Bit of baseball, mostly Supergirl
So the Rockies ended the season as they passed so much of it, losing to a team they should have beaten because the bullpen couldn’t keep it together. But as I commented to some other people recently; sure the Rockies were mediocre this season, that’s about three steps better than the last few seasons.
But anyway, I did watch Supergirl once it got to Netflix, and I did finish it up in time for the new season to start (I still have a few episodes of the other DC-CW shows to go), I started out recording my thoughts but then only did so when I actually had something to say, and I guess I’ll finally post them for anyone interested.
1x01
Well, it was a pilot, and it was a busy pilot, so I’m not sure what kind of rating to give it. I remember when seeing the promo that it seemed like this would be the spiritual successor to Lois and Clark and...yeah I still feel that way; even the cheesy logo seems like a 2010’s version of the L&C cheesy 90s logo. And it comes from the costume making bit, homemade costumes and the S being the family crest without this ‘it stands for hope’ nonsense of MoS. I suspect Dean Cain will reappear as Papa Danvers, because that seems like weird casting for such a minor cameo.
The world building here doesn’t really seem like a world where Superman has been active for 10+ years, nor any setup that there are other superheroes running around. I also feel like a lot of the relationships weren’t given a very good introduction (Alex seems like kind of an asshole, especially in her more ‘touching’ moments, but I don’t get the feeling I’m supposed to think that). I don’t really know the Supergirl origin in the comics, but I gather this isn’t that far off; though it seems really awkward that the El family had the ability to save multiple people and this is how they went (I can make it work in a way that doesn’t set my teeth on edge, but the whole thing with her going along supposed to basically be his babysitter bugs the crap out of me). And while I suspect it was kind of unavoidable, I wish they had handled the ‘girl power’ aspect differently; the comments were too on the nose, having her first enemy be openly deeply sexist never felt natural, and she wasn’t allowed to win through strength when she should be just as capable of doing that as any Kryptonian.
Still, I agree with Kara on one thing, Jimmy (whatever James) is quite attractive.
1x02
I’m not sure if I liked that episode exactly, but it had some good moments. Alex seems like less of a jerk (or more competently written as not a jerk). The actress playing Kara still seems to be finding the role, maybe even more here than in the pilot, but when she’s on she’s good; maybe it’s noticeable because the good moments are more noticeable where in the pilot she was almost all meh. Cat seemed a bit more like a character here too, though she still mostly seems like an instigator in Kara’s story. The guy who plays Jimmy seems to be the best actor of the group and, so far, and the only character with much of a wisdom score at this point. The plot of this one was terribly mediocre, but it was layered with enough character development that it gets...maybe not a pass when I evaluate the season as a whole but we’ll see. Also, apparently we just can’t get away from flashbacks with this producing crew; sigh, even when they’re not bad and used very sparingly I’m just burned out.
1x03
This seemed like a better episode, which I put down to the show finding its footing more than one specific element of things. Most everybody felt more like a real character than they had before and relationships feel better realized. It’s showing some serious CW-ness when it comes to the romantic relationships (yeah I know it wasn’t a CW show in s1, but TPTB were used to doing CW shows), but it’s early so they may figure out something different to do. They also could not have been more obvious if they tried that while they felt they needed to address Superman they didn’t want to comit to anything with him (it was in the pilot too, but it seemed less obvious there).
1x04
I’m starting to wonder if I would like this show a bit more if I would just settle in and watch it instead of watching it along with rewatched Flash s2 and Arrow s4 (and eventually LoT); not because it suffers next to those just because I’m not getting into a groove with Supergirl. And outside of the one crossover some time late in the season there’s no real reason I can’t do that if this feeling persists. This show itself is still kind of rough but no more than should be expected of so early in a show. This one had a somewhat different vibe than the other ones and in some ways worked but in some ways didn’t. Livewire not being one of the renegade aliens was a nice change because I honestly don’t care for that plot; problem is she wasn’t a very interesting villain. Confirming what was already not hard to guess about the DEO being sinister wasn’t bad either; but I’m also not convinced it’s going to lead anywhere because the DEO seems kind of important to the structure of the show and don’t think they’d blow that up. They are really going to have to give Lucy some character development if this love quadrangle is going to be a thing, as is all we’re getting is stuff from Jimmy and his behavior doesn’t make much sense (I also don’t really buy Kara and Wen’s supposed super strong friendship, but if I take on faith that it exists I can see how one side could be majorly crushing on the other), although I’ve already got some pieces of a hypothesis why he’s apparently putting some distance between him and Kara going that way, I just need something more in it to hang on to.
