S04.E14: Stand And Deliver

[Trini]

Quote

Between Ben Lockwood's new push to stir up the anti-alien movement and the Elite's desire to target Lockwood and his minions, Supergirl is concerned about the safety of the American people - both human and alien. When Lockwood organizes a rally, the aliens decide to peacefully protest. Brainiac and J'onn join the alien march while Supergirl and Dreamer patrol to keep everyone safe. Meanwhile, James picks up his camera again to cover the march for CatCo, and Hayley assigns Alex a job that clashes with her beliefs. When The Elite and Ben Lockwood stir up trouble at the rally, Supergirl is forced to take a stand. Jonathan Bennett guest stars.

Andi Armaganian directed the episode written by Rob Wright & Jess Kardos.

Airdate: 3/10/2019

[cambridgeguy]

I'm not sure why Kara decided that SS agent was someone she wanted to talk to - none of the scores of federal agents she's run into over the years have warranted such attention.

So where the hell was Kelex when the Elite decided to wander around the Fortress of Solitude?  At the very least I hope Kara had the brains to take a quick inventory before flying off.  She may also want to think of additional security - not every superhero hideout should have STAR labs levels of security.

[tennisgurl]

Oh snap you guys, they gave us slow motion set to Mad World! Thats how you know that shit has indeed gotten real. 

[mxc90]

This episode was a mess with Lockwood and the silly rally fight.

When Supergirl went east to west (twice) and J'onn went North to South, did they go in the straight line and ignore the other coordinates? No wonder they didn't find Elite.

Nice security at the fortress.

Eve has grown since her first season (not the ditz anymore). James probably thought she would just spill all the answers but she handled him well. (Sorry to be shallow) But I was surprised James didn't give a long stare at her as she walked out his office.

Haley told Brainy to hack a message board to see who commented about the rally but the website is highly protected? Couldn't they read the following comments shown from the original post on the DEO's big screen?

No more Guardian? Just stand by and take pictures now.

At the end, everyone hugged it out, went to a diner for pancakes and looked at all the pictures James took.

Didn't take long for the peaceful J'onn to break.

Oh no! Who shot JR James?

Edited March 11, 2019 by mxc90

[ACW]

10 minutes ago, cambridgeguy said:

She may also want to think of additional security - not every superhero hideout should have STAR labs levels of security.

Hey, the Fortress has a door *and* a lock, which puts it two steps above STAR Labs.

[ACW]

I was just thinking, "Wow, they're actually letting James do what he's good at.  Maybe the writers have come to their senses."

But then seeing him alone in a darkened office, I knew what was actually about to happen.

My first thought was that Manchester shot James, but then the previews reminded me that it's probably Lex's doing.  Either to get leverage over Lena, or to hurt Superman, or just for revenge.

As others online have already pointed out, this will probably result in Lena experimenting on James to save his life.  Which means that Giant Turtle-Boy Olsen is still a possibility!😁

(Though Elastic Lad is far more likely.)

[Winston Wolfe]

45 minutes ago, cambridgeguy said:

So where the hell was Kelex when the Elite decided to wander around the Fortress of Solitude? 

Yeah, I kinda wondered that myself.  And regardless to whether or not Kara has a family "claim" to the Fortress, bad things always seem to happen there when she's involved.  Kinda reminds me of the rowdy cousins who always broke my models when I was younger.  And how did Manchester even know about the Fortress?  Or how to get there?

36 minutes ago, mxc90 said:

(Sorry to be shallow) But I was surprised James didn't give a long stare at her as she walked out his office.

No need to apologize.  That dress was talking, Eve never looked more attractive.  "Miss Tess-MACHER" indeed.

36 minutes ago, mxc90 said:

Didn't take long for the peaceful J'onn to break.

Just wish they'd stop nerfing him.  Every time he uses his telepathy, he can always "feel" his target, but can never find them.  At least we got to see his native Martian form.  The f/x costs related to that can't be that high, can they?

