Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "tv-episode-review"

A very big improvement over last week:

Positives:

---Supergirl has faced pretty bland and forgettable villains up until this week. This week, they brought Livewire (Leslie Willis) out of Superman: The Animated Series and the result was superb as Britt Morgan really imbues the character with a true sense of menace, entitlement, and nastiness.

---Leslie Willis' somewhat explicit anti-Supergirl rant was uncomfortable to listen to and the reason this episode garnered a TV-14 rating. At the same time, it did bring home the type of junk that many women are subjected to and hits common ground which every decent person agrees on that this is not something young women should be subjected to, but sadly are.

---We really get a chance to further explore Cat Grant's character. Overall, she's probably the most interesting character in the show and we get some great insights into her. Her guilt over the creation of Livewire as well as her protectiveness of Supergirl are explored. Leslie Willis points out that Cat was critical of Supergirl in her magazine piece, but the difference is that Cat was trying to push Supergirl to be better while Leslie was just being nasty. Calista Flockheart is really doing a great job playing the character. I'm beginning to suspect that knows or suspects Kara is Supergirl.

---I loved some of the lines during the climatic battle with Livewire with Cat responding to a lame quip with, "Congratulations, you have the wit of a You Tube comment." And Supergirls, "Oh, ,shut up, you mean girl."

---Family drama is fairly good as we're introduced to Kara's Foster mother and the messed up though realistic family dynamics.

---Witt's explanation of what he was thankful for was very touching and provided some great insight. It's a bit sad since he's obviously attracted to Kara but he's being written as the nice guy who doesn't get the girl who is way out of his league.

The Bad:

---The episode was aired a week earlier than expected due to the Paris attacks and as such there's things in there that don't make sense with Witt saying he was glad to be dealing with metaphorical bombs for once and the fact that Lucy Lane was more fully introduced in that episode which would have made sense of why she could drag James Olsen off to Ohi. I get why this airing was done (the episode was supposed to episode is set for this week) but I hope when DVD releases are done this is put in proper plot order.

---Speaking of Mr. Olsen, this show has the weirdest relationship dynamic I've seen on television with him and Lucy Lane. He moves all the way to National City to get away from her, clearly likes Kara, but is somehow compelled to go out with Lucy. You get the idea that if he knew Morse Code, he'd be blinking it to send a message requesting help.

---The plot point of Kara's foster father having died under mysterious circumstances and the foster mother suspecting Hank Henshaw was not the best handled or set up portion of this episode. The whole "Mentor figure responsible for parent's death" is cribbed from the Flash and the set up would have worked better had we not been getting, "Something's weird with" flashes of Red eyes every week. Still, the plot does have potential for some nice surprises later on.

Overall: At last, Supergirl gets a memorable villain and we get more insight into Cat Grant and Kara's family life. This is probably the best episode of Supergirl yet. 8/10

How does Supergirl manage to balance fighting a mad bomber with watching a well-behaved teenager who will sit in front of video games and managing a moderately busy day at the office. Spoilers follow

Positives:

--The same week Netflix treats us to the exploitative and sexualized opening of Jessica Jones, we get Supergirl kindly offering to babysit for Cat Grant, so she can obtain fictional reward. The idea of kindness without some secondary motive behind it. But it's certainly a welcome difference.

--On the same note, Kara makes a thoughtful (thought not totally unselfish suggestion) to James to resolve his relationship with Lucy Lane which leads to it continuing. It's a very ironic thing the way it leaves her feeling, but it's ultimately a very wise and noble thing that most women wouldn't do, even though it sends her back into the "Friend Zone."

--Also, the scene where she tries to talk the bomber down is played with a great amount of sincerity and caring.

--Supergirl gets put through her paces and Lord tests her to the limit. It was fun to see her use so many superpowers.

--The writers give Maxwell Lord some interesting motivations and Peter Facinelli really gives a great performance. The reveal of Lord as a villain sets some interesting dynamics particularly with the character's history in the DC Universe.

