Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Supergirl Episode 411: Blood Memory


Supergirl episode 411, titled 'Blood Memory' took a hard look at the new reality of a mind-wiped Alex while at the same time giving us a lot of backstory and a character progression to Nia Nal. And, to add a little spice, the specter of the Children of Liberty raised its head again, albeit in a somewhat contrived threat.

For me, the biggest thing about this episode was how it dealt with family secrets and Nia Nal's identity. Supergirl has always been the most politically progressive of the CW shows. This episode deals with Nia being transgender and how being a woman is her true identity. This episode covers that topic in a sensitive and straightforward and, dare I say, entertaining way. I always worry that shows with plots like this can become maudlin or saccharine, preachy or ham-fisted. Not true here.As I have said, stories with an agenda are fine. Agendas with a story fit on top of them seldom work. So kudos to the writing staff for covering this important topic the way it did.

That doesn't mean the scrambled Alex isn't as big a deal. It is clear that this wasn't a minor excision of memories. These blocks have impacted Alex's whole outlook on life, even her take on aliens. If the reason to keep Alex in the DEO was to make sure someone with a heart was guiding it then this has to be looked upon as a failure. The Alex they want running the DEO isn't this Alex. Maybe it is time to pull the plug on this 'solution' and come up with something new?

Lastly, I am shaking my head at James Olsen. Don't let love blind you from doing the right thing dude! You'll see what I mean.

On to the show.



We start out again in Russia where I think we see repeated footage of the Russian Supergirl taking out missiles and drones. I am almost positive it is the exact same scene from last episode.

When she lands, it is clear something is wrong. She gets a nosebleed and collapses. To revive her, the doctors defibrillate her at 5000j. This must be a special defibrillator! Most go only to 360j.

It seems to revive her but her body explodes with purple lightning energy which seems to arc across the globe.


Purple energy does remind me of the Harun-El. We saw this doppelganger in last year's finale after Kara grabbed the Harun-El. So my guess is that she is somehow an unstable copy and is degrading. In some ways it harkens back to Satan Girl, the Red Kryptonite copy of Supergirl who is also unstable and fading away.


Incredibly, the purple energy reaches across the globe to National City. A couple of stoner bros who deal out of their RV don't notice that the purple energy zaps a tray of illegal pills. Despite the protests of their quiet little sister Bobbi, who is trying to study for a test, they continue to watch videos and burn themselves out.

When a couple of rich kids come over to purchase, they down the Harun-El'd pills and Hulk out, going on a rampage.

Meanwhile, over at Kara's, it is game night. The Danvers sisters continue to clean up, speaking 'Midvale' shortcuts and repeating the home town cheer. We learn how Nia comes from Parthas, a utopian community where aliens and humans have lived openly together for decades. (It does seem weird that just 3 years ago there were no aliens on Earth and now we have communities thriving since the 70s.)

But it is here we first see how Alex's mind is missing chunks. She can't remember Kara's favorite movie. (We do learn that Alex's favorite is Terminator 2!). But before things can get more awkward, Alex is called away to a disturbance.


It is a frat party where the raged out druggies are running amok. Supergirl arrives and between her and the DEO, the two are stopped in short order.

But Alex is quite cold to Supergirl. She demands that Supergirl call her 'Director Danvers'. And she doesn't like Supergirl interfering.

Now that isn't Alex.


Back at CatCo, Kara really laments the change in her sister. Firing down donuts, she confides in James. Alex didn't remember that Kara loves the Wizard of Oz. (Long term fans of the show know that is her favorite.) She can;t remember it because Eliza showed it to Kara because Kara was an alien girl put into a new weird planet. It resonated. But Alex no longer remembers that.

Needing to clear her head, she decides to join Nia in a trip back to Parthas to take in the Harvest Fest. She can run this utopia as part of her series on aliens living on Earth.


In a side story, James learns an employee got a tip on LCorp slushing funds somewhere. They want to investigate. James knows it is the superhuman experiments Lena is running. He says the reporter can do some digging but to run everything by him first. Will James compromise his journalistic integrity? Hmmm ...

