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Season 1 x 04 Spoilers and Discussions Livewire

30 Oct 2015 22:30 #44882 by lfan
Please post all discussions and spoilers for episode 5, "Livewire", here. Hmm, does anyone have any spoilers as to who the villain might be this episode? :P

ElF

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30 Oct 2015 23:52 - 30 Oct 2015 23:55 #44885 by five_red
This episode features Helen Slater and Dean Cain interacting with both young and modern Kara and Alex, answering the question "are the Danvers still alive?" Expect a lot of flashback material.


R5
Last edit: 30 Oct 2015 23:55 by five_red. Reason: I wish I could type.

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31 Oct 2015 03:30 #44891 by Helstar
I wonder how (if...) they will change the origin of Livewire - by reading around about the introduction of the actress portraying her, I guess she's exactly the same character of the original cartoon (she works in a radio etc.).
But what about her villainess costume (if any) ? Full bodysuit ? Or like the cartoon ? And about the skin color ? Totally white + blue hairs ? They risk to be campy, maybe keeping the original look wouldn't work ...
But we have seen Red Tornado is ... totally red, so yeah, this has to be seen.

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31 Oct 2015 04:15 #44896 by lfan
FWIW, in the season preview, it shows a glimpse of her fighting Supergirl in which they both appeared to be hovering. It looked like she had a full body suit on....it was a dark shot so it was hard to definitely tell her hair colour/tinting.

ElF

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31 Oct 2015 14:46 #44902 by Helstar
That is her aunt...

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31 Oct 2015 17:10 #44903 by lfan

Helstar wrote: That is her aunt...


The one from the sneak peak that aired during Scorpion a few weeks ago? I know the recent smackdowns in the latest previews are with Aunt Astra, but the one I'm referring to showed them fighting amidst a bunch of sparks and wires. I thought that was Livewire, but maybe you are right......

ElF
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01 Nov 2015 20:38 #44918 by Random321
Replied by Random321 on topic Season 1 x 04 Spoilers and Discussions Livewire
This one and Parasite are the ones I'm really looking forward to. I really hope these are recurring characters and not one shots.

The whole "can stop her heart" idea is awesome. Great idea.

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03 Nov 2015 00:53 #44949 by lfan
Official description:

Kara’s Thanksgiving may be ruined when she suspects her foster mother, Dr. Danvers (Helen Slater), who is coming to town, disapproves of her new role as a superhero. Also, when an accident transforms a volatile CatCo employee into the villainous Livewire, she targets Cat and Supergirl, on SUPERGIRL, Monday, Nov. 23 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Brit Morgan guest stars as Leslie Willis/Livewire and Helen Slater guest stars as Dr. Eliza Danvers, Kara’s foster mother. -

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03 Nov 2015 19:02 #44979 by lfan

lfan wrote:

Helstar wrote: That is her aunt...


The one from the sneak peak that aired during Scorpion a few weeks ago? I know the recent smackdowns in the latest previews are with Aunt Astra, but the one I'm referring to showed them fighting amidst a bunch of sparks and wires. I thought that was Livewire, but maybe you are right......

ElF


You were right, Helstar....that was Aunt Astra, not Livewire. The scene that I saw was in the episode last night... :)

ElF
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05 Nov 2015 03:31 - 05 Nov 2015 03:32 #45004 by Helstar
So, we have the first stills from the episode thanks to supergirl.tv ... I'm a liiiittle bit perplexed (white hairs ? And the costume is that one ? I hope not)

www.supergirl.tv/episode-5-livewire-gallery
Last edit: 05 Nov 2015 03:32 by Helstar.

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17 Nov 2015 03:40 #45210 by YAGS
So now that this has aired, I liked the plot twist about Jeremiah Danvers. That could be interesting, and lead to something, including the truth about Hank Henshaw. Also, the insights into the various characters' personalities and family relationships were interesting.

And apparently, we missed James and Lucy getting back together in episode 4, but it's clearly not going to last.

Other than that, I wasn't impressed by the rest of the episode. More fridge logic, and lots of it. Livewire stepped in a puddle while first discovering her powers, and it doesn't affect her, but being hosed down does the trick? And her character had potential, but never quite went anywhere, personality-wise. I hope they explore her more later.

