Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Supergirl Episode 310: Legion of Super-Heroes


Supergirl episode #310, titled 'Legion of Super-Heroes', aired last night and was an extremely entertaining episode, the perfect way to kick off the back half of the season. The midseason finale ended with Supergirl battered and defeated at the hands of Reign, beaten down when Supergirl took her sister's advice to be cold and alien.

But Nietzsche said it best when he said 'battle not monsters lest ye become a monster'. This Supergirl has been struggling with being human, with being emotionally vulnerable, with being Kara this whole season. But the answer was never going to be to match brute, unfeeling force. It was always going to be winning through empathy and humanity. And this episode does a near perfect job of illustrating that ... while also dropping in a Supergirl continuity bomb that has long standing fans purring with happiness.

The episode also was Legion heavy as well. Supergirl and the Legion are as close to peanut butter and jelly as you can get, two great things which are even greater together. And the writers lean into the Legion history pretty hard, name dropping planets and Legionnaires, giving us familiar tech, and showing just how powerful a Legion team can be. (If only DC Comics felt the same!)

Another real draw here was Brainiac 5, a character with major comic history with Kara. I was one of the people who really bashed the way the character looked in preview pictures. And I have to admit, this wild-haired, blue/purple looking Brainy isn't what I would have designed. But the performance by Jesse Nath was pitch perfect, the mix of hyper-intelligent, shy, awkward Querl who is smitten with Kara. His performance sold me, so much I looked past the odd makeup.

And lastly, all this wouldn't work without the evil of Reign. Odette Anabelle is crushing it as the caring mother/malicious judge combo. Now she isn't alone. She gains an ally this episode, showing long term story thinking by the writers, and we hear that maybe there are more World Killers out there, something very true in the comics.

Long intro I know. But excellent episodes get more commentary. Onto the details!



The episode starts off with a non-spectacled Kara waking in her loft by a knock at the door. Outside is Brainiac 5. When he calls her Supergirl he is invited right in.

You immediately get the sense that he is nervous about meeting her. After all, she is legend to him, the inspiration behind the Legion. So hearing him stammer, saying 'It's you' and then 'Now you're talking to me' while he shuffles about was humorous. This isn't cold, calculating, 'how about I create Omega' Brainy. This is awkward, shy, not comfortable around people in an endearing way Brainy.

He does an info dump about him, Colu, his 12 level intellect, how she is healing in a Legion medical tank, and how he is talking to her. He reminds her of the fight and that this loft is a construct of her subconscious, where she feels most comfortable. You get a nice read on his character almost immediately, which works throughout the episode.

There is a lot to like here. The replay of the fight in Kara's mind include some POV shots from her perspective, Reign's fists flying at the camera. We also get some dutch angles as she reels from the news. Nice.

But most of all, the thing to take away here is that it is Kara's apartment that is her subconscious place of strength. Not Krypton. Not the DEO. Not the Fortress. This is pure Kara, a nod again to the importance of her humanity.


Meanwhile we see that Reign still has some Sam in her. She plays with Ruby around the house, only getting weird when she see a newspaper pic of Reign.

Then it is off to her Fortress of Spikes where she again hears her mission is to purge the world of sin, both the sinners and those who protect the sinners. She won't abide people ignoring evil or being apathetic to it.

Flying off, she casually either maims or kills a car jacker. She floats into CatCo rather haughtily declaring that she is here to destroy evil, as a friend.


I have commented before that this show will riff off the Donner movie. Hearing Reign say 'I'm a friend' made me bristle as that is a key line in the Christopher Reeve movie. Even her demeanor, floating in like some god, shows she is far from human, far from caring.

This whole thing is supposed to show us what an alien, unfeeling Supergirl would look like. This is the dark mirror. This is to show Kara that she can't ... she shouldn't ignore her humanity. She should embrace it.

Back at the DEO, we learn a bit about the future.
The Legion is reluctant to engage in the affairs of the present given their mission in the future. (A 'we don't want to interfere with history' could have been used here as well.)

