S03.E21: Not Kansas 2018.06.04

[MarkHB]

Kara makes a major life decision. J’onn finds out that special DEO-caliber guns have hit the streets of National City.

[cambridgeguy]

I see that they wrote this episode after the latest round of shootings in the country.  If there's movement on immigration maybe we'll get an episode about some aliens coming to earth - that was more of a season 2 thing but it could always make a comeback.

Their big panic about the law office made no sense with J'onn there - I'm pretty sure he could eliminate casualties all by himself even if he hadn't been able to talk the guy down.

Edited June 5, 2018 by cambridgeguy

[ottoDbusdriver]

Really Mon-el ?  You forgot to lock the door on J'onn's spaceship.  WTF ?

In 30 years the Argo City inhabitants never re-developed interstellar travel.

Listening to Thara and her husband gripe about their backyard gazebo problems was just painful to listen to.

Do they not have Google or something similar on Earth-38 ?  How are the DEO just now finding out about the civilian version of their military-grade weapons when they visit the CEO when these guns are publicly available for sale ?

[bettername2come]

I don't like when they incorporate the gun control and immigration issues into the series. It just doesn't work in such a fantasy based series. It feels heavy handed and unrealistic in their world. I feel like it would work better if they kept it more metaphorical and tied in more of a "we need guns to defend against all these supervillains" angle with the debate.

Mon-El looked ridiculously attractive in the white linen and khakis. Like, I don't dislike Mon-El anyway, but I temporarily forgot every criticism of him ever. And now I suddenly think Chris Wood would be perfect for a Nicholas Sparks movie...or a Tide commercial.

[Lady Calypso]

Well, that was an obnoxious episode. I'm not really a fan of episodes that preach at me, and this episode felt preachy. But honestly, the whole episode felt like it didn't belong, especially not two episodes before the finale. I don't feel like they should have introduced some Big Final Crisis in the last couple of episodes. 

Mon-El certainly has grown on me. I actually rolled my eyes at Kara's snippy comment about Mon-El not telling her about future tech. I think they've actually redeemed the character for me (or Kara's 100% more annoying than last season). I couldn't care less about their romance, of course, but it was inevitable.

Erica Durance doesn't cut it for me. Maybe it's because she looks nothing like Melissa Benoist. I liked Erica Durance on Saving Hope when I was watching it. Here, I don't think she fits the role at all. Also, Laura Benanti acted older and wiser with Alura and Astra while ED has Alura acting like she has had no life experience as a Kryptonian (which is funny because Durance is a year older than Benanti). Or maybe I'm just comparing her to Benanti. Either way, the actress isn't cutting it for me at all. I'm more annoyed now when Alura's on screen.

Seriously, the gun control aspect of the episode annoyed me as much as Arrow's gun episode. I wasn't expecting this plot in the episode at all and I wish they hadn't gone through with it. I'm glad they're giving James and J'onn more to do this season, I really am. It's a serious plus to the season. Unfortunately, what they've given their other two characters (Alex and Winn) has been nothing short of disappointing. Can someone give poor Winn an actual plot that's not just one episode, or in a three episode span? 

Also, what pissed me off is that Kara can apparently only still share scenes with either Mon-El or Alex. She couldn't even have a goodbye scene with James or Winn? 

They ended the Sam as Reign stuff too quickly for me. I know there's been complaints about the arc in general, but they really abruptly ended it, as if they ran out of plot for it. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

God, what an utter boring SNOOZEFEST. I feel that if I had skipped this episode, I wouldn't be lost if I tuned in next week.

[ottoDbusdriver]

6 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

They ended the Sam as Reign stuff too quickly for me. I know there's been complaints about the arc in general, but they really abruptly ended it, as if they ran out of plot for it. 

You would think that someone who was controlled by a powerful alien entity for such a long time would be under observation for at least a week.

Still too much Ruby in this episode.

[CloudySky]

The promo adequately prepared me for the preachy snoozeplot filler episode so I was actually pleasantly surprised by the first couple of minutes. I figured they were just going to skip the Reign fight or not have it be that long.

Thank god for that Murderbot because that almost kiss was nauseating. I kept thinking whether they turned "Supergirl" into "just Kara Zor El" so the adultery could happen without tarnishing Supergirl's character or some bs like that.

The new mom is so emotionless. I wasn't much of a fan of the actress even in Smallville but this is just bad. I get that she can't move her face but the old actress had so much expression in just her eyes and voice.

So Kara's friend aged but her mom and the council members didn't? I'm confused.

Kara goes on assignment at the same time Supergirl goes to outerspace indefinitely and never answers her phone, texts or emails? Come on, Lena.

Lena and Supergirl's last scene didn't exactly scream Lena still hates her and will turn into a supervillain...Wish there was more of a resolution to their conflict.