---While it creates a few hiccups, I can definitely understand why this episode wasn't broadcast after the Paris attacks, particularly the scene involving the business bombing. We just have to keep tracking. We're trusting Colonel Henshaw this week even though we learned we couldn't trust him last week because that episode wasn't supposed to air until the week after this one.

---This episode does make a lot more sense of the Lucy-Jimmy relationship and I thought his driving to the airport to help Lucy was incredibly sweet. Still, doesn't explain why he was looking like he was a hostage in last week's show, but for this episode, it was solid.

Mixed thoughts:

---Government ID that changes Department names is good, psychic paper is better. Still, the fact that a woman who can hold up a five story building finds these badges "cool" just shows the innocent nature of Kara. Also, wouldn't have been cheaper to print another ID card.

The Negatives:

---As my summary referenced, this episode wasn't all it cracked up to be. I think the writers wanted to avoid portraying Cat's son as any troubled or problematic due to not being raised by both parents or by being raised by nannies. However, the problem with that is that the comedic value suggested by Kara's predicament doesn't happen and there's little drama in it until Carter gets on the train.

---Because of that the feminist moral of the week seems forced as Cat gives a completely non-applicable lesson to Kara on balancing life and learning to juggle challenges one at a time rather than having it all all at once. There's some merit to the advice, but it's not really applicable. This is an issue that could easily afflict any hero and I actually dealt with it in Ultimate Mid-life Crisis. For the point to actually have any salience, the hero has to be pushed to his or her limit. Kara wasn't pushed. Indeed, her Sister seemed to think so, but there's no evidence of it in the story.

---It's a predictable trope that Maxwell Lord is presented as a government-mistrusting Libertarian whose claims of benevolence in private sector capitalism belie his sinister goals and with Henshaw, we have our sinister military figure. All we need is a corrupt preacher as a recurring villain and we'll have a progressive trope villain hat trick.

Overall:

As Carter observed, what makes Supergirl a hero is her heart and that heart was on display all episode long. Supergirl is the type of hero you want kids to look up to. Maxwell Lord is an interesting character, like Lex Luthor, but more complex. However, the "B" plot for this episode has problems doesn't quite deliver. The greatest potential risk to the series is that there's a tendency to allow the desired message to get in the way of a good story. Still, I enjoyed this episode despite its flaws. 7/10

What's the difference between General Lane and the Red Tornado?

Answer: One is a pestilence that wreaks mayhem and causes massive amounts of problems.

The other is Red Tornado.

***Spoilers Ahead***

The Awesome:

---Supergirl's fights with Red Tornado are simply stunning. They're not quite the stylized stuff we get on the Flash but from Supergirl tunneling underground to Red Tornado generating a hurricane to the awesome final confrontation, these were simply stunning battle scenes. It's a pity that Red Tornado is destroyed as he's been a hero in the mainstream DC universe but the writers can always bring him back if they decide to go that direction

Positives:

---Kara snapping at Cat is set up beautifully as we see her go through one frustration situation after another building up to the moment where she tells Ms. Grant off and then regrets it.

---We got more insight into Cat's character as she encounters her mother. She clears her calendar to have dinner with her mother only for her mom to cancel and she earns our sympathy and then gives some of it by picking on Kara.

---Cat points out that Perry White could get away with throwing a chair through the window if a deadline was missed while she could get away with far less if she showed her anger because of gender. There may be some truth to that. It also may be why she tends to take an arm's length relationship to her employees as opposed to White's much more personable relationship because she feels a need to maintain control and her position and can't take those risks, although she seems to be willing to with Kara.

---I think Kara actually emerges a better and even more admirable character. It's easy enough to be "little Miss Sunshine" if you've not been hurt. Yet, we understand she's a person who's never quite felt like she fit in, is afraid she won't have a normal life, or even have a man in her life. She'd found that revealing herself to the world hadn't helped either. Yet, she's still a kind person despite the hurt which is hard.

