S04.E13: What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way?

[Trini]

Quote

Manchester Black (guest star David Ajala) breaks out of prison with the help of his new team, The Elite, who are set on punishing the anti-alien forces. Supergirl pulls double duty as she tries to apprehend Manchester Black and his team as well as deal with a shocking new development with Ben Lockwood.

Alexis Ostrander directed the episode written by Eric Carrasco & Aadrita Mukerji.

Airdate: 3/3/2019

[cambridgeguy]

Well, at least Baker didn't make Lockwood his new VP.  Maybe that will be in a few episodes.

Supergirl's life would be a lot easier if she didn't selectively forget about her superspeed.  How hard is it to slap a pair of cuffs on someone before they have a chance to react?  At least she was clever enough to slip a tracker on that ring.

I hadn't realized Lena working for the government meant literally setting up shop at the DEO. 

[mxc90]

Too bad Mackenzie can't see through James. Once he breaks up with Lena his journalistic integrity suddenly returns. 

Did Manchester and Hat need to go through all the fighting/killing to escape prison? They could have teleported to the girl's cell and then magically disappeared in minutes.

I guess Claymore is the new border wall.

Where are the president's advisors?

The show is creating many villains now, with Manchester, Liberty, the president, and Lena(?).

[shantown]

As much as I don’t like the political anvils they’re dropping this season, I did like Kara having to face a difficult choice in whether to stop the missile launch or not, and what each of those options meant as far as her role as a hero and an alien and a citizen. I liked there being very different stakes rather than just “Stopping the bad guy equals a good thing.”

Also very much liking a potential Alex-Lena team-up! Anything that keeps Lena gray and not evil is good with me. But also an interesting implication in that these are two major players who don’t know Kara = Supergirl. (But how great that on every Earth and in every circumstance, Kara and Lena bond and find their way back to each other! Their sisterhood should always remain central to the show)

[UNOSEZ]

Manchester is fun.. He's like a mini-joker to J'onn s Batman... I don't like lockwood.. Bit even I was happy when he whooped old neckbeard who was mouthing off

[Lantern7]

Ah, Supergirl. Where the only things falling to Earth faster than killer satellite parts are the anvils. Then again, Black Lightning returns tomorrow . . .

I'm hoping Kara just cuts to the chase, that she's willing to save everyone, regardless of species as well as race/creed/color. The last thing she wants is any kind of war, let alone a civil one. Sadly, the leads on both sides are pretty much assholes at this point. Yeah, Manchester's awesome even with purple hair, but he's still an asshole.

The Hat's hat might come from the Fifth Dimension. Really cute, writers.

At least Alex is warming up to Supergirl. And Haley got out-jerked by the president and Ben Lockwood. At least the latter showed off his extremist cred to Beardy McWontShutUp.

Brainy and Kelex fight on a regular basis. Of course they do. On the bright side, Nia now has a weird astral projection attack. Okay, show. Sadly, I'm guessing Brainy's flight ring was a major ingredient in the martial art that is Brainy Fu. Plus side: potential for a flying Manchester

[ottoDbusdriver]

I know the show has been off for a while, but have we seen 'The Hat' before ?  Because I'm drawing a blank.
Is his hat a TARDIS (it appears to be bigger on the inside) ?  Are there prehensile digits inside the hat to steal rings off of fingers ?
And where did he get his hat from ?  Is he a teleporter as well ?  And a shapechanger since he impersonated that guard ? 
Is he an alien ?  Because a bowler hat seems like a weird choice for an alien -- shouldn't it be some sort of alien hat ?
So many questions.

Why did Kara need the protective suit that was used to protect her from gaseous kryptonite ?  Was the Claymore satellite powered by kryptonite ?
Kara can fly in space without a protective suit -- so what gives ?

How did Manchester Black and the Elite team up with a Morae ?  Is The Hat also a universal translator ?

