S03.E05: Damage

[KirkB]

49 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Was J'onn even actually in the episode at all? There was a phone call to J'onn at the end where we heard Kara saying she and Alex were going to take some time off, but that was just one-sided.

I think J'onn was standing by him when Kara called Winn about analyzing the water, and later when the plane was in trouble he was the one the guy who picked up the signal reported to. I think there was a half ass explanation about him starting to go help and Winn saying he wasn't fast enough or something. DH was basically just on set for his paycheck I think.

[statsgirl]

When Kara and Sam found the barrels of the bad stuff, I kept thinking "Why don't you call the authorities?  Then they'll have proof that Lena didn't do the damage."  So stupid.

I was pleased at how well the Maggie/Alex break-up was done, even if Alex's baby rabies came out of nowhere.  I like adults behaving like adults.

When they were trying to figure out how the kids were connected, my daughter said "It's the Arrow flu shot truck again."

8 hours ago, KirkB said:

. It's almost like Dawn from Buffy, she was never there one minute and the next she's everyone's best friend with no build up or explanation.

LOL.  It seems they haven't learned from last season to introduce characters slowly although they did learn to make sure that the existing characters have plenty of time and storyline.

I didn't really mind the "Lock Her Up" because I found it truly shocking when it happened last year.  (And completely unsurprised that a number of people in the current administration are doing that exact thing right now.)  It's part of the role of Art to shine a light on reality lest we forget or fail to see it at all.

20 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

Oh, James. You're still doing a good job as the CEO, for the most part, and I've almost forgotten that he's technically still supposed to be Guardian, because he's only suited up...once this season? And then he gets shot this episode. He also has had some nice scenes with Lena. I feel a hint of romance with their last scene, although I personally don't feel the chemistry yet.

Overall, I'm still pleased with how this season's picked up. And, furthermore, I only briefly thought about Mon-El once during the episode, when I thought about how nice it was for Kara to not just be consumed by Mon-El. She's actually dealing with other people's problems as well as her own this season. She's having scenes with James again! She's having girls night! She is hanging out with friends and not just Mon-El! It's fantastic! Keep it up, show! 

Seriously, though. If Mon-El comes back, just don't have Kara forget her friends and family again to hang out with her boyfriend. 

Mechad Brooks is selling the James part of the pairing but Katie McGrath isn't.  She'll have to start soon if James/Lena is going to be a thing.  At least they're giving James a nice love interest this season since I'm pretty sure Mon El is Kara's endgame.

But when (not if) he comes back, I really hope he's a supporting character rather than co-lead again. It's been nice seeing some of the other characters get a chance for storylines.

[iMonrey]

Quote

It's a time-honored tradition of Lex Luthor, Max Lord or whoever being like "If I did this, maybe X. But you have no proof." But the problem here is that it seems like proof would be fairly easy to obtain. If you happen to have super-hearing, X-ray vision and access to someone who can hack alien computer systems AND a literal mind-reader, pretty damn easy. And if you happen to not particularly care about the rule of law when you've got your secret prison for aliens and other people who just happen to piss you off, it makes it even more ridiculous that you would let Morgan sneer his way through the ridiculous "Oh, it was rando minion who just happened to have a cargo plane who did this vendetta against Lena.

Exactly. It's also folly to apply real-world rule of law to a world where Supergirl even exists. She and Lena both know, for a fact, that Morgan is responsible. This isn't just a pet theory of theirs that they're hesitant to fully state as fact. It should be a laughably easy thing for them to prove at this point. 

At the very least, they should be able to make the threat that Supergirl is going to issue a public statement that Morgan was responsible, and that everyone will believe her because . . . duh, Supergirl. And that should have him shitting his pants because no, maybe he won't go to jail but he's sure going to be ruined financially. 

Edited November 7, 2017 by iMonrey

[Star Aristille]

58 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Exactly. It's also folly to apply real-world rule of law to a world where Supergirl even exists. She and Lena both know, for a fact, that Morgan is responsible. This isn't just a pet theory of theirs that they're hesitant to fully state as fact. It should be a laughably easy thing for them to prove at this point.

They already established near the end of the episode, though, that Morgan had covered his tracks in a way that they couldn't prove it.

That said, Morgan really is becoming the new Max, isn't he?  Difference is, I hope that he actually does get taken down.  Adrian Pasdar is delightful and is definitely having a blast playing a villain, but at some point, Morgan needs to go down hard.

[iMonrey]

Quote

They already established near the end of the episode, though, that Morgan had covered his tracks in a way that they couldn't prove it.

