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thevindicativevordan · 10 months

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Superman & Lois Season 3 Review

Another season is over, let's take stock of how the show did in comparison to S2.

Well for starters their poster game dramatically improved, the pic above is the first one that I would describe as cool. The writers seemed to have taken feedback from S2 into account because they made several corrections that I think led to S3 being the best season of the show yet.

First off they dropped the emphasis on the Multiverse which had previously played a strong role in S1 and 2. Good timing considering that the general audience at large has started to show signs of fatigue with the very concept of Multiverses, Spiderverse aside. I myself have grown utterly sick of the Multiverse and was grateful that like X-Kryptonite, the show decided to put that storytelling crutch on the shelf.

Second, they did a much better job with juggling all the characters' storylines this time. Lois, Superman, the Irons, and Smallville all connected to the overarching Intergang plot in a way that made sense and worked to flesh out Mannheim in contrast to the Parasite Twins last season who suffered from too much vagueness and multiple plotlines that failed to connect emotionally. Sam and Lana having similar emotional arcs - where they learn to move past the pain they suffered from previous relationships and be ready to explore new ones - was a great way of connecting the two that I did not see coming. And sue me but I enjoyed the Kyle/Chrissy romance as out of left field as it was.

Bruno Mannheim was easily the best villain of this series thus far. His actor was able to switch from charismatic and sympathetic to terrifying with startling ease. My favorite example of that is the episode where Nat and Matteo had dinner with the elder Mannheims, Mannheim was cracking jokes and being the cool dad one minute, and getting ready to beat John Henry Irons to death the next minute. Great casting and acting for the entire Mannheim family, odd choice to use a take on Onomatopoeia for a Superman show, but I thought Peia's love for her family and ruthless nature to protect them contrasted well with Lois. Loved that scene at the end between Supes and Peia where he tells her it's ok to let go, opposite message of the iconic All-Star scene which they also homage, but one that I thought can be just as comforting.

Speaking of her, Lois benefitted from being the star of her own storyline this season. She got to deal with cancer and investigate the Mannheims, she got to make mistakes (like when she hesitated to keep digging into Mannheim after her bonding with Peia), have struggles with her self-esteem, and her past actions regarding Lex help set up S4 nicely. Eager to see the fallout of Lex's hatred for her next season.

Clark didn't get as much to do this season other than butt heads with Mannheim and Jordan, but he got enough cool Superman saves and nice Clark moments for me to be satisfied.

New actor for Jon is great. Not only does he look more like the Jordan actor's twin but his performance was on par with his predecessor. Making Jon a firefighter was a nice way to give him something to do beyond being Jordan's emotional support, or take the fall for his girlfriend. Writers appear to have finally caught on that most of the viewers see Jon as the true sympathetic kid who embodies the best of his parents. Jordan however... what the hell are they doing with this kid? He was a total creep this season regarding Sarah and towards the end it felt like maybe they were going to pull a twist ending by having him start falling into villainy. Then they had the scene at the end where he apologizes to Sarah and I have no clue where they're going with him anymore. Having S4 be Jordan's fall while Jon finally gets his powers and has to confront his brother would be the best way to end this series, a way of coming full circle back to S1 being Clark vs. his own evil half-brother without being a total rehash. Dunno if the show has the balls for that, I expect they do not, but man it would be a great set up for a series finale

The Irons were far more involved this season which made me happy. Scene where Irons and Mannheim confronted each other after Irons saved his sister from the bomb was pure classic Superman/Lex hatred, made me wish we had gotten more scenes between Wole and Coleman because the two played off each other beautifully. Grinned when I saw this show follow through on the Steel/Lana romance, happy to see something of Pak's influence reach outside of comics.

The Lex actor is the best live action Lex since Rosenbaum, have to give the CW credit for being able to adapt Lex while the film side struggles. Really looking forward to him stepping up as the Big Bad next season. Given the show's emphasis on family and that they won't be bringing the actor playing Sam back as a reoccurring support, I firmly believe they should have Lex kill Sam in S4. Would be a great way to establish Lex as a threat, show how determined he is to punish Lois, and write Sam off in a way that serves the story.

On the bad side I guess this season ending on Doomsday didn't do much for me? Doomsday being a weird adaption of Nuclear Man from Superman IV (they even end the season with a fight on the moon!) and DCEU Doomsday is one of those times where I just ask "why?" when I see this show taking influence from the DCEU. Oh and there's all those supporting cast plotlines that aren't going anywhere now that the show has basically trimmed the cast down to the Kents and Lex. Nothing will come of the Irons moving back to Metropolis and building Steelworks or Kyle and Chrissy having a kid, not that the writers are to blame for that.

People would have been pissed if the show ended on this cliffhanger, lucky for them that S&L are at least getting what is likely to be one final season to wrap things up. Tulloch was saying that she wasn't sure if S4 was the last season, but I don't believe S&L can get another one. Between Nexstar just barely renewing this show after months of negotiations with WB, Nexstar making it clear the show isn't very profitable and they want to transition away from scripted content, most of the supporting cast members being laid off to cut costs, the real life town that scenes for Smallville are shot at only being signed up for three seasons, and of course Superman Legacy being primed to release in 2025, there's no way S4 will be anything but the final season. Especially with the WGA (and possible SGA) strikes delaying S4 scripting and shooting until late 2024, I expect that S&L S4 will air just a little while before Legacy's July 2025 release date, much the same way as the CW Flash series ended a little while before the Flash movie released.

Between MAWS and Legacy it's unlikely this show will have much if any impact on the Superman franchise, but it's been a nice diversion while the film side sorted itself out and MAWS got worked on. I'll definitely check in for the final season, I'm sad that the Irons won't return but I think the show might benefit from having to focus on the core cast rather than get sidetracked by focusing on everyone else like how the Flash show botched it's final season.

#superman #superman and lois #jon kent #jordan kent #john henry irons #lex luthor #doomsday #lois lane #bruno mannheim #intergang #onomatopoeia #tyler hoechlin #bitsie tulloch #wole parks

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afaimsarrowverse · 3 years

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Arrowverse-Spin-Offs, we would like to see:

„Arrow“ and „Black Lightning“ are done, „Supergirl“ is in its last season and „The Flash“ and „Legends of Tomorrow“ will probably be over rather sooner than later. So it’s time to look at some potential Spin-Off-Ideas and the reasons why we won’t see any of those happening. But hey, I have been wrong before. The last time I did such a list, I wrote that Warner would never allow a „Superman“-Show to happen, because of them wanting him exclusive for the movies, even though at this point the Powers that Be were already working on getting „Superman & Lois“ on the way (because they have been working on that since around „Elseworlds), so maybe in two years one of those shows on this list will actually air at The CW:

Atoms: Since Ray has left „Legends“ I have been missing him, and since Crisis was the last we ever saw of Ryan Choi, yes, I still want „Atoms“, starring both Ray Palmer and Ryan Choi and their respectice wives, sciencing their way out of every problem and superheroing a little bit at the side. Yes, Fairy Godmother Nora would be a challenge to put into that concept, but if someone really wanted to find a way to integrate that storyline in the show, they could and if not, they could just do away with her powers off-screen. To bad Brandon Routh and Berlanti Productions did not part under the best terms and that the reason they got rid of him in the first place was that they couldn’t afford him any longer, so this one is not likely to ever happen. Also, I am not sure too many people are actually interested in a whole show about the Atom. Even if there a two of them.

Canaries: With „Green Arrow and the Canaries“ not picked up, they could return to this fan-favored concept: A solo show for Laurel and Dinah. Ditch the Future Crap or wrap it up in the Pilot, let them live in the present again and be a crime fighting double act. Or just set in the future, if you must, and let Dinah keep her club and just say good bye to the Queen-Kids. But since both actresses waited for a year to star in a show, that was not happening and said no to jobs because of that and the plotthreats of the „Green Arrow and the Canaries“ Backdoor-Pilot are still up in the air, it is very unlikely that we will get to see this one.

ThunderGrace: They should have aimed for that show instead of „Painkiller“, they might have had better chances to get picked up with it. Anyways, giving Anissa and her new wife Grace their own show, set in a different city of course, would go great with certain protions of the „Black Lightning“-Audience and might even attract new viewers. Having Jennifer and TC guest star regulary would also be great. Sadly this won’t happen of course, „Black Lightning“ already was very much Anissa’s story, giving her her own show would be like continuing „Black Lightning“ just without Jefferson, so it would basically be the same and therefore The CW would not go for it. Also, as long as „Batwoman“ is around, they would not do a second show with a lesbian Superhero Lead, who fights streetlevel, and since Season 2 also not one about a lesbian Superhero Lead, who is black on the top of that. So sadly, not happening.

Guardian and the Sentinel: „Supergirl“ is not getting a Spin-Off, but if we could choose, only Jessica Queller would go for the „Midvale“-One. Having Alex Danvers and Kelly Olsen als crime fighting partners in every sense on our screens would be great. Yes, the title might need some working on, but the concept would be great. They would probably operate outside of National City, there might even be a way to get the military angle in somehow. However as with „TunderGrace“, thanks to „Batwoman“ this one will never get made, because neither Alex nor Kelly have superpowers. Too bad.

Daughters of the Demon: I am very aware that I am the only one, who wants this Spin-Off. But I still want it. A show build around Thea Queen and the Al Ghul-Sisters (and Roy Harper of course) and their dealings with the League of Assassins in all forms and shapes. Katrina Law is of course not available right now, but the main reason we will never see a show around Thea, Nyssa, and Talia is that no one except me is really interested in it.

Dreamer (and Brainiac-5): This one has probably the best chance of ever happening from everything on this list, but given that it wasn‘t done anywhere outside this year’s Pride-Special, means that there probably are no actual plans for it. Anyways, a show about Dreamer with Brainy at her side, probably set in a new city rather than National City, would be great. Nia is still very new to the superhero-game, just finding her feet, and her romance with Brainy can go to many more places. But after the backlash in regards to „Batwoman“, The CW is probably hesitant to dare making a show about a transhero starring an actual transwoman. Nia might rather get moved to „Legends“ or „Superman & Lois“ or get to guest star on „The Flash“ next season than get her own show.

Next Gen: Mia Queen did not get her own show, when she was teamed up with the Canaries. However if you were to team her up with the Tonado-Twins and a Super-Spawn (not the Kent Twins though), she and Dig’s kids might just get another chance for their own show with William as their tech support. However the death of „Green Arrow and the Canaries“ makes that very unlikely, addionally we don’t know what will happen to Nora and Bart on „The Flash“ yet or where they will go with Kara or Clark for that matter in the future. And show set in the future would also cement that future, which would limit all the other shows somehow in storytelling terms, which might have been one of the reasons „Green Arrow and the Canaries“ was not picked up, so don’t hold you breath for that one.

Hall of Justice: Crisis established the League, but in a few months, only Sara, Barry and Clark will be left. But Nate is probably not the only one who applied for a seat. This one would of course have to take place between seasons or star everyone expect the heroes, who currently still have a show. I did name it „Hall of Justice“ on purpose, because there are many reasons, why this would never happen with the other name, but to be blunt, it would probably never happen under any name. However, this would be a good way to actually end the Arrowverse. To do a mini-series, where the League assembles after the last or most of the old shows are done. This could be one last Crossover with the potential of Follow Up- Features, if someone would ever want to make more of it.

An Anthology-Show:

Originally „Legends of Tomorrow“ was supposed to be an Anthology-Show, and while the decision to make an acutal show instead was the right one back then, the Arrowverse has grown since then, and the idea to do an Anthology-Show to keep it alive is actually a No-Brainer. Instead of whole Seasons, it would be better to go for Two-Parters, Three-Parters, Four Parters and even One Offs though, in order to get more stuff done in the span of a season. The main reason this will not happen is money of course - without standing sets this one would be hard to pull off, but I think it is necessary at this point. And they could even do only two arcs per season or only a hand full of episodes. This is where they could wrap up the open stortythreads from the failed Backdoor-Pilots – „Green Arrow and the Canaries“ and „Painkiller“ –and also where they could test out new Spin-Off Ideas, they could do my entire list here, plus more, like Slade and his sons, a story about the Hawk s, one about Kate Kane, or even Brandon Routh’s version of Superman etc. They could even go back and do in-between episodes about forgotten and dropped storylines, to which they never got around, like Roy’s death and resurrection or Rip’s founding of the Time Bureau. Additionally this is where they could do the Annual Crossover, they would not need to sacrifice episodes of the other shows, but instead air the Crossover as the Mid-Season Replacement in its own show, followed by some other storylines. But like I said, money is not on the side of this one.

Bonus: Show that will air on HBOmax instead and therefore can’t happen for the Arrowverse:

John Diggle, Space Cop:

This would be the Arrowverse Version of „Green Lantern“ and with a „Green Lantern“ Show heading to HBOmax it will of course never happen.

Hellblazer:

Not too long ago this was my top-bet for a new Arrowverse-Spin-Off, given that Matt Ryan’s „Constantine“ left a lot of unresolved storylines behind, but now that a new version of „Constantine“ with a younger John Constantine as the Main Protagonist in it, is heading to HBOmax, Matt Ryan’s version of the character may even be scrapped from the Arrowverse for good in the soon future. Let’s hope there is room for both versions of the character, but a Spin-Off for the Arrowverse is very much not happening any more.

Booster Gold (and Blue Beetle):

Wait, you might say, since when is Booster Gold getting his own series on HBOmax? Well, he was at least planned to get one. Alongside „Green Lantern“ another show was announced back then, remember?„Strange Adventures“ was supposed to feature Booster Gold. And while it has become kind of quite around this project, it was not officially scrapped. Given that it is very unlikely that we will ever get to see an Arrowverse-Version of Booster Gold instead, much less in his own show, and with „Blue Beetle“ getting his own show on HBOmax as well, Ted Kord will probably also never pop up in the Arrowverse, and Michael and Ted will never team up alonside the Legends. Too bad.

#Arrowverse #Potential Spin-Offs #Stuff we wanna see #Arrow #The Flash #Supergirl #Legends of Tomorrow #Black Lightning #Batwoman #Superman & Lois

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talesofafangirlwithadvr · 3 years

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March 2021 Picks!

Okay, this is pretty shocking. I am actually starting this review with two weeks of March left! However, you will notice that I haven’t watched a ton of stuff this month. Instead I’ve been reading more for my program. I have continued with some favorites though, and even finished some series.

Here come the spoilers....

NANCY DREW

I HAVE to start off talking about the CW’s Nancy Drew because I am LOVING IT this season. Wednesday’s cannot come fast enough (as you have probably seen on this page already). I am SO obsessed that I have actually started re-watching season 1 again (got it as a X-mas present, but available with HBO Max). It’s just SO GOOD! Obviously, I remember how that mystery concludes, but there’s things I’m noticing that I didn’t the first go round and even a few things I forgot. Some of those episodes feel like a lifetime ago because it was a pre-Covid world. Watching this show just makes me so happy. There’s great writing, plot, and THIS CAST! They are AMAZING. It is rare that I can say I like an entire show’s cast. That’s how you know you have a hit. I love the pairs. George and Nick are such a good match and make so much sense. I know they are not canon in the original series, but this show is its own thing and I think the choices they made with George and Nick’s characters are great. I just want George to be alright. She’s been through so much already. I also LOVE the potential of Nancy and Ace and I seriously think we’re headed there with the show. So many breadcrumbs and I am loving them all. I often re-watch a lot of the episodes instantly to make sure I have found them all. (See my page lydia-yougowith-stiles for more gushing on that.) Now we just need Bess back with Lisbeth and everything would be golden.

WANDAVISION

I LOVED the ride that was Wandavision. I have never watched anything like it and I don’t think I ever will get that same experience again. It was so tough to wait for a new episode every Friday and it’s crazy that we haven’t had a new one for two weeks because it’s over. (Haven’t started Falcon and the Winter Soldier yet, but plan to.) I can definitely see myself re-watching the series as a whole in the very near future. I loved all the speculation and fan theories out there after each episode was released. I know some people are upset that they decided not to include some stuff, but I was okay with it. I feel there’s so much potential and we’d love to see it all, but there’s also the hope we can see more of it with Wanda’s character in the future. For an Avenger who was underrepresented in the MCU she FINALLY has the recognition of being one of the strongest people out there. I cannot wait to see where she is headed in Dr. Strange Multiverse of Madness. I feel this is not the end of “Vision” and the boys either. I seriously loved their family and the scene (which I chose the above picture from) was one of my favorite moments of them. We got to see them fight as a family, which made it even heartbreaking later.