They do know Supergirl lives and Reign leaves eventually. But they don't know details. In 2455, the Earth is nearly destroyed and nearly all of its history is destroyed as well. It is Mon-El (God help us) who informs the Legion about Earth's culture - Shakespeare, Aristotle, and Bon Jovi (okay that's funny).


That means the DEO has to figure out how to stop Reign. They activate Project Sundown, a protocol to stop a rogue Kryptonian. (Hmm ... could have used this with Astra and Non, just sayin'.) Red Sun grenades, Kryptonite from Coville's K-bomb, and sound guns. (Remember, all the other K was taken by Superman to the Fortress. I wish we got even a one liner about Superman being off-earth.)

Alex also decides to visit Thomas Coville, the Rao fanatic, in prison seeing if he'll give some info. But instead, Coville says Reign is here to show the world 'what's next'. I guess getting spurned by Kara has put him on a dark path.


Meanwhile, back in Kara's mind, Brainy realizes that she has locked herself into this room. Her body has healed but she isn't awake. Maybe she is afraid to face Reign again.

Steeling herself, she says she isn't afraid, first trying to punch the door down and then unleashing a tremendous heat vision blast. The bolt blasts the apartment, strewing the contents everywhere. But the door remains closed.

First off, I love the 'once a season Melissa Benoist gets to cut loose with heat vision and scream' trope we see in this show. Remember Red Tornado?

I also like that Brainy says he has imagined meeting Kara 4,237,642 times. Some might call it creepy. But I found it endearing. He has thought a lot about her. Now he gets to meet her.


Reign continues to cut a bloody swath of 'justice' through the city, killing drug dealers and cops.

When questioned on why they can't join in, Mon-El finally reveals their mission. The Legionnaire Ayla discovered that an alien horde called the Blight has laid waste to the planet Winath. There is a way to stop them, written onto the DNA of the Legionnaires. The time-displaced Legionnaires need to survive to bring this to the future.


Ayla! Winath! The Blight!
Legion fans everywhere were squealing!


Okay, there was a needless subplot about how James and Lena were deciding if they should date. Lena is worried that James isn't interested because she is a Luthor. She decides to talk to Kara (who is home sick) about it.

Of course, Kara is comatose so J'onn has to stand in again for her. I love these scenes. Melissa Benoist acts like David Harewood being Supergirl. The vocab, the body language, the blunt advice ... it all screams J'onn. I chuckled out loud.

After talking about kissing James and his ability to look past the Luthor because he knows Lena, Lena leaves happy.


Okay, it's a funny funny scene. But felt weird in the context of the high drama around it.

To lure Reign out, the DEO fakes a bank robbery. Everyone in the bank is an agent.

And the protocol almost works. The grenade stuns her. The sound guns keep Reign still. And the drop the K around her neck on a big chain.

The problem is it doesn't incapacitate her. She is able to fly off.

It is clear. The DEO needs to concentrate the K and inject it into Reign. Maybe she is something more than Kryptonian? I suppose it could be that she is like the comic Reign, some alien or animal modified to be a World Killer.


First we have 'I'm a friend.' Then we have Kryptonite on a chain.

Maybe I am looking for Donner too much.


Now I have loved this show. But the following scene almost melted me.

Back in the apartment in her mind, Kara realizes that maybe all the things around her include a clue to getting her out. Quoting Sherlock Holmes (love that), Kara decides to look around and finds a picture of her and her childhood cat ... wait for it ... Streaky!

Streaky was a tomcat she took in as a stray. She was afraid she would hurt him with her powers. But she learned to be gentle until finally she could pet him. Having Streaky was the first time she felt truly human.

Just incredible.

Streaky is in the show's continuity. A boy cat Kara loved. If only he was an orange tabby! But I can't complain. Trust me, long time Supergirl fans everywhere screamed with joy at this.


But the threats outside her mind continue. Reign is going to rip through a prison. She'll kill the inmates and the staff. It is time for the Legion to fight.