1x05
I think I’m going to stop writing these reactions, I just don’t have that much to say about watching this show. It’s fine, I see both potential and potential pitfalls with it, so far I’m not attached to it but I’m not going to walk away from it either. The plots are not particularly interesting and the characters not really interesting enough to make up for that, but it’s still entertaining enough that it’s fine. I’m not sure how I’m going to feel come the new season and having to wait a week or more between episodes, but that’s not today’s problem. As is I’ll check back in if and when I have something to say instead of trying to make things to say as I go.
1x11
So this episode was weird enough that I felt it deserved comment. Because my familiarity with the Martians of the DC universe is from Young Justice, where the White Martians were the oppressed minority under the Green Martians, and this is...not that. To be fair, the YJ version never made a ton of sense since they’re all shape shifters anyway so natural outward skin tone makes even less sense as a basis for discrimination than it ever does. But it makes me consider the backstory offered here with a little bit of a head tilt and wondering if we’re not getting the whole story.
1x18
So it’s the Flash crossover episode, and I’m really glad I wasn’t a CW-verse fan basing my decision about whether to try this show out based on this episode, because this is not a good episode. I would like to say that Brit Morgan seemed to be Lacy from Middleman more and more with every line she had, and that appealed to me, but the story was crap. Even within the CW shows that (supposedly) all take place in the same universe the crossovers have been pretty hit or miss and aside from the big event ones each fall often kind of hard to fit into events. And much like in most of the other crossovers, the characters of both series seem a lot shallower than they do on their independent shows. Even ignoring the fact that Barry’s going to spend the rest of the season on Flash trying to figure out how to travel between dimensions when he’s already pulled it off here and this never gets brought up as far as I remember (a passing ‘how long was I gone’ does not count), it’s a much more juvenile version of Supergirl too. There’s been a lot of stuff going on with this show recently, and while it’s still more lighthearted than not, this feels like a major step backwards. I’d have to check the writer(s) here, but I have a bad feeling like it’s someone with only a vague understanding of Flash and felt they needed to do something different to appeal to the CW audience, never mind that the CW shows are actually the more...if not adult at least less kid friendly than Supergirl at its darkest so far. I could be way off base, but that’s the bad vibe I was kind of left with. I do wonder how this all might be relevant now that they’re all on the same network, but it’s going to take some work to actually bridge things so probably nothing for a while.
1x20
Were 19 and 20 originally shown as a double feature, because the pacing of this on its own seems really weird. Although I think it would have been weird as a double feature too, as then about 2/3 of the way through there’s this weird extended downtime and the final climax isn’t nearly as tense as anything in the first half (ep 19). I’m a sap so the emotional manipulation always worked on me, but structurally I don’t think it flowed very well. And some of the conclusions didn’t really hold up; I buy Hank being forgiven and accepted, and even brought back into the DEO, but not put back in charge with *him* deciding to share command when that should have been humanity’s edict. It was painfully obvious that they were contriving reasons to keep Superman out of this story, and avoid casting him until later (I’m also curious if Clark and Lois are together in this version of things, I feel like it would have come up with Kara at some point as she wonders whether she can have a relationship and be a hero but I also feel like after Clark’s been Superman for let’s say 15+ years we ought to be in a phase when he and Lois are together; and Lucy’s comment on Lois and the General not getting along would fit very well if her husband was one of those aliens her father spends so much time hunting). I think I mostly liked the episode, about the same as I did most of the season, but it remains only okay just the same. Plus the ending kind of makes me angry and I only have to wait a week or so to get the resolution (if I start watching when it comes back, I still haven’t decided), I hate those sort of cliffhangers where it’s such obvious spec-bait but has no real meat to it.
