Hello and welcome to Supergirl FeelsFest 2017, the game where the ups and downs are so intense you’re not sure if anyone is winning or losing by the end of it!
We open on a high though, so let’s start there. Alex is lamenting how all-out Eliza is being about her, and I quote, “lesbian wedding shower” and Kara is just laughing because everyone knows that Eliza Danvers does not care if you’re gay or straight or whathaveyou; if you’re getting married, you’re getting a board with your baby pictures plastered all over it.
Also me when I’m invited to wedding/baby showers.
And one thing I have to say about this episode that surprised me in how much it surprised me, is that they said “lesbian” and “gay” so many times. Just casually, without hesitation, the way I use them, the way my friends do. I didn’t realize how rare it was on shows like this until these words I use every day took me by surprise when they came from my TV.
Anyway, Alex is pretending that Eliza going overboard about this bridal shower thing is embarrassing but in reality she couldn’t be happier.
But before Eliza gets there, J’onn shows up and tells the girls that he can’t come to the bridal shower because he has to go back to Mars to see what M’gann’s distress call was all about. Alex and Kara want Kara to go with him but he’s hesitant, especially because of the shower, which is adorable and very Space Dad of him, but Alex says if she could survive on Mars’ atmosphere she’d already be halfway there with him. So it’s settled: Kara will go with him. And miss her bridal shower. Which is upsetting but I guess the only way to make sure she stayed out of what was about to happen?
“Why would you want to separate us? LOOK HOW CUTE WE ARE?!”
Anyway, J’onn has a sweet ride to Mars so Kara will be fine.
Later, Maggie and Alex are having dinner with Eliza and it’s sweet and cute and wonderful and ELIZA DANVERS PLEASE ADOPT ME, TOO.
LESBIAN LAUGHTER, A SOUND THAT CURES WOUNDS LIKE THE TEARS OF A PHOENIX
Eliza is worried about Kara but is ready to celebrate Alex and Maggie. She asks about Maggie’s childhood photos — or rather, lack thereof — and Maggie explains that her parents kicked her out when she was 14. Alex gives Maggie an out, but Maggie wants to tell her future mother-in-law what happened. She says that after she was outed by that girl she liked, her father drove her to her aunt’s house and left her there. The last thing he said to her was, “You shame me.”
Eliza is HORRIFIED at the very notion and and says her father was the only one doing anything worthy of shame in that story and Alex seconds the notion with a hug snuggle. A huggle.
You can practically see Alex thanking Eliza with her eyes for being the BEST EARTH MOM EVER.
And okay I’m going to tell you the truth about Mars. I know the show is about Supergirl, but she’s secondary in J’onn’s secondary storyline in this episode, meaning she’s basically not in it, and also I don’t really understand the point of his storyline, other than to give us a much-needed visit with M’gann and to show that not all dads are monsters? It’s super unclear. Anyway a staff is missing and J’onn’s dad is unmissing and everyone is yelling. We’ll check back in on them when they get to the good stuff.
Later that night, while they’re getting ready for bed, Alex asks Maggie why she never told her the story she told Eliza at dinner. Maggie says she doesn’t like to dwell on it; he was a great father up until that day. Alex asks if she’s ever thought about reaching out again, and of course she has, OF COURSE. But her aunt that took her in told her that they didn’t even have any baby pictures left of her in the house. They erased her, so she did her best to erase them, too.
I have two words for you: camo. pjs.
Alex suggests inviting them to the shower, as an olive branch, but Maggie doesn’t want to talk about this anymore. She says, “I love you, but drop it,” as they climb into bed. It’s all so blissfully domestic and yet another thing that is so NORMAL but still so rare to see on TV.
In the middle of the night, a hand reaches out for Maggie’s phone, and I have to confess, for a brief, hysterical moment, I thought it was Alex. I thought Alex was going to call Maggie’s father for her, I thought Alex maybe hadn’t learned her lesson from the ex-girlfriend thing, and I thought I was going to have to give Alex (read: the writers) a Lecture. I was scared and angry and sick about it for that millisecond. But then! It was Maggie! (When I watched the second time I saw the bit where Maggie was sitting awake and Alex was sleeping but I had missed it the first time around.)