That's not really the point. This isn't Law & Order, it's a show about a world filled with alien super heroes and villains. It doesn't matter if they can't get the police to arrest the guy, it doesn't matter if a jury won't find him guilty in a court of law. It's not a matter of "proof" like this is a courtroom drama. This is a Super Show with a Super Girl and Super Villains. Said Super Girl going on TV and saying the guy did it is sufficient to ruin him, period. She's doesn't have to prove it to get everyone to believe her, she's Supergirl. It's the same as if Superman went on TV and said "Lex Luthor did this." That's enough for people to believe, and to ruin Lex. It's not like people are going to go "Oh, gee, I dunno, that Superman is kind of shady, maybe Lex Luthor is innocent." On one had you have a clearly shady villain, and on the other hand, you have Superman, or in this case, Supergirl. Case closed.

[tennisgurl]

3 hours ago, Miss Dee said:

I've decided to stop worrying and love the bomb when it comes to political references on this show. They're going to do it, I might as well turn it into a game and hope they go as broad and anvilly as possible. This makes it a lot easier to swallow. Laughed my ass off at how they managed to work in "Lock her up."

Personally, I've turned it into a drinking game! Take a drink every time Supergirl makes an obvious and often pointless political reference that has nothing to do with anything! 

Honestly, I am usually fine with shows talking about politics, but this show does it so much, and it SUCKS at it. And it often has no real purpose behind it, or comes off as random. Granted, whenever any show in the Arrowverse attempts to make real commentary on social issues it does usually turns out rather "stand her giving a speech stopping the story in its tracks", but Supergirl does it the most by far. I dont even disagree with most of their points! Its just that the extent of their understanding of social commentary seems to be "have good guys say things public figures we like say, and have bad guys say things public figures we dont like say". But, I've made peace with it. Supergirl gonna Supergirl. *shot*

[thuganomics85]

"Lock her up!"  Ah, Supergirl!  Again, when it comes to political stuff, you have as much subtlety as a sledgehammer!  Also, apparently no matter what Earth this is, poor Flint, Michigan is always destined to get fucked over.

Morgan Edge is back and is being the delightfully, smug villain that only Adrian Pasdar can be!  I mean, the dude fucking poisoned children just to hurt Lena!  That alone shows that no one is safe!  He would probably harm puppies and kittens to get what he wants!

A good episode for Lena, although they really need to just throw in the towel and let Katie McGrath speak in her normal accent (or the British one she did in Merlin.) Because it has somehow gotten even worse.  But I like the bond between her and Kara as always, and I even somewhat enjoy her stuff with Sam, even though it feels a bit rushed because I got the sense that they were suppose to have known each other for a long time, but I wonder why she was never mentioned before.

James gets to heroically dive in front of a bullet and charm Lena, so not a bad day's work for him.  Unlike Winn and J'onn, who just hung out and really did nothing. At least J'onn get an episode focused on him weeks ago, but they really need to get wasting Winn like this.

Alex and Maggie are finally done.  Chyler Leigh and Floriana Lima acted the hell out of it, but I still think it was stupid that the topic of children never was brought up before their engagement.

[Trini]

The last time James was getting patched up at the DEO, he was injured in the exact same place!

[ottoDbusdriver]

20 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

My unspoiled speculation is that Alex is going to get in a relationship with Samantha, which means that Ruby is going to get more screentime than Jimmy and Winn. Suck it, Supergirl viewers!

Noooooooooo !!!!!!!    Please, no more Ruby.  I would be happy if Ruby died off-screen while returning to her home planet (a la Poochie on the Simpsons).

[Chicago Redshirt]

13 hours ago, Star Aristille said:

They already established near the end of the episode, though, that Morgan had covered his tracks in a way that they couldn't prove it.

That said, Morgan really is becoming the new Max, isn't he?  Difference is, I hope that he actually does get taken down.  Adrian Pasdar is delightful and is definitely having a blast playing a villain, but at some point, Morgan needs to go down hard.

Given that part of Morgan "covering his tracks" involved shooting his minion in the chest to make it look like he committed suicide, I'd say it's a safe guess that his tracks could be uncovered fairly easily by Kara if she preferred to do that rather than stomp into his office. Even beyond the "suicide," it seems implausible that minion had the financial or scientific wherewithal to create a chemical that simulates lead poisoning, distribute it, and get a cargo plane full of the stuff to be flown over the reservoir. Even putting aside Lena's first-hand knowledge that she went to Edge's office, got knocked out and put on a plane by him, there have to be clues linking him to the whole plot.

Max -- who has barely been spoken of since S.1 -- was a fun character, and he was believable as someone who thought he was doing what was right to protect the world from aliens when the government wasn't acting. I would love to see the character make a comeback now that there are more aliens and Earth has withstood two alien attacks and the U.S. has a hidden alien president. 

But of course, one big difference is that Max's schemes didn't seem as flatout evil. AFAIK, there was nothing close to the inherent scumbaggery of poisoning kids (even if, let's say, Edge could swoop in at the last minute with a cure), and I don't remember Lord personally murdering any humans like we just saw Edge do.

