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They say seeing is believing. Sometimes what you see is deceiving. Malefic is hiding in the City. He could be anywhere. He could be anyone. James is driving Kelly out of town. Will putting distance between them be enough to keep Kelly safe from the malicious Martian? What other secrets are hiding in plain sight?
The rest of the team is Downtown trying to deceive Malefic wearing different faces. Those image inducers are no match for this crafty Martian. Surely the transmatter portal that Brainy brought will banish Malefic back to the Phantom Zone. How was he able to phase right through it? It was calibrated by a twelfth level intellect!
Brainy is distracted. In the days since the break up with Nia he has been analyzing what went wrong. Tiny boxes didn’t make for a good boyfriend and neither did one hundred percent poetic partner. Alex calls Lena to help brainy with calibrations on the portal. Not only does she help with the technology but Lena comes bearing relationship insight as well. She explains it to him in a language he understands. The language of Science. Brainy is in a loop if he doesn’t change a variable he will not escape it. She reminds him it is ok to ask for help. Lena suggests Brainy and Nia work on their relationship as a team. Lena is pretending to be a team player right now. The Super Friends are trying to capture Malefic so she will play nice for now. She believes Malefic is the missing piece to achieve her goal of mind control with the use of Q waves.
Nia uses her dream projection to try to get more information on William. Something about him doesn’t seem quite right. Based on Nia’s information Supergirl tracks down a lead named Elena Torres. She is too late. Someone has killed her. Who has a reason to murder an Obsidian Worldwide accountant? Kara was able to confirm one thing. William is in Mexico City, but why?
Back in National City the Martian Safety Protocol has failed. The Martian that can manipulate minds simply took control of a DEO agent. Now he has taken over the mind of Director Danvers. When Alex confronts J’onn about his secret you really see how ashamed he is about deceiving his Earth daughters.
Kelly is far away from Malefic but she is still connected to him. She sees what he is doing and she knows Alex is in trouble. Kelly and James return to National City to join the fight.
At the Planetarium it is time for a showdown of cosmic proportions. Alex is still under the control of Malefic and tries to shoot J’onn. He will never let Malefic have her. He will restore her mind even if it kills him. J’onn succeeds but the battle is not over. Malefic planned an explosive finale.
Time is running out on the bomb strapped to Alex. J’onn phases through her to get the vest and Kara swoops in with her cape to absorb the explosion. The repaired portal sends Malefic back to the Phantom Zone or does it?
Remember sometimes seeing is deceiving. Many secrets hide in plain sight. We didn’t know what to think about William and now we know he is not a bad guy. He was just trying to protect Ms. Torres and Kara. Lena is so good at playing nice that nobody has their eyes on her. What will her next move be? Will Kelly be able to see what Lena is doing through Malefic’s eyes now that he is in her custody?
We know Jimmy’s next move, back to his Hometown. Andrea said he couldn’t be a reporter. She said nothing about publishing a paper. Someone has to tell the truth. He wants to stand up for what is right and he doesn’t need a shield to do it. There is more than one way to be a hero. This your eye in the sky, Green Butterfly. Please look out for clues and join us next week for another super adventure.
Do you Like the Story that was chosen for Jimmy's Exit?
- No (56%, 5 Votes)
- Yes (44%, 4 Votes)
Total Voters: 9
Cougar’s Comic Corner
The OMAC Project Infinite Crisis Special
An INFINITE CRISIS tie-in! Brother Eye lives and Sasha Bordeaux must destroy this renegade supercomputer once and for all…before it exposes the secrets of every DCU hero to the whole world.
Written by Greg Rucka with Art by Jesus Saiz released April 5, 2006 / Right now only $2.99 on Comixology!
Aspidistra is pronounced like thus:
As-pea-dee-straw.
Rubber dolls and trees was the theme and braindead is the acting this outing.
Inventor of Guardian? How about Jack Kirby and Joe Simon founding Joe Kirby? Bleargh.
Calvintown needed a much plainer and clearer LEVIATHAN tie-in, which if you missed it this episode, is tied directly into Thomas Hobbes who says that “Man’s life is a nasty brutal and short experience”; a senseless blip between the epicycloid edge effects that is our spacetime. Yeah, he is that optimistic opposite to John Locke.
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Leviathan (Hobbes book) – Wikipedia article at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan_(Hobbes_book)
Leviathan (Hobbes book) Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common-Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil —commonly referred to as Leviathan — which is a book written by Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) and published in 1651 (revised Latin edition 1668). Its name derives from the biblical monster Leviathan. (direct intro article quote).
The point should not be lost that Calvintown is a CLUMSY reference to the comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes” and is a social satire that was penned and drawn by the great satirist Bill Watterson. You can shorthand it by referring to “Dropped on His Head” Jimmy ass a stand-in muppet for Calvin, the idealistic and naĂŻve boy, while Hobbes the stuffed tiger character, is the sardonic cynical realist author’s voice who pops the balloon for goofy Calvin in a harsh Charlie Brown peanuts analog way.
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Use mitoforebrainfried in a sentence, as requested? Mitoforebrainfried is having your neurons in your pre-frontal lobe cooked by an experience so mind-numbingly stupid that you cannot believe the heat coming off your forehead. It is accompanied by a feeling of acute embarrassment.
