but as soon as it became clear, quite early on, that his anti-Supergirl bias was pretty set, he was dead in the water with her. The dinner they had together, after that, was pretty telling in that regard. She agreed for work reasons, but it could have been something where she had a better time than she expected, got tempted by him, fell into some kissing before pulling away, etc. But instead she didn't have a good time and wasn't remotely tempted. If we needed any confirmation, we got that last week when Alex told Winn she hasn't been on a date in two years. Clearly the dinner with Max did not count for her. The Alex/Max thing was stillborn because Alex is never going to go for anyone who poses even the slightest risk to Kara. It's telling that she got heart eyes when Maggie said that she generally likes aliens more than humans. It's probably the single best thing Maggie could have said to her to attract her.

Eeeeeee! I'm so thrilled that it's Alex, and that the show's not being the slightest bit coy about where things are going between her and Maggie. And they have chemistry, which is awesome. It feels like we have a real shot of avoiding yet another Bury the Gays instance since Maggie is a DC canon character (so at worst they'd just write her leaving town) and Alex is one-half of the core relationship of this show, so she's certainly not going anywhere. I grinned hugely when Maggie got kidnapped and Alex went apeshit on that guy just like she did Max when she thought he was responsible for the Black Mercy. Congratulations, Maggie - previously Alex only reserved that kind of going apeshit for when Kara's in trouble.

Quote

But Kara’s “Make smarter choices!” to Alex earlie in the episode makes me wonder if we’re headed for a bigger sister schism that they’ve kind of laid the ground for a bit.

It just seemed like typical sister bickering to me - especially since Alex knew what Kara was going to say and then Kara added on a "dummy!" - and it made me laugh. I know on TV so often relationships are portrayed as either totally rosy or on the verge of collapse, no middle ground, so the slightest bit of arguing means a show is setting up a huge rift, but the Supergirl writers have never been that way about Alex and Kara's relationship. They love each other more than anyone and they have a good relationship, but that doesn't mean they don't bicker and that they don't have issues and some complicated feelings. But Kara's yelling here was much like the time last season where she yelled at Alex that she'd told her that Max was dangerous - it was a one-off, we never heard about it again. Kara's an emotional person, so she's a yeller at heart - when she yells at Alex it's not that things are bad between them, it's that she feels secure enough in their relationship to be able to yell and have things be fine.

Kara's going to have a bit of an adjustment to Alex/Maggie, though. The fact is, although she sometimes says otherwise, and occasionally complains otherwise, she likes that she's Alex's top priority and she is very used to being it in all situations. The writers set that up perfectly in the pilot in their very first lines to each other - Alex saying she has a conference and has to be on a plane in two hours, Kara replying she has a blind date and needs Alex's help with what to wear, so she wins. (Which, no.) Then Alex asks why she lets Kara do this to her, and Kara replies because she's Alex's sister and Alex loves her. Kara talks about wanting Alex to have a life and find love, and she does mean it, but she is also used to the status quo and she's not going to like it the first time she summons Alex over for something trivial and Alex says no because she's with Maggie. And I'm curious to see how Maggie's going to react to Alex and Kara's relationship. I'm not sure how much ability she has to be diplomatic, and that is a situation that calls for diplomacy. Alex will probably listen to abstract points about setting boundaries so she can have more of a life. She will not listen to specific criticism of Kara, and if Maggie says anything critical to Kara directly, Alex will freak.

Edited October 25, 2016 by Black Knight

[stealinghome]

I just want a scene where Alex and Maggie are hanging out and Supergirl comes over and is like "Alex, I need you ASAP" and Maggie gets jealous and thinks there might be something between Alex and Supergirl. And Alex and Kara are SO GROSSED OUT but obviously can't say "no, we're sisters" because of Kara's secret identity...I mean the comedy writes itself. (Not that Kara's identity will be secret from Maggie for very long, I suspect--though I DO expect it to become a bone of contention between Alex and Maggie before revealed.)

Quote

Chyler Leigh and Lima really did seem to have instant chemistry.  I wonder if there was any testing for that, because they've pretty much hit the ground running on that front.  

