13 Comments

1. 

   Montefescu on May 7, 2021 at 10:04 am

   I dropped in to write that we are going to have a philosophy treaties on this show and this episode as soon as I put thoughts to paper.

   It will cover about five years of good and not so good and it will deal with human worth and the concept of “family”.

   In other words, when one picks a hill to stands atop, John, I will climb it.

   See you soon.

   Reply
   • 

     John P. McGrail on May 7, 2021 at 10:47 am

     Love it! Let’s go, my friend!!

     Reply
     • 

       Montefescu on May 9, 2021 at 3:09 pm

       Well, after watching a test stand melt down in a fire caused by sheer human stupidity, I have some free time to write that essay I promised.

       To begin: one must set the parameters of one’s point of view.

       Experience, MINE:

       1. College educated in both the humanities and in technology. If you asked me to break down a scene by shot-line, or which way to rig the lights for day dusk effects or how to use mirrors to light a daytime outdoor shoot, I think I can do that. I can even write a set-piece for a scene.

       2. Film experience local, carpenter on theater sets, and best boy (gaffer and grip): Kansas, Georgia and Virginia. Stage construction, roadie for a country western band in South Carolina. All when I was a young handsome fellow and not the M.O.B. I am now.

       3. It should not surprise you that I have left it behind and moved on to other things. But experience you never forget.

       4. I love production crew. Directors, it depends. Actors, it depends. Writers? Murphy, they are so full of themselves. Good ones are few and far between.

       5. Up until about the time I switched my life-paths, the writers knew their jobs. Sell a story and entertain an audience with their words. They were not of the opinion that anyone cared what they had to say, except only insofar as they could sneak in a lesson or the moral about the situation they invented. They kept their opinions corralled to the job they had to do. You could get decent product that allowed the audience to escape the real world for 30 minutes to an hour.

       That changed.

       First seen around the time that CBS and NBC shifted over from their rural America themed line-ups to contemporary urban comedies and dramas and then followed by ABC, the major networks began to make corporate viewpoint and carve out segments of the advertising market. They became political. Their shows reflected political message and content with CBS being “conservative”, NBC being somewhat liberal and ABC trying to jockey between the other two. CBS had the older audience segment as its advertising target, NBC was more “hip” and ABC tried to appeal tom old and young and the writing and the shows reflected this new political treatment.

       Then came cable (which is currently dying for the same reasons the major networks are) and the politicization and the balkanization of the audience intensified.

       Ever hear of the filtered feedback loop? That is when someone receives input that appeals to them and the more the input agrees with their preconceived prejudices, opinions and yes… bigotry, the easier that signal is accepted. Brother and Murphy, the advertisers and broadcast service providers in the industry hate it, when the product offends their target sales audiences.

       Writers, who think in this day and age, that they have something of an opinion that is important to convey as their first duty in crafting the product, care not a flying fig about metrics such as ratings points or even these criticisms of their illiteracy and incompetence in subject matter, the job of selling the story or even good grammar and rhetoric, as long as they can get a “message” to the people at whom they wish to show; “Hey, audience, this is what we think is “correct thinking” and if you do not think this way, then you are not “correct”.

       The term “politicly correct” has fascist routes. People who try to audience indoctrinate and intimidate or “educate” via the entertainment mediums have been doing this government or ideology mandated nonsense for more than a century. The first rat to try it in public media, was an evil man, named Woodrow Wilson. He hired another rat named George Creel, and together, under an outfit that looks remarkably like the same apparatus used by that friend of humanity, Joe Stalin, managed “culture” in the United States as to newspapers and film and stage.

       So this is not a new thing to us when some writers and PoVs are rewarded and the resultant garbage arts and culture come down to us as examples of what happens when artistic freedom and the market place of ideas is corrupted and usurped by propagandists and small-minded incompetent idiots.

       Summary:

       Supergirl Season 1. We get villains of the week and we get Astra and Myriad and the dangers of group-think, mind control and aliens invade Earth and want to enslave humanity for their own good. It remarkably works in spite of the propaganda and the at times gawdawful writing, because the audience is filter sensitive to civil rights and the fear of an invaded range. It is contradictory, because I for one, am mindful that you have to have civil rights for the strangers among you, or you will have not have rights for yourselves. Look back at my reviews and you will see that theme enunciated as a criticism. POLITICAL.

       Season 2. CW… Well… more aliens invade, more mind control, the Legion appears, that wife-beater and domestic partner abuser makes a cameo, and the bad writing includes a lying Durlan alien is represented as the US President, a very clumsy coming out for Alex, the terrible casting of Florianna Lima as Detective Sawyer and the politics which has been to the back, now steps forward. the filters go up and suddenly the audience begins to feel lectured. Notable attempts to get the audience onboard still happen. Supergirl actually has a life, her worthless cousin is shown up, (Yes, I wrote worthless, since he palmed her off on the Danvers and never was shown to have any concern for Kara up until the Daxamites got frisky and he was brainwiped into one of their robotniks.). Plenty of attempts are made to present Alex positively and except for Florianna Lima and the FACT that the writers have no clue how gay couples work in real life, it was a Chyler triumph in the part. Of course we have the acidic nay toxic treatment of the phenomenally talented Mehcad Brooks, who was almost Uncle Tommed into oblivion by the end of the season. Here’s the thing… the “progressive writers” would not pull the obvious partners in love trigger on Melissa Benoist and Mehcad Brooks after the Lucy Lane story line was jettisoned in early season 2. Why? Politics? Timidity, Cowardice? You decide. These writers were quick to craft a storyline about rounding up aliens and locking them up without due process, have an alien masquerade as president (If one does not get the Obama, lying Durlan, “birther” reference, then one had not paid attention.), and they timidly dipped their pens / word processors into gay relationships, but I was not amused or impressed by the lack of guts, or the lack of quality in the season’s writing.

       Season 3. This was the heartache. By now we have Lena Luthor and a powerhouse of an actress established as an “is she or is she not a villain?” Then there is Odette Annabel, as a schizoid Kryptonian, Reign complete with kid and an instant Alex gets a family storyline possible. The stumblebum Supergirl writers blunder into a fantastic setup and payoff with all the chesspieces in place. I mean they have the Legion, Reign, Lena, Alex and have Big Daddy Martian and jettisoned Florianna Lima and they have chemistry between Chris Wood and Melissa Benoist and they have a ready made family-centric story on so many levels. Lena tries to save Sam. Alex has to save Kara, BDM has to come to grips with his cowardice and his family history. Who got the shaft that season? The audience was denied the Worldkillers payoff. Instead they got witchipoo aliens, a rehash of Superman, Man of Stupid, more Earth Invasion by aliens and more humanity taken over for its own good, and Mehcad Brooks is shoved aside again. The wreckage the writers left strewn across twenty episodes includes their first overt signs that they are going to pound the immigration issue.

       How about Season 4? Rage. The Sons of Liberty wear yellow stars. This was when it Jumped the Shark. The preaching was unacceptable. This is when we gat the seeds of Lex Luthor as the writers’ alibi for the manure they shoveled at us. How could they let contemporary politics get in the way of the story we should have got? Instead an evil alien is going to conquer humanity for its own good and only this time the evil alien is so stupid she winds up as the stooge of Alexander Luthor a la “The Supergirl Saga” as written by John Byrne back in the 1990s. Kaznian Supergirl (Red Son) is also invoked. How would one like to analyze the writer’s subtext with the American immigration crisis of that year? Here is an interpretation… Lex Luthor is corporate America bringing in a foreign invader and then turning around and pretending to be America’s defender against the problem it created? Think I did not see it? Go and read my reviews of the time. I commented then that the Supergirl writers were clumsy and stupid about this one note of America being invaded by aliens.

       Derek Simon SPECIFICALLY.

       Season 5. Who can forget Ramakhant-shamalangadingdong? I wish I could. Leviathan and more witches, more aliens, more conquering Humanity for their own good, more mind control (Lena this time), and very little of that Supergirl “family” that some people like to “defend”. I mean by this time, Mehcad Brooks got the message and bailed on this show. Alex, as a character, and Chyler as an actress, will inherit Florianna Lima 2.0. a much better actress, but still the same garbage chemistry through the camera and same lousy romantic relationship writing.