Alex’s suggestion got her thinking so she called her dad, who is miraculously awake at this late-and-even-later-in-Texas hour, and invites him to the bridal shower she’s having for her wedding to a woman named Alex. She cuts the conversation short and looks a little like she just jumped out of an airplane but she did it.
I want to give her a huggle.
And when she looks up, she sees Alex sitting up in bed, watching the love of her life make the hardest phone call she’s ever made, a tear streaming down her face that it’s one she even has to make.
Chyler’s faaaaaaaace
In the parallel dad storyline, J’onn is having a hard time getting his father to believe he’s really his son and not a mind trick from the White Martians and time is running out because they really need that staff before the White Martians use it to blow up Mars. Probably. I’m genuinely sad they are doing Maggie and J’onn stuff in the same episode because I really like J’onn and I really missed M’gann but it was impossible to focus on their quest for Rita Repulsa’s staff while there was a Gay Crisis™ happening down on Earth.
Speaking of which, Maggie’s father has decided to come to the bridal shower after all, and by the way, he’s been Googling her lately and knows she’s a kickass homicide detective.
Ya damn right.
He asks her how she figured out one particular case, and Maggie says it was actually with help from a lesson he taught her when she was small. He’s pleased she can speak fondly about him at all after he ABANDONED HER but things seem to be going relatively well, all things considered.
At the bridal shower, a Barenaked Ladies song is playing, Maggie is killing the how-well-do-you-know-Alex trivia game Eliza concocted, everyone is cute and happy, everything is gay and nothing hurts. Maggie’s dad shows up while Maggie is still in the hot seat, so Alex welcomes him in and offers him a drink. As Alex explains that she’s the bride, Maggie’s nervousness about them talking to each other overcomes her and she rushes to her girl’s side.
I’d watch a queer remake of Meet the Parents tbh
Maggie’s father notices there are no pictures of Maggie on the bridal board so he takes a well-worn snap of a tiny Maggie out of his wallet, kisses it, and adds it to the Alex collage. They start to open presents, and before they do, Maggie tells Alex that she’s her greatest gift, and they share a kiss, a gift to us all.
:squirrels this morsel of joy away:
Things are going great right? You feel good? All warm and fuzzy? Well guess what that warmth is from a flame that’s here to SET YOUR WHOLE WORLD ON FIRE because as soon as they kiss, Maggie’s dad storms out like he maybe thought this was just a gal pal party and this was a platonic wedding like how kids on the playground get married at recess.
I mean you MET Alex. Of course I was going to kiss her face.
Maggie storms after him and demands to know what his problem is. Her father then explains where he’s at. He says that he came to this country from Mexico, worked his way up to be sheriff, suffered through racism and other hardships to make it so that his children would not have to feel like they didn’t belong. Maggie echos Alex’s words to him, tries to tell him that the world is different now, that she has people who care about her and accept her for who she is, but he doesn’t see that. He sees the wall they’re trying to build to keep his people out, he says that the only thing worse to these bigots than being Mexican is being gay. (Actually he says “homosexual” which I’m sorry is a hilarious word.) It sucks because I think what he’s really feeling is scared. I think he remembers being beat up by the white kids on his way to work and doesn’t want anything like that to happen to his daughter. But instead of saying that or confronting that, he’s angry at it. He’s acting like it’s a choice she’s making to spite him, when it is decidedly not, and he’s pushing his daughter away because of it.
Up on Mars, J’onn is having trouble getting through to his own father, so Kara talks to him instead. She knows it can be hard being the only person like you, and that it can be hard to open your mind to things you don’t understand, but that he has the chance to make a difference, to make the planet better. And I dunno maybe Maggie’s dad could use a SuperSpeech right about now.
“This can’t be right, I’m getting a reading that you’re the star of this show.”
The speech works and J’onn is able to share his favorite memory with his father and his father finally believes it’s him, and tells them where to find the staff. Kara is pumped because people are finally paying attention to her in this episode of this show named for her, so she screeches into the scene in J’onn’s Ford Anglia, Britney Spears blaring, ready to save the day.
