S02.E20: City of Lost Children

[The Crazed Spruce]

Quote

It's up to Guardian to intervene when an alien that has telekinetic powers attacks National City; Rhea's plan escalates.

[stealinghome]

Man, Rhea wasn't kidding that the Daxamite invasion of Earth is all on Kara's head. SEE WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF THEY HAD SENT MON-EL HOME IN 2X16/17? SEE? SEE? I'm sure the show wants us to think Rhea's full of it, but...she's actually not. This is all on Kara and the DEO. It won't happen, but I actually really would love, next season, for Kara and the DEO to face the legal consequences for basically causing an alien invasion of Earth because Kara couldn't stand to be separated from her boyfriend of 10 minutes. But that would require the writers to admit Mon-El isn't all that and a bag of chips, and we know that will never happen.

Somewhat to my surprise based on spoilers, I really enjoyed this episode, and I thought it was Mehcad Brooks' best performance in the series so far (not that that's hard, given how little material he's been given this season). As I've said before, his niche on the show is the older brother/mentor figure, and tonight showed he can be pretty good in that role. This episode also felt like a meta acknowledgment by the writers that the Guardian stuff has been terrible all the way around, so maybe this leads them to lean away from Guardian and give James actual, you know, job-based storylines. Also hopefully the Catco building hasn't fallen in on itself. Wasn't looking too good there by the end.

This episode was well-orchestrated, in that it tied the A- and B-plots together very cleverly--I guessed that the aliens were out of control with their mind rampages, but I would never have guessed in a million years that Lena and Rhea's experiments were causing the loss of control. And it put a human (or alien, but you know what I mean) face on Rhea's machinations.

Poor Lena is so completely desperate for people to love her. I just want to give the poor girl a hug and wrap her in a flannel blanket. I do buy that Rhea really does feel affection for her, but man, this is just going to make Lena triple-down on isolating herself and reinforcing her emotional armor when this is all over. Sometimes the best manipulation is the obvious one.

Chris Wood did not sell me on Mon-El's...whatever he was supposed to be feeling...in that last scene with his mother.

So I guess my earlier speculation this season was right: Cadmus and the DEO are going to band together to fight the Daxamite invaders. And HOLY SHIT CAT IS BACK! GIVE ME NEXT WEEK NOW!!! CAT MY LOVE, NEVER LEAVE US, we miss your witty one-liners and also discussions of feminism.

Much to my surprise, this episode did a really great job of paving the way for the last two episodes. Well done, show, you exceeded my expectations. Now let's just hope Mon-El is either Phantom Zoned or goes back to Daxam once Rhea dies, so Kara can come back to the center of the show.

 

ETA: Oh, I forgot to say that I thought the scene with James and J'onn was lovely--wouldn't mind seeing more of them--and also that my heart broke for J'onn when he said that his purpose in life was protecting his daughters. Sniff.

Edited May 9, 2017 by stealinghome

[UNOSEZ]

I liked how both Lena and James felt overlooked in this episode I thought some of their emotional beats paralleled well... Be nice if they got to actually speak... Well I guess I should give up on my dream of James and Kara actually having that talk about her breaking up with him like 3 hours after they started dating for reasons still unknown after an entire year of will they wont they pining and to the detriment of his relationship with Lucy lane... Or a real conversation at all this season... Did the actors have a secret fight and not wanna work at all together... I kept thinking during the opening James would pop up during that brunch and it would be awkward... Or somn... But nope. 

[AD35]

A decent story for James this ep so maybe going forward the Guardian stuff can be put on the back burner for awhile at least if not sidelined altogether.  I did have to laugh at the mention of what was a 99.999999% confirmation for you-know-who existing in the Arrowverse.

[kalamac]

I'd say the invasion isn't all on Kara's head, as Mon-El, a grown man with his own agency, could have easily said "I want to stay with you, but I need to do what's best for my people and go." He's much more to blame.

[quarks]

Oh, evil Teri Hatcher. I was totally rooting for you right up until you injured Lena. 

[secnarf]

As much as I would have loved for Mon-El to leave, I can't agree that this is all on Kara. Rhea is responsible for her own decisions.

I wasn't all that surprised at the connection between Lena's experiment and the mind-controlled aliens. After the first incident in the square, I actually thought the alien *was* the experiment.

I hope Lena was okay - last we saw her, she was knocked out, wasn't she?

I kind of missed Alex in this episode. I think she appeared, but didn't really have much of a role.

[statsgirl]

See, show, this is what I want more of.  I don't need people knocking each other out or tons of CGI, just give me a smart, decent story about characters I can care about.

Mehcad Brooks can do so much more than they've given him to do this season.  I'm glad James didn't die, I was worried about that.  Hopefully they will use him as more than stop gap scenery now.

Mon El, get out of my James episode.  The show has spent enough time on you this season.

That said, I did love Rhea saying how it's all Supergirl's fault.  That's classic Villain Speak to blame everything on other people, whether they're twirling their mustaches or tweeting.

Why can't Super Villains ever find their own planets?

[Chris24601]

39 minutes ago, stealinghome said:

Man, Rhea wasn't kidding that the Daxamite invasion of Earth is all on Kara's head. SEE WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF THEY HAD SENT MON-EL HOME IN 2X16/17? SEE? SEE? I'm sure the show wants us to think Rhea's full of it, but...she's actually not. This is all on Kara and the DEO.

Sorry, but no.

When your reaction to your grown ass son saying "I wanna live my own life" is to murder your husband for siding with said son and then invading a planet whose entire population minus one had nothing to do with your son's choice to not want to be stuck living under your control freak roof then its on no one's head but the utter nutjob named Rhea.

[StarBrand]

Quote

Sorry, but no.

When your reaction to your grown ass son saying "I wanna live my own life" is to murder your husband for siding with said son and then invading a planet whose entire population minus one had nothing to do with your son's choice to not want to be stuck living under your control freak roof then its on no one's head but the utter nutjob named Rhea.

This.

This episode proves that the writers can still write a decent story for James. If this gets him out of "I gotta be superhero" phase and make him realize he doesn't need that shit, all the better.

I was kind of surprised to see the affect on the aliens (forgot ther name) wasn't intentional, just an unfortunate side effect of Lena's machine. I wasn't' sure what I expected Rhea to be up to, but it wasn't a fleet of thousands of ships coming to take over Earth. They're all in deep shit now....

This is far more interesting than the Myraid storyline from last season...

Edited May 9, 2017 by StarBrand

[StarBrand]

And Rhea-better watch your back-you don't manipulate Lena to unwittingly facilitate an invasion, and not expect to pay the consequences

[stealinghome]

Quote

Sorry, but no.