Yay, Alex will have a kid next season...said no one...

Edit: I'm usually not the type to say "why isn't Superman there to help with x, y, z?" because I know why he can't be there. But come on, Kara finds out that a part of Krypton still exists and her mother is alive...I think that deserves a mention! Even just "I can't wait to tell Kal when he gets back from ___" in her convo with Alex.

Edited June 5, 2018 by CloudySky

[Oreo2234]

This episode made me angry. There is no way a para-military organization which battles powerful alien threats would rid itself of leathal weapons. I look forward to the DEO being even more ineffective at dealing with aliens outside of the help it gets from Supergirl. There are way better ways to tackle gun control.

Alex is a shell of her former self. She's been increasingly marginalized and is now acting creepily obsessive over Ruby and having a kid. She's not even 30 yet. Who asked for this plot?

Edited June 5, 2018 by Oreo2234

[lion10]

SO SO SO DUMB.  Sure let's just get rid of all of our lethal weaponry, why the fuck not?  Why does anyone need a gun in the first place?  Never mind that Lena said she's used a gun for self defense...who writes this?  Who approves it?  We spend way too much time on completely unrealistic politics instead of the Worldkiller plot, Sam's recovery, Lena's discovery of the black rock, or Kara acclimating to Argo City.  

There's a great show here if the writers could get out of their own way.  The show's blessed with tremendous acting talent, better than any else in the Arrowverse, Melissa Benoist, Chyler Leigh, Jeremy Jordan, David Harewood, Chris Wood, Katie McGrath, Odette Annabelle, etc but they're not being given enough to work with and the show shows no signs of course-correcting.

 

I'm sticking with the first few episodes of Season 4 and if things don't get better I'm out.

[ottoDbusdriver]

30 minutes ago, CloudySky said:

Edit: I'm usually not the type to say "why isn't Superman there to help with x, y, z?" because I know why he can't be there. But come on, Kara finds out that a part of Krypton still exists and her mother is alive...I think that deserves a mention! Even just "I can't wait to tell Kal when he gets back from ___" in her convo with Alex.

I would think that Kal also possibly having relatives alive on a small piece of Krypton floating not so far off in space he would be the first person Kara would call when she got back to Earth.

[Lantern7]

Well, that was . . . an episode. Basically, Reign is dealt with, Kara goes home, and we get a heavy-handed subplot about guns . . . because Arrow was too subtle in their "gun issue" episode last year. What, the producers couldn't bring in Rene/Wild Dog for his take? Then again, Kara wasn't there, so he wouldn't have repeatedly called her "Blondie."

At least the Legion flight ring came in handy. Pity that the Worldender prophet swiped the ship. Oyyyyy.

Not feeling positive heading into the home stretch. "At least it's now Arrow" only works as an excuse for so long.

[JamieLynn832002]

42 minutes ago, Oreo2234 said:

This episode made me angry. There is no way a para-military organization which battles powerful alien threats would rid itself of leathal weapons. I look forward to the DEO being even more ineffective at dealing with aliens outside of the help it gets from Supergirl. There are way better ways to tackle gun control.

 

The whole thing was so stupid. I think they actually managed to be more ham-handed and nonsensical than the Arrow gun control episode which is impressive but not in any way you should aim for. At least on Arrow they didn't decide the police wouldn't carry weapons anymore (which still would have made more sense than the organization whose sole purpose is to deal with dangerous aliens doing so.) I guess when the next alien attacks and can't be stopped by non-lethal means, they'll just ask them politely to stop? I'm sure that will go well.

Edited June 5, 2018 by JamieLynn832002

[Cthulhudrew]

Wasn't Alex just saying last episode that she'd decided her life was too hectic to have a kid? And now she's looking at adoption pictures again.

Super heavy-handed episode. All of the CW superhero shows do this at some point, but it seems like Supergirl is the one that is least able to disguise it. 

Now Miss Tessmacher is working for Lena, who just discovered that the mysterious alien rock could change the world. I half expect at this point that Lena will manage to turn it into a substance that can cure Kara's Kryptonite weakness, but in a freak lab accident, Supergirl will accidentally cause chemicals to spill onto Lena, causing her to lose her hair and setting them up as nemeses at long last.

Also, that basketball was nowhere close to a trajectory to actually make it into the basket. 

[Maverick]

 No, Supergirl will take Lena's gun away, setting them up as enemies.  It'll be like Superman IV...but with guns instead of nukes.

 When was this show designated as the Ripped From the Headlines Very Special Episode shows of the CW-DCverse?  Immigration!  Racism!  Homosexuality!  Gun Control!  Alien Feng Shui!   You name an issue and this show will cover it.   In the most uninteresting, one-sided, stilted way imaginable.  