SUPERMAN AND LOIS

From one super family to the next, I have been pleasantly surprised with how much I have enjoyed the CW’s latest additional to the Arrowverse: Superman and Lois. While I am feeling the burnout of the CW’s superhero shows, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel specifically for Superman and Lois. The trailer didn’t draw me in, but I decided to still record and watch the pilot. I am very happy that I did. I love the tone of the show and the decision to show an older Clark and Lois raising their twin sons. (Even though I am continually feeling like Tyler Hoechlin is far too young to have 14 year old twins. He’s 33, so that “would” have made him 19, but it still feels like they try to make him look older as Clark.) As a lover of Smallville (which was my first real experience with superheroes), I love being back in the small, farm town and seeing Clark at his roots. Lois is great and very Lois like in her wanting to take down Morgan Edge. The couple has great chemistry and they feel like a family with the boys. I liked the twist (even though I felt it coming) that Jordan has powers and Jonathan is “just” athletic. While I liked that this was a way for Jordan to bond with his dad, I am hopeful that Jonathan will get something later down the line. If not then I hope he becomes more like the Stiles and stays human but can be apart of the team in another way. I don’t want him to go evil or anything because of his lack of powers. I really enjoy his character and how supportive he is for his brother.

BLOWN AWAY SEASON 2

The second season of Blown Away came to Netflix at the perfect time. I was missing this show after watching the first season in the later half of 2020. Glass blowing is something I knew nothing about, but was drawn in by the trailer of this competition show. It was so mesmerizing and satisfying to watch (although, I would never try it myself). With the season being so short, I was ecstatic to discover the show got renewed for a second season. This latest season was just as fantastic and we tried to drag out watching the episodes as long as we could to make it last even longer. Seriously, check this show out if you love interesting competition shows that you’ve never seen before. You’ll be wanting to book a trip to visit the Corning Glass Museum in NY.

VIOLETTA

Well, your girl did it! After three seasons of 80 episodes a piece, I FINISHED Disney Channel South America’s telenovela VIOLETTA. What a fun ride it’s been. From eagerly awaiting the next season to be released on Disney Plus, to adding the songs to my phone. I feel like my Spanish improved, but I’m sure once the subtitles are removed I’ll be hopeless. This was such a fun time with some out of this world stories, but they were so entertaining. While there were times I wanted certain plots wrapped up, I understood why they were dragged out because of the length of the show. Season three as a whole wasn’t my favorite. While the beginning was very strong, the middle was rough and I found myself taking a lot of pauses. (I really felt I needed to finish when my sister-who started long after me-finished the show and I was still on like episode 50.) Despite, all of this, it did pick up in the last 20 episodes and I just wanted to marathon through because it was so good. Once I was finished I felt so accomplished and a bit sad. I want to continue watching South American Disney shows available on Disney Plus, but due to the long commitment I think it will be some time before I do. Plus, right now I would definitely compare it to Violetta a lot because I just finished it and it was my first experience.

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Superman & Lois Episode 5 Review: The Best of Smallville

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This Superman & Lois review contains spoilers.

Superman and Lois Episode 5

This is the first episode of Superman & Lois that maybe felt like it was spinning its wheels a little. To be fair, this entire season has been unfolding at what can best be described as a deliberate pace. It’s an understandable decision since the entire concept of this show is meant to take fans of the Superman mythos pretty far out of their comfort zones, so there’s still a lot of heavy lifting that has to get done each week, especially as we get used to the Kent family, the Cushings, the history of Smallville, and more.

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That isn’t to say that “The Best of Smallville” is a bad episode, or a boring one, or even a rote one (it’s way too early for this show to have any kind of real episodic “formula,” other than those big reveals that it saves for the final moments each week). If anything, this shakes things up a little by adding flashbacks to Clark’s teenage years at key moments in the episode. And those, just like everything else relating to Clark’s history on this show, are handled with real care and reverence for everything that has come before. But I can’t help but feel that several of the beats we get in this episode, from Jonathan continuing to lose to the troubled home life of the Cushings, is stuff we’ve already been getting in previous episodes, all while the Morgan Edge story continues to just kind of lurk around the outskirts, just like the character himself.

Fortunately, this is Superman & Lois we’re talking about, and this show’s core four (not to mention its terrific supporting characters) make every moment worth watching. I have already written endlessly about how truly endearing Tyler Hoechlin’s Clark Kent is, and I’ll continue to do so. But there’s one thing Hoechlin does with Clark that I’m not sure I’ve ever seen another Superman actor do quite as effectively, and that’s how he makes Clark’s uncoolness not a put-on or an affectation, but as a genuine component of the “real” Clark Kent.

It’s hard to explain, but hang with me for a minute. It’s generally assumed that any time Clark is being “uncool” or overly earnest about something, it’s part of his “disguise.” And with many actors, especially the legendarily perfect Christopher Reeve, that was absolutely the case. The key to a truly great Clark performance always seems to come in the moments when he lets his guard down, and you realize that this is the “real” person, not the “Clark who has to pretend he isn’t Superman” shine through. Hoechlin does this effortlessly, and as dad-cringe as his entire opening enthusiasm about the Smallville Harvest Festival is, it’s real. He doesn’t have to fake this for his family, it’s really who he is. It’s great and I don’t know how many other leading man types who have played this role over the last 20 years or so who could actually pull this off so easily.

Anyway, that was quite a digression. Sorry about that.

I singled out Jonathan’s struggles this episode for some mild criticism above, if only because we’ve been watching this kid’s life unravel pretty much since the first episode. It is, perhaps, a little TOO convenient that he gets dumped by phone the same moment his brother is setting up his first ever date. And maybe this is the kind of thing they could have saved another episode or so instead of letting it come so soon on the heels of his football struggles.

But both of these kids are just so damn good that it’s tough to fault it. Jordan Elsass makes Jonathan perhaps the most likeable character on this show, even when he should be (as Sarah points out) a completely insufferable jerk. I know there’s speculation out there that Jonathan will be driven to villainy by his pretty ordinary teenage struggles, and I just don’t see it happening. These are both good kids, and even when they screw up, it’s pretty clear that their heads are screwed on straight. I’d just like to see Jonathan catch a break soon, though.

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They’re definitely playing the long game with Jordan, too, and Alex Garfin manages to imbue him with the almost wild-eyed wonder of someone who really just can’t believe his good luck…all without either lording it over or condescending to his suddenly unlucky brother. I’ve always felt that empathy is a secret Kent superpower, and Jordan’s got that by the boatload.

Lois and Chrissy are a surprisingly delightful pairing, and so far this show has managed to resist the rest of the Arrowverse’s tendency to “do a journalism” here, even as we see these two starting to dig a little deeper into whatever Morgan Edge is up to. Still, the fact that Lois literally can’t even write for the Smallville Gazette at the moment isn’t doing my or anyone else’s misgivings that they’re sidelining her any favors. It’s great to see Lois in these other contexts, and Elizabeth Tulloch is nothing short of the best screen Lois this century, but I can’t help but think that there’s something being missed with her story so far. (That being said, her thoroughly annoyed “go faster” to the boys at the Harvest Festival was a terrific, and intimidating fun moment.)

Those flashback sequences, though! Just as I love it that Jon, Jordan, and Sarah are all actually believable as teenagers (coughSmallvillecough), I like that they fully leaned into awkward 15-16 year old beanpole Clark and not some already filled out heartthrob type. Clark leaving home THIS early feels like a slightly new wrinkle for the Superman mythos overall, and I’m especially interested in seeing if we’ll see how some of this developed down the road.

I look forward to seeing Wolé Parks’ Captain Luthor continue to develop, but it would be nice to see if they give him enough screen time soon to give us anything beyond “seething, barely contained rage.” I’m also very curious to see if there’s any nuance they can build into his Lois twist, so that she doesn’t just become another object of fixation for the character. Similarly, it’s time for this story to show us a little more of its hand with the Morgan Edge/X-Kryptonite stuff, because sometimes a slow burn is just a fizzle, y’know?

I appreciate this show’s commitment to its family drama first storytelling, and I get that if we show Superman in action too much it will a) not be as special and b) eat up the FX budget so the moments we DO get won’t look quite as good. But I’d like to see a little more, and I certainly hope that more of Superman’s rogues’ gallery becomes open for business at some point. Yes, I get it, so many of those were utilized on Supergirl already, and I don’t want this show to fall prey to the “villain of the week” tedium that The Flash occasionally slips in to. I’m sure there’s some middle ground that won’t lose what makes this show stand out from its peers.

Metropolis Mailbag

Right out of the gate in this episode we learn that Smallville was established in 1949. It certainly was! While it was clear early in the Superman mythos that he wasn’t from Metropolis, and had grown up on a farm, and Superboy was established as a character in 1945, it wasn’t until 1949 that Clark’s hometown actually got it’s name, in the pages of Superboy #2.

Martha Kent giving Clark the sunstone crystal is a new one. Usually, so much of Clark learning about his heritage is tied exclusively to his father(s). Either the crystal itself calls to him (in which case, it’s Jor-El) or it’s Jonathan telling him the story of how he was found. This is the first time I can think of where it’s Martha really speeding Clark along on his journey to becoming Superman, and it’s about damn time.

On that note, their conversation about Clark being “sent here for a reason” is very much a nod to Glenn Ford’s Pa Kent talking to Jeff East’s young Clark in Superman: The Movie.

I assume he’s leaving here because the sunstone crystal told him to head north so it can build the Fortress of Solitude, but let’s ALSO not forget that Supergirl established early on that Clark was a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the future, so…this might be the time!

Spot anything I missed with these Superman Easter eggs? Let me know in the comments!

The post Superman & Lois Episode 5 Review: The Best of Smallville appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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mikereads · 4 years

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The importance of the bridal carry.

A lot of people have discussed the significance of the bridal carry and not just in regards to Kara and Lena but to Kara and her other relationships and to Clark and Lois. At this point they have paralleled Kara and Lena relationship to many canon couples not only in the arrow verse but within there own show that including Clois. Most times when Kara carries someone she does it by holding them up against her side holding one arm around there waste. We saw her do this with James in s1, Alex in season 2 and in other situations. We have only seen her carry someone in her arms like she does with Lena in three other scenarios. The first being with Agent liberties wife in season 4. Even though he was considered to be a villain his wife was a victim/pedestrian and one of Kara’s many rescues. We know for Kara saving people really sticks with her and is very important. That being said she was one of the people she was helping nothing more. The second one I remember is when Kara carried Alex in the flashback (even though this isn’t Melissa and doesn’t include Melissa and Katie’s chemistry I think its important to mention for the character) this is when Kara was still figuring out her powers so I take it as nothing more then that and the last one that I personally remember is when Kara caught Kelly in s5. People have already discussed the body language and so forth and at the time I took it as nothing more then Kara saving her future sister in law. By the way Kelly was pushed that was the safest way to catch her. That being said the difference between when Kara caught her vs Lena is obvious. Kelly was upright and stiff while Lena was calm and relaxed and yes Kelly did have every right to be stiff she was almost killed but so was Lena and the difference is obvious and its especially obvious how different Kara held each person.

Now on the topic of family and the bridal carry in general. As a viewer you know the show producers love to put in Easter eggs and acknowledge the similarities between Kara and her cousin Clark the glasses the button ups the goofy/clumsy personality. Its all their and the one of the most iconic things from superman is the bridal carry between him and Lois. It is considered one of the most romantic things in media and is called that because its what a groom usually does to a bride on his wedding that but Clark and Lois made in memorable because this was his way of rescuing her time and time again, Not just once but multiple times. That being said Lois wasn’t the only person he carried in this way he also did it with family members and other love interests over the years but that never took away the significance from him and Lois. It only made it even more memorable.

For an example this is him carrying his dads body I believe after he was killed. He also did it with Lana (his other love interest) You can find the bridal carry in most adaptations of Superman but I thought Smallville would be the best to compare it to since there both shows that have aired on the CW. The way he carries his father is pretty paternal and it shows that a Super can carry a loved one like this and not change anything just like with how Kara carried Kelly/Alex. The person they save time and time again is still different then all the rest even family. It doesn’t matter who Clark carries like that at the end of the day Lois is his number 1 always. When we see them carry relatives it just shows there strength, love and compassion and that they would do whatever it takes for the people they love.

Out of all the people Lena is the one person that Kara has carried like this. On the top of my head I can count at least over 5 times she has done this on and off screen. Lena is equivalent to Lois in this way. Kara/Clark will save them time and time again no matter what even if it means risking there identity to the entire world. Kara didn’t even do this with James her crush in season one nor do it with Mon-El her boyfriend at the time in S2. (also don’t say Kara isn’t strong enough to carry him because we all know that’s b.s) They chose for Kara to carry Lena like this for a reason shes her Lois. shes her not her kryptonite, she’s her strength.

#supercorp #clois #supergirl #supergirl parallels #supergirl cw #its just my opinion dont get made #ive been meaning to do this post for a while #kara danvers #lena luthor #i tagged clois because this is about them even if you dont like what i hvae to say about them

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davidmann95 · 4 years

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So do you think Superman & Lois will be actually good in a Flash S1 way or just pure cheese like Legends of Tomorrow? What do you want from the show?

‘What I want’ is a little complicated to publicly assess, because I’ve already read the script for the first episode and thereby have something of a decent sense of the tone, basic setup, and several of the characters. It absolutely seems like it’s touching on just about every angle I’d want it to to one degree or another though, other than missing some levity that’s I think more than safe with a Superman show to assume will emerge over time. Judging by said script though, genuinely very good for the most part, so what I want at this point is for them to keep doing what they’ve been doing between that and his past appearances. Just throw on top the family getting into a hijink or two and fighting Solaris, and I’m golden.

Anonymous said: Why do so many people seem to dislike Tyler Hoechlin as Superman ? The major criticism is that he seems like a Christopher Reeves ripoff, but putting aside the fact that he really isn't, I thought people liked Reeves Superman.

It seems to break down into two major schools of thought (not that everybody who doesn’t dig him falls into these categories), both of which seem to have emerged gradually over time given when he first showed up the response was almost universally positive:

1. Folks who flatten out him playing a fairly classic-flavored take on the character into him doing a hollow Reeve riff. There’s a subset here of Snyder folks specifically who see him as not only essentially ‘stealing’ limelight and love from Cavill’s Superman, but believe he’s been built above all else around doing so. Suffice it to say, I think there’s way more to him than that.

2. Folks who consider him ‘weak’, whether resenting his position to date as a supporting character and how thereby in Supergirl she’s consistently positioned as an equal or greater hero, or literally critiquing Hoechlin’s physical condition as being insufficiently ripped to play Superman.

Uh...I guess I’ll concede that if you consider bicep size a barometer of quality in your Kryptonians - I do not, if his appearance had to be proportionate to his strength he’d probably dwarf Jupiter - he probably won’t be able to work out 6 hours a day every day for however many years his show runs to keep up with Cavill, but bro still looks like he could tear me in half. As for his narrative role, of course he says Supergirl’s better than him whether you agree or not, he’s Superman and he’s a nice guy who sees the best in people, and of course he hasn’t been getting the big wins yet when he hasn’t been a lead. They’ve still gotten his character right in ways no other mass-media adaptation has touched, the rest’ll follow.

(And for that matter: he fights on even terms with a future Christopher Reeve Superman while at a disadvantage, and of the 50+ superheroes who stick their heads in during Crisis on Infinite Earths is one of the *three* who manage to actually land a hit on the universe-devouring Anti-Monitor. I’d say he’s just fine in the power department.)

Anonymous said: Three part question: 1. The CW shows won’t be able to start their next seasons until at least next year; what would you like for them to focus on fixing either individually or as a universe in the meantime? 2. The next crossover will be between Batwoman and Superman; what do you hope that ends up being and if you had to pick one character from each other shows to join in, but NOT the mains, who would you pick? 3. On a scale of 1 - 10, how smoldering is Hoechlin in that Superman & Lois promo?

1. Okay, entirely non-spoilery: having read the script as I said, the main thing they need to do is get some 15-year-olds in there with red markers to take to the kids’ dialogue. It’s not a worst-case scenario, Jon and Jor and Sarah have good moments, but it’s clearly teens as viewed in shows about adults rather than teens as depicted in shows about teens, and if they’re gonna be co-leads that can’t fly.

2. This is 100% where they’re gonna debut Bruce. They could have teamed up Superman with Flash for that old-school JLA action, they could’ve returned to the World’s Finest dynamic they established with Supergirl and Batwoman, but instead they’ve paired up two characters where the only thing they have in common is that they both know Batman. Sadly they will probably be COWARDS and not use Conroy again EVEN THOUGH HE HAS SAID HE’D LIKE TO COME BACK, and that it’s a two-parter probably shoots down my theory that Bruce would be introduced via an adaptation of Metal (Batman being gone because he’s trapped in the Dark Multiverse being tortured by Barbatos and in need of rescue by Batwoman and Superman, the introduction of Batman to the universe introducing ALL the Batmen) - while an eventual adaptation of that seems inevitable, especially given Red Death has already been namechecked, it probably won’t be as a relatively measly two-parter.