Mitoforebrainfried is what happens to you after you watch too much terrible television like this episode.
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John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake created the creature, Ma’alefa’ak J’onnz. Green Butterfly is spot on about her background research about this comic book character. John Ostrander exactly meant for that connection to be made.
Later.
Monty
This is not directly “Supergirl” related so I’m going to get it out of the way now, can we give “Batwoman” a round of applause for this scene – https://youtube.com/watch?v=PvtywQjFQIc please?! “Supergirl” writers now have no excuse not give Alex the same treatment with her love interests! This was on at 7pm and “Supergirl” is currently on at 8pm so they definitely should be able to do this and even if they go back to 7pm next season clearly you can do it so again please treat Alex equal to Karan’s romance scenes, thank you!
On to the blog post…
“We didn’t know what to think about William and now we know he is not a bad guy. He was just trying to protect Ms. Torres and Kara.” – still can’t get excited by his plot right now.
“Will Kelly be able to see what Lena is doing through Malefic’s eyes now that he is in her custody?” – continuity wise she should, but will the plot allow it until it needs drama? That feels like a battle with all these shows – continuity and organic drama versus showing plot drama if you will. I have to say it’s frustrating; yes it would speed up the Lena reveal for the group but is that a bad thing? She’s mad at so many people surely that could feel multiple episodes of the season before she’s calmed down some. As always – angry Lena is fine, but DON’T MAKE HER A BAD GUY Writers!
“Do you like the story that was chosen for Jimmy’s exit?” – if this is his last episode then on the whole yes, but it looked like Guardian in a preview I saw so I’m not convinced he’s fully gone and thus the ending may be tainted some.
On to the podcast…
While I enjoy a good “Lois & Clark” moment as much as the next person, I have to say this news makes me nervous. We’ve said before how one of the issues with “Supergirl” post season one has been them writing her more like Clark at times rather than Kara so if this show does get picked up what will that mean for Kara I wonder? Will she finally be able to go back to her own characterization like we saw in season one such as her not being as naive as him on topics like the DEO holding Kryptonite (she didn’t love it of course but she understood it for those use against those like Non) or will they pull away from Kara and company in the name of doing yet another Superman project? I want to think given the 47 Flashes that’s have been on “The Flash” during its run that they can handle two characters of the same powers but there’s never been a Jay Garrick solo show proposed either while FLASH is still on so it’s not the same; maybe one can be the fall show while the other does the summer season with superhero shows. I don’t know. This admittedly again makes me a little nervous because while they aren’t the same character they do have the same powers and Clark is a bigger name; just to get ahead of the debate I know is coming – Henry Cavill and Dean Cain are my Superman, Michael Keaton is my Batman. We’ll see how this goes! Again this could be a good thing to remind the writers Kara isn’t Clark and you can tell even more stories using less plots because you have his take and her take, maybe they match up but they don’t have to always because they have different methods to handling things – Clark is more punch first where as Kara uses her skills or he distrusts someone she might see as an ally to help. You know crossovers will happen with this show if they do it.
“Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher will always be my Lois and Clark” – oh you know there will be comparisons John when this comes out to the original because as you said you can’t really beat them. As much as I like Henry and Amy in the movieverse I fully admit their dynamic is made enjoyable in part because of Dean’s and Teri’s work; without it to be fair Henry and Amy still would be good together I think but Lois and Clark are always elevated to me because of the dynamic of Teri and Dean in “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman”! Also don’t lie John, you’re thinking about the shot of Teri wrapped up in the cape too now aren’t you; iconic! 🙂
YAY “This Is Us”…such a great show! Kevin can be a real jerk at times just like Oliver so I get your trouble with separation at times Justina. 🙂
Maybe this Lois and Clark project will be set post the baby so we’ll get that aspect that we sadly never got win Dean and Teri’s version.
NO LETTING Barry EFFECT US PLEASE!!!
“it’s just kind of meh” – this is my current feeling to the season John; it’s not bad by any means but it’s not the best season either so far. There’s some awesome elements such as Rojas, Lena (KEEP HER GOOD), J’onn and his brother in concept (stop saying someone is the last of their kind if you’re just going to bring out 12 more later; also Mal’s actions aren’t excused by J’onn not paying attention to him – yes it might have pushed him towards the white Martians but he also chose that so let’s be careful with story handling here), Alex as the actual head of the DEO this year, and the way the couples are being done but things feel like they’re moving so slow either to fill space or just to drag things out to time in line with Crisis and it’s just leaving me kind of meh on the whole so far. Maybe it’s just me but I would like some picking up to the pace currently.
Space dad and the sisters is easily the second best relationship on the series behind the sisters. Now if they could just get Eliza and J’onn together we’d have the adorable space family! 🙂 #TeamSpaceDadAndEarthMom!
Chyler rocks the acting!
Oh John you’re going to explain to me why you feel the way you do about William because I am not getting it from him; to me he’s a pretty face basically this season as I find his stuff to be the most boring part of each episode. Maybe if they tied him into Leviathan more or if they had him feel like he has more of a personality or something I would care but as is he’s cute yeah but I could easily remove him from this season in a heartbeat to free up time for plots I am liking or have moments I’ve wanted to see since S1, for example James using CatCo to call out the DEO’s handling of situations because the organic drama that would bring – so good! Yeah I just don’t get William, maybe it’s also because I’ve seen his plot before so it’s not standing out either when paired with his personality, and I’m certainly not buying any potential romance with Kara featuring him like some articles are suggesting will happen.
