Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:28:47 — 86.3MB) | Embed
Supergirl and Nyxly have one totem each. Nia has gone to Parthas in search of the Dream totem so Kara heads to the Netherlands to try and stop the Imp from getting her hands on the Hope totem. Nyxly fails the Hope gauntlet but still manages to create chaos at peace talks taking place within The Hague.
Meanwhile Alex and Kelly welcome Esme into their home. We learn that the little girl is a species of alien that can mimic the powers of others. It must be really overwhelming to acclimate to one superpower let alone adjust to a countless number of them depending on what type of alien is around at that time.
I am really glad this episode illustrated some struggles with this brand-new family. It makes the story richer to show Kelly, Alex, and Esme working through struggles versus showing a perfect family right off the bat. I also like the comparisons made to Kara’s adoption which I think makes Alex uniquely qualified to care for this little girl.
Mitch fashions a device for the Courage totem that restores a portion of Nyxly’s power. She strips the diplomats at the summit of their courage which results in a widespread distrust among the world leaders. Nyxly is about to cause a nuclear catastrophe on Earth and the Superfriends must fly in to save the day. Nyxly must come up with a new plan to obtain the totem. Nyxly feels that she cannot beat Supergirl in the gauntlet for hope. She will let Kara win the totem and then use blackmail to get it from her. This leads the Imp princess to kidnap William.
The quest for the totems feels like a truly epic battle. Something that is not easily won in 42 minutes of TV. The quest challenges each one of our characters. Their struggles draw me in. The way they help each other honors Supergirl’s theme of “stronger together”. Ultimately the team decides that one of the totems must be destroyed so that the All Stone can never be reassembled. Supergirl hurls the Hope totem into the sun. Kara is confident that hope can be restored to the world without this small physical representation. This made me wonder if the totem would integrate into our sun and perhaps cause it to shine down some extra hope on all of humanity. That would be the type of legacy I would love to see for this series. Supergirl made the world just a little more hopeful than before she arrived.
Was Destroying a Totem a Good Decision?
- No (86%, 6 Votes)
- Yes (14%, 1 Votes)
Total Voters: 7
Loading ...Cougar’s Comic Corner
DC One Million #1 (of 4)
Written by Grant Morrison released October 31, 1998.
Spinning out of his critically acclaimed JLA run, writer Grant Morrison takes readers to the 853rd Century! The Justice Legion A arrive in the present to invite the JLA to a celebration for the return of Superman, but in extending the hand of friendship across time, have the heroes of tomorrow doomed the world of today? $1.99 on Comixology!
Next Time On Maid of Steel!
Supergirl Season 6 – Episode 16, “Nightmare in National City”
NIA CONFRONTS HER SISTER – Kara lands her dream story for Catco but when the city is suddenly attacked by a nightmare monster at the same time as her interview, she is forced to take a serious look at her life and decide if she can continue to live as both Kara and Supergirl. As Dreamer takes the lead on the search for the Dream Totem, which can vanquish the nightmare monster in National City, she realizes she needs to ask her sister Mauve (guest star Hannah James) for help. Old wounds resurface as the two sisters come face to face. The episode was directed by Eric Dean Seaton written by Rob Wright and Jess Kardos (#616). Original airdate 10/19/2021 at 9:00E/8:00C on the CW.
Feedback
We want you to be part of the podcast! After a new episode airs, head over to our feedback site and drop us a quick line, or record a short voicemail, reacting to the events of the episode. What was interesting to you? What stood out? What did the episode do well or, perhaps, what did it not do well? We rely on your input to help round out our conversation and anticipate the opportunity to include your thoughts and theories!
Some blog post comments…
Episode title: Hope For Tomorrow
Me: That’s ironic since I have no hope left for the series. Kara’s look in the banner photo of “what is going on, I don’t like this” is accurate. ?
“The quest challenges each one of our characters.” – except for the fact that it doesn’t; no one beyond Kara has really been challenged by a totem. Yes it’s supposedly Kara’s show but this isn’t Kara Danvers as we know so why not continue to mix it up by showing each member struggle with something? Okay Lena is struggling to learn magic because they throw the playbook at her in the 11th hour but everyone else is acting as normal; the quest is a good storyline but like with everything good ever on this series they’re trying to burn it down with their rinse and repeat handling…the only reason they seemingly broke the cycle at the end of the episode is because they don’t have time to do it again – you know they’ll waste an episode on Lex if not more and one is the series final so that’s only 3 really left and if one of those is sending Nxy home then that’s just 2 and yeah that’s like really a hour of TV in the grand scheme and they have to destroy more things on this series so that’s basically no time left.