       Some people will claim Covid is to blame for the new Lex Luthor show, as the regulars are shoved into the Jon Cryer shadows. But the putrid politics remains as preachy as ever, as “safe depictions of corporate greed and irresponsible internet policing is yet another alien invasion plot, more mind control, and humanity must be dominated for its own good. Covid only damaged the clarity of that “vision” and propaganda the Supergirl writers wanted to impart.

       Enough was enough. Melissa Benoist walked. The CW walked. Chyler gave up. The story frame at the back of Season 5 utterly collapsed. By episode 19, I knew from the telltales in production values and writer efforts that the show was done.

       How to kill it with grace was and is Season 6. Even the writers got the message. They had killed the show. They forgot family and pushed politics and went to that one note, one theme well once too often. Plus they never could recover from their fascistic season 4.

       They blew it. They had no-one to blame but themselves and they knew it.

       But these children in Season 6 have been petulant in their writing. They laid down the markers to retcon Season 1, which they HATE with a passion, and they did exactly what I wrote that they did. Right down to altering how the Cat became the Cat.

       When one sees retconning and snide fourth wall breaking remarks about other shows, inferred or direct, well…

       Children write that way.

       More later.

       Reply
2. 

   Aaron on May 7, 2021 at 9:44 pm

   The fact the blog entry for this week is just a recap of the episode speaks to me just how bad this episode was; as I said I did manage to watch clips of the Danvers sisters scenes on YouTube and man…it was like they were saying words well but none made sense to things we have seen previously. As John said last week it seems there’s now basically pre-Crisis “Supergirl” and post-Crisis “Supergirl” and post Crisis is SO not the series I cared about; everything that’s important is rewritten and for what? Spoiler alert for my review that will be read – Crisis was a hot dumpster fire and this episode is a blazing one. The Prom series are the worst episodes of the series hands down for how much they rewrite! 🙁

   “each member of the team is confronted by visions of their worst fear.” – will it really be their worst fear or just what Crisis thinks is their worst fear?

   “Will we see adult Kenny come back into Kara’s life present day?” – I would love to say yes just to have these crap episodes mean something important given how much their new history destroys the fabric of the series but I’m going to sadly vote no because the creators sadly have no care for the series anymore and that would be a good payoff which they don’t seem to want to do anymore. 🙁

   On to the podcast…

   I can only assume K-Vox left the room pre-recording because she also thought this episode was bad and she can’t even with it. Ha!

   “and some ‘Batwoman’ hater named John McGrail.” lol.

   Y’all deserve the praise, along with Karen and Emilee, because MOS is the best CW “Supergirl” podcast! You’re analytical but you don’t try and hide the issues with episodes; you’re funny but also allow sad when it’s in tone.

   “Here Poll!” – lol.

   “Where’s William?!” – hopefully far away from this show. 🙂

   Young Alex and Kara are awesome! It’s sweet hearing her talk about Melissa and Chyler. 🙂 Again John you know how you can get those flashbacks right – Alex Danvers spin off!

   What bothers me so much John is the fact that yes things have arguably been more about saving Kara and now Kara impacts individuals and that would be awesome if it wasn’t so out of continuity; I know “because Crisis” but as I’ve said Crisis was always pointless to us and thusly shouldn’t have been forced to effect us in the final season of our series. I could even maybe give them a pass if it was JUST Kenny they brought back to showcase this nod to Crisis but everything this year has felt off and even stuff last season and that’s not fun to watch for someone like me who likes consistent characters. I know this is science fiction if you will but it’s supposedly reality based so the only crazy thing should be the powers not what someone would do week to week you know?

   Brainy has become such a disappointment to me; I get him stressing over some things while trying not to change his future too much but at the same time he is supposedly a 12th level intellect but these episodes…man he has seemed so dumb and not even for him dumb so like a 7th level intellect but just worst case scenario dumb and it’s been really unfun to watch.

   It’s not high art, but it still could have been better than it was I feel; again I chalk it up to passion being gone and they’re in it for the paycheck contract time more than writing the series with love that maybe some once had. Again it’s so crazy to me that the team who wrote “Falling” in season one is okaying things where Brainy is the dumbest person alive in an episode; my brain can’t handle the shift in quality like that so yes I want better – “Supergirl” deserves better.

   I still submit that moonlight would not work that fast. 🙂

   No offense to you Justina but I hate your favorite moment; there is some decency to it I will admit but I just can’t get over the rewritten history. It was Eliza who put the pressure on Alex to the degree she feels now not Jeremiah; yes you can say he was some of it but I felt that was more a line to try and justify their bull crap line about him in the virtual reality episode than anything and again “because Crisis” but again Crisis is dumb so I don’t expect that flipped narrative. Maybe if we saw something like this earlier on it would feel more earned like if Eliza and Alex weren’t already in a good place and Crisis happened and then we saw them having a better relationship as an effect and then growing from there this all could seem like a logical idea but because we’ve already gotten the payoff pre-Crisis and we have such established lore rewriting it in the final season just feels like SUCH an insult to everything and I hate it! Instead of a final season which expands more on our characters one last time and nods back to big moments and wraps up previous season storylines and that’s for the fans and actors to a point we have a season which makes us question their logic each week and rewrites everything we were told and not in some possible neat twist “Lost” way were you find out they’ve been dead the whole time. I know that’s a spoiler but the show is old people you’ve had time to not be spoiled on that outcome; if there was a away to tag spoilers on here I would but I don’t know it so I only have so much sorry in me on that one. I realize it may just be me but while it’s deceptively better in quality than season five I’m not sure season six is that much better because you have things like Alex in an actual suit instead of showing she never needed one, some episodes is okay for fun and for Chyler to get some fun but it shouldn’t be a season thing or if you want to say Jeremiah put more pressure on Alex than maybe she remembers okay but young Alex shouldn’t feel that way because she still felt then he hung the moon; it’s little things but they make big differences to me.

   In regards to John’s favorite scene, ugh no Kara unless Crisis was also to clean up Clark’s image you landed on Earth and he left you there to be with the Danvers because he wasn’t ready to raise a kid who thought they were coming to raise him. Again I am not a fan of the well done history being changed!

   Lol knowing how they’re writing now Kara will probably end up running CatCo at the end because she’s “such a great reporter”.

   “Nia puts the Cat in Cat Grant” – the biggest insult of the whole episode honestly. Instead of being this self made icon we now get some cheap tie in because it’s cute to them? No thank you to that! Cat can name her own self thank you very much!

   No no John, I know it’s me; it’s okay to single me out. Ha. *flies anger flag high and proud* 🙂

   “No one loved season one more than me” – where’s our fight scheduled John because I will challenge you on that! 😀

   Again John for me a lot of it has to do with the fact they’ve already upset me with handling of the series and treating it like the forgotten project/just here for the paycheck-contract by not promoting us with ANY content at Fandome (seriously they couldn’t even do a fan Q&A or a softball network okayed Q&A?!) and oh yes let’s give Superman two seasons before his pilot even airs but oh no not you “Supergirl” you don’t get something cool like a spin off and yes on top of all of this for your final season we’re rewriting things just because…it may be network mandated BS but it doesn’t mean I have to like it so yeah it’s all pretty unfixable at this point for me. If Crisis happened during our second season or fourth even or if we had another season after this to get the taste out of our mouths then maybe it would be easier to take, but being our final season ever I am not here for this. So Crisis doesn’t effect us, big deal we weren’t really part of it anyways; heck Superman again had more to do in the Elseworlds set up for it than we did so the fact we never mention Crisis in our last year would have been perfectly fine by me! Again I accept I may be alone in my opinions but I’m keeping them until something super strong can convince me otherwise and I don’t think they have that in their current ability. 🙂 I will say an Alex Danvers spin off may help but we have to see it to see!