The alien hulks have devolved back into 'frat boys' (as labeled by Brainy). But Alex can't crack them. She can't get the info she needs in interrogation and she knows that isn't like her.

Something is wrong and she knows it.

Again, how long can her friends and family let this go on when she is beginning to doubt herself.


As if to solidify the fact that the energized pills make one super strong and enraged (like the Hulk) we learn that they have been 'radicalized' with gamma rays. Hmmm ... where is Dr. Banner when you need him!




All the news about the frat party attack have gone viral. Suddenly, the stoner dealers are getting requests for sales and at top dollar value! Despite the sister's protest, the two hit the road.


En route to Parthas, Nia gives some backstory. Her mother has the dream gift too. It was while on Naltor that her mother dreamed of going to Earth and falling in love. That all came to happen.

Nia was lucky to live in such an inclusive community as Parthas. They accepted her as a girl early on. Had it not been for living in Parthas, her life as trans might have been much harder.

But Nia hasn't told her family that she has prophetic dreams and so she asks that Kara not mention them, especially to her older sister Maeve.
.
Things get creepy when Nia has a dream of her mother covered in cobwebs, drinking black wine and dying.

The Nal home is quite lovely, a mix of new age and Little House on the Prairie chic.

But the family is quite nice with Mother, Father, and older sister Maeve all telling old stories about Nia. She read Cat Grant's book 40 times. Nia always wanted to be a reporter to bring about change for the better.

As for Maeve, she keeps studying dream logic waiting for the 'once in a generation' dream powers to kick in. After all, the powers are passed down to a woman each generation unless they are cursed with 'Dream Blindness'. Everyone reassures Maeve it will happen. But Nia and Kara both know that Maeve isn't the receiver of the gift.

I guess I can see why Nia wouldn't want to talk. She just discovered the gift and Maeve has been prepping all her life. But, in a place built on inclusion and love, you would think Nia might have a little more trust in her family.


The drug sales continue to bring about more rage attacks. It is clear that people are now Hulking out recreationally. It again triggers a concern in Alex. She should have anticipated this.

She asks J'onn to scan her to make sure she is fine. She wondered if the 'Truth seeker' last episode might have caused some brain damage. As an aside, Brainy and J'onn agree they can't let up yet. And so J'onn lies to Alex saying everything is fine.

You might think that there is way too much lying here. And you might think Alex wouldn't like the changes in her if she was aware. And you also might think that Haley might not suspect Alex again since she cleared the Truth Seeker and so they could reinstate Alex's memories.

You might think all that ...


Meanwhile, Nia asks Kara to run some interference with Maeve. Nia will talk with her mother to see if there is some way to give Maeve the powers. Nia doesn't want them. Maeve does.

It is hard to refuse destiny.


Out on the town, Maeve speaks of her sister's strength. She talks of her mother being the hero of Naltor because of her visions.

But then we get the needed threat for the episode. The Children of Liberty have shown up in Parthas. There are always protestors at the Harvest Fest, people against the alien/Terran community at Parthas.

I have to say Maeve sounds very supportive of Nia. There doesn't seem to be any rivalry here. It has a Danvers feel to it.


As I said last week Jesse Rath has been a wonder.

Here he dresses up like a nerd and goes 'undercover' in the DEO. He speaks 'dudebro' to the original Hulks, talking about his love of the 'sweet rage candy' and gets the info on the sellers. With this info, they can track down the RV.

I love that all his local dialects, like dudebro, is learned from movies.

Seriously, Rath is just spectacular.


Nia and her mother have a heart to heart. There is no way to shift the powers.

Suddenly both are thrust into a dream. It is there that Nia's mother puts it together. Nia is the Dreamer. She should have seen it. The mother's prophetic element was water. Nia's will be fire.

Hmmm ... that is an interesting nugget tossed out with little explanation.

But then we see that Nia's mother has been bitten by a spider and dies. All the hints were in the dreams but Nia didn't recognize them. Suddenly the Harvest Fest has become a funeral.


It was a little hard to wrap my head around the fact that Harun-El Russian energy somehow, miraculously, settled onto a tray of drugs in National City. It is even harder for me to deal with a spider bite so deadly that the mother dies in moments. Maybe Naltorians are particularly vulnerable to arachnids?