“I’m a journalist like you” – LOL; that’s hilarious every time. This may be another reason I don’t buy the William stuff this season because I don’t buy reporter Kara so I’m not taking those moments seriously to being with then add in him not selling me and the scenes are just a miss to me.
NO TO Mon BACK ON THIS SHOW! If he returns he better stay so far from Kara or yes I will throw things.
I have to disagree with you two, I thought Alex saying she would use all means necessary to stop Mal is very in character to her early series self; Alex was never one to shy away from killing someone if the situation occurred, just because J’onn has changed his opinion doesn’t mean Alex did. She’s not a murderer don’t get me wrong but she’s never shied from using violence either; as she said she would try but if Mal can’t be talked down then she will put him down because she’s not going to let him harm the city or those she cares about.
“Lena has saved the world countless times and she’s only just now being made a Super friend” – yes Darryl, that is bull but it’s also bull arguably that Lena didn’t know Kara was Supergirl until Lex told her so. Ha to John’s hmms during this feedback. 🙂
“Anyone seen James?” – ha to K Vox shaking off seeing James, she’s glad he’s moved on too it seems. 🙂
I have to disagree with you Monty as Kelly is the best Olsen we’ve had on the show.
Agree Leslie re: J’onn’s plot of the week!
Let’s just let sleeping Guardians lie ok? James failed for me John post season one because they went Guardian instead of embracing his organic character; James was great as a newsman but they forced him in a suit because…who knows because it certainly wasn’t an organic character move, if he wanted to suit up we should have seen signs of it in season one more but we didn’t. Had they done James as an opposition to say the DEO questioning their methods or even Kara as Supergirl you could have gotten some good drama there but they turned him into such a laughable character and I don’t get why. I feel for Mehcad but I won’t miss James I’ll be honest.
I know James leaves for good before Winn comes back because Mehcad said he missed getting to work with Jeremy one more time so that combined with some trailer stuff is why I think we aren’t done with him even though I loved his last scene with “Call me Jimmy”.
#NotEvilJustMisunderstood – lol love it Ken. 🙂
You two joke but imagine if J’onn mentioned Diana once on the series! 🙂
Taking Aaron’s fine comments in order:
1. Story elements and plot incidents have to be organic to character. Thus far; Kate Kane, the character, has been faithful to the character created by Keith Giffen, Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid. Considering that Kate Kane is directly modeled on Deborah from the bible, and that her war colors are Jewish, that she is a soldier, that her sexuality is mixed in her biblical sense, I expected her, if faithfully written for the video series and acted by Ruby Rose according to the DC character “bible”, to be very much conflicted and confused as to her identity and role in a “male patriarchy” sense. This has been missed by a narrow margin in that series. About the only Mark Waid features (He did the most work on the character in defining her.) that have properly emerged is Batwoman’s inability to find a stable love. So the bedroom and the love scenes fall within the scope of the character as known and understood. She is incapable in that part of her life.
The jury is still out on Ruby Rose playing Batwoman. I think she has a camera presence that is too still “small” for the part. Sort of like Tyler Hoechlin Supergoof (More on that non-entity when I get to him in a moment.) in that she has not managed to fill the camera lens with her overwhelming sense of screen presence. This is a quality that can be “learned” by physically small and weak persons portraying a “powerful” presence, (Charles Boyer or Paul Muni come to mind) and Ms. Rose is on the job learning, and improving. She’s not there as Batwoman yet. The Kate Kane/Deborah side, she’s nailed right down to her “peculiar Deborah/Boaz? daughter/father/love relationship. That is my thought so far on “Batwoman”.
2. William Day (Staz Nair or as I like to refer to him as “Stays never on mark and looks stupid into the camera”.), is a complete and total wash out. I understand “British accented tall dark blockhead love interest lifted from the execrable ‘Game of Turds’ ” for overweight Melissa, but a set of physical attributes do not make a physical presence the camera loves. Nor does he have the mental equipment to overcome his buffoonish presence ON CAMERA.
3. Azie Tezfai has the twin faults of not knowing how to scale to ensemble acting in group scene shots and not being able to grab sympathy in her Kelly role. I took an instant dislike to her camera presence. This instant dislike is fatal to an actress. If you show an audience the first 30 second impression and the read they get is “utterly dislikeable person” then no amount of acting technique or attempted writer character development is going to overcome that negative Q factor. Azie is that “Tyler Hoechlin” kind of unfortunate. She will NEVER overcome it as Candice Patton did for me on The Flash, when I recognized good Q masked by BAD WRITING. Ms. Patton acted her way out of her cul de evil with being a team ensemble player and knowing how to scale up and down her charisma. It helped that she has good Q and knows how to turn it on and off.