When your reaction to your grown ass son saying "I wanna live my own life" is to murder your husband for siding with said son and then invading a planet whose entire population minus one had nothing to do with your son's choice to not want to be stuck living under your control freak roof then its on no one's head but the utter nutjob named Rhea.

I understand what you're saying, but I can't quite agree. The analogous situation I would use is: a psychopath is holding someone hostage with a gun to their head, I walk into the room, the psychopath says "don't do x or I'll shoot," I do x, and they shoot and kill their hostage. I just can't agree that in that situation, I wouldn't be at least partially ethically responsible for the hostage's death. The psychopath is responsible for the murder, obviously, but it's too pat to let me off the hook with no guilt or moral responsibility. I would be morally implicated imo.

[Cthulhudrew]

If James wants to be a symbol for hope and not fear, he could start by making his costume more colorful, operating outside of the shadows and in daytime, and making some public outreach and giving Guardian a message other than "guy who beats people up." Just get a makeover, dude, and stop whining about not being a special snowflake.

[statsgirl]

What kind of a place is National City where you can't buy weed legally for your anxiety issues?

And how could that alien mother just abandon her young son?  Even if she had to go into hiding, she should have come back to make sure he's safe.

Re Rhea vs Mon El:

To me the question is was Mon El aware of how much a psychopath his mother is?  She definitely is full-on psychopath but he always struck me as rather clueless, especially when he first appeared on Earth.  (He's still not the sharpest knife in the drawer.) So it doesn't surprise me that he didn't anticipate Rhea's Evil Scheme or taking revenge on Earth.

[stealinghome]

Quote

To me the question is was Mon El aware of how much a psychopath his mother is?  She definitely is full-on psychopath but he always struck me as rather clueless, especially when he first appeared on Earth.  (He's still not the sharpest knife in the drawer.) So it doesn't surprise me that he didn't anticipate Rhea's Evil Scheme or taking revenge on Earth.

tbh I think this is yet another thing the writers have not been consistent about. I agree that they have generally written him as not being aware of much of anything on Daxam, but Mon-El had a line before his parents came back--I think it was in 2x14, when he was talking about Jeremiah--where he basically said "my parents were BAD NEWS and if I knew they were coming, I'd run away." So he was at least somewhat aware that his parents were, let's say, not the nicest folks....

[secnarf]

15 minutes ago, stealinghome said:

I understand what you're saying, but I can't quite agree. The analogous situation I would use is: a psychopath is holding someone hostage with a gun to their head, I walk into the room, the psychopath says "don't do x or I'll shoot," I do x, and they shoot and kill their hostage. I just can't agree that in that situation, I wouldn't be at least partially ethically responsible for the hostage's death. The psychopath is responsible for the murder, obviously, but it's too pat to let me off the hook with no guilt or moral responsibility. I would be morally implicated imo.

The difference here is that Kara/Mon-El were not forewarned, and Rhea's actions were in response to an event that she didn't like. There was no clear "if x then y" going in that Kara/Mon-El could use to try to make a decision.

[UNOSEZ]

So went on some other boards to see how they liked the episode and somehow alien refugees looking for a homeland and a long overdue race of predominantly black aliens is a PC forced diversity agenda being crammed down "Our" throats... Ugh dunno why I do this to myself... 

[thuganomics85]

Man, James seemed to accomplish more here outside of his suit, then he ever did as the Guardian.  Go figure.  It was nice to see him getting something to do for once, and get to interact more with the rest of the cast like Alex and J'onn (although, strangely, it does seem like he and Kara barely interact anymore.)  Easily some of the best work Mehcad Brooks has done on this show.  Granted, he was never really the problem when it came to the character.

Of course, his victory probably won't make much of a dent on the Draximite invasion that is so going down.  Damn, Rhea, you have gone beyond being a helicopter parent!  Your son is a grown ass man!  If he wants to hang out on a planet with a charming, funny, awesome (if a bit annoying at times) girl from Krypton, that's his right!  No need to start an intergalactic war over it!  Of course, that's just the main offense, but screwing over poor Lena like that was low as well.  Lena is so going to have trust issues going forward.  But it look like she was teleported alongside Rhea and Mon-El, so is she Rhea's captor now?

I know he's been MIA since the premiere, but I have to think a Draximite invasion will be enough for good old Clark to take off the glasses, and zip over there to help out.

I love J'onn, but I swear it feels there are always finding some way to incapacitate him.  Krypotians have krypotnite, but apparently Martians have a whole bunch of weaknesses.

Not much Alex in this one. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

40 minutes ago, stealinghome said:

Man, Rhea wasn't kidding that the Daxamite invasion of Earth is all on Kara's head. SEE WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF THEY HAD SENT MON-EL HOME IN 2X16/17? SEE? SEE? I'm sure the show wants us to think Rhea's full of it, but...she's actually not. This is all on Kara and the DEO. It won't happen, but I actually really would love, next season, for Kara and the DEO to face the legal consequences for basically causing an alien invasion of Earth because Kara couldn't stand to be separated from her boyfriend of 10 minutes. But that would require the writers to admit Mon-El isn't all that and a bag of chips, and we know that will never happen.

Somewhat to my surprise based on spoilers, I really enjoyed this episode, and I thought it was Mehcad Brooks' best performance in the series so far (not that that's hard, given how little material he's been given this season). As I've said before, his niche on the show is the older brother/mentor figure, and tonight showed he can be pretty good in that role. This episode also felt like a meta acknowledgment by the writers that the Guardian stuff has been terrible all the way around, so maybe this leads them to lean away from Guardian and give James actual, you know, job-based storylines. Also hopefully the Catco building hasn't fallen in on itself. Wasn't looking too good there by the end.

This episode was well-orchestrated, in that it tied the A- and B-plots together very cleverly--I guessed that the aliens were out of control with their mind rampages, but I would never have guessed in a million years that Lena and Rhea's experiments were causing the loss of control. And it put a human (or alien, but you know what I mean) face on Rhea's machinations.

Poor Lena is so completely desperate for people to love her. I just want to give the poor girl a hug and wrap her in a flannel blanket. I do buy that Rhea really does feel affection for her, but man, this is just going to make Lena triple-down on isolating herself and reinforcing her emotional armor when this is all over. Sometimes the best manipulation is the obvious one.

Chris Wood did not sell me on Mon-El's...whatever he was supposed to be feeling...in that last scene with his mother.

So I guess my earlier speculation this season was right: Cadmus and the DEO are going to band together to fight the Daxamite invaders. And HOLY SHIT CAT IS BACK! GIVE ME NEXT WEEK NOW!!! CAT MY LOVE, NEVER LEAVE US, we miss your witty one-liners and also discussions of feminism.

