Well, and more to the point, the multiple Brainiacs I'm pretty sure definitely come from worlds that were and remain destroyed.
I honestly am not sure what they did here. I am guessing the original intent was to just reduce everything to Earth Prime. But then they couldn't bring themselves to, say, remove the Superman Returns world, etc.
So I guess there are a) far fewer universes and b) yes, harder to detect and interact with. (But remain extant both not to smash fan dreams as well as leave openings for future Crises, Zero Hours, Flashpoints, and Rebirths).
Question: where is Clark on Earth Prime (and/or is he in Argo City still)? Is he looped in on the changes? Does he believe Lex is a good guy?
I was getting frustrated with "why don't they just kill Lex" but the set up here is kind of clever--anyone who killed him before proving his treachery would be seen as a hideous criminal.
So my theory is the NEW Multiverse isn't detectable by the denizens of Earth Prime for story reasons. Also Guggenheim confirmed that the people of Earth Prime are wrong about there not being a multiverse. It's just not the OLD Multiverse...which makes sense.
Whether or not there are FEWER than before is a debatable point due to the fact if they are both infinite, then clearly they're kind of the same number of sorts.
As for "Why not kill Lex?" I'm guessing because he'll help fight against Leviathan which might STILL exist in some fashion. But to what extent...is unclear.
What I was saying was is Lex right now is a public hero, so if anyone killed or captured him and it was made known publicly, that person would be seen as a villain/criminal (and attempts would be made to capture/kill them, which makes it a lot hard to do good deeds).
Leviathan is definitely still a thing. Not clear whether he will be friend or foe to it.
The multiple Brainiacs was a little weird. It is good to see Brainiac 5 green skinned like he was in the comics. How the heroes are going to resolve the issue with a Lex perceived as a good person is a nice plot. Unfortunately there best, safest, course of action is to wait until his true nature comes out. Lena becoming Lex's partner is sad even if she does not trust him.
Leviathan should prove to be a good challenge and I look forward to seeing where they take that threat.
Good start to the second half of the season.
It's getting harder to root for Lena. Not that we are necessarily supposed to, but I've always tried to pull for her character growth if not full redemption. But she is getting into this not-a-villain, not-a-hero Phantom Zone that is yet not an antihero. I normally like antiheroes. I am finding Lena just frustrating. She's more like... an obstacle who just repeats "but you betrayed me!" over and over again than a character at this point.
I was surprised by Brainy's zen toward the end, given the last time his inhibitors failed. I'm wondering if all is as it appears.
But yes, good start!
DQ,
I think Brainy's zen-ness is probably also related to having greater access to the 'Big Brain" and possibly his other selves. But I could be wrong.
Lena's redemption...might come. It might not. All I am certain of is that she was silly to trust ANYTHING Lillian said. But that's just me.
So I have to say this episode with Winn and Winn was more than I was expecting... And yet it didn't go far enough in some ways.
But hey, at least we got movement on the Lex/Lena/Leviathan front right?
I always thought I would enjoy Winn evil more... and I was right. Shame we also got the nice one back. (I know, I am awful. :) )
I'm not sure I would even watch these shows if it wasn't something to share with my 13 year old daughter, but she is loving all of the shows post crisis, seeing what has changed, and why. She loved Winn and was delighted to see him return. I enjoyed his return, and I'm loving Lex. I feel terrible about it, but I really don't enjoy Lena at this point. She is written as so whiny and mostly useless. I love what they are doing with Lex, but they've taken everything interesting about Lena away.
I think you've hit on something key there. I agree with Kevin Smith when he said this take on Lex is probably the best we've ever seen in DC Live Action. Which may be more about how awful some of the other live action Lexes have been, but still--they've done great work.
But the more Lex appears and has a role, the less of a character and the more of a plot device Lena has become. She seems to be suffering from negative character development... she came into the show complex, intriguing, intelligent, shades of light and dark... and now she is utterly one dimensional and constantly a fool.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
she came into the show complex, intriguing, intelligent, shades of light and dark... and now she is utterly one dimensional and constantly a fool.
I find it particularly annoying that she goes on to petulantly complain about having been such a fool, while then proceeding to do something exponentially more foolish than ever (for doubly foolish reasons)...
The actress deserves way better.
And it's not just Lena. Nia's arc seems to be all about Brainy's flakiness, which is annoying, since I'd rather it be the other way around, with his arc revolving around *her.* And I don't even know what's up with Alex right now. She seems to be exposition lass, whose only job is to state the obvious and react to what's going on. I feel like she needs some agency and not be bounced around reacting to everyone else's drama.
And then there's what's-his-name, the other reporter dude, Thick Lips McSquareJaw. I hope they can find a big enough refrigerator to stuff him in, 'cause I've progressed from not-interested to 'can he die now?'
I'm such a terrible fan. :)
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I believe you have transcribed his name correctly, Set.
