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Review: Supergirl S2E21 “Resist” is the Cat Grant/Kara Power Hour

Posted on May 16, 2017 by Logan Dalton

Beginning with an action prologue showing the Daxamites putting National City under siege, writers Jessica Queller and Derek Simon literally bring out the heavy guns in Supergirl Season 2’s penultimate episode “Resist”. The core plot is simple: the main cast of characters plus special guest stars Cat Grant (Callista Flockhart slaying everything.) and President Olivia Marsdin (Lynda Carter) are fighting back against the Daxamite occupation. President Marsdin (Whose alien secret is revealed early on.) introduces the equivalent of the nuclear solution pretty on by authorizing Alex Danvers and the DEO to disintegrate the Daxamite flagship with Mon-El and Lena Luthor on it. They are arranged to be married and have a “perfect” Daxamite/human child because Rhea is basically a space Nazi. Katie McGrath’s side eye reactions to all things have to do with Lena’s arranged marriage to Mon-El are priceless.

Because her boyfriend and best friend are on the ship, Supergirl has a personal connection and decides to team up with Lillian Luthor and Cyborg Superman to save them, which goes pretty well… They might be the Big Bads of Supergirl Season 2, but they’re definitely bad guys. It’s not a Professor X teaming up Magneto in X2 situation, but more like being cool with the “bigger fish” in The Phantom Menace for five seconds or so so your submarine survives to be a part of yet another inane subplot.

It’s an understatement to say that Callista Flockhart steals every scene she’s in as Cat Grant, and that someone at the CW should move heaven and Earth to get her back on Supergirl as a regular or recurring guest star. There’s her reintroduction scene riding shotgun in Air Force One where Cat says that she could broker peace because she fixed Kanye and Taylor Swift’s relationship, and she even comments on the fact that James Olsen made her office smell like a gym locker room. But she’s not just comic relief in a relatively dark episode of Supergirl. Cat brings a high level of inspiration and direction to “Resist” and gives a great pep talk while sitting on a trash outside an alien dive bar. It definitely seems like the writers try to pack in a half season of interactions between her and Kara, but the scene where she talks to her about the importance of human relationships and connection stands on its own. And it pays off later with Kara and Lena kicking ass together on the Daxamite ship and definitely with Alex and Maggie infiltrating the DEO. Also, Flockhart gets to share the screen with Lynda Carter and Teri Hatcher that turns a rote disaster movie plane crash into three strong women verbally sparring with Cat Grant playing referee to the political posturing of Rhea and President Marsdin. As a journalist, she truly wants to follow the path of peace and truth.

In its last few episodes, Supergirl has definitely rekindled its political allegories and is definitely not shy at taking potshots at Donald Trump, or using the Daxamites as a metaphor for his administration. Cat’s “resist” speech pinpoints all the problems with his campaign promises, including basically selling his supporters up the river with false promises and con artistry while taking away their healthcare and some basic social services, like Meals on Wheels or PBS. And there are broader themes of resisting fascism represented by the faceless Daxamite goons, who try to subjugate National City.

Supergirl‘s treatment of President Marsdin is interesting too as she protects extraterrestrial refugees because she is one too. However, she is also perfectly okay with firing upon civilians (Lena, Mon-El) for the greater good. Marsdin represents the problems I had with former president Obama and Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy with their liberal social conscience meets hawk-ish foreign policy. It’s nice to see a sociopolitical critique in a superhero show in 2017 that doesn’t just go for the obvious target.

Millicent Shelton, who has directed episodes of Empire and Black-ish along with the first Earth-2 episode of The Flash, brings a visually muscular style to “Resist” that matches its subject material. The cold open of the episode is quite epic and filled with whip cuts culminating in Supergirl catching Alex in slow motion. It’s the kind of action scene that immediately raises the stakes of the episode and is worthy of a Warner Bros blockbuster and not just a CW show. It’s good storytelling too as it introduces the conflict between human and alien by centering on Maggie Sawyer and the National City P.D. and not Supergirl or the comatose Martian Manhunter. There are good aliens and bad aliens just like there are good and bad humans, and this keeps the conflict messy and nuanced as Supergirl Season 2 rounds its final bend. Also, Maggie Sawyer should use shotguns more often.