[Maelstrom]

Is it sad that I think Supergirl would work just fine without, well, Supergirl? Seriously, it seemed like business as usual at the DEO with just Jonn, Alex, Winn and James (what is this Catco you speak of?) I didn’t miss Kara at all there.

The two good things I can say about this episode are that it gave me time to catch up on my backlog of jigsaw puzzles in my favorite game app, and it made “Schott Through the Heart” seem even better episode in comparison.

So now that the DEO is giving up guns, are they going to be attacked by zombies like in the Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror? It might improve things.

[VCRTracking]

God, even for a filler episode....

Edited June 5, 2018 by VCRTracking

[Lugal]

So all that work just for them to end up where they started?  J'Onn is going to be so pissed off that you let his ship get stolen, Kara.  Alura comes off as a pretty incompetent leader.  I keep wondering how Laura Benanti would have played it.  And Sam's home, I guess the aftermath of being possessed by a superpowered alien can be treated on an outpatient basis.

I get trying to make a point about gun control, but giving up all lethal weapons?  When you're fighting aliens shouldn't you have phasers or something anyway, with an option to stun or kill?  Or Alex's kryptonite sword? (Yes, I'm still on that)  I get with recent real life events and wanting to say something about that, but they could have at least put some thought and effort into it.

Also, in addition to looking kinda washed out, Argo city still uses faulty construction materials, and people still have jobs and high school despite being thousands of years more advanced than Earth.

[Cranberry]

I hated everything about this episode.

I actually agreed with James, and yet I hated the gun control storyline. I like it when sci-fi and fantasy shows have storylines that are allegories for real-life stuff, but this wasn't that -- this was just real-life stuff. It felt heavy-handed, preachy, and overly simplistic.

I hated Alex looking into adoption. I don't want kids on this show. I'm still worried that something is going to happen to Sam and that Alex will be saddled with Ruby. I think that giving Alex this sudden strong desire for a child was one of the biggest missteps the writers have ever made. Where is badass Alex who came out of the closet and decided to focus on herself because she had all that past resentment at always having to put Kara first? They want me to believe she suddenly wants to prioritize a kid over all else?

I hated Kara and Mon-El reconnecting. I don't hate Mon-El himself (anymore), but the dude's married. I don't care if his wife gave him a pass. 

I hated (well, strongly disliked) Kara wasting time in her home city. That girl would not be happy living a quiet life where she's not basically a god. All of the scenes in Argo were just boring.

Oh, I did like one tiny thing -- Eve Tessmacher being super smart, and Lena seeing that and immediately giving her a new job. James was kind of an ass to basically shrug off the fact that she studied nuclear physics at Yale and to keep her as a personal assistant. Promote your best employees, jerk!  

This show has been losing me all season. I don't think I can handle another year of this.

[statsgirl]

As someone who usually likes political discussions, I don't understand why TV shows keep trying to do the gun violence thing. If John Oliver's look at Australia didn't change anything I doubt this episode will.  Just accept that American's don't mind having a firearm homicide rate 6 - 10 times that of the other G8 countries and move on.

It's easy to see who rates on this show -- Kara has a new outfit every time she's in a new scene on Argo while Alura is still wearing the same blue foam cut-out outfit every time.

Alex shouldn't be looking at pictures of babies. She's single and has a job that requires her to be on call 24/7. There's no way she can take care of a baby.

Supergirl leaves for a trip, and Lena attending an "on assignment" party for Kara. I know many people think that Lena hasn't connected Kara to Supergirl but really?  They both leave at the same time and genius Lena isn't connecting the dots?

There are two more episodes to go this season. Shouldn't we have all the pieces in play by now? Or at least on the board?

On the plus side, I appreciated that the Puccini aria playing as My'rnn tells J'onn it's time for him to go is "O mio babbino caro" (O my dear father) from Gianni Schicchi.

7 minutes ago, Cranberry said:

Oh, I did like one tiny thing -- Eve Tessmacher being super smart, and Lena seeing that and immediately giving her a new job. James was kind of an ass to basically shrug off the fact that she studied nuclear physics at Yale and to keep her as a personal assistant. Promote your best employees, jerk!  

I wondered if she was going to end up evil after all.

 

I couldn't understand why she even looked at a job as a personal assistant if she studied nuclear physics at Yale. Why didn't she look for a job that aligned with her interests and degree?  This isn't Arrow so there isn't even that excuse.

[BaggythePanther]

I must have really low standards because this episode didn’t bother me that much. I thought Arrow’s gun control episode was worse. 

I know J’onn said that the DEO would be shifting to non-lethal weapons, but I think they’ll follow Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D.’s example - primarily use non-lethal weapons and when shit hits the fan the real guns will come out. 