Much to my surprise, this episode did a really great job of paving the way for the last two episodes. Well done, show, you exceeded my expectations. Now let's just hope Mon-El is either Phantom Zoned or goes back to Daxam once Rhea dies, so Kara can come back to the center of the show.

 

ETA: Oh, I forgot to say that I thought the scene with James and J'onn was lovely--wouldn't mind seeing more of them--and also that my heart broke for J'onn when he said that his purpose in life was protecting his daughters. Sniff.

I would be down with Jimmy getting a niche. Any niche. I'm curious if we'll ever get the behind the scenes story of what happened to lead to his getting minimized this season.

I share your excitement that  Cat is back. If they have a scene with Cat, Evil Teri Hatcher and Evil Lynda Carter, I will forgive the show for many of its missteps. I will also accept a scene simply with Evil Teri Hatcher and Greyish Dean Cain. 

27 minutes ago, AD35 said:

A decent story for James this ep so maybe going forward the Guardian stuff can be put on the back burner for awhile at least if not sidelined altogether.  I did have to laugh at the mention of what was a 99.999999% confirmation for you-know-who existing in the Arrowverse.

Ha! I didn't pay enough attention on first viewing to "Clark's friend" and Winn making a ears-motion and talking about them being more "frenemies."  

Sorry to be a nitpicker, but Supergirl's Earth is different from the main Arrowverse Earth.

7 minutes ago, secnarf said:

As much as I would have loved for Mon-El to leave, I can't agree that this is all on Kara. Rhea is responsible for her own decisions.

I wasn't all that surprised at the connection between Lena's experiment and the mind-controlled aliens. After the first incident in the square, I actually thought the alien *was* the experiment.

I hope Lena was okay - last we saw her, she was knocked out, wasn't she?

I kind of missed Alex in this episode. I think she appeared, but didn't really have much of a role.

We saw Lena in the previews if I'm not mistaken. She was in a red dress and it seemed like she was being set up for an arranged marriage with Mon-El. 

Alex was involved in the initial assessment of the "terrorist alien." She tried to interrogate Marcus but was unsuccessful. She also was told by one of the DEO agents about the Daxamite invasion. I am a fan of more Alex always, but there was a reasonable amount. 

Other comments/thoughts on rewatch:

Sorry, if a masked person stopped me from being mugged and possibly raped, my reaction would not be "Stay back!" to the person who saved me. It would be "Hell yes!"

The Kara/Lena still strong. Kara, why are you offering to buy Lena lunch, though? She's a multimillionaire at least.

So there are a dozen of these aliens who get triggered into violent outbursts by the use of the Rhea/Lena machine. How come we didn't hear about any of them freaking out?

How is it that Mama Marcus is able to disappear after her freakout? It would be pretty handy if Supergirl had super-speed and all sorts of vision powers....oh wait, she does. 

Hey, I forget...is Alien Bar destroyed? Cause if not, that might be a decent place to try to get some info. 

J'onn watches video footage of Mama Marcus doing her telekinetic thing, including one close-up shot of her. Then Winn comes in and identifies her as a Phorian. And J'onn's like, "I didn't know any had taken refuge on Earth." Having just watched her up close, shouldn't he have already pieced together that she was a Phorian? At least, given that there seems to be a common theme among the race in terms of surface appearance? Also, given that as we find out later, there seem to be at least a dozen in National City alone, seems like the DEO has fallen down on the job.

Poor alien snitch.... (Does he have a name?) I do like the callback to the abduction episode a few times back.

Jimmy, why not tell the DEO about your lead for the TK alien? Because if she's there, WTF are you going to do solo? She tosses cars around, man!

I forget as to whether Maggie knows about the whole Guardian deal. Because her anti-vigilante stance probably should be triple for Guardian. At least when Supergirl intervenes, there's usually a half-dozen witnesses who can attest to what happened, and I suppose there's some possibility of Supergirl showing up and testifying. Not so much with Guardian.

Jimmy clearly is a proud graduate of the Barry Allen/Kara Danvers school of Secret ID protection.

Hmm so Alex literally spent hours trying to interrogate Marcus...if only there could be a meeting of the minds between Marcus and another telepathic alien...I wonder where they might find one of those at the DEO?

I will take the bit about how Marcus saw someone who looked like him and warmed up to be a statement in support of diversity on TV. Speaking of, these Phorians are one of the few times I can think of when a group of aliens are played by African-Americans. 

I don't get if Evil Teri was slow-rolling Lena in terms of the doodad. I'm assuming she could just have given the working model if she wanted. Also, I'm sad that Lena didn't see through things.

James bringing Marcus to Catco and introducing him as his nephew sure was a bad idea in retrospect. Hey, Noonan's shoutout!

These Phorians must be pretty powerful if a kid can basically bring down a building.

How did Rhea grab Lena's phone without Lena noticing? And how did no one notice the mwa-ha-ha speech Rhea gave?

I do love the heart-to-hearts that Jimmy had with J'onn and Marcus. It might have been nice to have sprinkled that sort of thing throughout the season instead of just this one episode.

Mon-El is not a hero of Earth. Like literally, his heroic resume has almost nothing on it. 

I wonder if the Phorians will be part of the puzzle to stop these hundred-plus ships.

I also wonder if they will bring back Supes. This is kind of a job for him.

And if they are trying to ship James with Mama Marcus. 

[statsgirl]

46 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Speaking of, these Phorians are one of the few times I can think of when a group of aliens are played by African-Americans. 

Most of them were African-Americans but then I saw some were white and others Hispanic and I thought "What for?" It would have made more sense for them all to be African Americans.  Not every alien race has to be as ethnically diverse as humans are.

Edited May 9, 2017 by statsgirl

[MarkHB]

40 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Poor alien snitch.... (Does he have a name?) I do like the callback to the abduction episode a few times back.

Brian!

[Lantern7]

Next week: Cat comes back! "James, I leave my company and this city for a few months, and this happens? I am very disappointed. Same goes to you, Kira." "it's Kar-" "Shut up, Supergirl."

I guess we know why we haven't seen much of James this season . . . Mehcad had to train hard for this episode. Heavy-handed overall, but he was good. I get his frustration about Not Making A Difference. Maybe if he had his Guardian outfit painted in primary colors. Just a thought.

Daxam Attacks? Good way to barrel into the finale. If the planet is comprised of 99 percent douchebag fratbros like Mon used to me, does that make National City their Cancun? Even if you disable their ships, the sun gives them enhanced abilities. Not like Kara, but they'd still be more than a handful. Also: I'm hoping Lena doesn't go evil.