---Despite some dubious means to get there (see the negatives), the investigation into the disappearance of Alex's father actually becomes wide open with a lot of questions as to whether he's alive, and whether Henshaw is really Henshaw or an alien impersonating him. Henshaw could have been an alien for a long time and entirely innocent in what happened to Mr. Danvers. Or he could be the mastermind of it all. There's a lot of questions and I look forward to finding out more as the season progresses.

Negatives

---A bit of a continuity slip. In the episode, "Live Wire," it was proclaimed that the villain didn't vote for Hillary in '08 which put the show within the real world's political continuity. However, in this episode, a woman president is referenced by Lucy Lane. I actually prefer Superhero shows have their own President as opposed to the real one because it allows plots involving the President to actually work on the show. However, you really have to decide which way you're going to go.

---That your office IT guy can hack any government system is a silly cliché and I don't really buy it with Witt. Also, in the pet peeve department, 'The Insurance Office' of solitude is back. Grrr.

---Finally, the lead up to a very good scene for Supergirl was the weakest part of the show. James asks why she needs to work out her anger on a used car hung like a punching bag while Clark never did. And she responds by saying that it's different because Clark is a man. James explains he's a black man and they're not encouraged to publicly express anger, so it's okay for him to hit a punching bag.

The dialogue was incredibly unnatural. Why would James ask that? The obvious answer is that either by the time he'd met James, Clark'd found his way of dealing with anger or Kara was a different person. And while I understand the points about social pressures might impact how different groups express anger, the point is force fed and it attempts to change a universal issue of dealing with anger to an issue of race and gender.


Overall: A great episode of Supergirl that has her performing her mightiest deeds yet, while also deepening and enriching our understanding of the character. Yes, her problems are resolved in forty-five minutes or less, but that' the nature of family viewing. Cat grows more interesting by the week and the show has a strong point when it doesn't try too hard to make it. A solid 9/10.

Supergirl loses her powers just when her city needs her most.

*Big Time Spoilers Ahead*

Positives:

---Cat Grant's germaphobia was absolutely hilarious.

---This episode really gave James and Kara a chance to get to know each other as they have a lot of scenes together and it all flows really naturally

--Glad to see our nefarious evil libertarian supervillain Max Lord was out (um distributing disaster relief.)

The Awesome

(Because when this episode was good, it was Amazing.)

--I was nervous about a "She lost her powers" episode this early in the Series but I was very pleasantly surprised by the way went. Usually these episodes give way for comic moments of inconvenience for our hero. Here she loses her powers and then the city is hit with an Earthquake and she's powerless to help anyone. A man dies who she can't help and she's totally heartbroken and her decision to go into stop a robbery with no powers and no weapon is emotionally powerful. The show manages to portray a character whose core strength is her goodness. It's a beautiful moment when she takes the gun from the robber and it's very powerfully played.

---It also plays into a powerful idea of ordinary people reaching out to help others in need, following supergirl's example with James having some great heroic moments himself.

---The reveal that Hank Henshaw was J'Onn J'Onzz was brilliantly done. I can't say that it was a total surprise. The red eyes were a hint but I think the scene with Henshaw blackmailing Alex's father. However, the explanation in the episode that the real Henshaw was dead makes this make sense. J'Onn J'Onzz is a fabulous character, one of the most noble people in the DC Universe and it's a great gift to have him on the show.

----Kara's non-violent solution to the robber is balanced out by an awesome action sequence where Alex Danvers shows her total awesomeness by pumping two clips into an alien and trying to blow it up. The sequence earned the show a TV-14 rating but it was well worth it.

The Bad:

---The idea of Winn discovering Kara needed an adrenaline rush to jumpstart her powers was absurd. On one level, it was contrived. On the other, the idea that the CatCo IT guy found the answer while doctors didn't was dumb.