I’ve been hoping that the writers wouldn’t follow the cliche route and make Lena evil, but now that Miss Tessmacher is her assistant I think it’s inevitable.

 

Quote

I couldn't understand why she even looked at a job as a personal assistant if she studied nuclear physics at Yale. Why didn't she look for a job that aligned with her interests and degree?  This isn't Arrow so there isn't even that excuse.

Bad job market? Ivy League loans are a bitch and you take what you can get.

Edited June 5, 2018 by BaggythePanther
Forgot to comment on @statsgirl post.

[thuganomics85]

Hey, Kara's Krytonian friend was Esme Bianco a.k.a. Ros from Game of Thrones!  I wondered whatever happened to her.  Nice to see her here, even if she struggled in her first scene.  It felt like she was debating over attempting an American accent or sticking with her British one, and she thankfully decided to settle on the latter (now, if they show would only find a way to just have Katie McGrath ever use her normal Irish voice or do a British one instead...)

I guess it is never too late in a season for Supergirl to tackle another social/political issue, I see.  This time, it was all about that gun control and how dangerous guns are in the wrong hands!  And how bad regulation is!  And how greedy manufacturers are!  Thanks, Supergirl!  Wouldn't have known that without you!  But this all leads to J'onn deciding that the DEO should no longer carry deadly weapons, and are now just going to use some non-lethal shit that Winn is going to cook up.  I so can't wait for the first time this backfires on them.  But I can't wait till they tackle the next social issue!  You know they're totally going to do a #MeToo story next season!  They'll probably just bring back Snapper and reveal he's been sexually harassing his subordinates.  Or Morgan Edge will make a grand return and have a record worthy of Harvey Weinstein.  The possibilities are endless!

OK, is Kara the only Kryptonian that can emote?  Because between Erica Durance and whoever was playing the would-be assassin, there was a lot of stiff acting going on there.  Well, at least the main villain is capable of doing the "Mwwwahhh!  I'm evil!!!" look.

Mon-El finally admits his feelings to Kara, which naturally she is over the moon for.  Again, you deserve better, Imra!  Join the Legends of Tomorrow!  I'm sure you can find a nice guy there (or Sara, if you're into that too.)

Alex wants to adopt now.  That's just fucking great.

M'yrnn's getting ready to make an exit, I see.

Sam is cured!  Or is she?!  Then again, it anyone really cured as long as Ruby is your daughter?

Spoiled the cliffhanger again by listing Chad Lowe's name in the credits.

Yeah, definitely was not a fan of this episode.

Edited June 5, 2018 by thuganomics85

[AD35]

4 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

What, the producers couldn't bring in Rene/Wild Dog for his take? Then again, Kara wasn't there, so he wouldn't have repeatedly called her "Blondie."

That was probably the ep's only saving grace.

[paulvdb]

1 hour ago, thuganomics85 said:

It felt like she was debating over attempting an American accent or sticking with her British one, and she thankfully decided to settle on the latter

It did make me wonder if her British accent meant that she was evil. Because Selena seems to be the only other person in that city to speak with a British accent and we know that she is evil.

[Winston Wolfe]

5 hours ago, lion10 said:

There's a great show here if the writers could get out of their own way.  The show's blessed with tremendous acting talent, better than any else in the Arrowverse, Melissa Benoist, Chyler Leigh, Jeremy Jordan, David Harewood, Chris Wood, Katie McGrath, Odette Annabelle, etc but they're not being given enough to work with and the show shows no signs of course-correcting.

I'm sticking with the first few episodes of Season 4 and if things don't get better I'm out.

You nailed it, LION10!  This episode reached Mystery Science Theater 3000 levels of suck-i-tude.  For the biggest "Big Bad" of all time, Reign really went down hard and fast, didn't she?  And J'onn?  You're a telepath, dude.  Could have taken the shooter down in two seconds by...putting him to sleep.  The speech wasn't really needed.

There are some talented actors on this show that really are being wasted.  A course correction is still possible, though.  I seem to recall that mid-way thorough Star Trek:TNG's second season the cast went to the producers to discuss poor script quality.  From Season Three onward we got some of the best sci-fi ever produced (see "Best of Both Worlds").  It would be so great if Supergirl's actors had a similar sit-down with their show-runners, but it ain't likely to happen, IMO.

On a positive note, the one saving grace of this episode was Olsen's "TESSMACHER!!!!" yell - the classics always play well.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Next time on a very special episode of Clone High Supergirl
The Worldkiller threat is back on
The DEO guns are all gone
Alex wants to be a mom
And for some reason Ruby is still on this show.  Can't she be killed off in a tragically hilarious blimp accident or something like that.

