Hi, friends. Welcome back to my Supergirl recaps. It’s been a long summer! A lot of articles have come out about what this season of Supergirl would bring that were cause for mild alarm, a few interviews were given that were less than favorable, and things overall were feeling a little bleak. But I am who I am, so I went into this episode with as much optimism as I could muster, and I really enjoyed it. It felt, in my heart, like the Supergirl I know and love. There are still some big issues lurking under the surface, but for now I’m choosing to enjoy the things I enjoy and worry about the problems when they get here.
There was no “previously on” to start of Season 3, just a cold open of Kara Zor-El in a field, dressed all in white. She dreams of nibbling on white bread and hugging her mother, who has visited the Jason DiLaurentis Center for Head Transplants and New Faces.
Are you my mother?
But soon Kara realizes that it’s just a dream. Or a daydream. It’s unclear if she’s remembering a dream or just zoning out, but either way when we snap back to reality, she’s flying above the city, listening to the sounds of the city she saved, the city she’ll continue to save.
What she hears while she’s listening is our girls, Alex and Maggie, car-chasing a baddie we later learn is called Bloodsport (though we never learn why) and Kara swoops in just in time to save them from becoming a statistic.
Supergirl also saves a family from being smooshed by the careening truck, and when a young kid thanks her, she doesn’t stop to be her sweet self as usual; something Maggie notices as she and Alex watch her fly away.
“I’m not really sure why she didn’t to process her feelings about this.”
Back at the DEO, Kara is still all business. She’s harping on the fact that Bloodsport got away, and her team feels really weird about her being in such a bad mood. And listen, as much as I hate that this is about the most bland man in all the land, I get it. As someone who was dubbed a “happy, peppy person” in high school, someone who once cried in front of a friend only to have her say in a wide-eyed panic, “You’re Valerie! You don’t cry!” and not know what to do, as someone who was asked by three separate people at work if I was mad at them for something the day after the election because they were so taken aback by the fact that I could be visibly upset…I get it. Optimism might come naturally to people like me and Kara, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. It doesn’t mean it’s not a choice we make every day, every hour. It doesn’t mean it’s not a thing we carry. So sometimes when things get so heavy that even optimism feels like a burden, we put it down for a while. And it unnerves the ones closest to us, because of how rarely it happens. Which can be good in some ways, but can be hard when we just need some space and time and we feel like we’re not allowed to be sad because it upsets other people.
It’s possible there’s a lot I need to work though there. So let’s get back to Kara.
After Kara’s tactical speech, Alex finds an excuse to call Maggie her fiancée and invites Kara to an hors d’oeuvres tasting after a visit to the gaylien bar tomorrow. Kara sort of brushes her off saying she’ll come if she’s not busy, and Alex is pretty sad about it.
I am NOT sad about this haircut though.
Winn and J’onn try to assure Alex that Kara is fine, and that Alex herself is pretty serious all the time so it’s not that weird. Alex, having eyeballs and a head on her shoulders, calls after them that she’s not like THAT. Not at all. (And I agree.)
Meanwhile up in corporateville, Lena and James are in a board meeting with Maxwell Lord 2.0 and they both interrupt his boring spiel at the same time to mention Supergirl because they’re both in love with her. Being a cis (probably straight) man in power, he decides to belittle them both, and since Lena is the easier target for very specific public humiliation, what with her family’s history, he digs in and insults her in front of anyone. Lena was raised a Luthor though, so she’s got a backbone and doesn’t flinch in the face of misogyny.
Smashing the patriarchy with those sharp, sharp cheekbones.
Over at CatCo, Cat herself is on the TV screens because she’s the new Press Secretary. And she might have a new position, but she’s the same old Cat, explaining that President Wonder Woman is as aware that climate change is real as she is that the Earth is round and the sky is blue. And honestly, I’m still not over that brief stint where I was afraid they brought Cat back just to kill her off, so I’m totally fine with this development/explanation for her not being in National City anymore.