Why this car automatic…it’s systematic…it’s hyyyyydromatic.
Kara is delighted to help and starts superpunching people and stealing the staff and zapping White Martians.
She’ll hit you, baby, one more time.
After the fighting is done, Kara bestows the staff to the Martian Resistance, but they want her to take it to Earth to bury it; no one should have that kind of power. They say goodbye to M’gann, and take J’onn’s dad with them, even though I kind of which they had all gone back together.
MIss you already bb
Down on Earth, Maggie meets her father at the bus stop, catching him on the way back to the airport. She gives him back the photo of her and says she’s realized now that she’s not that little girl anymore. She’s not going to wait around, waiting for her father to come back and love her. She’s happy in her own skin, she’s surrounded by people who love her. Maggie Sawyer is happy, and doesn’t need him anymore.
“I even wore my second gayest jacket to prove I’m happy with who I am.”
And as hard as it is to watch, I’m really glad this was the conclusion for this father-daughter storyline (at least for now). I’m glad it wasn’t tied up in a bow, because that’s not always how it happens. Sometimes parents kick their kids out for being queer or trans or both, and they don’t always change their minds. Sometimes they do, sure. Sometimes they realize they reacted poorly, but sometimes they don’t. Sometimes the hate and fear wins, even after a second chance, a second try. Especially if the homophobia is also entangled in race, culture, and/or religion, it’s not always as easy as seeing that your kid is happy to overcome all those biases.
My heart breaks for Maggie. It also breaks for everyone Maggie represents. But I hope she can serve as a source of hope for anyone going through this. Not everyone can have a parent like Eliza Danvers, but anyone can have a found family like the Danvers family. This show, at its heart, is about family, and about how who birthed you or sometimes even raised you isn’t necessarily the family you’re tied to; family isn’t this one pre-set, unchanging thing. Love makes a family. You can choose your family. And your family can shrink and grow and change a hundred times over in your lifetime. Sometimes your blood family chooses you and you choose them back. J’onn found his father again, and so did Maggie. J’onn’s father ended up welcoming him back with open arms, Maggie’s didn’t. But J’onn also has Kara, someone he speaks proudly of at the end of the episode, as if she’s his own daughter, calling her special.
And Maggie has Alex. She says so, later, back at Alex’s place. “You’re all the family I need,” she tells her, kissing her in the curiously shadowy apartment.
Really put that photoshop curve tool to use.
Alex is glad Maggie is finding closure, and wonders if maybe this will change her stance on being a parent. Maggie says it won’t; she just doesn’t want kids. All she wants is Alex. And their future dog, Gertrude. She says that’s all she’ll need, and needs to know if Alex feels the same way. And Alex says, “I do,” ironically, since something tells me they’ll never get that far. Because Alex isn’t being honest; I don’t think she means to be dishonest. I think she says it will be enough because she genuinely hopes it will be. I think maybe part of her thinks Maggie will change her mind and another part thinks maybe she’ll change her own mind. Because it’s hard to think about loving someone with every fiber of your being but there still being something that could keep you from being the perfect match. It’s hard to think that with a love this strong, there could still be a dealbreaker at play.
We could have had it aaaaaaaall
But that’s what this is, a dealbreaker. Something they should have discussed months ago. Something they should probably be discussing in more detail now. It’s hard but there are a few things I like about this turn of events. One, I like that Maggie unapologetically does not want kids. Some women don’t, and that’s perfectly fine. I also like that this opens the door for the impending breakup to be Alex’s decision. For it to be relatively mutual, for it to be more sad than angry, more inevitable than explosive. They will always love each other, but maybe they weren’t meant to spend their lives together.
Who knows where we’re going, but I can only hope that Alex won’t spend the rest of her days in the pits of despair. I know Alex and Maggie both survive, but frankly that’s not enough. To quote our girls’ favorite band, it’s all been done. That’s the bar, and it’s low, but Supergirl has proven it can do better than other shows—this relationship is the emotional crux of this episode, and has lasted longer/been more positive overall than any other on the show so far—so I want it to keep doing better. (It’s also proven it can make giant loaf-shaped mistakes, so this is why I plead.) I want Alex to find happiness again, even if it’s in being single, even if it’s in being a kickass DEO agent. I want her and Maggie to stay friends, even if Maggie is off-screen until a brief visit next season. I want Alex, in her sadness, to turn to her sister and not alcohol like a younger Alex might have. I just don’t want this heartbreak to define her.
