Okay y’all, this week’s episode was Sanvers-lite, but not lacking in the lady love. Plus Livewire was back, so while I’ll probably skim over the boys being literally useless, there are still some fun things to talk about. And frankly? I was happy for the break from having my heart carved out of my body, tossed around a bit, cuddled, then shoved back in. I feel like it’s been a long time that we’ve had a major female character in a relationship with a woman where they had an entire episode where they could just be. No drama, no fighting, no being hunted by the heads of an illegal cloning experiment, no tension, just…girlfriends. And even if I’m forgetting someone, and it hasn’t been all that long, it feels like it’s been that long, because every day since November 8th has been an exhausting eternity, and every day since January 20th has been twice that long. So it was just nice.
Last we left our hero, she agreed to start training the bowl of oatmeal so he could be “super” too. So we open this episode with Kara doing just that. He proves to me…somewhere left of super, mostly good at the fighting, not so great at protecting the cardboard citizens of the training room.
Because she feels like she has a handle on her new protegé, so she decides to take him out on a mission.
“If you’re not going to go away you might as well be useful.”
Meanwhile, out in the world, Maggie responds to what she calls a “thief drop”. It seems James has been watching too much Arrow, so the Guardian left the bad guys tied up in an alley for the police.
“I don’t know, I got all these tweets to wear my bulletproof vest at all times, I didn’t want to risk it.”
Back in the van, Winn begs James to tell Kara, and he says he’ll do it tomorrow.
At the DEO, M’gann starts hearing voices in her cell, and goes all smashy-smashy, screaming so loud she breaks the unbreakable glass, and passing right out. Things look grim, because even Alex can’t figure out what’s wrong with her, beyond the fact that something is in fact wrong. J’onn can sense her, and knows it’s true that she’s fading fast; he says he doesn’t care about her well-being with his words, but his face tells a different story.
Across town, Livewire is in her jail cell, receiving some much-needed counselling. Except her feet are in a bucket of water (to keep her from electrocuting people) and her therapist refuses to call her Livewire, so obviously the girl is pissed. But she’s not in her cell long, because a man dressed as a guard frees another prisoner from her cell, then they come get Livewire, too.
“Hello strangers also from prison I’ve never seen before, surely you’re a trustworthy bunch!”
After they escape, Maggie and Alex are scoping out the scene. Maggie admits that she liked Livewire’s radio show, before she went all…well, Livewire on them. They hear Kara storming her way through the prison and take a bet on how long it will take her to get through the guards; Maggie thinks it’ll take ten seconds, but Alex is sure she’ll get through in five. If Maggie wins, Alex has to try vegan ice cream. If Alex wins, date night is at her apartment tonight.
Alex wins the bet, and frankly Maggie doesn’t seem to upset about it.
LOOK AT THAT FACE
The guards, confused as to how a skinny little reporter bested them, try to apologize to the ladies running the crime scene, but Maggie assures him, “She’s with us.”
I love those three words so much. She, meaning Kara Danvers aka Supergirl, is with, aka accompanying and working alongside, us meaning Maggie and Alex, dynamic duo. IT’S TOO GOOD.
Eyes, Maggie. Alex! Stop leering! Can’t take you queermos anywhere.
Kara goes on a full frustration-ramble about Livewire and Maggie tries to present the facts and Alex tries to tell her sister to cool it, but Kara is practically a live wire herself, she’s so worked up about her nemesis being free.
Kara storms off to CatCo, probably partly out of old habit, but instead of a faux foe to take her frustrations out on, she finds James, who just turns up his nose at her annoyance and says there’s more than one hero in National City now. She knocks him down a peg when she thinks he’s talking about Mr. Cole Slaw.
James says that Mon-El is not a hero, and Kara says it’s her moniker they use as the title of the show, so he doesn’t really have a say in who does or does not deserve a chance to be a hero.
srsly?
At the same time, they see breaking news about a…shocking situation at a parking garage, so they both run downtown. Supergirl shows up first, with Mon-El in tow.
But the charged-up lady they find isn’t Livewire; it’s a decoy…and she’s not alone. Supergirl tells Mon-El to protect the police officers while she takes on the two baddies. To his credit, Mon-El asks Supergirl to let him help her, but she insists he stay to protect the cops. Then he loses all of his credit by leaving them uncovered to “help” her. Guardian swoops in to pick up his slack while Supergirl saves her damn self, but he gets knocked unconscious, causing Kara to take off his helmet to see if he’s okay, only to discover that it’s James.
Back at the DEO, Kara. is. pissed. Kara asks to talk to James alone, and Alex zooms out of there faster than a speeding bullet. Kara takes a deep breath and tries to give James a chance to explain himself.
*I will not punch my buddy I will not punch my buddy*
He tries to explain his desire to help people, to be a hero, that he’s just the same as her. But she reminds him that there’s one very important difference between them. He is not made of steel.