36 minutes ago, mxc90 said:

Oh no! Who shot JR James?

I'm calling it now - Lena will have to administer the Super Soldier Serum to James in order to save his life.  James will once again be one of Kara's "Super Friends" (ugh), and he and Lena will get back together.

Second episode in a row we've gotten a Kara "hands on hips" reference.  One of the writers appears to have a fetish, heh.

Edited March 11, 2019 by Winston Wolfe

[ItCouldBeWorse]

1 hour ago, cambridgeguy said:

I'm not sure why Kara decided that SS agent was someone she wanted to talk to - none of the scores of federal agents she's run into over the years have warranted such attention.

So where the hell was Kelex when the Elite decided to wander around the Fortress of Solitude?  At the very least I hope Kara had the brains to take a quick inventory before flying off.  She may also want to think of additional security - not every superhero hideout should have STAR labs levels of security.

She had saved the agent along with Lockwood, he was appreciative that she had saved him, and now he was heckling the aliens, so she called him on it.

I also thought it was convenient that Kelex was absent. Are we supposed to know what the belt that Manchester put on was, and what were the 2 items that the Hat took?

Edited March 11, 2019 by ItCouldBeWorse

[tennisgurl]

Oh no, James! He finally gets to do his job and show some competence, and he gets shot! I should have known! Its too bad, because this was actually a pretty good episode for him, he better be alright. I bet Lena uses the serum to save his life, and he gets one of his billions of Jimmy Olson comic book powers! Really, I wish they had focused on this aspect of his character ages ago, without all the Guardian stuff. 

The march stuff was cheesy and on the nose as always, and it looked like there were about twenty people there in all, but I did kind of like how it ended, with Kara saving the guy who was anti alien, and them him giving a hand to an alien guy. After so many god dang episodes of an endless barrage of asshole humans with their stupid masks screaming thinly veiled ethnic slurs, it was nice to see some humans not be awful. 

So why does Manchester piss J'onn off so much? Is it because they were friends first, or he feels guilt or responsible because of Fiona? Because as far as evil people J'onn has met, Manchester isnt anywhere close to the worst he has met. 

Maybe get a lock on that Fortress of Solitude? 

Brainy and Nia are both having good seasons, I hope they get more to do later in the season. I want to know more about Brainys backstory, especially with his family of super villains, and see if Nia reconciles with her sister.

[rtms77]

Well at least they have turfed the Elite with three of 5hem in jail. I’m sorry but did they really just say anyone with strength can get into the fortress? Those special gauntlets  still should not have worked since in theory they would have had to cover the whole arm to lift the key. Kara said that thing was made out of dwarf star matter. Only she and Superman should be able to lift it.

As others have noted it seems James will be resurrected and finally have his dream of super powers come true. Here’s hoping he takes a hike after instead of predictably getting back with Lena. Who has been made into a schizophrenic something. One moment she’s standing up for her right to do her work , the next she’s a miserable scientist without a boyfriend. 

Just wondering, why hasn’t Brainy just taken the Legion ring from the Fortress? Previous eps have shown it there.

[ACW]

15 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

15 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

Maybe get a lock on that Fortress of Solitude? 

It has a lock, the El family just needs to be more careful with their key. 

It could be worse, and it has been.  In the old days, the key was at least 50 feet long, still golden, and "hidden" in plain sight as a navigation aid to aircraft.

[Chyromaniac]

1 hour ago, mxc90 said:

Oh no! Who shot JR James?

My money’s on Zack Snyder.

[quarks]

I have a lot of questions about the Fortress of Solitude. Starting with: it is in the Arctic, right? So why is everyone just wearing light jackets when they go there? Superman and Supergirl don't get cold, of course, but surely Lois Lane and Manchester would? Why wasn't he wearing a parka? Why does the little flying robot only show up when the script needs a joke, and never when villains are casually roaming around, looking at the place? Why do Superman and Supergirl think that snow is enough to hide their key?