Donning their black leather (ugh), they slip on flight rings and fly off in their cruiser.

In the prison, we see Reign strolling down the corridors lashing out at everyone. Everyone except Coville who vows to serve her.

But then 'Living on a Prayer' fills the air. The Cruiser shows up. The Legion spills out and fights with Reign. But it's clear, even with J'onn,  they are outmatched.



Finally, inside her mind, Kara realizes that this place says she is Kara primarily, not Supergirl. Brainy reminds her that these are Kara's things. She can't leave with heat vision and punches. Instead, for the first time, she puts on her glasses. (The preoccupation with her glasses in emotional scenes has been there since the pilot!) And now, as Kara, she simply opens the door and walks out.

Again, this once more shows that it is Kara's humanity that will save the day. It is her upbringing, her emotions, her empathy that is her greatest strength.

Waking up on the cruiser, Kara immediately decides to join the fight.


Near sacrificing herself by exposing herself to the concentrated K, Kara flies in and jabs the Kryptonite into Reigns neck. The World Killer retreats.


She's the hero.



There is nothing left but the wrap up.

Mon-El says he still cares for Kara. Imra says it was an honor to fight beside her. And she meets Brainy in person.

Lena and James begin their romance.

The sisters have a quiet evening in Kara's loft. What I love about this is that throughout the episode we see Alex punishing herself for the 'be cold' advice. She felt responsible. Everyone needs to know that it is Supergirl's warmth that will win the day.

And then we see that Coville has joined Reign's side. And is ready to help her find the others like her. Hello World Killers. We are heading to a massive brawl between a Supergirl-led Legion fighting 5 World Killers. I'm ready.

I love how the theme of the season keeps chugging along. Kara is learning lessons about herself, about the strength of her humanity, and what a cold Kryptonian 'protector' would look like.

And we got Brainy and Streaky.

I am thrilled.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good episode packed with action and cool references. And Streaky! How can anyone not love an episode where Streaky makes an appearance? Now if someone just namedropped Krypto...

Good Legion showing. I have issues with the suits and white-haired, blue-skinned Brainy (albeit admitedly he has been blue in the JLU cartoon... and Geez, he was blue-skinned in a few panels of AC #276. Probably a coloring mistake, but still...), but I can get over it. Especially because Brainy actually behaves as a non-Flanderized Brainy: he's cocky and somewhat socially-awkward, but not an unbearable jerk. And anyway, it looks like Mon-El is getting his actual costume soon.

https://supergirl.tv/will-the-real-mon-el-please-stand-up

I've run into Legion fans disliking the changes, but since they're Reboot fans I can't say I care for their arguments (Honestly, Imra dating Cosmic Boy and Princess Projectra being a snake are acceptable changes but brunette Imra married to Mon-El is "a disgrace"?)

Anonymous said...

First of all great review, this is my first post here
I am just wondering whether the title was LoS or Awakening...

And also despite no one here seems to talk about this situation but I noticed Andrew Kreisberg is still being listed as a creator in the credits
When the original sexual misconduct allegations against him surfaced on Variety last November some details from his male colleagues made me cringe. There are tons of related discussions online but I just don't know what to believe as much as don't want to know them... But exactly how much authority did Andrew K. have in this show's process and how much of it is to be believed that the addition of Mon-El was more or less a self-insertion. Since I have purchased the 2nd season but the show becomes unwatchable for me whenever the allegations come to mind.

I guess this is just a part of the fallout from the Metoo movement. But now with all those previous controversies and another extremely long hiatus being arranged, can we say the show is making some course corrections?

Anonymous said...

Great review as always Anj.