James is pissed that she’d rather work with Mon-El than him – even though surely she would prefer a man with James’ heart and Mon-El’s strength, but she has a human hero and a doofus alien and she can’t babysit both of them. James then says Kara doesn’t get to decide who’s a hero, even though that’s literally exactly what he was doing earlier? It’s annoying. If he had just come to her and asked to be on her team this wouldn’t be going down like this. There’s room for humans – like Alex, like Winn – on the DEO team, he just needs to swallow his pride and accept that the show’s not called The Guardian and Supergirl. It’s just Supergirl.
While all this hero drama is going on, M’gann M’orzz is dying. Alex begs J’onn to help her, but he can’t justify saving a White Martian. She reminds him that M’gann risked exposure to save his life, but J’onn doesn’t know who he is without his deep hatred for the White Martians. But Alex says forgiving M’gann wouldn’t be giving the White Martians anything; it would be giving himself some peace.
I just forgave my grade school bullies just for Alex and that face.
Outside, Kara and Mon-El fight on the street. Mon-El doesn’t understand why she’s mad; he was trying to protect her. But that’s not what she needs. She doesn’t need protecting. She needs a teammate. Someone who will listen to her, someone she can trust. Finally she confronts what the thinks the real issue is and asks if he’s only working with her because he like likes her.
“I’m pretty sick of the men in my life acting terribly just because they like me.”
He tries to play it off, but she stomps away; she doesn’t want help if he’s not in it for the right reasons, if he’s going to risk civilians’ lives to “save” her when she doesn’t need saving.
Back at the DEO, they realize that they Kara’s first theory was wrong; Livewire didn’t escape, she was kidnapped. Winn says he doesn’t know where she is yet, but he lied; he wants to give Guardian the leg up. So WinnGaurdian heads off to stop the bad guys on their own, an eavesdropping Mon-El on their heels.
While the boys run off to make a mess, J’onn tells Alex and Kara that he has made a decision. He’s going to mind meld with M’gann to save her. Papa J’onn says he needs help, and Supergirl is ready for anything he needs; but he doesn’t need Supergirl. He needs the Danvers girls – HIS girls – to stand by his side while he does this. And they’re more than happy to oblige.
I LOVE THIS SPACE FAMILY THEY CHOSE EACH OTHER
And inside M’gann’s mind, where she is trapped and haunted by her past, J’onn kneels beside her. He sees her pain, he sees that she is not defined by the misdeeds of her people. He calls her a friend. He forgives her.
Forgiveness. Can you imagine?
And together, they come home.
Across town, we find out that Livewire was abducted by a mad scientist (and I do mean angry; he’s bitter because he got turned down by Shark Tank) who is using her essence to make electrified minions. He calls her a “nasty woman” but she takes it as a compliment. Guardian swoops in to save her, and when Livewire realizes that Supergirl isn’t with him, she declares herself doomed. She doubles down on that thought when Mon-El strolls in after him. They’re soon overtaken by the mad scientist, who has also turned himself into a zaphead, and Livewire scolds them for not knowing when to rely on the woman in their lives who is better than them in every way.
Livewire is me as a villain. Supergirl is her literal nemesis and she prefers her over these dudes.
Winn, in the van, calls Kara and begs her to save the lecture for after she helps her buds out of the tight spot they’re in. Supergirl flies in to save the day, and Livewire joins the Super Friends to take down the scientist. In the end, they make a deal; Supergirl will give Livewire a head start if she doesn’t kill the scientist and instead lets the DEO arrest him. Livewire agrees to these terms, but says it should be “just us girls” next time. Which. Co-signed.
“We can play LIGHT as a feather, stiff as a board. Get it? Light? As in, electricity?”
At the DEO, the most beautiful thing happens. Maggie Sawyer, Alex Danvers, and Kara Zor-El stand side by side, having a little post-mortem about the case, and whether they’ll see Livewire again any time soon.
SuperSanvers for the win!
And in an overall hopeless episode, Kara regains a little bit of her usual spark when she says maybe that’s the last they’ll hear from Livewire; maybe she won’t cause trouble now that she’s free. Maybe.
After Kara heads back downstairs, Maggie reveals that a second bet was made – whether or not Supergirl would take Livewire down. And since Maggie won this round, it’s vegan ice cream tonight. Which I really hope is a euphemism. Because…I dunno. Of all the things you can make both vegan AND delicious, I’m not sure ice cream is one of them. But they lean on the railing and laugh; easily, comfortably. Togetherly.
Lesbian activity.
Downstairs, James and Winn tell Kara that they’re going to do this with or without her support, but obviously they’d rather her be on their side. She tells them she can’t condone them running around on their own, two squishy and breakable human men, but they won’t be content with being just on her team like before.
