David McDonald and Tehani Wessely have been squeeing about the new Supergirl television show for months, so they decided to take time each week to discuss the new episodes as they air. They may occasionally rope in their friends to get excited too.

Supergirl – Episode 6, “Red Faced”

DAVID: Well, we are now at Episode 6, and in some ways the show is starting to hit its stride—but in some ways not so much. I feel like the show is trying to say some really important things about sexism and equality, but I’m afraid that sometimes the execution doesn’t measure up. I know the feeling, sometimes when I am writing I feel like I can’t do certain subjects justice, that I don’t have the the necessary tools or ability, and it can be incredibly frustrating. But, I am not a professional screenwriter, either!

TEHANI: Did you catch the line about the President being a woman? It was blink and miss, but cute. I agree though, the spirit is definitely willing in what they are trying to do but the flesh is sometimes weak. Having said that, I think it’s great that the attempt is being made, particularly considering the audience the show is aimed at.

DAVID: I liked the exploration of acceptability of being angry, and I think Cat nails it when she says women can’t be angry in the business world. You only have to look at the difference in terminology that people use to describe the same mood depending on gender, or even the jokes about hormones etc that men never get, to know how true this is. James makes a good point though, about black men not being encouraged to show anger either, and I think that is probably one of the best lines of the episode—subtly inserted in to point out an inequality, lacking some of the clumsiness of other equally valuable societal observations.

TEHANI: Agreed! This stuff was handled well, I thought. Cat Grant is totally my favourite thing ever – they are using her as a mouthpiece and doing it quite successfully. And isn’t it just so fantastic that we HAVE James to be able to say these sort of things? Red-headed, white Jimmy Olsen wouldn’t quite get away with it. Oh look, diversity, see what can be done?!

DAVID: The romance elements were handled quite well. Seems that maybe Maxwell Lord will be a love interest—but not for Kara!

TEHANI: I like to hope Alex is smarter than that – surely she’s just playing him, right?

DAVID: I thought the scene with James and the Kara was excellent, where their friendship and willingness to be vulnerable with one another was the focus, rather than the URST, and Kara had a bit of an epiphany about what she is looking for. This scene felt much more real to me than some of the others we’ve seen with these two. And, of course, James and the General over dinner was great viewing, I almost thought the General was going to say something much nastier! He did have a good point though about James surrounding himself with special people to make himself feel special. There might be an element of truth in that.

TEHANI: I found that interesting, because James is a successful person in his own right, and it’s tricky to consider that he got there partly (or only) because of his connections. Because let’s face it, in real life how much of success is who you know, rather than what? I’m not sold on Lucy+James. I don’t know how the show is going to resolve this happily (for me), because I am shipping Kara+James pretty hard but Lucy is not an awful person and I’d really like to see she and Kara and Alex eating icecream and giving each other pedicures while talking about boys… But that scene at “game night” was fairly telling – James and Lucy clearly know each other very well and are extremely comfortable with each other again. That doesn’t, of course, mean a forever relationship, but it’s interesting to see the portrayal of their relationship changing.

DAVID: We finally got to meet Cat’s mother, and it does explain a fair bit about Cat. However, I don’t like the ongoing trend where we are shown a softer or more vulnerable side to Cat, and then meant to excuse her behaviour towards Kara and other employees. She may care under that gruff exterior, and have reasons for who she is, but it doesn’t change the fact that she is a bully and creates a pretty hostile work environment, is arbitrary in handing out discipline and has done some ethically questionable things. Maybe I am less forgiving of this because she is female, thus proving the premise of the episode, but I don’t think so—I dislike Peter Parker’s boss for exactly the same reasons. Anyone who has worked for someone like them would.

TEHANI: But Kara snapped back at Cat! That was AWESOME! The ongoing presentation of a variety of women’s relationships are making me happy in this show. I hope at some point we get to see a mother/daughter relationship that is positive, though! I agree with your thoughts here, except that in this particular episode, I actually think it was a fair point. And I’m hoping that by having to interrogate her mother’s behaviour, Cat can also turn that spotlight on herself as well. Also? Cat’s mum is an EDITOR!

And Lucy’s dad is a focused and not-very-nice general. I agree with James and Kara – I don’t like him!

DAVID: The actual villain of the week is almost reduced to a sideshow by all this character development, which is a shame. Red Tornado is a great character in Batman:The Brave and the Bold and is used as a wonderful foil for Batman. Here he is just a remote controlled robot, and we don’t get the full value out of his sentience that we should.

TEHANI: Eh, I didn’t really care because I know so little about the villains of canon. I think we’re getting that a lot though, where the monster of the week is really just an excuse for all the character stuff. And I’m kind of okay with it, because I’d rather see those relationships develop and grow than care about the big bad of the episode. That may be just me… I do like how we’re seeing Alex portrayed. The fact she is so darn kick-ass and kills in the line of duty is not something we’re used to seeing in a female role, particularly on a show with this audience. But why shouldn’t we? If Alex was male, it wouldn’t even be commented on, so I’m all for it.

I also want to make note of the progression in the plot of who the heck is Hank, and what happened to Alex’s dad. I like that Winn got to show off his white hat hacker skilz to find that out. It’s quite nice to see things moving along, not being dragged out over an entire season (or more…). I’m still excited to find out!

Previously, in “Squeeing over Supergirl”…

“Pilot”
“Stronger Together”
“Fight or Flight”
“Livewire”
“How Does She Do It?”