Ahhh ... but then what I thought was the most suspenseful scene.

James goes over to Lena's house, most likely to confront her about the super-power experiment that he clearly thinks is wrong.

He finds her playing and studying board games on her own so that she and James can be a better couple at Game Night.

Shaking his head, James says he is all in.

He is all in on this relationship. He won't rock the boat by confronting her about this Harun-El stuff.

And that is going to come back to haunt him. He should trust Lena. He should know she wants to hear his opinion. But instead he just shuts his mouth.

This is an ill portent.


The Sons of Liberty steal the rage drugs from the dealers and head to Parthas.
Irate that her life has been turned so upside down, the meek Bobbi pops the last pill and heads to Parthas to try and stop the Sons of Liberty.

The funeral mass is overrun by the hulks and Nia has a vision of Maeve being hit. She pushes Maeve out of the way before the blow can land. Suddenly Maeve understands. Nia has the power. She never will.


And then everything goes bananas.
The DEO with J'onn arrive. The Sons of Liberty are attacking. Supergirl arrives. The super-powered citizens of Parthas defend themselves. And Bobbi shows up out of control.

When Alex aims her pistol at the alien holding Bobbi, Supergirl burns the pistol out of her sister's hand. She thought Alex was aiming at the wrong person.

Alex knows that Bobbi was acting like that out of fear and feeling powerless. Supergirl can never know that fear. Supergirl doesn't know vulnerability. Should Supergirl intercede with a DEO op again, Alex will arrest her.

Of course, we know how Kara is vulnerable, both physically and emotionally. This speech by Alex, delivered with a sharp steely edge, is all wrong. Alex should know Supergirl is Kara with all those fears and weaknesses.

Seriously, they attacked each other. Isn't it time to pull the plug on this solution?

And why of all things would Alex send J'onn into the burning barn to save people. We know that is his weakness!

Things ends cruelly.

Now I am sure this is a reaction to having a lifetime dream crushed, but Maeve pulls no punches. She is upset that Nia has known for months that she had the powers but let Maeve go on hoping. And she is upset that someone like Nia, of all people, not even a 'real woman', could get the gift.

It is a complete invalidation of Nia's identity, by someone she thought loved her and accepted her.

That is a horrifying.


Recognizing that both are people with powers, dealing with sister issues, and knowing they both need support and love from family, Kara reveals to Nia she is Supergirl.

Love between sisters will prevail.

And Nia has family still. She has Kara.

This was a great scene.


Nothing left but the wrap up.

James tells his reporter to stop investigating LCorp. Terrible.

Nia is given a costume by her father, the Dreamer costume I assume the mother wore.

J'onn realizes that Alex's memories of Kara's powers run so deep they have fundamentally changed who Alex is. That blood memory is lost.

Seriously, undo it, and ask Alex again if she wants to continue. I doubt if Alex knew how she was acting she'd want to!

So this was a solid episode with great plot progression for the Alex/Kara dynamic. I worry about James tossing his morals out. But the powerful message in the Nia arc was the high point. No ham-fisted sermons here. Just a good story to point out the issue and make the viewer think.





18 comments:

Scrimmage said...

This poorly written, clich̩ ridden, continuity busting offering, with its contrived, predictable plot, and one-dimensional characters was EASILY the worst episode of the season, and perhaps the entire series. Beginning with the improbable irradiation of what appeared to be only a handful of pills in a motor home halfway around the planet, as a result of the Russian Supergirl's collapse, and her reaction to a high powered defibrillator - which shouldn't even tickle someone with invulnerable Kryptonian physiology, who can withstand direct lightning strikes Рthe show got off to a shaky start, and went straight downhill from there, into a mess of head shaking absurdity.

No explanation was given for why the lightning struck THOSE particular pills in Supergirl's hometown, instead of some in a drug factory, or in a doctor's office. Instead, we're expected to believe that it was totally random that it supercharged the stash of a couple of stereotypical stoners / drug dealers, who make Harold and Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber look like geniuses.