At the CatCo team meeting, we learn that crime is down because Supergirl has been putting in overtime, and also that Kara hasn’t been able to snag an exclusive interview about the upcoming statue reveal with Supergirl yet and perhaps the two are related; though I guess not for the reason James and Kara’s coworkers think.
After the meeting, James tries to talk to Kara, but she snaps at him and pulls away, same as she did to Alex. They’re interrupted when the TV shows the new Maxwell Lord…ugh, fine, I’ll look up his name…Morgan Edge (what a waste of what could have been a cool lesbian name) announcing he’s going to buy CatCo, mostly just to be an asshole. Upon learning this, Kara goes right to Lena.
Lena, your Lesbian Slouch is showing.
Kara asks if there’s any way Lena can reason with him, but Lena knows that Edge is anti-Luthor and super sexist, so her argument is lost before it even begins. They flirt a bit more and Lena says she’ll do whatever she can to save CatCo, for Kara. And for feminism.
With that decided, Kara starts to leave, but Lena stops her. She wants Kara to know that she’s still here for her, that she misses her, that she’s worried about her. Kara keeps ditching plans with Lena, and Lena is worried maybe she came on too strong. Lena asks her on a brunch date but Kara leaves without giving her an answer.
In the rom-coms, this character is a dude, and he always gets the girl. Just saying.
And probably this is just the writers trying to show us that every different person in Kara’s life is trying to show Kara how much they care and how worried they are, but this is definitely the most romantic of all the ways, and I can’t tell if it’s a) because I already shipped Kara and Lena b) because I myself am queer af c) because Katie McGrath has sexual chemistry with literally everyone d) because the writers are actively trying to kill me or e) all of the above.
ANYWAY, back in CANON gay land, Alex and Maggie are at the gaylien bar, having a drink before their appetizer tasting. Alex is feeling squirmy about Kara not being around and still being so sullen all the time, but J’onn implores her to give her baby sister some more time. Alex goes to the jukebox to try to clear her mind and Maggie is quickly by her side.
“If you loaded up the jukebox with t.A.T.u. again, Winn is going to lose his mind.” “Exactly.”
Alex admits that she feels selfish for saying so but that she misses her sister. And that feeling is all too relatable; sometimes when someone close to you is going through something and acting different, it can be a difficult balance between being there for them and missing who they were before. Maggie feels like maybe Alex is using Kara as an excuse to get out of wedding stuff and tries to ask her about it, but Alex deflects, annoying her fiancée.
Team Supergirl has figured out a little more about Bloodsport (except why that’s his name) and sends their hero after him, and she’s angry and determined and fearless and it’s kind of great. Especially since, when presented with the option of chasing after Bloodsport or helping his victim, she chooses to stay and helped the injured man. Even if she did consider leaving for a moment, it means our Kara isn’t totally gone. She’s truly just hurting.
While she’s helping the vic, she hears a sound she recognizes as the emergency tone from the comm she gave James and zips to his side. When she realizes he pulled her away from an actual bleeding human to tell her she’s pushing up against her submission headline for the article in which she would interview herself, she is understandably pissed. In the short time it took her to fly here, she probably thought up at least a thousand things that could warrant him using their emergencies-only signal. Like how when one of my parents texts me, “Call me when you have a second,” and I run through the list of everyone I love who could be dead until I get ahold of them and they just wanted to know how to create a photo album on Facebook. So when really James was mostly just celebrating National Suddenly Worry About Kara’s Sadness Day, Kara decides she’s had enough. She tells James that she’s Supergirl at her core, and that Kara Danvers the reporter isn’t as important to her anymore. And so Kara Danvers quits CatCo.
Okay but being Supergirl doesn’t pay the bills. Or does it? Does the DEO pay her?
The least Kara-like thing Kara has ever done, but she does have a Kara-like determination about it as she storms out.
Back at the DEO, Alex and the boys figure out that the bad guys are working on a super-cloaking situation that would allow them to be able to bomb the city without even Supergirl and her x-ray vision to be able to stop them. Alex is stressed and likely much prefers it when her SuperSister is by her side and gung-ho for saving the day.