[LadyAmalthea]

Good episode, female characters front and centre, decent plot, some nice material for the actresses to work with. 

The “lock her up” was way too on the nose, of course there should be political commentary, it’s a superhero show, and it doesn’t need to be subtle but we shouldn’t be bludgeoned with it either. It’s the same with “I’m a REFUGEE on this planet” in the opening, we don’t need it literally spelled out for us. 

I’m dreading the inevitable return of Mon-El, this episode proves more than ever that he’s surplus to requirements. 

[tofutan]

Quote

All that said, apart from Lena's inexplicable failure to figure out that Kara and Supergirl are the same person, I like their dynamic and their interactions together, and I find their relationship more interesting that any of Kara's romantic relationships. Which, granted, is partly because I find Lena a lot more interesting to watch than Mon-El.

To me Lena/Kara is at the bottom of well done relationships for me on the show. Mostly because their relationship just seems deeply onesided. At this point Kara comes off as almost mean for not telling Lena about Supergirl while at the same time claiming that she's her best friend/sister. She told Winn her secret willingly. Kara/Lena as a friendship is always Kara supporting Lena in her problems. Lena's boyfriend dying. Lena's mother's trial. Lena being framed. Kara NEVER seems to share anything personal with Lena or confide in her at all. 

Even if we fanwank a theory for why Kara can't tell Lena about being Supergirl, we never see her share anything meaningful. Lena lost a boyfriend last season, this season started off with Kara grieving the loss of her boyfriend, yet according to the show Kara was avoiding Lena all summer and then made a very throwaway line only after she basically had to justify herself for it impacting her job.

Okay, so people probably don't want Kara to talk to Lena about Mon-El, but what about the panic attacks in 3x02? Instead Kara entrusted Winn with it, even over Alex. These are both things that Kara and Lena could have discussed without Lena having to know about Supergirl. Both Alex/Kara and J'onn/Kara are way, way better examples of actually mutual relationships where both characters share personal problems with the other person. 

Don't get me started on how Lena was not invited to Alex wedding shower, but Alex, a person Sam barely knows goes to Ruby's recital, and Sam a person Kara barely knows gets invited to girl's night. To me that really undercuts the idea that those are special occasions. 

IMO the way Sam is suddenly added to the dynamic just feels really fake. Suddenly Sam has known Lena for a while, enough to say "what are friends for" and to know what Lena is all mushy inside. Where did that come from? I really think they should have focused on either building up Sam/Lena or Sam/Kara in a believable way.  The show is clearly juggling way too many characters for them to handle. 

I would be excited for James/Lena if it weren't for the fact that Lena has been constantly undercutting James professionally at CatCo. I want James to have a real storyline, so I hope the quality will eventually improve, but so far I'm not really enjoying the way Lena behaves with James. I wouldn't even say that that is necessary Katie, it's not like she wrote those lines where Lena is assy to James. 

Edited November 8, 2017 by tofutan

[Star Aristille]

9 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Given that part of Morgan "covering his tracks" involved shooting his minion in the chest to make it look like he committed suicide, I'd say it's a safe guess that his tracks could be uncovered fairly easily by Kara if she preferred to do that rather than stomp into his office. Even beyond the "suicide," it seems implausible that minion had the financial or scientific wherewithal to create a chemical that simulates lead poisoning, distribute it, and get a cargo plane full of the stuff to be flown over the reservoir.

No, that minion did not have the resources.  But Morgan definitely had the financial resources to make it look like he did.

[Chicago Redshirt]

1 minute ago, Star Aristille said:

No, that minion did not have the resources.  But Morgan definitely had the financial resources to make it look like he did.

I spend a lot of time fanwanking and suspending belief. But I cannot see a plausible way for Edge to make it seem that Rando Minion had $20 million+ in his back pocket to have the cargo plane, as well as the wherewithal to develop a chemical that simulates lead poisoning, as well as all the other steps required for this scheme. All the while erasing connections between him and Rando Minion.

[JapMo]

9 hours ago, LadyAmalthea said:

I’m dreading the inevitable return of Mon-El, this episode proves more than ever that he’s surplus to requirements. 

I find it interesting that the guy has been on less than a minute in 5 full episodes and he's constantly being brought up on this site.  If I was doing a research study, I would say the character is generating attention, whether good or bad, and that's what shows look for. 

I can't wait for him to come back.  The show is boring as hell without him. 

[CletusMusashi]

I suppose the biggest take-away message this week was that bombarding schoolchidren with lead is actually quite harmless.

Edited November 9, 2017 by CletusMusashi

[Oreo2234]

Quote

I find it interesting that the guy has been on less than a minute in 5 full episodes and he's constantly being brought up on this site.  If I was doing a research study, I would say the character is generating attention, whether good or bad, and that's what shows look for. 