Then, we spend some time on Nia's backstory, establishing her relationship with her alien mother (who dies suddenly and unexpectedly), and her very preppy sister, who expects to inherit their mother's Dream Power, which is passed down to one female in every generation. Obviously she's going to be disappointed, and why shouldn't she be? Her comment about Nia not being a “real woman” while cruel and insensitive, brings up a valid point. Despite Nia's transgender status, any blood test, or DNA screening would still identify her as a male, which means that it should've been impossible for her to inherit her mother's abilities, just like it's impossible for her get pregnant. Nia's sex change is mostly superficial and cosmetic. Gender is NOT a choice on a genetic level.

The whole notion of Parthas being an alien friendly community for two generations goes against the long established tradition that Superman was the first alien to make his presence known on Earth, and only then after he was raised here, and became an adult, which at the most should've been no more than ten years ago, which raises another troublesome question. Has anyone ever bothered to ask or explain just WHY all these aliens are coming here? Kal-El and Kara have a pretty good excuse, since their homeworld no longer exists, but what's the motivation for all these other alien races? How many of THEIR planets have exploded? How did they get here? How do they even KNOW about us?

Of course, this idyllic little town's tolerance for aliens doesn't sit well with the Children of Liberty – who, like most of the bad guys on this show, are white males with Southern accents who drive pickup trucks – so they decide to do some rage drugs and disrupt the town's yearly festival, as if they couldn't have done the same kind of damage with their guns, attack dogs, and baseball bats.

Then, while subduing the raging “Children,” Supergirl burns Alex's hand to stop her from using NON LETHAL force against a local alien fighting a raged-up Bobbi, the quiet little sister of one of the dealers. This provokes an understandable “WTF?” response from “Director Danvers,” which hurts Supergirl's feelings, which in turn leads to a discussion between J'onn and Kara who are now worried that messing with Alex's mind in order to erase knowledge of Supergirl's secret identity has changed her for the worse. Excuse me, but what did they EXPECT Alex to do if Supergirl suddenly became a stranger to her? If the choice was between that, and Alex resigning from the DEO, they should've gone with the less radical option, especially since it seems that Alex is no longer interested in moderating Haley's aggressive, anti-alien policies. The question now becomes, could J'onn restore Alex's memories, even if he wanted to, or are they gone for good?

Scrimmage said...

After all the brawling, on the drive back home, Kara relates to Nia's falling out with her sister, and inexplicably decides to reveal her secret identity to her, despite the fact that she JUST went to extreme measures to limit the number of people who know, INCLUDING her OWN sister! Are you KIDDING me? How is THAT supposed to comfort Nia?

Let's not forget that Nia is also a reporter, and the fact that the question of Supergirl's secret identity has been a big issue in the news ever since Agent Liberty raised the question just a few episodes back, which led to Supergirl's dismissal from the DEO. How could Kara be sure that Nia wouldn't run to James with a career making exclusive scoop like that? Why take that kind of chance, when a few comforting words would've worked just as well? What part of “secret” doesn't big mouth Kara understand? It's just as ridiculous as Alex sending J'onn to rescue civilians from a fire, which as everybody SHOULD know is his weakness! He's the Martian Manhunter, for cryin' out loud, not the Martian Firefighter!

The only person (besides the always entertaining Brainy) who stayed true to their character was the ultra-competitive Lena, who was cheating at Trivial Pursuit, when she wasn't doing illegal human experimentation. At least she's acting like a Luthor in this very disappointing episode, which is more than you could say for the Danvers Sisters.

At least the show can only get better going forward, because they couldn't possibly get much worse! Bring on SuperRusskie!

Anonymous said...

Yipes they should've called this one "Revenge of the Clunky Writing", Evil Purple Energy randomly infused into amphetamines?? I mean it was all downhill from there...although I do think Supergirl's very casual disposal of the original ragers is one of the best moments I've seen all season, the very essence of "Karatharis". The deadly spider bite confused me, I thought Maeve turned on her beloved sister very suddenly given the relationship's set up...and on and on.
My guess about evil Kazanian Supergirl is that she'll play the costumed imposter, "ruin" super girl's reputation setting Kara up with a hostile public...but thats only if the clunky writing stays in it's hole.
:)

JF

Anonymous said...