4. As for the needs of the story (Q waves pun coming in 3, 2, 1…) the character, Kelly, is a Chekov. When the character becomes a mere plot device… the writer rule is KILL THAT CHARACTER. (That is why Jimmy/Guardian should have been written out.) One shots like “Lab rat Adam” for Lena when she tries to make a superhero, illustrates the correct use of a Chekov gun character. Lena Luthors on in her tragic arc towards evulz as she tried to continually Franken Luthor lab-rats into super-people. In this case, which I want, Azie Tazfai should be a write-out tragedy to develop ALEX, into a Batwoman type situation (See above the comments about that show, and its problems.) and the SOONER the better. I really hate that character, Kelly, since I recognize the actress, Azie, is miscast and the Danstupid ship fanfict is horribly written with Kelly as Alex’s permanent rescue victim of the week. (Can you smell the stink coming off the proposed Lois and Jerk 2.0 being proposed, ladies and gerbils? Imagine Tyler Hoechlin in the role of the jerk and Elizabeth Tulloch rescuing HIM!)
Malafic, er mal-effect is another Chekov gun and now he is demoted to Chekov McMuffin… er lab-rat for Katie McGrath to use along her road to Luthordumb. You get the repetitiveness in soap opera plot recycling yet? I have ZERO INTEREST in Malefic as of now. unless he is used to drive the J’onn J’onzz genocide criminal Martian Chronicles plotline as another Mister Plot Device 2-d character excuse. Phil LaMarr is just another community grade theater forgettable actor miscast into a role miswritten by a talentless pool of scribblers who managed to mangle a promising TV show soap opera standard plot brothers conflict concept with their F-grade treatments that would flunk them out of scriptwriting 101.
5. Physically small actors into BIG parts; Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain. Take a hard look at their physical size and shape (Teri Hatcher 5″6′ 110 lbs., shaped like a banana: Dean Cain; 5’11” at the time he was cast as Superman, 170 pounds, shaped like a tube.) and think about how they came through the camera? Compare their proposed replacements; (Elizabeth Tulloch, 5’6″ 125 lbs (bit fat for the camera) shaped like a pear, Tyler Hoechlin 6′, 200 lbs shaped like a block (head especially) ). Dean and Teri, despite their physical handicaps; filled a camera and were vibrant. Tyler is a tree and Liz is a complete NONENTITY, a vacant hole in any scenery she statically pollutes.
6. As for the Q waves pun? Henry Cavill (cavil means petty) is my “petty” Superman. Not only is he a jerk and ass in real life, but Mister Cavill carried those personal character defect qualities into his screen presence. I hate that Superman version he strutted through like the ass he was. Negative Q oozes like sewage through the camera in ANY role Herr Cavill pollutes.
7. By the way, what is Q factor actually? Well, borrowed from physics, the term means the ratio of stored energy in capacitance to throughput in an oscillator system. For human social dynamics, (like acting) it is your potential “presence” utilized as throughput to “influence” through charisma in a social group interaction. It is measurable. Positive Q factor people make you feel warm and fuzzy all over. Negative Q factor people make you want to vomit and/or avoid or put in jail for a crime you know they have committed but you just don’t have the proof yet.
In “Supergirl” we can grade it thusly:\
Calissa Flockhart; Q throughput pegs the meter.
Melissa Benoist: Q throughput about 50%. Hidden by gimmicks and intensive actor technique. She can achieve 75% but never tries.
Chyler Leigh: Q throughput is such that I have never seen her give less than 75%. Last episode she pegged the meter, I mean she is the standout.
Mehcad Brooks: Q throughput varies from 15% to 70% but never allowed to develop.
Carl Lumbly: Q factor never below 70%.
Jesse Rath: Buffoon should be flipping hamburgers; never exceeds Q factor 30%.
Jeremy Jordan (get him back soon): Q factor about 60-80%.
David Harewood: Q factor (boosted by RADA techniques) about 60-90%.
Jon Cryer: with a natural negative Q factor somewhere below zero, has managed to use actor techniques to throughput the camera at a whopping 80% most of his career. Proof positive that a “jerk” can really generate positive comedic presence if he knows his limits and learns how to overcome them. Another real life example? Arnold Schwarzenegger (70%, all of it technique).
Katie McGrath: Q factor natural 60% boosted by techniques to 80%.
Nicole Maines: my first impression pegged her about 50% but she has on occasion surprised me with 70%.
Staz Nair: Q factor (for me) 0% with negative dips. Looks cannot overcome “jerk” vibe. (See Henry Cavill description.)
Azie Tazfai: Q factor hovers around 50% with her shoddy acting technique sometimes driving it down to 20% or less.
As a baseline comparator of unpopular actors and actresses to the above;
a. Chris Woods as a stuffed Mon El: Q factor of 25%.
b. Candice Patton of The Flash: Q factor of 60%. (You either love her portrayal of Iris or hate it. I LOVE it.)
c. Henry Cavill: Q factor of 30% natural, depending on his technique, either -25% or 50% (His best work, all technique does = Q of 50%, though like Andy Griffith and Rock Hudson (Both beyond criticism, as in dead, so out of reproach, so it is their body of work I despise.), I hate his stinking guts as a human being; so I am biased.)
8. Reporter ANYBODY on Supergirl is a joke. These writers deal in fantasy and not reality when backgrounding the characters to real world models. Refer to my consistent continuous commentary about how among all the Berlanti shows, this writer bullpen is the shoe scrapings of background research, continuity, plot, theme, character development; how the actors and “good” directors fight to overcome that bull-ship crew of clumsy calligraphers and how that is the fault of a certain message oriented only, entertainment and good writing be damned producer and her favorite hatchet-man assistant.
