Supergirl

[bigdamnhero]

Finally saw the season finale, which I thought was a really strong finish! Good fights, lots of strong emotional moments, Melissa Benoist at her best and damn if Tyler Hoechlin isn't the best Superman in a long, looong time. I think I'm about over the rest of the Arrowverse shows personally, but I will be counting the days until Supergirl Season 3!

[zslane]

Welcome to the club, bdh.

[Nolgroth]

Unlike Arrow and Flash, Supergirl's season premiere was pretty good. It was not without flaws, but I invested more into the character than either of the other two. The character development happened a little fast. I think that progress might have been shown but the final scene could have waited until the end of next episode. That's a minor complaint though.

 

I think they blew the season's fx budget though. It seemed really crisp and cinematic quality. I love the opening where she comes out of her daydream and is floating high in the sky with her cape whipping and swirling about her. Talk about iconography.

 

I won't have any problem continuing with Supergirl. I hope the other two shows can salvage something worth watching but I am guessing that I will retire them soon. Shame when Riverdale was better than a superhero show. I mean, Riverdale! It's a story centered around the teen angst, soap opera crap that I really hate to watch, yet it manages to have a really engaging story despite that. 

[zslane]

That shot of her hovering in the wind was a nice touch, but I couldn't help but wonder when it was she installed weights at the bottom of the blanket, er, cape to allow it to maintain its billowy shape while getting whipped about by wind. Or why she always needs to have one knee bent when hovering. Or her arms outstretched when flying (they aren't control surfaces after all).

[Pattern Ghost]

She probably stretches her arms out for the same reason people hang their hand out of the car window.

[bigdamnhero]

Yeah, I loved the season opener. It looked beautiful and the character work was as strong as ever. It reminded me a bit of the Buffy Season 3 opener, where Buffy is so distraught over the whole thing that she runs away, from Sunnyvale, from her Slayer duties, and from herself. But having her run away from Kara and lose herself in being Supergirl 24/7 was a nice twist. Not to mention a totally relatable coping mechanism. And I agree they wrapped it up a little quickly, but OTOH I’d just as soon not have to sit through half a season of Cold & Distant Kara.

 

I’ve basically given up on the other Arrowverse shows; y’all let me know if they suddenly turn around or something.

[bigdamnhero]

The opener of Kara hovering over the City listening for trouble reminded me of the similar scene in Superman Returns. (One of the few bright spots in that film.)

[zslane]

That shot from Superman Returns was inspired by an Alex Ross painting for Kingdom Come, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Bazza]

She probably stretches her arms out for the same reason people hang their hand out of the car window.

Same with dogs...to catch the breeze.

[Jagged]

I’ve basically given up on the other Arrowverse shows; y’all let me know if they suddenly turn around or something.

What I enjoy about the Arrowverse shows is their subtle differences. The Flash is still my overall favourite but they all ebb and flow. I nearly gave up on Supergirl during the first season but it has found its feet. It does have its weak points though. Jimmy Olsen has been a constant disappointment as a character and a story point,for example ;-)

[zslane]

At least the Supergirl writers haven't used time travel to turn the show into complete, incomprehensible nonsense.

[Bazza]

I think zslane just gave the Supergirl writers a challenge!

[sinanju]

I liked the colder, darker Supergirl. I wouldn't want it as a regular thing (god knows we get enough angst from CW shows as it is), but it was nice change. I never liked Mon-El, and never bought the love story between him and Kara. She always had far better chemistry with Cat or Lana than I ever saw with the interstellar frat boy. And I know she mostly talked about the loss of Mon-El, but I think a big part of her reaction had at least as much to do with losing her whole world as a child.

 

It tends to get glossed over, but that is the biggest difference between Clark and Kara. He was too young to remember Krypton. She isn't. Earth is Clark's home in a way it can never be for Kara. She remembers the day everyone she loved, everyone she knew, and everyone and everything in her world was destroyed. There's no counterpart on earth for that experience. People have been displaced. People's families killed. Cultures conquered or enslaved or wiped out. But not a whole world. Given what she experienced, it's remarkable that she's as happy and well-balanced as she is. But some of that is repression, I'm thinking, and the loss of Mon-El allowed her to express a little bit of that.

 

And even then, she did it in a very responsible way. She didn't dramatically toss her Supergirl costume in a trash can in an alley, as Spider-Man has done numerous times. She didn't give up on saving people. She didn't goof off on a months-long bender. She didn't start breaking people when capturing them. She may have been ever-so-slightly less gentle with them, but that was it.

 

This being a CW show, I am always on the look-out for tragedy. I'm prepared for Maggie to get killed off at any moment (especially after "Love you. Forever.") to give Alex some major angst. At the same time, I find it hard to believe the producers (of this show in particular) would be so tone-deaf as to kill off one of the lesbian lovers after all the grief it rained down on The 100 and other shows. But...angst. It's what CW does.

 

I see they've sidelined Cat again, this time as mouthpiece for President Wonder Woman. I know this show has always been very liberal, but if I wanted to be preached at about contemporary real world politics, I'd watch CNN. I hope they tone down the "sly" digs at Trump. Also, can we just get on with the hot Lana-on-Kara action, already? 

 

And a mysterious new character with superstrength! Who could it be? (Seriously, I have no idea.) What will this mean for Supergirl and her friends? I guess we'll see.

 

We have a new villain in Morgan Edge. Boy, that actor really gets around, doesn't he?

