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

[Dr.]

After they recast Alura (Laura Benanti -> Erica Durance) and young Kara (Malina Weissman -> Izabela Vidovic), they reshot the Krypton scene which appears in the opening credits.

 

[Dark Raven]

I preferred Laura Benanti to Erica Durance. And she does a great impression of Melania Trump.

 

[Thome216]

I'm the opposite. I liked Benanti, but I think Durance has done a better job. It doesn't hurt that she has a long history with the franchise, and is quite nice on the eyes.

 

[Dr.]

Are Mercy and Otis actually dead? Or were they just neutralised with non-lethal arrows?

I just watched the episode, they looked dead to me...

There’s a kind of “grammar” to movie/TV violence. For example, a gunshot to the chest is usually read as fatal - whereas a shot to the shoulder (or other extremity) means wounded. And if there’s any doubt, a close-up of the victim will confirm their fate. Moaning in pain = survived; motionless, glassy stare = dead.

To me, it looked like Mercy and Otis might have been struck in “non vital” areas of the body. Additionally, as Dark Raven mentions, the alien attacked using exotic darts. And I think audiences often associate darts with non-lethal “pacification” (tranquilizing drugs, Tasers, etc.). Again, any confusion or ambiguity could have been easily resolved with a quick close-up of the victims or a few words of dialogue.

The fact that there is confusion and debate denotes, IMO, sloppy filmmaking. Indeed, Guardian’s “appearance” in that same sequence was also unclear. Sloppy filmmaking x2.

 

[Lencho01]

I liked Manchester Black. I wasn't sure if they were trying to show if he had powers or not. But, I guess with how things ended, seems he doesn't. Or maybe they plan to give him powers.

I totally expected Kara to be talking with her body like they do in Power Rangers.

I was expecting Mercy and Otis to get hurt in that scene, but was surprised they would just kill them off like that.

What was up with President Tron being all angry? Felt kinda out of no where.

 

[jolldan]

Ok didn't think this one was quite as strong as last week but still a solid episode. Will get the bad stuff out the way first and then move on to what I liked.

Things I Didn't Like

• Manchester Black - Nothing against the actor he was fine just felt like we had to see him go through this in this episode so he has an excuse to go bad next episode.
• Jonn's Quest For Peace - I wanted to like it but man this whole Jonn striving to become a pacifist is boring as hell. You don't need to have him going full Martian in every episode but he even broke down the flaws in his own logic in the last episode saying how him not fighting is actually getting more people hurt.

Things I Liked

• The Suit - I know I am probably in the minority but I think the suit looks awesome and it was cool to see Kara getting the Iron Man style treatment.
• Alex Uncertainty & the Kara argument - I like that they addressed Alex doubting her abilities to run the DEO. Also liked that Alex had to put her foot down with Supergirl (although I thought it would have had more weight if she actually listened)
• Agent of Liberty targeting children? - Nothing really came to pass in this episode but we could see Liberty going down a much darker route soon.
• Guardian of Liberty - It was just a small clip but I loved how it seems Olsen's quest to do good has been used to actually build more propaganda against aliens.