[cambridgeguy]

8 hours ago, Oreo2234 said:

This episode made me angry. There is no way a para-military organization which battles powerful alien threats would rid itself of leathal weapons. I look forward to the DEO being even more ineffective at dealing with aliens outside of the help it gets from Supergirl. There are way better ways to tackle gun control.

J'onn should have gone all the way and told them the new DEO uniform consists of a red shirt.  Plus his whole argument was that (untrained) civilians shouldn't have access to such lethal weaponry but instead he comes to the conclusion that his trained agents should be deprived of them instead - that's like saying the solution to police violence is to have them throw away their guns while doing nothing else.  Unless DEO agents are making a habit of shooting to kill whenever they go into the field this makes no sense.  They'd better hope Winn invents a phaser.

2 hours ago, Winston Wolfe said:

I seem to recall that mid-way thorough Star Trek:TNG's second season the cast went to the producers to discuss poor script quality.  From Season Three onward we got some of the best sci-fi ever produced (see "Best of Both Worlds").  It would be so great if Supergirl's actors had a similar sit-down with their show-runners, but it ain't likely to happen, IMO.

They've already had a character grow a beard but apparently there's more to it than that. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

If those heavy wooden beams from the marketplace accident could be easily hauled away by those small flying robots, why would they not use the robots instead of a construction crane in the first place ?  It would be a lot safer.

And how come the weather control in Argo City isn't better ?  It's in a dome for crying out loud, it should be sunny every day.

They need to update the news items on the wall in James' office -- there is still a new cold war in the Middle East, and supply chain problems.
Those headlines were there a few episodes ago.

Was there a scene where J'onn indicated that Supergirl and Mon-el could take his spaceship indefinitely ?  Or any mention of an auto-pilot return function on J'onn's spaceship ? Because that going away party seemed to imply that they were planning to be gone a long time.  And I would think that J'onn might want his spaceship back at some point, and with no way to communicate with Argo City, how would he get his ship back ?

And where did Selena learn to pilot a Martian spaceship ?  Did she study Martian at Argo City Community College in the 30+ years since the destruction of Krypton ?

Edited June 5, 2018 by ottoDbusdriver

[shantown]

I get that the whole Argo City being Alive plot was to set up the REAL big bad for the end of the season, but it just feels so unearned. Argo City was only discovered in the last episode. It already had that weird filter on for scenes there so you KNEW something shady would be up. At first I thought Kara was still in a coma, since it was the same location/filter as those scenes at the beginning of the season. By halfway through the ep I was BEGGING for Kara to still be in a coma and this whole season was a dream and didn't really happen. I don't know, the whole thing just feels so unearned when we stuttered through "Is Sam Reign? Can't be, she's Sam!" for so long and now we just get a throwaway of "She is Reign but there's a bigger, badder evil now!" right at the end. It's a snoozer! And it shouldn't be!

I think I'm out now, watching has become more of a chore than actual fun. If I hear it ends on a positive note or that season 4 has done a 180 and gets back to focusing on (what I consider) the core 4 of Kara, Alex, J'onn, and Winn - I'll come back. But if we're in for more of the Ruby and Mon-El show guest starring Supergirl as kind of a butthead, I'll stay away.

 

9 hours ago, Cthulhudrew said:

Also, that basketball was nowhere close to a trajectory to actually make it into the basket. 

It had Alex's super flip powers from last episode, ha!

[Dobian]

I find it kind of bizarre that a show where over the past three seasons we have seen aliens and alien technology routinely terrorize National City, blowing up buildings, slaughtering civilians, even threatening to nuke it out of existence once or twlce...that's the show that takes up the gun control debate.  I would be terrified to live in National City, and it has nothing to do with assault rifles lol.

[Cthulhudrew]

6 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Sam is cured!  Or is she?!  Then again, it anyone really cured as long as Ruby is your daughter?

Maybe that's what was really happening at the end of the episode. She dropped her glass and stared off horrified into the distance not because Reign was taking over again, but because she realized she'd been saved only to come back to Life With Ruby.

"Rao! What have I done?!?!?"

37 minutes ago, shantown said:

It had Alex's super flip powers from last episode, ha!

Haha! That must be it. I don't know why I hadn't thought about it before. Winn must have made the basketball out of the same magic material he made Alex's new suit out of.

[Quark]

Arrow's gun control episode was awful and so was this one.

These last two episodes have felt so disjointed. There should have been more lead-up to Argo City, Alura and Selina.

The fight at the start of the episode was cool, but that's about it.

[Lady Calypso]

9 minutes ago, Cthulhudrew said:

Haha! That must be it. I don't know why I hadn't thought about it before. Winn must have made the basketball out of the same magic material he made Alex's new suit out of.

Winn's a smart guy. I don't know why the villains haven't thought of taking him out of the picture; without Winn, the DEO would be useless!