She trudges home and finds Mon-El there waiting for her, and he confesses his feelings for her. He wants to keep working with her though, even if she doesn’t feel the same way (#blessed I’m sure), but wants to put this whole thing behind them. She thanks him for being honest, and they high five, and that’s that. Kara looks exhausted – the men in her life have all gone rogue and not in the fun way – but she doesn’t stop him when he leaves. They don’t kiss! It’s a miracle. For the love of Rao let that be the end of it. Let Mon-El date a stray DEO agent or something, let them become buddies, pals, let him be her sidekick, whatever. If a person has to be taught to care about people other than themselves, they’re not good enough for Kara Danvers. Just saying.
Questions we’re left with now include but are not limited to: Will J’onn work with Guardian or will he be on Supergirl’s side? Will the White Martians – who now know where M’gann is, as they’re the ones who poisoned her mind – come to National City? Where is Lena Luthor? When is Cat Grant coming back? And last but not least, did Alex like the vegan ice cream?
I loved this recap (especially the epic visual representation of Mon-El- spot on!)
I’m so over James/Winn and Guardian storyline it’s not even funny. There is a difference between being a hero and being superhero- anyone can be a hero, but not everyone can be a superhero. And don’t get me started on them lying to Kara for like 8 episodes. NOT COOL.
Mon-El as a funny character I enjoy. Mon-El being shoe-horned into a love interest for Kara I don’t enjoy. He could be the face of aliens trying to immigrate to Earth and learning how to live- so many storylines could be used for him- assimilation vs keeping one’s culture, for example. But no, instead we have a boring-ass personality with a boring-ass storyline.
J’onn and M’gann legit made me tear up. Those were SUCH GOOD SCENES.
Sanvers was, of course, totally adorable. I can see the two of them constantly betting each other- they are both totally competitive.
Vegan ice cream can be good! Veggie Galaxy makes vegan milkshakes with coconut based ice cream and I like them a lot. I think they do boozie ones too now.
But anyway, WHERE IS LENA LUTHOR?
Oo I DO like coconut and also booze so. Alright alright, I’ll go get a milkshake with Maggie Sawyer.
I’m dead! I could barely tell that the photo was photo-shopped! 10/10
And that Hamilton reference, it’s like you wanted me to cry in public today.
Thank you for the amazing recap!
Heather really outdid herself with that photo, didn’t she???
And sorry for almost making you cryy!!
<3
Again, I take a bow to your recaps. And like you, I loved the fact that they’re just being girlfriends with the whole ‘my place or your place’ thing. This is a MAJOR development.
And yes, please, may this be the end of any romance possibility between Kara and Mon-El. Not only him, but mainly the James character are starting to annoy me. And really, why do we have to come with another male superhero when TV is FULL of them??? Why not bring Lena and Cat Grant back? Why not introduce a badass woman character like… Batwoman in this series? (if we’re also looking for something that could heat up the Sanvers storyline).
Or like Livewire herself would put: “Little boys who think they can do a better job than the woman who’s an actual superhero”.
There’s is literally no episode of this show that wouldn’t be made better by at least an appearance of Lena Luthor but they keep giving us YawnEl instead. I don’t actually hate the character but he doesn’t add anything this show needs and Lena REALLY does. Also, here’s Lena whenever they try to force romance between him and Kara.
that’s the annoying thing too, is he *could* add something to the show. they have fun friend chemistry, and he could be an outlet for kara to talk about home and other planets with a real person rather than just a hologram, but instead the show keeps trying to force this whole romance angle and it’s stale and boring and they really need to stop with it already.
Thank you for the recap, Valerie!
When I saw Mon-El leaving without any kiss or encouragement about his feelings, I was really relieved! And although my SuperCorp heart screams YES, I know that they won’t pursue this storyline for Supergirl so I really hope that she can fall for someone who deserves her for real.
And as for Sanvers, I was happy that they didn’t have to deal with any drama this time, too. It’ nice to breathe a little after so much angst!
And I wonder if this vegan ice cream was good… I have my doubts, too!
I’m sorry but I just feel like America has had enough right now of little boys trying to do women’s jobs, YOU KNOW.
Just like, let SuperSanvers DO THEIR DAMN JOBS and everyone else take a really long nap and save up your male tears to help Kara stop Livewire next time JEEZ.
YES.
Clearly this is a Lesbian website. So as a straight Alpha male let me stand up for the Men(not little boys) men of the Arrowverse. This is a comic book action series. It is not Gilmore Girls, L Word, or Queer As Folk. Diversity is cool. Throwing in a gay character to represent your respective communities is fine. Turning the show into a Supergay hero show where the male characters are constantly emasculated and marginalized is not. Supergirl is straight in the comics so making her gay now would be absurd. Bottom line they are trying to give the show balance and guess what diversity works both ways ladies.