I definitely think they chem tested those two before casting Lima. They must have learned from Season 1....

Edited October 25, 2016 by stealinghome

[regularlyleaded]

4 hours ago, wevel said:

But I do think it's worth pointing out that Alex's sexual orientation was not established at all in S1; if some viewers assumed that she was heterosexual all along, that reflects their heteronormative lens rather than what was in the narrative.

4 hours ago, Trini said:

To be fair, there was some flirtation between Alex and Max Lord. (And I thought they had great chemistry) But that was it.

Not just that actually. Alex also mentioned dating guys in conversation(s) with Kara. So it's not like people who think Alex is heterosexual are off the reservation for thinking that.

[BooBear]

6 hours ago, wevel said:

Everything you've said, legaleagle53 ("forcing same-sex romantic pairings", the supposed lack of "evidence"), has been countered elsewhere, and this is not probably not the thread for it.  But I do think it's worth pointing out that Alex's sexual orientation was not established at all in S1; if some viewers assumed that she was heterosexual all along, that reflects their heteronormative lens rather than what was in the narrative.

Yes I dislike when a rabid fan base takes something they want and directs the show. I feel they did that last year with Winn. I saw nothing wrong with him but rabid fan base didn't want him and Kara together so...   I suppose I wouldn't mind if it was done well but often it is just thrown out there to get fans. 

On to the episode

• I hated Maggy Sawyer. She was pushy and obnoxious.  She added nothing to the series and while she might be into Alex, Alex didn't seem to be into her.  Alex and Max had chemistry last year but...weirdly they did nothing with it. 
• I thought Kara and Melissa were out of character. I could see Kara having concerns about Mon-el but she is not usually so judgmental against the worst of the worst.  Melissa was severely overacting. 
• Mon-el comes out of the pod speaking english? 
• Kara and Lena..  I see them as good friends. 
• Mon-el didn't grab me.  Perhaps he will in the future. I wonder why almost no man has chemistry with Melissa. 
• Linda Carter I thought talked like Carrie Fisher from the Force Awakens. Does someone have a partial?  Too many aliens all of the sudden. 
• Favorite line -- J'jon -- and what a time for me to be without any Kryptonite. 

[Izeinwinter]

The thing with Lena is.. she invited Kara back for drinks after the interview was published. 

.. And she's the CEO of a major multinational. That's totally normal. Not.

Either she wants to seduce the cute reporter, she knows exactly who Kara is, or both. 

 

.. Also.. "I flew here... On a bus".. Kara is just terrible at this secret identity thing.  I laughed way too hard. 

Edited October 25, 2016 by Izeinwinter

[Sakura12]

I really enjoy this show when they talk about other planets, so I loved this episode. It's one of the only things that makes Supergirl different than her more famous cousin. She has memories of her home planet and other planets and the people on those planets.  I also didn't mind that Kara let her planets prejudiced against another race color her judgment. That makes her feel more like a person that lived through a history on her planet. 

The actress playing Miss Martian is 44, wow she looks amazing. I thought they cast another young actress because Hollywood.

Wonder Woman became the President and an Alien. Interesting. 

I do like the friendship chemistry with Kara and Lena, since I don't have Cat anymore. I though Mon-El was named that because he didn't know who he was and was adopted into the El family? Calling him Mon-El makes it seem like he's related to Kara's family. Yet she had no reaction to that. Unless they are going with the El surname is like Smith on Krypton and Daxam.  Of course calling him Lar Gand doesn't sound as nice as Mon-El. But that is supposed to be his real name. 

I'm on board for Alex/Maggie. I loved their interactions and think the actresses had great chemistry. I may have been colored by the fact they said they were exploring a coming out story with the one of the characters on the DCTV shows. Then they cast an actress for Maggie Sawyer one the out comic characters. 

Plus a coming out story means someone that wasn't ready to tell anyone who they were. Alex fits that, we did see her go out with Max, but to me that seemed like it was for work and she just used his interest in her to her advantage not that she was attracted to him. Other than that we hadn't really seen show interest in anyone. I saw her show interest in Maggie from their first scene, that was definite love interest set up whether anyone saw the chemistry or not. I also liked that Alex tried to act all in control, then when Maggie left she yelled at the lab tech for doing exactly what Maggie said he was doing. 

