Supergirl Season 4, Episode 21: "Red Dawn" (SPOILERS)

[flickchick85]

They probably told Eliza about it, though, so she'd know not to spill the beans to Alex. Would've been nice to get her reaction to that since I can't imagine she would've been totally cool with it, but I guess that was probably special guest star money better saved if it wasn't gonna contribute to the plot.

 

[flickchick85]

I am curious about Brainy's development. I like the Rod Serling impression. It would be fun to see the actual Brainiac next season. Maybe even bring back Indigo.

The hopeful part of my brain is suspecting that Brainy being essentially possessed by his ancestor will be detected by his actual ancestor in present day, so most of next season we'll have Brainiac-possessed-Brainy as a "secret" villain who eventually brings the real Brainiac to Earth toward the end of season.

 

[Dr.]

No

Okay… So was Eliza informed (even off-screen) not to spill the beans to mind-wiped Alex? I mean, it’s conceivable that the issue of Kara being SG simply never came up between mother and daughter (i.e., no need for Eliza, from her POV, to state the obvious). But it seems imprudent to leave the issue to chance.

They probably told Eliza about it, though, so she'd know not to spill the beans to Alex. Would've been nice to get her reaction to that since I can't imagine she would've been totally cool with it, but I guess that was probably special guest star money better saved if it wasn't gonna contribute to the plot.

Edit: And just as I post, Flickchick has already anticipated my response - even down to the "spill the beans" line.

 

[Brierrose]

In "Blood Memory" when Kara is talking to J'onn about the effects of the mindwipe she does mention talking to Eliza. That was enough for me while it would've been cool to see Eliza's reaction the special guest star money as well as time were likely better spent elsewhere. I think Eliza wouldn't have been happy about it but she would've understood the reasoning behind it. Besides it wasn't her decision to make it was Alex's, adults sometimes make decisions their parents don't like.

 

[flickchick85]

That memory of yours is like a steel trap, @Brierrose !

 

[Sithborg]

I do like the the meme that James didn't realize the serum was having a bad effect on him because he was already bald, though.

I need to rewatch the scene again, but I think they may have been using similar ADR effects as they do in Krypton with Brainiac. Need to compare them...

 

[Dark Raven]

That fight wasn't too clear and yet Kara was easily defeated. I hope Red Daughter wasn't taken out that easily by Lex.

The magic grass think was a bit weird. I thought maybe Red Daughter would bring back the sunlight. How did she get rid of it in the first place?

I was also hoping for a more fully dedicated episode to young Kara and Chyler.

When RD has that brown wig on, she looks more like younger Ashlee Simpson.

 

[Dark Raven]

Why did Chyler say to Supergirl that RD's place looks just like her sister's apartment? Don't Chyler and Kara still live together? Why didn't she say it looks just like our apartment?

Also, when Chyler was beginning to get upset there about all the things that have been overwhelming her with the adoption etc, and then Supergirl took her hand, how come she didn't misinterpret that and think that maybe Supergirl was getting too friendly with her? She could say that she doesn't feel that way about Supergirl, and then Kara would be aghast that this is what Chyler thought instead of it being sisterly love.

 

[Brierrose]

Why did Chyler say to Supergirl that RD's place looks just like her sister's apartment? Don't Chyler and Kara still live together? Why didn't she say it looks just like our apartment.

Kara and Alex do not live together, they each have their own apartment. They've always had their own apartments we just never saw Alex's until season two and Kara's is bigger, plus it’s her show, so it's where everyone hangs out.

 

[Thome216]

The answer was right in front of us all along: in order to overpower Kryptonite, just endure dealing with it for 15 years and you can break free.

It appears that Kara has developed a tolerance for the pain/weakness brought on by Kryptonite. Which is understandable and believable. To use an analogy, it would be that Kryptonite is like a mortal gunshot wound. It's going to kill you, but if you've been shot before or exposed to that level of pain often enough, you can power through it.
I'm also assuming there was Kryptonite in the bullet too...