[Chicago Redshirt]

10 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

Most of them were African-Americans but then I saw some were white and other Hispanic and I thought "What for?" It would have made more sense for them all to be African Americans.  Not every alien race has to be as ethnically diverse as humans are.

Are you sure? I went back to watch scenes with the Phorians, and I couldn't spot a single person who looked white (excluding Winn, of course). In the shot where they are outside the warehouse looking up at the Daxamite invasion, there are 10 Phorian extras who all seem to be black to me, Marcus and Mama Marcus. 

[Artsda]

1 hour ago, RogerDodger said:

Was Marcus played by the kid who plays young Randall on This Is Us?

Yes, that was him. It distracted me the entire episode because I'm so used to him being Randall. 

[VCRTracking]

1 hour ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I will take the bit about how Marcus saw someone who looked like him and warmed up to be a statement in support of diversity on TV. Speaking of, these Phorians are one of the few times I can think of when a group of aliens are played by African-Americans. 

There was that awful "Code of Honor" episode in the horrible first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Beside the reference to Batman I liked Winn whistling "You're My Superfriend" from the Flash musical crossover.

I got verklempt when James told Marcus "You are not alone."

So glad Cat's returning next week!

Edited May 9, 2017 by VCRTracking

[ottoDbusdriver]

In some 30+ years since Krypton assploded, all of these Daxamites in the ships have been unable to find a new home.  So what have they been doing all this time ?  Other than collectively waiting by the portal for Rhea to call.

Not a big fan of a James-centric episode.  Even less a fan of take-your-telekinetic-fake-nephew to work day.

Did they ever explain why the Phorians went all glowy eyes and super-destructive when the portal was activated ?

By the way, Marcus shredded the Catco building -- no way a fresh coat of paint will fix all those structural issues.

[Lantern7]

I tried typing a post on my iPad around 10, but I got reloaded. I forgot to ask: why couldn't Mon shoot Rhea in the foot? I mean, he had to know that she killed Dadcules (I don't remember his name) and was lying about it. Mon is a dope. Not as bad a dope as he's been for the bulk of the season, but a dope nonetheless. If he leaves, I don't think the show would suffer that much. I like the idea of Mon being the logical step after Clark and Kara (coming to Earth as an adult, getting thrown into the deep end of learning about Earth), but Kara can do better.

ETA for @ottoDbusdriver: I think Daxam went boom a while after Krypton. At least that's my impression.

[VCRTracking]

1 hour ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

In some 30+ years since Krypton assploded, all of these Daxamites in the ships have been unable to find a new home.  So what have they been doing all this time ?  Other than collectively waiting by the portal for Rhea to call.

I'm more bothered that Kara said that her OTP was Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake when by the time she arrived in late 2004 and by that time they had long since been over and Britney was already married twice to other men by that time!

Edited May 9, 2017 by VCRTracking

[themadman]

So... this kind of alien invasion would be a Justice League event, right? 

[bros402]

1 hour ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Did they ever explain why the Phorians went all glowy eyes and super-destructive when the portal was activated ?

The extra energy created by the Lena/Rhea portal testing made them lose control of their abilities because "the baseline electromagnetic activity in the planet's atmosphere had a significant shift" or something like that

 

34 minutes ago, VCRTracking said:

I'm more bothered that Kara said that her OTP was Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake when by the time she arrived in late 2004 and by that time they had long since been over and Britney was already married twice to other men by that time!

Kara was probably given a pop culture primer - so she would pass as an Earth girl.

[BkWurm1]

Thoughts before I read the thread. 

I am really sick of James's petty jealousy of Supergirl.  I've never seen someone so butthurt.  I HATE that expression but nothing else seems to express the sentiment better.  I also can't stand that he needed a full on pep talk in order to go talk to a scared kid.  

Also, explain the logic of not going to get the mother (J'onn saying it was too big a risk) when she would still be susceptible to the same weapon, thus being a much bigger threat.  (Also, why did only Marcus at CatCo cause a problem if his mom and a whole bunch of other aliens with the same power were right there nearby?)  Really hate the propping of James. Hero without a suit my ass.  Mechad didn't do badly, but it all felt so contrived. 

I did really like the Supergate Rhea built. Very pretty.    

Anyway. Still love Lena.  Still actually like Rhea. Even liked Mon-El again being cute with Kara.  I also forgive him for not being able to kill his mom.  Still, it would have been handy if he could have wounded her a little bit.  

Can't wait for Cat Grant's return.  

Edited May 9, 2017 by BkWurm1

[Trini]

I knew this was going to be a James-heavy episode, but I think it also has the least amount of screentime for Kara/Supergirl/Benoist in 2 seasons.

Was that scene with James and J'onn the first with just the two of them? (With more than two lines...)

So glad to see James/Mehcad showcased here.

She can't help it: Lena/Mcgrath talking about her new (business) partner made it sound like she was talking about a new boyfriend!

Edited May 9, 2017 by Trini

[BkWurm1]

Quote

In some 30+ years since Krypton assploded, all of these Daxamites in the ships have been unable to find a new home.  So what have they been doing all this time ?  Other than collectively waiting by the portal for Rhea to call.

I believe Rhea said it has taken this long for Daxum to be inhabitable again. It didn't blow up like Krypton, but Krypton's explosion messed with the atmosphere or something like that.  

 

4 hours ago, stealinghome said:

I understand what you're saying, but I can't quite agree. The analogous situation I would use is: a psychopath is holding someone hostage with a gun to their head, I walk into the room, the psychopath says "don't do x or I'll shoot," I do x, and they shoot and kill their hostage. I just can't agree that in that situation, I wouldn't be at least partially ethically responsible for the hostage's death. The psychopath is responsible for the murder, obviously, but it's too pat to let me off the hook with no guilt or moral responsibility. I would be morally implicated imo.

Except Mon-El was technically the hostage that Kara was there to save.  Is she supposed to not save him even though saving him creates another POTENTIAL but not absolute threat?  The orders the DEO had would say yes, she should have left him there but on a strict right or wrong choice, I don't think letting him basically be kidnapped was so clear cut.  Plus, by the time they left, they did have Dad's blessing.  By that point Kara had a pretty good reason to think everything was going to be fine.  

4 hours ago, UNOSEZ said:

So went on some other boards to see how they liked the episode and somehow alien refugees looking for a homeland and a long overdue race of predominantly black aliens is a PC forced diversity agenda being crammed down "Our" throats... Ugh dunno why I do this to myself... 

 Wow.  Really?  Funny thing is, I bet diversity wasn't even the message.   Them being refugee that no one wanted, being forced to leave again and again while people are unfairly afraid of them, that is a lot more likely the real message.  Maybe if some people are busy freaking out that Aliens didn't get all cast as white people, they will accidentally become more sympathetic to refugees just wanting to find a safe place to live.  Hey, got to dream big.   