9. Hate Chris Wood all some like, but can we have him back in place of “Stays Never On His Mark”? It would improve the show.
10. Character consistency? AYK. Remember the anti-gun message episode when Chyler pledged, “No more killing?” Goes to writing and the character bible as there is none.
11. I’m more worried about Katie McGrath being turned into Luthordumb rather than any qualms about her Superfriend status. I’ve been ready to launch the S.S. Karlena for a while now, too. I want that Team Luthor story; if I cannot have World of New Krypton (WONK).
12. Anybody not seen James? Mehcad Brooks should have jumped ship (Ha. PUN!) 3 seasons ago. Fine actor wasted 3 years of his career in a part he must have grown to hate.
13. Disagree about the Kelly Olsen Danstupid development. (See above for why.)
14. “Let’s just let sleeping Guardians lie ok? James failed for me John post season one because they went Guardian instead of embracing his organic character; James was great as a newsman but they forced him in a suit because…who knows because it certainly wasn’t an organic character move, if he wanted to suit up we should have seen signs of it in season one more but we didn’t. Had they done James as an opposition to say the DEO questioning their methods or even Kara as Supergirl you could have gotten some good drama there but they turned him into such a laughable character and I don’t get why. I feel for Mehcad but I won’t miss James I’ll be honest.”
I cannot put it any better. (See 12. and 13.)
13. “Call me Jimmied”, as in crowbarred (Another PUN! that I should be horsewhipped for.)
14. “#NotEvilJustMisunderstood” @ putmeoutmymisery.mail.net
15. Given this show’s writers’ predilection for screwing up no-fail all-win concepts… NOOOOOOOO to Wondy being even mentioned.
Later ladies and Misunderstood Martians,
Monty
P.S.
“Chuck” (lee) head, is “Chuck” (ull) head as it refers to the series “Chuck” and its inept producer. It is HARD to get a phonic pun across, but it can be done if I am more careful in the writing of it. Apologies for my own clumsy writing.
Monty the Monkee.
Regarding James’ exit from the show. . . I did like that James ended up buying his local town’s newspaper and that he will be a mentor to young Simon Kirby. I just thought the deteriorated town, complete with rusted and burned out hulks of cars and a corrupt and overzealous justice and court system, were cliche and uninteresting. None of that was needed for the story to be compelling for James to return to Calvintown. James owning a newspaper was more believable than him becoming a senator or the head of media at the Smithsonian.
I felt that James’s farewell should have been just as heartfelt and warm as Winn’s farewell was. I thought James and Kara should have shared a moment by themselves. After all, James and Kara dated for 20 minutes of screen time between the end of the first season and the beginning of the second season. There have been other more heartfelt goodbyes like when Supergirl said goodbye to Cat Grant in The Last Children of Krypton (Season 2 x 2) episode. Maybe James will reappear in the crossover and there will be a farewell redux.
I am also nervous about the announcement of a new Lois and Clark Superman CW TV series. I worry about how that show will affect the Supergirl TV series, especially Supergirl’s ratings. Allegedly and inexplicably, there is a Supergirl movie in the makes. Supergirl has been moved from Monday nights to Sundays at 8 p.m. and then moved back to 9 p.m. Some of us still watch the original broadcast. I’m sure there are a lot of parents who are not allowing their kids to stay up an hour later on Sunday night to catch Supergirl at 9 p.m., especially after watching Batwoman which is more appropriately a 9 p.m. show. Are those parents allowing their children to watch the streaming service or a DVR of Supergirl later in the week?
I did not enjoy the Superman back door pilot in Supergirl’s segment of last year’s crossover, which was the weaker of the three segments of the crossover. I also did not like how Deegan as the evil Superman was getting the better of the real Superman in their fight. That fight sequence did not make any sense since the real Superman was a seasoned fighter and superhero. Deegan was none of those things.
Supposedly Supergirl is already slated to have a 6th season, since it was announced at San Diego Comic Con that Chyler Leigh was going to have her Supergirl directorial debut in the 6th season. I just hope that Supergirl lasts 6 years and substantially more than that and interest in Supergirl doesn’t wane because of a new Superman show and the changes in Supergirl’s airing and time slot.
We haven’t seen it yet Monty but I do hope we get some Jewdism in the “Batwoman” series as that’s a pretty big plot thing to the character; it’s like Helena Bertinelli being Catholic and wearing a cross, she’s not going to flaunt it around and be all in your face about her religion but it’s still important to her.
“The jury is still out on Ruby Rose playing Batwoman.” – this is fair. My current favorites are Alice and Mary; I think Ruby could do well but she’s got some hits and misses performance wise in scenes. I don’t know if this is due to leading a series where she’s use to dealing with movies so she’s getting use to the longevity or if it’s something else.
Why do you say overweight Melissa Monty? I think she looks good.
“In this case, which I want, Azie Tazfai should be a write-out tragedy to develop ALEX, into a Batwoman type situation.” – again I’m liking Kelly so far as an individual but I’m still hesitant about Kelly/Alex, I’ll admit I still have feelings about wanting to see Sam/Alex. They can’t kill off Kelly because you are asking for so much trouble with that as 1) female characters being killed off to further a love interest plot is clichĂ© and problematic in regards to why must the female always die, 2) queer characters have a disproportionate ratio of death to their pairings as exits so again you’re asking for problems pushing that plot, and 3) killing characters off as an exit is tiring so writing her out is one thing if you don’t like her but you can’t kill her off! Maybe she and Alex just disagree on something big like she and Maggie did, no shame in having organic drama after all! 🙂
Luthordumb – points for this!