She’s even standing a bit like her sister to channel her energy.
Across town, Lena goes to visit Morgan Edge and tries to save CatCo, but he just oozes his slime all over her. She calls him despicable and leaves, because you don’t look like Lena Luthor and have a family like Lena Luthor’s and get as far as Lena Luthor without learning how to stand up to rude dudes. Almost as soon as Lena leaves, Bloodsport enters, making it clear in no uncertain terms whose side Edge is on.
Kara is in her apartment, watching Cat crush more interviews as Press Secretary, when Alex comes by to check on her. Alex decides to try some tough love, but in her sisterly concern/frustration, she uses terms like “pity party” and, for better or worse, it pushes Kara to say some long-buried truths. Including but not limited to, “Kara Danvers sucks right now,” and that if Alex had to send Maggie away forever, she’d probably be a mess in her own right.
Alex agrees, but her whole point is, it’s okay not to be okay.
“Everyyyybody huuuuurts sometimes.”
Kara clenches her jaw and says that being broken is a human thing, and that she’s a Kryptonian. She’s better than that and she will not succumb to human emotion. She is trying to leave Kara Danvers behind, the part of her with a broken heart, and will only talk to Alex about work.
Alex gets that her little sister needs space, so she starts to leave, but before she does she says, with firmness and clarity in her voice: “Kara Danvers is my favorite person.” She says that Kara is the one who saved her, not Supergirl. Kara is who she’s worried about. Kara is who she loves.
I want to give Chyler Leigh an award for her delivery of that line.
The next day is the statue reveal day, which is when a lot of National City will be gathered, and when the DEO thinks Bloodsport will attack next. There, J’onn is the next on the list of trying to help Kara remember who she is. She doubles down on the not being human thing, thinking maybe the Martian will understand, but her Space Dad just reminds her of all the times she’s helped him. She quietly admits she can’t help people if she’s broken, but he insists she’s not broken, and that even if her heart is, she can still help people.
Meanwhile, down below, Alex and Maggie have a conversation from across the crowd over comms. Maggie asks Alex if she’s having second thoughts about marrying her, but Alex assures her it’s not the marriage that’s giving her pause. Not being her wife, not getting a dog named Gertrude, not moving in together. It’s the wedding itself she’s wigging out over. Maggie begs her to tell her why.
Alex admits that it has to do with her dad; he won’t be there to walk her down the aisle. And the reason she didn’t tell her fiancée this is because she thought it sounded silly compared to Maggie’s own family struggles. But Maggie gets it, and reminds Alex that she should know better than anyone that family doesn’t mean people who share your bloodline. Or even who you grew up with. Maggie knows a thing or two about chosen family and knows their wedding day will be special, as long as they surround themselves with people who love them. They exchange their own “I love you”s and it’s very cute and sweet and I’m clinging to it like a person might cling to a canteen of water when they know they’re about to enter a desert.
Drink it in.
:barnacles to this feeling:
When their conversation dies down, Winn manages to channel all of us and swoons a little over the good ship Sanvers, earning some cute “shut up”-like quips from Alex and Maggie.
Just then, a little girl bumps into Alex and her mother makes her apologize to the DEO agent. Alex smiles and says she doesn’t mind, and I might not think this was going to be more than a Victim of the Week if I didn’t recognize that precious face as belonging to promised regular Odette Annable. She calls herself Sam.
There’s a lot to love in this screenshot. Great faces, great outfits, great hair.
But more on her later, because right now Lena Luthor is here to sing Supergirl’s praises. She reveals the giant Girl of Literal Steel statue and calls Supergirl a mentor and friend, and I still firmly refuse to believe Lena doesn’t know that Supergirl is Kara and Kara is Supergirl. J’onn tells Kara that she should go down into the crowd to graciously accept the honor of being immortalized as the literal girl of steel, but before she can make her appearance, there’s an explosion in the crowd.
Everyone panics because they can’t see where the missiles are coming from, but Kara focuses her powers and realizes the blast came from underwater.