[Chicago Redshirt]

6 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

In some 30+ years since Krypton assploded, all of these Daxamites in the ships have been unable to find a new home.  So what have they been doing all this time ?  Other than collectively waiting by the portal for Rhea to call.

Not a big fan of a James-centric episode.  Even less a fan of take-your-telekinetic-fake-nephew to work day.

Did they ever explain why the Phorians went all glowy eyes and super-destructive when the portal was activated ?

By the way, Marcus shredded the Catco building -- no way a fresh coat of paint will fix all those structural issues.

There are a couple of things we've been told of Daxamites: 1. they are 24-hour party people 2. they were in a rigid caste system that included slavery. It seems plausible to me that after a cataclysmic event like the poisoning of their planet it would take some time to recover. There would be a lot of PTSD, a lot of drugs and other similar means to escape these issues, and there would be a lot of people looking to leadership to decide what to do. A leadership that was apparently monomaniacally focused on determining if Mon-El was alive or not.

I like Mechad fine, but the powers that be haven't ever really figured out what they want Jimmy to be about.

A DEO scene said that the Phorians were susceptible to anions or some sciencey sounding particles, which prompted Kara to remember Lena had mentioned anions being a part of her new project, and that it couldn't be a coincidence.

Supergirl can (and probably will) fix Catco in a matter of seconds (with a possible assist from Supes).

6 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

I tried typing a post on my iPad around 10, but I got reloaded. I forgot to ask: why couldn't Mon shoot Rhea in the foot? I mean, he had to know that she killed Dadcules (I don't remember his name) and was lying about it. Mon is a dope. Not as bad a dope as he's been for the bulk of the season, but a dope nonetheless. If he leaves, I don't think the show would suffer that much. I like the idea of Mon being the logical step after Clark and Kara (coming to Earth as an adult, getting thrown into the deep end of learning about Earth), but Kara can do better.

ETA for @ottoDbusdriver: I think Daxam went boom a while after Krypton. At least that's my impression.

I think we are to believe that Mon is too conflicted to harm Rhea in any way. I mean, he could have punched her or destroyed the White Martian device or done a dozen different things. 

I think Mon being a dope means that he almost certainly has no clue that Rhea killed his father. Indeed, even a smarter person might have a blind eye to that possibility.

It seemed like from what we were shown and told, Krypton's destruction not only caused large-scale quakes but also sent tons of Kryptonite to Daxam. 

4 hours ago, BkWurm1 said:

Thoughts before I read the thread. 

I am really sick of James's petty jealousy of Supergirl.  I've never seen someone so butthurt.  I HATE that expression but nothing else seems to express the sentiment better.  I also can't stand that he needed a full on pep talk in order to go talk to a scared kid.  

Also, explain the logic of not going to get the mother (J'onn saying it was too big a risk) when she would still be susceptible to the same weapon, thus being a much bigger threat.  (Also, why did only Marcus at CatCo cause a problem if his mom and a whole bunch of other aliens with the same power were right there nearby?)  Really hate the propping of James. Hero without a suit my ass.  Mechad didn't do badly, but it all felt so contrived. 

I don't read James's behavior as jealousy toward Supergirl. I read it more as an awareness that Supergirl and Superman can do things he can't, plus his wanting to still find his own path.

James's attempt to get the mother is too big a risk for James. As a single human, even with a suit and no offensive weaponry, James had little capacity to deal with Mama Marcus if she was wigging out. Of course, one might think that of the three known superhuman DEO operatives, one could be tasked to help. Or a squad of regular DEO agents. Or something. I can fanwank the notion that Marcus doesn't trust the rest of the DEO, only James. But still. It's only with the notion that a portable TK dampener that going out to get Mama Marcus makes sense.

4 hours ago, Trini said:

I knew this was going to be a James-heavy episode, but I think it also has the least amount of screentime for Kara/Supergirl/Benoist in 2 seasons.

Was that scene with James and J'onn the first with just the two of them? (With more than two lines...)

So glad to see James/Mehcad showcased here.

She can't help it: Lena/Mcgrath talking about her new (business) partner made it sounds like she was talking about a new boyfriend!

Since it seems like it's been forever that Jimmy has had more than two lines, I'll go with yes.

Lena/Katie seems to just have that sex vibe going with just about anyone she's paired with, with the possible exception of Lillian.

[legaleagle53]

7 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

I tried typing a post on my iPad around 10, but I got reloaded. I forgot to ask: why couldn't Mon shoot Rhea in the foot? I mean, he had to know that she killed Dadcules (I don't remember his name) and was lying about it. Mon is a dope. 

Once again, that's getting into Greek-tragedy territory.  Orestes had been given a similar assignment by Apollo (avenge his father Agamemnon's murder by killing the one responsible for killing him -- his mother Clytemnestra).  During their final confrontation, Orestes hesitated precisely because it WAS his mother he was seconds away from killing -- and she knew how to use that fact against him as her best defense.  It was only after his best friend reminded him that Apollo had commanded her execution that Orestes finally ended Clytemnestra, albeit still somewhat reluctantly. But even then, the conflict didn't end there -- Orestes was forced to stand trial before the gods for killing Clytemnestra, with the Furies (and Clytemnestra herself) as his prosecutors, Apollo as his defense attorney, and Athena as judge and jury.  Fortunately, he was acquitted.

My point is that I can see exactly why Mon-El would have hesitated even to wound Rhea, much less kill her.  She is still and always will be his mother, the woman who gave him life.  That's a VERY heavy conflict to overcome -- and who knows how the Daxamites would have reacted?

[JapMo]

1 hour ago, legaleagle53 said:

Once again, that's getting into Greek-tragedy territory.  Orestes had been given a similar assignment by Apollo (avenge his father Agamemnon's murder by killing the one responsible for killing him -- his mother Clytemnestra).  During their final confrontation, Orestes hesitated precisely because it WAS his mother he was seconds away from killing -- and she knew how to use that fact against him as her best defense.  It was only after his best friend reminded him that Apollo had commanded her execution that Orestes finally ended Clytemnestra, albeit still somewhat reluctantly. But even then, the conflict didn't end there -- Orestes was forced to stand trial before the gods for killing Clytemnestra, with the Furies (and Clytemnestra herself) as his prosecutors, Apollo as his defense attorney, and Athena as judge and jury.  Fortunately, he was acquitted.

If my hunch is correct, your Greek synopsis hits close in some areas to what I think might happen at the end of the season.  I keep reading that Mon-El is going to the Phantom Zone, which if I remember my comic book reading as a kid, is a type of prison for the worst of the worst.  The murder of a king might be just cause to send someone to the PZ.  Mon-El might find out Rhea killed his father, and to keep her from going there, he confesses to it.  

