Season 3 x 07 Wake Up

They split their efforts.
The Reign plot line was definitely stronger which hurt the Return of Mon-El story.
Weakened it.

I am not a Mon El fan but I do like Supergirl having and displaying emotions.

Growing up i was not much of a DC fan so I am a little weak on some things.
Did we just see the Legion of Superheroes and is that Saturn Girl?

Also, assuming a human father, does this mean Humans and Kryptonians can reproduce?

Another good episode from Team Supergirl this week

The Reign strand of the episode was definitely the more interesting of the two, certainly from our groups perspective so to speak.

I really liked the call backs to Donner's Superman, namely the journey Sam goes on which parallels Clarks. And the imagery, imo, was really well done, clearly thought had been put into it. The hot, arid landscape of Reign/the cold, frozen landscape of Clark. Opposites, yet both isolated - they are apart from us being of other worlds. Kudos points from me on that score.

I also kinda liked the reveal of Reign, in that she is a DIFFERENT personality that had been suppressed. For me, this feels much less forced then "something" happening which causes Sam to turn to the dark side. She was literally born/made that way. This has a couple of benefits imo.

Firstly, the change in character is logical. Secondly, it doesn't absolve her development so far in this season. Sam came across as a normal person (even if one with super powers). She was caring, loyal, hard working, warm. Not at all a killer. Which is why I really like the way they handled her transformation. And this leads to my third point - there is the possibility of redemption.

The Mon-El strand was also handled really well. Certainly much better then the disaster of last season. I'm no fan of Mon-El, but here he actually had a character. And even though it was obvious she was his wife before he said it, I'm glad he did.

While Kara does indeed play off Mon-El very well in terms of showing her emotional side, I don't think Kara should have a love interest.

My rationale, to use a crude example, is kind of how boy band members don't generally announce if or who they are dating. This is mandated by their producers so as their female fans feel an attachment to the band and follow them. I get that. And in a way, I think it should be the same with Kara.

At the very least, she should have a human love interest (go go Winn ) which would help ground her. I'm not a big fan of pairing alien with alien. I think more interesting stories can be had with pairing her with a human. But this is just an aside and my own opinion.

I also enjoyed the bonding of J'onn and his father. Nice to see some development in that regard

For me, that has been the biggest difference between this season and the previous. Some much thought is put into who gets development, and what kind of development. The pacing (as I've mentioned a few times) has been perfect. Nothing is rushed, everything is given just the right amount of time it needs, and all flows organically.

So much better then the - Act 1 establish bad guy for the episode; Act 2 Supergirl fails; Act 3 Supergirl defeats bad guy - structure to episodes.

There wasn't even a "bad guy" in this episode! It was just story and character.

So, in conclusion, the episode was solid. Beautifully shot in places imo, and really good performances all round

Keep up the great work Team Supergirl 7/7 for me so far (and certainly the best show in Berlanti-verse this season in terms of storytelling and writing).

Peace.

/K

P.S. My one nit-pick was the call back to Donner's Superman, where Kara was going to "spin" into the ground. She mentions that she "saw Clark do this once". Now my immediate thought was "HOW?" But yeah, its one of those things that "could" be explained (maybe she was following Clark and grabbed a coffee nearby \meh/) but it stood out Anyway, I'm certainly not hung up on it, and definatly let it slide like a second or two later lol Appreciate the reference

This was a somewhat weak episode by season 3 standards. What did Mon El steal from the DEO lockup and how did hevknow it was there? How did he an Winning return to the ship if its still buries underground? How did Supergirl return to it as well, did she tunnel? Oh, look Supergirl actually punched somebody this week! In think that the production budget for all the Arrowverse shows have been cut. The lack fight scenes on Supergirl is getting disturbing. You notice the same thing on Flash.

The lack fight scenes on Supergirl is getting disturbing. You notice the same thing on Flash.

This is a GOOD thing imo.

Superheroes aren't defined by who they punch. Its who they are and what they go through, that's more interesting.

Peace.

/K

Markiehoe wrote:
Growing up i was not much of a DC fan so I am a little weak on some things.
Did we just see the Legion of Superheroes and is that Saturn Girl?

yes to both

Thanks guys!
I'll skip the spoiler for now.