I for one agree with you anj, there were a few of those wtf moments, but the show relies on emotional impact a lot more than plot accuracy and that's what this episode also did. I like your purple lightning theory and that's what came to my mind as well. I am interested in seeing lex figure in all of it. Kara and nia paralleling must also mean that Alex and maeve will also do, I am interested in seeing how many of those sharp barbed words will Alex throw out throughout the rest of the season? Will it end in Alex trying to kill Kara like she did back in s1? I know that everyone wants this mind wipe thing to end, but I am just enjoying it too much. Also coupled with the absolute lack of romance this season, I am quite happy with this season. I will take the little gifts as they come. But I also feel bad, with her sister like this, her best friend plotting to give everyone superpowers because they had a fall out once and now Supergirl is baadddd. We also know that argo and her mother will not survive as well and if theories are correct, kal el will not as well. I don't think the writers are going to let up on Kara anytime soon, better buckle in.

Anonymous said...

Yeah the one thing I'm enjoying is the possibility that Alex might go "full bad", she'd make an interesting ongoing opponent...with all her sublimated jealously issues toward Kara and All.

:)

JF

Nutation said...

I agree, the purple lightning effect hitting here and there across the globe doesn't make any sense, it's just an excuse. Almost certainly Harum-El energy, though.
National City is in California, according to the global map. Did we know that before?

This situation with Alex promises to be painful for the view. Indeed, and the game-night scene was well chosen. *We* know Kara's favorite movie, and the scene works much better with me calling out "Wizard of Oz" to the TV.

Alex is smart. I think J'onn had to remove not just the direct knowledge of Kara's identity, but also any clues that Alex could piece together later. And so, the remaining pieces in her mind can't connect.

Why not restore her memory now? Brainy previously said she would certainly slip up some time, but also, in the real world high-security organizations like DEO do annual polygraph tests. ("Have you ever lied to a superior officer?") I'm sure it's all more efficient in a comic-book world, even without infallable aliens in a jar.

I mostly liked the story of Nia and her family. Mother's death is a bit rushed.
>Nia is the Dreamer. She should have seen it. The mother's prophetic element was water. Nia's will be fire.
We never saw this mysticism on Naltor in the Legion comics; that would be more typical of Orando. But, this is the TV show and a thousand years earlier. (Wouldn't it have been interesting to use gem imagery, though, instead of the Greek elements?)

People always react badly to being lied to on TV; it's a major source of drama. Hence, Maeve's anger is expected. If the two sisters reconcile, though, I could see Maeve being the dream expert who interprets The Dreamer's visions for her.
Speaking of The Dreamer, that costume looks a lot like what we saw in James' binder of suggestions. What it doesn't look like except slightly is Dream Girl's costume.
And, finally, the social justice aspect of this plot line ("not even a real woman") goes past quickly, and I can disregard it. They get into trouble when they get preachy.

Kara revealing her identity again - I loved Melissa's face summoning the determination to do this. But, didn't too much knowledge of her identity cause problems recently? Maybe that wasn't recent enough. /snark

So, some very good scenes and some forced plot logic. They've done better.

Anonymous said...

If you're a "doctor" (as you claim in your name), kindly point Scrimmage to some medical journals and highlight just how outdated his bile passing as knowledge of gender is.

Wait, no, you think "the transes" is a category of people instead of a descriptor. I suppose you still say "the coloreds" too?

Your review supposedly shows empathy, but letting two hateful, rambling screeds from a transphobe stand because of cursory discussion of a shared spank bank show shows where your true feelings lie. I'm sure you're glad Trump passed a law that will finally let you deny treatment to "those transes".

Y'know, if you actually ARE a doctor and not a delusional ass.

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to say that I realy like your review, if you read this.. Don't stop huslin

Anonymous said...