The chaos continues, and while Supergirl tries to stop the blast below the surface, Sam is looking for her daughter when she’s knocked down; she gets up and finds her daughter pinned down by some scaffolding, and uses her mom strength to lift it off her. But when her daughter is safe and she realizes some of the metal is crushed, Sam seems to wonder if maybe it was more than mama bear adrenaline.
Also was she a teen mom? Did she adopt? She doesn’t look old enough to have a 12-year-old.
Below the water, Kara has been knocked out by the blast. She floats and floats until a voice in her head shouts at her to wake up. She opens her eyes, full of a new determination, and saves the day while her sister and future sister-in-law look on proudly.
LOOK AT THIS HAPPY LITTLE FAMILY
Once the chaos is behind them, Kara goes to see Lena to see if she talked Edge out of buying CatCo. But Lena did her one better; she bought CatCo. Lena Luthor PURCHASED an entire media conglomerate. For her “best friend.” Gal-palling aside, Lena’s face does really cute things when Kara tells her technically she quit. She furrows her brow and gives a cute pout and begs Kara to work with her, to help her.
I would saw off my own foot if she asked me to then made this face.
Upon learning he’s been bested, Edge marches into Lena’s office and yells at her. Kara steps in front of her to protect her, which is hilarious and adorable when she’s dressed as Kara Danvers, cinnamon bun.
I’m sorry bb but your precious little tendril isn’t exactly threatening.
Realizing this, Kara leaves Lena to sass him on her own and then comes in through her special Supergirl entrance all suited up. She threatens him and does her pose and Lena is downright delighted. And once again it totally feels like Lena knows.
“Oh gosh darn it, did I just miss Kara Danvers AGAIN?”
Supergirl flies Edge to a barge and says she knows he was behind the attack earlier. She uses his own gross words against him, and then leaves him there. It’s beautiful.
Back at the DEO, Alex goes to see J’onn and says that she and Maggie have decided on having the – and I quote – “biggest, gayest wedding” ever, and that she wants J’onn to walk her down the aisle. They both cry and hug and he of course agrees because Maggie is right and Alex’s found family loves her.
I don’t remember who started calling him “Space Dad” first but he’s Space Dad forever now.
Back at her apartment, Kara is moping a bit but then remembers that voice she heard in the water telling her to wake up. Regardless of what shape the voice took, the voice is hers, and so she takes her own advice and decides to wake up in her life, too. The time for hiding from her pain is through. It’s time to move on. So she shoots off a text to Lena, who sends her back a heart-emoji to which I respond to with a sobbing emoji because my queer heart can’t take it.
Also, gf, have you SEEN Lena’s face? That’s a face you use as a contact photo.
The team goes out to the gaylien bar again, but this time, Kara shows up and joins her family. She’s ready to try to get back to who she was. Back to Kara Danvers, scars and all.
Tied together with a smile.
The episode ends on Sam waking up after having a fever dream of Alura Zor-El’s new face turning into an even newer, even scarier face.
And next week, we get Evil Petra.
Overall, I’m pleased with this episode. I don’t know how long it will last, but it felt like the show I fell in love with again. I’m still disappointed some of the actors and what they said at San Diego Comic Con, I’m still wary of what’s to come for Maggie Sawyer, but I’m cautiously optimistic that this season will be a lot of fun.
I didn’t hate the season premier, but… it’s really hard for me to watch knowing what is (could be?) coming. I loved this show with all my heart in season 1 and loved it even more with the Maggie/Alex story in season 2. But where Supergirl went so right, it also went so wrong. I don’t want to dislike the show. I really, really don’t.
What I do love is that the show is still getting in digs about the current state of political affairs. Never change in that respect, Supergirl.
I’m cautiously optimistic too. I was worried when they talked about angst and Supergirl, because of being completely turned off by the CW’s version of character pain through Arrow. Yawn. But there’s a lot of baggage that Kara will always carry, and I don’t necessarily care what the straw was that broke her back. I’m here for her Kyptonian vs human struggle. It highlights all the more how remarkable her sunny disposition is. That it’s a choice. And your personal experience about freaking people out when you dare to be less that cheerful really resonated, Valerie.