My idea I’ve floated on Twitter however as a joke that I’ve become increasingly, quixotically serious about overtime however is still very much doable: since CW Oliver Queen is just Batman, make CW Bruce Wayne Green Arrow. Have him grow a Van Dyke and make offensively spicy chili and rail against the fat cats on Wall St.; seriously, him having divested himself of his assets because he realized it’s impossible to be an ethical billionaire is a better answer to what happened to Batman than whatever these shows will actually come up with. And I don’t know what a boxing glove batarang looks like, but I want to find out.

Or also someone suggested on Twitter that it could be Clark playing Super-matchmaker getting together Kate and Maggie Sawyer, and I’d also be fine with that.

3. I’ll give it a passable 6, but he’s clearly not really trying.

#Superman & Lois #Superman #Lois Lane #Batwoman #Tyler Hoechlin #Christopher Reeve #Henry Cavill #DCEU #Worlds of DC #Supergirl #Batman #Kevin Conroy #Dark Nights: Metal #Green Arrow #Opinion

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that-shamrock-vibe · 4 years

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TV Review: Crisis on Infinite Earths (Spoilers)

Part Two: Batwoman

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review the day after the episode airs in the U.S. so if you haven’t yet seen the episode or are waiting to watch the crossover all in on, don’t read on until you have.

Overview:

I was right, and I’m so annoyed they couldn’t keep the high momentum of the first episode here. Where Part One felt like an epic and grand high-stakes crossover opener, Part Two feels more like the typical and somewhat formulaic Arrowverse episode. The problem with that is, it’s supposed to be both! I don’t quite get how the episode that had the most elements I was looking forward to fizzled this much.

But now with the true enemy finally revealing himself, and the promise of more Paragons to find, can Crisis save itself while it destroys the Multiverse?

Avenging the Fallen:

So the episode opens with the three main women of the Arrowverse, Kara, Sara and Kate, drinking in memory of Oliver. I have to say, I know this is a Batwoman episode and these three women in particular do often preach girl power and all that, but the fact Ray isn’t there at least does just make it seem like they wanted this girl power moment, and as Kate said, the Multiverse is still in danger.

As I mentioned when talking about Batwoman in my Elseworlds review, there were problems that fortunately have been fixed by Batwoman the TV series mostly, I still don’t like the fact she’s not a red head, I still don’t like how similar Ruby Rose and Erin Richards look because it’s distracting to me. Even a choppy bob style as Kate has in the comics would differentiate the two more for me.

That being said, Ruby Rose sold the dry cynical humour here as she does in her own series. I loved how she left the drink here but later wished she hadn’t, in that same scene when the Monitor reveals Batman’s secret identity how she demands discretion from the team was funny, Kara finding Earth-99 Luke Fox attractive and Kate finding it weird I thought was hilarious and Ruby Rose sold that very well for me.

Also, for all Kara’s mourning about her lost planet, there was no confirmation on where Alex, Brainy, J’onn, Nia, Kelly or Lena were after the climax of Part One. I know Brainy and I think J’onn are in future parts of this crossover but it would have been good for a side comment saying where they are.

Speaking of mourning, my god Mia goes hard here. It’s funny because in last week’s episode of Arrow, Oliver was all for Diggle finding a way to get Mia and William back to 2040, yet Mia is still around and making understandably emotion-driven but drastic decisions and both Barry and Sara, who are supposed to be older, wiser and more level-headed particularly in this area, are going along with it.

Barry especially, I believe, feels that if he can help Oliver cheat his fate then maybe he can as well considering that Iris has now got the idea that with The Monitor being wrong about how Oliver died maybe Barry won’t die either, that’s just stupid to give someone who has already accepted his fate and has been known to make the stupidest decisions going (Flashpoint) when he feels he can change it.

Mia decides to use a Lazarus Pit to resurrect Oliver and, like I said, both Barry and Sara agree. Sara does need some convincing I grant you and Caity Lotz does sell that she is never fully on-board with the idea, and why would she be because she knows first hand what the pits do.

I did appreciate the Nyssa mention, I just wish she had been their guide to the pit on Earth-18, instead we get a mini-fight between Mia, Sara and an unaltered Jonah Hex.

I did kind of guess Hex would appear as soon as the location was revealed as North Dakota, and to be fair I didn’t really see where Jonah Hex would fit into this crossover, so I am glad they found a space for him.

I also like that Constantine has something to do finally, because I am tired of just seeing Sara and Ray, as much as I love Sara and tolerate Ray, it’s called Legends of Tomorrow and currently I think has the biggest main cast out of these shows...so why am I being drip-fed Legends with now the addition of Constantine and Mick...again I do enjoy both of them but give me the god damn team.

Barry and Constantine bring Oliver to the Lazarus Pit and, as expected, Oliver emerges as an out of control rage monster that Stephen Amell does not sell quite as well as Caity Lotz or Willa Holland previously have.

I guessed Oliver would somehow be brought back, because while the Arrowverse execs try to say “We killed him off in part one to show no one is safe”, it was an eye-roll for me because you’re not going to kill the original main star of the Arrowverse in the first part.

My only issue with it is it happened so quickly, there was no time really to miss him because he was dead at the end of part one and suddenly they’re talking about bringing him back.

Sara had an entire season between death and resurrection and Thea’s resurrection came with great sacrifice on Oliver’s part joining the League of Assassins. Here, we had Constantine saying that the antimatter was making him lose his magic so he couldn’t bring back Oliver’s soul like he did for Sara, which only makes me wonder why they’re wasting time trying to bring someone back rather than stopping existence from dying.

Paragon Pursuit - Bat of the Future:

Okay so, apparently The Monitor has recently discovered seven Paragons across the Multiverse that can come together to defeat the Anti-Monitor. He knows this from retrieving the Book of Destiny from the timeline which was the McGuffin in Elseworlds last year.

Fortunately four of these paragons are known to The Monitor, the Paragon of Hope is Kara Zor-El and the Paragon of Destiny is Sara Lance. I got why this worked because Supergirl’s main brand is all about hope and she’s from a parallel world while Sara is of Earth-1 tying into the fact these seven Paragons are spread across the multiverse.

The Monitor tells the team that two more Paragons are to be found on different Earths, the first is the Bat of the Future on Earth-99 which Mar-Novu name drops as Bruce Wayne, much to Ray’s surprise and Kate’s annoyance.

Again I am actually enjoying Brandon Routh in this crossover, and cannot understand why he isn’t at this level on his own show.

Kate and Kara go to Earth-99 where they come across a dilapidated Wayne Manor, which looks more dishevelled than the one from the DCEU, and meet Earth-99 Luke Fox...who I had to double-take to ensure it was in fact Camrus Johnson partly because of how different he looks not geeked up and also because he is the only other main character of Batwoman to appear in this Batwoman episode.

Now I get that none of the other supporting players are vigilantes at this point, but not even Earth-1 Luke Fox making an appearance is slightly unfair, and you could argue that during Invasion! None of Supergirl’s supporting players were involved, but Supergirl still had an episode in that week which featured its main cast.

Again also Kate’s reaction to Kara finding this Luke attractive was probably my favourite moment in the episode.

Once forcing their way inside, Kate and Kara meet Earth-99 Batman, Mr. Kevin Conroy. I was so looking forward to seeing this veteran Batman voice actor in live-action and when you don’t see him talking, he sounds a lot like Batman of the DCAU, the only problem is I was promised Kingdom Come Batman and didn’t really get that.

I don’t know Kingdom Come that well but I thought Batman was supposed to be the main force of good left in the world, yet not only is he killing his rogues as displayed in his trophy case, including a Riddler cane which I also own, but he also killed Superman.

It’s at this point that Kate and Kara realise that this Batman is not the Paragon of Courage they were sent to retrieve and at that point Batman turns on Supergirl apparently hating Kryptonians.

Now this is where it gets interesting because before this, there is actually some good character moments for Bruce and Kate where Bruce tries to make Kate see that where he is in his mindset is where she should be, not trusting anyone, not believing in anything, just becoming the night basically.

It echoes similarly to what Lex Luthor tried to install in Lena last season which eventually worked as we know and it apparently maybe worked here because, even though Kate saved Kara from her doppleganger cousin, she still kept that Kryptonite wrist strap of his...what does she plan on doing?

Anyway before the Kryptonite reveal, we see Kate and Kara return to base where they tell The Monitor they failed retrieving the Paragon, but The Monitor reveals that the Bat of the Future and the Paragon of Courage is in fact Kate herself.

I don’t know how to feel about this, I love the fact Batwoman is being spotlighted even though she is the new girl, however, it does seem like the only reason she is the Paragon is because this is her show.

Also to have two Paragons from the same Earth? Not exactly far spread out.

Paragon Pursuit - Reign of the Supermen:

While Kate and Kara are on Earth-99, Earth 38′s Clark and Lois, and Iris for some reason, scourer the Multiverse for the Paragon of Truth, which is revealed to be a Superman...but which Superman.

Well just before they head off a spanner is thrown into the works in the form of Earth-38s Lex Luthor. We knew Jon Cryer would be back, I thought he would have returned in the Supergirl episode but we also see at least three other versions of Superman here so why not.

Anyway Lex steals the Book of Destiny because the Monitor apparently brought him back to be duped by the supervillain, shocker, and Lex travels the Multiverse killing off Supermen.

Clark, Lois and Iris first arrive on Earth-75 where they are too late because Earth-38 Lex has already killed this version of Superman who lies dead on the big screen with his Lois mourning the loss.

Their second attempt sees them arrive on Earth-167, which is the vaguest Easter-Egg reference going as it refers to Smallville co-producer Al Gough’s year of birth 1967...

When Tom Welling said he and Erica Durance were only in one scene they weren’t kidding, however I loved it. I am a massive Smallville fan, it was my proper Superman introduction, these versions of Clark and Lois are my Clark and Lois and that’s not going to change.

The decision for Clark not to have powers here is a weird one because they highlighted the fact that the Smallville Comics which followed the TV series would count as canon, yet aside from returning to the Kent Farm nothing we learn about Clark and Lois here was mentioned in the comics.

Also Clark and Lois have daughters, I’m not sure who they’re supposed to be but I’ve only ever known them to have a son...Jonathan...and since when did all the Supermen need to be Superdaddies anyway?

Anyway Earth-38 Lex shows up and Clark has the great confusion of wondering why Jon Cryer doesn’t look like Michael Rosenbaum, it is again sad that Rosenbaum didn’t reprise the role, but to have a Lex Luthor going up against multiple Supermen was still quite cool.

When Clark reveals he gave up his powers, most likely to be a father and family man, it did just seem like a cheat way for the writers to say “Yeah we have Smallville’s Clark Kent, but he won’t be part of the action”. Which as a Smallville fan is painful because I wanted to see Tom Welling in the tights, flights and action!

Also once Lex and the heroes disappear, Smallville’s Lois arrives and I have to say, she looks exactly the same as she did back in 2011 but different to how she looks as Alura Zor-El. Maybe it’s the choice of farm clothes as opposed to regal dresses but this is Lois Lane I had through my teen years, everything from the fashion to the hair, to the voice. I wasn’t crazy about the laugh because it seemed a bit forced, but she called him Smallville straight after and spoke in her high-energised way so I was happy.

The final stop was on Earth-96 which is a reference to the year the Kingdom Come storyline came out, it was confirmed that Brandon Routh would be Kingdom Come Superman but also the version of Superman from 2006 Superman Returns which Routh starred in.

We meet, or are reacquainted with,Routh’s version of Clark Kent. I have to admit I never much cared for Superman Returns, possibly because Smallville was on at the time and that version had already won me over. But I do know that Brandon Routh drew a lot of inspiration from Christopher Reeves and his portrayal of the character and you can clearly see that in both his fashion and acting.

I want to say it’s sad to see that pretty much all of Superman’s supporting staff at the Daily Planet are dead, Sam Huntington in my opinion was a decent Jimmy Olsen, but if this was Smallville’s Daily Planet staff all killed I’d be distraught.

Again I am comparing a lot but they are literally scenes apart from each other here.

Anyway, just as it’s confirmed that Brandon Routh’s Superman is the Paragon of Truth, Lex Luthor appears and decides he’s fed up with killing Supermen...we’ve only seen him kill one but there you go, and decides to turn Kingdom Come Superman against Earth-38 Superman in order for his now puppet to kill the other one.

I have to say, this was another weak battle sequence, I know it’s really CGI with two Supermen flying around, but neither Brandon Routh or Tyler Hoechlin have really sold flying as Superman to me that well anyway.

Lois finally does something and knocks Lex unconscious while she and Iris, who I cannot understand why she even came along at all, try to use the Book of Destiny to fix Kingdom Come Superman.

Eventually Lois gets through to KCS by appealing to his love for humanity and for his lost Lois. This breaks him free of the book’s control just in time before he snaps Earth-38 Superman’s neck.

With Lex detained, the heroes all return to base where they set up a machine to search for the rest of the Paragons.

Harbinger’s Headache:

This sounds stupid but genuinely is what happens, since the start of the episode when Mar-Novu reveals the Book of Destiny, Harbinger starts to get headaches, this does alert her to the fact Lex Luthor is stealing the book but also puts her in the pathway of the Anti-Monitor.

Yes we finally see the big bad of the crossover in all his...glory? He looks ridiculous! His concept artwork does make him look like Oscar Isaac’s Apocalypse but the actual thing we get just looks ugly.

I will give a minor positive and say it is better to see him in the show than he looks on the promotional images because I get the feeling lighting is not this guy’s friend and we meet him in what looks like the hallway of S.T.A.R. Labs.

Mick Rory, Baby Whisperer:

Again, this sounds stupid, but I wanted to highlight this for a couple of reasons and to spotlight Legends of Tomorrow because it doesn’t look like this crossover is doing that.

Firstly, this Mick Rory isn’t our Mick Rory, this is in fact the Mick Rory of Earth-74...why is it called Earth-74? I don’t know because originally there were only supposed to be 52 Earths, then Earth-X came about and now we have Earth-167 so I’m making my peace with them making it up as they go along.

Anyway, Dominic Purcell has grown on me since he was first introduced on The Flash. I think once you accept the fact that DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is essentially a piss-take because that is what it’s become then you accept why the characters do what they do, and not only turning a Flash rogue into a hero/legend is understood but also having him be a writer, have a rat as a pet and be good with babies is also understood.

We see that Earth-74 has a Waverider and did have its own version of the Legends before they all disbanded, Mick has taken command of the Waverider as seemingly his home where he is a struggling writer and his only companion is the Waverider’s A.I. Leonard...Wentworth Miller is back! As a disembodied voice, I would have liked to have at least seen his floating blue head but no we get the voice which is fine by me to be honest.

Once Harbinger commandeers the Waverider ad brings it to Earth-1 with Mick on board, he seemingly becomes the only person on board who Jonathan won’t cry for...not his mum, not his dad, not his aunt...a gun wielding alcoholic hot-head...great choice kid.

It is the lowest form of comedy side-story going but it is still nice to see them at least attempt to include the Legends and particularly Wentworth Miller in some form.

Easter-Eggs:

Superman III:

Alright so this is a clever throwback as this version of Superman Brandon Routh is portraying may be repackaged as Kingdom Come Superman, but he is also the same Superman Routh portrayed in 2006′s Superman Returns, who in turn is the same Superman Christopher Reeve played during the 80s, one movie Reeves was in was Superman III where Superman’s human and Kryptonian sides physically fought each other.

This plot point has also been done in Smallville briefly during the opening episode of Season 4 but not to the same degree as here or Superman III.

Smallville:

So many Smallville Easter-Eggs in one small scene, the first was the mention of Smallville’s Lex Luthor being the President of the United States of America. In a vision of the future Lex Luthor was indeed president and during the flashforward epilogue of the Smallville finalé he was running for president.

I also appreciated the time joke that Lois made when she said that it’s taken about a decade for Clark to “make a funny”. In real-time it has been almost a decade since Smallville finished as it was 2011, whereas now it is 2019.

Captain Cold:

Some things never change and whether he’s a doppleganger of the original or an A.I. version of the man, Wentworth Miller’s charm oozes out.

When Harbinger arrives on the Earth-47 Waverider, she notes that she is aware of who the A.I. is and he responds with his classic line “Always pleased to meet a fan”, this he has said a couple of times firstly in Season 1 of The Flash and then again with the Legends.

This was a great episode on reflection but in terms of ramping up the drama and grandeur of the crossover it did need work. Hopefully it’s only a minor bump before tonight’s third part, which promises a sizeable cliffhanger before the Christmas break.

So that’s my review of Crisis on Infinite Earths: Batwoman, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more DC TV Reviews as well as other TV Reviews and posts.

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greenhanded-redthumbed · 4 years

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Just A Small Town Boy

Clark grew up with his parents telling him how he fell from the sky. He wouldn’t believe them if it hadn’t been for the other things: that he’s strong enough to lift a tractor, that he can start a fire a hundred metres away with just his eyes, that he can fly. They tell him that he’s a miracle child: a gift. And that everything he can do just makes him more perfect, even if they have to hide them away for now.