From a character perspective, agree this was a very enjoyable episode for it. From a
writing / plot perspective, glad to see I wasn't the only one who thought things were
on the clunky siode. That doesn't diminish from the enjoyable Nall Family Moments, and
the Kara / Nia moments either -- I think Melissa B and Nicole M have some great chemistry
going on here! And I really liked the "look into a mirror" vibe with Kara passing on
some sisterly advice to Nia about her own sister. And the TOTAL callback to S1 and
how Kara revealed her abilities to Nia similar to how she did for Winn, though not quite
throwing herself off a building. That, and Jessie Rath's scenes kept this episode
watchable for me, personally.

Interesting theory Nutation poses about Maeve's possible future... can only see how
it goes.

...as for the final "contact someone in America" scene... considering the Jon Cryer
pics have been posted up, and we're 4episodes from seeing that...

CAN'T WAIT!


Regards

Stu said...

I have to say, Anj, for someone who posted in front of reviews that you wouldn't tolerate hate speech, it's disappointing to see you letting Scrimmage's transphobic statements stand. This is the same awful stuff that my (now estranged) sister said about my niece (who is now in my care) that can be easily disproven with two minutes on Google. Of course, he is apparently offended that a white supremacist hate group is the villains, despite them being actual real-world terrorists who have killed & gravely injured many people. I guess he's part of the same insular Faux News circle as my ex-sister.

I would also suggest that you reconsider your wording. "Trans" and "transgender" are adjectives; Nia is a trans woman, not "a trans". It's not as much of a slur as others, but it's again something a tiny bit of research would reveal is a faux pas. I want to believe you when you say you're trying, but between being inconvenienced by Lee's non-binary status as a concept in your review of Supergirl #19 (and misgendering them in your wrap-up review) & allowing comments like Scrimmage's and like Mr. Gray's (who thinks the mere existence of trans folx is an insult, judging by his reactions to their presence in media), I can't do it. You just don't want to do the work of basic human empathy and it shows.

I don't have standard TV; there is very little on it that appeals to my family. So I can't speak for the quality of the show. But the quality (and I use that term loosely) of the reactions here suggest it's a good show aimed at good people and that, unfortunately, for whatever reason your readership consists of a lot of bad people. Your site was the only site I could rely on for regular reviews of Super Sons, a household favorite title, but now that I see the caliber of person you seem to be okay associating with, I'm rather glad I won't have to frequent this place to read about it anymore. I'd rather not be associated with people who are okay with their child committing suicide, as my ex-sister was, so they could deny their true identity & bask in unearned pity.

As the old saying goes, "when you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas", and since you're lying down with dogs who think hate crimes are the victims' fault & espouse easily disproven medieval "science", you've obviously become infected by the same vermin & see no issues with it. I hope you can realize just how destructive such mindsets are & how many people they hurt, much more than merely being inconvenienced by learning something new.

KET said...

Kind of glad that Scrimmage got his insular, mostly xenophobic, and generally clueless barf posts out of the way first, so I can mostly ignore them. However, a couple of points:

"The whole notion of Parthas being an alien friendly community for two generations goes against the long established tradition that Superman..."

It's NOT Superman's show, dude. Cool it with your misplaced misogyny. Supergirl series is weaving its own backstory.

BTW, the notion of "Parthas" actually DOES pre-date the existence of Superman in real life. The Gaelic-English translation for Parthas is 'paradise'. Gairdín Pharthais translates into 'earthly paradise', or to put it in another way, 'the Garden of Eden'.

"No explanation was given for why the lightning struck THOSE particular pills in Supergirl's hometown..."

Didn't need one. The black bolt phenomenon was a reaction from the Harum-El created Kara. Given that it's a supernatural energy force, a lot of how it works is going to be deliberately vague for a while. In other words, it was merely a MacGuffin in order to get to the main plots of the episode: Nia's family and her back story, and the empathy rift between the Danvers sisters due to Alex's memory loss of Supergirl's influence on her life.

"Supergirl burns Alex's hand to stop her from using NON LETHAL force..."

You don't know that, and certainly Supergirl wouldn't know that, considering that Alex had pretty much lost her empathy for aliens from her lost memories of Supergirl's influence. So in effect, Alex is under the direction of Col. Haley, who has ordered the DEO agents to use lethal force on aliens from now on (as per the last episode).