I enjoyed the episode. They used Kara’s sadness as a good vehicle to reaffirm all the important relationships in her life with them all checking in on her. I hope they continue to have more non-DEO Kara-Alex interaction this season.
I’m happy that Cat is safely ensconced in the Marsdin administration, as I was terrified that they were going to kill her off as well. And I’m pleased to have more Lena Luthor time, since I understand the basis of her character, but struggle to visualize her as someone who drives the plot versus serves it, thus she’s kind of a cypher to me. It’ll be nice to see her have more agency this season. And I’m amused that they doubled down on her friendship with Kara, because it’s always felt extremely random to me. Like Lena suddenly glommed onto this nice cub reporter for some reason as if Kara was a life preserver and Lena was drowning. It’s been really hard for me to suspend my disbelief about the roots of their friendship, because it’s been so blatantly in service of the plot (at least it was initially), and actually kind of embarrassing? Maybe I’m misremembering. Hopefully it can grow on me more this season. I expect it will, because it is cute how supportive of one another they are.
You know, I could totally point you in the direction of some fanfiction that explores that weird friendship dynamic.^^
Coincidentally, there happens to be a rather lengthy one, where Kara and Lena are exes from college and besides filling in the blanks it’s actually really canon compliant.
I’m all for fanfic recs! Lay them on me, @amidola :)
@brabkeb I’m so late for this, I’m sorry, but! I do come bearing gifts.
The puppy one took me forever to find, I had a lot of work and also, I got so distracted..fanfiction is my crack, but I digress.
1. http://archiveofourown.org/works/10557820/chapters/23322612
My Youth is Yours:
The one I mentioned. They’re exes from college, it’s kinda fill in the blanks canon with big emotions.
2. http://coeurdastronaute.tumblr.com/post/157162722323/giant
“Giants” from High School to National City. This spans years and is fantastically written with lots of heartache and full of goodness.
3. http://coeurdastronaute.tumblr.com/post/160526120553/eitheror-green-lantern
Same author, “Green Lantern”, cause in this tale, both women have a secret to keep. It’s surprisingly fun and upbeat and flirty.
4. http://archiveofourown.org/works/8600764/chapters/19723699
Speaking of, “Heroism is a full time job”. Supergirl is on personal protection duty for Lena Luthor, who isn’t really a huge fan of the idea.
Things that Lena Luthor is a fan of? Kara Danvers.
5. http://archiveofourown.org/works/8654119/chapters/19846297
“Mercy”, is Lena Luthor good or bad? What are they to each other? Long and twisting.
And finally, bonus: the AU, when you’re having a bad day and simply need a hot chocolate with marshmallows:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/12170526/chapters/27624246
“Catch me, I’m falling”, where a puppy follows Lena into her office and she takes it to National City’s Supershelter, only to meet dog trainer Kara Danvers there. Alex is a vet, Winn is an IT geek, Jess is shamelessly in love with puppy Scout and there are so many puppies and kittens and a handful coffee dates full of laughter and blushing and smiles.
– Yeah, Bloodsport’s back should have been broken.
– Did they do the “I’m bringing my tactical gear to next date night”?
– James/Lena…ewwwwwwww. Please no.
– Shots fired at Trump.
– SUPERCORP!
– Shots fired at Trump again.
– I’m glad that she said something about that dream, or people not in the know wouldn’t realize that Erica Durance is her mom now.
– Space Daddy J’onn taking care of his girls.
– Sanvers having a heartfelt moment is so good.
– Yep, now it has to be that Mon-El saves her.
– You can’t pick up a submarine like that.
– Lena comes to the rescue again.
– Are you honestly threatening a Luthor?
– Space Daddy J’onn is walking her down the aisle.
– “Then everyone here will know that we’re capable of crying.”
– First episode and Kara is already coming back to us.
Valerie, again, thank you so much. Your writing is waaaay better than the show. I wish I could be (cautiously) optimistic as you guys… but one thing and one thing only keeps telling me this ship (and I’m not even talking about the Sanvers Ship, I’m talking the big ship here, Supergirl itself) is about to sink. And this thing is called, well, you all know his name.