Katie McGrath is a great actress and I agree she deserves much better writing. I keep praying for a turnaround.
I think once they get past a lot of the post-crisis stuff the exposition dialogue will be less cumbersome, which will help Alex at least. I'd like to see more with Alex and Kara coping with the changes to Earth Prime and being awesome sisters.
Nia seems to have run out of plot, I agree. And Nicole Maines is another actress who could do well to have some more depth to what she has to do. I do like that she has at least gotten to see some action recently, as she had disappeared for a bit.
Well for me, while admittedly Lena has sort of 'faded' in the background of Lex and his stuff...I'm still hopeful? that she'll turn it around.
Alex for me, does need a little more meat...but at the same time, she's had a lot of drama that I think she needs time away from. At least until we get her someone else besides Jimmy's kid sister to play house with.
As for Nia, I think she's doing good, considering how much crap Brainy's decisions have caused her. Which is also why I enjoyed watching Winn help out. It really made her feel...more. I guess.
Alex for me, does need a little more meat...but at the same time, she's had a lot of drama that I think she needs time away from. At least until we get her someone else besides Jimmy's kid sister to play house with.
That's rather... hostile yet dismissive. I really like Kelly and Alex's relationship. Even if you don't, they're hardly just "playing house." They're adults in a pretty complex and feeling relationship. Kelly's pretty cool (and it's nice to have a psychologist on a tv show for once observing for real how messed up everyone is).
I have a feeling as the Obsidian North plot is slow-burning forward--remember Kelly works for Obsidian--that is going to do something to introduce tension between Kelly and Alex, and/or do something to Kelly that is going to create drama in another way.
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
|
As for exposition, the stuff I want hasn't happened yet. On the combined Earth Prime, what's the relationship between ARGUS, the DEO and the ASA like? Seems there's 2 too many secret organizations which deal with metas/aliens/supers. (which admittedly isn't too far off from intelligence agencies in general, but bloated for the Arrowverse.) Finding out how they work together (or sabotage each other) is something I want to know.
DQ,
I'm sorry if that's how I came off. Maybe it's because I still smarting from Alex and Maggie's break up. But even so...I don't mean to be dismissive of Alex so much as I think she could do better.
Joel,
I'm sure we'll find out the relationships on Flash like we always do.
So episode 100 was better than I expected. It certainly showed us some the range of changes that have gone on with the show.
That and while I'm not 100% sold on Myx as a good guy, I'm okay with him being a comedian. We'll see if that holds true in next season or not.
Also glad to see Chris Wood stopped by along with some good cameos from our Winn. :)
|
|
Also glad to see Chris Wood stopped by along with some good cameos from our Winn. :)
After the cameo-fest that was Crisis, I was kind of resigned to never seeing many of these actors again, and bang, this episode happens, and it was fun! I would have expected some cheap-ass clip-show nonsense where they just recycle footage from past episodes for most of it, but they went and shot new footage of, for instance, the battle between Reign and Kara.
Best of all, we got to see Sam/Reign, and not that annoying spawn of hers. :)
I don't think she'll ever STOP agonizing about it...but I think she fully recognizes that not everything she does or doesn't do is entirely within her sphere of control. IE Lena made her choices. She's going to have to own them.
And yes Set, not recycled footage so much as new footage with new spins.
|
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
|
News today is that Melissa Benoist is pregnant. No word yet on how that will affect next season's schedule, but I'd guess it could get a late start (and with the number of Arrowvese shows on CW, it should be easy for them to shuffle things around - maybe have the Green Arrow and the Canaries show take the Supergirl time slot in fall and have Supergirl come in for the crossover.)
Joel,
We'll see what the future holds...in the future! :D
Something like that.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I found Alex in Wonderland a good episode. It was interesting to see Alex as Supergirl. The NPCs were pretty 2 dimensional as you would expect. The real world plot arch is well done and had some interesting twists. The Levathan characters are serious villains and a serious threat to the world.
I liked it.
It had the benefit of giving Chyler Leigh some more ability to flex her acting muscles. Which I thought was great.
We'll see how it plays out if/when we get to the end of the season...
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Dues Lex Machina was an excellent episode. Jon Cryer is in my opinion the best Lex Luthor. Definitely plays a sociopath genius well. The twist and turns to his plot were well conceived and executed. I very much enjoyed this episode.
Well the show is back on. The first episode felt a bit rushed, like they were getting all the episodes that were missed leading into the season finale in one hour, which I suspect is actually the case. But I still enjoyed it and was glad to see they addressed pretty much all the loose plot strings. It will be interesting to see how the final season plays out.
I can't see any possibility that this is the plan, but I found it interesting that just leaving Supergirl where she was at the end of this season premiere would be one way to close out the series. Some other team of heroes can always retrieve her in the future.
The rest of this season could be a riff on Reign of the Supermen, as Sentinel, Dreamer, M'Gann and Lena adopt Kara's symbol -- doubly unlikely since Sentinel just got a symbol of her own -- to carry on the good fight.