Alex also needs a storyline that is separate from Kara. She spent her entire life protecting Kara and trying to make people notice her. She needs to do something for herself. And either realizing she likes women or finally admitting she likes women is a good story for her. 

Edited October 25, 2016 by Sakura12

[Primetimer]

Daniel MacEachern is not a crackpot. He just thinks it's completely obvious that Snapper Carr is much more qualified to run Catco than Jimmy Olsen.

View the full article

[AndySmith]

Quote

the art director in charge of her media empire.

Well, this is The CW...people in their late teens/early to mid-20s running business empires isn't all that uncommon.

[DeathQuaker]

I can acknowledge that Kara is Very Bad At Journalism (and needs real training and shouldn't expect to be handed all the awesome jobs immediately) and also acknowledge that Snapper Carr is an unprofessional douchemonkey who shouldn't be allowed to work, let alone be editor-in-chief, at a major publication.

I used to be a (small-town, totally nonglamorous) reporter. I had an editor who I am fairly certain was the living inspiration for Lou Grant, Perry White, and J. Jonah Jameson (sans the mad-on for Spider-man). He was beyond blunt, and had massively, ridiculously high standards for the writing in our little county newspaper. If he said, "hey, this wasn't bad," you knew you had written something worthy of a Pulitzer. If you messed up, you knew about it in no uncertain terms, in explicit and face-melting detail. He told you EXACTLY why you screwed up in very plain terms, often involving cursing (much to the copy-editor's eternal horror). He also told you EXACTLY how to fix it in specific terms that actually helped you be a better writer (not just, say, "do it again with less bias").

What he did NOT do, was call you stupid names ("ponytail") or ever threaten to "emotionally break you." He didn't treat YOU like you were a bad person. Why? Because that isn't editorial leadership, that's harassment. That's HR violation. Not to mention, it's childish, unprofessional bullying unfitting ANY workplace let alone a high end, high quality one. 

My editor also didn't question a publisher's hire, because you do what the mother-effing publisher tells you, period---and on that note, I'm disgusted with Cat not asserting her authority over him last episode, and I AM delighted with Jimmy asserting his, even if the scene was done poorly so it made it look like he was propping up Kara's bad writing. Snapper is infuriating, and I actually seriously worry that his characterization is an unwitting condonation of workplace harassment on the part of the showrunners, and I find it deeply troubling some viewers appear to find his hideous bullying behavior acceptable by any stretch of the imagination. Kara might be in the wrong too, but two wrongs don't make a right. This isn't a good side, bad side thing here. This is two people both being really bad at their jobs.

Kara ABSOLUTELY does need someone (who is actually competent) to teach her the difference between reportage and op-ed if she doesn't know already (I would assume Cat wouldn't have considered her to have reporter potential if Kara didn't at least have a BA in English or Communications, where you should have been taught that at some point, but obviously not). Not to mention, as a fledgling journalist she should not be handed interviews with CEOs of major corporations; she should be covering unusual weather, holiday events, and routine building openings. It's boring, but that's how you get started. It's obvious the writers of the show barely understand how journalism works and under that circumstance, this plot just shouldn't be happening at all. It's sad because I was actually excited for this plot just because "reporter" IS a good cover for a superhero because you have to leave the office quickly a lot and you're on the road a good deal (so there's an excuse to not be at your desk and be hard to find). (What I am now is an administrative assistant--way better pay, bennies, and job security--and in that job one can't disappear from your desk all the time; Kara should have been fired from her previous position ages ago, Cat's soft spot for her notwithstanding.) But they shouldn't do journalism if they themselves barely understand how a newsroom works.

==

In other news, I didn't like Maggie at first, but by the end, totally rooting for Maggie/Alex.

The reveal on the President in the end was awesome, and I guess that means we'll be seeing more Lynda Carter. Yay!

[Jediknight]

12 hours ago, ActualSize said:

I know the Wonder Woman references were flying - and really fun! - but did anyone else get a demon bar vibe? I almost expected Willy to be behind the counter serving drinks and snitching.