I was aware they were gonna play the bitch!Kara and I-lost-the-love-of-my-life cards, but this is getting outta control. The scene were Kara would not come back for sister (!!!) while drowning, but would live for that manchild (I’m sorry, he’s intolerable to me) passed all the limits. From what we’ve seen during this episode, Kara will only be ‘our’ Kara again once he comes back. And yeah, people can tell me: but this is part of the mourning process and etc and I totally agree with that. BUT we’re talking about that same guy who stole a big part of S2 and according to the weather channel of the CW executives, is about to steal S3 again. So no, I do not buy the storyline.
As for Sanvers, I’m not gonna lie, seeing THAT scene yesterday only makes me sadder (and angrier) for what’s about to happen.
With all that being said, please keep being as optimistic as you possibly can. Someone has to.
Also: I’m still crying over that interaction between Alex and Space Dad.
Yeah, I overall enjoyed this.
– I guess I’m in the unpopular minority in absolutely not being on board for the Sanvers nuptuals but oh well. Why are they getting married? Also, who is walking Maggie down the aisle and why is there even an assumption of aisle-walking when two women who have no dads are marrying? The patriarchy strikes again.
– SPEAKING OF CHOSEN FAMILY WHERE IS YOURS MAGGIE how do we know almost nothing about you and where are your people you’ve chosen prior to one year ago when you met Alex. And are you permanently on loan to the DEO professionally, too?
– Speaking of professional GET OFF THE COMMS WITH YOUR FEELINGS SANVERS THERE IS A NUKE BEING LAUNCHED Jesus take the wheel
– CAT GRANT PRESS CONFERENCE EVERY WEEK PLEASE
– Lena/James is happening then, right? We’ll see how it goes, I guess. Romance isn’t exactly what this show excels at…
– Kara’s grief and anger and struggle to control and channel her emotions have always been a prominent part of her character. It seemed very natural to me that she’d channel her grief this way, so well done show.
Overall I enjoyed this turn into angstville and found it not even a little off-putting so I’m optimistic.
I’m on your side with the wedding thoughts! I’m not anti-nuptials, but I just think there are way more interesting ways their relationship could have developed than just “yay, marriage!” Totally feel you on the whole aisle-walking thing. And if they are maintaining that tradition, if they’re deciding a biological father isn’t necessary, why not Alex’s mother? (the answer is because we’re more attached to J’onn obviously, but in-universe it seems like someone should have considered it.) I get you on Maggie’s (lack of present) chosen family, too–although with that, I think the idea is maybe that being with Alex has helped her to learn that lesson? Cause she used to self-sabotage or jump ship when she got too close to people? The thing that really gets me though is that it doesn’t seem in character to me for either Alex or Maggie to want a big wedding. It seems like exactly the type of thing they’d both think is silly and not want to deal with. The only way I can make sense of it is that they’re so happy and so gay that they’re just like, “goddammit we need to make fucking everyone see how fucking happy and gay we are”
“– Speaking of professional GET OFF THE COMMS WITH YOUR FEELINGS SANVERS THERE IS A NUKE BEING LAUNCHED Jesus take the wheel”
That made me lol
Valerie Ann, I want to say how much I love your reviews. But sadly I have to stop reading them. As they are so in depth that it makes it useless to watch it. I love the pictures with the captions. But maybe a shortened version to wet our appetites so we actually want to watch the show you are reviewing.
I think most people watch the episode and then read? To see if I interpreted the scenes the same way they did? You do you, though.
“…hugging her mother, who has visited the Jason DiLaurentis Center for Head Transplants and New Faces.” – I KNEW IT! I knew something was different! I liked this episode (so glad our Kara came back, it’s hard to watch her be cold and hurting) and I’m so intrigued by Sam. And evil Petra next week! OMG!! I missed your recaps, Valerie!!
You’re pretty rad. We should hang out, grab a coffee.
Question: How many times do you watch an episode before writing a recap?