I can't wait for him to come back.  The show is boring as hell without him. 

I liked Mon-el when he wasn't getting too much airtime, Chris Wood can be very funny and charming, but I don't really miss him and the show feels a little more balanced so far this season. 

Edited November 9, 2017 by Oreo2234

[KirkB]

4 hours ago, JapMo said:

I find it interesting that the guy has been on less than a minute in 5 full episodes and he's constantly being brought up on this site.  If I was doing a research study, I would say the character is generating attention, whether good or bad, and that's what shows look for. 

I can't wait for him to come back.  The show is boring as hell without him. 

I don't necessarily disagree with the sentiment of there is no such thing as bad publicity, and I have no idea what the general perception of Mon-El is since this is pretty much the only site I frequent, but surely if a large percentage of viewers did not like a character that is not the character the show runners would have a tendency to promote MORE heavily is it?

As for the second part, out of curiosity, if you feel that way how did you manage to make it through the first season to get to the point where Mon-El appeared?

3 hours ago, CletusMusashi said:

I suppose the biggest take-away message this week was that bombarding schoolchildren with lead is actually quite harmless.

I was torn. On the one hand I like Lena so I wouldn't want her to be responsible for hurting a lot of people. On the other hand, the idea of people breathing in lead for an extended period of time without buildup or harm is kind of ridiculous, even for a show with shape shifting aliens. Though if Lena's device had been responsible I would have expected to see a lot more people suffering from lead poisoning.

Edited November 9, 2017 by KirkB

[tofutan]

I think it's always hard to judge what "the audience" thinks. Starting with, anybody who bothers to go to a message board to post about a tv show is already way more invested than a casual viewer. Then you seem to have vastly different dynamics, like youtube seems to be pretty Kara/Mon-El friendly (or at least they seem to inspire a lot of people to make videos), twitter is very aggressively Kara/Lena, this place is more James friendly, etc. 

I remember Lana Lang on Smallville being HATED relentlessly on TWOP back in the day, but for the writers she was clearly very integral to their plans. And of course there's the kind of thinking that having a contentious character (and I do think that Mon-El counts as contentious, since he clearly does have fans too, just like Felicity and Laurel on Arrow) is better than a character nobody cares about. 

I don't find the season bad so far, but I find it very uneven with all those standalone episodes focusing on various characters rather than having arcs/mini arcs. But in the end this is a question of preference. I enjoy arcs, so the overall style of s2 and s1 was more to my liking. S3 feels a lot more "choppy" to me, and it feels like narrative corners are being cut, with like the way Sam is being introduced to the characters. Why didn't they introduce her as an old friend or rival of Lena's in the first place? Why is that something that suddenly happens in episode 5? 

Sidenote: the ratings are clearly not returning to s1 type glory like some people claimed would happen if only there was less Mon-El. Not that I think that the ratings will rise if Mon-El returns. I think people really overestimate the effect of fandom reaction on ratings. From what I see the ratings are down on all of the CW superhero shows and I think Supergirl would be part of that trend regardless of what was the focus. 

I do strongly believe that writers should write what makes them happy and what feels right to them rather than writing just what the fans call for. IMO if they only write to make others happy and not because they are "feeling it" themselves then what comes out will be lackluster and nobody will be happy, not the fans and not the writers who have betrayed their artistic integrity. For the record, I think Kara/Alex is clearly a "feeling it" type of dynamic for the writers as was Kara/Cat and imo so was Mon-El, it felt like the writers got a kick out of writing him and to me that joy definitely carried over. I'm really puzzled because with all the raving the writers are doing about Sam and Odette, I exected Sam to be a major "feeling it" type of character for them, but so far she seems nice, but pretty lackluster. 

I really do worry that if this is a Smallville Davis type situation, she might end up with a villain without a strong drive. And to me the best villains are the ones that have this drive and agency. Like Astra, the whole wreird environmentalism was stupid, but it was a drive. Lillian Luthors alien racism was deplorable, but it was still a drive. You can still have relatable villains with a drive, without the "I'm a villain agaainst my free will", like truly build them up being treated badly and taking revenge. Or build up the thing they love and would do everything for even to the point that they cross the line. Or shows us their flaws that seem normal on first glance but prove devastating if they go unchecked. 

[LadyAmalthea]

12 hours ago, JapMo said:

I find it interesting that the guy has been on less than a minute in 5 full episodes and he's constantly being brought up on this site.  If I was doing a research study, I would say the character is generating attention, whether good or bad, and that's what shows look for. 

I can't wait for him to come back.  The show is boring as hell without him. 

If it wasn’t known he was returning, trust me, I wouldn’t have mentioned him. I wouldn’t even have been thinking about him, the show has moved beyond that arc and character, imo. 