Alex Danvers is very important to me; Maggie Sawyer is, too, and so is Sanvers, but it’s now an inevitable fact that Maggie is leaving and Sanvers is ending. So above all, I want Alex Danvers to succeed. I want her to thrive. I want her to be the beacon of hope for queer people, old and young, that Chyler Leigh wants her to be. I want her to break all the tropes and all the odds and all the glass ceilings. I want her to be happy.
– Hufflepuffs are made of huggles, but I’m a Slytherin.
– I thought that both storylines were great, but the Maggie one also makes me mad. Not because of the storyline itself, but because I feel that we’re being bait-and-switched. The front episodes seem to be Sanvers and Lena heavy, but we know who’s coming. I feel that they’re using these storylines to draw us back in before they get back down to what they want to be doing.
I don’t know about bait and switch I just think this show needs to find its footing again and they might need to re-vamp to do it which might mean letting some people go and focusing on the new people they brought in.
they barely have anything for James to do, Maggie is leaving I think maybe Alex might not be that far behind, they have Lena as a series regular to either be Kara’s confidant or villain (I’m still not sure which yet), the same with bringing Reign onto the scene. And J’onn and Winn are still around running the DEO to monitor alien activity. This will be a whole new show.
Valerie, I’m very grateful for all of your recaps, especially for the cool captions you make in each episode. But this time I’m gonna have to point out some things that were not mentioned here. Everything that happened in this episode was expected by those who follow Supergirl’s spoilers. Which turns everything into something even more frustrating. I’ll name those frustrations:
First, without going into the merits of this pattern that is repeated in casting a white cast to represent Latina women (something that has already been addressed by Autostraddle itself), it was extremely cruel to represent this Latino community once again as stupid and ignorant people who don’t accept their queer children while on the other side we have, again, the white family that is all hugs and smiles and acceptance. I’m Brazilian and I’m sick and tired of these representations and I’m exhausted with the recurrence of these images.
Second, I find it very problematic not to question some basic things about the script (even though this is Supergirl’s script): how come you you create out of nowhere a president who is building a wall to separate the Mexicans when, in the series, the president is an alien who wants to get people together? I mean WTF? Do they watch their own show? The writers actually had the ability to play this speech in the middle of the scene to justify something unjustifiable.
Third, contrary to what some people here are already rooting for, I find it equally problematic to expect that Alex is quickly picking up other women out there, when little is questioned about the fact that Kara Danvers seems to have lost the will to live during several months after that boy whose name I won’t mention disappeared from the scene (but wait! the dude’s coming back to steal the show again! yeah!)
Fourth, that problem someone here had mentioned earlier this year has now gotten even worse: although they always say “I love you”, Alex and Maggie look more and more like work buddies than girlfriends. There is no affective closeness between them, there is only a certain friendly affection. Even their kisses are somehow a little cold. And this is not because they’re having issues. This has to do with how the bodies of the actresses feel at ease on the scene. It bothers me.
But more important than all this, it’s sad to see that white and heterosexual writers still think it’s “modern” to create a story in which two women break up because one wants to have children and the other does not (as if Alex didn’t already have one big child to take care of). The concept of marriage and children and a family portrait in the room is… “modern”?
As someone (Jade) wrote on Twitter yesterday: “if you want to address tough issues, you need to be willing to ask tough questions about your own internal prejudices and faults”.
Anyway, I’m not sad anymore. I’m angry.
I won’t speak to the other parts, but remember that although President Marsden is a woman and an alien, the Speaker of the House is still Trump. He could have introduced legislation to build the wall without the president’s support. Furthermore, don’t forget that there already IS a wall. Our Trump is simply trying to enlarge the wall that already exists.
Really good point about making the Latinx family the intolerant one versus the accepting white one. This reminds me of that awful L Word episode where Carmen’s family was a horrible caricature of Latinx culture … The thing about the Supergirl writers is that they see themselves as super-progressive (“Hey, we have a lesbian couple! And they’re interracial!”), but they often fall down on the most basic tropes around gender and race.