AND MY BIG QUESTION:

How do all of these people know that the Fortress of Solitude even exists?  Did Lex Luthor put it on the news or something?

Awwwwwfffullllly convenient, wouldn't you say, that Lena would be presented with a test subject for her serum just as she feels she desperately needs a test subject?

[AnimeMania]

1 hour ago, Winston Wolfe said:

Second episode in a row we've gotten a Kara "hands on hips" reference. 

Kara says "that is the way superheroes stand". There is a saying "Don't just stand around with your hands on your hips" which means "don't just stand around doing nothing". I was kind of wondering which meaning they were going for when they said it.

[Lantern7]

Right now,I'm just thankful Black Lightning doesn't following this series. Putting them on consecutive nights basically gives me the image of Kara and Jefferson batting a giant anvil between them.

Wait, so Lockwood gets appointed to an office, and he can immediately rescind stuff? If the president does it, I'm handwave it . . . but here, it's a bit much.

As much as I want to like this show without reservation, I shouldn't be watching James walk around his office at the very end, dreading that something was about to happen to him. And yep, he got shot.

Seeing Manchester and Hat at the Fortress of Solitude (apparently guarded by men that the Lex Luthor from Smallville hired) was a cute moment. Grand Morrison riffed on that in All-Star Superman, where Superman keeps the key under a mat . . . the catch being that it weighed a lot. I think heavier than dwarf stars? Point is, something like that seems like a dick-wave, but it's just so the bad guys can break in. And Hat had access to power gauntlets, so that was that. Would have been hilarious if Brainy put on the hat, and Kelex fell out of it.

[mxc90]

1 hour ago, Winston Wolfe said:

The f/x costs related to that can't be that high, can they?

It might be high. It was convenient for them to have the Morae (sp) kept invisible at times (and all we heard were growls).

1 hour ago, Winston Wolfe said:

I'm calling it now - Lena will have to administer the Super Soldier Serum to James in order to save his life.  James will once again be one of Kara's "Super Friends" (ugh), and he and Lena will get back together.

Nothing says "I love you and please take me back" than a bullet and serum!

What are the chances it was Eve who shot him? Camera focused on her after Lena's comment.

47 minutes ago, quarks said:

Why do Superman and Supergirl think that snow is enough to hide their key?

Their arrogance made them think no one had the strength to lift it (no need to hide it).

Edited March 11, 2019 by mxc90

[MarkHB]

I believe Manchester said that the key weighs a million pounds, so in the normal course of business that should be relatively secure (those are some serious Nintendo Power Gloves). And it was also mentioned that The Hat knows Mxyzptlk, so that was how he knew where the Fortress was.

[ottoDbusdriver]

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Maybe get a lock on that Fortress of Solitude? 

I thought it was funny that The Hat was able to jiggle the key BEFORE he put the gloves on.

StarLabs looks like the Fortress of Solitude .... compared to the Fortress of Solitude.

It would have been nice if someone had described the devices that Manchester and The Hat took from the Fortress.   
The Belt of Protection ? The Highlighter of Multiplicity ?  Give us something.

And having Kalex be MIA was just stupid.

Looks like National City also has a Digital Orca just like Vancouver.  Yeah, yeah, I know they film in Vancouver, but how much work would it have been to remove in post-production ?Because it showed up in at least 3 shots during the melee at the press conference.

Even funnier was Supergirl chastising Dreamer about shouting angrily in Menagerie's face, telling her that's not how they interrogate people, and then J'onn does exactly that seconds later.

So does Dreamer leave her super suit in the car ? I was trying to figure out where she kept it when she went to change.

Brainy was marching with J'onn, Supergirl and Dreamer in the alien protest parade -- so does Haley still not know that Brainy is an alien ? It's as bad as Lena not knowing who Supergirl is.

