S04.E03: Man of Steel

[Lugal]

Sam Witwer's performance gave this episode more than it deserved.  It was kind of a mixed bag at best.  Ben started out as a good guy but after a series of misfortunes he comes to place the blame on aliens and immediately joins the violent alien-haters.  It's like they tried to conflate a bunch of issues together under the whole idea of "bigotry is bad" and ignored almost any nuance.  Note bigotry is bad, but there nuances besides violent anti-alien thugs.  There is the so-called "Good People" who rationalize away their prejudices while continuing the oppressive system, like a person who would decry the alien-haters but really doesn't like to be around aliens.  And then there's the fetishization and wannabes like on Defiance where the alien played by Jesse Rath discovers that his human girlfriend like to dress up as an alien and hit the bars and get hit on by other wannabe aliens.

They did make a few good points, almost by accident.  They did get that many people are radicalized by a loss of privilege like Ben, the former collage professor who looses his job and his nice house and wants to blame someone for it, and that anger is easily funneled into hateful causes.  And Ben did question the Myth of Progress (in which everything is better than it used to be) which I think does need to be questioned or at least examined (but not in the racist way he did), but because he was the villain by then, it meant he was wrong.

There are a lot of other things that felt so forced.  Like Dad was upset that Lena acted like a good businessperson, when he refused to upgrade his factory.  It would be one thing if he could not afford to upgrade the factory, but to simply refuse out of not wanting to deal with alien Nth metal is stupid.

Aliens that can lift two tons over their heads being hired over a human?  No.  They have forklifts which any boss will use over a worker (even a superstrong alien worker) because forklifts don't get sick, ask for holidays off or complain about workplace violations.  A more realistic scenario would be an alien from a world with a 42 hour day who on Earth could work more hours than a human.  And I can't help but wonder if Dad's steel mill was unionized.  According to wiki the United Steelworkers is the largest union in America.

22 hours ago, Perfect Xero said:

Nth metal, a material that they're shipping to Earth from other planets at faster than light speeds, is apparently so cheap that they're using it to make chalk trays? No.

Especially since they generally make chalk trays out of aluminum (which is what that tray looked like in the ep)

[Lantern7]

Looking at it, "Man of Steel" was like a mix of two South Park episodes about being shafted: "Goobacks" and "Where My Country Gone?" Good think I don't write for Supergirl. "These damn aliens can just fly here and put us out of work? DEY TERK ER JERBS!!!!!"

[Perfect Xero]

I'd suggest that Alex should have known that there was, at least, a good chance Ben wasn't attacking the alien since he had clearly been 'shot' in the back, so her jumping to conclusions about Ben attacking was done specifically to make him come off as the sympathetic one to the audience in their conversation.

His FBI conspiracy stuff is a bit odd: He's correct that there is something odd going on (The "FBI" working with Supergirl is actually the secret DEO organization) and that they're being lied to.

He then comes up with an incorrect conspiracy theory off his initially correct hunch and tries to spread it.

Then the narrative makes him accidentally 'right' about the "FBI" and Supergirl in the sense Supergirl and the top people at the DEO/"FBI" are actually involved in a conspiracy to keep an illegally elected woman in position as the President of the United States because they are putting their politics over the the alien situation over the truth and Constitutional law.

Of course when Mercy talks about it with Ben (the guy who was just ranting about aliens on a street corner) even he dismisses it as a crazy "4chan" conspiracy theory, and then the conspiracy theorists actually prove it to be true.

This is a world where the conspiracy theorists are correct and the Democrat president they don't like is an undocumented alien who was elected president in violation of the US Constitution.

This creates the narrative that people like Ben who are spouting crazy conspiracies might be wrong on the details, but that their general sense of paranoia and feeling that there's something 'off' and that the people in charge at the "FBI" are operating to a political agenda is actually somewhat true.

[RobertDeSneero]

17 hours ago, catrice2 said:

Just one more reason for me to not like this show. The topic this season couldn't be more reflective of art imitating life, and it's really not something I need right now. I just need escapism in the ability to come to this message boards and talk about a fictional show instead of dealing with reality 24/7. Hopefully future episodes will be devoted to how we can disagree civilly but I won't hold my breath

I could go a bit in the other direction and say that I would enjoy the escapism of heroes who do violent things to characters who are stand-ins for real-life villains.  I would hate to see a redemption arc for Agent Liberty.

