Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:39:31 — 58.1MB) | Embed
[sc:mstop]
“Crime And Punishment” sets Supergirl on the path to repair her good name and character and learning about other ways to fight for justice along the way. Oh, and Alex and Kelly might bring the Olsen and Danvers families together in some meaningful ways!
Prison Diaries
We pick up the story once again with President Baker calling for martial law and a country-wide curfew and ready to go to the mat with Supergirl. She, Alex, and Lena are in Lena’s office and not happy with the whole thing. Someone calls for help and despite being Public Enemy Number One Supergirl goes to help. She rescues a man from his flipped and fiery vehicle but also gets shot at by some citizens arrest-minded folks. She catches their bullets but the vehicle nearly explodes. She flies the injured man to safety and he thanks her. At the same time he doesn’t understand how she could let down his daughter who looked up to her as a hero. She goes back to Lena and Alex and they decide to follow up on a lead at Stryker’s Island and ask the Warden what he knows. Actually, Supergirl and Lena threaten the Warden to expose his wrongdoings and if he’ll let them in Lex’s cell they’ll keep the Warden’s husband out of it. How gracious of them… Anywho, they make their way to D Block and all of the prisoners are glad to see Big Bad Supergirl on their hallway, even chanting her name. In the cell Lena moves to the chess board where she and Lex would leave each other messages inside the pieces. She opens one and finds a grim reminder of 07/16/18 where she killed the first person to try her Harun-El serum in “Rather The Fallen Angel.” She lies about it to Supergirl but from the memory it triggers a certain checkmate solution that opens up the top of the board to reveal a compartment underneath that holds Lex’s diaries. Lena notes that Lex would leave them there just to mentally torture her. She and Supergirl start going through them without much result but they do notice another prisoner watching them through a small mirror. Supergirl goes to ask him for information and we meet Steve Lomeli who exposed illegal drone warfare and got sent to prison for his do-gooding. Steve’s not going to give Supergirl anything because she has a habit of doing what she wants and not worrying about the collateral damage, which he thinks is going to be the other prisoners when the government comes to try to take her out. He even goes so far as to call her a belligerent narcissist. Hey, now!! And then Otis “Metallo” Graves shows up and lets the prisoners loose so they can try to take her down. She locks Lena up for safety and deals with the prisoners in no short order. Even though Lena brought along a Kryptonite shield for Supergirl (wait, what?!), Otis is beating the ever-living green out of her. And then the soldiers show up. So, in getting away from Otis Supergirl Kara’s herself and explains that she was doing a article on prison reform if Otis would care to comment. He doesn’t trust the press to understand the nuance of the topic so leaves her along. Steve and another convict show up and try to take Kara as a hostage until Steve realizes who they have and fanboys out about meeting THE Kara Danvers from CatCo. (Wait, WHAT?!?!) Kara gets away from them and re-Supergirl’s herself and uses a sonic clap to get the prisoners in a safe position with the soldiers coming in. She goes back to Lena – who, through a memory of her’s and Lex’s childhood – figures out that behind Lex’s mosaic on the wall is actually a hidden passage and his own lair-lab. Otis comes to Lex’s cell where Lex remotely detonantes him and Supergirl and Lena fly out just in time. Back at L-Corp Supergirl decides that it’s time for her to lay low and figure out another way to get justice. The ending scene is Kara and Steve sitting down for an article all about Lex. Steve just happens to have a flash drive with everything important from Lex’s Lair-Lab (I can’t really type out how far my eyes are rolling). The pen might be mightier than the sword – or maybe a cape. Oh, and Miss Tessmacher reanimates Otis – again.
