S04.E01: American Alien

[Lugal]

Well the show is back, and it's about what I expected.  I miss Winn but I like Brainy (And it's cool the see Jesse Rath without a ton of makeup).  I wonder if the focus is going to be more on Catco this year, if the DEO will get shorted.  At least they're coming up with a plausible reason why J'onn and Superman aren't in the middle of the action.  When will J'onn choose to join the fight?  Probably after the budget recovers from the crossover.

On 10/14/2018 at 8:23 PM, Writing Wrongs said:

I just got that Otis is Ned Beatty's character from Superman The Movie.

I was waiting for the Russian Supergirl thing to show up. What is it with shows not doing previouslies when they come back?

I did not get that until you said it, even though the name Otis stuck with me for some reason.  Since they make reference to the movie from time to time, I wonder if they'll have him reference stuff he did with Lex then.

I'm curious about where they're going with Russian Supergirl, I hope they don't go for some ham-fisted anti-Russian commentary.  On a shallow note, Russian Supergirl is hot.

On 10/14/2018 at 9:33 PM, ottoDbusdriver said:

Though it's been a couple of days since Kara stopped that train, so how is the ice still intact ?

That bugged me too.  Is it a particularly cold winter in Kasnia?

On 10/14/2018 at 10:18 PM, VCRTracking said:

I also know Tiya Sircar as the voice of Sabine Wren on Star Wars: Rebels. Great seeing her but her British accent is almost as bad as the "Australian accent" Vicky wanted to use playing "Denise" in The Good Place!

Quote

Aww, man, Vicky's already been sent back to The Bad Place!  I got all excited when I saw Tiya Sircar's name, so of course it was just an one and done episode for her.  At least she got to use a British accent this, compared to her (purposely) bad Australian in that one episode of The Good Place!

She worked for weeks on that accent, she did!  Seriously, why can't they just let Tiya Sircar be Texan?  It would go a long way to make their "aliens are living among us and trying to fit in" story feel more real.  I was hoping she could at least be recurring, but maybe now we'll see her turn up on the Good Place again.

On 10/15/2018 at 8:10 AM, cambridgeguy said:

By the way, shouldn't James be worried about retribution since he's been outed?  Or is being Superman's best buddy supposed to protect him from payback?

The whole outing himself as Guardian was an odd choice.  Even without retribution, he's the perfect person for some ambitious prosecutor to make an example of: Don't go outside the law, even media mogul and friend of Superman James Olson isn't immune to consequences.  He's lucky Lena's watching is back.

12 hours ago, UNOSEZ said:

Isn't it also how we Americans have always dealt with an influx of new peoples from elsewhere... We weren't kind to the Irish or the Scots the Italians Germans various Asians not too good with Jewish folks.. The masses have always blamed loss of jobs on whoever is new.. Makes logical sense that if we had aliens living among us that those inclined to always blame the new ppl or the "other" would react the way that the ppl in the chat rooms were acting

It's more nuanced than the show has been doing.  There are issues of assimilation, which some aliens (Supergirl) are better able to do than others (the alien scientist whose name I forgot).  Job loss was almost always bosses playing off workers against each other, but offworld aliens bring in other issues too: "These aliens come from a planet without money, so they're fine working for $8 an hour" or "You worked on a Kirion reactor.  We don't have these here, so you're hired to mop the floor" and even "she comes from a planet with 36 hour days so she can work through the night and that's why we hired her"

However, after several alien invasions, there is a legitimate reason for people to fear aliens (and even alien to fear other aliens)

On 10/15/2018 at 12:50 AM, thuganomics85 said:

Glad to see Supergirl is back doing what it does best: tackling politics and social issues with the subtly of a sledgehammer.  Really, the show means well and I appreciate it, but I still giggle when there are moments like the big dramatic reveal into commercial break where Kara learns the horrible truth that their are horrible, racist people out there!  On the internet!!

Kara, If you think the racists are bad, do not look up Supergirl fanfiction on the internet.

[UNOSEZ]

1 hour ago, Lugal said:

Kara, If you think the racists are bad, do not look up Supergirl fanfiction on the internet.

As a multiracial millenial I've generally gotten into tons of debates about race and representation on the lil and big screen.. And I remember when James was cast how much Time I spent trying to change minds.. And I saw some ugly stuff bit I never took a look at the fanfic so.. Is it really that bad.. And for my own edification where can I see some of this stuff? 

[Lugal]

10 minutes ago, UNOSEZ said:

As a multiracial millenial I've generally gotten into tons of debates about race and representation on the lil and big screen.. And I remember when James was cast how much Time I spent trying to change minds.. And I saw some ugly stuff bit I never took a look at the fanfic so.. Is it really that bad.. And for my own edification where can I see some of this stuff? 

I haven't actually read any Supergirl Fanfiction, I was thinking it would be more of a Real Person Fic aspect from Kara's POV.

[mommalib]

10 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

No, I'm not saying that James "has a place and he should stay in it" or that he "can't contribute and help people in his own way." 

What I am saying is that up till now, the writers have not particularly handled the Guardian arc well (same as how they have mishandled lots of things, from Alex's baby rabies to Mon-El to Kara's not using her powers to chase people when the plot "demands it" and so on.) and that the way they have set up the near future of that arc, I foresee more of the same. I am not really interested in James deciding to put himself in danger of criminal indictment by being Guardian in the future, or in James-Lena drama when James learns that Lena brokered a deal to prevent him from being prosecuted. 