I know Alex's memory of Kara being Supergirl has been wiped, but she is as bad a Lena at putting two and two together.

As asked upthread, why did Lena need to move her lab into the DEO exactly ?

Still no sign or mention of Kasnian Supergirl.  Seriously, we are now 13 episodes into this season, and this particular plot thread has gone nowhere.
Last we saw, Kasnian Supergirl was unconscious and a Kasnian army officer was making a call to North America.

[thuganomics85]

I really have to imagine now that Baker was only President Lynda Carter's running mate due to political reasons like appealing to "demographics" that might not have voted for her, because he seriously doesn't seem politically aligned to her previous agenda at all.  Certainly doesn't have her intelligence either, because, yeah, having Ben Lockwood join your administration is totally going to work out, buddy!

I guess Manchester Black and the Elite are going overboard with their revenge tour, but considering how ineffective everyone else seems to be at dealing with the Children of Liberty, I almost can't blame them.  I'm sure they'll be destined to fail (what's the over/under it will end with J'onn crossing the line and killing Manchester?), but at least they seem to have some kind of plan, which I really can't say about Kara or the DEO at the moment.

Lena working for the DEO, but actually working with Alex since neither trust the government is an interesting idea.

Still loving Nia and Brainy.

James really isn't not impressing me with his journalism skills, lately.

[Trini]

3 hours ago, mxc90 said:

The show is creating many villains now, with Manchester, Liberty, the president, and Lena(?).

I still don't like Lockwood and CoL, but I do like that there are multiple antagonists this season. The Elite can stay for a little bit.

I don't think that they're going to have Lena turn evil any time soon. She doesn't trust the government, but she's still working with them/sharing tech with them? I'm not sure where they are going with this.

I liked that Kara mentioned that was Kelex 2, because she destroyed the last one! Brainy and Kelex hating each other might have been funnier if it didn't come out of nowhere.

I said last time that they need to up Nia's game to justify the suit, and now she has offensive powers. Good, but that was fast.

So the breakup wasn't enough, now James is going to be at odds with Lena and her business/etc.? 😟 Why they gotta do my boy like this?

I did like that we got a Nia/Brainy training scene, and some Kara/J'onn scenes. Alex should have been more confused and/or freaked out that Supergirl came to her home to have a heart-to-heart.

Next week looks like a skip for me; or maybe I'll just watch the Elite scenes.

[tennisgurl]

"I am sure that Supergirl is watching this right now, standing there with her fists on her waist."

Kara: *standing there doing exactly that, looking awkwardly around*

I mean, I know that Manchester and his pals are doing awful things, but I still kind of love having them around. At least they actually would probably make the creepy mask freaks nervous, more than Kara and her super powered shaking of her finger. Of course, this is always a thing on this show, they present a view that is clearly considered wrong by the show, like being hating aliens or wanting to use violence and killing to fight evil, and instead of bringing up the actual debate that it could cause, the have them escalate super quickly so Kara can be right, and everyone else is evil. I mean, yes its wrong to hate aliens and want to hurt and kill them just for existing, but they never really talk about any actual real issues people might have with aliens among us (we are on alien invasion number, like, five now, and I can at least get why people with super powers running around would make people nervous*), they just jump right into crazed rambling about making Earth Great Again or something. Killing people who do bad things and hunting them down is wrong, but instead of debating that, Kara will just say "theres a better way, dont give into anger!" and then Manchester almost blows up the White House, so the point is pretty much moot. Its like they keep trying to start debates, then back out when they actually start to get interesting and just make the bad guy extra bad so Kara is right. I mean, at least Manchester and his team are DOING something, nobody else is! Aliens are being tortured and shot down and murdered in the street and Kara is just writing articles about this asshole guy, and thats all she and the DEO are doing.

I did like the bit with Kara questioning her taking down the satellite. That was actually an interesting question that for a second didnt have an easy answer, until we found out the president was doing all of this illegally for evil purposes. 

