Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine Supergirl TV show (was CBS, now CW)

Mainstream media loves Flockhart, especially those that grew up on Ally McBeal. There's a funny Futurama episode about how pervasive that show was, where aliens came to Earth ready to destroy it because the show was cancelled.

I didn't actually didn't think Flockhart was bad or anything, but anyone who thought she stole the show from Benoist is crazy.

I hated Ally McBeal. Whining lollipop-headed twit.

Oh, and, on topic, I missed last night's episode.

Episode 2 continues with the steady drip-drip-drip of unsubtle Girl Power affirmations... although with what my nieces go through in Middle School subtlety is not necessarily a virtue in this cause.

What do you call the opposite of "catcalling"?

I am liking the show despite. The second episode picked things up, now that the origin story is out of the way.

Kara is given a reason to be hesitant about using her powers, and everybody knows who Hank Henshaw is supposed to be, right? Well, he are given a couple of clues that he already is.

Still having problems with the Cat Grant character, though.

Laura Benanti is triple-cast as Lara Zor-El, her evil twin sister, Astra In-Zee, and Kara’s new holographic artificial intelligence toy. I was surprised at how wooden her acting is. She makes a pretty good computer, but as Lara and Astra she sounds like she is reading her lines for the first time.

Kara really could use that learning crystal we saw she had on Krypton, though.

I understand that Episode 10 is already in the can; I don’t know if the writers are going to explore this in a lot of detail, but the prisoners in Fort Rozz seem to be political dissidents or even terrorists from many worlds. Was Krypton the Galactic Gaoler? Was the Phantom Zone the Guantanamo Bay of Space?

We also learn the motto of the House of El: “El mayarah”, stronger together. Which in Latin would be “plus validus simul”, which is kind of disturbing.

The idea of Krypton having contact with a bunch of alien worlds and apparently convicting and sentencing criminals from those worlds seems like it could get problematic really quickly.

I mean, it sort of implies that space travel is a regular thing for the Kryptonians, which leads to the question of why a whole bunch more of them didn't survive the planet's destruction.

Logical missteps aren't that hard to find. Talking freely in the office space, giving up the one secret weapon you have against Kyptonians.... I think you're the one that said about Flash (?) the more you think about it.... Probably a bit of that here too.


Supergirl first episode is Way, WAY ahead of the general offerings of the other superhero series IMO with the exception of IZombie (and maybe Daredevil) if that's to be included. With two exceptions (Jimmy and Mom/Aunt/General/Jarvis) the actors seem to have some chemistry and acting ability though there is some of that 3 words and a breath emoting and we are reading words not talking feel to the interactions. The latter usually fixes as the first season wears on.


Dialogue also WAY ahead of the others, DC or Marvel again with exception of IZombie and probably Daredevil. The serious parts need some work but it does subtle humor particularly well I thought.


Storyline: yeah I hear those concerns about the fast pace, but it's worked for me. Though there are aspects of the storyline that don't appeal to me, I like the pieces in place quickly. Things that might annoy me in one scene were generally quickly and reasonably explained or handled in a way I thought consistent with a character.


Characters:

Super"girl": Benoit, I think the raves on this board were justified. She can handle serious reasonably well (though that will take chemistry to build with other actors), subtle humor really well and is athletic enough to pull off scenes much better than the other superheroe actors were able to, day one. In fact I prefer her to what seemed to me a very clumsy stunt double. Is it my imagination or is she "taller" than Kara?


Kara: Her personality is a bit over the map. Started with a school girl crush, office bumbler ala Clark Kent but then "corrected" with a "I can take care of my own problems." This one on the writers, don't seem to know what they want of this character, a Clark or a Lois knock-off. I'd suggest letting the actor decide where to take Kara.

Jimmy, yeah, that ain't working. Actor is stiff in body and delivery and he's not even assigned to play Jimmy. Jimmy is not the mature reasonable one. Yet, they decided they still needed Jimmy so they made him Winn. I think Kara's sister was all the mentor she needed and they could have done without the Superman connection, though it's not a completely bad idea. If so, then it should have been someone playing the REAL Jimmy. The actor has a lot of experience so it surprises me he can't play this role. Like Kara, I think they felt they needed the character but don't really know what they want it to be. They could have done without this character, it adds nothing but since it is here, again like Kara, probably best if they let the actor find it, but it's not going to be Jimmy.

Scooby Gang/Winn/Robot Mom: completely unnessesary other than Winn should have been Jimmy. Robot Mom is just creepy and in general I found all four roles by that actor to be stiffly delivered as if reading off the teleprompter. General was best so there's that.

Henshaw I find to be the best of the bunch, acting wise.



Cat Grant/ Lockhart. I'm missing on the complaints here. Yes this is Prada (though Cat came first, right?). Lockhart is doing great balancing the over-the-top with the "Stupid-couldn't create a company like this" as far as I can tell and at least she can deliver an entire line without a pause and has body skills.