[Writing Wrongs]

Once I realized it was about to get preachy, I skipped the National City stuff and just watched the Argo City stuff...which wasn't much better.

[Lugal]

6 hours ago, Winston Wolfe said:

On a positive note, the one saving grace of this episode was Olsen's "TESSMACHER!!!!" yell - the classics always play well.

It was Hackman-esque, I loved it.

4 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

And for some reason Ruby is still on this show.  Can't she be killed off in a tragically hilarious blimp accident or something like that.

Given how the show handles other issues, I can't see them doing well offing a kid.  Lena Luther's her benefactor, ship her off to fancy boarding school or something, say it's to help Sam's recovery.

2 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

If those heavy wooden beams from the marketplace accident could be easily hauled away by those small flying robots, why would they not use the robots instead of a construction crane in the first place ?  It would be a lot safer.

They also said it was a material that had caused problems before.  No one's fixed that yet?  It's not like Zod's selling mass-produced items at the farmer's market he claims are handmade.  Buildings falling down is sort of a big deal.  How incompetent is Alura?

And the would-be assassin.  I want the deleted scene where she explains to Kara: "Yes, I was going to work, and it was raining and I forgot my parasol, so I had to wear my sinister hooded-robe.  I can understand how you thought I was up to something nefarious.  It's a common mistake."

And the would-be assassin's alibi was that she was at work.  So you have a futuristic society with artificial gravity, flying helper robots and domed cities yet people still have 9 to 5 jobs and high school and science teachers who make uh-ohs.  That sounds like a true horrific dystopia to me.

[statsgirl]

6 hours ago, paulvdb said:

It did make me wonder if her British accent meant that she was evil. Because Selena seems to be the only other person in that city to speak with a British accent and we know that she is evil.

Since most people on the show Krypton seem to speak with a British accent, I figured she was Old School Kryptonian.

[tennisgurl]

Today, on yet another Very Special Episode of Supergirl...

Seriously, a gun control episode? We just HAD a Very Special Episode! I actually thought their episode with James and racial profiling was pretty good, but this was just...lame. Using science fiction or fantasy to talk about real world issues is a very common trope (like last seasons immigration/deportation story with aliens stuff), but this was basically just doing ripped from the headlines stuff, in a place where it just makes very little sense. Its like when Arrow did something very similar, with everyone being aghast at a shooting, when I assume people are still cleaning up from the last alien/supervillain attack just a few blocks over. With a big heaping pile of lecturing to go along with it. I am totally on the same side as James, but even I thought this was laying it on too thick. Plus, as I said, this would make more sense if it was more of a metaphor, like a movement to increase the strength of firearms in the wake of alien attacks, or something that more fits this world. And I appreciate them trying to be a bit more balanced with Lena saying she carries a gun as a kind of "lets respect all sides" thing, which is normally a good thing in an message episode like this, but, well, of course Lena carries a gun! Someone tries to kill her like every week! It doesn't really line up with some random guy wanting to carry a gun on him 24/7 despite just being a dentist or something, and never feeling in danger in this life. 

And phasing out guns from the DEO is just stupid. Its good that J'onn wants to use more nonlethal force, and thats fine, but getting rids of all guns? How do they plan to fight aliens or meta humans or whatever without even something to threaten them with? Will they set their phasers to stun? This is why this kind of episode doesn't work very well in shows dealing with aliens and such. Its one thing to try not to use guns against just normal humans, its another to not use weapons against being that have super powers that we just dont have! I guess we will have to see how they do, maybe they can just use super powered stunners or nets or whatever, but as of now, it looks like something to make the DEO even less effective than usual. 

I am glad they're actually doing more with Argo City, but it still seems so half assed. Was Kara really just going to take off, if they didnt have the party? Only saying goodbye to Alex? And Argo City is generally pretty boring and bland, probably because it still doesn't have the wight it should. It feels like Kara is coming home for fall break from after spending her first month at college, not reuniting with her long lost home and family. And, again, nobody called Clark and told him about this? His Aunt didnt ask about him? No one thought to tell him that not only is a whole city of his people still around, but members of his own family? Kara couldn't send him a quick text? I was kind of amused with Kara talking with her old childhood friend and her husband, only to realize she had grown up into a totally boring grown up. Been there, Kara. 

Alex seems to only exist to be weirdly obsessed with Ruby, and being a mom now. I get that they had to establish this to give her an excuse to break up with Maggie, but Maggie is gone now, they dont have to do this anymore! Alex is only in her late 20s/early 30s, right? Whats the big hurry? I half expect her to start stalking Ruby, having become obsessed with being her mommy. 

Edited June 5, 2018 by tennisgurl

[iMonrey]

Guys . . . I don't think we're finished with Reign yet. What was it supposed to mean when Sam dropped her glass? Just any mention of "rain" gives her PTSD or something?