My thoughts:

Amazing:
Jesse Rath
Bon Jovi references
Streaky!
Brainiac multitasking
Brainiac piloting the legion ship
Kara/Jonn meeting Lena
Brainiac being uncomfortable about tweaking his avatar
Kara flying in front of ship
References to the future
Flight rings

What didn't work imo:
Kara finding the key because she forgot she was Kara. I really didn't feel that made any sense at this point.
Every legionaire outfit and makeup
Streaky's color
Streaky likely dead from old age
Lena+James
Reigns motivation, having no drive herself, just being puppetted by a lady with a too alien thought process.
Ruby's role
Coville going from worshipping the ideal of good to joining Reign

Without Brainiac 5 this would have been a poor episode in my opinion, but his role made up for it and more. Ultimately I really enjoyed it.

Anj said...

It is titled Legion of Super-Heroes.

Off to edit!

And thanks for comments so far!

Anonymous said...

Great episode with awesome content and streaky!!
One of the writers of the episode on Twitter said that they chose the cat to be black cause black cats are more rarely to be adopted because they are thought to be associated with the devil and are more liable to become strays. Personally I felt like it was akin to Kara feeling unwanted by kal as well since he thrust Kara on the danvers and then left.

Also, how kewl was that shot of the legion ship emerging from the ocean as bon jovi blasts from the background! It made my day.

I honestly,never had a problem with the suits cause 1) it's a TV budget and 2) Mon el is not yet a hero, we KNOW he formed the legion and fights in the future, but we haven't SEEN it. Someone who hesitates to help people and has to be coerced into it in a way, has ways to go. But when he will finally wear the suit, it will be a delight to see.

There have been some theories floating around that the 'great darkness' which imra referenced some eps back (and which was also told by indigo in s1) refers to darkseid. I would love for him to be the final boss but securing an grade A level villain for a tvshow when Justice league 2 is sure to use it, seems a bit implausible right now, but I would give anything to see it.

As for the kreisberg speculations, he will be credited for the episodes which used his content and which were made while he was in charge. It's a simple matter of intellectual property and contract terms.
As for the show making course corrections or not, we have no certainty of knowing that right now. I have to just say one thing, let's end this kreisberg discussion here, it's a Supergirl site dedicated to enjoying the show (which receives enough criticism from those fake covillesque fans online). I would much rather this hub remain as an oasis and I would be much more inclined to speculate about content rather than creators.

Anonymous said...

Coville never worshipped the idea of 'good' he worshipped the idea of 'power' and a god like being who he thinks is the answer to mankind's every problem or will show it the way. This is a perfect partnership- between Reign and coville,she thinks if herself like a god and he worships the idea of a god who can be seen and touched. Kara never thought of herself as a god, others think of her that way, but she doesn't see herself as a Messiah figure and in fact it brings tears to her eyes that just because her biology works a bit differently than humans and she helps people, that they take her to be a god. So that's why the moment Supergirl was defeated, like a fair weather friend, he changed teams cause Reign was now the powerful one. That scene in prison with Alex and coville is meant to establish who is the real Supergirl supporter- Alex (and anj) or coville. Hint: it's not likely to be the latter one.
Also, Odette herself tells that Reign is a 'bio-engineered weapon' and as this, when Reign takes over Sam it can be seen that she is devoid of any will of her own, she truly is a puppet for that lady. More like a means to an end.
It has been theorized that these small family moments between Ruby and Sam are shown cause she will probably bring Sam back from Reign or something like that in the end, which is why in episode 9 Sam says that Ruby is her heart.

Am I obsessed with this season....yeah too much as you can see.

Anonymous said...

I don't know.

Reign very explicitly said that Supergirl was no god and she no devil. I don't think Reign sees herself as divine.

Also, Supergirl returned and defeated Reign before Coville's end scene where he puts his dime with Reign.

Would Reign have entertained Coville's ideal of a Goddess rescuing humanity as they are falling to their deaths? I don't think so.

Though severely misguided, Coville felt painted as someone who found a savior after his brush with death and wanted to share the experience. He knows Reign is not a savior, he feared what was coming.

I felt this turn was out of character for where he was coming from. It made him more of a plot device than a character to me.