[JapMo]

11 hours ago, KirkB said:

As for the second part, out of curiosity, if you feel that way how did you manage to make it through the first season to get to the point where Mon-El appeared?

I don't understand the correlation.  He wasn't in the first season...I'm still watching...if I thought Season 1 was boring, I wouldn't have gotten to Season 2.  But FYI, I really like Winn and was rooting for him to be Kara's love interest during Season 1, because I think they are cute together, but the show apparently didn't agree. 

[KirkB]

28 minutes ago, JapMo said:

I don't understand the correlation.  He wasn't in the first season...I'm still watching...if I thought Season 1 was boring, I wouldn't have gotten to Season 2.  But FYI, I really like Winn and was rooting for him to be Kara's love interest during Season 1, because I think they are cute together, but the show apparently didn't agree. 

Either I misunderstood what you were saying or else I didn't express myself correctly. Probably the latter. You said you thought the show was boring as hell without him, and I was asking since he wasn't in the first season wouldn't that make it more boring? I guess I'm looking at it the wrong way. You're saying, I think, the show got better (you already liked it) once Mon-El showed up and has been less interesting without him.

I'm actually with you on Winn. I liked him and Kara together. But I think in many ways they're almost too much alike. Not that opposites attract is always a thing but I usually liked it more when two characters have different qualities.

[JapMo]

9 hours ago, tofutan said:

I don't find the season bad so far, but I find it very uneven with all those standalone episodes focusing on various characters rather than having arcs/mini arcs. But in the end this is a question of preference. I enjoy arcs, so the overall style of s2 and s1 was more to my liking. S3 feels a lot more "choppy" to me, and it feels like narrative corners are being cut, with like the way Sam is being introduced to the characters. Why didn't they introduce her as an old friend or rival of Lena's in the first place? Why is that something that suddenly happens in episode 5? 

Your choice of the word "choppy" is a good one.  I almost feel someone is editing the show with a stopwatch.  In other words, they aren't really looking at the content so much as trying to complete their agenda...

'3 scenes with sister interaction - check

J'onn, Winn and/or James in at least 3 scenes - check

Sneak in at least one political statement - check

1-2 girl power references - check

[Xander]

I'm finding this season boring with the last one the worst of them all. All the episodes are like standalones and I wouldn't know there was a big bad if I didn't google which is not how television should work. And while Reign is being developed, we need some other driving force. If it's Morgan Edge, he should be a looming threat on a larger scale (like Cadmus was) and not just have an axe to grind with Lena for "reasons." What's motivating Kara this season? What's connecting each episode?  Winn is being pushed further into the background with no storyline of his own. James is just there to get undermined by Lena which is apparently his kink because he's falling for her. J'onn had his episode and is now relegated to 2 lines an episode till his next big episode.  And worst of all, most of the humor and fun have been sucked out of the show. 

[iMonrey]

Quote

I spend a lot of time fanwanking and suspending belief. But I cannot see a plausible way for Edge to make it seem that Rando Minion had $20 million+ in his back pocket to have the cargo plane, as well as the wherewithal to develop a chemical that simulates lead poisoning, as well as all the other steps required for this scheme. All the while erasing connections between him and Rando Minion.

What this episode proved is that all you have to do is go on TV and say "so and so did it" and crowds will gather and start chanting "lock her up." Because that's exactly what Morgan did to Lena. So, there's no earthly or otherworldly reason for Morgan to be so smug about getting away with this. He himself should know better than anyone that if Supergirl goes on TV and says "Morgan did it" crowds will gather, investors will bail, and he'll be ruined. Whether or not anyone can prove it is entirely irrelevant.

Quote

Sidenote: the ratings are clearly not returning to s1 type glory like some people claimed would happen if only there was less Mon-El. Not that I think that the ratings will rise if Mon-El returns. I think people really overestimate the effect of fandom reaction on ratings. 

The ratings are never going to be the same on the CW as they were on CBS because the CW has far fewer affiliates. 

[tofutan]

Quote

The ratings are never going to be the same on the CW as they were on CBS because the CW has far fewer affiliates. 

I agree, but you always run into people claiming that the ratings of season 2, compared to season 1, prove that whether thing they dislike is the reason the ratings suck. When to me it is clear that even if they followed every single thing people clamor for would somehow bring the ratings of season 1 back. To me this is just such an obviously wrongminded argument. The show could be perfect and the ratings would never be the same because different network and because regular rating erosion over time. (and that doesn't even cover that good quality doesn't even ensure good ratings, there are plenty of beloved shows that got cancelled due to low ratings and plenty of shows a ton of people agree are awful from a quality point of view that seem to live forever) It is possible that whatever irks somebody would possibly lead to higher ratings than currently exist, but we have no way of telling that. All I know that dreams of season 1 style ratings are just totally removed from reality. Because the situations are just too different. 