“Reporter ANYBODY on Supergirl is a joke.” – that feels unfair to Nia and Cat. 🙂
No Monty, I can’t do Mon back this soon. It would probably be awkward for them (Melissa and Blake) but I’d like to see Adam come back as I liked he and Kara myself the most so far for a pairing for her. I’m not sold on us having seen her OTP if you will yet though and I am perfectly fine with that personally because why shouldn’t Kara date around like male characters get to do?!
“I just thought the deteriorated town, complete with rusted and burned out hulks of cars and a corrupt and overzealous justice and court system, were cliche and uninteresting.” – I wouldn’t say the corruption was uninteresting Leslie but it was overkill when you watch news for any bit; it’s and important thing to stop yes but it felt like being beat over the head hearing about that you know? The rusted cars I agree were over the top and on the whole I agree I could have done without the clichĂ© setting for Calvintown!
I agree “Batwoman” is more of an 8pm show; I can only guess being a new series they put it on first for extra eyes as they know people will watch “Supergirl”.
I agree 10 seasons of “Supergirl”! 🙂 At the least she deserves as many as “Arrow” and “Flash”. 🙂
“We haven’t seen it yet Monty but I do hope we get some Jewdism in the “Batwoman” series as that’s a pretty big plot thing to the character; it’s like Helena Bertinelli being Catholic and wearing a cross, she’s not going to flaunt it around and be all in your face about her religion but it’s still important to her.”
In the case of DC comics myth; we can break it down to “Christian characters” and “Jewish characters”
I’m not sure how many people are familiar with the idea that Moses and Superman are conflated. I mean Superman for all that he is supposed to be a corn-belt Methodist is a actually a Charadi or maybe even a “liberal” (if you can call him that) Hasidic tradition orthodox. when he Raos all over the place. His goofball dad, surely was a heretic as written in the original story to the Hasidic “Science Council” dictums, so I guess the son is Charadi.
Applied religion to Batman… , well Bruce is a functioning Calvanist, though his braindead dad was an Episcopalian.
In that respect, Kate Kane is kind of like the daughter of Gideon. Murphy knows from the OT that Gideon was a mean despicable narrow minded kind of famer bigot parent, who pushed his son forward into murdering the captured Canaanite kings he held for ramson and when junior didn’t have the stomach for it, disowned the young boy. Then there is the Deborah/Boaz angle and the implied hinkiness in that relationship.
Confliction and (sexual) confusion in both family and personal life gets warped and wrapped up in that model for Kate, so yes, she will not have a happy love life and she will turn BAT because of it. That is Mark waid all over.
What about Supergirl? Well, unlike Clark, as Sterling Gates and the 2Mikes wrote her, she is all Hasidic Kryptonian and that has spilled over into the TV series, or at least parts of it. By morality matrix (PUN!) she is an ultra Hasidic. She would make Zod blush in his lapses.
” “The jury is still out on Ruby Rose playing Batwoman.” – this is fair. My current favorites are Alice and Mary; I think Ruby could do well but she’s got some hits and misses performance wise in scenes. I don’t know if this is due to leading a series where she’s use to dealing with movies so she’s getting use to the longevity or if it’s something else.”
Ruby Rose is still learning her craft. I have more to say in a moment.
Fat Supergirl…
“Why do you say overweight Melissa Monty? I think she looks good.”
The camera cannot be fooled. It picks up everything if you know where to look. I see the round face framed by bangs, the tubular arms fleshed out and poorly disguised in width by lines in the supergirl costume, the pants and modified beltline that “hides” the little tummy and fanny bulges and I think “Farm girl, you have put on 3-4 kilograms and not in the right places!” Chubby Melissa needs to hit the track and RUN laps! We don’t see Chyler having to step out of her catsuit, do we? Bet she does her track work religiously. (PUN!)
“In this case, which I want, Azie Tazfai should be a write-out tragedy to develop ALEX, into a Batwoman type situation.” – again I’m liking Kelly so far as an individual but I’m still hesitant about Kelly/Alex, I’ll admit I still have feelings about wanting to see Sam/Alex. They can’t kill off Kelly because you are asking for so much trouble with that as 1) female characters being killed off to further a love interest plot is clichĂ© and problematic in regards to why must the female always die, 2) queer characters have a disproportionate ratio of death to their pairings as exits so again you’re asking for problems pushing that plot, and 3) killing characters off as an exit is tiring so writing her out is one thing if you don’t like her but you can’t kill her off! Maybe she and Alex just disagree on something big like she and Maggie did, no shame in having organic drama after all!”
Organic? Don’t mention food to the female lead. (Joke.) But anyway, it is quite true, Aaron, that our writing is supposed to be better than the Women in Refrigerators crap we suffered as recently as seeing RiRi Williams cancelled (Eve L. Ewing; great writer, support her.)