Just wait till we see the karaoke bar, it will be a bonanza.

Katie McGrath was definitely playing Lena as having something for Kara.  She wasn't even trying to hide it.

You got Lynda Carter which was awesome, get another Wonder Woman, get Lucy Lawless.

[BkWurm1]

15 minutes ago, Jediknight said:

You got Lynda Carter which was awesome, get another Wonder Woman, get Lucy Lawless.

Lucy Lawless would be great, but she's probably a harder get than Lynda Carter.  LC at least has a pre-established relationship with DC and the WB and she did Smallville years ago (though I can't remember if that was the WB or CW).  

[BooBear]

3 hours ago, Izeinwinter said:

.. Also.. "I flew here... On a bus".. Kara is just terrible at this secret identity thing.  I laughed way too hard. 

Yes that was funny and I actually liked it because you could see that Kara would be the type that could mess up when stressed.  So glad to see it happen at least once.

One thing I think is odd, and kind of racist, Ms. Martian there - is also an African American woman?  I mean John had no choice but presumably she did? And kind of green Martian racist that John just like can't be with anyone but another green Martian and also, another African American woman.

As for James being left in charge, yeh I had that freak out last week. Just no way. If I was Snapper I would have walked. Presumably he is a talented writer / editor and James isn't. Snapper could probably have gone anyplace.  Didn't he win the Pulitzer for reporting? I think James won something for a photo but still photo is different than investigative journalism.  I do miss Cat.

I really don't see it with Lena. She is pretty much alone in town and doesn't know anyone but she and Kara have become friendly and now Kara is in a position to help her company. That is the kind of person you work hard to ingratiate yourself with if your looking for good PR.   I believe Cat and Kara went out for drinks in the first season should Kara have filed a harassment suit? But I believe this is the second time she mentioned that she was adopted. So I am wondering if that won't come into play soon.

[MarkHB]

11 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

For the record, I went with "Volcana" from the animated series because we had Live Wire last season. She could be an original character.

I just looked it up.  Per both IMDB and the actress's Twitter account, the character's name was "Scorcher" (which is also the name of a Marvel character apparently).

[maraleia]

FYI David is 50 and Lynda is 65.

As for real world issues being on TV shows that's modern TV for the most part so one has to embrace it or stop watching those shows.

I for one would love it if this show had two romantic pairings that were girl/girl (Kara/Lena and Alex/Maggie) and with two gay and one lesbian showrunners that might happen now that they aren't on CBS.

[Dobian]

12 hours ago, wevel said:

There are currently ZERO same-sex couples on Supergirl.  What is it about the possibility of even one f/f couple that has you calling this an "obsession" or a desire for "every couple" to be a same-sex romantic pairing?  This kind of reaction is exactly why normalizing LGBTQ characters and relationships is important.

Well it's because tv shows like this generally don't put two girls together to explore a realistic same sex relationship, it's to boost ratings by getting the two hot chicks together.  That said, I don't expect Kara to ever have any lesbian flings, but I do think they are setting up Alex for one, since they never really established her sexuality on the show.  Which is fine.

Great to see Lynda Carter, she looks fantastic.

[AndySmith]

Personally, I don't care if the characters and relationships are straight or gay, as long as I get good stories featuring interesting characters.

[Bruinsfan]

14 hours ago, KirkB said:

When Kara zapped the alien detector with her heat vision I assumed she was damaging it so it would short out when Lena scanned her. Instead, it somehow malfunctioned and registered her as human. Uhh, what? Damaging it is one thing. Lena did say it was a prototype after all. But how was Kara know how to zap it in such a precise way, without even knowing how the thing works?

Maybe she melted the wire that runs to the red light so that it connected to the one running to the green light instead? You'd think an alien detector would need actual diagnostic readouts showing peculiarities of alien biology instead of working like a Funtronics children's game from the 70s. What exactly does this thing detect? Would I get an "alien" result if I aimed it at my cats?

12 hours ago, statsgirl said:

I can't believe Sharon Leal is 44.  When I saw her, I thought "Why do they always cast too young women for these older guys?"