My thoughts:
• Lena buying CatCo … a company completely out of the scope of LCorp’s umbrella … or perhaps she’s just diversifying … anyway, Lena buying CatCo just because Kara needs help is just #SoGay
• I can absolutely understand Kara trying to disassociate from her pain. Lucky (while unhealthy) for Kara, she has her Supergirl persana to consume her mind and time. The rest of us mere humans fall into depression and turn to drugs/alcohol and self-harm. But Kara has an amazing support system, and she is going to be okay.
• Chyler is seriously the greatest ever!
• So So So thankful CW didn’t break my little gay heart (yet?) and split Sanders in the first episode. That would have serious made me grumpy for the rest of the season.
I look forward to reading next week’s recap.
Since I don’t get screeners for Supergirl, and turnaround is pretty tight for these, I usually only watch it twice. Once while I livetweet/take recap notes, then I do a first pass of my recap, then I watch again to do screenshots and update anything I missed/got wrong. Sometimes that second viewing is just skipping ahead to scenes I know I want shots of, and rewatching scenes I got distracted during the first time. (Read: scenes with only dudes in them.) It’s different for every show though, for me!
I’ve been avoiding the news since the announcement about Maggie leaving, so I did not know that evil Petra was coming and now I am PUMPED.
As for Sam’s age, if she arrived on Earth the same time as Superman, no Phantom Zone, she should be 37 or 38 now. Supes said some blah blah about Kryptonians not aging normally on Earth (which is idiotic because Kara does look her age, but anyway), so I think her looking young can be attributed to that.
I cannot contain my delight over Alex saying they were going to have “the gayest” wedding–it’s using “gay” in a way that only queer people do. But I watched the Buffy episode Something Blue yesterday, in which a spell makes Buffy and Spike engaged, so with the image fresh in my head of Giles being hilariously flabbergasted at spell-Buffy asking him to walk her down the aisle, I couldn’t take Alex asking J’onn to walk her down the aisle seriously.
Oh, and I really liked how in the board room scene Lena’s the only woman and James is the only person of color. Lena’s also the only one wearing a color instead of black/gray.
Also! That “Are you my mother?” caption is intended as a reference to Alison Bechdel, right? Cause it’s subtle and hilarious.
Also, I am not on board with the hair changes this season. I was definitely partial to Alex’s slightly longer, wavy hair last season. But more importantly, Kara is actual sort of blonde now????
I’m so happy this show and your recaps of it are back!! I missed them both a whole lot. I really loved this episode. I laughed, I cried, I yelled at my tv. I’m in the same boat as you, being cautiously optimistic about this season. Here’s hoping they don’t totally destroy our hopeful hearts.
Yes Valerie to answer your question I believe I read somewhere that Sam was a teen mom. I can’t remember who they cast to play HER mom but I’m pretty sure it was a name actress.
I loved how they incorporated Cat Grant/Calista Flockhart in this episode and I hope it continues. To me the show lost something when they moved to Vancouver and lost Calista. Now she can pre-tape these scenes from LA and maybe pop in in real life every once and a while.
As for the episode it seemed very off to me aside from Kara being in her funk. Maybe it was to show that if she is off her game then everyone seems to be or maybe it is because the show has some new people BTS I don’t know I just got a weird vibe and look from the show even from the Sanvers stuff.
When everyone else confronted Kara about her “funk” they tried to understand her, but when James called her for his non-emergency it really bugged me because he was basically telling her he knew what her problem was. Glad to see James is still bothering me, AND WHY IS HE STILL IN CHARGE OF CATCO! Why did they send Snapper off, they should’ve kept him.
This is the first episode in a while where I didn’t feel the need to fast forward at all. Much of season 2 was unbearable, due to he who shall not be mentioned, and this was such a refreshing episode. I wish ‘Supergirl’ could stay like this but I know Maggie is on her way out. I just wonder if she’ll be transferring to Gotham City as an excuse to leave town.
OK so on the whole Lena knows thing I have to agree, why would she apologize for her part in “Mike” leaving if she didn’t know?