And since I came to Supergirl via Peter Alan David, and his series was just a few years after DC Editorial made the infamous decision to punch up Infinite Crisis by “killing the b—-” during the John Byrne Superman rebuild… well, I am not the first in line to RESENT such bad writing.
http://www.lby3.com/wir/
Gail Simone is ahead of me, but not by much.
Marvel has their own version, Aaron; Carol Danvers has been refrigerated as often as Supergirl and Powergirl. The only comic book characters who get it worse are Barbara Gordon and Jean Grey. The only male character I know who has gotten anything like this shoddy treatment is Ironman. Thank you, Nick Spence, Dan Slott and prior to him; Brian Michael Bendis for killing Tony five times in the last 20 years!
BUT… when you reduce a character to a lazy crutch of a plot device and do not have a good reason for that character to be on set other than “designated victim” for Alex to rescue and the writers make it so painfully obvious, then whatthehello? By a write-out, one removes the crutch for Alex. Knocking that crutch out should have consequences (good writing). If one does not know what I mean, look at how relieved many viewers are that Mehcad is getting the heave-ho, and yet how disappointed these same viewers are that he is being dumped in such a shameful send-off treatment. Like he was yesterday’s garbage.
Azie Tazfai has brought nothing as much, so kill her off before she becomes another Floriama Lima to this cast. And I mean “kill” so that character can never be resurrected to pollute story lines again. Plot McMuffins have no business on a super-hero show.
Once that rubbish is cleared away; start fresh or rather recycle if your writers are no-talent hacks. Who can the writers use to hook up Alex and give her a love-life, a plot path and KEEP in continuity?
Paging Odette Annabelle (or a good replacement). Sam has a fortunate relapse and then you have an Alex/Sam (Samal) complete with adopted kid, power couple (How close to a Supergirl/Batwoman hookup can you get?). Launch that ship! On the other side of the teeter totter, you can for equity’s sake off Stays Never On His Mark and slide in Lena and do the Team Luthor bit complete with Aunt Kara while Alex scurries after Ruby.
A Reign of Comedic Chaos ensues as the usual dramarama plays in the foreground.
You gotta admit, that the plots write themselves this way.
====================================================
About why the show mechanics are screwed up…
I think I would be covering old ground, but a year and a half ago, I wrote an explanation for Silver Vox, how directors should treat the camera as another “actor” when setting up shots and moving actors around in scene. Anyway, stage and live audience actors have the same exact problem. They have to treat the camera as another performer and emote and act to it in that fashion. In addition the actor (The director should know this already.) must realize that he must scale the charm UP and the action DOWN when she/he acts with the camera. What works on stage as normal effect to transmit through the 4th wall to a 3-d human group audience about 20-30 meters away will blow out of proportion on the 2-d planar camera which sits so close, that even a finger movement is picked up and amplified 4X. We are talking about a staring mechanical eye aimed LIKE A GUN at a person or group according to rigidly defined sight lines and distances (marks) so that head and shoulders are bisected from the rest of the body AT THE HORIZON Set LINE usually at a focal length of no more than 5-15 meters. An actor must be able to gauge throughput through such a unitary PoV device that has half the acuity and 8X detail recognition (standard definition; high definition is about 16X)in a static referent frame as a human eye. Any motion will be instantly amplified. Any “Q” has to be amped up to make it through to the human on the other side of the video output. Presence, not histrionics, is what one wants. There are good stage actors who are HORRIBLE on TV, (Betty Davis) and other mediocre stage actresses (Ida Lupino, as actor and director.) who are devastatingly good in front of a TV camera. This is not something one is born with. One has to LEARN HOW.
Ruby Rose is learning On Batwoman. She has to “fluff up” her Q like a bird when the light goes on.
As for the Supergirl show, refer to my discussion on Q factors and how those can be measured and what I think the cast’s Q factors actually are.
“Luthordumb – points for this!” Don’t blame me, when Derek Simon makes one out of Katie McGrath.
“Reporter ANYBODY on Supergirl is a joke.” – that feels unfair to Nia and Cat.”
No, it is not. Look at Alan Sorkin’s “The News Room” and tell me that the Supergirl writers have a freaking clue how to write reporters for TV?
“No Monty, I can’t do Mon back this soon. It would probably be awkward for them (Melissa and Blake) but I’d like to see Adam come back as I liked he and Kara myself the most so far for a pairing for her. I’m not sold on us having seen her OTP if you will yet though and I am perfectly fine with that personally because why shouldn’t Kara date around like male characters get to do?!”
Then give me Sam. But if Kara remains “straight” then bring in a positive Q actor for her love interest. Chris Wood fits the metrics.
================================================
More about aspidistra Jenner.
Well for one thing Blake Jenner is O.U.T. as to the Chris Wood question as Melissa and he had a parting of the marriage ways.
https://collegecandy.com/2019/09/05/melissa-benoist-boyfriends-2019-who-is-benoist-dating/
Chris Wood is the current beau.
For another, I refer you to my comments about Henry Cavill, and actors like him Physically. Blake Jenner, with his negative Q somewhere around -15% I would cast as an unpaid no-lines extra who is hired as a mere stand-in scenery human prop to be Hollywood punched in the face by “our hero”.
Some human beings just look like “thugs” to a camera. He is one of those types. Does not mean anything more than he can be so type cast.