“Ultimately the team decides that one of the totems must be destroyed so that the All Stone can never be reassembled.” – again they didn’t, it was Kara making a choice because plot and then going along with it because of the same. If these people were in character they would have looked at what else was out there to destroy before breaking hope, the literal thing the title character is suppose to represent.
“This made me wonder if the totem would integrate into our sun and perhaps cause it to shine down some extra hope on all of humanity.” – the sun is full of nuclear radiation for sure now so why not?! The legacy of this is of wasted potential and the legacy of Kara specifically is she was just a stand in for her cousin or a female version of her cousin; she started as someone unique and like him but not him but then the writers screwed her over and basically forced her to be female him with bringing in Lex and having Kara adopt Clark’s opinions on things even though previously she didn’t hold those believes and he change in opinion wasn’t earned. “Supergirl” the series that got us hooked and we loved need at the end of season 3 for sure to me. ?
“Was Destroying a Totem a Good Decision?” – where’s the ‘Nothing matters anymore’ option? I don’t see it so I’ll just select no.
K-Vox! ?❤️? I don’t know if the cats want to eat us or pet us…I don’t trust them. They’re cute but deceptive I feel! Ha
“As Dreamer takes the lead on the search for the Dream Totem” a someone should tell Nia it doesn’t matter anymore because the totem was destroyed so the All stone can’t be put together according to them! Also Kara doubting if she can do both again – yawn!
On to the podcast..
“Whatever that episode was.” – accurate John. ?
DISH is the one screwing with my top favorite local channels. They are still doing it also. ?
No she wouldn’t have been hurt if she figured it out long before but that’s the point – Lena should have known at the start because she’s so smart she’s the only person Lex fears and this shouldn’t have been a repeat of Superman content, Lena and Kara (a super and Luthor) would have been friends and stayed friends and it would have been fresh and few and good. Imagine the look on Lex’s face if Lena got up to him and said “I always known” and she still shot him for the greater good! By the way I’ve watched that scene again and she shot at him twice for good measure…she doesn’t play because she’s smart despite the handicap the writers try to give her! ?
They will never homage season one.
Fair point about why it should be Red Daughter Leslie. There is no reason to have Lex back much less Mon. Ugh they’re just going to destroy all my care for this series before the show is officially over, I can see it now! Season five punched me in the gut and hurt my fan girl soul to its core and now season six is just carving up my body as it were. I guess I should take comfort in the fact this isn’t “Supergirl” that we started with and feel for, again that ended for sure by season three, but SUPERGIRL’s actors are on there so I still kind of care and thusly each week just hurts to watch now; the only joys are Nxy and Nia and I’m sure they’ll taint them before it’s all over the same way they have Lena with this bull crap magic plot line.
“Let’s talk about episode ratings – HATED IT!” – facts John. 🙂
8 1/2 is that the lowest rating ever from Justina?!
Lena is very pretty. 🙂
This is the most like s couple Kelly and Alex have ever seemed to me; I’m still loyal to Sam/Alex too much to ship Kelly and Alex but this is the most they’ve seemed like a couple to me all series, before it was just friends and you can argue you can raise kids with a friend without a romance involved but since they’re suppose to be a couple putting them with Esme made them finally feel couplish seeing them work together. I can’t ship it because the relationship hasn’t been earned to me as again they’ve often seemed more like friends than anything and I hate how this is a make up for James/Kara instead of it’s own thing but it was cute. Definitely as John said the best part of the episode.
That’s not true John, the fire breather never touched her nor did Kara but yet she could mimic both the fire breath when needed and knew Kara had powers so Esme doesn’t have to touch people to gain their powers.