Could it be the CW doesn't realize she's not in her 20s? I hope that they're keeping the White Martian origin and she was stunned/scared at J'onn's appearance and adopting a Green Martian disguise as a defense mechanism.

Count me among those in danger of concussion from the preachy anvils flying out of my television set. Can the writer responsible for Mon-El's (Ugh! I hate that he didn't give Lar Gand as his name) dialog with Kara be put in charge of the overall plots? I saw some welcome subtlety there.

I am raising an eyebrow at Supergirl taking like 5 minutes to act when the President is being firebombed, whereas the alien that ISN'T supposed to have superspeed uses her eyebeams to neutralize weapons and opponents about a quarter second after they become visible. Also note that a knock-down drag-out fight between two people with Kryptonian powers resulted in a satellite dish being knocked over rather than a city's whole downtown being leveled as in the DCU movies.

Edited October 25, 2016 by Bruinsfan

[GHScorpiosRule]

2 hours ago, BkWurm1 said:

Lucy Lawless would be great, but she's probably a harder get than Lynda Carter.  LC at least has a pre-established relationship with DC and the WB and she did Smallville years ago (though I can't remember if that was the WB or CW).  

Silly @BkWurm1! It was late in the series, so it was the CW! The first four seasons were WB.

[Latverian Diplomat]

Agree that the "message" was laid on a bit heavily, but in a good cause, metaphorically speaking. I do wish they had used refugee/immigrant terminology instead of "citizenship" because granting citizenship to anyone who just shows up is not something we do even for humans.

In addition to the heavy-handedness there, some of the tone was weirdly off. Supergirl fangirling POTUS was fun, but jarring in the context of Kara just having seen several Secret Service agents incinerated right in front of her. The whole episode could have used a rewrite and polish, IMHO. 

IIRC, in the comics the Daxamites are hugely xenophobic and isolated (Comics Mon El is not like that either , of course). This is probably just to explain why there aren't super-powered Daxamites all over the galaxy. But it made an interesting juxtaposition here. And of course, comics Daxam is also in it's own solar system. Not sure how Winn could tell the message was for Daxam and not Krypton if they are both in the same solar system. He didn't sound like he figured that out from the contents of the message, but maybe I'm misremembering.

Edited October 27, 2016 by Latverian Diplomat

[CabotCove]

Quote

Yeah, I took James' rewriting Snapper's headline as more about taking control of the writing room back. Which I actually didn't mind, can't lie, because it struck me as pretty realistic in terms of setting up their dynamic.

Exactly. Snapper wouldnt have done that to Cat, he was being disrespectful to James.

[statsgirl]

6 hours ago, DeathQuaker said:

What he did NOT do, was call you stupid names ("ponytail") or ever threaten to "emotionally break you." He didn't treat YOU like you were a bad person. Why? Because that isn't editorial leadership, that's harassment. That's HR violation. Not to mention, it's childish, unprofessional bullying unfitting ANY workplace let alone a high end, high quality one. 

My editor also didn't question a publisher's hire, because you do what the mother-effing publisher tells you, period---and on that note, I'm disgusted with Cat not asserting her authority over him last episode, and I AM delighted with Jimmy asserting his, even if the scene was done poorly so it made it look like he was propping up Kara's bad writing. Snapper is infuriating, and I actually seriously worry that his characterization is an unwitting condonation of workplace harassment on the part of the showrunners, and I find it deeply troubling some viewers appear to find his hideous bullying behavior acceptable by any stretch of the imagination. Kara might be in the wrong too, but two wrongs don't make a right. This isn't a good side, bad side thing here. This is two people both being really bad at their jobs.

I wish I could upvote this a dozen times.

All four of them were unprofessional -- Kara for writing with a bias, James for not having the credentials for his new job and letting Snapper walk all over him, Snapper for being disrespectful to both his boss and Kara and calling Kara names designed to crush her, and Cat for making an unqualified Kara a reporter and then throwing her to Snapper while failing to provide her a mentor.

But only Snapper was actively abusive.