I liked this episode. I'm okay if Supergirl isn't the main character for every scene, just as long as it's the majority. The adoption plot was nicely placed, as that led in to Kara's adoption and then Alex breaking through the mental blocks - and three very nicely done emotional scenes.
I swear they can could be crying for the entire episode and I'd be spellbound! (I'd probably start crying too...)

Lockwood has also had his neatly-ordered little world up-ended, in finding out that he's just been a tool. And it is also nice to know that 'Jimmy' will not be keeping his powers! Huzzah!!

Lena with Lillian were really good scenes. I liked that Lena urged Lillian to still drink the potion, leaving the idea there that she really did poison her mother.

As to the fight scene, I was alright with it. I wish they had not used the helmet, as it shouldn't be all that hard or expensive to have two people in the same scene with the same face these days. As to Supergirl losing the fight, that must have had something to do with the new power Red Daughter has. I hope we get a good explanation for it, though it's probably just an aberration in the cloning brought about by the Harun-el.

My one critique would be, what the hell happened to the sun!? RD hit her with that new power, zinged her into the air and it was just suddenly nighttime? Talk about 'knocking her lights out!'

I can see that it must have been for the absorbtion scene with the plants, but it would have been just as easy as having those scenes happen at night rather than day. Someone had to make the ham-fisteded decision to just make it night time between one second and the next in order to fit that scene.

Which I was okay with. Obviously drawing stored solar energy from plants wouldn't be enough to fully power her, but give her a little kick to keep going, sure. The 'light worms' that they used to depict it could have been changed to a building aura of light coming up from all the plants and converging on her, but what they chose is not a deal-breaker.

Now I need to know what drew RD away at the end? She heard something, said 'No!' and flew away. I don't think she's dead though, as that would be too cumbersome a way to end the character. She'll turn up again, and I hope she's not destroyed. I think the boy will be important in turning her around and at least getting her to stop fighting.

How I would like them to end it would be to have her go to Kandor, to be with their mother and Clark.

 

[Kelly]

Some exposition is needed for that day/night thing......I've evolved isnt enough.

 

[Sithborg]

Yeah, that was weird. I am just going to call it a coffee cup moment.

As for the Kryptonite, at least it wasn't flying up an island of the stuff.

 

[flickchick85]

Some exposition is needed for that day/night thing......I've evolved isnt enough.

I don't think it was meant to be Red Daughter's doing at all, lol. I think the sun was just meant to have set. Supergirl's side of the street fight preceding it was lit with warmer light to imitate the "golden hour" light of sunset. As I said, it was just poor directing, imo.

 

[Slick]

So In the show Kara and Alex graduated the same year I did. That’s pretty cool. 07!!!!

 

[SSAV]

When Kara says 15 years of pain, I took it to mean pain of being human and loss since she lost her entire planet 15 years ago. But, then they said it is kryptonite? I am not sure if that was the intention. Or, it got confusing to how the scene was paced?

Or, may be there was a typo in the script. They meant to write 5 and someone added a 1 beside it.

I think Red Daughter was hovering over the two and was comparing Alex to her "Alex". That and Mikhail may count towards final change with respect to Lex. I don't think she is dead.

 

[flickchick85]

I think Red Daughter was hovering over the two and was comparing Alex to her "Alex". That and Mikhail may count towards final change with respect to Lex. I don't think she is dead.

That "No!" from her was a reaction to a sound she heard off in the distance. Even if she is actually dead by Lex's hand (which I doubt), I think the next episode will pick up with her side of that moment and show us where she went and what went down with her and Lex.

 

[Dark Raven]

I don't think it was meant to be Red Daughter's doing at all, lol. I think the sun was just meant to have set. Supergirl's side of the street fight preceding it was lit with warmer light to imitate the "golden hour" light of sunset. As I said, it was just poor directing, imo.

When does the sun ever set that quickly? It couldn't have been that they were fighting that long either that it went from bright sunlight to dusk over a matter of hours. It was almost as if all of the sunlight was shut off suddenly. At first I thought it was just dramatic and that we were seeing it as metaphorically dark but it was really still light, until Chyler was crying over Kara and saying she needs sunlight. Then I realised that the sun really must have disappeared.

 

[Dr.]