Following in the successful footsteps of Flash and Arrow, Supergirl works with a “team” on all her assignments—two teams, in fact: Winn and James, and Alex and Hank.

But, as on Flash and Arrow, not everyone is as they first appear. Winn is not who he seems to be. Hank is hiding a secret, already hinted at. And Alex does have “Lex” in her name.

This James Olson is not the comic-relief Jimmy. Superman has been around for at least fifteen years, and so James must be at least pushing thirty. He, too, may be hiding a secret. Perhaps he is, in fact, not James Olson at all, but some sort of alien, shape-shifting Elastic Lad!

I hope he does outgrow his role as the show’s official mansplainer.

Lots of people like Cat Flockhart. To me, her go-to haughty face does not say “wealthy superiority complex”, but “why did my agent sign me up for this show?” Calista Flockhart does not seem to like Cat Grant. She reminds me of Bill Murray, who is always wink-winking at the camera from behind the mask.

The character itself does not make a lot of sense. How can Cat and CWM be both rich, phenomenally successful, and also broke? As demonstrated by Trump, bankruptcy is merely a strategy in big business.

And why did we not see this bit of dialog?

Cat: “Get your pal Superman to line me up an interview with Supergirl, or you’re fired.”

James: “Well, golly Ms. Grant, I guess this position is just now working out for the two of us. I guess I will just have to take my Pulitzer and decade of experience as a famous and respected photojournalist, and see if I can find work somewhere else.”

The problem I have with Jimmy is that he's obviously there to provide the connection to Superman, but it makes it even more ridiculous that Superman himself doesn't show up.

Just wait a couple of days.

I think he's there to be man-candy, a business decision not a story decision. That aside, he's an experienced actor told to play an ICONIC character differently than that character was built. It's unfair to the character, the story and the actor.

I can easily buy into patience as Sue Pergirl indicates because several times already I was disappointed by a characterization just to have it "made sense of" within the story soon after. Winn not what he seems? That one catches me by surprise.



Some cool moments:

Fluffy
Henshaw Eyes
Jimmy's very last bit of dialogue in ep one, the only time I found him credible.

MT Fluffy is the best girl-power segment in the show so far.

The good news is, Season One has finished filming. Thirteen episodes for sure!

The other good news is that DC is fast-tracking a new Supergirl comic to replace the one they just cancelled six months ago.

The bad news is demographics: Supergirl fans are OLD! Half the viewership is over sixty years old! I guess there are a lot more Jeb Bushes in the world than comic-book-interested Girl Scouts.

Wow. I made an emoji. I didn't know I could do that here.

We've got a ton of them, all beautifully done:

So wanted to scream "Heat vision can't melt lead!" at the tv tonight!

Heat vision can't melt lead? Why not?


Lead can't stop a nuclear explosion, that's what I wanted to yell.


Enjoyed the episode. Sometimes conversations with Grant, which seem to be there to "define" Supergirl, fall flat but the one's with Sis seem to go great, that's my take. Scooby gang, still not buying.

Benoist making a great Supergirl and Kara.

Originally, heat vision was an application of x-ray vision, so it wouldn't work on lead because his x-ray vision wouldn't work on lead. Yeah, I know it doesn't make much sense, but it's a Silver Age thing.

This show is getting more like Flash each week. I enjoy it... but I have to turn off my brain.

Everybody needs to learn what the "secret" in secret identity means. Blurting out identities in the office? On social media? Why not just publish it in Catco magazine?

And why can't Superman beat Reactron? Green Arrow could beat Reactron.

Humming... humming... humming...

Wasn't the Golden Age Superman able to melt lead with his X-ray vision?

The Byrne Superman didn't have heat vision at all, but had some kind of psychic control over heat. His eyes glowed red when he did it, though. I don't think he had the lead weakness either.

But obviously, look at the thing Kara melted. It was obviously lead plated with copper. Look at the color! So her heat vision melted the copper, and the copper melted the lead.

I'm looking forward to the cross-over when Cat Grant meets Felicity's Mom.

Not sure if y'all heard yet but the episode that was originally going to air tomorrow got switched with a later one in light of the Paris attacks.

Well Livewire sure had a lot of plot. Everybody's secrets are beginning to come out.

Some well delivered snappy dialogue, easily my favorite of the Superman line of tv. Good villain. Still don't get complaints about Cat/Flockhart except that maybe she's showing her human side a bit too quickly. I think Flockhart is nailing it. In general Supergirl has avoided the hire a model and give them a couple years to learn to act problem plaguing the other super shows. Everyone here and the actors of the week can act.

Seeing potential in the Supergirl as a girl flashbacks.

Some things I'm over though

- save this city.
- every guy in an alley is a rapist.
- school girl crush on the guy that talks to her like he's her father, while other guy mopes from afar trope.

Yeah, I am not liking the James Olsen as super-mansplainer on this show.