Supergirl premieres, the Impala takes a joy ride, The Vampire Diaries just nails the wonderfulness of Damon and Stefan’s chemistry as brothers, and Grimm returns – at last!  It was a good week.  Next week adds even more with the return of TNT’s The Librarians and Elementary retakes its Thursday night spot now that football has left CBS on Thursday nights. 


First up, Supergirl.

I had gone back and forth regarding Supergirl in the lead up to its premiere.  I decided to watch it and give it a try.  It was enjoyable, albeit mostly predictable.  That is to be expected, however, with something as well-established as Supergirl.  There has to be a villain, there has to be a hero, there has to be a period of excitement bordering on a reckless sense of indestructability, and there has to be a period of doubt, followed by a renewed sense of purpose and possibility.  Supergirl had all of those things.  It was part Smallville with the sense of naiveté but it also was grown up, as Supergirl is grown up, with a job, with some real life issues – clothes to wear on a date, being frustrated in her going-nowhere job with a boss who sees her as nothing more than a fetch-and-carry girl

It’s refreshing that Kara embraces her abilities, and we’re not going to be treated to that particular growth period of should she or shouldn’t she.  I like that Jimmy Olsen has arrived; he’ll be her mentor, of sorts.  Calista Flockhart is sufficiently annoying as Kara’s boss that I’ll hate the character as I suspect we are meant to.  I did appreciate the nod to the fact that people who look like her, bones with skin stretched over them, truly do not eat.  When she ordered lunch, it was a lettuce wrap.  Guess what’s in a lettuce wrap.  Yep, lettuce!  That’s what people like that eat.  Finally we’re not seeing the likes of a Felicity Smoak enjoying a Big Belly Burger meal, complete with fries and shake and still maintaining a size zero. 

Now, will I continue to watch it?  Well, yes, for two reasons:  one, it wasn’t horrible, and, two, I don’t have anything else I watch on Mondays at 8:00 p.m.  Read into that what you will.  Episode 2 usually shows some markers of a retooling, if you will, after the Pilot has been viewed by producers and the network and the notes from that are worked into the mix.  We’ll see how this first batch of episodes shakes out; and know soon enough whether Supergirl truly can fly.

Next up, Supernatural’s Baby.

One show that has flown well, even as some weeks it throws out a stinker (*cough* Bad Seed *cough*) is Supernatural.  I didn’t watch “The Bad Seed” when it aired for two reasons.  First, I was exhausted having spent a very long day on an assignment and not even sitting down to dinner until well past 8 p.m., and, two, I knew who wrote it, and that it would be bad.  It was.  Inane dialogue that moved the story nowhere, political commentary courtesy of a demon and an angel, which never works on this show – Sera Gamble tried it in Season 7 and it failed miserably – and plotting that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, other than the fact that end was always in mind and we had to get to the end, one way or another.  Case in point:  Since Rowena could free herself from the handcuffs at any time, as proven by her easy escape at the end, what was her motivation to save Castiel, as well as why didn’t she just kill the Winchesters?  There is no reason other than we had to have Cas unspelled and you don’t kill your two leads at the start of the season, especially since we were told in the episode prior that this time death is truly the end.  Once again Ross-Leming and Buckner have earned their stinker award for bad writing. 

I did like the moments at the end when Dean refused to allow Cas to heal him as he had it coming.  It was a nice nod to the not-so-far-in-the-past events of The Prisoner.  For men, and angels, this akin to an apology, as well as an act of forgiveness on Castiel’s part. 

Those moments carried over into this week’s Baby.  Robbie Thompson has absolutely no problem with plotting an episode, as well as bringing meaningful dialogue to the script.  The difference is striking.  Last week a short scene with Sam and Dean in the bunker was worthless as they bantered back the inane words:  He’s getting worse (meaning Castiel), and I know, was beyond boring, and did nothing to move anything, either mentally or emotionally.  This week, however, Sam and Dean sit in the Impala for a lengthy expositional scene where they share intense personal moments, dreams of their father and what it means to them:  comfort, normalcy, family, and it is riveting.  The characters are literally sitting, legs stretched out on the front and back bench of the Impala, absolutely not moving, and the entire scene, which was probably four minutes, was riveting.  It pulled at the heart and gave insight into the characters’ deep yearnings.  Even after eleven years we’re still learning something sad and sweet about the brothers, all without melodrama or overwrought emotions.  They simply were being.

There was a fun nod to Season 3’s Jus in Bello when Dean stated “I actually shot the deputy.”  Bitch and Jerk returned, and oh, my word was that Matt Cohen?  Loved it!  I had chills when Cohen uttered the words, “Sam, I never could fool you,” and instantly thought of Lucifer.  Will Mark Pellegrino be returning as well?  Hope springs eternal.

“Baby” hit all the right notes, much like last season’s “Fan Fiction.”  It was a triumph all the way around, and makes me hope for more of these beauties.  Thank you to all who work on Supernatural and brought this classic to life.

The Vampire Diaries gave me some fabulous brother moments as well, albeit too short.  While I do enjoy Alaric and Bonnie as well as Caroline, the heart of this show is always the Salvatore brothers.  This week the two teamed up against the heretics in some fun antics that had me hitting rewind.  The flash forwards continue to intrigue me and I’m looking forward to seeing it all come together.  From the little we do now about the future, Damon and Stefan are a combined force, but it appears they have lost all their friends along the way, at least the Caroline and Alaric part.  We’re told we get moved forward in time to the three year mark by about three-quarters of the way into the season, so at least we’ll keep getting hints and there will be answers.  TVD post-Elena is still interesting to me, more so because the Elena against is gone, or at least highly hidden.

Grimm1-812x522

And then there was Grimm on its Halloween-eve return.  We come back right where we left off – which always makes me wonder:  Did they film this little scene at the end of last season so as to keep all the continuity of actors, makeup, set design, everything correct or did they actually break where we saw them break and then come back together in July for this opening moment?  Really just a curiosity more than anything.

Grimm is hectic and relentlessly moving forward at all times that Nick was on screen, except that final moment when he’s holding his son and hearing the name Adalind has thought to call him, Kelly.  It’s perfect.  The quieter moments in the episode occur with Rosalee and Monroe.  It’s from them we get a chance to process, Juliette is dead.  Rosalee struggles with the loss of her friend, even as she had made it clear she was done trying to help after Monroe was nearly killed at Juliette’s hands.  Everyone is stressed and stretched and unsure about Nick’s stability.  Hank is following Nick’s lead, but tenuously until the moment Chavez is revealed to be a wesen, and then Hank is all in trusting his partner again.  Monroe proves his friendship by trying to stop Nick, and nicely reminding him that he, Monroe, has been with Nick from the beginning.

All around everyone was trying to process the events that just occurred, while at the same time having to move forward.  I wish Chavez hadn’t been killed so quickly, but on the other hand, it’s clear that there is much more to the story and we’ve only just begun to learn.  I’m not a fan of Adalind and Nick having a baby, but I do like Adalind and Nick when they share scenes.  I’ve enjoyed them as enemies throughout the seasons, and really, really like what becoming a mother has done for Adalind.  She’s done a lot to try to help fix her evil ways, and I’m looking forward to where their story goes, even as raising a child together is part of the process. 

It’s a good start for Grimm; Nick is darker, the team is cohesive in their grief and desire to aid Nick, evil is coming to Portland, and all hands will be needed to fight, to protect, and to overcome.

That’s it for this week.  Next week, The Librarians and Elementary return and my, oh, my it’s November already.  Where does the time go?

As always, thanks for reading.  Elle2.

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