Supergirl

[wcw43921]

My only quibble with the 11-16 episode was that Lori Petty should have been Livewire. Otherwise I loved it--the character interactions, the fight scenes, everything. Another victory for Supergirl!

[Ranxerox]

My only quibble with the 11-16 episode was that Lori Petty should have been Livewire. Otherwise I loved it--the character interactions, the fight scenes, everything. Another victory for Supergirl!

 

Yes, the best superpower fight scene of the series to date.  It really helped that it was it wasn't just two super strong individuals duking it out yet again and the electrical special effects for Livewire looked pretty decent.

 

The rest of the episode went fairly well too, except I am very quickly growing tired of the love triangle/quadrilateral.  I know this is a bit unfair since in real life these things can sometimes go on for years, but every week they drag this storyline out leaves me with less respect for participants.  Really the sooner everyone lays their emotional cards on the table, the better IMO. 

[zslane]

My only quibble with the 11-16 episode was that Lori Petty should have been Livewire. Otherwise I loved it--the character interactions, the fight scenes, everything. Another victory for Supergirl!

I think this show is trying to reach a younger demographic. Helen and Calista have the 50-and-over demo covered. They don't need to add another golden girl like Petty to the mix. ;-)

[sinanju]

I rather enjoyed this episode. I liked Livewire quite a lot and hope we see her again. (I also thought that a number times she strongly resembled Holly Hunter in appearance and body language.)

 

I thought the did a pretty good job of humanizing Cat, too. They didn't soften her too much, but they definitely showed us that she's a human being with feelings after all.

 

The love triangle, yes, is very tiresome. It's a cliche for a reason. It's been done to death. I'd really like to see Kara a) not be oblivious to Winn's crush, and tell him straight up, "It's never going to happen, Winn. I love you as a friend, but that's all. There's no spark." THAT would be different and interesting. As would Jimmy telling her essentially the same thing.

 

I really like the teenage Kara and Alex going out for a covert nighttime flight. (I don't know about anyone else, but if _I_ came to earth as a 13 year old and discovered I had superpowers, especially flight, I'd be using them every day. Okay, yes, keeping them secret would be a good idea, but with flight, superspeed and supersenses to warn me of potential witnesses long before they saw me, that shouldn't be all that difficult even when going out and flying around every night.

[Cassandra]

The article says she's playing a 24 year old. The actress is 26, so it might be a bit of a stretch, but I have confidence she can pull it off.

 

Lynda Carter was 24 when she started as Wonder Woman, who was 2527 by the time she came back to the modern world in 1977.

[Clonus]

I rather enjoyed this episode. I liked Livewire quite a lot and hope we see her again. (I also thought that a number times she strongly resembled Holly Hunter in appearance and body language.)

 

I thought the did a pretty good job of humanizing Cat, too. They didn't soften her too much, but they definitely showed us that she's a human being with feelings after all.

 

The love triangle, yes, is very tiresome. It's a cliche for a reason. It's been done to death. I'd really like to see Kara a) not be oblivious to Winn's crush, and tell him straight up, "It's never going to happen, Winn. I love you as a friend, but that's all. There's no spark." THAT would be different and interesting. As would Jimmy telling her essentially the same thing.

 

 

Well...different and interesting that it would write two characters who don't contribute much out of the show.  

[Badger]

well, it doesn't help it that it's time slot is competing with Gotham. Slapping down something meant to draw DC fans against something already drawing DC fans doesn't strike me as a smart choice for placement

 

CBS has never been known for wise placement on their TV shows.  (monkeys throwning labelled bananas at random could do better some years.

 

In any case, I have to work, and the commercials I saw made me wonder if I was watching if I would be pulling for the villain of the week.  (which I don't have a problem with*, but I prefer it being for finding the villain interest than a lack of interest in the hero)

 

*as a long time villain puller forer.

[Badger]

Yes, the best superpower fight scene of the series to date.  It really helped that it was it wasn't just two super strong individuals duking it out yet again and the electrical special effects for Livewire looked pretty decent.

 

The rest of the episode went fairly well too, except I am very quickly growing tired of the love triangle/quadrilateral.  I know this is a bit unfair since in real life these things can sometimes go on for years, but every week they drag this storyline out leaves me with less respect for participants.  Really the sooner everyone lays their emotional cards on the table, the better IMO. 

 

Love triangles bore the hell out of me. TV, RPG or whatever.

[Badger]

I rather enjoyed this episode. I liked Livewire quite a lot and hope we see her again. (I also thought that a number times she strongly resembled Holly Hunter in appearance and body language.)

 

I thought the did a pretty good job of humanizing Cat, too. They didn't soften her too much, but they definitely showed us that she's a human being with feelings after all.

 

The love triangle, yes, is very tiresome. It's a cliche for a reason. It's been done to death. I'd really like to see Kara a) not be oblivious to Winn's crush, and tell him straight up, "It's never going to happen, Winn. I love you as a friend, but that's all. There's no spark." THAT would be different and interesting. As would Jimmy telling her essentially the same thing.