I am also saying that Guardian is not well suited to go up against the likes of Reign, Daxamites, etc. that Supergirl regularly fights. So the writers are caught in a dilemma of either portraying Guardian as unrealistically going toe-to-toe with those kinds of threats or having Guardian go up against the street level type villains in a story that is largely unrelated to the main plots. Now, with this season being about these anti-alien bigots with tech, maybe Guardian is better positioned than he had been. I guess we'll see. 

What I am also saying is that Jimmy has a strong potential role as Kara's boss and friend that has been underexplored. In this episode, the scene where he pointed out that she was channelling Kat was one of the stronger scenes he's been in. I'd be up for more of that.

One big difference: the threat from the aliens in Supergirl are real. In just the last three years, two sets of Kryptonians and one set of Daxamites have sought to take over the planet. And that's not even factoring in numerous other threats other aliens have presented on smaller scales. I think it's somewhat of a miracle that anti-alien sentiment isn't off the charts. 

I agree about more James and Kara. As far as Gaurdian is concerned maybe the writers do need to be more creative in how they use him but I don't have a problem with him being Gaurdian and I definitely don't understand the passion of the people against it. It seems like something more to me. It's like they don't want him with Kara or Lena and they don't want him to be involved in the action. They may only be comfortable with him behind a desk at Catco being a sounding board for Kara/Suupergirl.

[brgjoe]

Didn't strike me as a really good premiere either.  Especially since they are going to extend this alien hating storyline for apparently at least one more episode. 

I did like that they indicated Supe's was off-world in Argo.  I was thinking at the time the writers were tired of us whining about why he is never available.  "See you annoying little critics, right off the top of the show we showed he was off-world.  Happy now, haters?"   ;)

I like Brainy.  But he sure was annoying a lot of the time.  Hope they tone that down real quick. 

Nice seeing Madam Luthor again.  Kinda cool to see her playing chess with Lena.  But I'd say they are playing chess more than literally against each other.  And I hope this doesn't open the door for Lena to turn EEEEEEVIL eventually.  But otherwise, it was nice seeing them both together on screen again.

Can someone at the DEO please give Supergirl some noise cancelling earplugs or something?  Geesh, how many times is she going to be affected by another sonic attack?

I do wonder now how the show will deal with President Lynda Carter being revealed to all as an alien.  I'm sure that won't cause any backlash or anything.  ;)

Wow...forgotten all about Siberian Supergirl.  Though I know one way to deal with her.  Sonic attacks!  ;)
 

[MarkHB]

19 hours ago, Lugal said:

On a shallow note, Russian Supergirl is hot.

I... may have rewound that scene a couple of times.

[GHScorpiosRule]

8 hours ago, brgjoe said:

I do wonder now how the show will deal with President Lynda Carter

She’s always been President Wonder Woman to me!

Sorry, that’s all I got.

[Rushmoras]

I'm just waiting till Kara fights her Russian (sorry, Kasnian) doppelgänger.

[UNOSEZ]

1 hour ago, Rushmoras said:

I'm just waiting till Kara fights her Russian (sorry, Kasnian) doppelgänger

Kasnian doppleganger falls in love with James from afar.  Tries to take out Lena.. Lena finally has had enuff alien shenanigans and goes nuts.. James has to break it off.. Kara fights Lena... James helps.. Lena loses.. James and Kara try again.. Mon-el pops back up..  End of series

[HunterHunted]

On 10/14/2018 at 10:58 PM, mommalib said:

Why do fans have such a problem with James being Guardian? 

I can tell you what my issue is. My issue is that during the first season James actually talked about how important their actual jobs, journalists, were. Snapper Carr did the same. Being a journalist is being a hero. It's important, dangerous, and in many cases probably touches more lives than being Guardian. And at some points both James and Kara thought so too. I don't mind if James is shown being able to handle himself while in dangerous places or if he feels like he needs to put down his camera every now and then to help people, but I'd really like it if the show remembered how important reporting the news is. If this season is going to spend some time exploring all of the ways aliens are discriminated against, then I'd rather they do it through investigative journalism and not Supergirl punching bigots.

[Trini]

I don't think it's been mentioned yet, but the CatCo offices have completely redesigned. No more pink panthers; Cat Grant is never coming back. :(

[mommalib]

5 hours ago, HunterHunted said:

I can tell you what my issue is. My issue is that during the first season James actually talked about how important their actual jobs, journalists, were. Snapper Carr did the same. Being a journalist is being a hero. It's important, dangerous, and in many cases probably touches more lives than being Guardian. And at some points both James and Kara thought so too. I don't mind if James is shown being able to handle himself while in dangerous places or if he feels like he needs to put down his camera every now and then to help people, but I'd really like it if the show remembered how important reporting the news is. If this season is going to spend some time exploring all of the ways aliens are discriminated against, then I'd rather they do it through investigative journalism and not Supergirl punching bigots.

I can respect this response. 

[AnimeMania]

6 hours ago, Tasha Brand said:

I'm sorry.  Did Sam and/or Ruby kick your puppy or run over your kitten?  Seriously.  Neither one of them was the best of characters, but they were a long way from the worst.

Whatever.  I'll be at a table of one who is happy that they are enjoying life in Metropolis happily.

Sounds like 2/3 the comments are saying they don't want Sam and Ruby to be a part of this season, you didn't say you wanted them to return, so you are not exactly disagreeing with the comments.