Supergirl Season 4, Episode 4: "Ahimsa" (SPOILERS)

[flickchick85]

Episode description:

J’ONN MEETS MANCHESTER BLACK — When Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) needs help, Alex (Chyler Leigh) asks Lena (Katie McGrath) and Brainiac (Jesse Rath) to team up. Meanwhile, J’onn (David Haredwood) questions his decision to quit the DEO. However, after running into Manchester Black (guest star David Ajala), he realizes there are a lot of ways to help his fellow aliens during this tumultuous time. Armen V. Kevorkian directed the episode with story by Eric Carrasco and teleplay by Katie Rose Rogers & Jess Kardos (#404).

 

[vantheman77]

I wonder if this version of Manchester Black after he was straightened out by Superman after all their battles.

 

[flickchick85]

Promo:

 

[flickchick85]

Sneak peek:


Over-the-top intro moment aside, I've only seen him in one scene but already loving this casting for Manchester Black. This guy is great, imo.

 

[flickchick85]

Sneak peek #2:


Now I see why their VFX guy got this episode to direct, lol.

 

[flickchick85]

Nice to see they haven't forgotten Kara's PTSD when it comes to confined spaces.

 

[NotNickFury]

I'm going to assume that Kara was never good at first-person shooters.

 

[flickchick85]

Wait, Kara's an EMPLOYEE of the DEO? Is she getting paid? Yeah...Supergirl needs to break away from them. Take a page out of her cousin's book, lest she become the government's pet attack dog. Maybe this season is building toward Supergirl's equivalent of this moment:

 

[flickchick85]

So James knocking down those guys that one time was supposed to justify him sacrificing his freedom to suit up as Guardian? Dammit, I thought they had found the perfect way to let that subplot gracefully bow out.

 

[NotNickFury]

Did I...miss the Guardian stuff or was that just all off-screen?

Also, Earth-38 having its own Beebo might be the best part of this entire episode.

 

[flickchick85]

Did I...miss the Guardian stuff or was that just all off-screen?

You missed it. It was like one shot, lol.

 

[flickchick85]

This episode was a bit sluggishly-paced, imo, but decent.

Things I liked:

-Manchester Black! I LOVE this dude. This was an interesting way to introduce his character and the actor they got is seriously charismatic. Now I just need to see him get his powers, please.

-I can see the story they're building up here with the parallels of both Supergirls potentially being their government's lapdogs, and I feel like if done well (which I think should end up with our Kara going her own way), it could be a compelling storyline to see play out.

-Brainy's callback to Streaky and the "mind palace" was a nice touch.

-I loved the fact that Kara lamented the destruction of the pie stand during the fight, and then immediately went home and baked a half dozen pies as soon as she was freed of her suit.

-I like the Lena/Brainy duo. Brainy is just such an upgrade from Winn, imo, because he offers something other than comic relief, and doesn't need his own dramatic episode in order to bring a little gravitas and/or a new perspective to the table.

-Nice to check in with Russian Supergirl, and I enjoyed the fact that her reaction to being locked in a rectangular column with nothing but a chair for the last few days was simply annoyance at the delay in her training. It was the first glimpse of her personality we've gotten at all.


Didn't like:

-I'm sorry, but James is a dumbass. After all this time, he STILL hasn't learned the basic lesson that you can be a hero without going out there and punching people. That there are actually legal venues through which he could do so, which many people do every day, and that being the head of one of the biggest media companies in the country is a FAR more powerful weapon than anything Guardian could wield. I don't know what kind of message the writers are trying to send by insisting he must suit up as Guardian in order to take action, but it seems ill-conceived. I wish they'd just throw him in jail and be done with it. At any rate, while I had thought/hoped we were finally rid of this storyline, I'm glad it at least backfired on him.

-Was that the end of Mercy? Anti-climactic if so.

-Kevorkian does some cool shots (which, as he is a VFX supervisor, isn't surprising), but his directing/editing choices need work, imo. I think part of the poor pacing from this episode comes from the way he chose to cut to Kara every time she said something, so we could see her speaking from inside the suit, and that' s NOT typically how dialogue scenes are cut. There should be overlapping cuts, even if they needed to add a sound filter to alter Kara's voice in the shots where she's talking and we're not seeing her face in the suit. In the Alex/Kara scenes especially, the resulting edit made it blatantly obvious that those two women were not acting together in the same room or at the same time at all, and it sucked the life out of each of their scenes. Those scenes just fell flat, and that made the proceedings feel a bit dull, imo.

-Not at all surprised the new President turned out to be a jerk, but they could've at least made the transition a little more gradual, lol.

 

[vantheman77]

The closeups of Supergirl in the helmet remind of the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey. Glad she was used here more.

Lots of relationships forming and characters connecting.