“Resist” is a visual treat from director Millicent Shelton (See the slow-mo action sequence where Cat deduces Guardian’s secret identity.) , is packed to the gills with action and moral conflict as Supergirl teams up with Lillian Luthor to save her friends, and has a season stealing performance from Callista Flockhart as Cat Grant. Add a fun/weird cliffhanger, and I can’t wait for the season finale.

Overall Rating: 8.5

Jeremiah’s Return Shakes Things Up in Supergirl S2E14 Homecoming

Posted on February 27, 2017 by Logan Dalton

The latest episode of Supergirl begins with Mon-El being uncertain about and then giving himself a pat on the back for his sexual prowess, and things can only go up from there. When he’s not being the worst boyfriend ever and not listening to or empathizing with Kara, writers Caitlin Parrish and Derek Simon focus the plot of “Homecoming” on the return of Jeremiah Danvers (Dean Cain) in an overly easy opening set piece. The circumstances of his return are pretty sketchy from the get go as he pops into the DEO with the knowledge of Cadmus’ nuclear fusion bomb, but Kara, Alex, and J’onn are so emotional about the return of their father and friend that they don’t see it. A big kudos to Melissa Benoist, Chyler Leigh, and David Harewood for selling the emotional part of what is a staple superhero/genre show plotline.

I usually wait until the end to start throwing shade on the Kara/Mon-El moments in Supergirl, but decided to lead off with them because “Homecoming” is bookended by them wanting to snuggle. First off if you want to be a terrible boyfriend, do everything that Mon-El did in this episode. It starts small with him shrugging off Supergirl’s morning activities when he wants to cuddle/have sex longer instead of letting her help people. (Honestly, I don’t buy Mon-El as a cuddler.) And then, it goes to terrible lengths when he immediately starts accusing Jeremiah of being suspicious instead of being there for Kara when her father returns after 15 years. Yeah, it’s obvious that there’s something up with Jeremiah, but the big family reunion margarita shindig isn’t the time to voice your opinion about this. It does give Melissa Benoist a chance to trot out that acting range as he goes from trembling and happy about her dad coming back to just pure, measured rage when Mon-El starts being foolish. But, of course, since Parrish, Simon, and probably most of Supergirl”s writing room has them as star-crossed lovers, they’re all cuddly and supportive at the end as Kara gives Mon-El a millionth chance to be a decent human being.

To not completely dump on Mon-El in “Homecoming”, it is nice to see him play an active role in the plot investigating and collaborating with Winn to find out what really is going on with Jeremiah’s return. He isn’t just a horny goof, but is a little bit savvy even if it’s just from binge watching 24 on Netflix. Unfortunately, the main storyline of “Homecoming” relies on the main characters being idiots, and that’s never good for suspense or characterization. Simon and Parrish even shoehorn some pointless sibling drama from Alex and Kara with Alex barking ultimatums at her sister and even being a little microagressive about her being adopted. Saying “my dad” makes it feel like Alex is saying Kara is a lesser status than her, which gets really problematic once we find out that Jeremiah Danvers has stolen the registry of all aliens on Earth for Cadmus.

Speaking of Cadmus, Lillian Luthor, who gets minimal, yet powerful screen time, is a true chess master in “Homecoming” playing the entire DEO for fools. She plays on the family bond of the Danvers and J’onn keeping less than a weather eye on Jeremiah to get the alien database, which is like having all the cheat codes to her anti-extraterrestrial game. It’s clever and involves minimal goon punching (Except for the truck sequence during the cold open.) and destroys Team Supergirl’s morale when they realize the low trick that they’ve fallen for. Lillian Luthor and Cadmus now have the upper hand and even though a random (Possibly Dominator) ship doesn’t frighten or excite me, Supergirl is back to having a real antagonist to focus on instead of beatable villains of the week.