Not yet, they insist, they’re not ready for you yet.

He accepts it, practicing to control his powers at night in the field next to their house. He wades through the wheat stalks that rise to his shoulders and is careful not to face anything important (he’d accidentally demolished far too many walls growing up, and even though his parents were more than happy to keep up with the continuous renovations, he still tries his best to keep everything in one piece). He learns to avoid certain bright lights that bring about a burning in the back of his eyes, to keep headphones with him for when his hearing runs rampant picking up anything said for miles and to always have an elastic around his wrist to keep him present and remind him to use human strength rather than super strength. (The Kents have an entire draw devoted to the elastics and other such trinkets ready for them to give way).

Clark’s gotten better at controlling his powers over the years, with the reports of alien sightings around Smallville dropping as he gets older. But he can’t stay forever.

He loves his parents dearly - loves the farm too, it’s the only home he’s ever known. And as much as he’d love to stay here, he can’t. He can do things no one else can, he can help people no one else can. But there’s not that many people in Smallville, and not much to save them from.

So he leaves, heads to the big city to pursue a career in journalism (because how else is he going to know who’s in trouble). Clark considers working with the police, but a quick read of the papers tells him of the high levels of corruption - all of them probably aren’t bad, but Clark has never been good at reading people and thinks he’s better safe than sorry.

His spotless record, good grades and glowing letters from his high school teachers is enough to land him an internship at one of the bigger newspapers in the city. The Daily Planet.

Clark turns up for his first day bright eyed, watching the chattering reporters move around the cubicles on the office floor - some darting forward with bundles of papers in their arms as they reach a breakthrough while others meander slowly and chatter greetings to their coworkers.

He doesn’t know what he expected - certainly not his own office and free reign, but maybe something more than cramped square metre cubicle with a desk crammed in (the walls of the cubicle barely reach his ears so the full-time, seasoned journalists can see if there’s someone to make coffee for them).

Occasionally, someone drops off a list of some kind for him to grab files on:

“I need the profit margins of these companies on my desk by six”

“Can you get the M.P.D crime stats to me by this afternoon?”

“I want you to pull up all our previous stories on the mayor and check what our bias is.”

It’s not exactly saving anyone, but it’s a foothold as a journalist. He’ll get there.

And he does - after a few months or so of perfecting his coffee-making skills and navigating the achingly slow computer he’s been given, a file is dropped unceremoniously into his cubicle. Clark pulls the headphones from his ears, letting the office chatter settle around him and turns to see one of the reporters looking down at him. The dark-skinned man would be shorter than him if he was standing, bulky and dressed in a neat, navy suit - Clark recognises him instantly as one of the more senior reporters.

“What do you need Mr. White?” Clark asks, one hand moving to fiddle nervously at the hair at the nape of his neck. It’s the latest manifestation of his fiddling - he doesn’t have his parents stockpile of rubber bands and always seems to lose them in the mess of his tiny desk.

Mr. White, Perry as Clark recalls, “I want you to write this report. Twelve lines. Puff piece: local orphanage.”

“Write a- write a report?” Clark stutters, surprised it’s not just another files request.

“Yes, Kent,” Perry White says slowly and Clark jumps at his own name, “You do want to be a reporter, don’t you?”

“Y-yes, of course,” Clark stammers, pulling the paper-thin file closer, “I’ll get on this right away, sir.”

“I’m not ‘sir’, Kent. Not yet anyway,” Perry says turning away. He calls back, “On my desk, tomorrow at five.” Clark’s too nervous to remember he doesn’t know which desk is Perry’s. He supposes he’ll just have to work it out when he comes to it.

As he goes to open the file, he notices a face watching him over the cubicle divider. A fellow intern, with long black hair and pale blue eyes that make her features seem sharper. Colder. Like she could open her mouth and freeze him to the core.

“Um, hi?” he starts, “We haven’t met, I’m Clark-”

She cuts him off. “A newbie.”

He doesn’t know what to say to that. She’s not wrong or particularly rude. Just matter-of-fact in a way his southern hospitality hadn’t prepared him for.

“Yes, a newbie-” He replies with a grin. She cuts him off again by picking up the file from Perry and flipping it open.

“What are you doing?” Clark questions, hoping he’s not going to end up in a fist fight with a fellow intern for this story.

“Just checking this out, don’t worry,” she mumbles preoccupied scanning through the loose sheets, “I’m making sure the big dogs aren’t screwing me over.”

She looks up at him and her face briefly contorts into a smile - not a warm one, a happy one. A cold, practiced greeting to show no harm done, a I don’t mean to be a weirdo going through your files I’m actually a rational and normal person kind of smile. “But Perry’s right, this is a bludge.”

“Okay?” Clark replies, honestly confused by the whole interaction more than anything, “Well, it was nice meeting you Ms…”

“Lane,” she answers him, “Lois Lane, the top intern. That’s not an official term, but it’s the truth.”

He offers her a smile and a nod before turning his attention back to the file that has once again been dropped on his desk. It’s only two loose sheets, almost no info and a basic piece. But at least it’s him who’ll be writing it. One step at a time.

(When it’s printed in the lower corner of page twelve two days later, he cuts it out and sends it back home to Kansas. Ma and Pa are deliriously proud and request copies of all future articles. He doesn’t find out until Christmas that they’ve turned one of their walls into a display for his published pieces.)

Three weeks after his first article, a new intern moves into the cubicle next to him. (Ms Lane’s now one of the people bringing bludge stories and requests to his desk. She must have been right about being top intern). The new intern, Ms Lang, is a city girl. Born and raised in Metropolis. But she has a warmth that reminds him of home. Warm brown skin and wavy brown hair and warm brown eyes that seem to shine when she smiles.

He’s more than a bit enraptured.

She leans over half way through her first day to talk to him. “So, how long have you been an intern here?”

He grins back and the office fluorescents suddenly shift to the warm summer sun reflected off the wheat fields. “Almost five months now.”

“Huh, good to know,” she replies and he notices her nails are painted the same shade of pink as her dress.

“Why’s that?” he asks before she can disappear back into her cubicle.

“Because on my tour round here I heard you were the new top intern. And I want to get there faster than you.” Then she’s gone, back to becoming the hardest working journalist of Metropolis.

It took Clark a moment to let her words sink in. He knew the Daily Planet requires journalists to show their replacements around. He cranes his head over the wall of his cubicle and catches sight of Ms Lane on the other side of the floor. She’s arguing with a colleague over something or other and doesn’t so much as glance at him. It’s kind of surprising that she thinks so highly of him. It’s also kind of the best.

It’s around this time he makes his first appearance as superman. He puts on the suit his father left him (the one Pa and Ma kept for him until he turned sixteen) and sets out to help people. It’s strange, giving in to the sounds and sights and smells he’s been blocking out all his life. He can hear the whole city buzzing beneath him as he floats above it, tuning in and out of conversations like a radio.

He decides to start small - he picks cats out of trees, clears trees off of roads and flies the dying to the hospital at super speed. An alien in primary colours zipping around the city catches the attention of the Daily Planet pretty quickly. He reads the article one of the reporters, Mr John Corben, writes on him and is happy to see it’s mostly good (wary, but still praising his actions).

Clark steps up his attempts at heroism - he now shows up to confront active shooters and floats above witnesses for particularly nasty cases. Praise starts getting thrown his way, with t-shirts and fan-blogs. They treat him like a celebrity.

Then his first supervillain arrives. He calls himself the Ultra-humanite and the papers obligingly print it in their headlands ‘Superman vs Ultra-humanite: Shocking Defeat for the Man of Steel’. The Ultra-humanite - Clark doesn’t even know his real name - isn’t like the regular street thugs and gun-wielding cowards. He can’t match Clark physically, so he does it mentally. He outsmarts Clark at every turn with automations and traps and a thousand other misdirections.

The Ultra-humanite also introduces Clark to a new weakness: a small, almost fluorescent green rock he calls Kryptonite. It leaves him weak and dizzy. All the hyperawareness sinking away as the world dulls and blurs. He can safely say he doesn’t like it.

It dawns on him that he’ll need help. So he turns to the person he thinks he can trust.

“Right,” Lana says slowly as he hovers in front of her, work shirt unbuttoned to show his famous emblem, “So you’re the superman with the superpowers who wants help taking down a supervillain. Super.”

“You don’t have to be apart of the fighting or anything,” he assures her, “I just need a plan or something to get the upper hand on him.”

They’re on the roof of the Daily Planet. It’s the only place he could think of that wouldn’t have security cameras or be too suspicious to visit. Enough people still smoke to make it an acceptable break spot.

“You want me to outsmart a supervillain. Outsmart a supersmart evil genius supervillain.”

“Or help, just offer any insight,” Clark says, bringing himself back to the floor and doing up his shirt. That seems to calm Lana down, and she tilts her head slightly, gazing dazedly out at the horizon

It takes her a minute, but when she looks at him again he knows he made the right decision to come to her. “So he’s found ways to outsmart all your super powers.” Lana starts slowly, “Because he studied Superman.”

“I guess so,” Clark says.

“So,” Lana continues, “Use your abilities as Clark Kent. The ones he doesn’t know about. Track him down in his lair like a reporter - with paper trails and good old investigation.”

He does, tracks down all the stores that sell the fancy equipment the Ultra-humanite - a man, Clark learns through his investigation, who is called by the far-less threatening name of Gerard Shugel - and traces the sales back to accounts and addresses.

He finds Shugel’s lair, crashing in dressed in full Superman regalia to see that very man tinkering on his next trap. It’s easy for Clark to apprehend him on his own turf. Just carrying him to the police station and leaving his address for them to search through. Clark was raised to believe that everything gets easier with practice, so he knows he’ll be ready for the next supervillain to threaten his city. And he knows he has someone to turn to when he gets out of his depth.

After a year of intern work, Clark finally gets a position as a full-blooded journalist. (Investigative, which is the same department as Ms. Lane. There are some whispers going around that two newbies handling a department is risky business, but those are shut down by an icy blue glare.)

They work side by side in matching offices, with Clark dibsing the police corruption case. (Which Ms. Lane thinks is undignified but lets him have it so she can keep working on her inquiring into the company practices of one of Metropolis’ largest businesses. Something called Lexcorp.)

Lana inherits the role of top intern, a placement which Clark confidently informs his replacement of. He knows it’s not long until she’s on the detective side of the office and looks forward to it.

He knows that the people are ready for him now. And more importantly, he’s ready for them.

#superman #clark kent #lois lane #lana lang #perry white #Daily planet #ultra-humanite #dc #fanfic #fanfiction #justice league #kryptonian

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tortoisesforhire · 4 years

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Fic a Thon Day 2

Letters to Superman

Kara teaches Clark about Krypton via letter writing. She is somewhat successful. In more ways than one.

Dear Clark,

You asked me to tell you about Krypton. Well, here goes nothing! I know uncle Jor-El sent his mind capsule with you as a guide but you can only program so much into a limited space, and there's more to a world than history and science.

You were a miracle baby. Did I ever tell you that? The first naturally born baby in over three centuries. Our scientists believed we'd lost the ability long ago but, there you were. Father always did say Jor-El was the smart one. Of course, Jor-El was a biologist and Father was a botanist but still. He always used to tell me I was meant for great things. I used to think he peaked at my gene-code and was trying to give me hints. On Krypton you're not born, not in the traditional sense anyway. You're grown using the genetic material from your parents and engineered to your greatest potential. We were very concerned with that; potential. To be our best selves. So, when you're born you have your whole life already laid out for you. Your career, social class, even who you'll marry. Although that's a bit less strict science and more woo-woo in my opinion. Mother used to say Rao had tied red strings of destiny to the inside of our ribs to lead us to our perfect match. I liked that idea better than being genetically engineered to love a specific person at first sight.

I know how that sounds to someone who didn't grow up there. But Krypton was utopia compared to other planets. Sure we had our faults, which of course led to our destruction. Humans have strange ideas about free will. Like it's the be all end all of happiness. We had free will to a point; you operated within your own will in the circle in which you were placed. We made our own choices, free to make mistakes, but the structure of our society limited those mistakes a great deal. We had no poverty, no issue with world hunger. Everyone fulfilled a purposeful function that gave them personal satisfaction while also benefiting society as a whole. That probably invokes some strange sci-fi robot dystopian image for you, nerd that you are. But it was what it was.

I still dream about it. The violet oceans of Turan, the Yalaran blossoms that grew outside my bedroom window, the smell of the wind in the hot season. I dream of day trips to the Haloran valley, swimming in the lake and Cara-Uam. The sound of Ora's laughter. I miss the sky. It was bigger than on Earth, wider and deeper. You could see the stars better. I miss our constellations; Saroium and Ulapturus, Calamara and Hamam Ura. We lived on the edge of Argo City, next to the Terraform compound were Father worked, trying to find a way for Kryptonians to inhabit other planets. If only he had succeeded.

Tuam moro, it means 'here are my thoughts'. As you know Krypton was centuries ahead of Earth in terms of technology. Holograms, voice messaging across interplanetary lines, the sort of stuff that only exists in science fiction here. That was reality for us. However, letter writing, tuam moro, was considered to be a gesture of great respect. If you wanted to make a good impression, or express deep emotion or show someone how much you trusted them; you wrote a letter. By hand. We had to practice in school. I used to hate it, I could never understand what the point was when you could just call someone and speak face to face.

I remember once, in academy, my best friend Ban-Ko would write little notes and pass them to me. Silly things, nonsense to distract me when I was frustrated, make me laugh. Mada-Ra caught us once during a test and I thought for sure we'd end up on punishment duty in the fields. We were supposed to be writing to our Academy head to express our gratitude or something. But she just stood there, holding Ban-Ko's stupid note and smiling before she handed it back to me. She said; 'My husband used to write me notes just like these when we were young,' and then winked at me! I was so red in the face Ban called me Galoran for the rest of the day. (I don't know how well versed you are in Kryptonian astrology, but Galoran was the name of a red giant four kriniks from our solar system, we'd just learned about it and Ban thought we was funny.)

I was going to marry him. Or the Kryptonian version anyway, it's not entirely the same as it was on earth but it's generally similar. It's more of a formality than anything else. He was my Halanath Morum, which means 'my heart in you'. It's essentially just a genetic matching of our respective DNA but still, he was my best friend. He died before Krypton, after a terrorist attack at the Academy caused the ceiling to collapse. That was the year you were born, a year before Krypton died. I never thought I'd be able to live without him. Losing a match, even a young one like that, unconfirmed... most don't survive it. Father said it was because your body couldn't compensate for the loss of it's partner so eventually it just died. I didn't have much time to grieve of course, after that happened they discovered the terrorists had disrupted a planetary fissure and jump started magnum pari-am which is basically the apocalypse.

It was a long year, let's just say. The highlight of which being you by the way. Our very own miracle baby. It's sad Ora never got to meet you, she would have loved you. She was our cousin, Astra's daughter. She was tri-born; engineered from a three-way bond. Triangle marriages weren't uncommon per-se, but they were seen as special, and the children born from them even more so. She was something else; artisan track, completely beautiful. She was five years older than me and I adored her. She looked like Astra for the most part; long blonde hair and the same fine bone structure. But when she smiled she was the spitting image of In-Ra. She had their eyes too, soft and brown with little crinkles at the corner when she laughed. In-Ra was my favorite relative, born with a genetic defect; a mistake in the DNA coding which resulted in a non-gender. At least that's what Father said. But In-Ra was beautiful, and funny and so full of love. You couldn't help but adore them, and who else could have put up with two people as stiff necked and stubborn as Astra and Non? Ora was just like them. She was slotted to travel to the neighboring system to study the masters in the Tan quadrant after she finished at the training school. She died in an earthquake in Haloran Jungle two years before you were born. In-Ra was never the same.

Well this is a gloomy letter, sorry about that! I'm sure you would much rather talk about the good things on Krypton than the sad stuff. I know! Your mother, Lara, she used to collect these beautiful little figurines, they were of fidiha, which are sort of like horses only they have two tails and they're gem colored. She had so many of them, all in this little room at their house. Tiny exquisit carved ones made out of jade rock or matekite, even one made out of wood from Trinia; a forest planet not far from ours. She had this one in particular; it was all black and a little shiny with bright blue gems for eyes. It was so life like. I used to run my fingers over the tail whenever I was at their house. She said it was given to her by her mother, who had been from the east. Apparently she was descendent from the Tilian Line, or the old Royalty. The Monarchy was dissolved centuries ago of course, but the bloodline never quite ran out. So I guess that makes you a prince huh? Lucky.

How is Metropolis these days anyway? I haven't been there since last Christmas when the General showed up and got in a fight with Lois. Lovely man the General. Really, what a riot. If I never see him again it'll be too soon. I met Jimmy today. Thank you for, you know, outing me to him. Appreciate it. How is it okay again for you to tell your best friend about the whole alien thing but I'm not allowed to tell mine? Winn is way more trustworthy than Jimmy is! Just because James is unfairly good looking does not make him better at keeping secrets.