Shhhhhhhh everyone! A straight Alpha male is speaking!
So glad a straight Alpha male felt the need to set us queer ladies straight.
Funny though, I don’t feel any straighter…
Hi there, K Jack, a few things, just in case you happen back into this comment section you chose to participate in.
1) “Clearly this is a Lesbian website.” You missed a few letters in LGBT+ there, but I won’t split hairs with you. I’ll give it to you straight. (Pun intended.) When your brain got to that there realization – “this is a Lesbian website” – that is where you should have taken all of the thoughts you were feeling compelled to write out in the comments section that opposed everything everyone said and tuck them back into your little pocket and take them elsewhere. But since you didn’t…
2) “Little boys” is a direct quote from Livewire.
3) SO glad you approve of diversity and having a gay character on your precious show for “Men men” [sic]. Thank you.
4) Oh wait just kidding you don’t want a Supergay hero show. Way to bait and switch me there.
5) “Male characters are constantly emasculated and marginalized…” Thank you for that laugh. First of all, it’s possible for there to be a show with women at the lead and men fighting behind/beside them without you perceiving them as “emasculated.” The women on this show don’t “emasculate” the men. If you perceive the women being stronger and smarter than the men on this show (which you should, because they are) as them emasculating them, that’s on you and your sexism, not on the show or its fans.
6) “Supergirl is straight in the comics so making her gay now would be absurd.” What. even. Alex didn’t exist in the comics. James was a red-head in the comics. Maggie Sawyer was blonde in the comics, and dating Kate Kane. This is an adaptation of the comics, things are different, in fun and cool ways. Also I’m pretty sure no one is calling for Supergirl to be gay. Though we wouldn’t be mad if she was bisexual. Or really at this point anything but dating Mon-El.
7) “Guess what diversity works both ways ladies.” Even if Kara and Lena were both super extra gay for each other, the straight people on this show would still outnumber the queer people by a lot.
8) I’ve never met a true “Alpha male” who had to identify himself as such.
*mic drop*
Valerie, I came here to jump in front of you, but you’ve clearly got this under control, so I’ll just be over here like:
Applause
#NotAllHeroesWearCapes
Valerie you are an Alpha Unicorn.
Man I wish those misandrist shirts weren’t out of print. Are the pins still available? Maybe the A/S design team can come up with some cute little bowls to collect tears in. I hear Beyoncé is pregnant with twins and she needs to keep her strength up.
Four bajillion hearts at you Valerie wouldn’t even be near enough. I loved your recaps before, but I had no idea how potent your alpha male take downs were!
Bless you.
Supergay, as the title of a new show? 11/10, would watch.
Hilary lost. Get over it. While I am no Trump fan you know what America has had enough of.A Liberal weak president that sounded great on MSNBC but did very little for the country. We also don’t need a female/male presidential candidate who is a liar and a thief who is currently married to a former president who is also a liar and a thief in the White House.
Well this escalated quickly
Right? Like, I should have been expecting it, but for some reason I wasn’t looking in that direction. Valerie and Heather have our backs, thankfully #notallheroeswearcapes. I guess I’m the useless Mon-El in this scenario…but at least I can admit it!…maybe I’m more like a Winn.
K Jack, check out our comment policy. You’re skirting close to getting yourself moderated right out of here. This isn’t Reddit.
As a conflict resolution professional, I am excited to ask you the following questions, K Jack. I hope you’ll answer them in depth, because I assume (although assumptions are never good) that you came into this comment thread to start a real dialogue about the intersections of masculinity and feminism and I am here for that!
–When you think about this being a “lesbian website,” what are some of the feelings that come up for you?
—-How do you think those feelings might be different from how a lesbian may feel thinking about a “lesbian website”?
——If there is a difference there, what does that mean to you?
–Tell me about the ways in which Supergirl matters in your life. What is a specific experience you can share of a time when Supergirl has really mattered to you or made you feel seen?
–What is it about Supergirl that sticks out to you from the “Arrowverse”?
—-What would it mean for you if some of the other people who love Supergirl don’t consider it part of the Arrowverse or don’t come to it from the comics? How might your reaction change?
–I’d love to hear the story of how you came to find and value these Supergirl recaps here on Autostraddle.
–After I watch the episode, I come to the recap and part of my brain is looking to see if Valerie Anne agreed with my impressions. Is that true for you as well? If so, how do you feel when she does agree with you? How do you feel when she disagrees with you?
–When you saw my comment, it obviously sparked a strong reaction in you. Tell me more about that reaction.
–Walk me through your decision to reply to my comment. What were your aims and goals with your original statement? What type of reaction were you hoping to get from this community, or from me specifically?
–Tell me about why it feels important to you that your particular voice be heard on a website that you’ve stated is specifically not catering towards you. In other words, why does it matter to you to be heard here, on a “lesbian website”, in particular?