But anyway, I did watch Supergirl once it got to Netflix, and I did finish it up in time for the new season to start (I still have a few episodes of the other DC-CW shows to go), I started out recording my thoughts but then only did so when I actually had something to say, and I guess I’ll finally post them for anyone interested.
1x01
Well, it was a pilot, and it was a busy pilot, so I’m not sure what kind of rating to give it. I remember when seeing the promo that it seemed like this would be the spiritual successor to Lois and Clark and...yeah I still feel that way; even the cheesy logo seems like a 2010’s version of the L&C cheesy 90s logo. And it comes from the costume making bit, homemade costumes and the S being the family crest without this ‘it stands for hope’ nonsense of MoS. I suspect Dean Cain will reappear as Papa Danvers, because that seems like weird casting for such a minor cameo.
The world building here doesn’t really seem like a world where Superman has been active for 10+ years, nor any setup that there are other superheroes running around. I also feel like a lot of the relationships weren’t given a very good introduction (Alex seems like kind of an asshole, especially in her more ‘touching’ moments, but I don’t get the feeling I’m supposed to think that). I don’t really know the Supergirl origin in the comics, but I gather this isn’t that far off; though it seems really awkward that the El family had the ability to save multiple people and this is how they went (I can make it work in a way that doesn’t set my teeth on edge, but the whole thing with her going along supposed to basically be his babysitter bugs the crap out of me). And while I suspect it was kind of unavoidable, I wish they had handled the ‘girl power’ aspect differently; the comments were too on the nose, having her first enemy be openly deeply sexist never felt natural, and she wasn’t allowed to win through strength when she should be just as capable of doing that as any Kryptonian.
Still, I agree with Kara on one thing, Jimmy (whatever James) is quite attractive.
1x02
I’m not sure if I liked that episode exactly, but it had some good moments. Alex seems like less of a jerk (or more competently written as not a jerk). The actress playing Kara still seems to be finding the role, maybe even more here than in the pilot, but when she’s on she’s good; maybe it’s noticeable because the good moments are more noticeable where in the pilot she was almost all meh. Cat seemed a bit more like a character here too, though she still mostly seems like an instigator in Kara’s story. The guy who plays Jimmy seems to be the best actor of the group and, so far, and the only character with much of a wisdom score at this point. The plot of this one was terribly mediocre, but it was layered with enough character development that it gets...maybe not a pass when I evaluate the season as a whole but we’ll see. Also, apparently we just can’t get away from flashbacks with this producing crew; sigh, even when they’re not bad and used very sparingly I’m just burned out.
1x03
This seemed like a better episode, which I put down to the show finding its footing more than one specific element of things. Most everybody felt more like a real character than they had before and relationships feel better realized. It’s showing some serious CW-ness when it comes to the romantic relationships (yeah I know it wasn’t a CW show in s1, but TPTB were used to doing CW shows), but it’s early so they may figure out something different to do. They also could not have been more obvious if they tried that while they felt they needed to address Superman they didn’t want to comit to anything with him (it was in the pilot too, but it seemed less obvious there).
1x04
I’m starting to wonder if I would like this show a bit more if I would just settle in and watch it instead of watching it along with rewatched Flash s2 and Arrow s4 (and eventually LoT); not because it suffers next to those just because I’m not getting into a groove with Supergirl. And outside of the one crossover some time late in the season there’s no real reason I can’t do that if this feeling persists. This show itself is still kind of rough but no more than should be expected of so early in a show. This one had a somewhat different vibe than the other ones and in some ways worked but in some ways didn’t. Livewire not being one of the renegade aliens was a nice change because I honestly don’t care for that plot; problem is she wasn’t a very interesting villain. Confirming what was already not hard to guess about the DEO being sinister wasn’t bad either; but I’m also not convinced it’s going to lead anywhere because the DEO seems kind of important to the structure of the show and don’t think they’d blow that up. They are really going to have to give Lucy some character development if this love quadrangle is going to be a thing, as is all we’re getting is stuff from Jimmy and his behavior doesn’t make much sense (I also don’t really buy Kara and Wen’s supposed super strong friendship, but if I take on faith that it exists I can see how one side could be majorly crushing on the other), although I’ve already got some pieces of a hypothesis why he’s apparently putting some distance between him and Kara going that way, I just need something more in it to hang on to.