   It is true that comic creators rewrite things but they often come with different titles, if this was “Super Crisis” then maybe I would be more lenient, and there’s a warning it’s coming, you don’t see shows rewrite things (certainly not in final seasons) unless they’re dumb or in need of a reboot essentially so while yes comics are a source I don’t feel this was the right choice to make at this point for the TV series. If they wanted to do Crisis effecting us then they should have given us another season because all they’re doing is messing with out history and leaving us no real time to expand on things or process it! Alex suddenly feels it was Jeremiah who pressured her – okay then how does that effect her? Oh you don’t have the time to show it. Then why do it? How does it change her relationship with Eliza? Oh it doesn’t really from what we’ve seen? Then why do it?! What made the sisters sisters of not Kenny’s death? Oh no time to show it then why do it? He better be her OTP at this point otherwise what was the point? There is literally NO need to have Crisis impact this season beyond “everyone else is doing it” and the fact they’re changing established and earned moments of lore is just annoying just so they can say we were part of Crisis too or whatever.

   Again like with comic books and the changes in storylines and versions what we have as you’ve said John is pre and post Crisis and I am just going to chose to live in the pre Crisis era of the series because it’s a way better place to me; seasons 1-3 is going to be my “Supergirl” I guess, even with Mon (because I know he leaves ha), because at least at its worst times it still had essence of potential and continuity and this now just doesn’t and I don’t like it. I understand what you’re saying but I can’t come to where you are. As crap as season five is and as much as this season is visually more engaging I feel it’s probably worse than season five because it’s messing with so much I loved and had invested in; it may be pity but it’s how I feel currently.

   Also much like with the series as a whole I think some anger comes from my feeling “Supergirl” had such potential to be this epic show (I will fight to say it was more epic than “Arrow” in terms of the CW stuff) and they just wasted it so not only are we missing out on potential the stuff that created potential is being rewritten and again for what? To be a part of a really bad crossover (yeah I said it Crisis was crap and Oliver could have died on his own show or a better crossover event or here’s a novel idea “Arrow” writers – let the man retire, he earned it; heroes can do that you know and not everyone thinks less of them? No thank you to that. Again I just feel it’s all unfixable for me personally and I’m okay being alone in this. 🙂

   If we’re in the writers room I’m starting back at season four honestly and I’m keeping Odette Annabel in the cast to be Sam and I am putting her up there with Kara yes to showcase the differences in heroism and Kara and Clark! I realize this may make me a hypocrite because the season won’t be “Kara centric” and I know it would cut Alex time with Kara but I feel they had SUCH a chance to explore interesting concepts in this genre and they just blew it by not locking Sam into another season! Again she offers you the darker anti hero side versus the light version wants to bring because she thinks it’s right, she gives Kara an actual trainee because Kara despite dialogue has trained a grand total of no one so far (Winn was over Mon and Brainy’s been mostly involved with Nia), she allows you to establish that while killing isn’t Kara’s go to move Kara unlike Clark isn’t opposed to it for the greater good because maybe a situation comes up where it’s kill the person or Sam gets hurt, there’s redemption if you feel Sam needed it and the whole debate of just because you have powers are you required to use them? Yes Kara wants to be the hero everyone calls but is it such a horrible thing if she takes the night off sometimes? How does she feel about it long term – is it something she wants to or not? Is Ruby an example of her future child she could ask because does she have powers or not so yeah I’m going back to season four if I was pitching ideas more than starting here. If I was in season six only you can be assured I wouldn’t bring in Crisis because that’s a mess for the final run of a series and if I alluded to a conversation I would fight to have it shown not just say “well it was unnecessary to show after all” in a later interview! I will fully admit I am not professional writer so I don’t know the stresses and restrictions that come with everything but I can occasionally do one shot things and I understand the value of good continuity so I do feel while they maybe can’t do everything they wanted they could also still do better with some things…again honestly what is the need for Crisis in this season? I see no reason to put that in the final season just because it was last year’s crossover event; you know what else was in Crisis? Kara and Kate having a friendship and that’s not happening on this season either so you didn’t have to bring in Crisis at all! Oh because Lex was involved – yeah you really don’t want me to start on how you’re already putting too much Superman content into a series about Supergirl. They share DNA they are NOT the same person. 😐 So yeah I don’t honestly know what I would do in the final season beyond first fighting for it not to be the final season and if it is we get an Alex spin off, but I do know my version wouldn’t have Crisis effecting us.

   I would reference Monty’s list of SUPERGIRL properties for season ideas instead of writing Clark content over and over again. Kara wouldn’t be naive about Kryptonite. She would be a promoter for CatCo not a reporter if I changed things happening currently because that was never in continuity it was a nod to her cousin because she loves CatCo never once did she mention writing for it. Now I want to see other’s list for sure! 😀

   AWESOME fanfiction for “Supergirl” as a reference for fellow fans – https://fanfiction.net/u/898052/ !

   To Daryl’s credit, Katie McGrath’s face has that effect on people – you just want to cuddle with her like a puppy; and that accent ?! I totally agree about Nia’s dress. “Where’s Clark when you need him?” – Kara never needs him Daryl. 😉 I mean…I hate a lot of things about the handling of this series now but if Kenny gets William off then you might have an argument for why Crisis on this year is a good thing Daryl. Ha!

   Lol to John saying Kara is basically a cellphone battery. 🙂

   Okay Justina maybe we can find some middle ground with this pitch – what if instead of the cliche ship crash at the first episode we see them land perfectly well and they think it’s the past so it will be easy to snatch the rock and go but it turns out to be a little harder than they thought because they come into the scene a little too early and so young Kara and Alex won’t let them leave which allows Cat to catch up on them unbeknownst to them and so she gets video of them all together and Kara with powers we’ll Brainy and Nia miss this because Brainy can be beat by a snack machine now it seems or maybe just more likely he’s in a rush to not screw up more so they leave and return to the present at the end of the episode only to find out it had changed in some way and so they have to go back again to stop themselves and Cat from potentially outting Kara and changing the future in some way? I know it would be less young Alex and young Kara which is a shame as they are awesome but it would arguably be more in character for Brainy and Nia wouldn’t name CJ Cat, which again is just disrespectful I feel to Cat as the person she will become, and we could still see how Cat can effect Kara’s life with her presence. It would also mean less Kenny time but I don’t know if that’s a bad thing; they can just show he’s alive and then suggest he’ll be back for the end as her love now so we don’t have to worry about their intelligence picking William, it’ll be Kenny who has matured and changed his opinion on some things and now is her OTP like he always would have been if he had lived. Again not a professional writer but maybe this is a middle ground that would work for us both instead of the divide we feel about these episodes (you enjoyed and I hated)? 🙂

   What team dynamics John? Nia’s going to need next week off from carrying that man so much. Ha! Again they seriously didn’t do him favors with me, he’ll now always be someone who got beat by a snack machine when he could have hacked it or you know STAYED IN THE ROOM! Every achievement he has is now tainted with “but you couldn’t beat a snack machine” and that feels wrong when talking about a 12th level intellect; I get they think it was a funny moment but all it did for me was see Brainy as a smart guy to now the dumbest person in the room and William is sometimes around so you know that’s not good.