–Tell me about your reaction when you saw others did not agree with you. I train people to “listen harder when they disagree,” which is what I’m trying to do now. Did you consider that option, before speaking/commenting again? How do you think this might have gone differently if you had listened deeply to feedback first?
–Obviously your identities as a “straight Alpha male” matter to you. Tell me a story about a time when either or both of those identities were particularly important to you.
—-Before you commented, how did you think others in this community would respond to the label of “Alpha male”?
—-I’ve seen and heard from others that they have had negative interactions with people who identified as “alpha males.” How might that knowledge–that what you hope to communicate does not match up with what is communicated–change how you’ll identify around this community in the future?
–You seem to have a strong reaction when the thought of emasculation comes up for you. Tell me about an experience you’ve had that has made you feel so strongly about that.
–I see you used the term “female/male” which I believe was meant to describe Secretary Clinton. Can you tell me a little bit more about that term, both why you selected it and what it means to you? I noticed that others had a negative reaction to that term but I want to give you a chance to clarify what you meant before others address it.
–You used the phrase “get over it.” Tell me about a time when someone in your life told you to “get over something” that was still upsetting you. How did that make you feel at the moment? How do you feel thinking about it now?
–Do you identify as a feminist? Tell me about a time when that label felt very important to you.
–When you think about the feminism of Supergirl, what are your gut emotional reactions? How do you think those might be different from the gut emotional reactions of others in this community?
I’m so excited to see your responses, K Jack. I really look forward to learning more about your experiences.
This was very good and I learned a lot. I hope K Jack did too.
I think this is the right time for you to leave. This lovely discussion of Supergays has nothing to do with politics at all. Just us queer folks talking about things that affect our queer lives in our queer space built by queer people. “Alpha Males” are welcome as long as they want to respectfully discuss the gay stuff with us, but since you’re being super disrespectful, this isn’t the right fit.
Great recap, Valerie!
Few things:
I too was relieved when Mon-El just walked out of Kara’s apt and that was that. I was so happy they didn’t turn that into some forced moment between them. But I don’t think that’s the end of that, as much as I really, really hope it is! Maybe those space nuns are going to come back to take him back soon.
This Guardian storyline is starting to annoy me. James is a character I never felt anything for. I didn’t like him or dislike him, he was just…there. But his actions last night made me dislike him. His arrogance is such a turn off.
I so get what you’re saying about how nice it was for Sanvers to just…be. I don’t know if I could handle intense interactions between them every episode. We’ve been on an emotional rollercoaster ever since Maggie was introduced. I’m happy for that bit of reprieve lol.
And finally: I’m ready for Cat Grant to return from wherever she is!! This just feels like punishment at this point.
Oh! And there’s a brand called “So Delicious” that makes really good vegan ice cream!
I loved James in the beginning! I don’t know what happened!
CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT *sobs*
i just wish we had kept lucy lane instead of james in the break-up
This!!!!
I really liked him in the beginning too!
Now I think I only really like the idea of James: the Pulitzer prize-winning photographer turned someone so competent at administration and business leadership that *Cat Grant* left her baby in his charge. Yeah, he and Kara had more of a cute/naïve/Super-worship (from James) thing going on, and I wasn’t sad that it petered out. But I didn’t worry too much about the journey either, because Kara’s most intimate moments were with Cat and Alex and other women/mentors in her life. He’s like that perfect first boyfriend who is inoffensive, but who you also grow past, you know?
But given his apparent disregard for the time and effort and heroism that can go into something like managing CatCo, the importance of the media, I can’t help but wonder whether Cat was blinded by Kara’s regard for him into thinking he was something more? Or perhaps he has time because he’s a single dude without a son to raise. I don’t know.
Sometimes it makes a character even closer to “the worst” because of the wasted potential. And I try to be sensitive in my criticism of him, because I don’t want to stray into #supergirlsowhite territory, but come on, James. If you want to be a “hero” start acting like one, man, i.e. assessing your abilities realistically, applying them where they’re most useful, and also *listening to Kara*. Superhero doesn’t automatically imbue you with superior judgment, but Kara has shown that in her case she does have that through her actions, decision-making, and her ability to take advice from Cat, Alex, J’onn, etc. and recover from her mistakes. Take a note!
Maybe this comment got way too long. Sorry! :)
Love your recaps! The J’onn and M’gann scenes were great. I hope we get more Sanvers betting each other. I don’t really like the guardian story line with James. He seems more cocky this season. Mon-El and Kara should stay friends. I hope Cat and Lucy come back this season i miss them!
Thank you!
Vegan ice cream is the best. Trust me, I’m an expert. :P
(Or trust me because I’m the pickiest eater and I love it.)
I hope next week’s episode opens with Alex and Maggie in bed having post-coital vegan ice cream and Alex finds out it actually IS delicious.