I agree with your points. What I find most upsetting/disappointing is that from the start Floriana’s character was not meant to be big or last long. She confirmed it on her EW interview. So from the start another lesbian relationship was not meant to happen beyond a few episodes. I don’t understand how writers are not able to write a decent love story for a lesbian couple. Among hundreds of tv series with so many straight happy couple thrown on us, we should and deserve proper stories and representation of happiness.
They are bringing the boyfriend back as usual.
All they are doing again is showing to millions of people that LGBT people do not get to be happy. Doesn’t matter what Chyler Leigh and Floriana Lima write on twitter or instagram because those families who are against their children being gay will not see/listen to that. They will watch the tv stories mostly and use that against LGBT.
That is so hurtful and triggering to so many people. I don’t think any of them actually realise how challenging it is. The Supergirl cast on SDCC showed so much disrespect that it was unbelievable that nobody there called them on it.
I give major respect to Sara Ramirez in that regard, for doing work and pulling ABC when they messed up.
Agree with all of this. I get the feeling watching this show Maggie is only around as long as they can tick off all the usual sad lesbian storyline tropes. We deserve so much better than what Supergirl is giving us.
I am *not* looking forward to the Sanvers breakup, and found so many of the Sanvers scenes in this episode sad (like I was sad when Maggie was sad, but I was also sad when Alex and Maggie were happy). But I really like your point that television narratives about parents struggling with their children being LGBTQ don’t always have to end happily, with a 100% accepting parent like Eliza. Because that’s *not* what happens, and yes, even when our blood families won’t be there for us at particular times, queer folks have been making our own families for a long time.
As for Alex – YES, hopefully she won’t similar be “broken” the way Kara cruelly predicted in the premiere, although of course she will be devastated. If Maggie has to leave, let this be a chance to explore Alex more as a character on her own, as well as the person closest to the show’s main hero – and yeah, I say bring on the Alex/Sara shenanigans (because if that happens, we know that Alex still loves Maggie with all her heart).
That said, the bridal shower was a bit weird, because we saw all these people that are supposed to be friends of Alex and Maggie, and we had Maggie say that she was surrounded by people who loved and accepted her for who she is – but we’ve never actually really seen that except the core gang, and even those scenes have been few and far between (SPOILERISH sidenote: no wonder Floriana Lima was not happy with her screentime and storylines in S2).
I honestly have been so ready from the moment go for Alex Danvers to get tinder and have a series of dates that go every single way they could possibly go. That’s it, it’s all I want. Dating Montage Extravaganza. Every Single Facial Expression Explosion. I’m ready. Make it happen.
I can count how many times I’ve cried as an adult on 3 fingers but watching Maggie with her dad damn near forced my eyeballs to wring out a few tears. I grew up in the south in a mostly segregated town on the other side of the railroad tracks where the homes that slaves built for themselves still stand now occupied by subsequent generations. Also, still standing at the center of the former slave enclave is a k – 8 school (now church) that my great grandparents, grandparents and parents attended during segregation.
Growing up my parents stressed 4 things:
1. Don’t ever let white people see my pain, know my weaknesses or make me feel like I am less than. (Note: racism was rampant in my town so this was imperative).
2. Be a good church going Baptist.
3. Respect and obey my elders.
4. Never ever forget where I’ve come from and the struggle it took to provide me and my siblings with more than what they (my parents, grandparents, extended family) had.
Being gay was a weakness in the eyes of my parents who were church mainstays; a weakness that not only shamed my family but white people could use as another reason to see me as other…less than. I was now the embodiment of sin according to Baptist doctrine, my very being was now disrespectful and I had spat on my family’s hard work and dedication to me.
Hearing Maggie’s dad talk about his struggle as a POC was like hearing my own parents all over again when they found out. My only consolation was that I didn’t realize I was gay until I was an adult and had already been on my own for a while. I hope to one day to find my family and be as brave and happy as Maggie.
wow. thank you for sharing this. <3
“he maybe thought this was just a gal pal party and this was a platonic wedding like how kids on the playground get married at recess.”
