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Welcome back to Maid of Steel! This is a podcast dedicated to the CW Television series Supergirl and in this installment we are discussing season 2 episode 2 entitled, “The Last Children of Krypton.” This episode marks the first appearance of Ian Gomez as Snapper Carr and the return of guest stars Tyler Hoechlin (as Superman), and Brenda Strong (as yet unnamed Cadmus Scientist). While we say goodbye to Superman at the end of this episode, it is highly unlikely the #TooMuchFun will stop here.
Next week it looks like we finally get some conscious Chris Wood (mysterious pod man whose name I’m intentionally not handing out…which I know is probably pretty silly at this point). Actually, next week we get another heavy influx of DC Comics heroes and villains. But we’ll leave next week for next week and, for now, stick to talking about the second episode of this second season!
#TooMuchFun
This episode was filled with fun little moments that, more or less, salvaged it in my own humble opinion. Getting the Snapper Carr introduction, Winn’s very emotional responses to Superman, and the Cat moments, these all made the episode re-watchable. But it felt like, once again, the premise of the episode’s story arc was lost to the inclusion of Superman and the undertones of goodbye to Cat Grant. I sat down to write this blog post and went, what was the plot, again?
At a high level, Cadmus created a cyborg as a weapon against the Kryptonians. Its power source, and its primary defense against the aliens, is its krypton-infused chest battery which was literally implanted in the human being. After the first confrontation with John Corben, whom we met in the previous episode, Cadmus declares war on the Kryptonians by revealing themselves to the world. The team at the D.E.O. realizes that Cadmus was behind the theft of Kryptonite several months prior and begin looking for a leak in the office. Meanwhile, at Cadmus, it becomes clear that they need to Metallo soldiers in order to fight the Kids of Krypton and before recommissioning Metallo Primus for the field, construct a Metallo Secundus. Cadmus tries to divide Supergirl and Superman and take them on individually, but the superheroes bring backup and kick Cadmus’s million dollar defensive weapon.
When I break it down, I enjoy the premise, but there was just too much in this episode that drowned out this story arc. And none of it, as I say, is necessarily bad, in and of itself, it just seemed less focused. As much as I’ve enjoyed Superman’s character, I am eager to see what next week holds when we settle back into a “normal routine”. I might inadvertently be advocating for a villain-of-the-week, but I think my desire is for this show to find its rhythm here on the CW and with the Superman character flying in for the first two episodes, I don’t think it’s had a chance yet.
Quick Turn Arounds
Aside from the total absence of James “Don’t Call Me Jimmy” Olsen in the first 43 minutes of the episode, we got plenty of all our favorite characters in their ideal elements. Winn at the D.E.O. is a hoot (“Do or do not, there is no try.”); J’onn and Superman flying to the Fortress; Cat making passes at Clark.
I talked a lot about whiplash last week, and the fact that I’m displeased with the direction things are headed with James and Kara, just that it was so quick I did not feel like I had time to get on board with the changes Kara was experiencing. I can understand, and even identify, with her reasons, I just did not feel them. This week I felt a lot of the same things. I didn’t feel any of the change-of-hearts that happened.
For example, with season one lingering in the back of my mind, I see a solid sisterly mythos developed. Kara and Alex had a solid relationship last season, one that wasn’t reliant on what happened at the D.E.O. and especially not reliant on Alex empathizing with all of Kara’s differences. The girls had a lot to work out, and they did have differing opinions, but not to the degree that Kara might declare she’s moving to Metropolis in order to be nearer to someone who “really understands what it’s like to be her.”
I applauded the dialogue between Kara and Alex, when Alex finally confronted Kara on the fact that ever since Clark showed up, she has basically been ignored. Not only has Kara been pretty self-centered in the last two episodes, she’s seemed to be totally oblivious. I will say that the writers did a fantastic job of showing the wonderful irony of Superman-worship, both from people who adore him “from afar” (i.e. Winn) and people who adore him up close (i.e. Kara). Kara will roll her eyes at Winn’s behavior toward Superman, but Alex rolls her eyes at Kara’s behavior toward Clark. I thought that was really well done.