---As a character, Winn really doesn't work for me. Beyond a growing tendency of providing improbable infodumps, he's also got that sort of pathetic thing for Kara going on. In this episode, it came out as faux moral outrage over James giving Kara a hug because James has a girlfriend. It's self-serving and petty. The character hasn't been well-developed and is either being a plot device or wallowing in a sea of self-pity.

---Lesson in Kryptonian physiology. Getting a broken arm cures the common cold as Kara's cold symptoms disappear completely after that.

---Kara's powers are recharged by her having an adrenaline rush as James is about to fall to her death...and she takes time to change into costume.

Overall: Another amazing episode that shows it's not the powers that makes Kara a hero while revealing there's another hero on the show. Despite a few minor points, it continues a strong run for the show. 8/10

Summary:

Aunt Astra's got a game plan to save the Earth from humans through methods of murder and mayhem we won't like while some mysterious person has hacked Cat's email and is trying to destroy her.

*Spoilers Ahead*

The positives:

---"Seeing Red" established that Kara's got anger issues and this episode right to the core of them about Astra's betrayal and then learning that her mother used her as bait to catch Astra really shows how her life had already been messed with Krypton.

---Astra caring about Kara makes Astra a far more interesting character and it's odd to have someone that Kara so thoroughly hating someone as it's not her typical nature but that goes back to the anger which is shown in a fight where Kara doesn't risk innocent lives and can't bring herself to kill Astra but also one where property damage is at a premium.

---Cat Grant gets played for both comedy and drama as we learn about her minor foibles and then the biggest mistake of her life, having an illegitimate son and then not being part of his life. Her loyalty to Kara when it looked like she'd be forced to resign to save her son was very touching and felt sincere and shows how these character have grown close over the course of the last eight episodes.

---Cat figuring out Supergirl's identity shows she's smarter than the average boss. The minor slip that keyed it was added to numerous clues that Cat had picked up on. It'll be interesting to see what the writers do with the secret. There have been hints of one possible "out" which I hope they don't take. It would be convenient for Kara if her boss knew what she were up to and I also think that given all that Kara has learned about Cat, the strength of the relationship dictates the secret be shared. I think Cat is responsible enough not to plaster it all over the paper, but she might be tempted to abuse her Supergirl connection. But that's something for two weeks later.

---"Superman doesn't kill." So this isn't in the same Universe as "Man of Steel" and it's fair to wonder why the makers of Supergirl figured this out but the makers of "Man of Steel" didn't.

---Finally, Jimmy Olsen recognizes that Winn is pining for Kara and shows some real class in encouraging Winn to make his affections known, and we finally get a little bit of a reveal of what Winn is thinking rather than just guessing.

---Cat's nickname for Winn, "The Handsome Little Hobbit" is awesome.

The Bad

---While the Cat Grant getting hacked plot does allow a development of the relationship between Cat and Kara and some comedy, it's not particularly well-handled. It takes over half the episode and feels like padding and distraction for Aunt Astra's plot to set up a "To Be Continued." Another reviewer suggest a plot to topple Cat would have been an interesting season arc. I wouldn't necessarily go there, but having this play out over four or five episodes and having a more interesting solution than, "Cat's powerful White male nemesis is behind this effort. Shocker!" would have worked better. And a more complicated resolution would have helped too.

--Astra's plot is a little daff. Her plan was to get captured by Kara so to distract the DEO and Supergirl while her men broke into Maxwell Lord's corporate headquarters. The problem is that neither were guarding the corporate headquarters and both arrived before her people were finished. The only difference her being locked up made was to get Kara upset and make sure Astra wouldn't be able to provide support to the operation. Maybe there's some genius twisting we're missing but this plan looks incredibly dumb.

---Kara is a little too easy to let Alex's "explanation" or lack thereof for Hank not being responsible for Alex's father's death go, but I'll attribute it to Kara's trusting nature, but there's a fine line between trusting and naive.

Overall: A great cliffhanger sets the stage for a January return and there's some wonderful character work in this story. Still, the mishandling of the Cat Grant hacking plot makes this a little weaker than recent episodes, so I give this a 7/10.