On the one hand, it doesn’t make any sense for Lena to be that hands on. On the other, Kara is horrible at her job and every time they mention it in show, it makes me happy (of course, it will be consequence free. But at least someone is mentioning it.)
Worse, I remember from the old DC comics I read (published before Crisis on Infinite Earths) that Kryptonians have a “code against killing” in any form.
They may have loosened this post-Crisis when they rebooted the franchise, but really, Kara Zor-El just vaporized 4 sentient White Martians. She should have been a quivering puddle of “what have I done?!” the moment that first Martian disintegrated.
In a matter of seconds, she had killed more sentients than she has killed in her entire life so far, I think.
So it’s not just me, then. It was a real discordant note.
One of the things I’ve always liked about Superman is his determination that the number of people that have to be saved is ‘everyone’. He might fail, but that’s the goal and he won’t ever add to the body count.
This is, of course, in contrast to Batman’s, ‘Leaving the world no poor, four men die.’ philosophy.
Two quibbles:
-
Self-defense and/or genocide prevention, not murder as such.
-
Supergirl, even in the comics never had as strict of a code against killing as Superman. Hell, her dying act on Earth 1 was trying to kill the Anti-Monitor. (And I think she voted to acquit Star Boy in an old issue of Adventure when Star Boy killed someone)
That said, yeah, the scene was jarring.
Finally caught up. In things that may only interest me, Carl Lumbly, who played the Martian Manhunter’s father, was the voice on the Martian Manhunter on the Justice League / Justice League Unlimited animated series. Typecasting? 
Thank you! The whole time I was watching this episode the back of my mind was going “doesn’t his voice sound familiar?”
It falls in line with their parent-casting policy.
Yup. Like John Wesley Shipp, who played Barry Allen on the original Flash series, plays Jay Garrick, the doppelganger of Henry Allen, Barry’s father in the current series, and Helen Slater, who played Supergirl in the theatrical movie, plays Kara’s adoptive mother on the TV series.
Tonight’s Supergirl was very well done, treating an aspect of superheroes that ought to come up more often. I hope we see Coville again.
Another antagonist that Supergirl couldn’t just punch into submission. One that wasn’t even a metahuman or an alien. Arguably the villain wasn’t even a person or other physical incarnation, but rather an idea. How can you stop the worship of an objectively superior being not of this Earth who literally saves people? I agree that this was a very well-written episode. I am beginning to like this darker, more introspective Supergirl. She’s certainly handling it better than angsty Barry Allen last season.
I think we will. He’s played by Chad Lowe, who’s too well known to be just a one-timer, especially since he didn’t die. (And that was a surprise. I really thought he would.)
I also think that Sam’s going to die by the end of the season, and Ruby will be adopted by Alex and Maggie. (Unless Lena adopts her, and Alex and Maggie become the “cool aunts”.)
Yeah, about that: It’s been previously announced that Floriana Lima is leaving the show. I predict the wdding is going to be called off over the issue of children.
This was probably the most interesting episode of the entire series. I don’t think it quite lived up to its potential, but I love it when superhero fiction actually discusses the effect that the presence of superheroes would have on society.
I wish we’d gotten a bit more of Kara’s reaction to being worshiped. Surely she’s human enough (despite not being human) to at least be tempted to enjoy the attention and adulation?
I also liked that the guy was instantly able to recognize her as Supergirl and that she didn’t even bother denying it.
I liked the misdirection about Ruby being “special” - at first it seemed that the woman at the soccer match thought that Ruby was an alien, but of course, she just knew that Ruby was someone who had been saved directly by Supergirl.
Another fine episode directed by Kevin Smith. I was wondering how he’d do with this darker Supergirl (poisoning kids is no laughing matter) and he pulled it off quite well. In retrospect, “The Runaway Dinosaur” from The Flash was heartfelt and introspective so I shouldn’t have been concerned.
Speaking of poisoning kids, Morgan Edge we now see is the kind of villain who thinks nothing of poisoning kids and even the entire city. He’ll offhanded kill a henchman when the latter has outlived his usefulness. He’ll even threaten the most powerful being on the planet. It’s stereotypical, comic book, mustache-twirling villain behavior and Adrian Pasdar does it so well.
Aside from the short teaser, Supergirl didn’t make an appearance until three-quarters of the way through the episode (unless you count Kara catching a bullet). Instead we got Kara teaming up with Sam to figure out how the kids were being poisoned. I was kinda hoping we’d go through the whole episode without Kara having to suit up. I think they could have pulled it off.
It bothered me that they took a genuinely difficult moral/ethical dilemma (aliens were about to enslave everyone in the city and then take over the world, Lena had a very short time to come up with a solution, and did her best, and maybe it had side effects that she hadn’t had time to investigate) and turned it into stark good/evil (if anyone was harmed because of it, then she was as evil as her brother and deserved to be locked up and shot. But fortunately, it turned out to be 100% not her fault at all).
Me too. I always wonder, where are the authorities? Sure, Kara broke into the place there the chemicals were stored but isn’t there some way to hold the dude accountable legally? And when they autopsy the dead henchman, aren’t they going to conclude by the lack of muzzle burn on him that it was not a suicide?
It was a bit amusing to hear the chants of “Lock her up!” with just as much justification as there was last year.
Winn’s super toys are wearing thin. He’s got a gadget that can test for exotic compounds remotely and instantly? And Kara just happens to carry the sample container that goes with it?
Alright, Supergirl says she can’t carry the half of the plane with the chemicals and the half with Lena. Why not drop them both, zip over and pick up Lena, and place her in the plane with the chemicals? That way she and just set the half of a plane down easily.
I hope the Alex romance arc is done. It was getting tiring.
Oh, god, I hope so, too. All the Alex/Maggie relationship angst is just such a waste of time on this show. All the momentum of an episode screeches to a halt so we can watch them deal with their issues. Please let it really be over and done with.