Director Larry Teng creates a sense of visual continuity in the bad guys this week through the cybernetic elements of both Hank Henshaw and Jeremiah Danvers. Teng’s fights that involve him are simple with lots of punches and hooks unlike the complicated, cutting everywhere, and trying to save the budget moves of Supergirl, who gets a nice close-up of her welding a railroad together with her heat vision. It’s incidental to the plot, but shows that she’s still a pure hero in the midst of all this family/Cadmus drama. Dean Cain’s performance as Jeremiah Danvers is also a tad on the underrated side as he strains at trying to be the man he once was for his family. Helen Slater as Eliza Danver’s usual warmth exposes this fake side pretty early on in the episode as she is distant and cold to him. Eliza is smart woman so maybe she thought something was up with him. If anything, “Homecoming” has crafted a tortured family man turned Cadmus toadie in Danvers, and he is vastly more interesting than the one note Cyborg Superman and still is solid muscle for Luthor.

The tender moments that Maggie Sawyer and Alex Danvers share are becoming more and more fleeting as the writers start to focus on the more volatile, toxic melodrama friendly relationship between Mon-El and Kara. (A good love/hate relationship can be fun, but there’s no spark to Kara and Mon-El; they are definitely not Spike and Buffy.) But Teng shoots an almost silent scene where Maggie comforts Alex after the hard news about her dad. They just hold each other while Alex cries, and Leigh pulls out the emotional floodgates. Their relationship is sweet, strong, and honestly a big reason why I tune in each week.

Larry Teng, Derek Simon, and Caitlin Parrish telegraph Jeremiah’s heel turn worse than a deer in the headlights freshman making their first bounce pass in a varsity basketball game. Most of the plot of “Homecoming” is utterly predictable, and the only positive of his return is seeing Benoist, Leigh, and Harewood emote on a powerful level. J’onn and Jeremiah used to be buddies, and they have a casual ease in the early scenes that turns into raw anger when it’s revealed Jeremiah works for Cadmus. The relationship between Kara and Mon-El continues to consume all too much screen time as it’s revealed that he doesn’t care about her until the last scene of the episode yet again. But fighting against an even more fortified Lillian Luthor sounds like a good season endgame for Supergirl, and hopefully, the writers, directors, and cast pull it off.

Overall Rating: 6

Supergirl S2E8 “Medusa” is More Mother/Daughter Relationships than Crossovers

Posted on November 29, 2016 by Logan Dalton

While the lion’s share of the advertising and general hype surrounding this episode of Supergirl is about its impending crossover with the other CW superhero shows, writer Jessica Queller and Derek Simon don’t abandon the show’s arcs and relationships for guest stars and dimensional rifts. “Medusa” is centered around relationships between mothers and daughters and family in general as Lillian Luthor tries to get Lena to join the family business and release a bio-weapon killing. On the more heroic side of things, Supergirl works with her adoptive mother, Eliza Danvers (a very pleasant Helen Slater). The intertwining of the family secrets and the passive aggressive sniping of the Luthors thanks to Brenda Strong along with the added side dish of Martian Manhunter struggling with becoming a White Martian elevates the plot, which is a standard quarantine disaster movie or the X-Men “Legacy Virus” crossover without them.

The theme of family is definitely fitting for an episode immediately airing after Thanksgiving, and director Stefan Pleszysnki uses warm lighting and plenty of shots of Kara and her friends and family to show their bond despite “secrets,” like James Olsen being the vigilante Guardian, or more seriously, Alex Danvers coming out as lesbian to her mother. Alex does come out to Eliza later in the episode in a warm moment of acceptance, but thankfully the Guardian subplot is sidelined for this one. Helen Slater is basically a human sunbeam, and even though she mainly plays the role of scientific exposition or fixer of bio weapons, she brings intelligence and love to each scene. This is a total contrast to Kara’s real father, Zor-El, who is responsible for creating the basically racist bio weapon Medusa, which can destroy the DNA of any non-Kryptonians as a last ditch weapon.