[CabotCove]

Quote

 I can acknowledge that Kara is Very Bad At Journalism (and needs real training and shouldn't expect to be handed all the awesome jobs immediately) and also acknowledge that Snapper Carr is an unprofessional douchemonkey who shouldn't be allowed to work, let alone be editor-in-chief, at a major publication.

What he did NOT do, was call you stupid names ("ponytail") or ever threaten to "emotionally break you." He didn't treat YOU like you were a bad person. Why? Because that isn't editorial leadership, that's harassment. That's HR violation. Not to mention, it's childish, unprofessional bullying unfitting ANY workplace let alone a high end, high quality one. 

My editor also didn't question a publisher's hire, because you do what the mother-effing publisher tells you, period---and on that note, I'm disgusted with Cat not asserting her authority over him last episode, and I AM delighted with Jimmy asserting his, even if the scene was done poorly so it made it look like he was propping up Kara's bad writing. Snapper is infuriating, and I actually seriously worry that his characterization is an unwitting condonation of workplace harassment on the part of the showrunners, and I find it deeply troubling some viewers appear to find his hideous bullying behavior acceptable by any stretch of the imagination. Kara might be in the wrong too, but two wrongs don't make a right. This isn't a good side, bad side thing here. This is two people both being really bad at their jobs.

???

Edited October 25, 2016 by HeroLeague

[Gudzilla]

6 hours ago, BkWurm1 said:

 (though I can't remember if that was the WB or CW).  

Whenever I get confused about this I just ask the Winchesters. ;)

[slowpoked]

18 hours ago, Kendra said:

I still think Kara had the best chemistry with Barry. I realize it will NEVER happen, but Grant and Melissa have serious chemistry together imo

For me, Kara had the best chemistry with Cat's son, who also happens to be MB's real-life husband. Maybe that's the reason. I hope they bring him back sometime. Maybe now that Cat is out of the picture, they will work out.

Edited October 25, 2016 by slowpoked

[Michel]

On ‎10‎/‎24‎/‎2016 at 8:16 PM, Lady Calypso said:

Man, I'm totally on Snapper's side too. He's trying to teach Kara about being a reporter in a way that may not appeal to many and it may seem rude, but he's just trying to get her to learn. She has never done any reporting before.

I agreed with the message behind what Snapper was telling Kara (because he was right about that), but not the delivery of the message.  Kara is just starting out in journalism.  She made a mistake.  No need to be an ass about it.

What I wasn't on his side about was him hijacking James's meeting.  James is in charge, whether he likes it or not. That was his meeting, not Snapper's.

Edited October 26, 2016 by Michel

[gazebo]

Yay, Chris Wood!  Chris Wood!  I loved this actor when he was on The Vampire Diaries!  I think he will be great as Mon-El!  I think he's a very good looking and talented young actor.

Lynda Carter still look so amazingly beautiful after all these years.  I was so tickled to see her.

[JustaPerson]

He was hilarious as Kai! I figured he wouldn't be able to do that whole snarky-cad bit in Supergirl, especially if they pair him with Kara but he actually got to be sarcastic and dickish (in a fun way of course) here too. Hopefully minus the sociopathic nature this time around. As long as they don't take it too far and make him Alien!Damon (from TVD). Because I HATE Damon. 

Edited October 26, 2016 by JustaPerson

[Black Knight]

5 hours ago, slowpoked said:

For me, Kara had the best chemistry with Cat's son, who also happens to be MB's real-life husband. Maybe that's the reason. I hope they bring him back sometime. Maybe now that Cat is out of the picture, they will work out.

I don't want Adam back, precisely because he's played by MB's husband. They did have some chemistry, but I think their being together IRL would affect the writing, and that usually doesn't go well.