I continue to question the administration of President Linda Carter. I mean, this guy was her VP, and she never noticed his barely hidden evil? I guess he was on her ticket to appeal to some other demographics? They seem to have nothing in common for people in the same party in the same administration.

An Alex and Lena team up sounds promising! Is James about to let his reporter follow up on the Lena story? Will Alex be the first super person Lena gives her juice to? 

Brainy and Nia are a real bright spot in every episode. 

*Why is it so all or nothing in this show? Can aliens not immigrate legally, or as much as possible, like immigrants in the real world? Is all we get is the giant Welcome to Earth sign, or the satellite that shoots everyone down as they come? No citizenship tests here I guess?

[Jediknight]

Tron, I don't think that Alan would like what you've become.

Man, Lockwood got confirmed by congress awfully fast.  Speaking of Lockwood, it's still amazing how much better this character has worked on Supergirl, than it has on The Flash.  And a massive reason is that Witwer is a much better actor.

Brainy continues to be incredible.

[Cthulhudrew]

Is there some mind controlling villain they've introduced previously that might be responsible for the President's maniacal agenda? I'm drawing a blank, but in addition to all the posters above who pointed out that he doesn't appear to have anything in common with the previous President to whom he would have been a running mate, they also made at least two references in this episode to him acting out and making odd choices.

Is Despero his Chief of Staff? Is his lapel pin a mini-Starro?

On another note, wasn't it strongly implied that Lockwood (and Otis and Mercy) were working for someone else? Is that person ever going to show up? And will it happen before they resolve the Russian Supergirl "plot."

[AnimeMania]

How is Nia even fighting, is she asleep the whole time.

We have to come up with a cool name for her fighting technique like "Snooze-jitsu", "Tae kwon doze", "Sno-rin Kung Fu", "Drowzy Fist", "Resting Bitch-Slap", "Siesta Maga" or "Hiberninjutsu". 

Some of her signature moves could be "Coma-tose Kick", "Night Hook", "Hitting the Sack", "Slumbe Ring Toss", "Slug gish", "Sleeper Hold", "Half-Awake Nelson", "Hit the Haymaker" and "Power Nap"

[ottoDbusdriver]

1 hour ago, AnimeMania said:

How is Nia even fighting, is she asleep the whole time.

We have to come up with a cool name for her fighting technique like "Snooze-jitsu", "Tae kwon doze", "Sno-rin Kung Fu", "Drowzy Fist", "Resting Bitch-Slap", "Siesta Maga" or "Hiberninjutsu". 

Some of her signature moves could be "Coma-tose Kick", "Night Hook", "Hitting the Sack", "Slumbe Ring Toss", "Slug gish", "Sleeper Hold", "Half-Awake Nelson", "Hit the Haymaker" and "Power Nap"

I also thought she was supposed to be the Dreamer -- have the writers just kind of forgotten about that ?
I vote for Snooze-jitsu.

Did Supergirl get Kal-El's ok before taking Nia to the Fortress of Solitude ?

And Kara's little side comment to Kellex give Nia "whatever she wants" just seems incredibly stupid.

I'm also surprised that the Legions' rings aren't keyed to the individual user -- to prevent someone else from using it, which is exactly what happened here.
And how did Manchester Black know how to use the Legion Ring ?  Because he looked kind of stupid when flying after Kara.
How did he even know that the Legion Ring provided an atmosphere that, you know, he didn't asphyxiate in space ?

[MarkHB]

9 hours ago, mxc90 said:

Did Manchester and Hat need to go through all the fighting/killing to escape prison? They could have teleported to the girl's cell and then magically disappeared in minutes.

The Hat actually said that he can't take them anywhere he hasn't been, so they couldn't get to Menagerie that way. Which makes me wonder, what prison allows inmates to send personal letters to other inmates, particularly sealed with sealing wax? 

