Supergirl Season 3

Cafe Society
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For someone who wants kids, Alex is astonishingly bad with them. What made her think that, for Ruby to get over the fact that her mother is a worldkiller, it would be a good idea to bring her to the arcade along with her boss and his father who has Martian Alzheimer’s? She was only saved because the kid and the Martian unexpectedly bonded over foosball.

I guess this was the obligatory episode to remind us that Jimmy Olsen is the token black guy. Now is Lena going to use Jimmy’s Guardian dilemma to come to a realization about Supergirl and secrets, or is she going to remain oblivious?

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Desire for kids doesn’t equal competence at parenting, sadly (and Alex is jumping in the deep end with “dealing with a kid whose Mom turned out to be a mass murderer” - in earlier episodes she did better with baby-sitting).

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This episode had an even greater-than normal amount of sheer stupidity in the plotting.

So these cult people have a journal which gives them instructions on how to assemble a world-killer-maker.

(Stupidity #1) They should make a copy of it so their entire reason for existing doesn’t fail if it gets stolen

Then the defector steals it, and they blackmail James to get it back

(Stupidity #2) There’s often a situation in a show like this where the good guys are balancing the life of a hero, or a loved one, vs the fate of the entire world. That’s presented as a touch choice. Here they’re balancing a revelation about James so minor that by the end of the episode he’s decided he’s actually going to voluntarily make it, vs effectively giving a WMD to a terrorist cell. What an incredibly non-interesting choice, that they still make wrong.

(#3) How did the cult get tech good enough to defeat all DEO tech for tracking a van? They’re not supervillains or anything

(#4) What ever happened to just following a car? You know, the way government law enforcement agencies can do? Or maybe just have supergirl flying up high overhead keeping an eye on things?

(#5) Also, if you’re going to give up the girl and the book, how about giving up a shapeshifted J’onn instead of the real girl? (And if the plot required it, they could certainly whip up a deliberately incorrect but convincing copy of the book in a few hours.)

(#6) So Mon’El, who has nearly super-girl powers, is 10 feet away watching this ceremony take place, and he sees the crucial step happening, and yet somehow can’t stop a bunch of completely unpowered humans from completing the ceremony until it’s too late. Once the van arrives all he has to do is just go immediately subdue everyone, then there’s no more risk of ceremony, and they can search for the rock at their leisure (at which point it won’t yet have been used)

(#7) Evil mastermind Lex Luthor built a home security system where the cloaking device is disabled by smashing the control panel. I see a flaw in your plan there, Lex.
It’s like the writers just don’t care at all. It’s one thing for them to make a good effort and occasionally some cracks show up, since it’s obviously hard to tell stories about a being as powerful as supergirl. But, come on, you’re professionals. At least TRY to have any level of consistency or logic in people’s actions.

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Even though he was smiling, I bet J’onn was hurting on the inside seeing his dad having fun with Ruby, remembering that he used to have fun with his granddaughters.

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Gotta say about Mon-El: Was totally unimpressed with the character when he debuted, but he’s really grown and is a lot more credible as the “Superboy’s big brother” character he was supposed to be in the comics.

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I always enjoy scenes of Alex kicking ass, and Alex kicked so much ass this episode. (Including a completely random return of the sheriff from Midvale to remind us of the first time she kicked ass.) But I thought this episode was supposed to be about the joyous reunion of Kara and her mother. Couldn’t the writers have come up with enough material for Kara to do in Argo? Especially since, as it turns out, the mystery hologram guiding Reign and the Worldkillers is a member of the Argo council.

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I could tell, from the rather dramatic way the camera lingered on her in the council scene, that I was supposed to recognize her. But…I didn’t. Not until the end, when she started talking all sinister, did I realize that’s who she was. A bit of face-blindness on my part, perhaps.

Did I hear right? Did Lena call James “Jim” during their tender heart-to-heart talk? It’s not quite “Jimmy,” but I guess it’s kind of a nice touch that she has a name for him that no one else uses.

I’m not sure why Laura Benanti was replaced by Erica Durance as Kara’s mother, but it seems like a definite step down in terms of acting ability.

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Erica Durance was in Smallville. (She played Lois.) Nice to see Tim Russ from Star Trek: Voyager as another council member.