Later:
Monty
In my feedback on Supergirl, I call out continuity errors for fun and certain other things that I may not have liked about a particular episode. I, however, do try to focus on the content I enjoy and to say at least something positive about the Supergirl episode under review since I am absolutely thrilled that Supergirl, my favorite superhero show, is on the air with no end in sight. I enjoy Supergirl as portrayed by Melissa Benoist. So if she’s in an episode, the episode is a positive for me. Consequently, I do not focus on the actors’ body weight or body image issues. I have no idea what’s going on behind the scenes or in their personal lives, whether they have physical injuries or other issues. I feel that the actors are professionals and I will discuss them as such.
“In my feedback on Supergirl, I call out continuity errors for fun and certain other things that I may not have liked about a particular episode. I, however, do try to focus on the content I enjoy and to say at least something positive about the Supergirl episode under review since I am absolutely thrilled that Supergirl, my favorite superhero show, is on the air with no end in sight. I enjoy Supergirl as portrayed by Melissa Benoist. So if she’s in an episode, the episode is a positive for me. Consequently, I do not focus on the actors’ body weight or body image issues. I have no idea what’s going on behind the scenes or in their personal lives, whether they have physical injuries or other issues. I feel that the actors are professionals and I will discuss them as such.”
Monty, the monk, here;
Leslie, I usually try hard to have something positive to notice in an episode. I really did not this time, because I wanted to address Aaron’s points with specific technical commentary. I would say, for the positives that I can take away from the show, that Chyler and David gave the rest of the cast a sit down class in how to make the utterly ridiculous; so sublime and tragic in the context of the overall Malefic storyline in this series 5 season. The writing was average, the direction was subpar, so if that scene was so impressive, it was all Harewood and Leigh.
Chubby Kara>
I began to notice appearances during the interseason layover. ‘Chyler looks a little leaner, and Melissa looks a little stockier’ I thought as I saw their publicity stills. I know that planar frame cameras do this as they flatten 3-d roundness to 2-d flatness. Cameras, especially the new digital scan line types “widen” the apparent height to width ratios, thus exaggerating the stockiness of the image converted?
I don’t think a technical comment, I made in jest about Melissa not paying enough attention to this aspect of the show and her part of it, is off base at all. Fatso Shatner sure did not help “Captain Kirk, leading man”, for Star Trek in season 3. Same standards apply, as the actor must look the part, same problems noticed in costuming and makeup and lighting added work (Production costs added to each episode.), same ultimate solutions… Hit the track, put in the work, and lean up. Be a pro about that leading man/woman aspect of physical appearance as the camera notices it. It is not fair that the audiences expect their heroes heroines have Adonis/Aphrodite physiques in superhero shows, but physical appearance matters to the roles in such fantastic fictions.
The cynical technical monkey;
Monty
I still can’t agree with you Monty on the appearance discussion or killing off Kelly.
For me I call them (Alex/Sam) Agent Arias. I do agree you can’t convince me Sam doesn’t have powers still; true you can say maybe they changed her DNA so Reign is locked down (ie Lena corrected the enhanced genetic engineering) but Sam is still genetically Krytponian and Lena can’t change that short of one comic book upped gene wash swap so by logic Sam should still at the very least be as strong as Kara. Sam definitely has untapped plot stories potential to pull from if they bring her back! Personally I would want Odie, if they replaced her that would have to be a heck of one because she did that so well.
If Chris plays someone else and not Mon then maybe it could work; no making his new character like Mon either, if you want in Kara’s pants just say it – don’t say you want to be a hero and then do nothing when it comes to showing that side of yourself!
“I am absolutely thrilled that Supergirl, my favorite superhero show, is on the air with no end in sight.” – I second this statement Leslie!!!
Aaron on November 4, 2019 at 8:23 pm
“I still can’t agree with you Monty on the appearance discussion or killing off Kelly.”
I respect this feeling. The Q numbers say, she’s got to go; but look how long Florianna Lima lasted beyond her discard date? Listen to my present commentary on the next episode as I develop that point.
“For me I call them (Alex/Sam) Agent Arias. I do agree you can’t convince me Sam doesn’t have powers still; true you can say maybe they changed her DNA so Reign is locked down (ie Lena corrected the enhanced genetic engineering) but Sam is still genetically Krytponian and Lena can’t change that short of one comic book upped gene wash swap so by logic Sam should still at the very least be as strong as Kara. Sam definitely has untapped plot stories potential to pull from if they bring her back! Personally I would want Odie, if they replaced her that would have to be a heck of one because she did that so well.”
How about twin brother Lar Gand for Kara?
As for Sam, well her Supergirl TV series powers were originally supposed to be “magical” from three Kryptonian witches and that whole cockamamie “magical/nonsensical” MacBeth type storyline that I hated which was season 3. What could should have been done, as originally conceived in the comics, was Reign results from (Brainiac) induced experiments which Zor_el conducted on animals to find a way to augment Kara as a pre-invasion of Earth World-killer for Argo city (SUPERGIRL VOL 6, 2 MIKES VERSION). Inventors of Reign, the space pirate, were Michael Green and Mahmud Asrar in that storyline which they were never allowed to develop.
Anyway, the notion of a Samal ship will never happen. This whow’s target demographic will not allow for such adult happenings.
Monty.