28 minutes ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

I'm also surprised that the Legions' rings aren't keyed to the individual user -- to prevent someone else from using it, which is exactly what happened here.

One of the writers said they discussed this point in the room, and while it didn't make it into the show they decided that the trip through the Hat essentially does a factory reset on the ring.

[cambridgeguy]

6 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I did like the bit with Kara questioning her taking down the satellite. That was actually an interesting question that for a second didnt have an easy answer, until we found out the president was doing all of this illegally for evil purposes. 

The other countries of the world should be incredibly pissed about that - I find it very hard to believe they'd be OK with a giant space laser that can easily hit any target on Earth being controlled by only the US.  Baker did have a point, though, since Supergirl could have disabled the satellite without smashing it to smithereens. 

[mxc90]

10 hours ago, MarkHB said:

The Hat actually said that he can't take them anywhere he hasn't been, so they couldn't get to Menagerie that way. Which makes me wonder, what prison allows inmates to send personal letters to other inmates, particularly sealed with sealing wax? 

Thanks! So HAT went out of his way plan a breakout, kill the guard by the bus stop but didn't study the layout of the prison that would have benefited his major strength (he wasn't able to pull a map out of the hat?).

None of the other guards didn't notice Danny (the guard at the bus stop) looked a little different?

I guess Menagerie is special to get a personal letter. I hear inmates on other levels get singing telegrams.

Edited March 4, 2019 by mxc90

[DavidJSnyder]

10 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Why did Kara need the protective suit that was used to protect her from gaseous kryptonite ?  Was the Claymore satellite powered by kryptonite ?
Kara can fly in space without a protective suit -- so what gives ?

I don't know if they've always been entirely consistent, but Supergirl has been previously shown as not being able to breathe in space.  Back in the finale of the first season she flew a spaceship into space, lost consciousness, and had to be rescued by Alex flying the pod that brought Supergirl to Earth.

[legaleagle53]

3 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Did Supergirl get Kal-El's ok before taking Nia to the Fortress of Solitude ?

She doesn't need to.  As his full and equal partner, she is a co-owner of the Fortress.

[Trini]

7 hours ago, Jediknight said:

Man, Lockwood got confirmed by congress awfully fast.  Speaking of Lockwood, it's still amazing how much better this character has worked on Supergirl, than it has on The Flash.  And a massive reason is that Witwer is a much better actor.

I get your point; but I wouldn't even say they're the same character. Cicada is all brawn; at least Lockwood has some brains.

[Winston Wolfe]

6 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

How did he even know that the Legion Ring provided an atmosphere that, you know, he didn't asphyxiate in space ?

Hell, I've been reading comic books for over 40 years and didn't know that.  Interesting.  But he did look kinda goofy flying after Supergirl.

5 hours ago, MarkHB said:

15 hours ago, mxc90 said:

Did Manchester and Hat need to go through all the fighting/killing to escape prison? They could have teleported to the girl's cell and then magically disappeared in minutes.

The Hat actually said that he can't take them any where he hasn't been, so they couldn't get to Menagerie that way.

A characteristic which seems to be common with teleporters, so that makes sense.

Not liking Dreamgirl-1 or Brainy so much these days.  A little over-exposed and definitely over-the-top most of the time.  Jesse Rath's acting choices and delivery are definitely beginning to bug.  No reason we can't get the more human Brainiac 5 from the Legion comic books.

And man...J'onn abandoned that pacifist stance pretty quickly.  This late in the show's run and they still can't figure out what to do with MM.

Funny, before sitting down to write this post, I really liked the episode.  Other than seeing Manchester Black I'm now feeling kind of meh about it.  I think a lot of that feeling comes from the writers not being nearly detailed enough and trying to cram so much content into every episode.

Edited March 4, 2019 by Winston Wolfe

[DavidJSnyder]

I wish they had come up with an offensive power for Nia that didn't look like generic energy bolts (even if they're powered by "Dream Energy", whatever that is).  Feels like you could tie into dreams with something more trippy.