DEO Shenanigans
SECRETARY Lockwood shows up at the DEO to ambush Supergirl and employs Col Haley to summon her with the Super-signal-watch. Alex bucks up that Lockwood can’t do that without an Aricle Blah-Blah-Blah Presidential Proclamation. Lockwood seethes through his teeth that they really don’t want to waste his time and Col Haley gets the troops ready for when Lockwood comes back, despite Alex’s protest. Meanwhile, Brainy follows through on the logic that once Lockwood gets done with Supergirl that he’ll come after everyone on the alien registry. So he discusses deleting it from the DEO servers with Alex. She is fine as long as he’s clandestine about it. “No one is more clandestine than I!,” he shouts. Good times. Alex goes to talk to Kelly, who is a therapist, to work out her feelings about the conflict she’s having with Boss Colonel Haley. Kelly advises her to stop getting mad and approach Col Haley with what means more to her. Alex is “very glad” Kelly hung around National City…and, swoon. Brainy Ethan Hunt’s his way down to Sub-Level 5 and tries to talk his way around (to himself) deleting the list or not. He’s undecided because of the potential ramifications so he goes to see Nia Nal and get her to dream what he’s done with the list so he knows what to do with the list. Calling him out on his bold-faced hypocrisy Nia plays along and pretends to dream that he didn’t erase the list. He is incredulous – of course he would delete the list! And she says exactly, sometimes hearing the wrong answer leads you to the right one. Alex tries to appeal to Col Haley not to ambush Supergirl by brining up her daughter. Haley is having none of it and knows Alex lied to her about how the Super-signal-watch works telling her to hit it twice to get Supergirl to come. Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire and Haley is kicking that fiery butt out of her sight! Nia Nal does in fact dream that Agent Liberty comes after Brainy directly so she calls to warn him. He says no worries, he deleted the list to his own brain, and also because she’s not very good at interpreting her dreams. Always a good way to win the girl, Brainy. Sure enough Lockwood comes back with Proclamation in hand and Haley signals the watch TWICE! Lockwood takes his toys and goes back to the Presidential bunker where Baker authorizes him to deputize the Children of Liberty since the DEO obviously has leaks. Oh, joy. Haley reveals to Alex that her daughter’s teacher – an alien – has gone missing since the repeal, either hiding or worse… Haley hates being manipulated by Alex, by Lockwood, and hates that the loyalty she held to her service is not clear anymore in all of this political and Lex Luthor muckety muck.
Brother and Sister
James and Kelly drive up to the Dr’s office for James’ first appointment with the PTSD counselor. James is The Guardian and he’s miffed that he needs help at all. The counselor walks him through an exercise of bilateral stimulation that will help calm him through the triggers. As he undoubtedly triggers during the exercise we see the Harun-El course through him. Later on in his office at CatCo he has another incident except this time it’s full on Harun-El heightened senses and strength. He calls Kelly and when she comes he tells her that they have to get to Lena. This is more than PTSD.
Closing Thoughts
While the overall plot was not really forwarded this episode, it was a fascinating dive into the character of Supergirl and what she thinks she stands for vs. what others around her see. Steve’s callout of her not really caring about the fallout of her actions is pretty spot on because she feels entitled by her motivations. Yes, helping people is noble. No, mass destruction in the process is not. The other interesting dynamic that this brings up is that Kara is going to lean on herself rather than Supergirl to try and get to the truth. Hopefully this will lead to a more balanced character on both sides when this is all said and done. Steve is not very convincing of being a “helper” for the cause and I can’t wait to see this blow up royally. What I was surprised about was that Supergirl didn’t turn to the media herself – I mean, she does know the top dude at CatCo – to try to clear her own name. In a world full of aliens how does a doppelganger draw the line of impossibility in the peoples’ minds? It feels like we’re going the slow route and I’m not sure why. And where is Lex? I need more Lex, please. Summing up, I really like the examination of Supergirl’s name and character this week and I hope that we get continued nuance in the writing like this moving forward along with some great action pieces like we had in the prison scenes. Great stuff!!
Cougar’s Comic Corner
“Supergirl (2016-) Volume 4: Plain Sight”
This public service announcement is brought to you by the Department of Extranormal Operations! You saw how Supergirl hid a murderer underneath National City right before our eyes. What other dangerous secrets is she hiding? She is not human, and therefore, she cannot be trusted. D.E.O. agents will be stationed at every school to ensure their safety! Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.
Get it on Comixology right here!
Next time on “Supergirl”!
Season 4, Episode 19, “American Dreamer”
As Kara doggedly works as a reporter to clear Supergirl’s name, Dreamer picks up the slack as National City’s protector, which leads to a showdown with Ben Lockwood. James takes drastic measures to relieve his PTSD. This one was directed by David Harewood!!
Feedback
We want you to be part of the podcast! After a new episode airs, head over to our feedback site and drop us a quick line, or record a short voicemail, reacting to the events of the episode. What was interesting to you? What stood out? What did the episode do well or, perhaps, what did it not do well? We rely on your input to help round out our conversation and anticipate the opportunity to include your thoughts and theories!