There’s a lot of bad lines in regards to dialogue in here, you’re not at a lost for choice. If they actually still cared about the show Justina’s pitch is more how it would have gone but they don’t. Also thanks John for shouting out Felicity – she is the only true person left for #NotAllHeroesWearCapes! 🙂
It’s a Superman connection because they care about Superman John, they arguably stopped caring about writing Kara as an individual post season one but again for a long time they haven’t written her with her own ideals and history so while it hasn’t ever been said on the series they still justify it because they’re writing Superman not Supergirl. 🙁 Yeah I’m bitter AF as the kids say about the love fest they have for Superman on this series when they told me this was about Kara so it wouldn’t be a repeat of something I’ve seen a million times before; again just because they’re related it doesn’t make them the same person! Carrying the same mantle even doesn’t make you the same – Roy and Oliver did the same things in the same costume essentially but Roy isn’t Oliver…we’ve had six million Canaries in universe and not one of them is the same – Kara is NOT Clark and the greatest tragedy of this show is that they started treating her as him instead of herself. ?
Ha to John calling the lady Secretary Bad Attitude.
It’s actually fitting they destroyed hope because it’s a visualization of how they’ve actually destroyed the show. Your idea about spreading hope is nice Justina but it was still a crap move to make overall I feel for the series. As Daryl said last week – at least you’re trying to help; fandom hope in the face if the writers constantly screwing is over – also accurate legacy for the series. No to killing Kara! The series can never leave hope as the legacy now, the writers have damaged it too much…they can say in series dialogue that’s the legacy but it will never be the legacy in reality. 🙁
Actually Daryl I t think a time would come when they’d have to tell Esme about Kara but if she hadn’t figured it out it would have been awhile before they said anything. Lol to the William comment. “I will NEVER go back there!” – me about this season. I agree Justina, without the memory Kaznia should mean nothing to her.
Pandemic doesn’t stop Skype.
It should be easy to put together Kara is Supergirl but clearly for some it’s not, RIP Lena’s title of smart person – you are not smarter than a 5th grader! Lol at John saying Esme is a drug sniffing dog. I can totally support destroying a totem to stop the All Stone coming together, but to pick Hope was a huge slap in the face to the series and what it tried to stand for as John said.
I agree Geoff shrink Kelly is awesome! “Supergirl” doesn’t effect Superman John why would think that just because we gave him that series…yeah I said it and stand by it; again sadly they don’t care about us now that they have him, it was bad enough when he came on and they changed Kara more into him than following her season one self but yeah it’s just more disrespect to our series and not even surprising at this point.
“I really don’t want to see Lex back” – same Dreamweaver!
The ending will not be satisfying or even in character…I’ve admitted that now.
Yes Leslie the writers go out of their way to ignore season one. A GREAT point about how awesome it would have been to see Kara painting the room instead of Alex! Answer: the writers don’t care anymore Leslie. Kara couldn’t pull the flower out because magic Leslie.
“The sun is not a trash can!” – lol!
Predictions…
E16 – the Nia content is good but the rest sucks; probably hot garbage. Don’t trust the writers John!
E17 – Lex has returned – automatic hot garbage. I wish I could be surprised at the proposal but the writers are just slamming through that final check list so who had “Alex proposes” on their Bingo card? Congratulations to you! At least she talked about kids with the person before proposing this time! Maybe this will just be a straight up garbage episode instead ha.
E18 – sounds like maybe decent to garbage.
??? to John’s hope chant.
Random thoughts:
How is William a “co-worker” of Alex? She doesn’t work for CatCo and he doesn’t work for the Tower? I could see Alex introducing him to Esme as a “friend” but not a co-worker.
Flash facts: Everyone seems worried about the Sun. However if you were to put the entire Solar System on a scale, all the planets, moons, asteroids and comets, the Sun, by itself, would be 99.8% of the mass. The Sun can fit 1 million Earths inside of it or 1,000 Jupiters. The Sun regularly has solar flares. At least 10 times a year those flares are so large they release 22 million times the energy of all the Earth’s nuclear weapons put together. So Supergirl can dump as many nukes into the Sun as she wants. It’s all good.
Now alien weapons and tech is another matter. We don’t know how they work–or how the writers will say they work–like the alien tech in the garbage in the ocean. However, if they had enough energy to do any real damage to the Sun, it’s really unlikely they’d just be thrown away. Someone would find a way to harness that much … advanced alien technology.
