Excellent post. I actually enjoyed Mon-El for the most part, but your criticism is on point. The show was much braver and more thoughtful in season 1, even when it was basically a monster of the week pageant.
I actually prefer this 'grim' Supergirl much more than the sappy cliche she was last season. Too bad the change won't last. I'm also just so bored by the whole gay sister angle, wish a meteor would drop outta the sky and land right on her AND the useless girlfriend (This character literally has no function within this show other than being the gay girlfriend, like I said, useless). Anyways, at least the show didn't try to force feed any politics down our throats (I don't count the Cat Grant snippets as they were used more for comic relief than anything. Looking forward to seeing the wonderful president!),hope they can stay the course.
Agree that Season 2 was less than stellar. In fact, I haven't finished it yet. For many of the reasons others have brought up here. It has moved into territories that many standard dramas could deal with, but not what a strong genre show should be doing in my opinion. It's too late to put the cat back in the bag, but I miss older traditional forms of story telling where every episode didn't have to fit into a season long arc. Because if you don't like the arc, you don't want to hang around. In the past, if a show had a stinker, you always knew next week would be different. That's not the case anymore.
It was an okay episode, wondering if they are setting up for Kara's Kryptonian mother to be alive. It was interesting her saying her civilian Danvers ID wasn't real. Maybe they can keep a bit of that internal conflict.
Mmmm, I think a girl who can squeeze a lump of coal into a diamond, wouldn't really have that much of a problem with a fake ID. Half her high school class had one undoutedly, and they weren't even born under a red sun. (also - if making diamonds with your hand doesn't really equate to you into making a fake ID, consider this: "Hi - I understand you can make a great fake ID?" "Eh, I don't come cheap..." "Unhh...UNhh! Okay, howabout a diamond?" "Woah - check your inbox, babe - already done!")
She meant that the concept of having a human identity might be fake for her, that really she is Supergirl/Kara from Krypton, and that Kara Danvers like Clark Kent is a facade she felt she might have fooled herself with as much as fooled others. It's interesting in that it's the reverse of most super-people who are humans/earthlings who then take on a super identity. It'd be interesting to really go into what it would be like for an alien on earth feeling alone (like Superman was supposed to have felt before they started adding family and other Kryptonians to his 'world' over the years), and maybe even inhuman. They might really go into this area, or they might bring her real mother in as not having died which would put the brakes on that kind of exploration. I'm sure they never established if a Kryptonian could have kids with an Earthling, or even a Daxamite.
The ratings on Supergirl are the lowest they've ever been and they're in danger of cancellation... ‘Supergirl’ Ties Low In Return, ‘Valor’ Off To Slow Start As CW Kicks Off Fall Launch TV Ratings: ‘Supergirl,’ ‘Valor’ Premiere Soft for CW
I wonder if it was a lot higher in Canada. We get it on the Showcase channel as well as CW affiliates in the U.S. and Showcase has been advertising Supergirl heavily during a free preview promotion. They definitely need to turn things around this season somehow.
I think last season destroyed any goodwill this series had with many fans. It's clear that CBS executives were keeping a tight rein on Supergirl when they had the show; the CW allowed the showrunners far more leeway and the results have been disastrous for ratings. While I don't think it will be canceled because of corporate factors beyond the ratings themselves, the show's budget is going to get slashed.
I expect more cast departures in the next season. If I were running the show, Alex and James would already be killed off or moved away. The producers that ran the show into the ground were under the delusion that Alex was an entertaining enough character to be a co-lead with Supergirl herself.
I find it hilarious that the exterior shots of the D.E.O. HQ show the Deutsche Bank Towers here in Frankfurt. Of all the high rises in North America, they use one in Germany.
But the aerial shots are of LA, aren't they? Don't they take US viewers "out", when the recognize the cityscape?
They may be thinking while we may recognize the skyline as LA, it's easier to suspend that disbelief since it is a very general thing than to show a specific LA landmark building and call it the DEO. Or maybe the building in Germany appealed to the design team and "looks" like what they think such a structure would look like. Good point though. As an East Coaster, I don't recognize the LA skyscape at all so that never even registered with me.
I think Alex is totally expendable. However, I recently found out the actress who plays her is best friends with Melissa Benoist.
The show was better when everyone she knew didn't work at the DEO. Her job at CatCo seems almost meaningless now that nearly all the main characters know her as Supergirl. It's turned into a Buffy clone with her own Scooby Gang working with her. Alex started out as a stable and strong shoulder for Kara to lean on. Now she's a whinny, confused and emotional wreck.
If you recognize actors playing characters and that's not disconcerting, then why would cities playing other cities give one problems. For me it's all about what the characters do, where these characters "would" do those things, and if you can take those characters out of their "baseline mode" in instances of siutations these characters wouldn't expect.
I caught up with this series over the summer, having avoided it. Season one was an unexpected treat, breezy and sassy - even with the alien of the week format. Season 2 was a step down with some pretty clear missteps others have outlined in terms of how most characters were handled; but still enough decent moments to keep things ticking along. Saw first episode of season 3 and it was underwhelming, villain looks interesting enough talk of a wedding brings trepidation.
I think CBS's decision to transfer it to the CW Network gave it a bad rap. For a new series it did quite well so CBS should have given it some support & promotion. As for Melissa? She does a great job as Supergirl! That was perfect casting! (My opinion.)
True. She is a perfect Supergirl in an imperfect Series. Too many aliens, heroes, and soap boxes IMHO.