Still no update about Kasnian Supergirl.  What was the point of even introducing this character only to drag it out so long that no one barely remembers or even cares at this point ?

[scarynikki12]

3 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

I'm not sure why Kara decided that SS agent was someone she wanted to talk to

She’s a fan of Mean Girls. 

[thuganomics85]

Nia begins threatening Menagerie:

Kara: "Whoa there, Dreamer!  You're being way too mean, buddy!  Quit with the violent threats, gal!  J'onn show her how to do it!"

J'onn steps up to Menagrie:

J'onn: "Tell me where they are, woman, or I'm going to mind probe the shit out of you!:

Kara: "Yep, that's how you do it!"

Poor Nia.  She's never going to figure all this superhero stuff, if she keeps getting mixed messages like this.  You know would have loved her methods though?  Oliver Queen! 

So, basically the Elite is already whittled down to just Manchester Black, who basically seems to be set-up as J'onn's main adversary for the rest of the season.  And it all happens in the episode where Kara claims they're just as bad as the Children of Liberty, which I would quibble with quite a bit over that particular claim, but if that was truly the case then why is she and DEO struggling so damn hard to take out that particular group, if the majority of the Elite gets brought down in two mere episodes?

I was going to give the Super Friends credits for actually bringing handcuffs with them (you know who need some of those?  Team Flash!), but then we find out that Fortress of Solitude might be more unsecured than the DEO headquarters.  Never mind the key just laying there in pile of snow: you don't even have an alarm panel in there?  Sensor detectors?  A guard dog?!

Everything involving the protests was cheesy and on the nose as always, but at least it was nice seeing some humans actually not be dicks.

Lockwood's been made to look like a fool (again), but we'll see how he somehow worms his way up in the world again (still predicting he'll somehow wind up as President.)

Does Brainy get to keep the hat?!

The next big mystery is who shot James?!  They'll probably try to make it either be Manchester or Lockwood/Children of Liberty, but my outside bet is Eve in an attempt to protect Lena.  But I agree this will end with Lena using her serum on him, which will no doubt provide plenty of complications!

[ItCouldBeWorse]

Did Eve ever manage to tell Lena that James was asking questions about the "secret" account? I mean, Haley even tried to send them home early, so they should have had time to talk. And Lena is definitely taking notes about her super-soldier experiments on her laptop, yet the government has no access to those results? Does she have a private server? Is she using 4G instead of the DEO's wifi? Remember when L-Corp was hacked before?

Edited March 11, 2019 by ItCouldBeWorse

[cambridgeguy]

Didn't we go through this angry hero plot with Kara back in S1?  Although that just seemed to be dropped along with any of the tension that she had with Alex way back then.  Regardless, if J'onn is really serious about doing whatever it takes then he'll telepathically scan anyone he can, regardless of their consent or potential side effects. 

I did think it was funny James was telling his reporter about the power of the press.  Weren't you the one who became a vigilante because being the CEO of CatCo didn't let you do enough good in the world?

Speaking of James, getting shot would be an expected response to his outing as Guardian.  Aside from those legal issues he had at the beginning of the season his entire time as a vigilante has been surprisingly free of consequences.

[UNOSEZ]

I don't have a problem with highlighting extreme and generally idiotic bigotry.. If your stance is that aliens are all cockroaches I really don't need to see your " side" of things.. So I'm not complaining about that portrayal... But towards the end of the episode some of the heroes were talking about ppl listening to each other and hearing fears of the "other side"...  I would preferred they showed some of that happening... I mean all they gave us was the account of one ( I guess former human hardliner)  saying they would go to an alien center after seeing James' picture... But in a vacuum it almost  made it seem like the bigots and the protesters were on equal footing... My biggest gripe was Ben Lockwood unless the govt is outright hostile to aliens how does a new presidential appointment get up on a stage and say such inflammatory things... Im gonna say that either the military/ President himself ordered James to be shot to spur Lena to use her serum to save him.. And I guess he'd be the perfect candidate kind of a bridge.. He's besties with superman and Supergirl.. He's a known vigilante who's stepped to help fight against evil aliens And humans alike.. So they know (assuming the drugs don't destroy the person he was before)  he's not gonna be some cowboy who abuses the power... If not then maybe it was Lexbbecause... Well he's Lex.... As long as its not Manchester because that would move him to like 90% villain and I like him too much for him to be that bad... 