Kara's romantic relationships have generally fallen flat, but I don't think it's the casting so much as it is the writing. The Kara character works best opposite spikier personalities, where there's some tension - it's no accident her best relationships (not romantic, just in general) have been with Hank, Cat, Alex, who are varying degrees of abrasive and, especially in Alex's and Cat's cases, a complicated undertow to the relationship exists. Adam had a lot of antagonism going on with his mother issues and I think that's why he worked a little better than the other guys. Lena being a Luthor works nicely for creating tension, too. It seems like the writers have figured at least some of this out after last season's failures with James and Winn and so are trying to create that kind of tension with Kara and the new guy via the "their planets hated each other" thing. The only problem with that is that "Luthor" has a huge resonance for viewers that Daxam doesn't. Assuming that the show doesn't plan to do anything romantic with Kara and Lena, I think it would've been smarter to reverse the gender of the two new characters interacting with Kara this season - give Kara a female friend/frenemy with the Daxamite alien, give her a love interest/possible betrayer with Lex's son. Clearly Kryptonian/Daxamite is supposed to be on a par with Superman/Lex Luthor rivalry-wise, but it just doesn't feel that way. Luthor is iconic - everybody knows Lex Luthor. Lots of viewers have never heard of Daxam.

[marymon]

If a newspaper reporter doesn't even know about bias in new stories they shouldn't even be a reporter.  That is pretty much reporting 101.

I pretty much think  CatCo at this point is obsolete.  Her only connection there is Jimmy and never worked into the story very well any way.    It doesn't even give her that normalcy any more. 

[PatternRec]

Just started the episode. When Supergirl asks if she should get a blowout, it really makes me wonder if Kryptonian hair wouldn't resist normal conditioners. Her hair always looks great and never even has a stray leaf in it or anything... 

[stealinghome]

17 minutes ago, marymon said:

I pretty much think  CatCo at this point is obsolete.  Her only connection there is Jimmy and never worked into the story very well any way.    It doesn't even give her that normalcy any more. 

Yeah, I'm expecting them to phase Catco out soon (or at least hoping they do) and find something else for James to do. Catco never worked outside of the Kara/Cat relationship to begin with, and now that Winn's gone from there and Kara has a job where she can literally see her boss for two minutes every third episode with no problems, there's no point to keeping Catco around in a major way. Find something else for James to do or cut him loose, and just phase Catco as a location/entity out for the most part, writers. It's the organic and smart play.

[ahisma]

My editor also didn't question a publisher's hire, because you do what the mother-effing publisher tells you, period---and on that note, I'm disgusted with Cat not asserting her authority over him last episode, and I AM delighted with Jimmy asserting his, even if the scene was done poorly so it made it look like he was propping up Kara's bad writing.

I love your whole post so much! My only tiny disagreement is that I didn't see James's action as propping up Kara, I saw it as direct retaliation: you take over my meeting, I'll take over your writing. Even Snapper admitted, fair enough. 

Despite some who are wondering how a photojournalist is filling Cat's shoes, it doesn't bother me that much. First, photojournalists ARE journalists. Second, James has been in the business over 12 years, at least, and learned a lot—he came to Catco as an art director. He was doing layouts and had a high degree of say over the image the paper was projecting, a major Cat focus. Third, Catco isn't just a newspaper, it's a media empire in the modern multimedia era. I think someone young, visually oriented, who worked closely with Cat for a year and learned her vision for what leads and succeeds (clickbait), would be a better fit than Snapper. Yes, Snapper will provide the journalistic integrity (stories, not op eds!) to fill out the pages, but the publisher makes decisions on the overall direction of the paper. Cat came up with her initial Supergirl story direction when all anyone knew was that there was a plane in the bay; of course James is going to set a tone for President coverage.

I kind of liked Kara advising James and supporting him in the meeting. They are trying to be "Cat" for each other in encouragement, even though they're lacking Cat's tough-love sharpness. Their romance end was abrupt, but I'm liking their friendship. (In small doses, as it doesn't advance much in the way of action.)

[Black Knight]

46 minutes ago, stealinghome said:

Yeah, I'm expecting them to phase Catco out soon (or at least hoping they do) and find something else for James to do. Catco never worked outside of the Kara/Cat relationship to begin with, and now that Winn's gone from there and Kara has a job where she can literally see her boss for two minutes every third episode with no problems, there's no point to keeping Catco around in a major way. Find something else for James to do or cut him loose, and just phase Catco as a location/entity out for the most part, writers. It's the organic and smart play.