And I know I'm dating myself with this reference, but the show just earned its first Squiddy nomination in the "Worst Scientific Mistake" category. Suspension of disbelief allows me to ignore certain genre conventions for the sake of accepting the fantasy premise of the series, but the parts that are supposed to be based on actual science still need to be right.

Flying things don't get hit by lightning. Ever. The entire point of lightning is that the electrical charge in the atmosphere is seeking a way to get to the ground. So it would never strike a helicopter, or Supergirl, in the air. That one was obvious enough to bug me.

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17 Nov 2015 03:54 #45211 by ace191
Planes are hit by lighting all the time and cloud to cloud lighting is not unCommon either especially out here in Arizona.

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17 Nov 2015 11:18 - 17 Nov 2015 11:22 #45215 by five_red
My review:

I found this episode to be quite enjoyable. A switch in pace away from out-n-out action, and a chance to build up some of the underlying story arcs that will inform the rest of the season -- which is about time, after all the dancing around the edges done in early episodes.

As always, I'll list the pluses and minuses: on the plus side the acting was generally of a good standard, with Chyler Leigh finally being given something different to do, and doing it well. Helen Slater played... well... Helen Slater... which is what Helen Slater is mostly asked to do in her roles. Fortunately 'Helen Slater' is exactly the role that was needed here, creating a interesting dynamic between Alex and Kara. Props also go to Dean Cain, who turns in a competent performance as Jeremiah Danvers in the three lines the script affords him.

Cat continues to grow as a character, although having just gotten acclimatised to her larger-than-life characterisation, I'm not sure if I am happy with them trying to humanised her this early in the series. This slightly disjointed switch from the comedic to the sympathetic might have been better handled if the episodes had aired in their intended order. (Minor spoilers: ep4 focuses a lot on Cat and her relationship with the people in her life, nudging the character away from the straight up comedy-turn of the first three episodes, and ep5 was intended to set up ep6, which delves further into Cat's past and her relationship with her mother.)

The Hank Henshaw twist at the end was very nice, and really sets up a potentially interesting storyline, although (spoiler alert...) given that David Harewood is contracted to appear as a series regular for this season (and presumably a few seasons beyond?), don't expect him to turn into an out-n-out villain just yet. The series needs a DEO, and that means it needs a Hank Henshaw to head the DEO. So obviously the puzzle of his involvement with Jeremiah Danvers will have to be resolved in such a way that allows the Danvers sisters to continue to work with him.

The minuses now: the big one that annoyed me was the use of the old 'person gets superpowers while being zapped as they touch a superhero' trope. It was lame when Dean and Teri did it in the Ultrawoman episode, and it's still lame today. It's like something out of a lazy silver age Action Comics script. I realise there was a necessity to get the villain into the story without too much exposition, but couldn't the scriptwriters come up with something more original..? Lazy, IMHO.

Also, a personal gripe of mine: I hate it when shows shoehorn superfluous action sequences onto episodes that otherwise don't need to feature much action (opening fight sequence: "Respect!"). Do they think audiences are too dumb to notice? I'd rather a show was honest about its dialogue heavy episodes -- they are necessary, after all, if a series is to have any depth -- rather than inventing clearly bogus reasons to get the hero into a fight. (Yeah, I realise why show's do this -- I just wish they didn't have to!)

Overall this was a very satisfying episode, with a nice little twist at the end. Good stuff.

Two observations, possibly worth discussing:

(1) The preview trailer for this episode featured a few brief snippets of action from other episodes, specifically the fight between Astra and Kara in episode two. It occurred to me that CBS maybe wanted mainly action-heavy episodes to launch the series, before it settled into more dialogue heavy story arc material. So this episode's preview was padded with a few action clips stolen from elsewhere to hide its more pedestrian pace. (?)

(2) It is kind of refreshing that we have a mainstream series (aimed at both sexes) in which not only the lead character is a woman, but most of the characters actually driving the narrative from week to week (Cat, Alex, Eliza Danvers...) are also women. This particular episode (ep5) almost falls foul of the Bechdel Test in reverse. But what is most interesting is how little it matters -- the traditional gender roles are swapped... and the world fails to end..!