I would probably have cared less if it was someone else, but I think they really managed to create a truly interesting character in Coville, only to waste him as a henchman.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the review... and GLAD TO SEE SUPERGIRL ON THE AIR AGAIN! Well, for another 3 episodes at least. Agree, the Brainiac / Querl
performance definitely was very good inspite of the costuming flaws. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but was a nice mix of : smart,
socially awkward, know-it-all, but not a complete jerk. Was some great chemistry between him and Kara, and looking forward to more of
them in the future. The callout to Streaky was great as well, and thanks for explaining the Legionaire history, Anj. I can only imagine
the reaction when those names / references were dropped.

I'm still baffled by Samantha / Reign though, firstly how we got from the endscene of the midseason finale -- Ruby coming down Christmas AM and
seemingly finding Reign in her living room -- to a game of nerf darts between Sam and Ruby. Also, while I get Reign's purpose is to punish, her
full motivations, as well as the motivations of her mentor continue to baffle. At least from my perspective, if your planet's dying, you decide
to invest all this time and effort to creating a being whose sole purpose is to be some sort of Robocop... but Coville joining up with Reign,
and the news there's additional World Killers out there... DUNDUNDUN!!

Thanks as well for pointing out the Donner-verse riffs in this ep, I can think of no higher compliment to pay to the Supers legacy :)

I'm also happy to see Imra and Mon-El in action -- seeing her telekinesis powers in use with the gym equipment and with Reign's freeze breath,
SWEEEEET!! I'll spare the rant about what (if any) superpowers Mon-El has, seems the writers STILL haven't figured that out either. The final
win by Supergirl was the capstone on the episode!

Also, it bears repeating here again : J'onn's "Oh no, not again." / "The indignity!" / "Agent Schott, don't make me do that again!" / "I
just had a conversation about James' kissing ability. This will be a sunday picnic." PURE COMEDY GOLD!!

Looking forward to next week's episode. Since the news and pics came out that Brit Morgan / Livewire'd be making a return appearance, I've
been like a kid in a candy store! Maybe she and Supergirl could braid each other's hair? :D


Regards

Anonymous said...

Golly someone spent a lot of money on the Legion Starship's Bridge to buttress a three four minute fight sequence...but no matter the Berlantiverse "Likes to Go Big".
I'm liking Brainiac Five, I love the idea of his disembodied intellect crashing around supergirl's unconscious awkwardly telling her she can escape only by self reflection & embracing her humanity....this from the Legion's Answer to Mister Spock.
Itd be kewl if he could somehow initiate "The Classic Relationship" I doubt things will get that far, which regrettable given the wonky chemistry....
Not quite sure yet what makes Reign so overpowerful, I suspect it revolves around klunky technobabble eructated in the final episode.
JF

KET said...

"Reign very explicitly said that Supergirl was no god and she no devil. I don't think Reign sees herself as divine."

Of course not. She's the devil....and one of the most prominent things devils do is lie.

Here's another thing to consider...and on the third day, Kara woke up and 'got better'.

"2) Mon el is not yet a hero, we KNOW he formed the legion and fights in the future, but we haven't SEEN it. Someone who hesitates to help people and has to be coerced into it in a way, has ways to go. But when he will finally wear the suit, it will be a delight to see."

Concur on these points on Mon-El. BTW, one can see a short blip of Mon-El in his Valor costume on the just-released CW Mid-season sizzle video (it's on YouTube). Some nifty special FX when Supergirl steps out in view, too. :)

"Odette herself tells that Reign is a 'bio-engineered weapon'"

Yup. When Sam was first transformed at the Fortress, her mentor (portrayed by 'Ursa' herself, Sarah Douglas) had proclaimed that Reign is a creation of both science and magic. That last bit is probably the vital piece of info that the DEO and Supergirl need to learn more about if they're going to stop the Worldkiller (and possibly, her Worldkiller allies as well, if they're awakened).

"Though severely misguided, Coville felt painted as someone who found a savior after his brush with death and wanted to share the experience. He knows Reign is not a savior, he feared what was coming.