That would be perfect.
Oh, and I don’t know where else to put this comment, but did anyone that watched Jane the Virgin last night notice how excited Catalina sounded when she asked if Petra’s proposition was sexual?
I did, and I appreciated the casual, incidental approach to queerness – but on the other hand I’m not thrilled that cheating, lying, thieving Catalina is the character they’ve chosen to make implicitly bisexual.
Good point, but to be fair, pretty much everyone on the show outside of Jane’s immediate family cheats, lies, and thieves. And even they do their fair share of lying.
I’m not sure how I feel about Catalina yet. I can’t tell if we’re supposed to think she’s worse than she really is, or if they just haven’t yet revealed how truly sinister she is.
True, but somehow the stereotype seems worse to me with Catalina, like the writers went “Oh, she’s this free-spirited, anything-goes type of person – of course she’d sleep with whoever!” which just reinforces all kinds of gross misconceptions about bisexuals. Whereas if they made someone like Petra (who arguably cheats, lies and thieves even more) bisexual, she’s already a much more well-rounded character so it wouldn’t seem so facile. Hopefully if Cat returns to the show they’ll do more to round out her character as well.
I agree on all counts! Also I miss Rose and Luisa!
Meee too! I know I should despise Rose and lament that one of the only two lesbian characters is a sociopathic murderer, but… unf.
THANK YOU, Chandra! The line was just another way to show that Catalina (who is of course in a relationship with Rafael at the moment/still married to the man whose jewels she stole) is sleazy.
And as a bi woman, these throwaway lines, especially when they are laced with stereotypes and seemed more aimed a “straight woman who will occasionally experiment,” offend me.
Whenever I think about Mon-El becoming a superhero to impress Kara, or James becoming one to stroke his man-ego, I remember a quote by Lennier of “Babylon 5”.
“If you do the right thing for the wrong reasons, the work becomes corrupted, impure, and ultimately self-destructive.”
And Lennier ultimately ended up being rather James-like. Interesting.
hey Valerie, just wondering if you would post some of the favorite #QueerEl tweets or are those gone with AE?
This episode was so annoying with those boys taking center stage trying to be the hero. I’ve said it from the beginning that James is the worst and since he became Guardian he is even more so. He actually told Supergirl that he’d love to have her fighting on his side, excuse me boy, know your role.
I was very disappointed in Winn when he told James about the warehouse and kept it secret from Supergirl and the DEO, that was just stupid on him but I liked his moment with J’onn.
I look at Mon-El as the tag-along younger sibling, you can’t fault him for wanting to protect Supergirl even though she can hold her own, he just doesn’t know better. The story that we know of him was that he was the Prince’s right hand man, bodyguard, etc so that’s what he’s used to.
I wonder, does Kara know that Maggie knows she’s Supergirl? She has to right? Does Maggie now know James is Guardian? Who cares. I don’t know how the show could have played Maggie in the dark about Kara/Supergirl without making Maggie look like an idiot so I am glad they didn’t keep that going.
I loved Sanvers too this week because they were just them and balanced too. I felt last week Alex was WAY to excited about what was happening (and rightfully so) but Maggie was very subdued and on multiple re-watches (for science of course) at first I was like Alex take a chill pill and then I was like Maggie where’s your enthusiasm.
I like how the show was more about them aside from their relationship but I do want to see them more together, like why can’t they be on a date and their phones ring in unison like with Bones and Booth or Rizzoli and Isles?
Also not sure if everyone heard the news or cares as much as I do but Teri Hatcher aka TV’s Lois Lane will be coming on as a big bad for a multi episode arc. Lois and Clark was my show in the 90’s and they were probably one of the 1st couples I shipped. I will be even more excited if her character is in some way connected to Jeremiah’s disappearance AND if they have some scenes together.
I thought Mon-El’s secret was that he WAS the prince. Why else would that dude from last week bow to him?
I never thought he was the prince. Whether or not that is true remains to be seen. My rom-com brain always thought his secret with Kara was that he liked her. Maybe the Denominator bowing to him was just because he was from Daxon, who knows, probably 20% of this show makes no sense.
They’ve been heavily hinting that Mon-El was the prince ever since he told them that he was the prince’s bodyguard and the prince saved him (which, let’s face it, is much less likely to be true that the reverse). I think female aliens hunting him are after him because he’s engaged to some Space Princess.
In other words, we’re going to have to suffer through them draggging out this Kara/Mon-El romance until they finally get together and then the aliens arrive and she finds out he has his own Secret Identity and there is straight boring romance angst.
Hmm. Miss Lena. Not enough Sanvers. And Mon-El bores me. I enjoyed the M’gann and J’onn scene. So all in all not my favorite episode.