[zslane]

1. Cat is sidelined primarily because, according to reports, Callista Flockhart refuses to work in Canada, so far from her home.

 

2. It's Lena (Luthor), not Lana. You're conflating her (name) with Lana Lang. Easy to do with all the damn alliterative names DC (and Marvel) loved to use back in the day. But I agree with you and everyone else with a eyes, ears, and a brain: Kara has more chemistry with her than she ever did with James or Mon-El.

 

3. The mysterious character with superstrength is believed to be Reign, the new big bad for this season. Last we saw her (in the closing shot of last season's finale) she was being sent off in a pod as Krypton was dying, just like Clark and Kara.

 

4. Adrian Pasdar does arrogant blowhard very well. But I miss Maxwell Lord.

[Cassandra]

 

I think zslane just gave the Supergirl writers a challenge!

 

Wait for the return of Mon-El for that.

[sinanju]

1. Cat is sidelined primarily because, according to reports, Callista Flockhart refuses to work in Canada, so far from her home.

 

2. It's Lena (Luthor), not Lana. You're conflating her (name) with Lana Lang. Easy to do with all the damn alliterative names DC (and Marvel) loved to use back in the day. But I agree with you and everyone else with a eyes, ears, and a brain: Kara has more chemistry with her than she ever did with James or Mon-El.

 

3. The mysterious character with superstrength is believed to be Reign, the new big bad for this season. Last we saw her (in the closing shot of last season's finale) she was being sent off in a pod as Krypton was dying, just like Clark and Kara.

 

4. Adrian Pasdar does arrogant blowhard very well. But I miss Maxwell Lord.

 

1. Yeah, I figured. I wonder if this means she won't show up at all this season, or if she'll make another brief in-person appearance during the season.

 

2. Lena, right. Gimme that hot Lena-on-Kara action. Not only would it enjoyable to watch, but the chemistry there beats anyone else she's interacted with.

 

3. Reign must be a character from after I stopped paying attention to the comics.

 

4. He does. I don't miss Maxwell. I found the guy who played him...less than compelling. Morgan Edge is probably just going to be a variation on a theme (arrogant blowhard), but he's more entertaining than the other guy. IMHO.

[Lord Liaden]

Wait for the return of Mon-El for that.

 

Well, we know that time-travel is a big part of what comic-book Mon-El went through, so I think (fear) that's inevitable.

 

 I don't miss Maxwell. I found the guy who played him...less than compelling. Morgan Edge is probably just going to be a variation on a theme (arrogant blowhard), but he's more entertaining than the other guy. IMHO.

 

Same. Maxwell Lord in this show wasn't a terrible concept (as Lex Luthor knockoffs go), but the actor playing him lacked the skill and charisma to really sell it. Adrian Pasdar is just much better in those areas.

 

[zslane]

Adrian Pasdar probably would have made for a better Maxwell Lord, but that ship has sailed. And unfortunately for me, I'm still too used to him as General Blowhard from Agents of SHIELD; it feels like that character somehow slipped from the Marvel continuity into the DC continuity while nobody was looking.

[rjcurrie]

Well, we know that time-travel is a big part of what comic-book Mon-El went through, so I think (fear) that's inevitable.

 

 

Same. Maxwell Lord in this show wasn't a terrible concept (as Lex Luthor knockoffs go), but the actor playing him lacked the skill and charisma to really sell it. Adrian Pasdar is just much better in those areas.

 

 

Are you referring to Glorinth fooling around with his timeline in the Valor (a post-crisis name for Mon-El) series? Because otherwise I can't really recall any time travel associated with him -- unless you're thinking of the 1000 years in the Phantom Zone as time travel.

[rjcurrie]

Adrian Pasdar probably would have made for a better Maxwell Lord, but that ship has sailed. And unfortunately for me, I'm still too used to him as General Blowhard from Agents of SHIELD; it feels like that character somehow slipped from the Marvel continuity into the DC continuity while nobody was looking.

 

Of course, that is a fault of viewers like you and not the actor or the producers. And it's General Talbot, by the way.

[Bazza]

And Talbot is similar to his potrail of his character from Heroes. Also, Passat does the voice only Tony Stark in many animated series.

[zslane]

Of course, that is a fault of viewers like you and not the actor or the producers. And it's General Talbot, by the way.

 

Actually, it is more the fault of Pasdar who plays the same character no matter what the show is, along with the director who allows it, and the producer who wants that. I'm merely making an observation that is pretty plain to anyone who has seen the shows he's been on in recent memory. Seems he's been typecast, and that is hardly the fault of the viewers capable of noticing.

[Pattern Ghost]

 And it's General Talbot, by the way.

 

Around here, it's Flying Man! (have to have the !) Every time he pops up in a new show, we shout "Flying man!" at the screen.

[Lord Liaden]

Are you referring to Glorinth fooling around with his timeline in the Valor (a post-crisis name for Mon-El) series? Because otherwise I can't really recall any time travel associated with him -- unless you're thinking of the 1000 years in the Phantom Zone as time travel.

 

For practical purposes it amounts to time travel IMHO.

[Cassandra]

Adrian Pasdar probably would have made for a better Maxwell Lord, but that ship has sailed. And unfortunately for me, I'm still too used to him as General Blowhard from Agents of SHIELD; it feels like that character somehow slipped from the Marvel continuity into the DC continuity while nobody was looking.

 

I would say that he's traded up from Agents of SHIELD. 

 

I forgot all about Heroes.

 

He did play the President on Political Animals with Sigourney Weaver.