Lex returns. Ugh. Cryer’s great as Lex but writers are so in love with the character they fail to write ehough for the rest of the characters and/or dumb down everyone else to make Lex look smarter, including 12th-level intellect, Brainiac 5.
I have to admit, I like the writers having Supergirl destroy one of the totems. It was the logical choice to prevent the risk of Nyxly getting the All Stone. Even the Avengers, excuse me, Dr. Strange, refused to destroy the Time Stone to stop Thanos from completing the Infinity Gauntlet because … um, duty?!? That said, of the 7 totems, Love, Hope, Courage, Truth, Humanity, Dreams and Destiny, Destiny would’ve been my pick to toss into the Sun. While Lena doesn’t outright say destroying a totem would destroy the same amongst people, she leaves it open as a worst-case scenario (which would’ve been nice if the writers had her say instead of being vague).
Even if she can’t complete the All Stone, it still sounds like each totem is powerful enough on their own to cause havoc and to enact her revenge on the Superfriends. Ergo, Mia is still likely to go after the Dream stone.
Yes, you’ve experienced what a lot of long-time comic readers have dealt with for decades: Writers of a series in a shared universe not bothering to explain seeming contradictions. They want the excitement of a shared universe to have really big events but shy away from the responsibility of collaboration to avoid contradictions: Supergirl doesn’t notify Clark that both her parents survived or ask for help with dealing with Nyxly or nukes. Clark doesn’t tell Kara he has a brother and she another cousin or ask for help with dealing with a legion of revived evil Kryptonians akin to the Myriad the Kara fought in Season 1. Her Fortress of Solitude is more traditional back to SUPERMAN THE MOVIE while his Fortress of Solitude is barely a cave.
Maybe adoption in National City is so fast because so few foster parents will accept an alien child that has super powers (relative to humans). Maybe that’s how that bad foster parent got away with things for so long until Kelly was on the case.
They’re probably trying to make William important Ken so they can push him with one of the girls at the end because most likely everyone will be paired off; he is definitely no co-worker in any form of Alex’s.
“So Supergirl can dump as many nukes into the Sun as she wants. It’s all good.” – it’s the fact she treats it like a trash can now that we laugh at mostly…it’s too much man. Ha
“Cryer’s great as Lex but writers are so in love with the character they fail to write ehough for the rest of the characters and/or dumb down everyone else to make Lex look smarter, including 12th-level intellect, Brainiac 5.” – FACTS! I also still stand by hating on him because it’s Clark’s villain not ours and once again they push Superman content on “Supergirl”; the series was suppose to be about her but has more often than not been about him and they treat Kara like a female version of him when she is not, she is a person with her own opinions on things! The obsession with Superman ruined “Supergirl”.
Destiny is a fair choices as you can always make your own or with dreams at least dream that you can; I might go Truth because we’re in such a time of lies anyways it would be like a normal day almost. I don’t have an issue with Kara destroying a totem but I do have an issue with it being the totem of Hope!
William’s baking is important enough as is. Also, in the first episode after Kara returned from the Phantom Zone, William told her he had “moved on” and was already paired up. It was the happiest scene I had for William. THEY WILL NOT BACKTRACK FROM THAT! William is off the market.
It’s a variation on a joke on the animated show, INVINCIBLE, one of the superheroes there said when in doubt throw it into space. Besides, the more fuel the Sun has the longer it’ll burn before it implodes or explodes. Neither is good for the Earth. Fortunately we have a few million years before having to worry about that.
I don’t hate Lex as much as his impact on the show, taking all the oxygen out of it. It’s way beyond scene stealer. It’s more like the writers toss every scene to him.
Yeah, I agree, too many Superman villains are showing up on SUPERGIRL. It’s like when Batman villains showed up on ARROW. Also I’ve long been tired of Superman still being in the title sequence. He hasn’t been on the show since Crisis, not a regular or even recurring character on the show–and for sure the favor is not reciprocated in the SUPERMAN AND LOIS opening credits. And reportedly SAL writers just *happened* to cut out all the scenes mentioning Supergirl in the first season for broadcast time–but don’t show up in the extended versions that stream the next day online.
There’s too many lies in the world as in. Truth is too valuable to muck with. Having no set Destiny is a bonus IMHO.
Alex babysat Ruby back in season three when their original plan for Alex to adopt was her adoption of ruby