So, I’m guessing the whole motive for the Worldkillers was to leave Earth empty for the Kryptonian survivors? Makes sense–it was never clear before why they were sent.

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Production of the show moved to Vancouver; Laura Benanti decided she’d rather do Broadway. It’s easier to write off characters like Maxwell Lord and Lucy Lane. Kara’s mother, not so much.

I think Erica is trying too hard to imitate her predecessor’s gravitas. She was fine playing the fake FBI agent Noelle Neill in the “Midvale” episode. She was also good as Lois Lane in Smallville.

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What a mediocre episode. A lackluster “final” fight with Reign. A dull going away party, where her adoptive mother wasn’t even invited. What excuse did Kara give to CatCo? I guess Jimmy could just send her away on assignment. An uninspired reunion with Alura. We’ve spent so much time this season seeing Supergirl and not Kara that there’s no emotional resonance with the daughter meeting her mother again. And does Alura have anything else in her wardrobe than that blue dress? Finally, a completely unnecessary and overly-simplistic political message about gun control.

Maybe the only good thing about the episode is that MISS TESSMACHER! is working with a Luthor again. As she should be.

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Why is season 3 finishing so late? By that, I mean what is the rationale for extending the season beyond Memorial Day? It’s the only fall show still with new episodes (that I watch, at least). I personally think this is a boneheaded CW programming decision, but what do I know? I guess I will just add it to my list of gripes about Supergirl, none which so far have moved me to stop watching.

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You know, usually I don’t worry too much about the question of why Superman isn’t showing up more often, even in crisis situations. I understand the realities of the situation–it’s her show, not his, and all that. But in this instance: Kara has discovered that a piece of the planet Krypton has survived. That other Kryptonians are alive and well, including her own mother (Superman’s aunt). And that doesn’t rate at least a phone call to Clark? He doesn’t have to show up, but not even a token, “I told Clark, and he’s thrilled.” Really?

And does the society of Argo City really have to be so much like earth? To the point of young families having trouble with the contractors who are putting in their backyard gazebo? That seems surprisingly middle American for an alien world.

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Probably a longshot, but: What if Clark is on the way in his own spaceship (he might have one we don’t know about) to join Kara, and she’s been keeping that a secret to surprise her mom/his aunt?

That would solve the problem of getting Kara back to Earth to battle Serena, and bring Superman into the fight.

Another question: Kara’s pod that took her to Earth originally was “knocked off course”. We never found out why that happened, but I suspect it wasn’t random. Wouldn’t be surprised if Serena engineered this somehow.

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One thing I really hope they address, but I know they probably won’t: Earth’s yellow sun. Specifically, the effect it has on Kryptonians. One did comment on how it was so awesome that Kara could fly on Earth, but surely there’s a bunch of displaced Kryptonians thinking, “Why are we struggling here on this floating rock, when we could be gods on Earth?”

And yeah, that’s kind of Serena’s plan (except she wants to kill all the humans, first, for some reason), but I’m surprised there aren’t more Argonians (holy crap, Skyrim is on Krypton!) saying,“Um… why aren’t we already flying there right now?”

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If you’re not going to address the breathtaking sociological and ethical and technological implications of discovery like this, either (a) at least pretend you addressed them, or (b) come up with some other McGuffin.

And what a truly idiotic shoehorning of a preachy gun control diatribe. Yes, the first step to gun control should be the FBI divesting themselves of all lethal weapons. Sure…
Why must Melissa Benoist be so charming and charismatic that she single-handedly keeps me watching this utterly stupid show?

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That is the conundrum we all face. 'Tis a puzzlement.

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The show had an extended hiatus due to the Andrew Kreisberg situation. The hiatus was so long that they were able to finish out the remainder of Legends’ season in Supergirl’s time slot.

That’s her superpower.

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You should see the effect she has on the teenage girls I live with. They put it down, they don’t want to watch…WHAT!!! They’re glued to it and can’t stop watching.

She sells girl power.

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Having forgotten all about that (or not having been paying attention to the story when it broke), I had to look it up. Officially, the delay was not due to Kreisberg:

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Of course it wasn’t. They also said that they didn’t want to broadcast five superhero shows at the same time for fear that viewers would become fatigued by too many superhero shows, and yet their schedule for the upcoming season has them showing all five superhero shows at the same time.