Diana say's I should just tell him and damn the consequences and really, who am I to argue with Wonder Woman? Winn deserves to know, he's been my best friend for over five years. It feels weird not telling him, he's practically family at this point. Besides, if Bruce gets mad then I'll just blame Diana and let them duke it out. You know he's totally scared of her right? Wise man. I mean, I can bench press a bus and I'm scared of Diana. I know you like to pretend you're not but we can all see through that. Everyone is scared of Diana, she's terrifying.

Alex is here now. I have a date tonight, some online thing. Eliza said I should try and ‘get out there’ or whatever. I tried to explain that I don’t date but she wasn’t really listening. She gets sort of weird when I talk about Krypton or, y’know, the fact that I’m an alien. I think she likes to pretend I’m ‘normal’.

I know she's just worried about me but honestly, it's a little suffocating. It's one thing to have the League walk on eggshells around me like I'm a bomb or something but this? I'm not a naive little girl anymore, if I ever was. In spite of what you all seem to think I am entirely capable of taking care of myself. And what's so great about being normal anyway? I can fly! Being able to fly kicks the pants off 'normal' any day. I just wish she'd leave me alone about the whole dating thing. I've been resigned to being a cat lady for years now, or a dog lady. Bunny lady? I could totally be a bunny lady.

Alex is glaring at me now so I must leave. Wish me luck! And seriously Clark, if you ever want to talk about Krypton just ask me. It’s not like I have anyone else to talk to about it.

Balarath Iri-Rao By Rao's Light Kara Zor-El

#My writing #supergirl #superman #fic day 2

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doortotomorrow · 4 years

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I was tagged by @blodreina-noumou to answer some questions about my favourite TV shows, so I’ll list my favourite shows and take it from there!

Doctor Who The 100 12 Monkeys Smallville The Musketeers

Who is your favorite character in 2?

I mean...there’s no real contest here for who my favourite character is from The 100. Everybody here knows my brand! Emori kom Spacekru, of course!

Who is your least favorite character in 1?

Oooooh...least favourite Doctor Who character...that’s a challenge since the series has a whole host of memorable, lovable characters, but if I had to choose...I’d say Simm’s Master. His type of villainy and character is best enjoyed in small doses because characters who’re constantly going over the top are grating on the nerves for me.

What is your favorite episode of 4?

Smallville ran for so long, it’s hard to choose just one, but if you were to twist my arm around...I’d probably go for Homecoming. It’s got a little bit of everything in it and it’s one of the best written episodes of the whole series. Poignant stuff!

What is your favorite season of 5?

The first season of The Musketeers is the series’ strongest season in my eyes(thanks to the stellar performance of Peter Capaldi as Cardinal Richelieu). The cinematography is wonderfully staged, the fight scenes are bracing, the characters are all well serviced throughout the episodes, getting amazing moments to shine, the music is well scored, providing the perfect panache...just all out amazing stuff!

Who is your favorite couple in 3?

It’s been a good long time since the main characters of a show have been my favourite couple, but 12 Monkeys did it right with Cassie and James. They work well off of each other, are both strongly written characters so they’re on equal footing, and well...are really pretty to look at!

Who is your favorite couple in 2?

Look at how beautiful they are...they should have sent a poet! John Murphy and Emori kom Spacekru are THE romance from The 100. They’ve had the most romantic scenes in the show and have constantly surprised us at every turn. I adore them!

What is your favorite episode of 1?

My favourite episodes(a three part story spanning three episodes) of Doctor Who are the last three episodes of Clara Oswald’s time in the TARDIS. Face the Raven, Heaven Sent, and Hell Bent. These episodes are a tour de force of high stakes emotion, beautiful performances, epic music, all culminating in one of the saddest goodbyes the Doctor’s ever had with one of his companions. Clara’s last story’s beautifully cathartic.

What is your favorite episode of 5?

Through a Glass Darkly, hands down, is the best episode of The Musketeers. Every element of that episode is so tight and crisp. The one off villain for the episode’s enthralling, the romance is at its height, the acting’s on point, and the scenery’s dessert for the eyes.

What is your favorite season of 2?

Yes, the season was weighed down by a lot of controversy, but my favourite season of The 100 is the third season. ALIE’s my favourite villain of the story(I’m a huge Terminator fan and she was giving me major Skynet vibes, so I dug into it), it fully introduced Emori while also beginning Memori’s epic love story, getting to see people acting possessed is always a fun fright, and we got into the history of how the world got blown up in the first place. So overall, the third’s my favourite.

How long have you watched 1?

I’ve been watching Doctor Who ever since 2011 and I haven’t looked back since. It’s the holy grail in terms of sci-fi. The Doctor can look like anyone and sound like anyone, the companion can look and sound like anyone, and come from any place in time and space...and the coolest thing of all? Thanks to the TARDIS being able to travel anywhere in space and time, a Doctor Who story can be about ANYTHING! There’s no limits to Doctor Who, and so, therefore, it can go on forever!

How did you become interested in 3?

I became interested in 12 Monkeys when a friend of mine(she knows who she is! 😉), brought it up while discussing one of the actors who worked on the show. When I saw that it was about time travel, I dived right the fuck in since time travel’s one of my favourite sci-fi story engines, and I blazed right through it in under a week. I highly recommend watching it!

Who is your favorite actor in 4?

Erica Durance is without a doubt the strongest actor from Smallville. I couldn’t have asked for a better Lois Lane. Whenever I picture Lois in my head, it’s her face I envision!

Which do you prefer, 1, 2, or 5?

Doctor Who. It’s pure, unfiltered comfort. No matter how terrifying and no matter how sad it gets, the series will more often than not end the episode off on hopeful note.

Which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3 ?

I’ve definitely seen more episodes of Doctor Who than 12 Monkeys considering how 12 Monkeys’ run is massively short compared to that of Doctor Who’s!

If you could be anyone from 4, who would you be?

She’s a badass journalist who gets results while also getting her beautiful self worshiped by Clark Kent every night. Better believe I wanna be Lois!

Would a crossover between 3 and 4 work?

Smallville and 12 Monkeys? Better believe it could, what with Clark having access to the Legion Ring. It would be really great to see Clark helping James Cole repair the broken timeline!

Pair two characters in 1 who would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple.

They didn’t meet, but I went through a period of time where I got really into shipping Rose and Clara together. The notion of the two companions I had the biggest crush on becoming a couple and such was too tantalizing to pass up!

Overall, which show has the better storyline, 3 or 5?

Why must you do this to me?! 12 Monkeys and The Musketeers were consistently written across the board, but if you had to grab me by the scruff, I’d say 12 Monkeys since time travel’s a bitch to nail down properly and they pulled it off!

Which has the better theme music, 2 or 4?

Let’s make this one a tie. They’re both so different from each other considering one’s about the origin story of Superman and the other’s about humanity’s desperate survival, conveying separate themes and emotions entirely. I love both!

#words from doory #this felt like an interview #thanks for sending this in!

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ontherockswithsalt · 6 years

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Midnight Margaritas -- A Halloween Jamko Oneshot

Summary: When Jamie and Eddie get to pretend for one night, can they be whatever they want to be? The truth has a way of coming out in the dark.

Rating: T (but like.. also language).

A/N: A festive Jamko oneshot circa season 8! Featuring a reference to a conversation from 6x04. I hope you enjoy!

“If I bring somebody, is it gonna be weird?” Jamie sneaks a glance at his partner out of the corner of his eye as he pours himself a cup of coffee.

Eddie swallows the first sip from her own paper cup. “Why would that be weird?”

His shoulders lift and he offers a cursory glance around the precinct break room. “I didn’t know if it was like a… bring-a-date kind of… party.”

“Shh--” Eddie’s brows dip as she hushes him and steps closer. “I only invited like, four people from the house.”

“Alright, sorry.”

“It’s a Halloween party, Reagan. You can bring someone, but they've gotta dress up.”

He feels one cheek scrunch with the displeased look he gives her.

Pointing one finger, she cuts him a warning glance he’s seen dozens of times. “If you’re coming, you’re dressing up. No exceptions.”

“I don’t really do costumes,” he attempts.

“Wear your uniform for all I care. But don’t be lame, okay?”

With a slight shake of his head, he lifts his cup to his lips. “I’m not wearing my uniform.”

“If you don’t want to wear a costume, why would you even come?” She questions him. “Take your date and go do something depressing like play putt putt golf.”

“You’ve asked me ten times in the last week if I’m coming, so I feel like if I don’t come, I’ll never hear the end of it.”

“You’ll never hear the end of it if you don’t dress up.”

He merely manages an exaggerated eyeroll.

“Wait, who are you bringing?”

Stalling over another sip of coffee, he looks at her and arches one brow.

He can’t help but smirk when her gaze narrows at him and mouth opens, a slanted curve to her lips. “Who?” She wonders.

“You said it wouldn’t be weird. You’re being weird.”

The pinchy look on her face amuses him when she quickly shakes her head and insists, “I’m not weird.”

“It’s just Dana.”

“Ohhh…” She drags it out and leaves her lips parted for a beat before she averts her gaze. Then she sips thoughtfully from her coffee cup, nods and swallows hard. “Right, right. Law school Dana, cool. That’s… cool.”

All he can do is offer her a patient, but definitely judging reaction.

She lifts her chin and maintains, “I wasn’t weird. I said it normal,” before she flits her dark lashes in this way that makes his cheek twitch as she walks away.

***

“Oh look!” Eddie cries as soon as she opens the door to her apartment. Pretending to check an imaginary watch that's really just a gold plastic wrist cuff, she rocks back in the doorway. “You decided to show up at almost midnight.”

“Sorry! That's my fault,” Dana chimes in beside Jamie. “We had another party to go to. But I knew that was the one I'd want to ditch. So we hit that one first.”

Eddie seemed to have stopped listening and just slants a confused gaze at her partner. “So wait. Are you guys like… lawyers?” She peers down the length of him and tilts her head.

Jamie’s dark grey trousers and a coordinated, buttoned vest over a fitted white dress shirt and neat, red necktie, knotted at his throat apparently confuse her.

“Clark Kent and Lois Lane!” Dana announces.

The look that stalls on Eddie’s face makes Jamie sputter a tipsy laugh. “How--?” She starts.

Jamie uses his shoulder to push off the frame of her door. “Can we just come in?”

“Yeah yeah, come in.” When she turns, Jamie's gaze falls to the hem of the oversized white t-shirt she wears that engulfs her short frame. It just skims the back of her thighs beneath the curve of her rear end.

“What the hell are you supposed to be?” He wonders, following her to the kitchen, his date close behind.

Eddie moves to the counter where she clears off a few stray, empty cups and throws them in the trash. Then she looks down at herself, at the cherry red boots that climb over her knees and back up at him, lifting her hands as if it would be obvious. “I'm Wonder Woman.”

“Why are you wearing a New England Patriots t-shirt?”

“Oh. Someone spilled their drink on me and it soaked my costume,” she explains with a shrug. “I'm wearing the important parts.”

Jamie steps forward and adjusts the gold plastic headband that sits crooked across her forehead, wrapped around a mess of blonde wavy hair. “More like… Wonder Woman the morning after a pretty wild night.”

Unfazed, she glances to the counter to reach for a couple plastic cups from the stack near the blender. “What's a wild night for you, Reagan? Triple word score on an all-night Scrabble game?”

“I'm more of a Boggle guy--”

She simply lets out this exaggerated groan. “Dana how do you keep this nonstop thrill ride in line?”

“He really does go hard at Boggle,” she quips. “Can I use your bathroom?”

“Yep. Other end of the living room. The door with the purple lights around it.”

“Thanks.” The sharp heel of Dana’s black stilettos announces her exit from the kitchen.

“Would you like a margarita?” Eddie calls after her.

“Yes please!”

She grins up at Jamie. “I'm making margaritas.”

“They're the only reason I came.”

“Can we talk about this costume? Because it's a joke.”

He looks down to assess himself, then pushes up the plastic glasses on his face. “Clark Kent is a reporter. This is how he dresses.”

“You're not even--” She steps up to him and tugs down the collar of his dress shirt. “Doing it the hot way. This is supposed to be ripped open and the Superman shirt underneath. You're seriously just a dork in a suit. With no costume under it. What if you get a distress call and you have to go save someone?”

Jamie shrugs one indifferent shoulder and reaches for a tortilla chip from a bag on her counter. “Then you can go, Wonder Woman. In your invisible jet.”

“Obviously, I'll have to.” In her silver cocktail shaker, she adds a substantial pour of tequila over ice along with the lime juice mixer from a pitcher. She slaps on the lid and gives it a good shake then looks over at him.

He watches her for a moment, propping himself against her kitchen counter. “Where’s your lasso of truth?”

Her lashes lift and those stormy blue eyes hook him for a beat. He finds himself managing a hard swallow before she answers, “In my bedroom. Wanna go make it useful?”

“Shit,” he hisses the word in a laugh and turns his gaze away.

She shakes her head with a satisfied smirk.

“Make the next one stronger than that and then we’ll see how truthful I get,” he tells her.

“Are those your real glasses?”

“No.” He grasps the frame and pulls them off. “I don't wear glasses. These are fake.” Sliding them back on, he quirks an eyebrow at her. “Do you like them?”

Eddie's lips twist as she considers it, then pops off the cap of her shaker. “Maybe. Do you like my red boots?” She wonders, straining two margaritas into the salt-rimmed plastic cups she set out.

With a meaningful pull of his brow, he glances down her legs before he murmurs his tease of an answer. “Maybe.”

“Superman likes them.”

“Never heard of him,” Jamie manages, accepting the drink from her. “Thanks.”

“We're having an affair,” she says, treating him to a proud flit of her eyelashes. “But keep it quiet, he's got a girlfriend. And she's no fun.”

Jamie squints and he knows it looks more dramatic behind his drug store glasses. “Tell me more.”

“Eddie, I love your apartment.” Dana reappears by Jamie's side in the kitchen. In a black button down shirt tucked into a slim grey pencil skirt, Dana really does look like any other day at her office. But it was sort of a last minute decision to dress up together anyway.

“Thank you.” Eddie passes off the other cocktail to Jamie's date and makes her way past them. “You two brainiacs have fun.”

***

Jamie’s not entirely sure why he wound up at this party with Dana. She herself acknowledged that it’s not like they’re exclusive. But now and then, when she needed someone to bring around friends or he was bored, they reached out to one another.

But the past year with Eddie had been rocky and strange. Like this constant shift in balance to make sure they didn’t tip over the edge of something they couldn’t climb back across. She admitted, in a rush of genuine confusion, these sweeping feelings. Quickly backtracked, and then kissed him.

But the way she did it was like this lingering, tempting reminder that she didn’t need him. And when her lips slipped from his -- that night almost a year ago -- and she looked up at him, a thousand questions danced in his eyes while hers simply offered him a challenge to make her need him.

And fuck, her kiss sparked a flame inside him that refused to go out. But instead of dealing with it, they made excuses, assured themselves with false notions that they were on the same page. And now barely hang onto this precarious slippery slope and insist that they’ve got it under control.

Jamie’s just drying his hands in the bathroom when everything around him goes black, except for the tin on the counter that holds a flickering candle. “Eddie?” He calls out for her, almost on instinct as his eyes take a moment to adjust to the darkness.

He hears the protests from the party guests out in the living room and when he turns to pull open the door, he sees the whole apartment in the dark. Where there was once a TV playing music, strings of purple and orange lights, and a few dim lamps, now there was nothing except a few jars of glow sticks scattered throughout the room in neon green, pink and purple.

“Hang on. I’ve got it.” He hears Eddie’s voice from across the room.

“Jamie?” It’s Dana’s voice.

“Everybody okay?” He calls out.

“No, okay seriously. Now I’m scared,” someone else laughs.

“Let’s just all agree, no murder,” one of Eddie’s friends proposes to a dark room full of giggles. “Are we-- is everyone cool with that?”

“What if the lights come on, and somebody’s lying out dead on the floor?”

“Oh my god! What the fuck, Nathan? Who says that?”

“I’m just saying! This is like the beginnings of some horror movie shit--”

“Shut up, there’s like, five cops here nobody’s getting murdered.”

Just then the sharp beam from Eddie’s flashlight cuts across the room. “Or how about Wonder Woman’s here,” she speaks up. “It’s the breaker. I’ve gotta go flip it.” She directs her light near Dana where Jamie can see she’s still sitting with Kara from the precinct.

“Where’s your breaker?” He wonders.

Eddie waves the flashlight under her face and announces with an ominous tease, “In the basement.”

“No!” Another one of her friends shouts. “You’re braver than I am Eddie. I’d just make you guys sit in the dark.”

“I’ll go with you,” Jamie says, starting toward her.

“Can I help?” Dana moves to stand up and she says it in her typical polite way where she doesn’t actually intend to go with anybody.