Quote

I'm finding this season boring with the last one the worst of them all. All the episodes are like standalones and I wouldn't know there was a big bad if I didn't google which is not how television should work. 

IMO both season 1 and season 2 did a much better job of stuff feeling like a storyline. Like, okay, J'onn goes to Mars and finds his father. Then no mention of that for 2, probably more episodes. So what was the point again? (compare that to: Mon-El wakes up, Mon-El sneaks out of the DEO, Mon-El reacts to earth stuff => natural progression; or J'onn finds out that M'gann exists => J'onn triest to get her to talk to him in the next episode) Or they show us somebody waking up in the underwater pod and then no follow up? Did that creature go back to sleep? What was the point of showing that scene at all? Why not place a mini scene to show that whatever is in there is having an affect on Sam. Or maybe just show the ship lighting up, but not the creature inside? (compare to: Lillian abducts Kara, takes her blood, and immediately they use it to break into the Fortress and unleash a virus; or M'gann gives J'onn her blood, next episode he suffers the after effects => breaks happened, but happened a lot more naturally, like because one character told the other to stay away or went to jail) There's just no tonal consistency, no feel of action A flowing into action B. It's just "wham, Sam suddenly has known Lena for a long time!". 

It's like season 3 has good individual moments, but not overall good storytelling and natural character development. Maybe the new showrunners are just worse in plotting out arcs. 

I don't consider myself some blind Mon-El fan. I liked season 1, to a big extent because of Cat and Astra. I found Mon-El very amusing in season 2. I was fully prepared to like a new storyline in season 3 (and I'm fully prepared to not like Mon-El anymore if he is no longer funny when he comes back, if all he brings is angst and drama without the interlaced humor I'm bored already), but so far Sam isn't doing it for me, because the quality is just not there, there is no genuine depth to her relationship with Ruby and her relationships with the other characters are not progressing naturally, and nothing else has stepped into the void because nothing feels like a fully fledged storyline, it all feels very stop and go. I don't hate the show, but imo there's a lot less "meat" to enjoy compared to either season 1 or season 2. 

Compare that to Legends of Tomorrow. There they have a situation where one of the main characters (Rip) is only around every couple of episodes or so. Last episode came back, and one of the first thing he does is express surprise that another character Amaya is back because in the pilot it was mentioned that he is the one that talked her into returning back home and leaving the time. Totally throwaway line, but shows respect for consistency. Or there's a lot of talk about 

Spoiler

how one of the actors will leave the show due to taking a theater role. IMO they have done a much better show of giving that character a more important, consistent storyline in what might be his last batch of episodes, compared to how they handled Flo's last episodes.

 Yeah, so they gave Maggie a backstory episode that in the end didn't end up meaning Jack (it neither affected or Alex desire to break up). Wouldn't it have been much more interesting or respectful if for the last few episodes Maggie had actually had a meaningful storlyine, where like her job actually mattered or she got to have actual conversations with characters outside of Alex? 

IMO the writers are trying to hard to give out candy to any potential interest group, they don't actually bother to write meaningful arcs for the characters and imo that leads to me feeling like the joy is missing. Again maybe that is just the writing style of the new showrunners, it's possible. But to me that is a non-fun shift from either season 1 or season 2. The episodes are not bad individually, but it just doesn't tie together into a whole picture. 

I wouldn't have a problem if they wanted to intentionally shift towards more of a standalone writing model, but imo in that case they need better villains of the week. Like characters like Psi should have gotten a backstory to explain their actions, more like the crazy cult guy. 

Edited November 10, 2017 by tofutan

[lion10]

On 11/7/2017 at 1:57 PM, iMonrey said:

Which begs the question: Why can't Supergirl simply go on TV and go "Hey everybody, guess what? Morgan Edge poisoned those kids in order to frame Lena. Then he tried to poison the entire city's water supply." Wouldn't most people believe Supergirl? And wouldn't that be the end of Morgan? Or would everyone in National City be like "Listen, Supergirl, we don't mind you saving our asses on a daily basis but keep your opinions to yourself?" I just don't get how he so easily gets away with this. They know it's him, they can certainly lay out the connecting dots, and it's enough to severely damage his reputation if nothing else. Hell, Fox News does it all the time.

Speaking of which . . . there was another political name drop when everyone was chanting "Lock her up" to Lena. The show needs to knock that off.

I noticed that too, but that reference made sense and wasn't that shoehorned.  All the Alex and Maggie scenes were very emotional and made me tear up in a few scenes.  I STILL can't believe that it never came up once if they wanted to have kids at some point.  It's especially ridiculous because Alex has never come across as a maternal woman AT ALL.  Morgan Edge is such scum, but he's wonderfully acted and his conversation with Kara at the end of the episode was the best part for me, along with Kara and Lena's conversations.  They've got great chemistry.  Supergirl's the best show on the DCCW right now.