Enough with the Mon El and Guardian storylines. Get over yourselves and just accept Supergirl is and will always be superior to you. It’s like they’re whipping out the yardstick and forgetting she is an actual superhero. She has better things to do than deal with their male ego and insecurities.
I guess vegan ice cream could be good. I wouldn’t seek it out but I would try it if it required no effort on my part. I love ice cream though. I’m sticking with the dairy.
Frankly I can’t think of much that Maggie Sawyer couldn’t get me to try. /shrug
Haha. Good point.
OKAY OKAY BUT: WinnGuardian Levi-NOsa
I can’t believe it took me this long to scroll for someone to point this out
haha I was hoping someone would get my WinnGuardian thing! I couldn’t think of a good twist on “Leviosa” (I had “wingaydium lesbiosa stuck in my head) but you win!
I was also wondering how to expand on your perfect reference. This is why you belong to a community! :) Well done, Adriana.
Slow clap to wild applause.
Seriously. That was amazing.
WinnGaurdian LevioSUX was going to be my contribution. I also can’t believe I got this far and hadn’t seen a joke on this yet!
There’s a moment in this week’s episode when Winn defends his involvement with Guardian by saying, he can’t just be stuck behind a desk at the DOE all the time.
Instead, he goes to to sit behind a desk in a tricked out van…so, yay for him, I guess…
@pecola I’m just popping in to say how much I enjoy you, that is all <3
Aww, thanks, @c-p.
Thank you for a great recap. Agree that it is good to just see two girlfriends just being. And we all know “nasty woman” – great compliment not an insult.
As much as I love your recaps and The show itself, and as much as I don’t like James being Guardian – he was kind of right and Kara was wrong. When they talked in his CatCo office he says that Mon-El is not cut to be a hero because he doesn’t have the heart of the hero, because his priorities are not in line with a hero’s priorities – and he is right. It doesn’t mean that Kara can’t teach him to be a hero, it just means that he needs to work a lot before fully understanding how to be a hero.
At the end he says he wants them to work together but Kara refuses because she is afraid for his life, because he is a mere human. But it’s not a good enough answer. Many humans have risky jobs – Police officers, fire fighters, DEO agents (including her sister and Maggie as NCPD detective). So why can’t James be Guardian? Because he is HUMAN? In Arrowverse most of the heroes are HUMANS and they know the risk. Alex and Maggie KNOWS the risk.
And actually it would be better for her to work with him only to keep an eye on him.
I didn’t like the whole Guardian thing in the first place but Kara’s answer to why James can’t be a hero is a really bad answer.
Yes. They’re sort of making her forcibly ignore her own argument:
– It makes absolutely no sense, as you point out, that she would suddenly be upset that James wants to put himself in danger when she has already come to terms with Alex having a dangerous job. In fact, she was pretty much proving exactly the opposite of the point she’s making just last episode when she proved that she, and anyone, can be a hero even without powers, and she says something to the same effect in this episode.
– But what does make sense is that she is worried about him going up against superpowered villains on his own, without having powers or anyone besides Winn to back him up, when there is no need to take such risks; he lives in the same city that already has multiple superpowered heroes and the DEO for backup.
– In this episode, he sort of made her seem right by demonstrating why this argument she should have made (but didn’t) is correct.
My conclusion: She never made that argument because it is a sound argument, and they want to keep James as Guardian; they want us to want him to prove to her, earning his place, that he can ‘be a hero’ by being Guardian, without making it seem like she was wrong to doubt him in the first place. She is therefore limited to saying only the things that are wrong (therefore questionable and disprovable), even while the events support a feeling that the key point ‘James should not be Guardian’ must be right. I do not approve of the hamstringing of Kara’s reason and empathy to serve James’ storyline.
(But still, this show gets fifty things right for every one thing it gets wrong.)
I know Kara is only worried about her James. He is one of her best friends.. And of course National City already have multiple heroes and the DEO to aid this city, but it doesn’t mean another hero would be a bad thing, it’s not like they have breaks in their job, there is always work to do, people to save, bad guys to capture. I do think she should let him join the DEO team, not necessarily team up with her, but at least he would have the DEO watching his back.
And don’t get me wrong, I LOVE this show! Probably more than any other DC show or actually any show ever! It was the first time ever I thought they did something that I think was pretty wrong…
I think these points were more or less made but here’s what I think. I think you’re right in that Kara’s arguments aren’t 100% solid, but I don’t think it’s bad writing; I think she’s panicking at the thought of her untrained friend risking his life every day. Alex is a trained DEO agent. Winn at least has a skillset he’s using, usually from a relatively safe distance from the action. Sure humans are police officers, but they don’t seek out aliens and metahumans, that’s what the DEO is for. And even if they did, they’re TRAINED. James was a photographer. He runs CatCo. He might have taken some fighting lessons, but fighting is more than that. I think it will come to a conversation where Kara admits she knows her arguments weren’t truly logical, and I do think they’ll end up working together, especially if he agrees to chill out until he goes through some DEO training…I just hope they never lose sight of the fact that the show is about SUPERGIRL.
