Mon-El, Former Prince of Daxam: Back From The Future

[tinnefoil]

It makes me quite sad how many people say they prefer the new, more serious Mon-El, I actually liked him when he was more upbeat. This season has already been quite sad at times and with there likely being a lot of tragedy lurking for Sam and Ruby, some lightheartedness would have been good. 

I've given a lot of thought why I actually enjoy Mon-El despite hating characters like Damon or Chuck from Gossip Girl. I think it's because Mon-El mended his ways rather quickly while I don't think Chuck ever changed and Damon always seemed like he had to be dragged into goodness kicking and screaming. By comparison, Mon-El seemed to take to it relatively quickly (1 season really isn't that much by tv standards). For a lot of characters it seems like they play up the badboy angle and that is a huge part of their appeal and Mon-El never fully seemed that way, which is probably why him dropping it didn't feel like such a huge issue and he seemed quite ready and eager to give up a lot of his old ways.

I see a lot of people being upset that he doesn't seem to have the same powerset as in the comics, but to me that has never really mattered. I do wish the show would tell us more about his current power levels, whether he learned any new powers in the 7 years he was away or whether his powers are actually worse off now because of the lead poisoning. 

[johnar]

I agree.

The pace of personal / character development needs to slow way down in most TV shows or be shown over flashback time. 

It's lazy producers and writers IMHO, or Network execs who don't believe the show has legs enough to stand for very long. 

Also the shortened seasons... preempts, holiday hiatus, the Olympics, yada yada yada 

I am an old fashioned fan of the 26 episode 26 rerun year. Missed it at Christmas, catch in the Summer in reruns.

But that's the way I'm wired.

Ho hum. 

Edited January 15, 2018 by johnar

[tinnefoil]

Sadly, I'm afraid those times are gone for good. People are pushing for instant gratification on everything, so relationships and character development are often rushed. I definitely wouldn't have minded another year of Mon-El learning to be a superhero. I feel quite cheated that we never got to see the scene where he learns to fly, I just tend to picture it as him being quite bad at it and that it would have been a funny scene. 

[nightwing877]

On 15/01/2018 at 6:37 PM, tinnefoil said:

Sadly, I'm afraid those times are gone for good. People are pushing for instant gratification on everything, so relationships and character development are often rushed. I definitely wouldn't have minded another year of Mon-El learning to be a superhero. I feel quite cheated that we never got to see the scene where he learns to fly, I just tend to picture it as him being quite bad at it and that it would have been a funny scene. 

Probably why I'm beginning to really enjoy watching older shows from the 90s/00s much more than anything on today. I'm just not feeling they are writing things organically anymore. 

But the newer generations always want everything to happen asap. Relationships and character development need to happen over time and organically. 

[tinnefoil]

I'm not sure whether relationships and character development were really organic on other shows. Having people take 8 years to get together isn't really organic development either. It doesn't really reflect how people act either. 

Older shows relied much more on how things should never change and that something was really restricting as well. 

As for Mon-El, so far I find him pretty underwhelming as a supposed leader of a group. It's not that it's not good point that they should focus on the future (after all from their point of view they know that the whatever happens the people of earth/this time will handle this particular threat, plus, think of all the "Barry gets slapped around by the speedforce" plots, so maybe not messing up the timeline so much might be wise), but he just seemed kind of unenthusiastic when he made that point and then turned around and rolled over and changed his mind again pretty quickly. 

I don't think that promos are considered a spoiler, but I'll put it here just in case: 

Spoiler

Interesting that the CW promo showed a different suit. Does he just have two? Is one like for formal events and one for fighting? Or is that just for the promo and we'll never actually see it on the show? 

[Lady Calypso]

He seems to suck as a leader from the little we've seen. This last episode, he seemed to chicken out of making any decisions and decided to just do nothing for a long while, even when his own team was wanting to go fight Reign and help out. His worries about changing the future were understandable. The way he handled it was not. He still seems like the cowardly prince we met last season, so I'm feeling a real disconnect from what Imra says about Mon-El creating and leading their team, and seeing it happen onscreen. 

Also, it does feel like Mon-El and Kara are done-done. They're really not giving many hints that they could get back together. Mon-El has been itching to go back to the future since his return and doesn't consider this his home anymore. Kara seems to finally be moving on from her heartbreak over Mon-El, as well. It would be nice if I actually believed they were done. Sadly, I'm still expecting that "but" moment to bring the two back together. 

The natural path seems to be leading to Mon-El returning back to the 31st century and not coming back. My worry is that that won't happen. I do feel like Mon-El's story is done after this season. He only really knew Kara for less than a year. I find it ok that she impacted his life for the better, but I also don't consider them endgame anymore. He's been together with Imra for far longer and seems to genuinely love her, which is actually nice. And if she does and Mon-El does stay and eventually get back together with Kara, it'll actually feel like she's his second choice, despite the fact that they were together before him and Imra. 

I'm just hoping that they don't keep Mon-El longer than they should because of the actor. Shows sometimes suffer when they cater to the actor, rather than the character.

[Oreo2234]

I agree. Beyond the fact that I think Mon-el has taken up too much of Kara's arc at this point (even when he was gone) the story doesn't feel like it should end with Mon-el staying. It would feel like a regression for both characters. But the writers love Chris Wood and this is the same show that didn't get rid of James when most other shows would have. 