Now that you put it that way, it's weird that they decided to put James at Cat's desk at all, because it keeps him stuck in the office and thus keeps Catco around as a location. It would've been much simpler to just have him and Kara as a journalist team roving around Metropolis, investigating stories together, him taking the pictures and her writing the copy. Maybe that's what they'll do after a few more episodes - James realizes he misses being out in the field and lets Snapper take over as the new Cat - and the reason they didn't just do it that way to start with is because Kara will probably be busy with Mon-El for a little bit, so they needed to sideline James temporarily.

[Locutus]

The way everyone was gaga over Madam Prez made me wonder if she can manipulate emotions. I see two ways this goes. She's evil and trying to set up an invasion. OR, she's nice and only trying to help us. The latter seems unlikely, so I'm going for evil. It wouldn't surprise me  if the DEO and Cadmus actually team up to deal with the menace.

[Bruinsfan]

They gave her alien face narrow glowing red eyes, which does not give me the impression of benevolence coming from these masters of delicate subtext. (Of course, Martians have glowing red eyes too, and she's a shapeshifter, so I suppose it could be a hint of her species rather than just hamfisted symbolism.)

[DigitalCount]

Everyone has covered the deep end parts of the episode, so I'll be over here in the shallow end. As long as Katie McGrath is on this show, I'll be watching it, accent slips and all. (In her defense, it's much better this episode than it was the last time, where she was going full-on OOH CURSES ME LUCKY CHARMS.) I also love how the Tess Mercer overt sexuality legacy lives on. I couldn't get Tess/Lois in Smallville (to the chagrin of both me and Cassidy Freeman) and I probably won't get Kara/Lena here, but a man can dream.

[Perfect Xero]

"My name is Kara Zor-El."

"My name is Mon-El."

"Cool, let's not notice or comment on the fact that we have the same House Name."

[TwistedandBored]

It was a solid episode. Like others have said, DEO should have known about that Dive Bar. As for Maggie, I like her and thought she and Alex had a nice chemistry. 

Mon-El on the other hand is there for me right now. I haven't seen enough of him to decide. My sister on the other hand is gonna be pissed when I tell her who Kara's new CW approved love interest is going to be. She liked Kara and James and quit the show after the first episode. She didn't like how the show ended them like that. LOL

[JapMo]

Didn't really see any chemistry between Alex & Maggie, but I may not be the best judge as the minute I saw Maggie, I thought...oh no...it's that Bridey chick from The Family that was such a loudmouth pushy broad and she's playing the exact same role.  Yech.  Actually did see something going on between Kara and Lena.  Now that wasn't forced, like A&M IMO.  It just happened naturally.  I'm pretty sure the show won't act on it, but just sayin.   

Not really liking the CW version of Supergirl so far.  I liked the episodes with Superman in it, but Kara is acting too giddy and silly.  She was always a little like that but it's been amped up several decibels and Melissa Benoist doesn't seem comfortable with it yet...she hasn't figured it out.  So it looks over the top, and she looks like she's acting.    

[GHScorpiosRule]

I was giggly and goofy and giddy myself, watching Wonder Woman as the President. But Boo! to her being an alien instead of, you know, Wonder Woman! I really, really, REALLY wanted her to be WONDER WOMAN. Because she looks FANTASTIC! That HAIR! She's still got IT. And no one has been able to topple her for me. Okay, maybe Lucy Lawless could, but she's not here, LYNDA is. 

Ahem.

So, I also got a preachy vibe from this episode during the non-Wonder Woman scenes.

I did love James Jimmy slapping that asshat Snapper down a notch or two or three. I can't stand him.

And honestly, I didn't see any hot or amazing chemistry between Alex and Maggie, or Kara and Lena, or...anyone, really. Not like I did with Kara and Barry, because both actors were just so adorkable together.

And now it's my super sekrit wish that somehow, someway, they can convince Michael Rosenbaum to reprise his role as Lex, should Lex ever appear on this show. He was the BESTEST TV LEX EVAH! And Clancy Brown the BEST ANIMATED LEX EVAH! But Clancy is playing General Eiling, so he clearly can't play Lex.

What? What?