On the other hand, I liked how they handled the Hat's powers. Though I'm not sure about his accent.

[Humbugged]

Random factoid -  Italia Ricci (Silver Banshee) and Jessica Meraz (Menagerie) played sisters in Chasing Life and their dad was played by Tom Irwin who also played Chyler's dad in Reunion where Chyler's character slept with the IRL husband of Reign, who went on to be the on-screen and IRL boyfriend of the MCU's Agent 13 who was the LI for Cap who was the LI for Chyler in NATM. .

Edited March 4, 2019 by Humbugged

[Humbugged]

7 hours ago, legaleagle53 said:

She doesn't need to.  As his full and equal partner, she is a co-owner of the Fortress.

That .

And also he ain't on Earth to object  as him and Juliette/Eve (sorry I know it's Lois ,but she burned the Gimmibago down damn it) went off on pre-ternity leave to Argos and left her in charge .

[AnimeMania]

On 3/4/2019 at 5:10 AM, AnimeMania said:

How is Nia even fighting, is she asleep the whole time.

We have to come up with a cool name for her fighting technique like "Snooze-jitsu", "Tae kwon doze", "Sno-rin Kung Fu", "Drowzy Fist", "Resting Bitch-Slap", "Siesta Maga" or "Hiberninjutsu". 

Some of her signature moves could be "Coma-tose Kick", "Night Hook", "Hitting the Sack", "Slumbe Ring Toss", "Slug gish", "Sleeper Hold", "Half-Awake Nelson", "Hit the Haymaker" and "Power Nap"

More signature moves "Snore-nado", "Dream Land-slide", "Bed Head-Butt", "Slumber Jacked" and "Snooze-Fist".

[angora]

I really loved that heart-to-heart between Kara and J'onn in the Fortress of Solitude.  Even though J'onn is positioned kind of as the "dad" of the group, I like that he can still lean on Kara and/or Alex when he's going through struggles of his own.  Alex joining the fight at the end was also great, and I look forward to her and "Supergirl" maybe becoming friends/allies even if it's still not the relationship they used to have.

Brainy and Kelex not getting along was an obvious joke, but it still made me smile.  Liked the fight scene of Nia and Brainy using their respective abilities to anticipate where the Hat was going to appear.

Excited for where this Alex-Lena stuff is going.  Since Alex's memory wipe, she actually has a little more in common with Lena, in that she's by and large one of the good guys but her motivations have become a bit more shrouded lately, so you can't always expect what she's going to do in a situation.  Can't wait to see more!

[Court]

I haven't finished watching yet because I'm so bored by this show recently. I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to love Manchester Black but I do. 

I'm still annoyed the show has forgotten James and Kara kissed and were going to date. 

[Lantern7]

Forgot to ask: anyone have a tiny fangasm when Brainy mentioned “Val”?

[UNOSEZ]

10 hours ago, Court said:

I'm still annoyed the show has forgotten James and Kara kissed and were going to date. 

I gave up on the show ever actually letting them have a talk about how she just gave up on them and hopped right into Mon-El's well defined white arms about midway thru last season... I just don't think the writers have the guts to go there. 

[Ubiquitous]

Wow, this ep was particularly stupid. I'm not sure where to even begin...

[Lugal]

Count me in as another who likes having the Elite around.  Despite their killings, I can't help but agree with their purpose.  On a more nuanced show they could be interesting.  It feels like someone's trying to fit a political thesis in there somewhere.  Like why does Supergirl support a government that clearly has no problem placing extremists like Lockwood in high positions of power?

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 3/4/2019 at 12:02 AM, ottoDbusdriver said:

Is he an alien ?  Because a bowler hat seems like a weird choice for an alien -- shouldn't it be some sort of alien hat ?

https://goo.gl/images/oDcExm