Finally caught up on Supergirl
Feb. 9th, 2017 04:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conulyThough I've got a few questions that have not been satisfactorily answered:
1. Why would Medusa use a name from Earth's mythology, and how on earth did Cadmus find out about it in the first place?
2. Why is nobody willing to call Mon-El on his bullshit? I mean, obviously that self-sacrificing story about how he escaped Daxam is nonsense, and no matter what Kara thinks of his people and his planet, surely somebody has seen the discrepancy between his behavior and his backstory. Why doesn't anybody say "But, honestly, Mon-El, were you really such a coward as a guard?" or "Seriously, Mon-El, why were you so self-sacrificing back home, but now you want to be a bartender, and only because we chewed you out over the hired goon thing?" If his dramatic reveal has people going "But, Mon-El! How could you!? We had no idea you were lying!" without sarcasm, I'm going to throw things.
3. On a similar note, why is nobody willing to call Kara out on her bullshit? Her story for why the two peoples historically haven't gotten along is completely absurd. They were all "Oh, but J'onn, you have to forgive M'gann, she tried to do the right thing in the end!", and her species actually perpetuated a complete and total genocide against his! Did Daxam do the same to Krypton? No, actually, funny story, it was kinda the other way around. But there's Kara spreading her cute little racism against "frat boys". Presumably there was more going on. We know there was more going on - there was the slavery, after all. But Kara hasn't told everybody this, so it comes off as though she's just being pointlessly bigoted. And nobody cares! Nobody says "Wow, Kara, that was a pretty mean thing to say right after he woke up. Would you have liked it if we insulted your family mere minutes after you found out everybody you had ever known was dead?" or "Geez, Kara, lighten up already. Haven't you heard of judging people on their own merits?"
4. And finally, does Earth give Kryptonians and Daxamites invulnerability to PTSD as well? No matter how Mon-El ultimately escaped the planet, it's got to have been pretty traumatic, but here he is, picking up girls. (Then again, maybe we're supposed to think this is how he copes with trauma. I suppose there are worse ways.)
5. The White Martians are right, everybody in the DEO is an idiot. No security, apparently, and yes, you have to check everybody even if you think you found one already. Duh.
6. I don't care if it is comics canon, villains who are motivated solely by pure-minded hatred are super boring.
1. Why would Medusa use a name from Earth's mythology, and how on earth did Cadmus find out about it in the first place?
2. Why is nobody willing to call Mon-El on his bullshit? I mean, obviously that self-sacrificing story about how he escaped Daxam is nonsense, and no matter what Kara thinks of his people and his planet, surely somebody has seen the discrepancy between his behavior and his backstory. Why doesn't anybody say "But, honestly, Mon-El, were you really such a coward as a guard?" or "Seriously, Mon-El, why were you so self-sacrificing back home, but now you want to be a bartender, and only because we chewed you out over the hired goon thing?" If his dramatic reveal has people going "But, Mon-El! How could you!? We had no idea you were lying!" without sarcasm, I'm going to throw things.
3. On a similar note, why is nobody willing to call Kara out on her bullshit? Her story for why the two peoples historically haven't gotten along is completely absurd. They were all "Oh, but J'onn, you have to forgive M'gann, she tried to do the right thing in the end!", and her species actually perpetuated a complete and total genocide against his! Did Daxam do the same to Krypton? No, actually, funny story, it was kinda the other way around. But there's Kara spreading her cute little racism against "frat boys". Presumably there was more going on. We know there was more going on - there was the slavery, after all. But Kara hasn't told everybody this, so it comes off as though she's just being pointlessly bigoted. And nobody cares! Nobody says "Wow, Kara, that was a pretty mean thing to say right after he woke up. Would you have liked it if we insulted your family mere minutes after you found out everybody you had ever known was dead?" or "Geez, Kara, lighten up already. Haven't you heard of judging people on their own merits?"
4. And finally, does Earth give Kryptonians and Daxamites invulnerability to PTSD as well? No matter how Mon-El ultimately escaped the planet, it's got to have been pretty traumatic, but here he is, picking up girls. (Then again, maybe we're supposed to think this is how he copes with trauma. I suppose there are worse ways.)
5. The White Martians are right, everybody in the DEO is an idiot. No security, apparently, and yes, you have to check everybody even if you think you found one already. Duh.
6. I don't care if it is comics canon, villains who are motivated solely by pure-minded hatred are super boring.
no subject
Date: 2017-02-10 11:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-10 09:17 pm (UTC)I think conuly's question is good -- Kara's deep trauma tends to be half-forgotten, except and until we need some emotions from her; it's not well-integrated into the storyline either.
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Date: 2017-02-10 09:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-10 09:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-10 09:15 pm (UTC)As someone certified in dealing with Silicon Valley - type situations: Why is no one wiling to call a white boy on his bullshit? :/ That is, I don't disagree with you at all; it's just that the part of not overtly questioning Mon-El on his backstory makes enough sense to me...I just want, I think, the reveal of his past to be along the lines of Alex's reaction to Kara telling her that the boy is into her (man, one of the two best scenes of the episode; I giggled).
Yeah, she does come across as a little bigoted there, it's true. I'm not particularly sensitive to her treatment of Mon-El -- I think the bigger narrative problem is Kara being dismissive to James as a lesser being -- but it doesn't shed a very positive light on her, especially given the later events of putting James down and not taking into account what Winn wants. (I do think this IS the storyline, by the way: Kara Zor-El making wrong judgments; it's not so pleasant to watch, though, especially as we don't know the writers have the chops to pull it off).
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Date: 2017-02-10 09:46 pm (UTC)Oh, that's another bit of BS that Kara needs to drop. When three reasonably attractive, not creepy, fairly successful guys are all interested in you - at least two of whom you like back - you no longer can play the "I don't believe any guy would ever like me! LOL!" card.
I think the bigger narrative problem is Kara being dismissive to James as a lesser being -- but it doesn't shed a very positive light on her, especially given the later events of putting James down and not taking into account what Winn wants.
You know, this is an ongoing issue with all these shows. Being the person who makes all the ultimate decisions isn't responsible, it's controlling. Kara thinks she's entitled to decide what her friends do in their free time, just because she's stronger than they are. They're competent adults. If they want to spend their lives working a second shift, that's their call. And if Mon-El *doesn't* want to spend his life working a second shift, that's his call too. Where does she get off insulting him for not wanting the superhero gig - and for not following her orders when you know she feels she can make all the choices herself! - and then insulting other people for making that choice!
And it's not just her. Barry just signed a lease for Iris' Christmas present, and then he unpacked at superspeed without her, and nobody thinks "Maybe Iris would like a say on where her apartment is and what it looks like". And that's about as far as I'm caught up to on all shows I watch, but the point stands. This is an extremely bad character trait, and nobody seems to notice or care. And it's all the worse when these shows are not "lone heroes" but a whole "team" set-up. Teams work together.
It's not even that Kara makes the wrong judgments, it's that she's making judgments where she has no business doing so. (And you're right, I'm not at all sure the writers can pull this off.)