[JapMo]

7 hours ago, Trini said:

I knew this was going to be a James-heavy episode, but I think it also has the least amount of screentime for Kara/Supergirl/Benoist in 2 seasons.

LOL, it was pretty heavy on James, but for the most part everyone had some scenes.  Then I realized it was Kara who hardly had anything.  But you guys can't blame it on Mon-El this time.  

[JapMo]

8 hours ago, BkWurm1 said:

I am really sick of James's petty jealousy of Supergirl.  I've never seen someone so butthurt.  I HATE that expression but nothing else seems to express the sentiment better.  I also can't stand that he needed a full on pep talk in order to go talk to a scared kid.  

I totally agree, Bkwurm.   The very first scene you see him staring up at Kara with a look on his face like...why bother?  Then he tells either J'onn or Winn that all he does is go in and punch people.  Isn't that what you wanted, dude?  I liked that Mehcad actually got some screen time, but why the all or nothing?  He gets nothing for episodes on end, and then he gets too much this episode.  It was totally ridiculous to make James head of CatCo AND The Guardian.  He's not really qualified for either.  If they had focused on just on his job at CatCo, there could have been interesting things they could have come up with.  I still think they should have paired him with Lena and had a real power couple to write for.  

[JapMo]

- I really liked this episode.  Loved the ending with all the spaceships.  And of course loved Rhea/Teri Hatcher.  She is so elegant as Rhea.  I'm sad that she killed King Hercules because that means she won't be around in the future.  But I totally get why she will do anything to keep her son away from a Kryptonian.  

- LOL that Mon-El told Kara that on Daxam they would just stay drugged up to avoid anything painful.  Dude, we do that on Earth, too.

- Alex says she got nothing from the boy even though she basically interrogated him for hours!!! (and ate a cheesburger in front of him, LOL).  I know it's the DEO, but shouldn't someone from Social Services been there to represent the kid?  Especially when they actually put him in a cell?  Talk about trauma, not to mention a lawsuit in the making.  I know, it's not real life.

I thought all the acting was great, but the very first scene with Kara and Lena...it just seemed false to me.  Like the writers were making fun of the fact that there's been all this talk that they have so much chemistry.  Too much 'we're friends, miss you', blah blah blah. Had to laugh that Lena said she would give all exclusives to Kara, then threw out a lot of technical terms that went right over her head.  Sure Lena...give all your new development announcements which you hope will lure in new investors to an inexperienced reporter that doesn't understand anything you do.   

[statsgirl]

In terms of James, his arc this season, what there has been of it since they've written it like Swiss cheese, has been to find out how he can make a difference and do good in the world.  The writers could have gone with "the pen is mightier than the sword" since he's running Catco but they clearly don't give a fig about anything but superpowers and fighting so James has been lost.  Everyone else is either a fighter (Kara, Mon El, Alex, J'onn, even Maggie) or fight support (Winn) and Kara values Mon El, who is a jerk and repeatedly has to be pushed to do the right thing, way higher than she does James.

Because the show has dropped any good Catco can do in favour of Mon El and Lex Corp, James is lost wanting to do good and be a hero and yet unable to find a way to do it.  Even when he saves a woman from being raped, she's more afraid of him than she is of her rapists.

8 hours ago, BkWurm1 said:

I am really sick of James's petty jealousy of Supergirl.  I've never seen someone so butthurt.  I HATE that expression but nothing else seems to express the sentiment better.  I also can't stand that he needed a full on pep talk in order to go talk to a scared kid

To be fair though, J'onn had told him twice by that point to go  home because he had no role in this situation.  Tell someone enough times that they're useless and they believe it.

8 hours ago, BkWurm1 said:

Except Mon-El was technically the hostage that Kara was there to save.  Is she supposed to not save him even though saving him creates another POTENTIAL but not absolute threat?  The orders the DEO had would say yes, she should have left him there but on a strict right or wrong choice, I don't think letting him basically be kidnapped was so clear cut.  Plus, by the time they left, they did have Dad's blessing.  By that point Kara had a pretty good reason to think everything was going to be fine.

Mon El isn't a helpless hostage though.  As much as I hate it when a woman is the pawn between two men who are the ones making the decisions, I hate the idea that Mon El is a helpless pawn between his mother and his girlfriend.

He knew that there was slavery on Daxamite -- did he think that his mother was unaware of it and was a benevolent ruler?  The whole situation arose because he misread his mother, a woman Kara had never met before and had no experience with.  If anyone should have been handling that situation, it was Mon El, who made the decision to stay on Earth in spite of what he knew about his parents and who has all these wonderful super powers on Earth.

The stupidest thing in that scene though was Kara attacking Rhea instead of trying to figure out how to stop the machine.  Even when she did turn her attention to it, she tried to attack the blades rather than the power source or mechanics.

[JapMo]

34 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

He knew that there was slavery on Daxamite -- did he think that his mother was unaware of it and was a benevolent ruler?  The whole situation arose because he misread his mother, a woman Kara had never met before and had no experience with. 

We're judging slavery by Earth's standards.  But apparently it isn't condoned on other planets.  And who judges what a benevolent ruler is?  Mon-El has been sheltered all his life.  He had no basis of comparison until he met Kara.  I don't think he misread his mother....he's been very vocal from the get-go that his parents aren't the best people.  But most people would never believe that one of their parents would murder the other, no matter how much they hated each other, which wasn't the case with his parents.  And yes, Kara had no experience with Rhea, but that didn't stop her from pushing her Pollyanna attitude off on a very reluctant Mon-El and insisting that all people were inherently good, and all they needed to do is explain to his mother that her son was choosing his Kryptonian girlfriend over his life as heir to the throne.  Mon-El told her they wouldn't change, but Kara always thinks she knows best.   

[Chris24601]

13 hours ago, stealinghome said:

I understand what you're saying, but I can't quite agree. The analogous situation I would use is: a psychopath is holding someone hostage with a gun to their head, I walk into the room, the psychopath says "don't do x or I'll shoot," I do x, and they shoot and kill their hostage. I just can't agree that in that situation, I wouldn't be at least partially ethically responsible for the hostage's death. The psychopath is responsible for the murder, obviously, but it's too pat to let me off the hook with no guilt or moral responsibility. I would be morally implicated imo.

Nope. You hold no responsibility for the actions of a crazy person threatening a hostage, particularly if its "Don't try to rescue this hostage or I'll shoot the hostage."