Manchester Black is a great addition and that new colonel taking over the DEO is a throwback to the first season.

Brainiac 5 continues to be a great addition to the show and I don’t miss Winn at all. Cisco-lite for me!!

Glad to see Kara’s Russian counterpart again.

Much better than last week.

 

[vantheman77]

Also YVRshoots cane up with a perfect for Supergirl’s armor - Kara Ranger!!

 

[SSAV]

I liked that the show remembered that Kara had PTSD, that Alex could have issues with being a director and that could create tension between Alex and Kara (easily resolved). I liked the J'onn bits and J'onn-Alex talks.

However.. I felt the fight scenes were underwhelming.. It was disappointing to see Mercy and Otis go so soon. And in such a passive manner. (Otis with kid and killing the DEO agent was good though).

Also, Alex-Kara scenes, while I was happy to have them for the intent, I was unhappy with for the way the scenes were done. Melissa's stand in was stiff and Alex looked like she was practicing the dialogue before saying the real stuff to her sister. She didn't get much acting support from the other end. Even with the space helmet talking. And, that scene were helmet is taken off, that looked tacked on as well.. Or edited in.. Not part of the whole.

Still, directing/editing apart, the writing seems to be better this season.

 

[BH/HHH]

Another solid episode, this season has been really good so far. For me this is Supergirl’s best run of episodes ever.

 

[Dr.]

The problem with this episode wasn’t so much Benoist’s limited presence. Rather, it was the awkward means they used to force “Supergirl” into the story. For instance: the “suspense” of the protective suit’s powers levels failing; the contrived spat between Alex and Kara; and the solution of using “nanites” to rid the Earth of Kryptonite - which apparently comes from the “tell, don’t show” school of filmmaking. Might have been better just to have Kara make a slow recovery in a high-tech “stasis pod” or some such. Then, with this screen time freed up, they could have devoted more attention to J’onn’s struggle with non-violence (i.e., the ahimsa of the title), to Manchester Black (who was quite engaging) or to Guardian’s action scenes.

Speaking of which… I’m often unobservant with these shows. So when James, Lena and Nia started talking about Guardian’s return, I figured it was my bad for missing it. But upon reviewing the scene in question, all I saw was a quick shot of generic dude on a motorcycle. That was supposed to be Guardian?

 

[Brierrose]

I'm no fan of Guardian but I see what the writers are doing and it makes sense to me. It makes complete sense that Agent Liberty would want to twist James Olsen, who is a high profile alien advocate and personal friend of the Supers to suit his cause. James having to deal with unwillingly being used as a poster boy for the anti-alien cause actually gives a him story that dovetails nicely with everyone else yet it's from his perspective.

 

[Sithborg]

Yeah, where they seem to be going with Guardian and Agent Liberty is interesting. A great twist to that storyline. Does James still want to be a hero, if the only thing keeping him from being locked up is because he is an icon to a violent, extremist movement.

I also like that Alex seems to be getting into trouble for all the recent failures of the DEO. Something we didn't exactly see for J'onn.

Melissa's body double was terrible, though.

 

[Primal Slayer]

Ok episode. DIdnt grab me enough to really sway me any which way.

 

[Dark Raven]

Manchester Black seems more like Blade. Just give him fangs and he'll be ready to go day walking.

I did feel that Kara and Chyler's scenes weren't filmed together. It felt more like something from a 70s TV show.

Not keen on having Guardian back. But at least it was brief.

They should've gotten someone fatter with more orange skin and a combover for the president.

 

[fan4stic]

Manchester Black seems more like Blade. Just give him fangs and he'll be ready to go day walking.

I did feel that Kara and Chyler's scenes weren't filmed together. It felt more like something from a 70s TV show.

Are you sure you don't mean...

An 80's Show?

lol.

 

[BH/HHH]

Manchester Black seems more like Blade. Just give him fangs and he'll be ready to go day walking.

Do you just mean in terms of look? Cause I know what you mean but character wise he came off very much as Manchester Black to me.

 

[flickchick85]

Yeah they've set it up so that he's someone technically on the same "side" as Supergirl and seeking justice, but he's gonna go about it in extreme ways that she definitely won't approve of. And he's snarky and has that "too cool for school" vibe about him. Sounds like Manchester Black to me. He just needs to get powers.

 

[BH/HHH]

Yeah they've set it up so that he's someone technically on the same "side" as Supergirl and seeking justice, but he's gonna go about it in extreme ways that she definitely won't approve of. And he's snarky and has that "too cool for school" vibe about him. Sounds like Manchester Black to me. He just needs to get powers.

Does he not already have them? In that fight scene he was able to avoid getting hit when he just on that chair. Just feels like he may already have some abilities with his mind that he’s not yet sharing.