It’s disconcerting that Kara’s father, who instilled in her the values of goodness, hope, and being “stronger together”, created something that could be used for genocide and could kill innocents. Melissa Benoist’s performance as Supergirl is less bright and more pensive than usual after this reveal as she talks to Martian Manhunter about her father’s terrible legacy. As the lone survivor of a world he would have given anything to save, he slightly understands Zor-El’s motivation, but mentions this in passing and instead comforts Kara. David Harewood channels the noble, honorable warrior inside of J’onn Jonzz that comics fans and viewers of the Justice League cartoons have loved for years as he flies out to help stop Lillian Luthor from releasing the bio weapon. He has a passion for good that can’t be drowned out by the White Martian DNA devouring his body even if this disease makes for some nifty special effects makeup.

In “Medusa”, we finally get to see Lena and Lillian Luthor share some extended screen time, and Queller and Simon make their pacing around an office scenes more tense than Cyborg Superman getting his block knocked off or doing a “super punch” for the umpteenth time. (There is nothing wrong with punching just a character that exists as a one-dimensional goon, punching bang, and waste of David Harewood’s acting talent.) Brenda Strong continues to be the queen of passive aggressive condescension mixed with the cold, hard truth. (Yes, she prefers Lex to Lena.) Katie McGrath pulls out all the acting stops going from being the easygoing friend as Kara “interviews” her to get information about Cadmus and her mother to the cold, disdainful daughter measuring each syllable in venom when her mom decides to drop in. And she is especially entertaining in villain mode with raised eyebrows and a purr that evokes Eva Green if she ever decided to play Lady Macbeth. And Pleszynski holds the reveal that she sabotaged the bio-weapon for quite a while hinting at some dark irony as aliens celebrate red sparks that fall from the sky and do nothing.

And this being a CW show, this review wouldn’t be complete with an overindulgent discussion of the romantic pairings in “Medusa”. Queller and Simon go to the soap opera well and have Kara and Mon-El share a kiss while he is on his “death bed” after being exposed to the bio weapon. It isn’t really logical that Kara would fall for a kind of sexist, kind of adorkable, and slightly cowardly guy like Mon-El, and the “bonding” scenes where they play Monopoly and discuss the meanings of “crush” and “like” don’t really help. He is attractive, but it seems like the Supergirl are trying to do Romeo and Juliet with DC Comics aliens and hopefully less bloodshed in their relationship. It lacks the spark of, say, Alex and Maggie or even Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak in early seasons of Arrow. Plain and simple, Mon-El is way too douchey to be with Kara.

But, on a happier note, Maggie Sawyer and Alex share a beautiful scene at the end of “Medusa” , which acts as a rousing conclusion to Alex’s coming out arc. It’s kind of cute, kind of awkward, and also very empowering as Maggie finally realizes that Alex came out not so she could be with her, but that she could finally completely be herself. There’s great symmetry between both her chat with her mother and Maggie about finally being able to feel her full identity, but substitute familial for romantic love. Maggie and Alex finally share a long kiss, but it’s the little pause where Alex asks Maggie if she likes her that encapsulates their relationship as Alex is still a little unsure of herself after Maggie previously rejected her. This hesitancy and fear makes Alex’s coming out that much more organic because even if your friends and relatives aren’t homophobic, the process can be a little awkward. Luckily, Alex has a supportive mother and sister.

As Supergirl Radio podcast host Carly Lane astutely tweeted, “Medusa” is like a zero issue or prologue for the “Heroes vs. Aliens” crossover with The Flash and Vibe enlisting the help of their extraterrestrial ally in a battle against a mysterious alien threat. There is a scene with aliens on a ship that seems spliced in from a later episode or another show altogether, but mostly the “crossover” scene at the end is a reminder of Gustin and Melissa Benoist’s adorable chemistry (They give the best hugs. with a tinge of sadness as Barry and Cisco aren’t on the best of terms. And in true comic book fashion, the episodes ends on an energetic cliffhanger as Kara will get to meet Team Flash (and possibly more people) tomorrow night.