[Rushmoras]

Would have found Sam Witwer character's plight to be believable, if not for:

1) too much bad things happened to him, as if he is a magnet for alien terrorists;

2) his father was a stubborn fool - should have done as Lena told, invested in newer equipment and probably saved whole lot of jobs in the long run;

3) what were the chances of him meeting all of they key-cast of Supergirl and the key-cast being kind of douches towards him?

All in all, somewhat weak episode.

 

P.S. How will everyone explain Kara's absence to Lena now? I mean, or will Kara walk in that armour designed by Lena and Lena will, um, pretend that is totally normal.

Edited November 2, 2018 by Rushmoras

[legaleagle53]

On 10/28/2018 at 6:24 PM, mxc90 said:

Man of Steel? Did anyone call Clark to see if he’s OK? Or his assistance before Lena?

Not possible.  First, Superman is still on Argo.  Second, he can't return to Earth because he'd be in the same predicament as Supergirl -- the Kryptonite in Earth's atmosphere would poison him as quickly as it has her.

And for those who keep wondering why nobody thought of breaching Kara to another Earth -- both Brainy and J'Onn made it clear that she cannot be moved off-world without killing her.  That would also apply to sending her to another Earth.

[Grammaeryn]

On 10/28/2018 at 11:06 PM, statsgirl said:

 So congrats to the writers Rob Wright and Derek Simon.  They've got me wanting to study the inclusion of aliens into the predominant culture until Viktor Orban shuts me down.

Jo napot kivanok. Nem tudok magyarul. Budapesten vagy?

[legaleagle53]

2 minutes ago, Grammaeryn said:

Jo napot kivanok. Nem tudok magyarul. Budapesten vagy?

I'm impressed, given that you just said that you don't speak Hungarian!

[Grammaeryn]

Google and having a Hungarian dad helps... ?

[silverstream]

I laughed so hard at the scene where Lockwood's house just randomly explodes and starts burning down... and five seconds later the son's bicycle in front of the house catches fire as well. It was like the worst kind of slapstick.

I'm surprised that there's aparently no specific insurance for damage caused by alien intervention/invasion yet. There'd certainly be a market for that. Then again, there'd be a huge wave of insurance companies going bankrupt every season finale at the show's current rate.

[ottoDbusdriver]

3 hours ago, silverstream said:

I laughed so hard at the scene where Lockwood's house just randomly explodes and starts burning down... and five seconds later the son's bicycle in front of the house catches fire as well. It was like the worst kind of slapstick.

Apparently the Daxamite fired while fighting J'onn and hit the bicycle.  But that was too funny that the bike was off by itself on fire.

[legaleagle53]

7 hours ago, silverstream said:

I laughed so hard at the scene where Lockwood's house just randomly explodes and starts burning down... and five seconds later the son's bicycle in front of the house catches fire as well. It was like the worst kind of slapstick.

I'm surprised that there's apparently no specific insurance for damage caused by alien intervention/invasion yet. There'd certainly be a market for that. Then again, there'd be a huge wave of insurance companies going bankrupt every season finale at the show's current rate.

That, by the way, was the original premise of the dear departed NBC comedy Powerless.  It was set in an insurance agency that specialized in handling claims for collateral damage brought on by superhero battles, and the show was about how that agency would go out of its way to avoid paying on those claims.  The premise was changed, however, to a firm that specialized in inventing products that would protect ordinary people who happened to get caught in the crossfire during those superhero battles.  The resulting change made for a much better and funnier show, and it showed in a humorous way what people like the Lockwoods have to live with on a daily basis as a result of constant alien/villain interventions.

[Perfect Xero]

They should bring back the Supergirl worshiping cult this season, but reveal that the whole thing is actually a scam so they can claim property damaged during one of her fights as an Act of God on their insurance forms.

[legaleagle53]

9 hours ago, Perfect Xero said:

They should bring back the Supergirl worshiping cult this season, but reveal that the whole thing is actually a scam so they can claim property damaged during one of her fights as an Act of God on their insurance forms.

Except that Acts of God aren't usually covered in standard homeowners' insurance policies. Neither are damages resulting from acts of war.

[Chas411]

All this episode really did was remind me I preferred Alex's hair a bit longer and that the Mercy actress is terrible.

Also, I could totally buy Alex and James being a dickhead to anyone who's not in their direct circle.