Frankly, if they're serious about killing the hostage and not just bluffing they're going to kill the hostage eventually anyway so you send in the SWAT team and hope for the best. Nine times out of ten though the threat is a bluff and the hostage taker is just stalling for time because they screwed up and are hoping some way out will turn up if they can just hold off being apprehended. They know if they DO actually shoot the hostage they've just given the SWAT team every reason to come in and blow their head off immediately.

Bottom line is that you are responsible for your actions and your actions alone. If you wanna feel bad that someone got killed because a nutjob would rather die and take their hostage with them than surrender, that's fine, but its not your fault in any way... its the fault of the nutjob who pulled the trigger.

Also as pointed out, based on their last conversation, Mon's father ended the whole 'hostage situation' and let Mon go back to Earth. The situation now is that Rhea the nutjob couldn't accept that outcome and so murdered her husband in cold blood then plotted to take over a planet whose only crime was happening to be the planet her son had chosen to live on.

There is just no way AT ALL to spin this as anything other than entirely Rhea the Nutjob's fault.

[JapMo]

1 hour ago, JapMo said:

We're judging slavery by Earth's standards.  But apparently it isn't condoned on other planets.

...IS condoned on other planets.  Sorry.  I even looked at it several times.

[statsgirl]

2 hours ago, JapMo said:

  Mon-El told her they wouldn't change, but Kara always thinks she knows best.   

That puts it even more Mon El's responsibility rather than Kara's because he knows who his mother really is.

I was thinking some more about the comparison between Mon El and James. All season James has been trying to find his way to being a hero because he believes at his core that he is responsible for making the world a better place but he just hasn't been able to find out how. Even when he puts on a suit and tries to fight crime, he fails.  Mon El, on the other hand, has zero sense of social responsibility or wanting to help people and only decides to help because he wants to mate with Kara.   Most of the time he still puts himself first.  But he's still in a  high role because he has super powers, through nothing he himself has done.

And there's Kara moving at rapid pace from having a crush on James last season to now telling him he's not good enough because he doesn't have super powers and getting into a relationship with Mon El.  It seems to me that the reason Kara is with Mon El is because he has powers like she does and she thinks she can make him a better person, not because of who the man is or even that she could trust him.

Why does Mon El succeed where James fails?  It's not from anything in his character. It's the sheer fact that on Earth, Mon El has super powers and that is what gives him everything he wants in contrast to James failing even though he's trying to do everything right, including bringing Lyra back because Winn wants her.

I think it makes the fact that the show cast an African-American as James even more ironic and interesting.  (Purely a coincidence, I'm sure.)  Because it emphasizes how something completely out of your control can make all the difference in how your life turns out no matter how good you are or how hard you work. 

Edited May 9, 2017 by statsgirl

[JapMo]

42 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

I think it makes the fact that the show cast an African-American as James even more ironic and interesting.  (Purely a coincidence, I'm sure.)  Because it emphasizes how something completely out of your control can make all the difference in how your life turns out no matter how good you are or how hard you work. 

If you're taking a piece of entertainment and holding it up to the harsh light of reality, it's never going to make as much sense or seem fair.  But to address your comments, you say Kara telling James he wasn't good enough because he doesn't have super powers, and then you say you believe she then got in to a relationship with Mon-El because he has powers and she thinks that makes him a better person.   Boy...I don't know where you got that.  First off, James flip-flopped between Kara and Lucy all last season, and at least twice went back with Lucy even though he had feelings for another woman.   Mon-El was pretty obvious from the get-go that he was hung up on Kara.  Mon-El wasn't even in the picture when Kara dropped her relationship with James.  It's been said by many on this board....they didn't have any chemistry.  So what did the show do?  They brought a bad boy in.  IMO it wouldn't have mattered if he had super powers or was a rival reporter at Cat-Co.  They are cute together.  James' character was already established as a straight-arrow, by the book, good guy who was boring as hell.  He and Kara's personalities are too similar.  They needed a contrast, so they made Mon-El not the exact opposite, but someone who wasn't sure he wanted to be a hero and wasn't above using his powers for cash and was kind of in the gray area.  If they had not rushed it so fast, the story arc would have allowed us to see him gradually change.  But he has been changing nonetheless.  

 

47 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

hy does Mon El succeed where James fails?  It's not from anything in his character. It's the sheer fact that on Earth, Mon El has super powers and that is what gives him everything he wants in contrast to James failing even though he's trying to do everything right, including bringing Lyra back because Winn wants her.

But James is not failing.  He only thinks he is, because he is not getting the same attention at Supergirl.  To me, this whole Guardian thing has been nothing but him grandstanding.  Oh he said it was about his father, etc., but that's not what I've seen.  I think he was bored with sitting behind the desk at CatCo and needed excitement and an adrenelin(sp) rush.  I think Mon-El is past the point where he's only helping out because he wants to mate with Kara.  He's got to be extremely valuable to the DEO even without his super powers.  He has vast knowledge of nations they've never heard about, including their history, who they're enemies were, etc.  Even if he was out screwing every available woman he could find, by the very fact he was part of the royal family, he was privy to politics and social customs that the DEO would never know.  I think he genuinely wants to do good and help people...he just doesn't fit 100% in Kara's vision of what he should be.  Which is why I like him so much.

[BkWurm1]

Quote

I don't read James's behavior as jealousy toward Supergirl. I read it more as an awareness that Supergirl and Superman can do things he can't, plus his wanting to still find his own path

That was the path I always took in trying to understand James and his crusade but in this episode it wasn't just that he was discouraged that people feared him but he very specifically acted affronted in the DEO (after Marcus's mother first was triggered) when Alex said "Thank god for Supergirl showing up or hundreds could have been hurt."  He wasn't just upset that he couldn't do more or struggling to figure out how to contribute, he was annoyed that she got credit even though he'd ushered some people to safety on the ground.  He made it a competition.  And it's not the first time he's been annoyed when she's shown up.  

If he wants to put on a helmet and fight crime, fine, but I'm sick to death of his woe is me it's not fair attitude.  

Edited May 9, 2017 by BkWurm1

[tennisgurl]

Well, we finally got a decent James story, at least, and I'm hoping this means this is the end of the stupid Guardian subplot. Really, I think they bungled the whole Guardian story, out of a desire to add more actions scenes, instead of having James fulfill his need to help people by being the head of Catco and doing good that way, on a larger scale. Its never really made much sense to me, why he wanted to be a vigilante anyway. The guy never had any fight training, and previously displayed no desire to fight, and he kind of sucks at it anyway. I would think he could make more of a difference running a multinational media empire than punching out some muggers. I mean, shit, it looked like he was busting alien weed dealers when he ran into Brain the snitch! Dude, don't you have a company to run? I hope this leads to him helping people by being a friend and mentor, and not an attempted action hero who feels super jealous of anyone with super powers.