   I mean…Clark has his family and Kara has hers and she wants to be with Clark because of obligations and memory more than anything but I have to say John they don’t really interact so as for as much as they’re family biologically he doesn’t act it for sure on reality. And that’s something they could explore if they weren’t so afraid of tarnishing his squeaky clean image! Clark treats Kara honestly like a fellow hero and that it, there’s arguably no difference in how he treats her and how he treats J’onn and yes you can say that’s just how he is but if they’re family like he’s family with his immediate group or even cousins he may have that are human wouldn’t he treat her a little different? Now we all know in reality Clark has no connect to Kara the way she feels connected to him because he saw him grow up but the writers expect us to buy they’re family the same way Clark and Lois and Alex and Kara are and it’s just NOT the same. They share DNA but that is it as far as Clark for sure is concerned based on how we’ve seen him treat her. You could even explore the idea of how Kara is projecting hopes and dreams that will never come onto Clark and how that’s not fair, yes he is biologically related to her but beyond that he’s really a stranger or just a fellow hero she grew up admiring as a kid – yes she happens to be related to him but do they really do anything special like she and her Danvers family? No. This is why I love Alex calling out Clark so much because yes he’s a nice guy and yes he’s related to Kara by DNA but he’s essentially a stranger who left her at their door really because he doesn’t have the same desire to be family like she does, he has his with Lois and Martha and all them…as much as Kara wants there is not going to be weekend BBQs each week with them or even major holidays always spent together and that’s okay! Sometimes the only thing relating family members is DNA and they are better off with found families but it’s like the series is afraid to always say that because it might mean for one moment in time Clark isn’t the hero of the story you know? It’s okay for him to not care about her like she does him – he doesn’t even honestly know her, he was a baby when he landed and then he was in his arguably early 20s when he saw her again – he doesn’t not know this woman like they want us to feel via dialogue now so it’s not like we’re going to say he’s evil because he doesn’t talk to his family, some of us don’t talk to our family either! So yeah I will say Clark has a family and Kara has a family but I don’t think they’re family like some want to say. Also as to there being room for a male and female super…I wish that was true but one got renewed before the pilot even dropped and the other is having their show removed with no talk of spin offs to even humor fans and post season one when the male version was introduced the female version strangely began being written more with ideas of his despite having her own so, it seems the network disagrees. Sorry Justina, I also don’t buy everyone is ready to move on either; sure you can’t do “Supergirl” without Melissa and maybe she does want out (I still don’t feel the show end is all on her) but you can do spin offs and tease people moving to other series as promotions. It just feels again like the care for the series is no longer there and that’s just SO painful to experience because this is a wonderful property if they had just let Kara be Kara and not try to have her uphold Clark’s ideas! Nothing about Kara said reporter in season one so that alone what might have been different? Kara doesn’t like Kryptonite sure but she’s never naive about it so what plots could have come from that? What if we had more Lillian and less Lex? I would have enjoyed that for sure. What would the public think of Kara killed someone?! As Monty pointed out Kara has her own major villains so why we’re they constantly putting Clark’s main villain into her last seasons?! 🙁

   The DEO gone? ??‍♀️?They DEFINITELY need to recant that!

   I feel you Dreamweaver on thinking nothing will matter long run; MAYBE Kenny shows back up but that will be it. I feel you on the lack of care front too!

   I feel you too Leslie!

   “wrapping up her (Chyler) stint here.” – LALALALALALALA no one can hear you John! #AlexAlways

   What’s the plan for the hiatus between new episodes?! Back to reviewing episodes like the good “Midvale”? Tackling the OTP discussion? That therapy session you mentioned? Ha.

   “At least we don’t have Beebo.” – preach John!

   Reply
   • 

     Montefescu on May 9, 2021 at 5:58 pm

     I’m numbering my responses and I am trying to be funny, because as you can see in my previous post, I am depressed.

     1. Another word for a tire recap is retread. I do think that this Prom Again title is quite appropriately a joke for putting “new wine” into old whine skeins. Notice the pun?

     2. Crisis of Infinite Stupid was supposed to be an exit for Steven Amell, but Derek Simon wrote Act One. There is a picture of a plane shot down in flames that I keep on the wall to remind me what happens when one fails.

     3. Each actor / character’s worst fear is to be featured in a Derek Simon written story.

     4. K’Vox left the room for “reasons”. If this episode was a fire hydrant, she would avoid it.

     5. Kenny 1.0 or Kenny 2.0, either one was a fanboy insertion and is not integralist into the Supergirl story. Hence, to me, “They killed Kenny!” would be appropriate.

     6. No-one sane and moral can love this iteration of Batwoman. If thou dost, to put it in King James’ English: hie thee post-haste to a headshrinker and havest thy scary crazy self committed to ye old rubber room.

     7. This is a YMMV podcast. Witness that hill upon which Sir John plonked his flag. Never have I seen an easier hill to climb. These writers are about the Supergirl family?

     HA! Every chance Kara gets, she proclaims herself an “El”. Where is the love for “Danvers”? Has Kara made one in show attempt to intervene to help Alex with her drinking or other self destructive behaviors or has Kara been an enabler? Here’s a hint… The things I intensely dislike about Henry Cavill Super-idiot, murderer and careless destroyer of property and moral-less disrespector of Lois and assuming maniac judge of that other Zack Snyder DC sociopath, Batfleck? Those are the same traits in this Kara zor-el. How did she treat her chief ally and supposed friend, Lena?

     Family is forgive and help, not “J’accuse!” That is a Dreyfuss reference.

     8. Staz Nair should be written out.

     9. I call him BRAINDEAD for a good reason.

     10. Even if one knows it is a paycheck show up exercise after one has been culture cancelled for the trash Season Five and that hideous Fascistic statement that was Season Four, one would think one has enough self respect to lesson learn and try to go out with a better effort, as happened to Star Trek Enterprise after their disastrous Season Three, when they finally hired someone who knew what he did and he pep talked those idiot failed writers to take pride in their work and show what they could have done before they screwed the series irretrievably up. Those were adults. They tried and went down swinging. Here are children writing Supergirl. Petulant is a kindness to describe them. I will hammer that theme and provide evidence of it from hereon in.

     11. Cat was retreaded to fit the peevish narrative. Far be it that a woman can self actuate herself. No Kate Hepburn. Not even Kate Mulgrew. We have to have Doris Day and Nia blowing pretty bubbles in the air. GRRR. I make these references for a REASON, folks. I hate agenda writing.

     12. Aaron, I am in there with you on so many things I dislike about the way this show has devolved. So leave room on the flagstaff for my disappointment banner.

     13. Seriously, Aaron, does one want these writers and show handlers as the ones trying to do a Supergirl spinoff? Would Alex Danvers, Blue Lantern, not be better off in Atlanta, with Sterling Gates and Geoff Johns? Think about it. Two very experienced comic book writers and now TV show runners, giving Chyler, the Stargirl Treatment?

     14. Comic book storytellers do not “reset” stories. They create a new “jump-on point” either by story arc or by sealing off one timeline and starting a new timeline. Legion of Super Heroes is the classic example. Each grand arc was eventually published as a separate universe or timeline. One tends to treat the nine Supergirl volumes the same way. The Earth Angel is NOT Kara zor El. She is Linda Danvers, the redeemed Devil Worshipper who fused with Matrix to become the Earth Angel. (I told you there was a lot of religiosity in Supergirl? She is Jewish in a Presbyterian sort of way. You do not want to know about the Earth Angel’s superhorse, Byron… Talk about courage in writing to character. If these Supergirl writers were half as courageous as Peter David on gay issues in his epic run, this CW show would have both the critics and the audiences raving and foaming at the mouth!). And talk about writing about family? Linda’s parents and she ARE the gold standard for how to write about a family in the super-hero genre. I think the only one who ever came as close was Mark Millar in his Jupiter’s Legacy property. Not Els or Kents or Danvers, there, but Sampsons, Check the series out on Netflix, if you can find it. The screen adaptation is ruthlessly pruned, but it gets the tenor of the tale. There’s your family.

     15. Got to cut it short here. Be back for another go. Trying to nerve myself for Batgerbellete 2.0 (213). Sober is excruciating pain.

     Reply
3. 

   Aaron on May 9, 2021 at 9:03 pm

   Okay Monty you got me on this one and I have to just ask why to this comment you made above – “a very clumsy coming out for Alex”; why do you think it was clumsy?

   I have seen a good number of coming out scenes on series and I have to say I thought Alex’s was really well done in comparison to the point I still say it was one of the best coming out arcs ever on TV ever. Could it have been even more developed over the season? Sure. Would it have been nice to have Alex always be out from the start? Yes. But for what we got though I thought it was done well because you had Alex coming to terms with feelings she hadn’t felt in a long time, she had her internal freak out and external one as well, she showed real anxiety over telling her family (yes she got the happy version of Kara and Eliza being supportive but not every coming out is negative so it was nice to see after so many times that being the story an audience was told), and she finally was able to take steps into being her full self; I will admit a lot of the arc and how good it comes off on screen is on Chyler’s powerhouse acting and just making you feel so much for her but I’m not getting your point on it being clumsy.