Look . . . I'm a big gun control advocate myself, but it makes ZERO sense for the DEO to disarm. I can (maybe, sort of) see where it would mean something symbolic if they were the public police force. But . . . they're a secret organization. How the hell is anyone even supposed to know they're making this big sacrifice and taking this stand? 

The DEO just seems really dumb to me. I mean, if you don't want your gun manufacturer selling to civilians, you tell him to stop or else you will have Supergirl fly on over and beat his ass. Problem? Solved.

I want to live in a world where every single female character on TV doesn't feel like she has to have a baby in order to be fulfilled.

[tennisgurl]

I will say, this was at least better than the Arrow episode about gun control they had not too long ago. At least this one kind of tried things into the DEO (with the weapon being based on a DEO weapon) and wasn't totally uninvolved with the plot and characters. Plus, a superhero team where half the team uses guns, doing an episode about how guns are bad, are pretty ridiculous, especially on a show where guns or arrows solve pretty much every problem they have, or at least help. Really, it seemed like at first, the moral would be "high powered weapons shouldn't be in the hands of people who cant handle them, or might be unwell or dangerous, and should only be handled by professionals", and that at least would have been a more interesting moral that makes more sense. But, then they went with the DEO getting rid of their weapons too, even though these guys actually ARE capable of wielding these weapons responsibly. That just killed whatever decent moral was supposed to be used here. The DEO not having weapons to fight super powered threats is just stupid and dangerous. 

There were also a few unintentionally hilarious scenes. Like, when James came up after J'onns dumb speech and was like "I heard your speech and it was so good!", like the audience might not be fully convinced that this is a totally awesome thing, and needed to be reminded, and like James wasn't right freaking there, so of course he heard what he said. It was three seconds ago! Also, when Kara saw the woman in her cloak walked by, and she ran off while her pal was boring her with interior designing. It felt less like Kara trying to solve a crime, and more like a combination of her desperately trying to escape a boring as hell dinner, or some weird kind of clothing based profiling. "Your under arrest for cloak wearing in the first degree!"

[Lugal]

1 hour ago, tennisgurl said:

It felt less like Kara trying to solve a crime, and more like a combination of her desperately trying to escape a boring as hell dinner, or some weird kind of clothing based profiling. "Your under arrest for cloak wearing in the first degree!"

There was their metaphor: cloak control  It's not like she was wearing a poncho.  Why would she be wearing a sinister hooded-cloak if she wasn't planning something sinister?

[BaggythePanther]

I find it amusing that James and J’onn had no interactions in the episode about racism but they teamed them up for this PSA.

 

19 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

Mon-El certainly has grown on me. I actually rolled my eyes at Kara's snippy comment about Mon-El not telling her about future tech. I think they've actually redeemed the character for me (or Kara's 100% more annoying than last season). I couldn't care less about their romance, of course, but it was inevitable.

I’m sure it’s not what they were going for, but it’s almost as if they made Kara more annoying to contrast with Mon-El’s improvement.

[statsgirl]

5 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

 And I appreciate them trying to be a bit more balanced with Lena saying she carries a gun as a kind of "lets respect all sides" thing, which is normally a good thing in an message episode like this, but, well, of course Lena carries a gun! Someone tries to kill her like every week! It doesn't really line up with some random guy wanting to carry a gun on him 24/7 despite just being a dentist or something, and never feeling in danger in this life. 

[snip]

And, again, nobody called Clark and told him about this? His Aunt didnt ask about him? No one thought to tell him that not only is a whole city of his people still around, but members of his own family? Kara couldn't send him a quick text?

 

Didn't Kara's family send her to Earth to take care of Clark?  You'd think that's one of the first things Alura would have asked about.

If this were the real world instead of a TV show, I could understand Lena thinking she needs to carry a gun to protect herself.  But having had to use it before, no, I'm not buying it. If a Luthor were really in that kind of danger, she would have body guards. She's not running around as a vigilante.

Edited June 5, 2018 by statsgirl

[AnimeMania]

I loved the fight scene, it did my misogynous heart proud. I will now describe what happened along with the name of the finishing moves. First Mon-El kicks the WorldKiller in the crotch (Cunt Punt), then Kara punches the WorldKiller in the boobs (Take Your "Lovely Lady" Lumps). That's comedy gold.

Another name for Kara's move is the "Slamammogram".

Edited June 6, 2018 by AnimeMania
Adding extra jokes.

[MarkHB]

22 hours ago, statsgirl said:

I couldn't understand why she even looked at a job as a personal assistant if she studied nuclear physics at Yale. Why didn't she look for a job that aligned with her interests and degree?  This isn't Arrow so there isn't even that excuse.