[JapMo]

38 minutes ago, lion10 said:

Supergirl's the best show on the DCCW right now.

I only watch The Flash & Supergirl, and sometimes Arrow, but Flash is firing on all cylinders this season.  They've gone back to the fun and lightheartedness of Season 1.  

[lion10]

32 minutes ago, JapMo said:

I only watch The Flash & Supergirl, and sometimes Arrow, but Flash is firing on all cylinders this season.  They've gone back to the fun and lightheartedness of Season 1.  

 

For me, The Flash is too silly at times to really enjoy on a story level.  And I think out of all the shows, Supergirl does the best job with the emotional beats episode after episode that genuinely make me feel.

[JoyGirl]

Agree, Tofutan, that the show just isn't cohesive.  I hate to say that given we've only seen 5 episodes, but it is what it is. 

I loved episode 1, and Psi was a great villain in episode 2, but then there was The Mars episode, which to me was an epic fail.  I'm sorry, I can't get excited that the writers decided to give a big part to an underused character (J'onn) when the story was dull and uninspired.  And on top of that, Dad's been MIA since, so what was the point?  When the best thing about that episode is the car, you've got a problem.  While the Supergirl cult had good acting and was different, the story didn't have any legs.  Turned out nobody was really a bad guy, they were just misguided.  That's great on other shows, but on a show based on a comic book hero, you have to have a strong bad guy, even if it's just the bad guy of the week.  Like......Morgan Edge. 

Monday's episode was much better than the last two, and I liked the fact that they addressed possible problems (lead poisoning) from season 2 finale, but out of all the huggy feely female stuff and supposed bonding and women all working together that they beat us over the head with (though I understand the Maggie/Alex part since she was leaving the show), it was the bad dude, Morgan Edge, that IMO made the biggest impression.  That scene where he went nose to nose with Supergirl and made her blink was really cool.  

[jay741982]

On 11/8/2017 at 6:44 PM, JapMo said:

I find it interesting that the guy has been on less than a minute in 5 full episodes and he's constantly being brought up on this site.  If I was doing a research study, I would say the character is generating attention, whether good or bad, and that's what shows look for. 

I can't wait for him to come back.  The show is boring as hell without him. 

Shows better without the show eater. If they didn't have him eating up a lot of screen time from Alex Winn James and J'onn people wouldnt have Complained . I'm personally enjoying the show right now until he comes back and probably makes it the Mon-el show again. If Mon-el isn't entire focus when he comes back i won't care 

[tofutan]

On 11.11.2017 at 9:38 PM, jay741982 said:

Shows better without the show eater. If they didn't have him eating up a lot of screen time from Alex Winn James and J'onn people wouldnt have Complained . I'm personally enjoying the show right now until he comes back and probably makes it the Mon-el show again. If Mon-el isn't entire focus when he comes back i won't care 

Winn had more screentime in season 2 than he had in season 1. Mon-El mostly ate Cat's screentime and part of James screentime because James was no longer the love interest. 

It's not really that the screentime of people went down that much, is that their screentime with KARA went down and some people seem to think that only screentime with Kara is real screentime and that when James/Winn, J'onn/M'gann or Alex/Maggie have a storyline it somehow is not real. Like Winn falling on love or having PTSD after being out with Guardian is not actual character development because Kara is not around to validate it. 

Edited November 13, 2017 by tofutan

[kdm07]

On 10/11/2017 at 9:13 PM, lion10 said:

Supergirl's the best show on the DCCW right now.

This is a YMMV sort of statement because of the 3 DCCW shows I watch, Supergirl is at the bottom of the list (I haven't watched Arrow since the beginning of Season 3).

Doing my catch up of this show rn and I'm annoyed but how bad the writing has gotten since they moved the show to the CW. I get that the CW may not have the same standards as CBS but surely the same writing team (essentially) should have a better idea of how to map put their episodes/seasons/characters by now, no?

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 11/6/2017 at 9:55 PM, tennisgurl said:

I actually like Sam alright, and I think the actress does a good job, but I still think her character seems pretty random. Like, we suddenly meet this new character who gets a whole big subplot out of nowhere and his now best friends with Kara and Lena and comes to all their girls nights and stuff.

 

On 11/7/2017 at 1:56 AM, Trini said:

Sam has known Lena "for a long time"? Wait - what? I mean, that's fine, but it's completely new info that doesn't fit what they've shown previously.

Exactly.   Did they go to school together?

On 11/7/2017 at 1:37 AM, ottoDbusdriver said:

So the lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan also occurred on Earth-38 ?  That seems unlikely -- kind of like the President building a wall comment a couple of episodes ago when teh President is an aliean -- they keep trying to sprinkle real-world events into the mix, but they just come off as lazy since odds are that Earth-38 is so substantially different.