   I will say I am continually annoyed with the handling of Alex’s relationships on the show and how they seem to be treated second place to everyone else’s because 1) Alex is the second lead of the series so while always second to Kara she should be first to everyone else yet we see more of Brainy and Nia and J’onn and M’gann and even James and Lena we saw more on I feel which doesn’t feel good as an Alex fan. 🙁 It’s as if the writers just expect me to ship Kelly/Alex because they’re both gay and currently together even though they’ve shown no real moments with them since season four and even those are limited because Kelly came in so late in the game. Just because two characters kiss doesn’t mean I’ll instantly ship them always, see Kara and Mon who kissed all the time and we all know how I feel about him! Ha. I don’t even ship J’onn/M’gann (I’ve been an Eliza/J’onn fan since the end of season one I can’t stop shipping now) but I can accept their scenes more than Alex and Kelly because we’ve seen so much of it, kissy face only does not a relationship make writers so why would I care about Kelly/Alex when you have at least two other relationships currently on showing some kind of meat to them? Honestly at this point I feel Kelly/Alex has the same amount of build up as Alex’s and Sara’s one night stand because they’ve talked about nothing!

   *sigh* Kelly Olsen deserves so much better than how she’s been handled on the series.

   Alex deserves more on the romance side, again is she not meant to be the second lead or was that just the season one mentality because they understood her worth back then, if she is the second lead still then let’s see her doing that and by extent show these personal relationships so I care about your supposed romantic endgame for her. I know some people may argue that Chyler was busy with her directorial debate so this season she didn’t have a lot of time but that doesn’t explain the wasted time of season five where they could have done more. And do not start with the whole “it’s two women so it’s harder to film intimate scenes” because NO IT’S NOT! Emotional intimacy is just two people sitting on a couch talking about their day – easy to film. Romantic intimacy yes requires a little more work to film because people are scared of the female body it seems (dudes take it off no problem but women “Put more on!”) but it’s not impossible; this is a basic network series, were not asking for late night cable scenes here we just want to see Alex getting to make out heavily with her loves as much as Nia and Brainy make out or Kara and Mon sucked face! We want Alex to get her couch moment where her love interest gets to press into her like Mon and Kara did, we want morning bed cuddles for her like Kara gets with her loves – we want equality and for some reason she’s the one not getting it and that annoys me.

   To “Supergirl”‘s credit, they are not the only offenders of this handling as other series sadly treat their queer characters in this manner after the initial “sparkle” of the coming out has past but they could do better than they have and I ask why they haven’t each week. Why can’t Alex and Kelly have some emotional discussion that last 2-3 minutes like J’onn has with M’gann? Why can’t Alex and Kelly share fun bits of their past with one another on screen like Nia does with Brainy? Why can’t Alex even talk to her as much as Lena talks about Kara?! It’s annoying and frustrating and in that regards I can agree with you that they have been clumsy in their handling of the Alex comes out arc but the rest again I have to ask why did you give it that label as I feel compared to other examples I’ve seen they did it pretty darn well.

   “because as you can see in my previous post, I am depressed.” – I feel you Monty; “Supergirl” I will always go down as saying was going to be their best series if they continued the quality from season one but they just blew it. I don’t know if they were scared of her being their big show instead of “Arrow” or if they were scared of her outshining her cousin so when he got his show it would feel second rate arguably next to her, but they have never treated “Supergirl” in my opinion the same way they treated other series. Just look at this last season and how we didn’t get a trailer until days before the first episode! Superman gets two seasons worth of renewal before his pilot even drops but us – “Oh crap we still do have to make “Supergirl”” is what it feels like they’re saying behind the scenes. Legends has horrible ratings for multiple seasons yet it is renewed and okay you can pretend it’s all on Melissa (I personally feel it’s not) that our series is ending but that doesn’t mean you can’t do an Alex spin off yet what do we hear on just teases, which by the way don’t have to amount to more than just fan comfort as a tease is not a promise, nothing. 🙁 As you say this season seems to be about rewriting everything we cared about before and for what? “Because Crisis” only works for so much. ?

   Listen I get giving Stephen some big exit because his series started it all for the network but I will forever say Oliver Queen should have died on his own series and the “crossover” element be everyone at the funeral in the episode post it; there was no reason he had to die in a crossover or one that was that high stakes if you will. I know they wanted to merge all the shows they said but the fact remains they all aren’t – “Stargirl” is currently not a part of their Earth so how do they bring her in? If they don’t then why did we have to merge? We have the bridge devices – why did they HAVE to have the merger? You could have just made a huge promotional deal about Oliver’s last episode and I still don’t think dying is a have to for characters, they wanted him to be the Batman for the network since they couldn’t get the rights originally so why not pull a “Batman Beyond” move where old Oliver just passes on the mantle to his kids because he physically can’t to it anymore…it’s like passing the torch to Grant and Melissa to be the shows which continue the comic trend until it’s their turn to turn things over to “Stargirl” and what’s coming potentially as an example. So yeah I get the behind the scenes love of wanting to send “Arrow” out large but Crisis has screwed up more than it ever fixed so far and thus should not be mentioned ever in my opinion; this fact is also made more pressing when you have things like the Kara-Kate friendship build up only for Ruby to leave after season one because of disagreements over safety so yeah Crisis is basically pointless.

   I quit on “Batwoman” the first episode of season two because one they didn’t get rid of Kate really so why the reboot anyways? The scene where you have a well lit apartment hallway but a pitch dark apartment with squatters does not make sense visually, and oh my gosh the exposition – I want to SEE Ryan be more than numbers but all they did was tell tell tell. Also the fact a van period can stay in front of the Batmobile is just laughable, Tommy would have had Ryan in the river in mere seconds if this was based in any reality. The only good that came from the episode was seeing what happens possibly when someone is shot with Kryptonite because now fanfiction writers have a reference for Alex content in their stories. 🙂 Alice was always this series standout but even she can’t make this worth watching anymore even when there’s nothing else on arguably. 🙁

   In regards to Kara and Alex’s drinking, there is a deleted season one (of course because that’s where most care lives) scene where Kara does eye all the bottles Alex has around post a seeming party but she does not say anything. She has called Alex a mean drunk in “Midvale” but that’s it. I still see it as Kara views Alex as her hero so if hero says they’re fine then they’re fine even if you wish they wouldn’t drink so much; maybe Kara has even said this off screen but we of course just don’t see it sadly. I feel this is one of those too deep and will lead to a sister fight topic and the writers avoid that so as not to mess too much with the heart of the series, it would be interesting to have seen them touch on this on a 5 minute scene but I think Kara mainly lets it all go because hero says she’s okay so it’s okay and Maggie has gotten her to cut down on the amount so that helped.

   “How did she treat her chief ally and supposed friend, Lena?” – that was just crap out of character writing in my opinion Monty; there was nothing to suggest that change was coming when it happened it was just forced manufactured drama because the writers are scared of making the series different from her cousin. ?☹️

   You will not get a fight out of me when it comes to kicking William out! 🙂

   I submit that all care is now being directed to other shows and that some are just bent on making their failed plots be a thing regardless of what fans what because what are they going to do cancel the show? Seriously, what reason is there for a Guardian Kelly?! The last season of a series is traditionally the one for the fans and to do whatever plots, that make sense still, that you want to do because it’s your last chance and we’re certainly getting one half of one of those – they are doing what they want but it doesn’t always make sense to what’s been established before even with Crisis in the mix and I have seen nothing for me as a fan personally to enjoy beyond seeing the actors each week.

   “So leave room on the flagstaff for my disappointment banner.” – ??.