With the reveal of Zor-El as potential destroyer of worlds, Jessica Queller and Derek Simon find a real commonality between Lena and Supergirl in “Medusa”. They are both daughters trying to make something better out of their family’s misdeeds even if Luthor will always have a more villainous ring to it than El unless you’re a disgruntled train commuter. This through line of family, especially mothers and daughters, keeps this Supergirl focused, but some fun romantic, Martian, and speedster detour don’t derail it.

Overall Rating: 8.0

TV Review: Supergirl S2E4 Survivors

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Brett

While investigating the murder of an unregistered alien, Kara and Alex find an alien fight club run by Roulette; Hank tries to get to know M’Gann better; Supergirl begins to train Mon-El.

The first rule of alien fight club is don’t talk about alien fight club. Yeah, that joke will probably be made in most of the reviews of this episode of Supergirl which further explores the second Martian survivor M’Gann and also gives us an alien fighting ring.

But, the episode is really interesting because it continues the themes of last episode as to who is “human.” There’s a tidbit in the episode focused on this as Roulette explains that humans don’t care about what happens to the aliens because they don’t see them as human, but other.

And that’s a lot of the episode’s focus, about the “Survivors” of various planets and species on Earth trying to make a life. It’s about the aliens that are here attempting to go forward, but being treated as less.

And that idea of being a survivor extends to Supergirl figuring out what to do with Mon-El and J’onn trying to get to know about M’Gann. All are survivors from their home worlds and have to figure out what to do. Should they continue tradition or should they forge their own way forward? It’s an interesting debate and gets into real world debates such as inter-faith marriages for Jewish individuals and also an exploration of prejudices. It’s some good use of metaphor in entertainment.

I think there’s also a case to be made that the concept of “survivor,” otherness, and trying to find your own also applies to Alex who clearly is crushing on Maggie. I’m cheering for these two to get together.

The episode as a whole is decent and gets us away from the usual alien attacks and the DEO and Supergirl have to deal with it. It also sets up a lot to come. The end of the episode has some twists I don’t want to ruin and is best to experience them. Some are telegraphed, but others are a bit more left field.

A good episode that sticks to positive themes while keeping the entertainment high.

Overall Rating: 8.3

TV Review: Immigrants Get the Job Done in Supergirl S2E3 Welcome to Earth

Posted on October 25, 2016 by Logan Dalton

In a single hour of Supergirl, writers Derek Simon and Jessica Queller grapple with racism, homophobia, and xenophobia through both metaphor and reality. Instead of going the original X-Men route where Stan Lee used a team of white teenagers to explore racism in the United States, Simon and Qweller deal with it head it on in pointed speeches from J’onn, who mentions how being taking the form of an African American man has had an impact on how he is treated, and new supporting cast member Maggie Sawyer (Floriana Lima), who talks about how growing up lesbian and Latina in Nebraska, has caused her to connect with the more extraterrestrial citizens of Metropolis. Rachael Talalay’s (Doctor Who, Tank Girl) direction of the scene captures why science fiction and superhero stories have captivated people of color and LGBTQ folks as she lovingly closes in on the different features at the aliens at the bar. Chyler Leigh (who plays Alex Danvers) also has magnetic chemistry with Lima, and even though, they are chasing a lead on a possible Kryptonian assassin of the president of the United States (played by a a positively regal), it seem like they are on a date at a gay bar. Text and subtext mingles to create an over the top, yet wonderful episode of Supergirl.

