S04.E08: Bunker Hill

[Quark]

I must say, whilst the writing is really not subtle, Season Four has been quite strong so far.

I did miss Lena though.

[shantown]

4 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

It seems laughable that the President is like, "I need transparency from those who work for my super-secret spy organization that we are still pretending in 2018 and amidst anti-alien fever is the FBI." And insisting on Supergirl's resignation seems like cutting off one's nose to spite one's face.

Also, the President was going on about how his family had secret service with them because of his position - and then didn't offer Kara secret service protection for her family. So like, shut up, President. I'm really hoping since Winn left the DEO, and then J'onn left, and now Supergirl left that Alex will leave too. I'm pretty meh about the DEO and feel like it's worn out it's usefulness. I would like to see them go a different direction in future seasons as far as an HQ goes. 

I loved Kara/Nia/Brainy working together. I missed Lena in the episode.

[Orillia]

One effect that I really liked occurred when Kara sped off to become Supergirl , her glasses hung in the air for a second and then fell. Hope they're unbreakable.

I also liked seeing her casually lift the couch with one hand to get the brass knuckles.

Sometimes it's the little things that are the best.

[ketose]

7 hours ago, statsgirl said:

I had the feeling he was going to be evul when they cast Bruce Boxleitner in the role

Hey, Bruce Boxleitner saved the whole freakin' galaxy in Babylon 5.

Last night's episode was "Plot Holes 'R Us." They should have stated Elseworlds a week earlier.

[Macktor]

6 hours ago, slowpoked said:

Speaking of that - are we supposed to believe all those stone-cold faced DEO agents do not really know about Kara Danvers and Supergirl? Or were they just waiting to see if she would indeed reveal her Earth identity.

I think that’s why they made a point of showing Kara look at some agents on the higher level and one of them barely shaking his head no, as if to say “don’t do it”. 

[Cthulhudrew]

9 hours ago, slowpoked said:

Y'all have already covered the ridiculousness of Kara being forced to out her identity inside the DEO HQ and being an employee of the DEO. There was a really funny thread on Reddit which referenced all the time Kara Danvers "outed" herself as Supergirl inside DEO with all other DEO agents within earshot and not caring one bit. It included videos of various past episodes. It's really hilarious to watch.

I'm going to look for this now. It sounds awesome.

[bros402]

So, uh, you think that if the government wanted to know Supergirl's secret identity, they wouldn't have her blurt it out in front of the whole DEO - yes, transparency is good, but people don't need to know the name of every undercover CIA operative. They could just keep her name written down on a piece of paper somewhere for the president's eyes only (and head of the DEO, and maybe chairman of the joint chiefs of staff). I mean, I bet they already know her secret identity, they just need her to say it.

And you think the President would've offered her and her family secret service protection if he wanted her to reveal her identity.

Edited December 4, 2018 by bros402

[Perfect Xero]

Was President Tron trying to get Kara to reveal her identity to the public or just to the DEO?

When superhero fiction goes in to this question about secret identities it gets weird because in the real world there are a lot of good reasons for anti-vigilante laws and issues of accountability of law enforcement that would make a high profile government agent going around beating up citizens while maintaining a secret identity a potential powder keg.

[slowpoked]

16 hours ago, Macktor said:

I think that’s why they made a point of showing Kara look at some agents on the higher level and one of them barely shaking his head no, as if to say “don’t do it”. 

Ok that makes more sense rather than what I originally thought of none of the DEO agents knew of Kara Danvers.

But still, how comes the Prez doesn't know her earth identity??? Isn't this classified info stuff that he should have been briefed upon. I get it that he may not have been privy to this kind of info when he was VP, but I would think that as soon as he was installed as Prez, he would immediately have been briefed on Earth's most valuable, hidden assets, which would include Supergirl. 

Or does he know who Kara Danvers/Supergirl is and he is forcing her to out herself in public?
The scene was poorly written and executed it's hard to understand what they were really trying to want her to do.