KET

KET said...

"Evil Purple Energy randomly infused into amphetamines??"

Let's not tell the president, since there's a strong rumor going around that he's IV's Adderall into his veins, causing his podium sniffles. :)

"...there were a few of those wtf moments, but the show relies on emotional impact a lot more than plot accuracy and that's what this episode also did."

Pretty much on point. Series often de-emphasizes comic book plotting mechanics in favor of emotional impact. Means to an end that works for episodic drama.


KET


KET said...

"I mostly liked the story of Nia and her family. Mother's death is a bit rushed."

It was a smart device for the show to take Nia's mom out of the picture early, so that we could feel Nia's sense of loss of direction in a more personal way. Also helps in setting up the character parallel between Kara and Nia, with both of them suddenly losing an intimate confidant during a pivotal moment of crisis. Of course, Kara eventually regained Alura.

KET

Anonymous said...

It seems to me wonky writing is the norm this season on this "most progressive" of the CW TV shows. Both those things are AWFUL to me as a "Conservatarian" (conservative with libertarian leanings on some things).

To me Parthas was code for a sanctuary city, which these days gets under the skin of conservatives and patriots, to whom the writers of the show call racists and bigots...it's the other way around! The left was the one that started the KKK, Jim Crow and Nazi is a VERY LEFTIST ideology as is the likes of ANTIFA.

I commented on the wonky writing at the Supergirl.TV forum under a post I created about Supergirl's secret identity and how the show is going topical (ironically as it's on a Sunday night, it seems to me it has beome Meet The Press, Face The Nation, This Week and Fox News Sunday...WITH CAPES. To the person who hates Fox News, that channel has been going ever so slowly to the left since the death of Roger Ailes, and it's frustrating to me.

Well someone need Liberty Prime commented...

"Going topical doesn't hide that; it only makes it more evident."

However, when the show goes more character driven, it tends to produce something a little more superior.

Anj said...

Hello all.
A few comments.

1) I work a crazy job and can be so busy with every day life that I sometimes go days before I can read comments.

2) If you have a problem with my assessment, please call me out.

3) Thank you Stu for pointing out mistakes. If I make a faux pas about language, especially around gender issues, point them out to me. I am still learning and definitely do not want to offend.

4) If there are named commenters who irritate, please skip their comments. I don't want this place to be an echo chamber of similar opinions. I don't like hate speech. I haven't figured out the right way of eliminating the problem.

Anyways, this episode did have clunky plot twists. The Alex stuff makes little sense to me. I am glad I wasn't alone in thinking that.

Anonymous said...

FYI, The CW just renewed Supergirl for a fifth season....how close are they to the 100 episode mark?


JF

Nutation said...

> FYI, The CW just renewed Supergirl for a fifth season....how close are they to the 100 episode mark?

The first three seasons add to 65. What's the length of this one, about 22? That puts it halfway through season 5.

Martin Gray said...

OK this had some clunky elements, but it’s weekly TV, I can live with it if I’m entertained and given something to think about. And I really enjoyed this Nia showcase.

Wasn’t it Nia’s grandmother who was the hero of Naltor in Isabel’s story? I’d love to see Nia - I’m kicking myself at not previously realising that her birth name was likely ‘Ian’ - go white-haired, like her mother... it could be the sign of the Dreamer. And while I see why Kara told Nia her secret, for goodness’ sake, tell Lena already. If it goes wrong they can always mindwipe her...

Mad theory of the week - OK, a week from about six months ago - Alex was also adopted by the Danvers. She was originally a twin, Alex... Luthor. Brought to Midvale when her birth mom, the first Mrs Luthor, wanted to get her away from the influence of her evil twin. Lena was adopted to make up for that loss by Lionel and Lil. So Alex is the Thorul.

Yeah, I know, fanboy nonsense!

Maeve was pretty unbelievable in her treatment of Nia... is there perhaps an element of ‘hammer worthiness’ in teens of inheriting the dream visions? Once she calms down and apologises, Maeve is on the right path to go White Witch - she already has the outfit. Next stop, Zerox!