   I know this may be bias but I have to say something else that really burns me up about how the series has been handled over the years is this is a female lead series with what was amazing potential so to see it be disrespected time and time again in various ways as female viewer I do not enjoy that. Again I get maybe they’re scared it was going to top their OG series “Arrow” but isn’t that what you want – for the next batch to surpass the first? “Supergirl” surpasses “Arrow” and “Stargirl” surpasses “Supergirl” and so on. Yes you can say Legends is a female lead show but for me it’s more ensemble where as this is lead in name and characters. Maybe the network was also scared if they kept the quality from season one it would mean having to up their writing game on other shows and they just didn’t want to do that, I don’t know but it’s just annoying that the first female lead series for the superhero patch which had SO much potential is where it is now and I’m just left asking again each week why? If they don’t give me answers I’m going to assume ones of my own. So yeah that’s another thing that burns me up about the handling of the series; at least the DC movieverse has finally accepted that Wonder Woman not the men is their leading property right now and embracing it.

   Oh I would definitely want new writers for the Alex spin-off; there’s a debate currently within “Stargirl” fandom sections in regards to if Geoff Johns will do queer content for his series (see how perfectly Courtney and Yolanda are set up to be a romantic pairing) so I wouldn’t put him over it necessarily but here’s a name – Caitlin Parrish. Ooh could you imagine a Bruce Timms coming in to help? If you’ve seen “Justice League: Unlimited” and how they did Huntress then you can image that Alex would be in good to decent hands at least. 🙂 Atlanta is also closer to Nashville than Vancouver so Chyler would be closer to that home they have which she would probably enjoy.

   Reply
   • 

     Montefescu on May 9, 2021 at 9:38 pm

     Because it was not honest, Aaron.

     I knew a guy, a friend, who struggled with his life choices and he had to decide to be honest with himself, first, and then with his family and then with his friends. This was back in the day, when it was HARD to make that leap of discovery and faith. Not like it was ten years ago or even today.

     So, Alex rang hollow to me in the series reveal. It is not like I walk through this life with horse blinkers on or with eyes wide open and brain set on default “stupid” setting here. Why were the writers afraid to write the real truth if they knew how it works?

     There is some confusion and a certain disorientation at first, but the final lifting of the weight, the psychological and physical confusion was neither well written nor described for the character, so Chyler did not act it quite right. This is something I have seen enough times (to not experience it first hand but I have seen the person go through it), so I do know it when I see it. Like when a member of my own family went through it. It was not a surprise to me, though it was for her. And NO, there is no mannerisms or behavior that shows “Gay”, here. There is just the stressful discovery process. It is most unique. Call it gender discomfort when peer pressure tries to pigeonhole a role. It can be “painful”.

     Too may people walk through life with the brain on default setting s for you know what and unknowingly contribute to that pain. It is a form of (unintended) bigotry.

     And these writers missed it completely.

     Monty

     Reply
4. 

   Montefescu on May 9, 2021 at 9:16 pm

   Batwoman (TV Series) “I’ll Give You a Clue” (2021) (213)

   Writing Credits
   Bob Kane … (based on characters created for DC by) &
   Bill Finger … (based on characters created for DC by)

   Caroline Dries … (developed by)

   Cast in credits order:
   Javicia Leslie … Ryan Wilder / Batwoman
   Rachel Skarsten … Alice
   Meagan Tandy … Sophie Moore
   Nicole Kang … Mary Hamilton
   Camrus Johnson Camrus Johnson … Luke Fox
   Dougray Scott … Colonel Jacob Kane
   Peter Outerbridge … Roman Sionis / Black Mask
   Wallis Day Wallis Day … Kate Kane / Cerci Sionois
   Morgan Kohan … Stephanie Brown
   Gracyn Shinyei … Young Kate
   Ava Sleeth … Young Beth
   Jesse Hutch … Agent Russel Tavaroff
   Rick Miller … Cluemaster / Arthur Brown

   Okay…

   Let’s ruin Spoiler (Stephanie Brown.). Desperate ratings appeal.

   When the writers invoked the pressure plate tied to a bomb cliché, I was hoping the writers would write that Mary and Ryan would be blown to bits and a surprise announcement on the end credits would announce the show was canceled.

   Luke Fox is kayoed by Steph, the redhead. (Steph in canon is the blonde Batgirl and Robin as well as Spoiler.) Then he is fated to hookup with her? We had a name for that one on the football team back in the day. Sissy-boy. Could not take a hit and was unable to man up as the crisis situation warranted. Seems to be the way Caroline Dries likes her male actors to play it. Cucumber is the other term for the weakling.

   I HATE THIS SHOW!

   The clue hunt was bogus.. “Loved” the bald reverse racism blatantly displayed, too, too.

   Does anyone believe that three characters, written this stupidly, could solve a child’s Happy Meal Box fastening system, much less those dumb clues?

   And Alice will provide her burned up “sister” with a new face. Yeah I expected that from 201 forward. Meet Kate Alice. Up the McMillan! Six foot tall walking bald Scots / Irtishman. Figure it, the metaphor, out yet? Not hard to do.

   If Steph Brown, the character, joins the cast, I am going to expectorate.

   Rate it, negative infinity to the negative inverted octate power for acting, directing, writing.

   Everyone involved in this trash gives humanity a bad name.

   Monty

   Reply
5. 

   Montefescu on May 9, 2021 at 10:15 pm

   Aaron wrote:

   “I will say I am continually annoyed with the handling of Alex’s relationships on the show and how they seem to be treated second place to everyone else’s because 1) Alex is the second lead of the series so while always second to Kara she should be first to everyone else yet we see more of Brainy and Nia and J’onn and M’gann and even James and Lena we saw more on I feel which doesn’t feel good as an Alex fan. ? It’s as if the writers just expect me to ship Kelly/Alex because they’re both gay and currently together even though they’ve shown no real moments with them since season four and even those are limited because Kelly came in so late in the game. Just because two characters kiss doesn’t mean I’ll instantly ship them always, see Kara and Mon who kissed all the time and we all know how I feel about him! Ha. I don’t even ship J’onn/M’gann (I’ve been an Eliza/J’onn fan since the end of season one I can’t stop shipping now) but I can accept their scenes more than Alex and Kelly because we’ve seen so much of it, kissy face only does not a relationship make writers so why would I care about Kelly/Alex when you have at least two other relationships currently on showing some kind of meat to them? Honestly at this point I feel Kelly/Alex has the same amount of build up as Alex’s and Sara’s one night stand because they’ve talked about nothing!”

   ===============================================

   This is EXACTLY what I mean, Aaron. The writers were and are gutless. Nia is an alien and Braindead is another alien. They are a “safe” alternative choice couple as CW style depicted characters. Alex, the great powerhouse human being character, is not allowed to be Alex the great gay powerhouse human being character. Have you not noticed it? Soft
   bigotry is at work.

   Reply
6. 

   Montefescu on May 11, 2021 at 10:04 pm

   “Superman and Philosophy: What Would the Man of Steel Do?”

   I wished the Supergirl writers would have read that book after I watched this last episode. Sheesh, Alex, the character, was terrible in it.

   Monty

   Reply
   • 

     Aaron on May 11, 2021 at 11:04 pm

     I don’t know if there’s enough raging inferno dumpster fire images in the world to express properly just how much the creatives have burnt this series to the ground now with some of the things they did in “Fear Knot”.

     Speaking of, I’ll just say it was a lot of telling me Kelly knows things about Alex but I would have loved to have actually seen some it such as Kelly saying a knock knock joke Alex told while cuddling was not good and she was laughing at how bad it was while Alex defended the humor. If you just tell me everything but never show me I won’t get as much out of it as a mix of both. Telling only is okay, seeing only is good, but seeing and telling of a plot is perfection!

     As a spoiler for my review I will say I am now even more cheering on Nxy because maybe she’ll cause some fun chaos; nothing in the show world matters anymore anyways so why not break it to the point you maybe slip up and accidentally fix it?!

     Reply
7. 