[Ubiquitous]

On ‎3‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 9:00 PM, Trini said:

Airdate: 3/10/2019

Why is Kara wearing a Snuggie?

You know, I totally forgot this was on last night, but don't care enough to watch it on demand.

Oh yeah, I'm totally rolling eyes at the anvilicious picket sign behind Brainiac.

[ACW]

10 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Brainy was marching with J'onn, Supergirl and Dreamer in the alien protest parade -- so does Haley still not know that Brainy is an alien ? It's as bad as Lena not knowing who Supergirl is.
 

  I was wondering about that as well.  However, there were also humans in the march, and Agent Dox specifically told Haley he had found a good spot for surveillance.

  Also, with a name like Querl Dox, and his unique technical skills combined with poor acting skills, Haley probably figured it out long ago.  Though I suppose he might be in the HR database as something like "Carl Dox"?

[Writing Wrongs]

So Supergirl announces that she is Kara Zor-El and nobody connects it to Kara Danvers? Really? Just a coincidence huh? Alrighty then.

[angora]

Well, I liked it a lot.  Some of the usual head-shaking stuff, but there were themes and character moments that really resonated with me.

I was glad to see James recognizing the value of his work with Catco, both from the larger vantage point of the power of the media, as well as getting back "on the ground" by photographing the rally and its aftermath.

I felt for Brainy, so badly wanting to contribute something hopeful but everyone else immediately going straight to "it's gonna get violent."  The scene where he and Haley were going back and forth with examples of peaceful protests and protests that led to violence was interesting to me, the way Brainy brought up examples of uplifting protests but didn't counter her with any statistics/probability analysis/etc.  Because I mean, he MUST have done a comprehensive analysis, right?  That's just Brainy.  Even if the more likely answer is "the writers just didn't think about that," I like to fanwank that he wanted it so badly that, even if the numbers told him there was a chance of things turning ugly, he decided it was more important to do it and do it with hope.  (Also, I laughed that his hashtag was just the same thing as his user name.)

I also liked the stuff between Kara and Brainy over whether or not she should patrol or march.  It gets into the idea of exceptionalism, that even people who like and admire Supergirl aren't necessarily supportive of aliens because "well, she's not like THOSE aliens."  I liked her ultimate decision to march alongside them instead of fly above them, although I wish she'd just worn her super suit.

Nia wearing her suit constantly was so cute.  Flaunt it!

[UNOSEZ]

18 minutes ago, angora said:

.  It gets into the idea of exceptionalism, that even people who like and admire Supergirl aren't necessarily supportive of aliens because "well, she's not like THOSE aliens.

Yeah we were basically at the front door of " you're  a credit to you're  race" or " you're one of the good ones"

[ACW]

8 hours ago, UNOSEZ said:

military/ President himself ordered James to be shot to spur Lena to use her serum to save him.. And I guess he'd be the perfect candidate kind of a bridge.. He's besties with superman and Supergirl.. He's a known vigilante who's stepped to help fight against evil aliens And humans alike.. So they know (assuming the drugs don't destroy the person he was before)  he's not gonna be some cowboy who abuses the power... If not then maybe it was Lexbbecause... Well he's Lex.... As long as its not Manchester because that would move him to like 90% villain and I like him too much for him to be that bad... 

I'm pretty sure it's Lex.  And I'm pretty sure I know who pulled the trigger:

[Winston Wolfe]

5 hours ago, Writing Wrongs said:

So Supergirl announces that she is Kara Zor-El and nobody connects it to Kara Danvers? Really? Just a coincidence huh? Alrighty then.