THIS ^
I get so furious when people do stuff like this that I can’t even put into words properly!!!
I was Maid of Honor to a lesbian couple wedding and they decided not to kiss on mouth to RESPECT their relatives.
Dude if it’s a WEDDING between two women it means they are A COUPLE, they’re allowed to kiss, dammit!!!! I tried to reason with them but they decided against it. That pissed me off so bad but it wasn’t my wedding, therefore, I had no right to push anything.
There is no lack of respect kissing the person you love on your own wedding!!!!
We’re 3 episodes in this season and I don’t know about anyone else but this season already feels…lost. It’s like the writers didn’t get together before shooting and map out what the season would be they just wrote 3 episodes blind. It should be that these first 3 episodes of the season set the ground work of how the season will develop but there has been no cohesiveness within them.
I was very disappointed in this episode, as Valerie said Maggie has a story and J’onn has a story just because they both involved fathers doesn’t mean they need to go together. And additionally as Valerie put, this show is called Supergirl and she was the secondary to the secondary story. I’ve actually felt that way with the other episodes too, there hasn’t been any “hero” moments for her, yeah she’s saved things and people but then she has gone home to sulk over Mon-El. Maybe I want to simplify this show but bad guys come, she has a little back and forth with them in the end she out smarts them and wins, the end.
I am just very surprised that this is happening now with season 3, I was thinking it would happen last season with the change to Vancouver and losing Calista but they hit the ground running and season 2 was great but maybe that’s it, they back themselves into a corner last season and can’t figure out how to get out because the only option they want to consider is putting a square peg into a round hole (I am talking about Mon-El).
But anyway, onto the shower, I paused at the bridal board, not sure if anyone else did too and in case you didn’t know young Alex and Kara were recast this season but on the bridal board they had picture of old young Alex and Kara and the new young Alex and Kara and I think maybe a picture of Chyler as a baby. I’m annoying about details.
Then when Maggie went to open the present she said “I know who this is from” and Alex got an embarrassed look on her face, me thinks that was a box of sexy times things because she wasn’t sure if she wanted Maggie to open it and luckily Maggie didn’t.
Now about Maggie and her dad, now I am in my 30’s, if I bumped into someone who I last saw when I was 14, I would have to do a double take to make sure it was them so how could Maggie and her dad immediately know each other when he got off the bus? Yeah he said he Googled her but still, neither was a little wary especially given how he left her all those years ago. This whole story seemed rushed to me, I know there will be an inevitable breakup but really THIS was what they came up with to usher Maggie out?
And also what was the deal with the Building a wall etc, that the wrong President on this show. I get wanting to make that comparison but it just doesn’t work if you’ve established that the right person won the election in the Supergirl universe.
As for the impending exit, I read the article Floriana did with Natalie Abrams at EW and I have a few thoughts really my own speculation. If you don’t know Floriana Lima is dating Casey Affleck, he was starring in and directing a movie in Vancouver last year, I assume being with him in Vancouver she asked her reps to put her up for some parts based there and Supergirl was the right fit. So she signed on because it was only going to be for a year (which fit in with Casey’s movie timeline) not knowing Sanvers would be what it became but it was always her plan to just do the 1 season. Also and this is a more shallow reason, Casey won the Oscar and was getting more publicity and she was with him at events so it kind of put her name out there more so maybe she would use that to her advantage in more movies and TV shows.
Now here is my disappointing thought, Chyler might leave the show too. Valerie mentioned some cryptic tweets, and Instagram posts Chyler’s been doing and I can’t help but think Maggie might come back later in the season to usher Alex away. Chyler has a family and I don’t think she uprooted them for the move to Vancouver, and she was willing to do the long distance at first but what a difference a year makes. Her and her husband’s music is taking off more and more and she probably wants more time to be with him and her kids touring or what have you. Alex like Kat Grant can do some drop ins but as we’ve seen these first 3 episodes Alex really hasn’t done much by way of fighting and as I said she can pop in for those sisterly moments.
Okay off my soapbox now.
I should be sleeping, but here’s my two cents.