“Do you have your phone?” Eddie wonders as she crosses the room with a lit candle and leaves it on the coffee table. “When we get down there, Jamie’ll call you and you can tell us when we’ve flipped the right one.”

“Alright, sure,” she agrees.

“Come on, Clark Kent. See this is when you would change into your Superman get-up!” Eddie huffs, exasperated as she grasps her drink and keys on her way to the door. “Missed opportunity.”

“You taking your drink?” He laughs.

She turns back and tips her cup to her mouth, the edge of the emergency light in the hallway catching in her eyes as she looks at him across the rim.

His cheek pulls up with a grin as he follows her, grasping the edge of the door to pull it closed behind him and murmurs, “Lush.”

She halts her steps right there in her narrow hallway leaving him to knock into her from behind. Chirping a surprised giggle, she bumps her ass against the front of his pants as she blocks him.

“Go,” he chuckles, holding onto her shoulders to shift her aside. But he intentionally wobbles her off her balance and she catches herself, heavy steps that click on the floor, as the wall keeps her upright.

Cracking up, she steadies herself against it. “Stop!”

“You sure it's your breaker?” Jamie wonders, turning to lead her down a dimly lit flight of stairs. “And not the whole building?”

“This building's so old, a lot of it is on the same circuit.” At the second floor, the hallway lights work and they descend another.

“How often do you have to go down to the basement to fix it?”

“Eh. Now and then.” She shrugs. “I could call the super and then wait all night in the dark, but I don't feel like it.” They come to another landing and find a door hidden under the lobby staircase. Crouching down, Eddie props her flashlight between her teeth and glances down to thumb through her keys.

Jamie reaches over and eases the light from her mouth and takes the drink from her other hand. “Got it?”

“Thanks.”

She gets the door open and it's another set of concrete stairs that descend into the darkness underneath.

Jamie ducks down, reaching out to slow her pursuit by her shoulder as he scans the cramped, musty space with the flashlight.

“I've never been able to find a light switch down here so maybe you can,” she tells him.

“My god, Eddie,” he rasps, his brow furrowed as he glances around what are probably multiple code violations and who-knows-what-else if he were to look under all the blankets and boxes piled throughout the room. “We gotta get you a new building.”

“No way, I love this neighborhood,” she insists. “You find a light switch?”

“I don't see one.” He steps closer, walking ahead with the flashlight when he sees the breaker panel on the wall. “That's okay, I can't look at that Patriots t-shirt anyway. It's better in the dark.”

“Ha!” She coughs, following in at his side. “It was an ex-boyfriend's.”

A grunt of disgust puffs out of him as he runs the light over the wall to find the subpanel for unit 3C. “Oh then that's extra offensive.”

“You gonna carry a torch for the Jets your whole life?”

“Yes.”

He hears the smile in her laugh. “Here’s 3C.”

Examining the plain panel of black switches, he wonders, “So nothing's labeled?”

“No.”

“Awesome. Let's just start flipping shit.”

“Why'd you bring her?” Eddie's question makes him pause a few caught-off-guard beats.

He looks at her. He doesn't ask Dana's name for clarification; he knows what Eddie's asking.

“I mean it'd be different if she were your girlfriend,” she goes on. “And you guys went everywhere together. But… or is she? Your girlfriend?”

“No.” He answers quickly. “I just-- she asked if I had plans and I told her about your party.”

“Right, my party. I didn't think you'd-- nevermind.”

“What, you don't like her? She's always been cool to you,” he reasons, but he knows this has nothing to do with her. “Right?”

Eddie blows out this sort of humorless laugh and looks up to distract herself at the circuit breaker. “Yes, Reagan. She's always been cool to me.”

He swallows hard and doesn't miss the flare of heat that stings his chest when he's this close to her. “Eddie, you know she's…” He exhales softly. “Intensely jealous of you.”

“Oh god,” she groans. “Don't. Why, because I get to spend so much time with you and witness you being a hero for twelve hours a day?”

“No, because she sees how I get when I talk about you,” he confesses. “Which… I probably do a lot, I guess--” He hears himself mumble the rest as he tilts Eddie's drink to his mouth and swallows what’s left in a hard gulp. “These are good. You have a future in bartending if this partnership goes south.”

“How do you get?”

“What?”

“How do you get when you talk about me?”

The near-darkness heightens everything else and he can feel his heart throbbing between his ears. “I don't know, Eddie. You know what I mean.”

“No I don't.”

“You want me to stand here in a fucking basement in the dark and tell you I care about you so damn much it makes me crazy? That I've never seen you look like more of a ridiculous mess than you do tonight and I can't stop thinking about how bad I want it? You don't want to hear that.”

“Want it?”

“Want you.”

She sucks in a playful gasp and he can see the blue in her eyes light up. “The lasso of truth,” she whispers. “Damn, my powers are good.”

“Shut up,” he laughs in this relieved exhale.

“So that's what it takes huh?” She muses. “No lights in a basement where you're pretending to be someone else and then, you can be honest with me.”

“I'm not pretending. I just-- You should know.”

She steps closer, pointing a finger at his chest. “And I do not look like a ridiculous mess--”

He hardly lets her finish before his head tilts down and his mouth falls on hers.

He's never kissed her like this before, with no hesitation, just giving into the gravity of everything that threatens to wreck them. He grasps her waist and closes a fist at the side of her t-shirt as she arches into him.

Easing away, she exhales hard and reaches for the glasses on his face. “Don't ever wear these again. I hate them,” she mutters, stuffing them into his pants pocket before she leans up and captures the kiss again.

She drags fingertips up the back of his head, lightly grasping his hair. The move makes him let out this uneven sigh before he denies it with the hard stroke of his mouth on hers.

An urgent whimper sneaks out of her just before he pulls away, his words a raspy breath. “Okay but can you wear everything but this shirt again at some point? Because I don't hate them--”

“How are you both a dork and a freak?” She exhales the question, then tastes his lips once more, adding a faint scrape of her teeth where she tugs. The heat pricks there at his bottom lip but he feels it pulse straight to his groin.

Just then, the harsh buzz of Jamie's phone vibrates through his pants. With a startled inhale, he shifts back, taking his hands off his partner before quickly feeling for the poorly timed device in his pocket.

“Hey--” He starts, then clears his throat. He lifts the flashlight and doesn't miss the pink in Eddie's cheeks as she tips her head down and nervously scratches beneath her gold headband. “Yeah we're just uh-- just trying to find the right one. None of these are labeled so give me a-- Yeah, she probably could sue her landlord.” He mutters his agreement and cuts his gaze over to Eddie who can't resist a roll of her eyes.

She helps him out, taking the flashlight for him while he holds his phone.

“How's--” And then he shoves over a few random switches. “Now?” He flicks and flicks and flicks to Dana's repeated No's.

After a few more unsuccessful attempts, the breaker resets and Dana gasps through the phone with a relieved “That's it!”.

Jamie confirms that they're good and lets her know they're on their way back before he ends the call.

“Wow, for just a modest reporter, you sure are a hero,” Eddie teases with an adorable scrunch of her cheek.

He shakes his head, exhaling his amusement and turns toward the stairs. “Can we go? There's probably a dead body down here.”

“Nice, Reagan.”

He leads her out of the underground space, ducking down to exit through the door and finally into some actual light.

When they reach the lower landing of the staircase, Eddie clicks her flashlight off and lingers there at the bottom. “Hey--” She starts and Jamie pauses his climb to look at her. “I know… you’re going home with her tonight. So--”

He shakes his head before she can either ask him not to, or give him the green light. “I won’t,” he tells her. “I mean, I plan on taking her home. But-- I’m not…”

Eddie stalls there with a faint nod as she considers it.

He points his chin to the back corner. “I meant all that down there.”

“I know.” The flick of a smile curves her lips.

A soft laugh puffs out of him and he turns to ascend the stairs. “These things happen when you work side by side with a beautiful amazon, shorty” he reminds her, echoing a theory she once had about her favorite superhero.

She sips a dramatic gasp, seeming to remember her own words. “I knew it all along.” Her steps stretch before she slaps his chest and passes him on the way up, musing, “You never had me fooled, Man of Steel.”

#jamko #jamko oneshot #yay halloween jamko!#jamie seemed awfully sentimental about Eddie's margarita making skills #in 9x02 #perhaps this is why

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veryrealimagination · 3 years

Text

Whumptober Day 4

Day No: 4

Prompt: “Do you trust me?” | Taken Hostage | Pushed

Fandom/OC: Superman & Lois (2021)

Medium: Fic

Trigger Warnings:

SFW/NSFW

Additional Tags: Smallville (2001) Enemy Appearance, Some of original Multiverse still exists after Crisis,

He doesn’t know how he fell into this Smallville. He only knows that it’s not his Smallville. Lana Lang isn’t married to Lex Luthor. Never had been. He never even lived in the town. Neither, none of the Luthors did. (Another Luthor sister, although this one wasn’t Tess Mercer. She actually carried the name Luthor.) He didn’t know anyone named Kyle Cushing. The Talon doesn’t exist. The name Chloe Sullivan gets him a lot of strange looks. There’s never been a Chloe Sullivan here? She was Lois Lane’s cousin. That name got attention, as the woman now lives in Martha’s old house with her twins and her husband, Clark.

Clark Kent.

He exists here, whatever universe he apparently ended up. There was a Clark Kent here. And there was a Superman. He remembered those powers. He remembered feeling great, powerful and stronger than everyone else around him. The fear of his parents, but the satisfaction of being better, finally. He could get them back. This Smallville still had Kryptonite. He saw it wandering through the woods trying to find evidence of people. There was already a good sized crystal in his pockets. Another surge of electricity with a Clark Kent that didn’t know what it could do with him holding the other side.

But, would that work? This Clark was older, married to Pulitzer Prize winner Lois Lane. She would figure out what happened after a minute of listening to the story. Her father was DOD, the military had recently been here. Would he be able to get away with the switch?

It was hard finding a hiding spot, but the man managed it. The trees were further away than he liked, but the stuff he stole off of someone that didn’t lock their house. God, people were really idiots in small towns. He remembered people doing that as well back in Smallville. His Smallville. The Kents were always like that, although they had a superpowered kid to protect them.

The first one out was some teen. Did Clark have a kid? The kid had some of his traits. Tall, easy-going. He had lighter colored hair and he knew Kent and Lane were dark brunettes. Maybe she cheated. It was a dark thought, but one that brought a chuckle. He doubted Lois Lane, cousin of Chloe Sullivan, would ever cheat. Chloe Sullivan-Queen was a bitter thought that popped in. Chloe had been a natural blonde. Maybe it was from her side. It was the second one that really looked like Clark, although he didn’t look to really act like him. He had two?

It was a shame that he couldn’t hear like Clark at the moment. And the people that he stole the binoculars, the money, and a few other things from didn’t have a listening device. Instead, he could only watch as the two threw a football around. He was an only child, and no one stayed friends with him after they experienced his parents a couple of times. The easy way they treated each other, laughter as one fumbled a bit, fake fighting, grew and gnawed as his already depleted state of mind. Clark Kent had to have it all. A loving set of parents, some of the hottest girls hanging off of him. Friends that would die to keep his secret and protect his life.

Why couldn’t he have that? He got stuck with the father that berated him for not being good enough. A mother that didn’t fight for him. People that shoved him around when he tried to help. Okay, he was really only helping Holly because she was cute, but even just getting a smile from a cute girl was something that he never really got. When he got powers, it was the best for a short while. People wanted to be near him. To know him. If he got those powers back, he could have that again.

His eyes had glazed over with the trip into his inner consciousness, but it came back when he saw the boys had switched games. The truck that had to be older than he was, and that was saying something because he was just as old as Clark, his Clark was. The lighter haired one was egging on his brother.

The man gasped as he saw mini Clark lift the truck from the side and hold it for a good sixty seconds before placing it down. “He inherited them,” he muttered, before realizing he had talked aloud near two possible superhearing people. Seeing that the boys hadn’t noticed him, he watched for their father to come out instead.

Lois came out instead.

It was horrifically weird seeing this woman. There was a freak in the asylum that managed to woo over a Luthor guard and would find out everything from the outside. She managed to get pictures in. That’s when he first saw Chloe’s cousin. It seared in his mind, along with Chloe, Pete, Martha, and other superheroes that helped the man out. People that Clark got to have. She wasn’t a clone of that one, but she was similar enough. As if someone played with pictures and applied filters to her face to get a new one. Creepy.

She must have been chastising the boys, both looking sheepish. It wasn’t too terrible though, because she just shook her head and started laughing. He could hear scant amounts of it. It must be nice to have that. The three of them went into the house after that, and he took the opportunity to escape before their version of Clark showed up.

Jonathan had gone out for a quick run around town. It was more to keep himself in shape than to train for anything. He wasn’t sure if he was going to do football again in the fall. He wanted to, it was his favorite sport to really play. Jordan wanted to as well, even though his first season was bumpy. The coach liked them well enough, the guys were still okay with them even after leaving roughly. A few seniors were obviously leaving and that would give them some places that they could fill.

There was, however, always the family stuff. Jordan still spontaneously spouted powers that sometimes took him out of school for a few days. His strength control was better, much to Jordan’s comfort. Jonathan was wary of his own possibility that he might develop something. Jordan’s happened because he was in danger. He hasn’t developed any yet. But it was always a yet.

His running took him around the three stages of school, elementary, middle, then the high, before he decided to start going through the old industrial park as well. The broken cement reminded him of some of the parking lots, roads, and running trails that he ran around Metropolis. He had to be more cautious, and he considered it a bit of field training as well. Some of the schools they used to go to had lumpy fields that the schools probably tried fixing and couldn’t manage like bigger schools could.

He didn’t wear earbuds now, so the scrapping of metal stopped him in his tracks. The industrial park was mostly abandoned, as companies started leaving when the economy turned bad. There were two that still had operations there. A Queen plant, and a Luthor. He was near neither of those.

Curious, he moved over, seeing a broken door barely covered by plywood. He thought about calling Jordan, knowing he would be by in a couple of seconds. He should call Jordan, or better yet, walk away. Mom’s voice was in his head insisting that. Instead, he pulled it back and headed inside. Looking around, he saw a sign for Mercer & Company. He hadn’t heard of them. Maybe he would have to ask his Dad after this. The floor of the building had deep holes. Above those were old cauldrons for smelting metals. Most of them were barricaded, but a few of the metal poles had rusted and given out. “Maybe I just heard one of those breaking,” he muttered, to himself. “Creepy old factory. Bad idea, Jonathan.”

“I don’t know, I thought it was a pretty good one,” someone said, startling him. Before he turned around, someone had an arm around his neck. He struggled, hoping that a cliched appearance of super strength came out so he could toss whatever creep decided to lure him into an abandoned factory. Jordan was going to hold this over him. Going into an abandoned area to investigate some sound. Mom was going to ground him when this came out. “You know, I am so glad you haven’t gotten your father’s powers.”

That shocked him to stop struggling, which made it easier for this strange guy to drag him over old metal stairs. “Powers? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he tried, a strained smile settling on his face to try and pass for easy-going, “My Dad’s just a farm guy. Mom’s got the real superpowers. She can manage me and my brother at the same time. We’re kinda a handful.”

The guy actually chuckled a bit as Jonathan started struggling again as they got higher. “Oh, yeah, Clark’s a real farmer. Good old Jonathan Kent taught him. Your grandfather, right?” he said, “Everyone always wondered how the old man got things done so fast. As it turns out, having a superpowered kid dropped into your lap helps.”

Again, shocked. How did this guy know so much about his family? They were steadily getting to a catwalk that went over the entire floor. Bits were broken, and it squeaked, but held as he was let go for a moment. However, the guy brought out a gun, and pointed it at him. He held up his hands automatically. That’s what he was supposed to do. His Mom usually did that until she brought out a taser, or the ELT to get Dad to respond. He had the ELT. In his pocket. In his jeans. At home. He forgot his ELT. Did he have his phone? Yes, he did, it was on his bicep in the holder. “Okay, so, how did you meet my Dad?” he asked, half interested, half terrified.

“I didn’t,” he said, “Keep moving forward.”

Jonathan was now confused. He knew about Dad, knew about his powers. Knew about his grandparents adopting him. Maybe knew about the alien part? He had to stop thinking as the catwalk threatened to give out from underneath him. He kept going after hitting a safe area. “For someone that’s never met my Dad, you sure know a lot about him.” He scanned ahead of him and saw a pair of suspiciously white zip cuffs ahead of him.

“I said I never met your Dad. I know my Clark Kent, though. And his family.” That actually made a lot of sense. The guy’s from a different universe? Jonathan turned around when he got to the zip cuffs. The guy actually smirked. “Sit down, put those around your ankles.” Nervous, he tried to gently sit down and got his feet through the loops. “Now tighten them.” Jonathan stared at the guy before he carefully closed the loops to where he could barely move around.