   Montefescu on May 12, 2021 at 3:21 pm

   Supergirl (TV Series)”Fear Knot” (2021) (607)

   Directed by David Harewood

   Writing Credits
   Jerry Siegel … (based on characters created by) and
   Joe Shuster … (based on characters created by)

   Greg Berlanti … (developed by) &
   Ali Adler … (developed by) &
   Andrew Kreisberg … (developed by)

   J. Holtham … (written by) &
   Elle Lipson … (written by)

   Jessica Kardos … (executive story editor) (as Jess Kardos)

   Nicki Holcomb … (story editor)
   Cast (in credits order) complete, awaiting verification
   Melissa Benoist … Kara Danvers / Supergirl
   Chyler Leigh … Alex Danvers
   Katie McGrath … Lena Luthor
   Jesse Rath … Brainiac-5
   Nicole Maines … Nia Nal / Dreamer
   Azie Tesfai … Kelly Olsen
   Julie Gonzalo … Andrea Rojas (credit only)
   Staz Nair … William Dey (credit only)
   Peta Sergeant … Nxylgsptinz
   David Harewood … J’onn J’onnz / Martian Manhunter
   Jason Behr … Zor-El

   Hello Maid of Steel Podcasters. How was this “Fear Knot” episode. Mentalist Monty here with the Low-down. that is a pun by the way.

   1. Flashback reminder pastiche… why does Kara try to save Nyxly?
   2. First break… Kara has been scratched, because of course she has. Big fear? Her “family will try to rescue her and they will all die and she thus blames herself. Well, that looks like a “Supergirl family” plot and outing. Let’s see if J. Holthom and Elle Lipson can write a decent payoff to the setup? (Title-card)
   3. Braindead states the obvious; “I am a terrible time traveler.” Check. Martian tech ex machina which is a buffalo sierra plot device, check. We’re going to see that Martian technology actually sucks. Should have relied on that 2009 3d printed part, Braindead. Whoever wardrobed Katie McGrath this episode, should be fired. David Harewood needs to sight check his perspective lines for scenes. I mean too many butt shots. Braindead says; “You can do the science stuff without me.” Yup. Dementor Baggart? Do we, the audience, understand? Harry Potter reference. For the record, I hate Rowling’s plagiaristic and incompetent scribblings. To quote Tom King’s “Darkseid is.” from his Mr. Miracle comic serial; “Trash Is.”. Case in point, Azie Tasfei, to give her something to do, is asked to teach the Scooby Gang how to cast a Patronus, a spell, which fends off Dementors…

   At this point, i want to swear at the “geniuses” who write this show. Cute references to Harry Potter, aside, what they describe in scene is wrong as to how to handle psychological shock, day-mares hallucinations and panic attacks. You cannot waste time in “grounding” yourself to markers to distinguish between your fantasy and concreteness. The situation, that puts you into dissociation, presuming you started sane before the fear reaction and its associated false sense inputs addled your reason, is immediate present and dangerous. You deal with it as given. Like the shock of a vehicle collision, and the car is still moving off the bridge or of a test stand melting down in front of your eyes, you have no time to “anchor” to reality. The drill is orient, decide, act now or DIE. You sort out the hallucinations and fears after the crisis is averted. You steer to a safe stop or you catalytically contain the runaway chemistry that is about to blow you to bits. Worry about the fear of suffocation or that you are going to DIE by fire later.

   “For Kara, for you, I’ll do anything.” except be a practical psychologist. (^^^)

   3. Mission assignments; Big Daddy Martian parcels out rescue assignments. Alex is going to man the Bridge while Big Useless Martian goes outside to be a Kelly Olsen “touchstone” marker to snap Kara out of crazy-ville, since she is presumed delusional after three days in the Zone. Two things; three days crazy and it will take years of therapy to bring Kara to a recognized ability to be responsible and cognitive of her surroundings; and BUM has just set up the “dis-obey orders because “I” am the one who rescues better because I am female and Alex and you are just a big useless Martian cliche.” plot segment.

   The Alex, we have seen before, may not like the orders, but she follows them until J’onn screws up and then she rescues him. This time, in this story, she will be the cause first of the potential loss of mission and crew. Ego uber alles in German. That is not too good.

   Sunbomb flashbang cliché. Why not a sunlamp? “And I will be the getaway driver”. Braindead, really, a tired Fast and Furious reference? Something tells me, that these writers, bankrupt as they are at this moment, still hope pop culture references will carry them past the criticisms of no story, characters written off bible and BORING no-action set-pieces and time filler yakking instead. It does not work. Time limit cliché, I warned you Martian tech was craptastic.

   4. Lena does the honors and we see a Phantom Zone season 6 that is not at all what we saw in season 1. Imagine an infinite number of islands in the sky all illuminated by background stars. First… while it is comic book accurate of the 1960s, that is not what DC artists draw now. Second, is the illumination problem. All these rafts share the same spacetime and therefore the same physics and the same light. Everything should be about 3 degrees Kelvin thanks to cosmic microwave background radiation. Yet the illumination we see on Kara’s raft indicates a nearby light and heat source called a STAR. There are cast shadows. The raft should be orbiting it.

   The countdown mission clock did not move for forty seconds.

   In the middle of the mission they are doing critical pre-mission function checks? Big Useless Martian is correct as a nome de dumb.

   Cue Insubordinate Alex. Argue, argue… shaky camera shot effects… Cue the first fight scene. Prediction… Alex will be shown as the better fighter than J’onn and Alex will get scratched. And it is the fight scene, cause “turbulence” popped the latch on the Phantom Zone Phantom’s (PZP) glass cubicle. “You make a strong argument.” BUM says. And then Alex shoves J’onn into a glass closet. Can we flash forward to the part of the episode after Nia and Lena rescue Kara, where Alex is locked up in her own glass cabinet for gross stupidity? She can keep the BUM company. And did they not have a ghost busters vacuum cleaner to suck up PZPs just a couple of episodes ago?

   Clock again. On camera for one second. DID NOT MOVE. Mission elapsed time, 9.30 Anybody keeping score on stupid plot mistakes and audience IQ killers? About 25 so far and we are not at the first commercial break! It takes Braindead turbulence, Alex holding up a placard (hoody) over her head that says “I am lying.” , and Kelly reading the same Q-wave display screen and telling Braindead what he and the audience sees; “The Q-waves have gone crazy”. Add the loud alarm noise. 11.20 to 11.55 or 35 seconds for Braindead to finally say “Alex, your neck!” Is it just me, or would could someone else ask, “Alex; why is your hoody up? What are you hiding?” immediately as one sees her at 11.20? Kelly and Braindead argue with Alex until Alex says “This is all my fault.” at 22.15 or 55 seconds of yak-filler into the episode-scene This is called false drama buildup and PADDING the scene. A good writer would have Braindead shoot Alex the moment he saw her. Have Kelly come in scene and say; “Brainy, why did you shoot her?” Brainy explains his reasoning that got him from where he shoots Alex to what they should do now, and then Kelly and he drag Alex off to put her under glass and release J’onn. That will take about as much time and it adds true drama and keeps Alex in character, keeps Braindead from looking like a complete idiot and puts the mission on track as a need to save Alex and Kara now, instead of just Kara. This is how a good writer takes this sludge and pumps it up.

   But not these Supergirl writers. We have to have the false crisis of confidence and the “airlock cliché”. At this moment I would throw the writers out the airlock.

   “Alex, what are you doing?” Azie Tasfei says that line without bursting out into laughter. I see the wrinkle lines around the eyes, Azie. You blew at least one take in the scene when you got to this moment. 12.45 I am rolling on the floor. It hurts to laugh this hard. Batwoman episode FUNNY! Cut to commercials. By the way, although unclear in the staging, this is Alex’s day-mare sequence. David Harewood should kick the editor for not cutting it more sharply

   ============================================
   5. After the commercials, we have a 2nd reset button flashback. Clock as seen goes back to 2.00.00 . This time it moves? What gives? This segment is going to feature Lena’s and Nia’s we lost our moms stories and an explanation for those of who really asked, “how does Nia make those pretty bubbles in the air, the pretty bubbles about which “I” do not care.” Do we get an answer? Nope? It amounts to “My gloves do it.” which Lena already figured out; and “Braindead made them.”; which explains why they do not work correctly on demand-draw. Do I love this clumsy writer “insert story segment here and yak away”, time filler plug-in? What do you think? Nicole Maines says; “It really sucks, doesn’t it.” The gift that keeps on giving plonks me into another laughing fit. “Yeah and it really doesn’t get any easier.” responds Katie McGrath. And the laughter just keeps coming.