But the whiplash came from the very random decision for Kara to realize she’d said some things she didn’t mean to her sister and want to rectify it immediately. Conveniently, this was how she was alerted to the fact that Alex had gone rogue and was able to rush to her aid (not before Alex seriously held her own, though). It was just another moment where the writers had to tell me Kara felt bad rather than show me she did.
Feedback
Karen and I record on Wednesday evenings, following each new episode of Supergirl. To have hashtag too much fun with us, try to get that feedback in by 6pm Eastern time on Wednesday! We will always listen or read whatever you send in, and include as much as we can in our feedback section each week. Getting in touch with us is super easy. Use our feedback page! Type out an email, record a voicemail, upload an audio file… choose your poison!
Links
- Episode 3: Welcome to Earth Watch Promo
- Interesting article about Tyler Hoechlin’s version of Superman
- New stunt crew putting Alex to work
I agree, I really enjoy Karen’s comic knowledge. I agree with Christy, I’m still surprised Jonn just gave up the DEO kryptonite; as she says you can certainly understand both sides of the argument but I lean upwards Jonn’s side a bit more because I have faith in him he’s trying to do the right thing with it. Yes it’s harder to take it from Clark but it doesn’t mean it can’t be done either so I just felt that wasn’t the best move but maybe they’ll that off later with the group needing it and Clark arguing to hand back enough they can defend themselves all the time but Jonn still agrees not to have as big a stock pile. As for James heading up CatCo, maybe it’s because Cat feels it’d be easier to get the company back from James than Snapper as head.
“Why did Alex think it would be okay to run her own sting operation?” – because she’s basically the second and command and knows Jonn would want her to stop the traitor; also Alex has an ego thinking she defeat all bad guys which to be fair she does but her ego allows the few to get the upper hand at times and that’s when Kara comes in and they show why being team is good. Also agree Cadmus totally has it’s own kryptonite stash, they’ve probably even invented some varieties of it like Max! Cat will definitely be missed! Cat TOTALLY knows Kara is Supergirl.
Alex’s line about Clark abandoning Kara with the Danvers was great; I also loved that Alex didn’t raise her voice really in the fight – she was passionate yet civil and again that’s rare to see in verbal fight scenes, usually characters are screaming at each other and/or insulting one another, but both she and Kara were very respectful in volume during the scene. I don’t think Alex has a love haze about Clark, I think she likes Clark but she’s not swayed by him like others; the line about him being awesome last episode I took as more teasing to Kara because everyone was saying how great he is and it was funny to Alex given that’s her and Kara’s relationship so Kara got to see a little bit of what it’s like for Alex hearing how great Kara can be at times…she was joking with Kara not actually championing Clark like others. Montafesque definitely has some great points about Clark!
Still hoping Karen will give us a Maggie Sawyer comic recommendation next week. “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” has Ian Gomez in it a decent bit and is pretty fun if you want to check it out Emilee. A nice solo podcast job!
Some blog post comments…
“As much as I’ve enjoyed Superman’s character, I am eager to see what next week holds when we settle back into a “normal routine”.” – agreed!
“The girls had a lot to work out, and they did have differing opinions, but not to the degree that Kara might declare she’s moving to Metropolis in order to be nearer to someone who “really understands what it’s like to be her.”” – I definitely found that line strange because does Kara not realize while biologically the same Clark isn’t like her? He literally has no attachment to Krypton beyond biology so he can’t connect with her there and he’s figured out how to balance Clark and Superman so while he could teach her it’s again not like they’re on the same level of finding their way unlike say she and Jonn. It was just a very weird move by Kara and I’m glad Alex called her out!
“It was just another moment where the writers had to tell me Kara felt bad rather than show me she did.” – fair.