I’m sorry if I made it sound as if I thought it was bad writing, English is not my native language :).
I think that Kara made a mistake by not letting him join, especially because he isn’t really trained for this. And with her guidance and the DEO’s guidance he could get better and they could have his back when needed. It would actually serve her interest (to keep him unharmed) better.
And of course this is a SUPERGIRL show :) I just hope the whole Guardian thing will not be a big issue for long…
I would love more Supergirl and Super Sanvers though!!!
I think SecretName is right that they gave Kara a bad argument (he can’t be a superhero because he doesn’t have powers) because ultimately the show is on James’s side and wants to give him a simplistic way to prove himself to her.
But on other sites I have seen people point out that by giving Kara the no-powers argument, she’s essentially saying that she’s a superior race/has inborn abilities that make her better-suited to his work than he does. And that has some intense racial implications, especially since they stage it with her standing and him sitting, so she’s literally “above” him in a dominant way.
To have a white actress tell a black man that crosses a line for me, no matter what the in-universe justification is for it.
This episode was so loaded with testosterone that it was almost like watching another show. We already have enough testosterone fueled superhero shows and movies so back the hell up, boys. The whole Guardian storyline – well I’m at the end of my rope with it. James just wants to stroke his goddamn ego and that does not a hero make. I wasn’t too impressed with J’onn complimenting them either.
Mon-El – I’m not sure where I stand regarding him now. I liked that he manned up and admitted to Kara about that kiss and I’m glad he went to her with no ulterior motives. I think at this point I like him better than James.
The only good bits of this episode were J’onn and M’gann (hey, she’s still here!) and Maggie and Alex simply being together. Just another day where they’re together, hanging out, teasing each other and making plans. I do wish they explored Maggie knowing about Kara being Supergirl a bit more though. They kinda just threw that in and then threw it away. It would have been interesting to see Kara’s reaction when Alex told her.
Overall a pretty blah episode. I mean it was centered on Livewire and no mention of Cat at all? Fail.
Me last week: Hey, I’m actually starting to like Mon-el!
Me this week: NOT THAT MUCH
I’m pretty sure vegan ice cream is the gayest possible thing Maggie could have come up with, so at least we have that.
~Also unrelated PSA but Sarah was wearing a tight black tank top in last week’s LoT.~
I have that problem, too. Mon-El will have a funny line and he’ll deliver it well and I’m like “Oh! I could like this d00d!” But then he leers at Kara and I’m like NO. DOWN BOY. SHOO.
I want to talk about the directing this week because I LOVED it. Just the right amount of slow motion and all else aside about Mon-El confessing his fee-fees, the lighting in that scene was so beautiful and the whole thing was neat. Loved every shot except I wish this show would just have a warehouse district fire so those sets could go away.
Livewire can be back every week, that was fun.
I am interested to see where this conflict between James and Kara goes. I think the whole Mon-El/Guardian mess is gonna set us up for some juicy conflict and I am on board for that.
I don’t know why James is being written so poorly these days but it needs to stop. His motivations are non-existent, he is the CEO of CatCo but has loads of free time, he’s suddenly not involved in any friendships in his own life anymore etc. Boo. Who even is this guy now.
But yeah, Kara’s reaction to James seems like a case of Buried Feels to me. We’ll see, I guess. She’s probably gonna briefly date Mon-El first.
“fee-fees”!!!
Excellent breakdown of a complex (and often frustrating) episode! I know it’s partially because I haven’t given up my WinnGuardian-ship, but I find Winn and James at their most likable in the scenes when it’s just the two of them, dealing with superherodom like puppies with an overlarge chew toy.
Per usual, a fantastic recap!
What I liked:
Live:wire telling James & Mon-El off! About time.
Mon-El not kissing Kara when he left.
What I didn’t like:
J’onn praising Winn & James
Kara’s response to James. It seemed too ‘kid-glovey’ to me
Hated: James. The way it he is written and the way the actor plays it. You see no woman in any superhero story being out to prove herself over the superhero. Even if there are a few lines like that, she will be treated in a patronising way with the way the responses are written and delivered. Not so with James, you feel the ire, the macho, that ego rising like a wave, building in its ferocity. If the writers are looking for a conflict, it better lead to a better resolution than the laughable one going on for a few weeks.
the caption on that second screencap tho.
Super late to this, but!!!
The male love interest has just exited the building!!!
Please. Pleasepleaseplease let Lena Luthor be the next new Love interest!
They have so much chemistry and so much story to tell!
If Mon-El could just stick around to say things like “I thought you were a professionally handsome desk man” and not be a love interest, that would be great.