   The two orphans talk about the “family” they have left. Let’s review with evidence we have in episode about how this family functions. Braindead has not quite shown he can figure out how to talk and walk at the same time, but he is getting there. Aside from that self-discovery he is clearly by his actions what we call in the shipping business supercargo or deadhead or BALLAST, a non-paying weight carried for “reasons” having nothing to do with the terms “paying” or “useful”. Then there is Big Useless Martian, who manages to be rendered useless as in being locked up in a glass cabinet. And there is Alex, who just walked into vacuum without a pressure suit, who locked up the BUM, lied to everybody and is now the CHEESE in a PZP trap to keep the Bell Tower spaceship clean of those PZPs. That last bit we call in the shipping business MUTINY and committing SUICIDE. Got it? Let’s proceed. Book of fairytales cliché coming up. Anybody here afraid of water sprites? Cue, the we’re taking on water, gag! (Coolant pump leak version. It is NOT a submarine, writers.) Okay, Katie, let’s see you act against CGI as you tackle your fear of drowning day-mare sequence. Another butt shot. Bad, David, bad. You are supposed to make your actors look good. Ms. McGrath looks like a dumpy walking pear as she enters scene left. That set was redressed from the Arrow Cave. So a Kelpie is a water demon; a Scottish lake inhabitant. I thought Katie was Irish. So the manholes and pass-throughs aboard this spaceship are not watertight? How about that? Bet that “sucks” (PUN!) when the hull gets a hole open to space. I can barely type this stuff, I am laughing so hard.

   The visual cliché is Sigourney Weaver and ‘Mother’ from “Aliens”. And commercials!

   6. Braindead and Kelly for this segment and that clock resets to 2.00.00 again. Am I sensing a (comedy) theme? The writers are trying for Kurosawa? This lousy script is a college writing credit? Okay this day-mare sequence is the test of Azie Tasfei’s acting chops. Katie McGrath was able to walk through her scene and not break character once. (RADA). So how does NYCDA training do? Nope. Muffed “Alex, the creature is trying to breach the containment unit.” at 22.56. Special effects and lighting failures. Alex, Lena, and Nia are supposed to be red eyed and pale faced vampires. The gaffer goofed with the key light. How does the rfest of the scene go? Walking Dead references and all it was a hole-in-the-hull. It sucked. On a positive note, it was the best acting I’ve seen Chyler do this season.

   As an aside… let me help with a pair of words that should be associated with this lousy episode.

   Aspidistra is pronounced as-pea-dee-stra. Where these writers pull their ideas.

   Staubzauber is pronounced stowb with the “o” as in ouch zowb is the same and ber as in Burr. Stowb-zow-ber. It means vacuum cleaner or “it sucks”, which is what this script (toilettenpapier) needs and is.

   7. Round three, same clock gag and we repeat and FLUSH. Going down the drain this time is Nicole Maines. Does Ms. Maines have a toilettenpapier chance in Hello in acting this scene out? Remember what I wrote about a hole-in-the-hull cliché and how that would suck? Well, there was a thimble-full of effort to write this scene well. (Hey, I’m rhyming and I am not drunk!). How does it sew up? Wellll, if the writers do it write right, Jesse Rath will be sucked out into space and written off the show, but this is Supergirl and he will be back in the back 13 episodes. In fact as we go to commercial, Katie, Azie and Nicole will have their day-mares resolved by Kelly “touchstones” in the next segment. I’m going to need a bucket for that one. Easy there, lunch. Stay down, we only have 11.08 worth of garbage writing and 8.00 of commercials to get through.

   8. This is a surprise… the two useless males are not caught in the womens’ day-mare loops? Okay, we know this is round five. Let’s see how a good actor and a lousy actor team up for this replay? Also, this is so unlike the Supergirl writers to let the males actually be and do males, that I am intrigued. Comedy mode is off. Braindead is a clown, so there is that visual balloon metaphor. I shook my head at the wasted opportunity for a joke. Pin… balloons… pop. Funny? Ah… It is a shared scene that transits into J’onn as Big Darned Hero / Big Daddy Martian. Set up for the monster fight in Act III, Scene II. Are we going to get the payoff? Alex… meh; shoots the outer hull door and is about to be sucked into space. Lena… touched the Kelpie who shapeshifted into her mother, which was nice, cause SHE WINS as a Luthor should, Kelly used that stupid Guardian shield which was silly, Nia… failed; Braindead got sucked out and she failed to save him, but snaps out of it anyway, so no CGI budget for a rescue light lasso?

   And at the heart of it was J’onn who heroed up and used his own fear of fire to be the battering ram to put the PZP back into the Luthor electro-shell. When you positively, absolutely have to have technology that works, buy LUTHOR TECH and pay your utility bills, gosh darn it. Cut to commercials. Just 5.08 more garbage, lunch. Easy; stomach.

   9. Coda… Jason Behr gives the Zor-El “hope speech”; as Kara’s 3 day long day-mare resolves. Kara and he prepare for Custer’s Last Stand against the PZPs and Crook’s Column shows up like they never did in real life. SUN-BOMB! Kara and Dad fly to the Tower ship and all is smiles and hugs. Who is the Zachary Smith on the Jupiter II in this coda? Nyxly has hitched a ride. See her in the Back 13.

   Final takeaway? Jason Behr CAN act? He can ACT! The rescue was kind of pat, and the villain hitchhiker was too obvious… BUT, come on writers, Keep Pops around and fill out the family. You actually done good, here.

   For all the toilettenpapier, I give this a solid 10/10/10 out of 5/5/5. Not because it was well acted, or well directed, and certainly not well written, but because when finally viewed in its completeness as a forest instead of as trees, I was happy with it. Keep Zor around for finis story and I will be ecstatic.

   Monty

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8. 

   Montefescu on May 13, 2021 at 10:44 am

   Hi John;

   This is Monty. I listened to the podcast again for Prom Night. I think clarification is in order. When I blasted that episode and I take nothing back, it was the writers at whom I directed my ire. It had little to do with the actors or the production crew or Chyler as the director, though they could have sat down with the showrunners (and if I read the clues aright, did) to try to fix the garbage I found and mentioned in that script review. It appeared to me, after an unsatisfying experience of slogging through the two prom episodes, that I should find out why the Supergirl writers would pick that hill to die upon.

   It nagged me. Why write a prom episode? Why callback Kenny, who is so forgettable that I had to reread my old review and dig into the fandom wiki to resurrect that blip and see what function he played here?

   Well: It usually takes me a half hour to format up what I want to say about an episode, but this time I had a mean on and it was a burr under my saddle (cliche) to spend 90 minutes to dig into the episode psychology of the creatives. I put me into their position and traced what I thought they, as a committee of hacks, tried to do. I added the pink Cat as a visual signal to the clues they left and cues I followed in the event chain and I came to the conclusions I reached for this episode.

   There were a variety of ways to use a Midvale episodes to get Kara’s DNA out of it. These writers chose the “prom theme”. There was the blatant blanking out of the “Prom” itself, evident, and the featuring of the two characters as the main protagonists, who at the age of the show writers, would have been at their proms (Twenty years ago.) and would have been the “outs” and socially ostracized in the 2010s. I get it. Some high school adolescent experiences sear people deeply and they keep it as a personal grudge and rage against the social compact that they never seem to be able to ease into as adults.

   But, you know? They are supposed to become adults. When I run a test, my employer does not care about how I feel about the people I have to watch to make sure that we don’t die. He hired me to make sure that we don’t die and that the test occurs with good results. That is the job. The requirement is that I park my arrogant ego and my personal feelings and make sure the job is performed to expectations. It is the adult thing to do. Anything else I do is rubbish and should find me fired.

   The Supergirl show writers were hired to write stories about Supergirl and characters associated with her. The writers were hired for their ideas. Their jobs are to craft good stories to those ideas. They failed. Unimaginative, incompetent, arrogant, inept, illiterate, stupid, ungrammatical; these adjectives pepper my reviews. You read the words. Their personal feelings got in the way of the professional storytelling and characterization. When personal message trumps these job elements, the writers should be fired.

   Monty

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