Also, and please don’t hate me for this, I think it’s the right decision for Maggie to be written out. Don’t get me wrong, I’m really disappointed that Floriana Lima decided to step down and I really wish she’d stay a series regular, but it is her right to do so and if she’s not gonna be a regular then I’d rather they ended it, Alex had some time to get over it and then they got her a partner played by an actor who is locked down in a contract that means she can NEVER leave. I’d rather have Alex with someone who will be in every episode, a character who will play a big part in the entire narrative. I don’t want someone who pops up every now and again and then is just mentioned, lots happening “off screen” and so on (*hides*)
I can only agree. Floriana made her decision, and has recently said that she won’t be coming back at all, not even for the occasional guest appearance, and we can’t have Alex with a love interest that’s not even gonna be on the show. So the only thing they can do now is for Alex and Maggie to break up, Alex mope for a while and then find somebody new.
Thanks for the recap Valerie Anne. The thing about remembering to be happy; Thanks for those words too… Those of us who are grumpy all the time needs to know the weight that the happy ones carry. :) Also, it is hard to share personal stuff with the whole wide world just to make others feel better. It’s great that you writers here do this all the time.
I found it rather amusing that everyone in Kara’s life were so in character when they confronted her (or not in Winn’s case). James’ was about honor and duty and balance (though I hated the way he used the emergency beep), Alex’s was about family and shared times and missing her, Lena’s was about friendship and J’onn’s was about pain that only the two of them can understand. And, Kara finally opened up only to J’onn.
While I don’t dislike Mon El* (just the time he used up last season), I completely didn’t understand his appearance during that drowning moment. In fact, that was the only out of character moment for me. Because other than the times he gets jealous, Mon El has been a go along guy. He would have probably told her, let us run away together. Instead of you know asking her to wake up.
About the comment Kara made to Alex. I wonder if that is a possible arc they are going to have. Alex having a drinking problem after Maggie leaves?
I don’t like Mon El either. I am just mostly indifferent to him except in his 2-minute sidekick stints, which I like. Why couldn’t he have been a quirky sidekick in love with someone else?
I still liked the episode.
I thought the beginning scene kind of explained Kara’s reaction in a way. She has been kind of thrown back to the time when she lost her mother and her entire family (her entire planet). She has PTSD probably. So, understandable that regardless of the kind of person Mon El was, and the depth of attachment she had to him; another loss would have taken her back to worse times.
***SPOILER***
Also, I think psi may have been messing up with Kara’s mind. Why else the weird Mon El dream and why else would Sam dream about her Kara’s mother dressed in the same dress and in the same fields?
Kara snapped not just because of her boyfriend but because of everything that she have lost her whole life. She always struggled with the lost of everything she knew, and when she and that guy met up and got together, she begun to think that not everything was trully lost for her, until she had to let him go. Her behaviour is very understandable but I’m glad it didn’t stick for much longer and she is trying to move on.
Overall, I liked the episode but I’m still struggling to forget that unfortunate event on the SDCC… That was like bucket of freezing water in my head :(
And as for SuperCorp, man, how are we supposed to think that there’s nothing more going on in there When they look at each other like that? When Lena answers a text ABOUT WORK with a heart emoji?
This will be a long season…
And, finally, about this Sam girl… I don’t know but I’ve felt a strange vibe coming from her and Alex when they talked. Something tells me that she will be Alex’s new love interest.
OKAY SO there was something about the way Alex watched her walk away that made me quirk an eyebrow but I chose to ignore it because I thought maybe it was just me shipping all the ladies with all the other ladies BUT NOW YOU MADE ME NERVOUS.
I got that feeling too about Alex and the new girl! The way she watched her walk away I thought, “ah there’s the next girlfriend.”
Yeah, that wasn’t subtle at all!
“She dreams of nibbling on white bread and hugging her mother” I have not seen the episode; can someone tell me if this references Kara’s great taste in carbs or her sometimes terrible taste in men?
The second one, sorry. :( The good news is, it’s just a dream!
https //www.sadbuoy.com