I have a friend who actually has his Ph.D. in physics; spent a decade banging protons together at Fermilab and everything.  By the time he completed it, he had come to realize that, although there are plenty of jobs in that field, they are all in academia and he was sick of the attendant bullshit.   He's a programmer now.

 

18 hours ago, paulvdb said:

It did make me wonder if her British accent meant that she was evil. Because Selena seems to be the only other person in that city to speak with a British accent and we know that she is evil.

She's actually a character from the comics, so I hope she doesn't turn evil.

 

5 hours ago, BaggythePanther said:

I find it amusing that James and J’onn had no interactions in the episode about racism but they teamed them up for this PSA.

The thing that occurred to me last week is that, although he has spoken about racism in the past, J'onn is, in the show's world, voluntarily black.  My hunch is that that might have muddled the message.

[ketose]

On 6/4/2018 at 11:57 PM, Maverick said:

 No, Supergirl will take Lena's gun away, setting them up as enemies.  It'll be like Superman IV...but with guns instead of nukes.

 When was this show designated as the Ripped From the Headlines Very Special Episode shows of the CW-DCverse?  Immigration!  Racism!  Homosexuality!  Gun Control!  Alien Feng Shui!   You name an issue and this show will cover it.   In the most uninteresting, one-sided, stilted way imaginable.  

Supergirl 4: The Quest for Lena's Piece.

[brgjoe]

Agreed with most everyone here.  DEO not having lethal force options is silly.  "Hold still Mr. Supervillian while I take out my super duper tazor..."  Ugh.

And did I miss it, or did anyone on Krypton II ask anything about Clark?  And you would think Kara would tell Supes about this, even though he left when he was a baby.

I guess I hope this world is real and that it survives in the end.  For nothing else, it would give the writers an excuse why Superman wasn't involved.  "Oh, he's off world visiting his relatives on Argo City..." 

I don't particularly know why, but I was LOLing at the Guardian shooting basketballs backwards and swishing them.  Another one of Winn's inventions?  If so, give it to the Cleveland Cav's.  Stat!  ;)

[Cthulhudrew]

3 hours ago, MarkHB said:

The thing that occurred to me last week is that, although he has spoken about racism in the past, J'onn is, in the show's world, voluntarily black.  My hunch is that that might have muddled the message.

That's one thing about the show that I've always found a bit odd. As you note, the martians are not actually black, unless that is the form they happen to shapeshift into. Yet oddly, even though only a couple of them have visited Earth, their "default" human forms are uniformly black people. Even among those that haven't visited Earth at all. 

I get why they do it from a casting perspective- as the martians are portrayed by humans and spend most of their screen time in non-expensive cg/makeup, they probably think they're giving us some kind of visual cue when J'onn is interacting with other martians. But from an in-world POV it makes very little sense. At the very least, I'd have imagined that the White Martians from "Far From the Tree" would have had varying human features (if they even used human forms at all), and I could even see where M'gann- a white martian trying to blend into human society and stay under the radar- might have been inclined to pick a white female body (and possibly even a white male- talk about not drawing attention to yourself!). 

Just things that make me go hmm. 

[mommalib]

On 6/5/2018 at 12:13 AM, Maelstrom said:

Is it sad that I think Supergirl would work just fine without, well, Supergirl? Seriously, it seemed like business as usual at the DEO with just Jonn, Alex, Winn and James (what is this Catco you speak of?) I didn’t miss Kara at all there.

The two good things I can say about this episode are that it gave me time to catch up on my backlog of jigsaw puzzles in my favorite game app, and it made “Schott Through the Heart” seem even better episode in comparison.

So now that the DEO is giving up guns, are they going to be attacked by zombies like in the Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror? It might improve things.

I was thinking the same thing while I was watching. The team functioned like Supergirl wasn't missed at all. And it was great seeing James so involved, I still can't believe the way he was back burned after season 1 save some special episodes here and there.

[mommalib]

On 6/5/2018 at 5:14 PM, BaggythePanther said:

I find it amusing that James and J’onn had no interactions in the episode about racism but they teamed them up for this PSA.

 

I’m sure it’s not what they were going for, but it’s almost as if they made Kara more annoying to contrast with Mon-El’s improvement.

In regards to Kara and Mon-El I think that's exactly what happened.

[statsgirl]

19 hours ago, MarkHB said:

I have a friend who actually has his Ph.D. in physics; spent a decade banging protons together at Fermilab and everything.  By the time he completed it, he had come to realize that, although there are plenty of jobs in that field, they are all in academia and he was sick of the attendant bullshit.   He's a programmer now.

I can understand that logic.  But I've been an personal assistant  and I'd take being a coder any day.

I know it's all to set up the easter egg.