I remain surprised (and pleased) that I'm enjoying every episode of Season 3 more than the one before. This is excellent story telling from a comic book perspective. Never has this breadth of comic book history been explored in a show.

We've got the 31st century Legion, we've got Saturn Girl, we've got Reign, we've got Jon'zz and his father, the two of them gradually learning to be father and son again, and we've always got Kara, who (or at least her history) is apparently a legend in the 31st century.

And there is a ship with other pods on it. Mon E'ls friends, who undoubtably are also 31st century Legionnaires.

As an old DC comics fan, I'm thrilled and delighted far beyond any place I'd expected to be this season. Smallville, the first two seasons of SG, the various movies over all those decades... they are nothing like this in terms of classic DC comics storytelling.

And clearly, the story and characters are just beginning to unfold.

I have no idea how well this show is doing in terms of ratings, but to anyone who has spent too many hours with their nose in DC comics, in my case for six decades, this is awesome. Well, except that Imra Ardeen, as a Titan, is supposed to be blonde. A nit. Amy Jackson is still gorgeous.

Here she is next to her traditional comic book image.




Or course, this might be how Kara feels now:





Shadar

This is excellent story telling from a comic book perspective.

Totally agree Shadar

Give these writers a raise and lock them in for more seasons. Because so far, this season is brilliant in terms of plotting, pacing and character development

Peace.

/K

The fact that it was never explained how Winn and Mon El got into the ship that was underground really ticked me of.f.

I did like the Sam \Regin scenes. And the mor intense Mon EL.

You know, we have been talking about the great writing this season, but what about the great directing and story telling especially with this episode? And man, Melisa can really act! Call me crazy, but I still hold out hope for Winn. Maybe he risks his life to save a kid after a bicycle accident and nearly buys the farm doing it. SG shows up just after its all over and starts giving him a hard time about it when the kid's
Mom shows up crying and hugs him tightly as does the kid and Kara suddenly sees him for what he really is, a great guy.

I think I would do it with a truck hitting a power pole and a tree. The live power lines are about to fall any second. All the buystanders are too scared to try to help the kid so Winn rushes in, pulls the kid out from under the branch just as the lines fall.

Evil person that I am, I would have Kara start to fall for him with Winn being oblivious to it.

Anybody have any other plot ideas?

andyf wrote: The fact that it was never explained how Winn and Mon El got into the ship that was underground really ticked me of.f.

I'm more bothered that the ship was shown to be underwater and yet they walk to a spot well inland, and are standing right over it. Exactly what is the undersea terrain like in National City?

I mean, on Winn's map it's shown clearly out in the bay ... and yet they track it on land?

As for getting to the ship, the DEO probably established some way to get to the ship, so they could study it. Having John take them there each time seems problematic. We've seen teleport portals that are hard to set up (need a gate at each end), but would work for a situation like this. There could be a sub set up to visit if they figured out how to turn off the defenses, or Mon-El and Winn picked up some force-field diving gear, and mon-el swam them there (I'd assume future science is good enough to recognize him and call off any attack.)

Now, the didn't mention HOW they got there, and they could have with a toss away line. OTH, it's not really important to the plot, so they just handwaved and moved on to more interesting things.

OTH, it's not really important to the plot, so they just handwaved and moved on to more interesting things.

This

When done right, its actually a good thing in terms of storytelling. Its when its done wrong that it really stands out.

In this case, I tend to think it was done in the right way

Peace.

/K

I like your thinking Ace with regards to Winn

And totally agree with your points. The directing and performances have been really good this season (helps a LOT when you have good writing ). The opening of episode 6 was excellent imo,


Peace.

/K

Reign / Sam are by far the most interesting character now. When Sam's car breaks down, and she walks through the desert... wow.
I think Kara's become a bit of a bore now in comparison tbh. A possible spin-off for Reign in her own right? As for that non bloke, god knows what he is all about! I did like the 'everybody stand back' from Melissa before her pre-emptive spin. A nice nod to Wonder Woman! Off to rewind and watch episode 7 again.

Odette Annable's scene at the end in the temple is awesome - hitting rewind.