Wow, everybody’s post-hiatus schedule is all different. I hadn’t realized Supergirl was this ahead of the rest.

Episode 1.09 – Blood Bond

I’ll admit that at first I was nervous this episode was going to be a little too sappy as the beginning of it tries a little too hard to set up the theme by repeating the title a few times. Thankfully that levels out and we end up with an episode that has a lot of heart at just the right dosage.

If I had any complaints, it’s that this episodes restores the status quo with Cat. I was actually thrilled with her finding out Supergirl and thought this could lead to something we hadn’t really seen before in a Supes property. There could have even been a mini arc where, as we saw almost happen, Cat fires Kara and Kara tries to live without a day job for awhile, only to end up messing up and Cat realizing that Kara needs the job to keep her (heh) grounded. At the very least we could have a serious examination of the questions of a super-being involvement. Things do go wrong while Kara is at work, should she try to do more? But sometimes more than one thing is going wrong at once, how should she prioritize? Then again she is (in a way) mortal, and should she have to stop the saving gig if she’s fine physically but spiritually exhausted? These are some weighty possibilities and I’m sad they’ve closed off the logical seed from which to grow such things. Maybe we’ll get them later.

And of course Clark’s IM was nice and less impactful so it didn’t hurt the episode the extra bit beyond that with Kara & friends.

All in all, I give this episode an A, though it might very well be an A+ once the curve is established.

Episode 1.10 – Childish Things

Poor poor Winn… he should really change his name to Lose.

With this episode we see that J’onn J’onzz is pretty close to his counterpart though it looks like they’ve put a few limitations on his abilities (which is smart, otherwise imagine trying to write a show with a hero that’s BOTH Superman and Professor X).

And Maxwell Lord moves into just full on Lex Luthor mode, which disappoints me as I was hoping for maybe a bit more nuance or slow fall on his part. (I know I know – nuance involving a rich white guy? silly me)

Still I like the Martian Manhunter character so it’s hard not to enjoy watching him work… or watching Alex in that black dress. And credit to the show for giving one of the villains a small win & reveal of info. Solid B+.

Episode 1.11 –  Strange Visitor from Another Planet

Wow. The White Martians (pretty accurately shown in the episode) were one of the comic arcs that got me back into comics, so on a personal level, this was an absolutely thrilling episode.

Though… it could have gone a little easier on all the “special messages” in it which very nearly backfire. I’ve seen some say Crane changes her tune but part of me wonders… did she? The evil martian mentioned more than one of them so who’s to say how long Senator Crane had been the “real” Senator Crane? Did the martian fake its own kidnapping as a set up? Was the real senator just playing along with “changing my mind” because it’s too complicated to try and explain to people the “sudden” change of heart? Well… probably not since the rest of the episode was played out pretty simplistically so the simple, obvious answer is probably right in this case.

Hell I would have settled (but maybe we’ll get this later) for a real debate over execution. Given that we saw J’onn phase through a solid door just the previous episode, it seems weird that they can keep the evil martian in a glass cage. (why can’t it phase out of that?) Given that and its mental as well as physical abilities, this thing is a real threat to the human species as a whole. With it showing almost no ability to reform, there is a very real case that such a creature needs to be executed as a measure of species self-preservation. Ok, MAYBE J’onn shouldn’t have done it (though there’s a plenty strong case for him doing so being in self-defense), but now that its captured… it’s time for a trial and sentencing. Otherwise it comes off as a flagrant excuse of “let’s save this thing for more stories later!” (even though you left that door open with the promise of more)

A lot of positive to this episode, but it needed to shade things a bit more, less preaching, more showing & story. Grade of B

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