R5
Last edit: 17 Nov 2015 11:22 by five_red. Reason: Typo

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17 Nov 2015 12:13 - 17 Nov 2015 12:13 #45220 by Markiehoe
Replied by Markiehoe on topic Season 1 x 04 Spoilers and Discussions Livewire
Loved Livewire!
I like my Good Girls "Good" and I like my Bad Girls "Bad."
It is good to see Cat portrayed like an actuall human being who believes in "tough love."
She actually cares about the young women that work for her and she pushes to make them better (tougher?)
A similar matronly angle was shown with Dr Danvers and Alex.
What parent does not want their child to be better than they are?
I really liked this episode.

I am so in Winn's corner I just know something horrible is going to happen.
Last edit: 17 Nov 2015 12:13 by Markiehoe. Reason: typo
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17 Nov 2015 20:20 #45224 by jdrock24
I thought this was the best episode so far. Livewire's lightening effects seemed to be well done and the Dr. Danver's story arc is intriguing. In addition, the personal relationship between Cat and Kara and Kara and her sister and step mother are blossoming.

My favorite line: "You have the whit of a Youtube comment." ZING!!

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17 Nov 2015 21:40 #45225 by Markiehoe
Replied by Markiehoe on topic Season 1 x 04 Spoilers and Discussions Livewire
"Oh shut up! You're just a Mean girl."
That was my facvorite qoute.

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17 Nov 2015 23:29 #45226 by mo
Loved this episode :-) my favourite so far

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18 Nov 2015 02:52 #45229 by Helstar
Great episode, the best until now. Sadly we were right about Livewire costume.... but then again I understand the producers - they couldn't have another girl in the show with a sexier costume than the lead one (it's that reason, right ?) ^^;

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22 Nov 2015 04:08 #45304 by castor
This is Castor had to work on a night shoot this week so i didn't watch this until now.


But...Easily Easily the best episode yet.

One of the pleasures of the shows like Flash is that hey "oh this week hes fighting a giant shark with legs" and that can be a lot of fun.

This is the first time Supergirl has got that giddy joy-and while some of the comments about the costume are on, i will say one thing i really liked was the special effects here. There was something gracefully bueatiful how Livewire disapeared, on a show where that stuff has been a little hit and miss. So far the show has gone a little to far into the punch punch big bruiser types which the show doesn't really have the budget to pull off.

And Livewire was a fun hatable Mean Girl who got under karas skin in a belivable way-and if she never quite registered as hey shes going to beat her, it still felt good as she got her comeupance. Amazing Spiderman 2 tried the same idea with Electro(even the water being his weakness stuff) and while maybe the effects where a touch better-you know still got to say that there conflict was a lot better handled and this kind of fun action climax that worked

And the stuff around it was equally well- Helen Slater always was a kind of etheral presence and given more to do she does well and a lot of fun-you can see how it effects the sisters in a belivable and well done and kind of thoughful matter as family forces us to kind of change and become things we no longer quite want to be almost out of habbit-

its a fun show-and the kind of twist with hank, does show that despite a lot of my concerns the shows plot maybe even is going somewhere a little intresting. He at least has a kind of fun Gallows humor to him thats better then borring astra and maybe make the goverment stuff still kind of cliched but a more intresting version of it.

There are weak bits here and there...but yeah-this is turning into a good show. There doing a good job i think of seeing what works and what doesn't and making adjustments and i can certainly respect that.

I do kind of Wonder after introducing him a floorish why Dean Cain has nothing to doso far.

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25 Nov 2015 04:10 #45363 by Random321
Replied by Random321 on topic Season 1 x 04 Spoilers and Discussions Livewire

five_red wrote: Also, a personal gripe of mine: I hate it when shows shoehorn superfluous action sequences onto episodes that otherwise don't need to feature much action (opening fight sequence: "Respect!"). Do they think audiences are too dumb to notice? I'd rather a show was honest about its dialogue heavy episodes -- they are necessary, after all, if a series is to have any depth -- rather than inventing clearly bogus reasons to get the hero into a fight. (Yeah, I realise why show's do this -- I just wish they didn't have to!) R5


I agree with just about everything you said in your review. The opening fight - with the flight up and drop really made me smile. I'll also defend the writers that it did set up Alex being anxious about being left alone with her mother and didn't make Kara seem insensitive - like she stopped for sticky buns or to see James.

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