“Alternate universe? Cool,” he said, his voice only slightly cracking. His parents were always careful, and they weren’t really in any danger from their stories. It was only after coming back to Smallville with Jordan’s powers and Edge’s plans that they really started seeing some of the danger that their parents faced for years. A little crack in his voice was better than breaking down screaming for help. Why did he do that? His Dad could just fly in, grab this guy, then fly off again. He watched the guy pull out another zip cuff.

“Hands in front of you,” the man directed. Jonathan watched him zip his hands with one hand, keeping the gun pointed at his head.

“So, what, uh, what’s different about our universe?” he asked.

The guy glanced at him for a minute. “Anyone in your family named Chloe Sullivan?”

He had never heard of that name. “Nope.”

The guy nodded, getting confirming the answer. “In mine, she’s a cousin of your mother. Grew up in Smallville and went to school with Clark. They were best friends.”

Third shock of the day. Besides the hostage situation, which he felt he was handling very well. Very, very well. “Mom never mentions any cousins. She barely mentions our Aunt.” And his Dad doesn’t mention his cousin. They rarely talked to ‘Uncle’ Jimmy anymore. Their Dad really needed more people to talk with. So did they.

Maybe he wasn’t doing so well with the handling part with his mind and mouth running faster than making Eliza angry a year ago.

The guy put the gun away. Didn’t need it at the moment. “So, how should I contact your brother?” he asked, staring down at him.

Jonathan looked at him, the pit of his stomach developing ice blocks. “What do you want with Jordan?”

The guy shrugged. “His powers.”

That sounded crazy. “What?!” The man had a twitch in his hand, and he hoped that the gun wasn’t going to come back out. He didn’t want to get shot today. He also didn’t want to fall down any of those holes in the ground, but he had a bad feeling about those things.

“I can take his powers,” he stated. “Got everything here for it. Your brother gets to be human, and I get to be better.”

“There’s gotta be a catch,” he said.

“It hurts a bit. The best things do.” The guy was smiling. “How do I call your brother? Has his hearing picked up?” He noticed the band on his arm and held him in place to remove his phone. “Damn. Didn’t have this when I was a kid.”

“That’s been out for a year.”

“Yeah, the ‘smartphone’ stuff started happening after I was locked up in an asylum. Wasn’t even old enough to drive yet,” he mused. “I missed a lot.”

“You were institutionalized?” Good, Jonathan. Nice language that won’t hopefully piss the guy with a gun off.

He laughed. “Yeah. ‘Institutionalized.’” He knelt down to directly stare at him. “All meteor freaks were. Develop powers, then get shipped off to a hospital that kept you contained so you don’t harm other people. Experimented on to see if your powers were good for weaponizing. They couldn’t weaponize me, but they couldn’t let me out thanks to my many issues. Then, there’s the fact I know that Superman is Clark Kent.” He stood back up, holding off on so much that he could tell this kid.

“Hey!” Jonathan would never admit it was a squeak that came out when the man dragged him up. It didn’t completely pass his attention that they were set up near one of the deep holes. The furnace that sat above it was half-gone. The catwalk had a suspicious part of its railing right over that hole, and he was being forced to stand right in front of it. His toes were just over the catwalk. “You know, I think I should sit back down. I’m getting a bit of vertigo and kinda wobbly on my legs right now.”

“Don’t move too much and you’ll be fine,” he jokingly warned. Jonathan glared at him.

Staring down at the darkness below was a terrible idea. Too bad it was sort of enchanting in a black way. Fall over and disappear. So, he switched his head up. The sun was higher, lighting up the interior of the factory. He could see more rust on the metals, broken equipment and forgotten tools lying about. The hole beneath him, however, grew more shadowed, the darkness getting darker as the sun couldn’t get over the lip of the edge to get through. He was staring down at the hole again. It terrified him now, thinking about not knowing what he was going to land on if he was pushed over. He could hear himself getting worse.

Any anxiety that was about to boil over was shoved down when his phone started going off. The guy started messing with the phone until he managed to answer. “Hey Jon, Mom and Dad want to know when you’re going to be back,” Jordan said.

“Jordan, get Dad!”

“Jon, what’s going on?”

“Jonathan, named after your farmer grandfather. How adorable,” the guy said, “But, I’m the one on the phone, and not you.” A hand grabbed the collar of his shirt and held him out over the hole. He screamed, his knees locking to keep his legs straight so he wouldn’t collapse.

“Jon!”

“Still here!” he yelled. That hole was looking blacker than a power outage in a Metropolis subway. He didn’t want to fall in today.

“He’s fine, maybe.” His arm moved, dragging Jonathan’s body around to increase his fear.

“Oh my god! Please stop doing that.”

“What the hell are you doing to my brother?!”

“Oh, nothing much. Just holding him over a concrete hole about 50 feet above the ground.But, hey. You can get him back, almost mint condition. You just gotta meet us in Mercer and Company’s old factory. Don’t tell your parents where you’re going, though. We don’t want SuperDad to show up and have me drop Jonathan.” He ended the call after that and pulled back his arm. “You’re doing well, kid. Keep that up.”

Concentrating on his breathing, he vaguely noticed that the man was grabbing a severed power cord. The guy touched the exposed wiring and jolted when he felt it. He also smiled. “How are you taking Jordan’s powers?” he asked, his self control gathering a bit.

“It’s my freak power,” he said, pulling out a two inch solid piece of Kryptonite. “I was holding this and lightning hit Clark and I when he was trying to pull me back up the bridge. That’s how I got his powers. The times after that, we switched with electricity. It’s all I need now.”

Jordan had come in after hearing that. He wasn’t sure what the plan was, but they were trying to figure that out. First things first, he had to get the man’s attention. He entered the factory and looked up to see Jonathan on the catwalk. “Jon!”

He grinned. “Jordan!” He squawked when the guy grabbed him again.

“Up the stairs. I’ll hand him back.” Jon’s attempt at warning him were cut off when the hand tightened around his upper arm. “Start moving, kid.”

Jordan scanned for where the stairs were and moved up quickly. He just had to get Jon away from the guy. Dad actually had a whole plan for this type of stuff. He said that he and Aunt Kara had run through it a few times when someone had grabbed Mom for the same reason. To stop Superman from interfering in something. The stairs only looked weak as he moved up them quickly. It was the catwalk that he felt unsafe. The thing had more rust on it than he first saw. He moved slower to avoid breaking anything. He needed to be closer to Jon before the plan would kick in.

“That’s perfect, Jordan,” the guy said, releasing Jon’s arm. “All you have to do is give me a little handshake and you can walk out of here with your brother.” Jordan looked down at his hand and saw the tale tell sign of green Kryptonite along with a live wire nestled next to it.

“He wants your powers, Jordan. Don’t do it,” he said, wincing at the increase in pressure from the man’s hold.

“If you don’t do this, I will push your brother over and let you listen to his body breaking on the floor down there before getting those powers out of you anyways,” he threatened. Jordan looked over to Jon. Trust me? He nodded. The man seemed to know what was happening,

and pushed Jonathan over the edge.

The scream he let out was innate, terrified as he twisted in open air with his body trying to figure out what to do next. Jordan jumped after him, the guy just missing him by two inches. His focus was just on getting to Jon. Five seconds too long, he was holding onto his brother, righting himself before he switched. The air around them slowed down, until he finally was able to stop and hover. “Jordan?” his brother asked, still slightly breathless.

Staring up, he was waiting for the signal to come back. “Yeah?”

“Are you holding me bridal style?” he asked. Jon felt him nod. “Great, because I already had an embarrassing moment entering into an old factory to investigate a sound. Now I’m being held like Mom by my brother. Great.”

He snickered, “Would you rather it be Dad?”

It took a couple of seconds for him to think about that. “Only if it’s not my fault.” After a minute, he felt the two of them slowly fly up out of the hole. The first thing he searched for was his Dad, who wasn’t wearing his suit. Steel was there in his suit. The man was on his knees, apparently handcuffed. “You know, he was a little scarier like five minutes ago.”

“I can imagine,” Clark said, coming over when Jordan landed just outside of the hole. He carefully broke the zip cuffs until the pieces landed on the floor. “So, are you good, or do you want to be carried home like your Mom?”

Jonathan took the opportunity to swing an arm around Jordan’s shoulders, completely ignoring the fact that Dad heard that. “You know, I could go for being carried home by my dear, wonderful,” he said, before Jordan forcibly dropped him onto the ground. “Rude twin brother.” He got a little help standing back up.

His Dad had his phone. “Where’s your ELT?”

“In my jeans. At home,” he admitted.

He sighed, pulling his child close to wrap an arm around his shoulders, “Jonathan.” Jordan started snickering again. He lightly bopped the other on the shoulder. “Let’s get going before the Military shows up.”

#whumptober2021 #no.4 #do you trust me #taken hostage #pushed #superman and lois #fic #it's eric summers #other Smallville meteor affected are around #because that would actually make since with the combining of the earths #167 Clark and Lois and some of theirs would end up on 1 #i also thought of evil Shawn Ashmore #because #also #no powered Jon #my writing

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ninjagoat · 6 years

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Note on Supergirl 3x19

Okay, let's deal with the big-ticket item first: Guardian.

I say Guardian specifically, because I've never found it a particularly sympathetic character choice for James. It didn't really seem to be triggered by anything significant. He wants to make a difference in the world, but he's already the head of a global media empire - having more power to influence public perception and social change than anyone except Presidents and Popes is probably going to be more effective in making a difference than anonymously beating up muggers. On the face of it, this would seem to be the platonic ideal of toxic masculinity: despite all his power, he can't feel like his truest self - like a real man - except through acts of violence.

On top of that, he doesn't really seem to have a mission statement, or even a code. He's not exactly about the strong protecting the weak, as evidenced in 2x09: James tells Winn to take on an armed robber by himself, which Winn does; and after Winn nearly gets killed, James carries on as if it's just par for the course ("Everybody gets their ass kicked"... 😠); he seems to have no interest in making a difference outside of Guardian, preferring to use his enormous platform to publish fluff-pieces about himself; and his acts of heroism vary wildly in how 'good' they are, from rounding up drug dealers, to beating up Brian for buying weed. Almost of his Guardian actions that we are asked to focus on are those in which James has a direct personal stake: the copycat vigilante in 2x07, helping out Winn in 2x16, beating up Morgan Edge for Lena in 3x12; thus rendering any argument about selflessness somewhat void.

But with this episode, I feel like I've finally got a handle on what kind of superhero he is. He's not Superman. He's not Batman. And, despite James's civilian costume choices sometimes being very much in line with Steve Rogers (as well as Guardian sharing creators and powers with the Star Spangled Man), he's not Captain America.

He's Daredevil.

Matt Murdock does not go out into the night to fight for justice. Matt believes in justice, of course. He spends his days making sure the people that need justice and can't afford it can achieve it as much as possible. And, when he does put on the suit, there's a lot of injustice to go after. But Matt knows that his vigilantism will rarely achieve justice. The best example of this is in the Netflix show: there's an episode where Matt beats up Turk for something (it's Turk. Getting beaten up by Matt is what he does), and Turk explains that he'll just be out in a few days anyway. But Matt doesn't care. Justice is not why he fights.

Matt Murdock fights because Matt Murdock is SO. DAMN. ANGRY. He's angry at his father, and at the people that killed his father, and at the old man he had to save, and at his blindness, and Maggie, and Stick, and Elektra, and Kingpin; and he has nowhere to put that rage except at the end of his fists.

And so it is with James. A lifetime of every interaction with white people being implicitly affected by his being black - and worse, having to expend effort to not be considered one of 'those' black people, knowing full well the line is arbitrary, mutable, and out of his control - has quietly filled him with rage; and, as he said himself way back in 1x06, black men aren't encouraged to be angry in public.

But Guardian can be.

James Olsen is a former photojournalist for Metropolis's paper of record, a Pulitzer prize winner, and the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. He has earned the right to be spoken of in the same terms as Lois Lane and Cat Grant, and is an example to black men everywhere.

But as Guardian, he doesn't HAVE to be an example to black men. He cannot be judged for NOT being an example to black men. As Guardian, he can just be exemplary.

As Guardian, he is free.

I finally kinda-sorta understand James in a kinda-sorta positive way. It's as weird to me as it is to you. Look under the cut for our regularly scheduled dragging:

- For those of you who have trouble keeping track, Lena is mad at Supergirl because Supergirl didn't believe Lena when Lena said she didn't have any more Kryptonite, and asked James to investigate. James punted, and told Lena that Supergirl asked him to investigate, but stopped short of finding out the truth because he trusts Lena enough to know that she would not have Kryptonite. Lena is now taking the moral high ground because she caught Supergirl thinking Lena had Kryptonite after Lena said she did not.

The fact that Lena actually has INFINITE Kryptonite and Supergirl was entirely correct in not believing her has somehow become irrelevant to all three parties.

- JAMES: "Being honest with her allowed her to be honest with me." TRANSLATION: "It's okay that I've betrayed the trust of you, Winn, Clark and Lois; because I got to have sex." SO. NOBLE.

- Kara's empassioned speech about how revealing the truth to Lena will affect her would probably have more weight if I hadn't literally seen Kara laughing about J'onn maintaining the lie for her.

- Once again, Lena's go-to rhetorical move at being even slightly inconvenienced is to compare those inconveniencing her to murderers and terrorists. Her other move is to claim *she* is being compared to murderers and terrorists. She has no other moves.

- I have no thoughts about the Alex and Ruby story.

- James, how long did it take for Winn to install a cubby-hole in a *lift*? How much did he get paid? DO YOU PAY HIM?

- Really, who *doesn't* pop a wheely after being missed by a rocket-propelled grenade?

- I kind of love that James has to wear a *proper* bike helmet over his Guardian helmet.

- I stan one (1) inventor of INSTANTANEOUS WHEEL CLAMPS.

- Carl Lumbly is still the best.

- The Kara/Mon-El stuff ticks over nicely this episode; and nothing re-affirms my theory that he's the Kurt Russell of Chrises quite so much as his perfect Henry Swanson impersonation when playing Mike.

Also, MIKE RETURNS!

- "Everyone knows Guardian is a hero." Yes, Lena, the pro-James Olsen propaganda campaign - written by James Olsen, published by James Olsen - *has* been very successful.

- Mr. Brooks is very good in the big scene.

- Winn is somehow entirely fine with James straight up lying to him about a mission. Because of course. Can't have anyone think he isn't perfect. Then where would we be?

- It's nice that the finale brings us back to the big theme of the season: Kara needing to figure out where she belongs, and what role she needs to play. She's tried to separate herself from Kara Danvers because *that's* who lost Mon-El, as opposed to who pressed the button; and she's been perceiving herself as Supergirl more and more, especially now that Lena has turned on Supergirl, and the Kara Danvers persona feels more and more like a disguise. But it's still a disguise she can't let go of. Not yet.

- LenaWatch: Winn and Lena literally spend the entire episode working together, but are only *shown* together giving exposition to other people... except for the *wink*.

I suspect that there's a deleted scene where the words "very intelligent" make an significant appearance, because it's an arch phrase, even for Winn; and the wink itself - and Lena's reaction to it - is a little too familiar for what we've seen of them together this season.

It reminds me of Chuck and Sarah. Chuck would be having a good day - perhaps he's put forward a plan to General Beckman, and it's going over well, something like that - and he'd ride the rare confidence wave, and take a chance by showing Sarah a little love; and she would smile, much like Lena does here, because there was nothing Sarah Walker enjoyed more than when Chuck believed in himself.

Now, if you don't mind, I'm just going to mull over what, in a better universe, they could have had...

#superglue #notes #we could have had it allllllllllll...

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olicityara80-blog · 3 years

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Hello, how are you? I really enjoyed the season finale and found it to be a strong end to season 2 while its cliffhanger and also Luke’s Batwing début makes me hopeful for season 3.

The only complaints I had with the finale was in regards to Kate exiting after the fantastic performance Wallis Day gave her, her not visiting Alice to say goodbye to her and to tell her what she told Mary about her twin and even though Alice/Beth saved her, and Ryan still blaming Alice for her mom’s death even though Alice did not order it. Otherwise it was well written, felt dark, gritty, intense, high stakes, and very emotional while giving further character growth for Ryan and a final Batwoman vs Batwoman along with the emotional and compelling twin bond between Kate and Beth and also seeing the original trio of Kate, Luke, and Mary all together and later as a foursome friendship with Ryan. Great job.

And thanks for also giving Alice/Beth a proper goodbye with Ocean, who I’d personally like to think of as his ghost.

Thanks also for having season 2 further, but albeit slowly and gradually, integrate the series into the wider universe of the Batman mythos, including but not limited to seeing Lucius’s ghost albeit in silhouette form, and the real Bruce even if he was only in Luke’s mind.