I felt this turn was out of character for where he was coming from. It made him more of a plot device than a character to me."

Actually, I think Coville showed his true colors in this episode, which was power worship. Reign did free him from prison, where he was already being mugged for his preaching. However, it seems that Coville's true 'calling' all along has been to be some sort of power broker for whoever would take his advice, whether it be Supergirl or Reign, or even someone else in a power-wielding situation. Kind of reminds me of how Lex Luthor handled the Kryptonian criminals in Superman II.

"Jesse Rath"

Yeah, he was quirky and fun as B5....almost stole the whole episode for me...until Melissa did that impersonation of David Harewood's mannerisms again. She could do a whole episode of that, and it would be wonderfully hilarious to behold.

"Bon Jovi references"

Episode co-writer Derek Simon's fault...he's reportedly a huge Bon Jovi fan, and was overjoyed when the show received permission to use the song.

KET

Professor Feetlebaum said...

This is somewhat off topic, but there's a fun video currently up on YouTube (I think it was put up yesterday) that is worth checking out. Just go to YouTube and type in "Adventures of Supergirl Opening Titles (1951).

There's also a link on the SupergirlTV site.

Scrimmage said...

I thought this was a thoroughly enjoyable, if slightly flawed episode, which could've been much better except for the needlessly prolonged absence of the title character. There were a few pesky, poorly developed or confusing plot points, like WHY was Kara “trapped” in her own subconscious, and why is a so-called “World Killer” like Reign wasting her time fooling around with common, smash and grab thieves, who are more in Guardian Olsen's league (so to speak) than hers? What does she care about human-on-human crime if she's just going to kill practically everybody anyway? The biggest problem with this entire storyline is that the primary villain's motivation, and ultimate goal – AKA the “Evil Master Plan” - are still unclear, halfway through the season. As far as I can tell, it seems that Reign just gets a little irritable every thousand years or so, and takes it out on everyone around her. (Insert politically incorrect, sexist joke HERE ______ )

This time, instead of the writers arbitrarily decreasing Supergirl's power levels to suit the plot for dramatic purposes, it's Reign, whose powers and abilities are wildly inconsistent from episode to episode, and sometimes even scene to scene. At times, Reign didn't seem NEARLY as powerful as she did in the previous episode, when she easily beat the crap out of Supergirl, and ran super-speed circles around the DEO. Red Sun grenade or not, there's still no way Alex could've gotten anywhere NEAR Reign with a Kryptonite necklace without being vaporized instantly. I DID like that Reign fractured Alex's fibula just by grabbing her (apparently Sam never had a pet cat), however, her resistance to Kryptonite needed to be explained.


I was rather disappointed in the this latest round between Reign and the newly recovered Supergirl. It was over too quickly, and wrapped up WAY too fast, mainly because Reign simply flew away, as if no one anticipated she might do that. Why they didn't follow her, or at the very least, plant a tracker on her, to find out where she goes is beyond me.

Scrimmage said...

We could use some further explanation of the Legion's powers. We've NEVER gotten a definitive description of the full extent of Mon-El's abilities. His main talent seems to be getting into trouble and being rescued by Supergirl, a power he shares with Lois Lane. Okay, so Brainiac 5 is knowledgeable, but he doesn't seem to be all that smart. He was pretty useless in the battle against Reign. Obviously, the incredibly gorgeous Saturn Girl (do they call her that?) is a telekinetic, but I always thought her primary power was telepathy, an ability she shares with J'onn, who never seems to use it to its full advantage. If she IS a powerful mind reader, then why wasn't Imra the one who made contact with Supergirl's subconscious, or even J'onn? Why did it require some futuristic tech from Brainiac 5?

Speaking of telepaths and tech...