[sc:ms]
Some blog post comments…
“Oh, and Alex and Kelly might bring the Olsen and Danvers families together in some meaningful ways!” – they are trying so hard to keep James relevant on this series except doing the one plot that makes him relevant (embrace James at CatCo already).
On to the podcast…
Definitely ready for Alex to get her memories back!
BRING ON THE CIVIL FAN DISCUSSIONS!!! 😀
Congratulations to the Jordans!
Two words in regards to James with powers – HELL NO!!! I don’t mind the writers using the special effects for powers with this PTSD story James has going on as they work to show how you can lose your strength and break something no meaning to or be hyper aware of a surrounding so the I’m not upset about the lamp break or the fact he heard every bit of sound in Cat’s office but what I’m against personally is the fact he saw all the way across the bullpen to make out writing on a sugar pack basically. Use the power special effects to really showcase PTSD attacks? Fine! Use the powers effect because James has powers? HELL NO!
The extra watch could have been Winn’s if he didn’t take it to the future with him as there’s no Kara to answer the call so why not let someone now use it?
Ha, I’m loving John’s sighs at some of these plots he has to reference because yeah no one is excited about deputized COLs or people being mean to Kara.
I took the burnt symbol on the top as her suit symbol.
“…the way you said it to Supergirl, I’m already mad!” – lol Justina!
K Vox is very excited about the prison fight scene and I can’t blame her – it was awesome! 🙂 ?❤️
YES to bringing back Mercy!
If you’re going to watch animated stuff over the break Justina (and others) watch Bruce Timms’s “Justice League” and “Justice League: Unlimited”! 🙂
The Bizarro reference is especially irritating because Alex should know as director of the DEO she’s still in lock up at the cave base especially because Alex is the one who put her there back when she promised Kara they would try to cure her, even though we knew Alex wasn’t in any rush for that, so unless she somehow broke out after regaining consciousness she’s still at cave site!
Kara as a reporter was always a joke; it was more just to nod to Clark because Superman than it had anything to do with Kara because honestly if the writers were being real with character progression for Kara she would work promotions for the magazine and hyping up how it’s such a great news organization because X, Y, Z. Being in promotions would allow Kara to be “in a meeting” just as easily when she needed to go play hero and it would fit with how much Kara loves the magazine and what Cat was trying to do way more than her being a reporter. They put too much Superman in “Supergirl” and now that plot is a joke; I get doing nods to comics and even referencing her cousin but Kara is not him so they really need to stop with details like that, just because Clark likes to write doesn’t mean Kara does (she showed no interest in reporting in S1 so again I say that was to push in more Clark and it failed with fans). I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again “Supergirl” is about Kara not her cousin, just because they share DNA does not make them the same; I get mentioning him but I still feel actually showing Clark on this series as much as they have overall has lead to more issues than benefits! Bruce Wayne isn’t showing up in Star City for a group of episodes at a time to work with Oliver so why does Kara need Clark? Yes she works with a team but she has one. I’m just personally not a fan of Superman’s appearances on “Supergirl”! No offense to Tyler as acting wise things are fine but it’s just how they handle him and then Kara in relations to those choices that annoy me (see Clark wanting the Kryptonite gone from the DEO and guilting Kara into backing him up even though she knows it has saved them against people like Non).
I’m wondering if rebuilding Otis was a Lex and Eve choice or just Eve one because why blow him up and then rebuild him if you’re Lex? You’d think that’d make Otis more likely to turn on you and Lex doesn’t seem the type to surround himself with those people. It was just something about that beat that made me wonder if Eve was going against Lex’s wishes as it were rebuilding Otis.
Maybe there’s like tiny pockets in the pelted sections of the skirt and she forces street clothes into them in case she has to change fast and can’t rush home? When she puts them on maybe she tucks the cape just inside the collar of the super suit and most stuff she can wear where the skirt and shirt wouldn’t be seen but the ever lasting question always is – where do the boots hide?! Those are not sneaker sized footwear you can just try to hide somewhere. Ha.
Awe radio rando…I’m totally taking that as a Leslie aka Livewire nod. 🙂 Also as always for the new writers coming in and the older ones looking for a quick recap – LESLIE IS NOT DEAD!!! No body no death; she is in space somewhere having a good time and maybe she’s even in the 31st century ticking off Mon because she totally jumped into the Legion spacecraft electrical system to heal, she did not die on Fort Rozz.
I second being over Ben Bianca!