On a side note and while I really like Luke’s suit, some feel that his helmet is a bit too big and also resembles Optimus Prime’s head. I’m personally alright with the helmet although I can see a bit of the resemblance and so maybe it could be redesigned a bit to look more bat like?

Having said all of this, I’d like to request some things I’d like for season 3 which I personally hope you’ll consider, as follows:

Could you please increase the series current budget to either 100 percent close to that of “Superman and Lois” or as close to it, like 95, 90, or 85 percent close, as possible? I’m significantly enjoying the cinematic borderline A List movie feel the latter series has and I believe it’s one of the main reasons it’s an enormous success and getting almost nothing but love. And so I personally think it would be a great idea to integrate that into “Batwoman”.

I don’t know how “Superman and Lois” is being funded. Many have claimed it’s being funded by HBO Max. Someone else claimed its writers are using the same company that Netflix, Disney+, and the MCU use to fund their own programs. I personally don’t have a clear answer but wherever they’re getting their budget from or what agreement they made with whoever to have it, could you please consider doing the same for season 3 and giving it that stunning cinematic, significantly visual impressive, close to an A List movie feel?

And not only the budget but I’d also like to respectfully request that season 3’s choreography, camera movements and angles, and directing also 100 percent mirror that of “Superman and Lois”.

Could you also please have the fight and action sequences to be as intense, brutal, fast paced, strong, and in the viewers faces as in the very beginning of episode 18 of “Arrow” Season 6, the Oliver vs ninjas scene in the first “Crisis On Earth X” crossover episode, episodes 10 and 12 of “Arrow” Season 7 and also that season’s prison arc, and plus Netflix’s “Daredevil”? I very much enjoy those types of action and fight sequences and it’d be fantastic to see them in season 3.

And speaking of which but could you also please consider adding James Bamford and whoever the action, fight, and stunt director was for “Daredevil” to the “Batwoman” crew for season 3 if the two of them are interested and available? I personally think Bamford did an excellent job with the action scenes on “Arrow” and that he, and whoever controlled the “Daredevil” action scenes, would both be great additions to your crew.

In addition to lesbian intimacy scenes, could you please also add an equal amount of hetero intimacy scenes while also giving Luke a girlfriend and having both those lesbian and hetero scenes be as passionate and heated as the ones that were in “The 100”, “Jane The Virgin”, and “Riverdale” but also balancing them out with lovemaking scenes if called for? And in regards to Luke but I’m ready for him to have a love interest and I’m personally leaning towards Luke/Mary.

On a side note but it’d be historical for the Arrowverse if polyamory was not only explored but also as endgame since those types of relationships are rarely explored in fictional media even though I think they’re a major part of the real world. And I think I like the idea of both Luke/Mary and Luke/Stephanie while polyamory would be a different way of exploring it rather than the love triangle idea which has been done in the past.

But if you do give Luke a love interest and potential relationship or relationships, could you please keep his journey as Batwing and growth as a hero more in focus than his love life while having said love life and its development presented in a highly mature, natural, and non-toxic fashion like with Clark/Lois, Jordan Kent/Sarah Cushing, and Steve/Diana [“Wonder Woman”] but with some playfulness, especially the mature aspect if you decide to bring back Stephanie and if Luke were to explore potential feelings towards both her and Mary and how the two women handle it? In regards to the couples I listed but I’m personally unaware of if whether or not there’s a fictionalized version of a highly mature and respectful three-way or poly relationship.

I’d also like to request please that Ryan, and while she doesn’t have to be friends with or even like her, to stop blaming Alice for her adopted mother’s murder. From what I saw and while Alice has done a lot of horrible things, and unless I missed something, it had not appeared to me as though Alice was involved or ordered that particular murder. Instead her gang seemed to have acted on their own and then she came into the apartment and stopped them though it was too late.

Another thing I also hope for, and if Julia returns for season 3, is that Sophie apologizes over her anger towards her in 2x01. I understand why Sophie felt the way she did but personally and with respect found it to be immature and that Julia did not deserve it. Though that’s my opinion.

On another subject but one thing I enjoyed about 2x15 is that the Bat Team conducted a significant amount of smart thinking and great coordination as they worked to help Luke. Such as when instead of the Bat Team twiddling their fingers, Mary quickly put together the serum needed to cure Luke and went on the mission to do so, they called a part time ally to deliver the cure to him instead of bemoaning and giving up over the Crows having him under guard, and when he was framed it occurred to Sophie and Ryan to do all they could to clear his name instead of the team acting like there was nothing they could do.

Plus I also liked the coordination and simultaneous operations they conducted in delivering the serum while working to find the real video to clear his name.

And so I’d like to ask but will you would please consider having the entire Bat Team continue all of that quick thinking, planning ahead, common sense, tenacity, professionalism, and coordination for every episode of next season? Though there’d still be times when things wouldn’t always work out since there’d be villains who’re smarter than them and by no fault of their own.

Regarding Mary’s clinic, I personally support it and her trying to help the city in her own way though there are some other viewers who have a problem with it since it’s illegal and doesn’t seem to require the option of calling the GCPD over bullet wounds. In light of that, could you please consider having her clinic become completely legal next season and with the calling the GCPD for bullet wounds requirement but still keeping it completely free of charge for her patients?

I’d also like to say that you’ve had some interesting rock and roll plus pop music selections for the episodes including for a great many of the fighting sequences. And I also think the respective music selections for the first and last Ryan vs brainwashed Kate moments were pretty good for those scenes while the song for Beth/Alice saving Kate from the water in the finale was a perfect fit for said scene.

Having said that, I’d like to make a request for next season but would it be possible, and if it’s alright with you, for the music selections of all of the upcoming fighting and action scenes in season 3 to be the same type of music style, whatever that particular type of song genre it’s known as, that was used for “Arrow”, “Gotham”, “The Dark Knight” trilogy, and “Daredevil”? It’s just that I’d like to hear some music that matches the dark, gritty feel for “Batwoman” like those other aforementioned programs had for theirs.

Speaking of which but the “Batwoman” theme sounds great and I really, really like Batwing’s new theme. They both scream “Power” and it’d be interesting to me if they combine during scenes when Ryan and Luke fight side by side.

On the subject of Kate’s exit and while I found it to be beautiful and well written, both myself and I believe a great many other fans are very disappointed, and the others upset, that she was written off. For me but with Wallis being such an outstanding actress from what I saw here such as the realism by having her characters show strong emotions, being a highly advanced martial artist in real life and can do her own stunts, I assume also having high levels of endurance since she’d trained for the swimming portion of the Olympics some years ago, and having the look you’d chosen for Kate but also had the familial resemblance to Beth/Alice and Jacob [the green eyes in regards to the latter], she is the perfect choice for the Arrowverse’s Kate.

Plus her being written off also feels to me like the same thing as if Ryan had been written off after all of the character growth and investment that was poured into her.

Having said all of that, and while I don’t know if the higher ups in DC would allow this, I’d like to please pitch a story idea to you and Mr. Berlanti for the back half of season 3 that could hopefully bring her back for said back half and it’d have to do with solving Bruce’s disappearance.

What if Bruce went missing some years ago because he learned of one of the most dangerous and nefarious organizations out there and that they are conducting a years long operation to destroy Gotham and are also responsible for his parents murders. And they either captured him followed by him pretending to submit to them or he decided to approach then pretend to join them?

Either way he’d have been on a deep cover operation this entire time to destroy them from within. Perhaps the Court Of Owls or another evil cabal from the Batman mythos if there’s one.

And so after the first half arc of Ryan and Luke dealing with old and new villains causing havoc with the weaponry used by Batman’s rogues while Luke also battles Tavaroff, the back half would be an arc for Kate and Bruce in that Kate returns by calling the Bat Team and asking their assistance to help her and Bruce stop this cabal and warning that the city is in imminent danger, explaining why Bruce went missing. It would also be revealed that the cabal secretly both funded Alice’s operations and helped build her organization while also organizing and funding Black Mask’s own operations though Roman was aware and was actively working with them and was their chosen and willing champion, his plans being their endgame for the city.

But since the Bat Team stopped it in the season 2 finale, the cabal’s planning something far more nefarious. And first the Wonderland Gang and then the False Face Society were their final tools in softening up Gotham and smoothing the way for the city’s end.

Alice would be infuriated by this since it would turn out that she was once more the puppet of others besides Cartwright and then Safiyah while realizing that everything she did in season 1 was never truly her own but had been preplanned for her by others. This would be the final straw to end all final straws.

And so Ryan, Luke, Mary, Sophie, Stephanie if she were to join the season 3 cast, Alice/Beth, Julia if she returns along with some contacts from British Intelligence connected to her father, Kate, and perhaps even Barbara Gordon/Oracle and her father if they’re allowed to be used all join forces to help Bruce complete his mission and Bruce, Kate, Julia, and Barbara’s primary objective would be to destroy the cabal while Ryan, Luke, Mary, Sophie, Alice/Beth, Stephanie, and Jim’s primary objective would be to protect the city from the cabal’s latest attack.

After which that arc would conclude with Bruce formally giving Ryan and Luke his blessing to continue as Gotham’s protectors and also to Kate and Julia as well if they want to stay and with Kate helping to guide the Bat Team as a mentor figure even though they seem to have grown as protectors on their own. After which he’d go on a new mission which is to find Selina Kyle.

If however the answer is no to that story pitch, could you please consider having the real Bruce appear in recurring flashback scenes as part of Luke’s journey and not just him but Lucius as well? It’d be nice to see more of them and Warren seems to be doing a good job as Bruce.

I also don’t know if one of the Batman rogues appearing next season will be Penguin but if he were to appear, what if Robin Lord Taylor portrayed him once more? I think he made a great Penguin and with the multiverse in existence…….

Also, and back to “Superman and Lois” once more, but someone wrote that they love it because according to them it has, and these are their words, small details, lasting effect, consequences to past episodes, smooth action. And so I’d like to ask if those elements also be incorporated into season 3, though I still hope for the intense action I’d mentioned above.

Also, but could you also please consider doing a shorter season once more like you did with season 2? A shorter season could perhaps keep the series lean and focused while maybe allowing a bigger borderline A List movie level budget to be fully utilized. Perhaps either 17 episodes or if not that but 19 episodes while 18-19 are the two part season finale?

Finally and while I don’t know your plans for Ryan’s love life, but could you please consider having her and Angelique be endgame in the presumably far future? They seem to have a nice dynamic and I like that Angelique has changed.

Those are my requests and wishes and I can’t wait to see season 3, am eager to see Ryan and Luke vs the new villains who’ll use the Batman rogues weapons, and look forward to hopefully the Luke vs Tavaroff rematch. I’m also curious to see what Sophie’s arc will be moving forward since it originally seemed to move around Kate and the Crows but now they’re both gone while even Safiyah’s also gone for now.

Have a wonderful day Miss Dries.

P.S. I didn’t think of this but in regards to season 3, could you please consider doing a tremendously epic bank scene, like in Snyder’s “Justice League” with Wonder Woman, and also Superman in “Superman and Lois” 1x09, in which either Ryan, Luke, or them both use explosives to burst through the doors and save the hostages from the bank robbers while the camera movements give the heroes a 50 % tremendously fast, and 50% slow, pace as they brutally & powerfully take down the thugs, and with the same or as close to the same budgets for those two scenes ?

Also, a friend told me that the “Daredevil” stunt coordinator that I mentioned above is named Phillipe J. Silvera.

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Why Superman & Lois Went Full Friday Night Lights

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains spoilers for Superman & Lois episode 6.

There’s a moment in “Broken Trust,” Superman & Lois episode 6, that will make you confused about what show you’re watching. Volunteer assistant football coach Clark Kent is in Metropolis with the boys for their first game against their old school, and the first time Jordan is seeing his ex-bullies since he gained his powers. Like any kid who found their confidence after time away from their tormentors, Jordan is revelling in showing them up a little – he lays a massive hit on one of the Metropolis High players and taunts him over it. He gets called off the field by Clark, and when Clark grabs Jordan’s face mask and threatens to bench him if he doesn’t knock it off, you’d be forgiven if your first reaction was to cock your head and mutter “Coach Taylor?”

That Friday Night Lights comparison is not an accident, according to Superman & Lois showrunner Todd Helbing.

“I think Tammy and Coach Taylor was such a great relationship, so that was sort of the inspiration” for Clark and Lois’ on-screen relationship, he says. “As a couple, [we wanted to] have them be respectful and great parents and a mature relationship. They talk about the stuff that they’re dealing with.”

Having that show’s family dynamic laid over the Superfamily is revelatory in what it exposes of two of the oldest, most examined superhero characters. “We just wanted [Lois] to be fearless and independent and a great mom,” says Helbing. “With Clark, we wanted him to be humble and good and a great dad, and as Superman, we really wanted Clark Kent to be the person, and Superman to be the alter ego.” After decades of people complaining about how Superman is too powerful to be centered in good stories, and Lois being unable to hang with him, Superman & Lois is succeeding simply by making them both competent, emotionally healthy adults. It’s breathtaking.

At the point where Clark and Lois’s stories diverge in “Broken Trust” is a scene with Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch that shows how beautifully this show has balanced their relationship. Lois is trying to get into the mines and complaining to Clark about her lack of success, and he starts trying to escalate his assistance. He’s immediately and forcefully waved off by Lois, who orders him to stick with the kids while she figures out her own solution, and he does. The effortless, egoless transition of authority between the two makes it really easy to believe this relationship: you see Hoechlin and Tulloch completely inhabiting their roles as the most powerful man and the greatest journalist on the planet moving through life as equals. The trick, Helbing says, is “to strip away that they’re two larger than life characters and write them real. Bitsie and Tyler are so good and so honed in, if we just write them as a real couple, then who they are shines more.”

At this point, Superman’s origin story has been so absorbed into the popular consciousness that comic book alchemists have found the most economical telling of it possible. It’s almost not worth trying to retread that ground, because it’s been worn into a chasm at this point. And yet, one of the subtler beauties of Superman & Lois is they’re actually pulling it off. And they’re doing it through Jordan Kent.

“Broken Trust” is as much about Jordan and how he’s dealing with his developing powers as it is about his hyper competent parents. At one point, Clark takes him and Jon under the barn to show Jordan how Pa Kent taught him to control his own strength, and we get to see a battered old telephone pole with hand marks all over it. It doesn’t go great, at least at first: Jordan smashes his hand pretty hard trying to throw what appears to be his first punch ever. “The lessons [Clark] learned from Jonathan Kent, all the lessons we learn from our parents, when we’re adults, they sink in differently, they mean different things,” Helbing says. “And when you try to teach your kids those lessons, you’re coming at it from a different angle, but you understand now what your parents meant. That was the angle that was really interesting to us.”

That angle gives a way into Jordan’s character, too. Jordan’s powers are fritzing out as they develop – at the end of the football game, he gets jumped by the losing Metropolis side and the stress causes him to build up a heat vision blast that his father protects him (and the rest of the field) from. This is, understandably, difficult for the Kents to take, but it’s another way to look at Superman’s origin – by seeing what it wasn’t, through his son’s eyes.

“Clark got bullied, but not in the same way,” says Helbing. “How does he then relate to this kid like that? He’s got to figure it out for himself in an interesting way.”

The care put into character work doesn’t just stop with the Kents. Erik Valdez’s Kyle Cushing gets a little more dimensionality this week – Lana gets a new gig as Edge’s person on the ground in Smallville, and Kyle takes her out to celebrate, but not before Lois tries to get them to flip on Edge and give her something she can use to expose his malfeasance. Kyle doesn’t have the benefit of Lois’s broader view of Edge’s history, but he is very tied to this hurting town, and he views what Lois is doing as fundamentally destructive. And he’s not entirely wrong – the town was dying before Edge got there, and now everyone is employed and there aren’t many obvious cracks or problems.

“To [Lois], it’s a very important job to do because she feels like [Edge] is going to destroy this town,” says Helbing. “[Kyle] feels like she’s going to destroy this town if she gets rid of this guy. They both have a point, and we’ll see how they collide further on in the season.”

That wasn’t the only point where Helbing was coy about what was coming. For all of Superman & Lois’ (excellent, effective) focus on character, it’s still one of the sharpest looking shows in the Arrowverse, full of extremely deep cuts (X-Kryptonite?). “Broken Trust” is no different – a conflict between burgeoning super-speedster Tag and Superman takes the pair in front of an oncoming train and has Clark, at super speed, catch the train mid-air and use his heat vision to collapse the tracks back to the ground to keep the train moving. It’s an extremely effective capital-S Superman moment, as it was at the end when Sam Lane’s DoD squad, out to recapture Tag, fires a kryptonite bullet into Superman’s chest. While Helbing was sketchy on it, he promises more to come. “We do this super cool thing coming up with the Fortress of Solitude . I would tell you but it’ll spoil a lot.”

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

If the rest of the season is half as good as the start, it’ll be well worth the wait.

The post Why Superman & Lois Went Full Friday Night Lights appeared first on Den of Geek.

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