Why has no one scanned Reign's mind, and discovered that she's Kara's buddy, Sam? For that matter, why hasn't Winn used the DEO's super computer's face recognition capability to determine what Reign's face would look like behind her mask, and identify her that way? Why has no one noticed the Fortress of Stone that popped up overnight in the (Nevada?) desert? Up until they faked the bank job, the good guys haven't been very pro-active in dealing with Reign. You'd think they would've had all kinds of contingency plans, and protocols in place for dealing with a rogue Kryptonian, besides the lame “break out the sonic guns, and find me some Kryptonite” plan that J'onn set into motion DAYS after Reign first showed up. And why couldn't they have protected Supergirl from the concentrated liquid K, simply by putting it inside a lead hypodermic? That would've also prevented Reign from seeing what was inside of it. I wonder if Kara considered the possibility that such a tactic could wind up KILLING Reign, one of her few remaining fellow Kryptonians, a critically endangered species? She certainly didn't seem to have any qualms about sticking that needle into her enemy's throat. So much for Supergirl embracing her humanity.

I hope Kara's revisited memories of her pet cat, Streaky, don't prompt her to adopt another stray (Streaky II – the sequel?) in her 'normal' reality. Super-speed, or NO super-speed, she doesn't have time for a cat.

I liked Brainiac 5, and I didn't mind at all that he wasn't green. It doesn't matter any more than Saturn Girl being a smokin HAWT brunette, instead of another perky blonde, like Kara. Since J'onn is already a green alien, it makes sense that TPTB would choose a slightly different tint for Brainy, just to avoid confusion. After all, television has a much larger color palette to choose from than comic books.

When the “time” comes for the Legion to return to their own era, I hope Winn gives them a comprehensive, and up to date world history, and cultural database, so that future generations can better judge for themselves if Bon Jovi deserves to be included in the same breath as Aristotle and Shakespeare. I have to admit, the way Imra just SAYS “Bon Jovi” with that honey-sweet accent, is almost enough to convince me of his greatness... ALMOST!

Uncle Screensaver said...

It was a fantastic episode. I wasn't going to watch it because of how awful the LSH looked but happy I did. Although it says something when DC TV/ cinematic characters are so dark that even Streaky is a black cat, I am so happy that despite first X-Men movie/ "Smallville" makeup and costumes - which ironically in Smallville was closer to their comic book counterparts - (such lost opportunities with Mon-El's costume) have live action canon of Streaky and a Brainiac 5/ Supergirl team-up. It would have been nice if they had echoed their first meeting and Querl had given her his force shield belt to protect her from the kryptonite, and having her give him a kiss afterward, the J'Onn as Kara scene made up for it, it was hilarious. Benoist's emotion over Streaky and her "I'm not afraid" scream/ heat vision moment, her interaction with Brainy, and her laughter over J'Onn was just amazing. In any case, despite my continued loathing of "Carra rather than Care-a" and other aspects of the show, this episode was still good enough that I wanted to watch it again right after, and continues to cement my love for the character.

Uncle Screensaver said...

As for Saturn Girl, I can understand why she didn't have the code name and the power, as it wouldn't translate well on screen, and her telepathic ability would circumvent Brainiac 5's interaction with Kara. If they had used it, however, it would have been a nice way to have the two "super girl friends" interact and maybe give some closure or insight into Mon-El's life and Kara being more happy for him. Imra could have also scanned Reign's mind and received some clue as to her nature - also, why didn't J'Onn try to read her mind? Back to Imra, having her called "Saturn Girl" might have ended up too similar to why Ray's codename is "The Ray," with a joke about her calling herself after the name of her home planet. With Kara, I find it kind of strange that she's written where her identities seem to be so split - "that's not Supergirl's, that's Kara's" kind of thing. Alex having to repent that she told her to get rid of "Kara Danvers" as if the caring and empathetic part of her was as false as her Clark Kent Clumsiness. She will refer to herself as being an alien, not human, despite evidence of human relationships existing on Krypton - they weren't cold and analytical like Byrne's Krypton.

Martin Gray said...

Aha, so last episode’s comments included complaints about what happened to the Fort Rozz High Priestess... it seems that was no loose end, she’s the Fortress of Spikes woman. Great stuff