1. Yes I know its a little incoherent to reference Trump’s wall in this universe, but maybe in this universe he won in 2012, and Olivia Marsdin got the 50 state, 75% popular vote wiping the floor with Hillary should have gotten (whether or not you like Hillary, the fact that Trump didn’t loose 75% of the vote, is a huge indictment of the US), or maybe they employed a little bit of suspension of disbelief because it allows the narrative of oppressed minorities stamping down on other oppressed minorities to be even clearer.
2. I thought that it wasn’t certain Maggie was leaving… I mean this is certainly laying the groundwork for a potential trapdoor in the plot for her to escape out of…
3. If Alex left, while everyone else is amazing, the show would collapse, the dynamic of Alex and Kara is vital to the show…
4. Can we please, please, please have Cat Grant settle down with Jacqueline Carlyle, and they can have a magical baby who will inspire the universe…
Thank you for writing this. I’ve really been having a hard time with the idea of Sanvers ending. Especially these days, it’s often felt like the one good, pure thing I can find an escape in. I’m really sad that it’s going to end but I appreciate the way you framed this ending. It makes me feel a little less torn up about it.
I think also and this is my last pre-sleep point, dang you Supergirl inspired insomnia…
I want to have children, I really do, but at the same time I also want to have children in the right situation, and that would be a situation in which I was in a stable family situation, where I was able to dedicate the majority of my energies towards them, while maintaining my own mental and physical health…
So if I met the right person, then them not wanting children would not be a deal breaker for me… we all make choices in life…
Not to mention, despite the fact that the DEO has a habit of having pretty bulletproof agents, and practically magical recovery tech…. its not the safest of occupations, and a badass cop, and a badass federal agent, might present certain risks…
I’m just saying, it shouldn’t be a deal breaker for them…
I agree 100%
Dear goddess, this is my last comment, but I still feel traumatised by the asshole father…
I mean when I first came out, things were far from perfect, but the relationship I have with my family now, because they got over their preconceptions and prejudices is amazing and beautiful…
How can you continue to be such an asshole… your daughter who you royally fucked over, is basically a world saving badass supercop, with a badass world saving (or possibly tax inspecting depending on what her magic badge says on a given day) fiancee….
Not to suggest that success is a valid measure of self worth, but given that all his prejudices seem predicated on systems of oppression and inferiority, the fact that her soon-to-be-wife (please please please magic story forces), almost certainly has the President on speed dial, and her soon to be sister in law has made friends with the President of Earth 1… not to mention all the other things…
GAH
Must sleep.
It’s wonderful to read your reviews Valerie. Thank you.
I think Maggie’s story was very well written and acted in the show.
I liked the J’onn story too–especially the Mars mythology though I was a bit confused about the staff part.
I do hope the show will deal with Alex’s story with care.
Except for the last part about treating it as closure. Because I think it still could get better some day.
The only thing I liked about this episode besides your recap is the fact that Maggie did not get “small” in front of her Father and revert back to the closet. The kids thing is not a deal breaker and they could write a hundred different ways for them to not be in the same city and then recast the character. I think this break up story line is lazy and nothing about this storyline [save for casting Floriana] has been lazy
Even though I crave stories that show that sometimes biological family is garbage, I am frustrated that it’s the Mexican family that’s shite. Like, they couldn’t even speak to ONE Mexican or Mexican American about this storyline??? Even if they wanted to make the Mexican dad shitty about gay stuff, that’s such a weird way to make him shitty about it. It makes him extra stupid because it’s a logic fail, and the white writers get to pat themselves on the back for “addressing” racism.
Notice that he craves white guys’ respect and fears he will lose it now that his daughter is gay–it allows the audience (largely white and accepting about gay stuff) to imagine that these white guys whose respect he has possibly wouldn’t even care about someone being gay anymore, and he’s just living in the past. Even a line about how the white guys at work are currently vocally anti-gay would have allowed white people to share some of the burden of sustaining his homophobia. But no. It’s like it’s a natural consequence of being an ethnic minority. The writers for this show have some deep deep issues. I’m all for seeing depictions of what it’s like to be queer and another minority, but I’d rather see it written by that minority (not to mention played by them too). This was just dumb.