Alex gave the full space suit one to Kara when she had to go into space to fight Manchester Black so either she has it again or Kara has it; Lena’s chest piece here feels like a “in case of emergencies” patch or a new suit she’s working on because we all know Kara didn’t like being locked in the space suit so maybe her next will be more force field esque than suit exactly.
I’m excited to see David’s work coming up. 🙂
Maybe the call is from J’onn to say he’s on his way back? 🙂
“James practices using his powers…” – BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! No one wants that plot! Give use more sucky Ben stuff this season instead of that! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! ??????? There are not enough glaring emojicons for how much I hate this statement. I want Mehcad to lose this job but if they can’t do better with James just write him off because we’ve seen “superhero James” before and no one got excited for it; at this point I seriously have to ask is it because James is a guy and a guy can’t have a stationary job as if were? I’m thinking about the shows I watch now and all the guys on “Arrow” are in the field, Cisco got powers to not just be male Felicity if you will on “Flash”, and even Winn got drug out into the field with James at times in S2 instead of just staying base side…THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH A MALE CHARACTER HAVING JUST A DESK JOB WRITERS ESPECIALLY WHEN IT FITS PERFECTLY TO THE CHARACTER! James is a newsman so why are they trying to make him everything but that?! I realize some writers maybe weren’t a part of S1 but just as a quick recap – James just took pictures and occasionally helped Kara out but always in report type ways back then and fans loved him so if you want fans to get excited hearing his name again do journalism only plots with him! If you keep doing “super Jimmy” we will keep calling you out because powers don’t work for him anymore than they do for Lena or Alex; they are the humans and that is important also with so many others having powers, true admittedly some of us (yes me included) would take Alex with powers for an episode just for funies to see how she would act having to adjust to them or if they did a body swap episode so she has to be Kara (cue the amazing humor you know is coming from Melissa doing Alex in Kara’s body, we all remember her killing it as J’onn in Kara, and Chyler doing Kara in Alex having to try and survive no powers for a day when everything wants to punch you and you have to keep up the tough persona or else Alex will punch and you don’t want that either) for a bit but no one wants her having them always because it’s not who she is as a character just as Jimmy isn’t a powers type. This whole season is about journalism and giving it respect yet you kept giving the one actual senior journalist every plot but journalism related ones; EMBRACE JAMES AT CatCo ONLY, that is his jam – remember when he called out the DEO in season one for locking Max up without a trial or when he talked J’onn into going non lethal even though that’s a debatable choice for people who get punched and kicked by beings 100x their strength at times, go back to having him harass them…there’s plenty to do with him besides have him get powers!
Given she came in so late to the season I hope they either keep going slow with Alex/Kelly so the pace feels organic or every episode has like at least 40% of them together to make a season finale kiss feel earned instead of cliche. They have Azie signed up for S5 already so I’d say go slow as there’s only 4 episodes left this season and there’s a lot Alex has to focus on besides a romance so save that for next season where we can really tackle how they might be as a pair. Also really show them together, don’t do another highlights version for Alex’s romance where we only see big moments for like 2 minutes; actually fleshy this out and give it the time you would a Kara relationship or just slightly less as Kara is the lead but Alex is right there behind her so it should be like a Kara relationship screen time wise but maybe minus 10 minutes because Alex is not the title person (even though she is the favorite character for a lot of fans). And as always TREAT Alex’s ROMANCE THE SAME AS ANYONE’S – if Kara’s boyfriend can strip off his jacket and fall onto Kara on a couch before fading out you can do that with Alex! If Mon and Winn can get caught having sex at CatCo by Kara she can catch Alex and her girlfriend at the apartment because real talk they don’t knock when going into each other’s places! I really don’t want to see a repeat of an edited romance for Alex when everyone else gets to show things; you can have two women kiss on screen for more than five seconds and you can have them strip off jackets and fall onto beds/couches in frame for longer than 3 seconds before cutting out – again just treat Alex’s romance moments like you would if it was Kara with someone in the scene because consensual love between two people of a similar age is love. For anyone who says “how do you explain it to kids?” respond with “how did you explain Mon/Kara? How did you explain Mon and Eve or Winn and Siobhan having sex at work?”; I don’t know if it was intentional or not but Maggie/Alex felt like highlights next to Mon/Kara in execution and I just want to see all of Alex’s romance plots going forward being handled in the same way they do Kara’s because there should be no difference in the presentation except Kara gets extra time with her love on screen because she’s the title character.
“Agent Liberty dead! *cough*” – accepted John! 🙂