 

I really like the teenage Kara and Alex going out for a covert nighttime flight. (I don't know about anyone else, but if _I_ came to earth as a 13 year old and discovered I had superpowers, especially flight, I'd be using them every day. Okay, yes, keeping them secret would be a good idea, but with flight, superspeed and supersenses to warn me of potential witnesses long before they saw me, that shouldn't be all that difficult even when going out and flying around every night.

 

I realize if I discovered I had superpowers as a teenager there would be a high likelihood of many of my classmates dying.  Superpowers in reality would not be well placed in a bullied person who is using most of their willpower to maintain a semblance of hope in life.

 

Of course, after HS and up to the present, my use of superpowers wouldn't be so much good/evil so much as the motivation for my misanthropic self to just be left the heck alone. (maybe I am being a bit of a downer).

[BoloOfEarth]

There are too many "what the??" moments like telling random worker buddy all about her secret and him somehow being able to whip up 15 costumes including one made out of special molecular material within a few hours was just pushing the limits of my ability to suspend disbelief.

 

Amusingly, this past week I decided to re-watch the first season of Lois and Clark (a show which I enjoyed back when it was on), with an eye toward comparing the first few episodes of L&C to the first few episodes of Supergirl.  And in the pilot of L&C they did the same thing, with his mom whipping up a bunch of costumes for him to try, with "Holding Out For a Hero" as background music for the costume montage.  It's actually one of my favorite bits from that episode (my daughter's too -- I called her into the living room when it came up because I knew she'd want to see that scene).

 

In that case, it's quite obvious that not only was that taking place over just a few hours (after he flew from Metropolis to Smallville for dinner), but the various costumes were also wildly different in style and it seemed the costume thing was spur-of-the-moment.  Consider that Ma Kent had on hand various sets of lace-up leather boots, belts, masks, leopard-print cloth...  y'know, on second thought I'd really rather not consider the implications of that. 

 

My point being, it was an amusing and entertaining scene (at least IMO).  Unrealistic?  Obviously.  Do I really care?  Not so much.

 

Oh, and the flying wire work in early L&C wasn't all that great either, but I didn't really notice or care at the time.

 

That said, as a whole Supergirl is okay to me, but not "gotta watch" material.  I'm not so big on the James/Winn/Kara love triangle, and frankly I really don't like Cat/Callista (neither the character nor the actress) at all, though to be fair I haven't watched the latest episode so it's possible (though unlikely) that they may have made Cat more palatable to me.  I'm very much a character-driven TV viewer, and the only ones on Supergirl that really catch my interest are Kara and her sister.  So I'll probably still watch episodes, mainly to see if they smooth out the bumps, but they'll need to work hard to bump The Flash as my go-to TV show.

[sinanju]

Well...different and interesting that it would write two characters who don't contribute much out of the show.  

 

You wouldn't have to write them out of the show. Winn could continue to be her a) co-worker, friend (best friend, per Kara), and c) confidante--after all she trusts him with her secret. He could still do everything he does for her now, except it would be out of undiluted FRIENDSHIP instead of the vaguely creepy hope of getting into her pants eventually.

 

Ditto for Jimmy. He could still be a voice of reassurance, a conduit for information from Her Cousin , and a confidante. But all the while he's happily involved with Lucy Lane.

 

P.S. My wife is convinced (and I'd have to say with good reason) that Cat knows Kara and Supergirl are one and the same. Her "Oh, it's you..." reaction to their first meeting, for one thing. And, when being pursued by Livewire, she sends Kara for help (from rent-a-cops 20 floors down? really? what are they gonna do, exactly?), so Kara doesn't even have to make excuses for disappearing. And when Cat says she wants to talk to Supergirl, Kara volunteers to check with the FBI...and decides to go home after all. And Cat is unsurprised. Yeah, I can see it.

[Steve]

Put that way, so can I.

[Clonus]

You wouldn't have to write them out of the show. Winn could continue to be her a) co-worker, friend (best friend, per Kara), and c) confidante--after all she trusts him with her secret. He could still do everything he does for her now, except it would be out of undiluted FRIENDSHIP instead of the vaguely creepy hope of getting into her pants eventually.

 

Ditto for Jimmy. He could still be a voice of reassurance, a conduit for information from Her Cousin , and a confidante. But all the while he's happily involved with Lucy Lane.

 

 

Paying two superfluous actors to do a job that could just be done by her sister is bad business sense.,  

[zslane]

I too have a sneaking suspicion that Cat knows Kara is Supergirl, and that in the not-too-distant future we're going to get a scene between them where Cat reveals that she knows, Kara acts all surprised and shocked, and Cat gives her one of those "Oh please, did you really think I was that dumb?" speech.

 

As for Kara having a relationship with a normal human, well, I worry for whichever human that ends up being. She'll crush them as her muscles convulse uncontrollably during the big O. It might not be as messy as it would be with Superman and a normal human, but I still think she would send any human lover to the hospital (or the morgue). I think it's best if the show simply doesn't go there at all, but CBS clearly wants this show to have a strong romcom component, and so that will have to be yet another thing they handwave away in the name of willing suspension of disbelief. Where I come from, we call it insulting the intelligence of the audience, but whatever.