I think it's more likely time travel will play some role in this. But I could be wrong.
|
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
|
I also felt the episode was a bit rushed, and likely would have been 2 episodes had the season ended as planned. (I don't recall how many were supposed to happen before Covid Interruptus.) And even rushed, I was reminded just how great Jon Cryer's Lex was, and how boring the Captain Luthor on Superman & Lois is by comparison.
I'm expecting it will be more of a "adventure in the Phantom Zone" with half the team, trying to find and rescue Kara, and the rest of the team protecting National City, for 2-4 episodes. And upon Kara's return, some baddie from the Phantom Zone will follow her and be free to be the season big bad.
Joel,
That seems likely. But also yes, Captain Luthor is nowhere near as fun/interesting/great a villain as Jon Cryer's Lex.
And now it's done. It was nice to see Calista Flockhart to help end things. There was some rush I felt in the final fight, but honestly it's been kind of an up and down season to begin with. Regardless, we leave Kara in a much different place then when we found her.
(Hope this means maybe Benoist might cameo on Superman and Lois maybe...)
|
I like that it doesn't take her off the table, and that Benoist has said she's willing to come back after she takes some time to rest. This season was very hit or miss for me, and the first hour or so of the finale fell into the miss category for me. I think from the moment Calista showed up is when it got better, and actually felt like the show I loved again.
As someone who soldiered on with Supergirl despite it’s more uneven storytelling in recent seasons, I feel this was the best possible ending for it at this point in time.
The wrap out of the Lex/Nyxly story felt very current CW but the extended epilogue did really harken back to the CBS version of the show and that was a very nice way to go out. I wish we’d had a bit more of the scene with Kara, Winn, and Jimmy to really drive that home.
Kara removing the separation between her identities is absolutely the right ending. It’s a metaphoric and, in the case of this series, literal way of stepping out from Superman’s shadow. Which is absolutely necessary for a version of the character that replaced the Linda Lee/Linda Danvers alter egos with a version much more similar to Clark Kent in presentation.
The in narrative side effect of that, and it is one I all but guarantee will NEVER be addressed, is that she would also have just outed Clark. A large number of journalists were introduced to Clark Kent in season 2 as Kara’s cousin; and the Supergirl/Superman familial relationship was also made explicit. I suppose you could hand wave it a bit because of Crisis, but it’s very much a suspension of disbelief moment.
Some how I hope we might see those repercussions, but as you observed, dirtypool, it's probably going to be hand waved off or something.
I don’t think having to deal with their secret identity being put on blast would serve the story Superman and Lois is trying to tell with Clark, Jordan, Jon and Lois.
I think much like the different Fortress, this will just be ignored.
You can, but they won’t. It’s going to be fine because they’re simply going to ignore the implications of it and never explain why events are different than previously televised. It will remain a glaring inconsistency, just like the Fortress of Solitude
Yeah, inconsistencies are kind of Arrowverse's bread and butter at this point.
Not sure I agree with that.
|
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
But agree with everything everyone else has said about the finale - fight was a bit too rushed (including the help arriving...because?). And the long epilogue was good, but could have trimmed a bit of the wedding to add a few more minutes to the showdown fight.
I'm glad to read that Melissa and Jon have both said they'd be happy to return to their characters in other shows, so hopefully both will have good parts to do so.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
It's also worth noting that the inconsistencies in Superman & Lois this year was more due to Covid than bad writing, because they didn't know when their episodes would be airing in comparison to Supergirl's so they didn't know how they'd be able to reference events in that show. It's also not unheard of for Superman to have more than one Fortress at a time.
The backup fortress is rarely located in the same Arctic location (often being a mountain or jungle fortress) and almost never does it contain the full Trophy Room and Kryptonian Archive as many stories going back to the late Golden Age featured Superman moving those items to the backup fortress.
COVID protocols didn’t prevent Flash, Batwoman and Legends from using the standing CC Jitters interior set this last season, nor did it prevent both Batwoman, Legends, and Supergirl from redressing Barry’s CCPD office set as warehouse space. In fact almost all of the usual shared standing sets appeared across almost all the shows just as they did pre-COVID. So they could very well have just used the same standing Fortress set and redressed if slightly rather than going to the expense of building a whole other set.
ttow,
I think we all agree Supergirl was a good show, just some things we, as fans, didn't always agree with in terms of story choices sometimes.
Mostly what I feel is that the ending was solid but not extraordinary in any way. Which is how I felt about the show some times.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I just poured 1100 words into an article saying goodbye to a show that literally changed my life. (I'm a mother flipping two-time Eisner-winning comics journalist because of this silly superhero tv show). I'm a bit raw in the heart right now, and while the show had its ups and downs, I'm going to miss it very much.
I agree with you Cori. It's a very special show that, thanks to it, helped pave the way for others like Stargirl and Doom Patrol.