1x05
I think I’m going to stop writing these reactions, I just don’t have that much to say about watching this show. It’s fine, I see both potential and potential pitfalls with it, so far I’m not attached to it but I’m not going to walk away from it either. The plots are not particularly interesting and the characters not really interesting enough to make up for that, but it’s still entertaining enough that it’s fine. I’m not sure how I’m going to feel come the new season and having to wait a week or more between episodes, but that’s not today’s problem. As is I’ll check back in if and when I have something to say instead of trying to make things to say as I go.
1x11
So this episode was weird enough that I felt it deserved comment. Because my familiarity with the Martians of the DC universe is from Young Justice, where the White Martians were the oppressed minority under the Green Martians, and this is...not that. To be fair, the YJ version never made a ton of sense since they’re all shape shifters anyway so natural outward skin tone makes even less sense as a basis for discrimination than it ever does. But it makes me consider the backstory offered here with a little bit of a head tilt and wondering if we’re not getting the whole story.
1x18
So it’s the Flash crossover episode, and I’m really glad I wasn’t a CW-verse fan basing my decision about whether to try this show out based on this episode, because this is not a good episode. I would like to say that Brit Morgan seemed to be Lacy from Middleman more and more with every line she had, and that appealed to me, but the story was crap. Even within the CW shows that (supposedly) all take place in the same universe the crossovers have been pretty hit or miss and aside from the big event ones each fall often kind of hard to fit into events. And much like in most of the other crossovers, the characters of both series seem a lot shallower than they do on their independent shows. Even ignoring the fact that Barry’s going to spend the rest of the season on Flash trying to figure out how to travel between dimensions when he’s already pulled it off here and this never gets brought up as far as I remember (a passing ‘how long was I gone’ does not count), it’s a much more juvenile version of Supergirl too. There’s been a lot of stuff going on with this show recently, and while it’s still more lighthearted than not, this feels like a major step backwards. I’d have to check the writer(s) here, but I have a bad feeling like it’s someone with only a vague understanding of Flash and felt they needed to do something different to appeal to the CW audience, never mind that the CW shows are actually the more...if not adult at least less kid friendly than Supergirl at its darkest so far. I could be way off base, but that’s the bad vibe I was kind of left with. I do wonder how this all might be relevant now that they’re all on the same network, but it’s going to take some work to actually bridge things so probably nothing for a while.
1x20
Were 19 and 20 originally shown as a double feature, because the pacing of this on its own seems really weird. Although I think it would have been weird as a double feature too, as then about 2/3 of the way through there’s this weird extended downtime and the final climax isn’t nearly as tense as anything in the first half (ep 19). I’m a sap so the emotional manipulation always worked on me, but structurally I don’t think it flowed very well. And some of the conclusions didn’t really hold up; I buy Hank being forgiven and accepted, and even brought back into the DEO, but not put back in charge with *him* deciding to share command when that should have been humanity’s edict. It was painfully obvious that they were contriving reasons to keep Superman out of this story, and avoid casting him until later (I’m also curious if Clark and Lois are together in this version of things, I feel like it would have come up with Kara at some point as she wonders whether she can have a relationship and be a hero but I also feel like after Clark’s been Superman for let’s say 15+ years we ought to be in a phase when he and Lois are together; and Lucy’s comment on Lois and the General not getting along would fit very well if her husband was one of those aliens her father spends so much time hunting). I think I mostly liked the episode, about the same as I did most of the season, but it remains only okay just the same. Plus the ending kind of makes me angry and I only have to wait a week or so to get the resolution (if I start watching when it comes back, I still haven’t decided), I hate those sort of cliffhangers where it’s such obvious spec-bait but has no real meat to it.