 

On 11/7/2017 at 9:42 AM, legaleagle53 said:

It was never stated that the President wants to build a wall.  The Speaker of the House is the one who is pushing that idea on Earth-38.  Cat called him out on it during one of her first press conferences, remember?

Yes. It wasn't the President who wanted to build a wall on Earth-38.  It was the Speaker of the House.

On 11/7/2017 at 1:37 AM, ottoDbusdriver said:

trip to the hospital to see James, the lead bomb test at the DEO

James had the bullet removed at the DEO.

On 11/7/2017 at 9:13 AM, Chicago Redshirt said:

Kara hears a gun click but doesn't find the gunwoman in time, doesn't show that she is faster than a speeding bullet, and lets both Jimmy and Sam get shot.

She did stop one bullet...

On 11/7/2017 at 9:13 AM, Chicago Redshirt said:

What kind of  BS Batman 66 deathtrap was Morgan Edge using to put Lena in the cargo plane and dump the chemicals? Aside from there being easier/better ways to kill Lena, what's the point of adding more of the poison once Lena's dead? Why have the transmitter on at all? 

 

On 11/7/2017 at 10:33 AM, Jediknight said:

He doesn't just want Lena dead, he wants her completely ruined.  He was setting her up to be a terrorist that tried to kill all of National City.  Coulson would not like the way Talbot has turned out lately.

Maybe, but II think he wanted to make Lena suffer even more by knowing that more people would be poisoned before she died.  He would have still killed his henchman to make it look like he set Lena up.

On 11/7/2017 at 10:00 AM, quarks said:

Samantha just helped clear Lena's name, apparently leaving her kid alone in the house with a drunk woman to do so,

 

On 11/6/2017 at 9:26 PM, quarks said:

Samantha, wearing the same shirt that she was wearing at the shooting, only then putting Ruby to bed.

 

On 11/6/2017 at 9:41 PM, quarks said:

Well, yes, but that means that she didn't put her kid to bed until 6 am.

To be fair, Lena told Kara that Ruby was at a friend's.  Also, Kara was wearing the same clothing from the day before, and I believe Lena was, too,  Therefore, it probably was very late that same night, but not so late that Alex's bar wasn't open.  Maybe Ruby came home from her friend's and went to sleep after Sam got back from the pool, but then woke up out of concern for her friend after Lara, and then Lena left, and Sam went in to reassure her that he would be alright?

On 11/7/2017 at 0:45 PM, Miss Dee said:

Although I got a chuckle out of how just after they all declare themselves sisters, Alex calls and Kara is like "Yep, gotta go." There's family, and then there's family.

It would have been funny if she had said "Whoops, gotta go!.  My real sister needs me!

On 11/8/2017 at 0:47 AM, Trini said:

The last time James was getting patched up at the DEO, he was injured in the exact same place!

Good memory!. James said to Winn, that he had said the same thing (about the bullet) the last time he was injured there.

On 11/8/2017 at 8:31 AM, Chicago Redshirt said:

But of course, one big difference is that Max's schemes didn't seem as flatout evil. AFAIK, there was nothing close to the inherent scumbaggery of poisoning kids (even if, let's say, Edge could swoop in at the last minute with a cure), and I don't remember Lord personally murdering any humans like we just saw Edge do.

The way he created Bizarro Supergirl was up there.  Didn't he take comatose people and inject them with the Bizarro serum, claiming it was ok because they were barely alive, anyway?

Edited November 21, 2017 by ItCouldBeWorse

[AudienceofOne]

On 07/11/2017 at 6:54 PM, WInterfalls said:

I'm sitting here watching the episode and everyone is like let's kill Lena after there is no investigation into a possible side effect to the lead bomb. Literally nothing definitive at all but clearly she's evil for not letting us all become the slaves of an alien race? Like really? Your kids would not be better off at the hands of the Daxsimites. Let's at least try to solve the problem before sending out a lynch mob.

I want to believe this is not realistic but we see this all the time. All you need is a populist saying something inflammatory and nobody cares about the truth. You can come up with the facts two weeks later and it doesn't get any play. If you ask people on the street, they'll repeat the first lie they heard even if you tell them the truth fifteen times.

The fact is, people want to believe Lena is actually the bad guy and lynch mobs happen in a second.

 

On 12/11/2017 at 7:38 AM, jay741982 said:

Shows better without the show eater. If they didn't have him eating up a lot of screen time from Alex Winn James and J'onn people wouldnt have Complained . I'm personally enjoying the show right now until he comes back and probably makes it the Mon-el show again. If Mon-el isn't entire focus when he comes back i won't care 

I miss Mon-El and want him back. Sue me.