Re: the “wire-fu” fight scene.

At a technical level, I thought the stunt work was quite impressive. (It’s certainly improved over the course of the series.) Now, you could make the case that any sort of wire-fu is too “small” and mundane for a superhero capable of dynamic flight. IOW, the battle should be kick-ass acrobatics, high in the sky. Of course, that takes more $$$.

I just watched the latest episode of A Discovery of Witches. And the wire work and flying effects on display were… surprisingly rough (to put it kindly). By comparison, Supergirl looks like a feature film. Too bad the respective producers didn’t share notes - “how to fly on a low budget,” as it were.

 

[Web-Head]

I don't think it was meant to be Red Daughter's doing at all, lol. I think the sun was just meant to have set. Supergirl's side of the street fight preceding it was lit with warmer light to imitate the "golden hour" light of sunset. As I said, it was just poor directing, imo.

It almost looked like when Kara got hit by the blast it took out the daylight

 

[SSAV]

That "No!" from her was a reaction to a sound she heard off in the distance. Even if she is actually dead by Lex's hand (which I doubt), I think the next episode will pick up with her side of that moment and show us where she went and what went down with her and Lex.

Yes, I thought she may have heard Lex attacking Kasnia? But, I'd prefer a real-time event ending with Red Kara and Kara merging to Lex killing her off screen. There is also the Harun El thing.

It has been used to power up villains and show why human getting powered up doesn't solve the issue, yes. But, it doesn't come full circle until, it is used to rejoin the two Karas in my opinion. Well, I'd prefer that anyways.

But, there are so many things to tie up, I don't know how they'd manage that. On the other hand, I was expecting this episode to be all about Alex-Kelly drama (I was not looking forward to that). Instead, it ended up being Alex-Kara and Kara-Red Kara drama, which I loved (in retrospect except for the strange slow-motion dance-like fight). So, yeah, there may be hope yet.

After all, the episodes are typically better than the pics and the trailors.

At least, I hope for the best.

 

[Lencho01]

The part with the grass made me laugh since the “light” looked like sperm cells. Certainly different from the The Dark Knight Returns version of that concept.

The punch turning day into night was weird.

This is the most super speed I can remember seeing on this show. As if they were making up for all the times Supergirl never used it.

Laughed when the Kryptonite only seemed to make Kara slightly uncomfortable.

Witer as Brainy was funny.

Brainy basically being Brainiac is interesting. Krypton still spoiled me with its depiction. Such great visuals on that show.

 

[Kelly]

The Kryptonite downing Supergirl to the point of passing out was overkill, IMO. If they wanted to do that....they should have had Red Daughter put it around her neck, and punch her. The up and down of Supergirl's powers is so irritating. One minute the Kryptonite knocks her out, the next minute it doesn't and she is able to fly 2 seconds afterwards.....yet minutes before it made her pass out.

 

[jolldan]

Biggest credit this episode has to go to Branie for me. The scene with him tied in the chair telling the children of liberty what horrible creatures his ancestors were and not wanting to end up like them was actually really good. It probably helps that Branie doesn't do big emotional scenes too often so they usually carry a good bit of weight.

Sam Witwer's Brainy impression was A+.

One of the highlights of the episode for me lol.

Some exposition is needed for that day/night thing......I've evolved isnt enough.

Yeah I was left going "Wait was that superpowers or just bad editing?"

 

[Asr]

Been catching back up on Supergirl (haven't been able to consistently watch it since last season) and I gotta say my favorite part of this episode by far was Brainy's revert to evil Brainiac. That was some next-level HOLY **** stuff and a giant tease for a potential future plotline! Now I haven't seen the Krypton show yet, but dang I was impressed that Jesse Rath actually pulled off a legit evil Brainiac that was convincingly scary too.

The Brainiac scenes made me wish for a full-on Brainiac in a big-budget movie more than ever. It's all the more annoying that WB hasn't featured him in a single live-action movie yet, especially when he's one of Superman's biggest villains. The next time we get a Superman movie from WB, whenever it comes out, we'd better be getting Brainiac. He's long overdue for a big-screen treatment!