 

I hate this show for making me love Melissa Benoist.

[Starlord]

I enjoy genres of fantastic abilities and make-believe physics.  Personally, I just can't pick and choose my suspension of disbelief.  I just check the whole thing at the door.  I highly doubt I've ever said this or that shouldn't be possible UNLESS it has already been established as so in a previously canonical story.  That's just me though.

[Pattern Ghost]

 

 

Where I come from, we call it insulting the intelligence of the audience, but whatever.

 

Where I come from, we call it the audience not noticing that the show already has a room that de-powers Supergirl and that Supergirl has a sister with access to that room. Looks like a classic romcom setup to me.

[Greywind]

"Oh please, did you really think I was that dumb?"

 

"Honestly? Yes."

[zslane]

Personally, I just can't pick and choose my suspension of disbelief.  I just check the whole thing at the door.  I highly doubt I've ever said this or that shouldn't be possible UNLESS it has already been established as so in a previously canonical story.  That's just me though.

Fair enough. I am considerably more discerning and more demanding of my fantasy and science fiction. Which explains why I am disappointed most of the time. Unfortunately, I can't turn that off any more than you can dial in your degree of suspension of disbelief.

[Starlord]

Fair enough. I am considerably more discerning and more demanding of my fantasy and science fiction. Which explains why I am disappointed most of the time. Unfortunately, I can't turn that off any more than you can dial in your degree of suspension of disbelief.

 

Well, don't get me wrong, I love a good debate that starts with "Wait, hold on, let's suppose a man CAN actually fly, now...."  I guess as long as there is internal consistency, I'm good.  For example, let's just say that later on in the series, we discover that Supergirl can't have sex with a normal human for fear of physical injury.   This would be inconsistent because it has already been shown she has unbelievable control of even casual strength and nobody ever gets hurt when she saves them with super-speed.  Why?  I dunno.  But I also dunno how she projects lasers from her eyes, breathes liquid nitrogen, and hides her identity with glasses.  For that matter, how do those eye-lasers perfectly heat an entire turkey and not just punch a whole through it?  For some reason though, as I'm watching or reading, my mind just handwaves all of it. *shrugs*

[Greywind]

The same way Clark makes toast: it is a practiced skill.

[Hermit]

Yeah, I never bought the 'man of steel woman of kleenex' stuff.. (or vice versa)

[bigbywolfe]

Bringing up the super strength orgasm is just dumb at this point. That's not how it works in the comics, that's not how it has worked in any previous DC property movies or TV shows, and there is absolutely no reason to try to apply some stupid "real physics" to superhuman mating. It's a non-issue and acting like it is, or worse, like it should be, is just looking for something to complain about.

 

EDIT: having super sex be an issue in supergirl would be extremely off genre. She can hold a building up by one corner and it doesn't collapse but it's sex and no other misuse of super strength that breaks your suspension of disbelief? Seriously?

[Clonus]

Bringing up the super strength orgasm is just dumb at this point. That's not how it works in the comics, that's not how it has worked in any previous DC property movies or TV shows,

 

 It's why Superman had to strip himself of his power before making snoo-snoo with Lois in Superman II best as I can see.  

[Badger]

I too have a sneaking suspicion that Cat knows Kara is Supergirl, and that in the not-too-distant future we're going to get a scene between them where Cat reveals that she knows, Kara acts all surprised and shocked, and Cat gives her one of those "Oh please, did you really think I was that dumb?" speech.

 

As for Kara having a relationship with a normal human, well, I worry for whichever human that ends up being. She'll crush them as her muscles convulse uncontrollably during the big O. It might not be as messy as it would be with Superman and a normal human, but I still think she would send any human lover to the hospital (or the morgue). I think it's best if the show simply doesn't go there at all, but CBS clearly wants this show to have a strong romcom component, and so that will have to be yet another thing they handwave away in the name of willing suspension of disbelief. Where I come from, we call it insulting the intelligence of the audience, but whatever.

 

I hate this show for making me love Melissa Benoist.

 

Actually superhero to normal human sex is actually one thing I can handwave easily.  And that DC evidently obviously put too much thought into this, if we are discussing.

 

It is probably partly from watching the weird world of anime a lot , and partly because I am somewhat prudish and really don't want to go there analysis-wise. (Note: and ironically those 2 parts are probably an interesting contradiction)

[Andrew_A]

Okay, this tangent is kind of annoying me, but I just have to chime in. Supergirl's an alien, right? What makes you guys think she orgasms like a normal human being? Maybe "Woman of Steel, Man of Kleenex" isn't a problem.

 

EDIT: For example: In pre-Crisis continuity, Kryptonians under Earth's yellow sun don't grow hair. Superman never had to shave his beard and Supergirl never had to shave her legs. Neither of them ever needed a haircut. I remember one bronze age story where Superman had to convince a skeptical young boy that he really was Clark Kent by showing him his medicine cabinet (no deodorant, mouthwash, shaving cream, etc.).