[angora]

I love both Brainy and Nia, so I was happy to get this episode.  I really liked that Nia specifically mentioned her powers as following the female line - I don't have a problem with it, especially since prophetic dreams seem like a power that originate very much in the mind.  I DID side-eye Kara a little for being all, "Nia, you could've told me you're an alien!" when she's hiding too, but her secrets are understandable (still, how much longer before Nia knows?)  I liked watching Brainy and Kara help Nia use her powers, their little trio mission to Collinwood was great, and neat use of Nia's powers to break the handcuffs.

Everyone was surprised when it first came out that Nia and Brainy know each other, but I wonder if either has since explained that to them.  Like, do they know that Nia knows he's an alien?  Other characters have a tendency to try and "cover" for Brainy with her when he says weird things, but they don't really need to.  (Of course, if anyone spends more than half an hour with Brainy and doesn't realize he's an alien, that's kind of on them.)  Here, I enjoyed the recurring movie references - and how excited Kara was at the thought of discussing Ed Wood with him! - and I'm really glad that his neat fight skills weren't just a one-off for the Thanksgiving episode.  Using the flight ring on a Child of Liberty was especially slick.

I'm still liking Manchester's story.  He seems poised to go on the backburner now, which I'm okay with, but I hope we get back to him sooner rather than later.  Considering how handily he's dispatched most of the people he's killed, it feels narratively convenient to have him toy with Lockwood, but I get it - he went all Sweeney Todd, not going straight for the Judge's throat when he had him.  While I'm still annoyed that Fiona had to die to move Manchester's story, I really liked his delivery on, "He murdered the love of my whole, wasted life," and I enjoyed the scene between him and J'onn at the end.

Speaking of J'onn, I thought this season we were going to be getting the adventures of Martian Manhunter, telepathic detective helping aliens who can't go to the police?  What happened to that?  I get that the Manchester stuff is rather pressing and needs to be dealt with, but I want to see J'onn getting his Angel Investigations on!

Interested to see where this Kara/DEO stuff goes moving forward (after the crossover, I presume.)  As soon as the President mentioned Secret Service to point out the risk his family is in because of him, I wanted Kara to ask, "So you're offering my loved ones Secret Service protection then?" but she's not that kind of snarky.  Also, why is no one demanding Superman's secret identity?

[Rushmoras]

So... is or is not Nia trans-sexual? Or do the normal biological processes fly out the window when talking about alien sex surgeries? Anyways, it's just a rhetorical question.

Also, Mr. President douche, what happened to the "We do not negotiate with terrorists" policy, which was enacted during September 11? Maybe, while you're at it, ask CIA to disclose their secret agents' identity for reasons of transparency. Also, why DEO should be important for Supergirl to do her work? As far as I've understood, President thinks that he can order Supergirl around and force her not to save lives... or did I misunderstood it? Or is she now has free reign to save lives, since she's not in DEO now?

[manbearpig]

Nia's been a lovely addition to the show, and I thought she worked particularly well this episode with Kara and Brainy. This passed fairly quickly, but it did surprise me that Nia had seemingly never heard of Lois Lane before...

[DigitalCount]

I agree that Nia not knowing who Lois was was a bit of a misstep. Given how James was pretty well-known going into CatCo, shouldn't Lois be basically an order of magnitude more famous?

I understand that when Manchester referred to himself as "the intolerant left" he was using a bit of sarcastic flourish, but I felt like the episode was encouraging us to see him in basically that light--his actions supposedly made him no better than Agent Liberty. I'm not sure if I can get on board with that interpretation, and o don't know how much of that I'm allowed to respond to here due to the rules, so I'll leave it at that.

Speaking of Agent Liberty, how ridiculous was it that Lockwood was trying to claim that he was operating with transparency when he was outright forced into revealing his identity by circumstance? I'm not saying it was bad for the show; the assertion is perfectly in character. But it seems threadbare to claim it, though no one called him out on it and indeed the narrative ended up somewhat supporting it with Supergirl's ouster at the hands of the new President.

I'm hoping these people have the sense to use Sam Witwer more than, say, anything else I've seen him in other than Being Human, but he's playing such a repulsive character with not a whole lot of longevity. I'm guessing he'll be on the back burner while in jail and dead by the end of the season, which is a pity and a relief at the same time.