So, Rheas plan is basically a variation of Zods plan from the first new Superman movie? Leader of a doomed planet shows up on Earth, wants to destroy the Earth and kill everyone to create a new version of their dead planet? Except Zod did it because he was genetically created to protect Kypton, even when it made no sense anymore, while Rhea is doing it because...she's a bitch? Personally, I don't think its Kara's fault at all that Rhea is doing all of this, its all on Rhea. Maybe it would have been for the best for Mon-El to go with his parents, but he's a grown ass person who decided he didn't want to go, and he shouldn't have to. Rhea is doing all this because she is ridiculously petty and more than a little bit crazy. I don't even buy she's doing this for her people, they all seem to be doing fine, she's doing it as a big Screw You to Kara because she's pissed off that her son wants to move out of her basement. I can imagine that Mon-El knew his parents weren't good people, but after his dad gave his approval and they gave every indicator that they were leaving, I don't blame him for thinking that his mom wasn't the genocide type. And, it is his mom after all. No one wants to think your parents, even parents that suck, are capable of such nastiness.

Poor Lena! She wanted a mother figure who supported her so badly that she was willing to buy into Rheas bullshit, and has now unwillingly collaborated with alien invaders. I hope she doesn't end up getting thrown in jail or anything after this is all over, being both a Luthor, and the creator of the portal that brought the invasion to Earth, even if she had no idea what she was doing. I believe that Rhea does have some real fondness for her, but not enough to spare her planet or let her get knocked out. I did like the little bit of Lena and Kara hanging out and eating lunch. They really do have really nice friend chemistry.

I'm actually excited for the next few episodes! I wont say the last few episodes have been perfect, but its been a real improvement on the weeks before.

[statsgirl]

Maybe Lena gets to help create a way to send the Daxamite ships back.  I'd like that, a tech solution instead of the endless solution by fighting.

I wonder if Rhea would still have brought her fleet over if Mon El had agreed to go back with her.  I mean, why would the Daxamites want to settle a new planet if theirs was still habitable?  One thing refugees seem to have in common is that they would return to their homeland if they could.

35 minutes ago, BkWurm1 said:

That was the path I always took in trying to understand James and his crusade but in this episode it wasn't just that he was discouraged that people feared him but he very specifically acted affronted in the DEO (after Marcus's mother first was triggered) when Alex said "Thank god for Supergirl showing up or hundreds could have been hurt."  He wasn't just upset that he couldn't do more or struggling to figure out how to contribute, he was annoyed that she got credit even though he'd ushered some people to safety on the ground.  He made it a competition.  And it's not the first time he's been annoyed when she's shown up. 

It's hard to tell from a facial expression when there is no dialogue but I interpreted it as James feeling that he was there, he did everything that he could to save people, like telling them to run because often people just freeze in situations like that, but he might as well not have been there at all because saving people was all on Supergirl.

I didn't see it as making it a competition, I saw it as no matter how hard he tries, what he does doesn't matter.

1 hour ago, JapMo said:

But James is not failing.  He only thinks he is, because he is not getting the same attention at Supergirl.

James' arc this season, such as it is, has been about him aiming and falling short.  Cat gave him Catco, and then Snapper wiped the floor with him.  James couldn't even make Snapper rehire Kara after he fired her.  After hanging out with Superman, Supergirl, Alex and even Winn who works at the DEO, James wants to make a difference fighting crime but fails.  Supergirl first mocks him and then when she finds out that he's the Guardian, tells him to stop because fighting crime is for people like her and Mon El who have superpowers. J'onn doesn't want him with the DEO.  Kara dropped him before they even have a real date saying she's not ready to be in a relationship and then gets into one with Mon El.  (This reminds me of Arrow s2 when Oliver told Felicity he couldn't be with someone he really cares about and then turns around and is in a relationship with Sara.)

In this episode, not only did James fail in the initial scene, J'onn twice very clearly gives him the message that this is a DEO job and the DEO doesn't want any help from James.  Even when James finds Marcus and takes him to the DEO, J'onn doesn't want him involved.  No matter what James does, there is no place for him.

I suspect James will be gone at the end of the season but I hope the show will at least give him a meaningful ending.

[KirkB]

This episode just reinforced for me what I thought back at the beginning of the season. The show has no real interest in CatCo without Cat around and no idea what to do with James. First they give him control of CatCo (which made no damn sense) in order to give him a reason to be onscreen, since Kara was a reporter there, but then spend most of their episodes at the DEO, LCorp, Kara's apartment, or just about anywhere but CatCo. Then they make him Guardian so he can feel relevant, yet only spend a minute or two with him in the suit before switching the focus to Mon-El, Lena, Rhea, or Alex, and whole episodes pass with no James sighting at all. For the life of me I don't understand why they didn't just make him a DEO agent, he has more experience with aliens than Winn, and they could save money on sets. I like Mehcad, but I didn't understand why they brought James into the show in the first place and I'm not sure too much would be lost (except Mehcad's paycheck), at this point, if he left.

It is a little odd that Marcus' mom tore up the square when she was reacting to the portal test, Marcus alone damn near broke CatCo in half, and yet a dozen of their people hanging out together don't seem to cause any damage at all.

That's...a lot of Daxamites. I mean, seriously? So the hedonistic party planet was able to wrangle up that many ships for that many refugees and yet the culturally and technologically advanced Kryptonians only had two little escape craft for Kal and Kara?

Edited May 9, 2017 by KirkB

[Jacks-Son]

21 hours ago, statsgirl said:

What kind of a place is National City where you can't buy weed legally for your anxiety issues?

I may have let my response to this statement lapse, so I don't know if I already pressed "Submit", anyway, this question is hilarious.  I mean in a funny way, not as a criticism. Last year, I treated my three sons to a vacation in beautiful Vancouver, B.C., Canada. (We all live in the U.S.) My sons, (the YOUNGEST is 33 yrs. old) are sort of "Pro-cannabis", if you get my meaning, and researched Vancouver's weed laws. Vancouver, is one of the more enlightened cities in North America and have legal "Cannabis clubs" or Dispensaries, as they like to call them. So, for James, as the Guardian, busting a dealer/buyer transaction for weed is ludicrous.  I realize that National City is a fictional city and like Smallville, Metropolis, Gotham, Central City, and Star City, and other cities located in the DCVerse, are fictional cities presumably located in the United States, and are governed by the somewhat anachronistic laws on the books today. Why the writers of comic book shows would have a "superhero" bust two dudes (alien or human) over a purchase of weed, is beyond me.  Sorry writers, the crime-fighting duo of Guardian and Winn should be after bigger fish than two dudes in a back-alley score. Just plain silly writers! No wonder James feels like he's meant for something bigger.