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Welcome back to Maid of Steel! In this episode, Karen and Emilee discuss Supergirl Season 2 Episode 10 “We Can Be Heroes”, which we’ve affectionately titled Leslie, Knope… Livewire. The episode originally aired on Monday January 30, 2016 and featured the return of Supergirl’s nemesis Livewire. In an electrifying twist of events, Livewire is kidnapped from her prison cell and used as a power source while Dr. Frankenstein does a little Cmd + C, Cmd + V with Leslie’s powers. Meanwhile, James struggles to be recognized as a legitimate superhero and Mon-El graduates from superhero kindergarten.
Leslie, Knope… Livewire
Remember when we first met Livewire early last season? If I’m not mistaken, this was the episode that was exchanged with the bombing episode due to coincidence of events in Paris. We got Leslie a little earlier than expected and got some story and plot elements that seemed to be missing a few origin points. 
The second time we got a dose of Leslie when she teamed up with Silver Banshee (who, incidentally, also released her from prison… though for the purpose of being an ally).
We only truly get the real Livewire in the first and last bits of the episode, first with “Freud” and lastly in the mad scientist’s lab, even so the threat of her re-emergence wreaks nearly as much havoc as her actual presence. And, to be fair, the Faux Leslies did have her powers. Just, the powers without the attitude isn’t the same. Which we are lovingly reminded of when the full force of that attitude comes out in the presence of Guardian and Mon-El.
We proceed to get lines like: “Your cosplay sucks! and “Little boys who think they can do a better job than the woman who’s an actual superhero…” and “I’ll make a deal with you, American Barbie…” Oh, Leslie Livewire, we love to hate you. It’s not nearly as stressful on us, the viewers, as it is on Kara. Because good always wins. Right?
Karamel Surprise
Mon-El’s high five at the end of this episode basically sums up all of the wonderful things about that character. As far as organic and genuine plot lines go this season, there are non so appealing to me now as the developing relationship between Kara and Mon-El. At least, watching Mon-El’s development over the last 10 episodes has been rewarding… Kara’s has been frustrating, more or less, and yet superbly interesting when viewed through the lens of those characters she interacts with.
In the previous episode, Kara struggled with a lack of satisfaction in resolving “petty crimes” only to come head-to-head with a Maldoorian slavery circuit. She has been very vocal about her desire to help people and make a difference in the lives of National City by being that light in the proverbial darkness. It comes as no surprise that this is what she demands, and has always expected, from Mon-El. But Mon-El has a sordid past which Kara knows little to nothing about, and what she does know is probably a lie or half-truth; it makes sense that it’s taking him longer to graduate from superhero kindergarten.
But Kara has been self-righteous to the point of selective. To put it in Harry Potter terms, she kind of has this pure-blood way of looking at being a superhero. She sees Mon-El in this pure-blood sort of way and holds him to a higher standard than other players on the National City chessboard. Guardian, inversely, she sees as less worthy. And though I will not utter the terrible, derogatory term used on Muggle-born wizards, I won’t lie that she kinda gave off the vibe like she was shouting it in James’s face. At least, that’s what look on James’s face expresses after she says her piece.
I am very glad, though, that they decided to make Kara a little more cautious before jumping straight into a relationship with Mon-El.
Cougar’s Comic Corner
The Scarlet Cougar recommends [[[JLA (1997-2006) Vol. 1]]] by Grant Morrison and Howard Porter!
From the mouth of the Cougar herself:
The Hyperclan come to Earth masquerading as a group of Superheroes set to conquer Earth. The Hyperclan members are known as Protex, Fluxus, A-Mortal, Züm, Primaid, Tronix, Armek, and Zenturion, using the array of natural Martian powers to give each “hero” a seemingly different set of abilities; for example, Züm was a speedster, Armek was a massive armored figure with superhuman strength and could change color, and Fluxus was a shapeshifter. Their initial attack results in the destruction of the League’s satellite and the death of Metamorpho and is preceded by a sickness that strikes all fire-based heroes and villains, such as Firehawk and Doctor Phosphorus, causing them to lose their powers. With the use of mind control and public relations, they nearly succeeded, brainwashing all of Earth into seeing the new Justice League as the villains.
“Livewire” is still arguably my favorite episode of the series! Caitlin Parrish has written on every Livewire episode – she co-wrote both “Livewire” and “World’s Finest” which feature Livewire along with “We Can Be Heroes”. She has also written other episodes in S1.
Another fan put it great by saying it’s really sucky of James and Winn to keep Guardian a secret from Kara when she trusted them with her identity the day after the plane; granted James already knew but Kara didn’t know he did. Knowing karate doesn’t make James Alex and having a fancy suit doesn’t make him Kara so his attitude just really sucks when he thinks those things make him them; again overall I find Guardian to be the worst plot so far and that’s shame given this episode showed what it could have been had this been the start instead of the end.
I love Karen reading Justina’s message, it sounds like what I think Mon would sound like reading it – “. Smiley face emoji.”. 🙂 I love Mon’s language barrier goofs they’re great! I LOVED Mon didn’t push beyond saying his peace to Kara at the end because that would have turned me off of him had he tried to kiss her when she wasn’t up for it. I agree with Emilee about the Mon-Kara scene at the end and why it’s great Kara didn’t say her feelings in turn!
Boo Karen didn’t do the cougar sound effect after “Mack on that face girl!”!
It was a good twist having Livewire be the victim instead of villain straight out in this episode yet she still remained her villain self overall so it was in character on top which is a bonus part.
Alex isn’t support she’s just not responsible for things like jewel thieves, as a DEO agent she’s responsible for making sure people like Kara and Mon don’t destroy the city or hurt people so of course she’s not going to go after the same criminals Jimmy is and Maggie is a police officer which means she doesn’t have the level of training Alex does and she doesn’t have Kara’s powers so she’s not going to rush to fight the alien if she doesn’t have to – she’s going to protect the civilians but she’s more than happy to let Kara or the DEO secure the alien terrorizing the city. Kara is the mix of Alex and Maggie because she floats between both worlds, Alex focuses mainly on aliens so she isn’t shown worrying about property damage until she has to, and Maggie again focuses on the civilians so while she can help fight the aliens it’s not her only priority as she has to chase down jewel thieves with Kara; Jimmy is trying to take over all their jobs and failing at it because even when he stops every day criminals he still creates more paperwork for Maggie which she probably doesn’t appreciate. Hopefully that made sense! Kara or no Kara Alex’s job is to stop aliens terrorizing the city and she does that just as Kara or no Kara Maggie’s job is to make sure the right people pay for damages from said alien capture should the DEO tear things up as well; if anyone is support it’s Kara in those situations. They’re all great captains to achieve the goal at the very least!
“I think Mon is more mature than James at this point.” – agreed Karen!
I like the outtro song; I have to say for some reason it always makes me think of Alex and her drinking habit with drinking her feelings as it were when I hear it. Poor Alex. That said drunk Alex can be hilarious.