Edited January 18, 2018 by Oreo2234

[tinnefoil]

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He's been together with Imra for far longer 

We don't know how long he's been with Imra. According to Imra he wasn't interested in anybody (which includes her) "for years". 

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seems to genuinely love her, which is actually nice.

Mon-El looks like the saddest and most deflated person in the universe to me. Especially if you compare it to what he was like in season 2. For the record, I don't think that that is because of Kara, but imo Mon-El does NOT seem like he is a very happy person anymore. 

Also, I fully expect Mon-El to stick around all season. If all there was to the story was him assuring the audience that he doesn't love Kara anymore and for Kara to assure us that she doesn't love him anymore and him going back to the future as quickly as possible, you could wrap that up in much fewer episodes. 

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Mon-El has been itching to go back to the future since his return and doesn't consider this his home anymore. 

They said they needed the ship to the fixed, but the ship appeared to be functioning in the last episode. So why are they still here. Have they changed the future so much that they now have to stay to fix the mess they made? Do they have one of those "changing headline" things like Flash to inform them the future has changed? 

[Lady Calypso]

8 hours ago, tinnefoil said:

We don't know how long he's been with Imra. According to Imra he wasn't interested in anybody (which includes her) "for years". 

Well, I guess he hasn't been with Imra romantically for years, but it does seem like he's known her for longer, and he's also married to her. I guess that's what I meant.

8 hours ago, tinnefoil said:

Mon-El looks like the saddest and most deflated person in the universe to me. Especially if you compare it to what he was like in season 2. For the record, I don't think that that is because of Kara, but imo Mon-El does NOT seem like he is a very happy person anymore. 

Seriously, he is so bland and depressed-looking, but I don't think it's because of Kara either. He seems to have lost his sense of humour. When he was telling Alex and the others that they couldn't help out, he just had these dead eyes that showed no concern about anything. It's weird, because when he was telling Kara that he had been worried about her, I might have accidentally scoffed out loud. I just didn't see his concern in the episode, so I didn't buy that scene at all. 

[tinnefoil]

Knowing somebody for years, having zero interest in them and then marrying them isn't necessarily a sign of great passion. He certainly acts quite different in this relationship than he did in the relationship with Kara. Even if you assume that they might be holding back out of politeness in front of Kara, Kara was in a coma for most of the episode. 

To me he just seemed weirdly muted all episode (same with him saying he enjoyed fighting with Kara again, did he really seem like he was enjoying anything all episode?). More muted than he has been in previous one. Like I said, I find it hard to make sense of it, because a lot of it seems more like a concious acting choice (like his muted, but still existing smile at the Bon Jovi stuff). 

Mon-El not wanting to help fight Reign is always going to be disappointing, but he didn't exactly present his case with a lot of passion and he then changed his mind and tune rather quickly which made it seem like he didn't have a good reason to say no in the first place. I dunno, maybe it was just a weird episode or maybe he's supposed to come off like a dick who is weak and boring and tells Kara he cares for her only out of emotional manipulation so Brainy looks like the more sparkly love interest. 

[Featherhat]

On ‎17‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 4:18 PM, Lady Calypso said:

Also, it does feel like Mon-El and Kara are done-done. They're really not giving many hints that they could get back together. Mon-El has been itching to go back to the future since his return and doesn't consider this his home anymore. Kara seems to finally be moving on from her heartbreak over Mon-El, as well. It would be nice if I actually believed they were done. Sadly, I'm still expecting that "but" moment to bring the two back together. 

It definitely wouldn't be the first show in this verse, let alone TV to be all "current plotline A demands couple are not together and not pining but plotline C demands they are in love and acknowledging each other so now they are, hence pivot B.  I'm sure they'll be a "but" at some point. I'm not in a rush for it because I can take or leave both Mon El and his relationship with Kara but I expect it will happen if Chris Wood is contracted longer than his initial 2 season arc that was pitched. If he is then he'll probably get together with Kara again, if not he'll leave with the Legion/Imra. 

I thought he and Imra were okay in the last episode, they seemed to understand each other and if they've at least known each other a lot longer than he and Kara, it makes sense they would act differently, especially because he and Kara often acted a little like they were teens in their first serious relationship (they both might have been I guess). I think CW and AJ are ok together, nothing particularly special but nothing terrible. I think there'll be more revealed about Saturngirl but I don't want her to be a villain or anything. 

I get what you mean about CW being muted but I'm not sure if that is a deliberate attempt to portray Mon El's new maturity or depression or bad acting or as a result of the writing being muted in general for everyone recently except Brainiac. Mon El is supposed to be changed since last season and they have this big mission so I'll go with deliberate for now but how that ties into the rest of the season is a different guess. It is frustrating because CW was at his best in the more humorous moments last season ala "Mon El discovers Earth" storylines and he showed more animation showing Imra chicken wings, even though it was unintentionally insensitive to Kara. 

[secnarf]

I have to say, I really like Mon El now that he has grown up and isn't (currently) a romantic interest for Kara. I never liked his supposedly funny bits last season, but this is a nice change. And I like that his wife is a decent human being  character also.

Edited January 23, 2018 by secnarf

[tinnefoil]

I dunno, I think they sort of overdid it with making him more serious. Then again I liked his "fish out of water/Mon-El gets words wrong" humor. I guess M'yrrn and Brainiac will take that position this season? 

I do wonder whether maybe they are building towards something where the long her stays the harder it is for him not to get attached to this time/his old friends.