The main plot of “Welcome to Earth” is centered around the signing of the Alien Amnesty Act, which allows all extraterrestrials to become American citizens. There are overt parallels with the amnesty towards undocumented immigrants in the United States, and both the real policy and Supergirl one are connected to the fact that the United States is a nation of immigrants from all over the world. However, instead of having Supergirl fight against some xenophobic figurehead, Simon and Queller have her confront her own implicit racial biases towards Mon El (Chris Wood), who is from Daxam, a planet that was involved in a civil war with Krypton years ago. While Mon El is being held in DEO containment, Kara basically tells him that Krypton is a more “enlightened” planet than Daxam, which characterized as a lawless, warlike land. She is the good guy, but this is flat out racism. This scene is painful to watch, but shows that everyone (Even paragons of virtue like Supergirl.) have biases and prejudices that we need to overcome. This is in spite of Mon El’s inclusion in the plot being your usual run of the mill red herring deal as it’s revealed that an alien named Scorcher is behind the attack on the president.

Scorcher is the weak link of this episode. Her powers look cool, but there is really no substance to her character. She is just there so Supergirl and the DEO have something to fight and investigate. But Simon and Queller don’t revert to superhero comic politician cliches with the president’s reactions to her attack as she (slightly naively) continues to push the Amnesty Law even when she is attacked by an alien twice. These attacks are also a chance to show Supergirl’s unflinching heroism as Talalay zooms in on shots of her covering the president with her cape, or carefully using her freeze breath to make sure that the Amnesty Act is unharmed. It’s unfortunate that Scorcher is a pyrokinetic plot device, but she is a small setback in an episode filled with real world connections underneath a warm sci-fi veneer. Plus Lena Luthor returns in this episode and shows the signs of being a possible, excellent Big Bad as Katie McGrath delivers her lines to Kara with a casual friendliness even as she channels her inner Donald Trump and says that humans must have the ability to detect the aliens among them. Lena has the makings of a great villain because she thinks she is helping out (and making a buck) with this new technology, and because she isn’t impulsive like Metallo or Scorch, but quite the chess player.

Supergirl also continues to do an excellent job showing the difficulties that Kara has in her day job while also finally giving James Olsen some scenes that channel his undeniable charisma in Season 1 as he and Snapper Carr butt heads. By the end of “Welcome to Earth”, it is clear that he is the boss as he rewrites Carr’s choosing to take a moral stand instead of hiding behind the cloak of objectivity. Snapper does get to show off that he’s a journalist’s journalist as he pursues all angles (including religious) of the Amnesty Act and helps Kara channel her passion for the truth while filtering out her “pro-alien” bias to be an objective reporter. It’s nice to see Kara learn the craft of being a reporter instead of just using her day job as a way to set up plots, and the bias discussion with Snapper dovetails with a conversation she has with Mon-El where she admits her bias towards his planet.

Maggie Sawyer is truly a great addition to the supporting cast of Supergirl as she instantly connects with Alex Danvers with their similar take charge attitudes as they try to one-up each other at the scene of the attack on the president.. And on her own, she fills in a gap in Supergirl as she is connected to both the human and alien citizens of National City in her job as a police officer. She also happens to frequent an alien bar and be the ex-girlfriend of a certain prominent DC character, who gets revealed in a gorgeous flourish of CGI and yet another tense confrontation scene from Talalay. Talalay builds the connection between Maggie and Alex through glances similar to the looks Cate Blanchett throws Rooney Mara’s way in the 2015 LGBT indie film Carol. Add some sharp banter, and the fact that Maggie helped Alex have a more sympathetic view towards aliens and see them as nuanced individuals, and we have the start of a beautiful friendship, er, romance.

Supergirl soars to new heights in “Welcome to Earth” as Derek Simon and Jessica Queller pay tribute to the Super-mythos’ immigrant roots while taking racism, xenophobia, and homophobia head on through superpowered metaphors as well as great characters, like Maggie Sawyer, J’onn, Mon-El, and even Supergirl herself, who confronts her flaws in this episode while continuing to be adorable, especially in her interactions with Lynda Carter’s president, who is an alien herself…

Overall Rating: 9.5