I've resigned myself to the reality that the writers are just screwing with us as far as Kara's secret ID is concerned.

8 hours ago, UNOSEZ said:

I'm gonna say that either the military/ President himself ordered James to be shot to spur Lena to use her serum to save him.. And I guess he'd be the perfect candidate kind of a bridge.. He's besties with superman and Supergirl.. He's a known vigilante who's stepped to help fight against evil aliens And humans alike

Yep, that makes a whole lot of sense.  I wonder what kind of powers James will have.

1 hour ago, angora said:

Well, I liked it a lot.  Some of the usual head-shaking stuff, but there were themes and character moments that really resonated with me.

The maddening thing about SG is that its always so close to being a good superhero show, but the showrunners are never able to close the deal.  I have a good friend that gave up on SG about three episodes into this season. I told her the key is to accept that this is as good as the show's ever going to be.

[Quark]

Enjoyable episode.

My favourite part was finding out that Superman has a pet baby bomb that has tentacles.

[bros402]

13 hours ago, ACW said:

  I was wondering about that as well.  However, there were also humans in the march, and Agent Dox specifically told Haley he had found a good spot for surveillance.

  Also, with a name like Querl Dox, and his unique technical skills combined with poor acting skills, Haley probably figured it out long ago.  Though I suppose he might be in the HR database as something like "Carl Dox"?

Probably Barney - I think he mentioned that in one of the other episodes

[ItCouldBeWorse]

19 hours ago, UNOSEZ said:

Im gonna say that either the military/ President himself ordered James to be shot to spur Lena to use her serum to save him

That's a decent theory!

[ACW]

It's gotta be Miss Techmacher, in the office, with the revolver.  On behalf of Lex.  Though it's possible that Lex is in cahoots with/controlling the President.

[Rushmoras]

You know, maybe I would believe everything that is going on in this season related to anti-alien movements, if the writing was not so terrible/looks like it was written by a first-grader, who learnt about political concepts from comments on youtube videos. I just can't wait till they get back to normal super-villains of the season plot.

Edited March 12, 2019 by Rushmoras

[Rushmoras]

On 3/11/2019 at 5:14 PM, Writing Wrongs said:

So Supergirl announces that she is Kara Zor-El and nobody connects it to Kara Danvers? Really? Just a coincidence huh? Alrighty then.

But who would connect the dots? 99 percent of people, who were present when she introduced herself, were total strangers, and the rest already knew that Kara is Kara, cause they did not get their memories altered (Jonn', Dreamer and Brainy). Although, if Alex will recognize that the Dreamer is Nia, then I'll seriously begin to question her sanity.

Edited March 13, 2019 by Rushmoras

[Xenith22]

On 3/11/2019 at 11:14 AM, Writing Wrongs said:

So Supergirl announces that she is Kara Zor-El and nobody connects it to Kara Danvers? Really? Just a coincidence huh? Alrighty then.

Actually the more I think about it, maybe publicly announcing her Kryptonian name as Kara is partly because of Menagerie.   Menagerie knows that Supergirl is Kara (she just doesn't know the last name) she learned this in her debut episode when she lost teeth trying to bite, after having heard Alex shout her name.   This is why Kara in her civilian form talked about Supergirl stuff in front of Menagerie at the start of this episode as she knew that Menagerie already knows about her.   So when she drops Menagerie at the DEO to presumably be held their indefinitely, there is at least a decent chance that Menagerie could mention that Supergirl's name is actually Kara at some point.   However if that is already public knowledge and not something Supergirl is apparently hiding then there is maybe less of a chance that they would jump to the conclusion that Menagerie knows about Supergirl's secret identity or that this was important information that could lead to the revelation that Supergirl = Kara Danvers?   Yeah, that's probably a  stretch and far more thought than these writers put into it....

Edited March 14, 2019 by Xenith22