TV Watching: Supergirl, Good Place and More!

A major and regularly appearing topic on this blog is Doctor Who. But there are other TV shows that we watch here in the Fortress of Ineptitude. So what’s up with that?

Supergirl

Season 4 is leaning hard into the hysteria around aliens in America taking our jobs and being a threat our way of life. Episode 3 dedicated a full hour to the topic of how an otherwise intelligent, even keel college professor named Ben Lockwood turned into Agent Liberty, the masked iconic leader of the anti-alien movement. 

Episodes 3 and 4 were very light on Melissa Benoist’s involvement as our show’s star, an arrangement to account for her late start after being on Broadway this summer or an early exit to shoot episodes for the Elseworlds crossover with Arrow and Flash for later this year.

We’ve spent some time at CatCo and with James Olsen actually running the place. Due to the nature of the last 2 episodes, we’ve had no Kara Danvers working at CatCo.

I think Alex Danvers as head of the DEO is not working for me. I’m just not buying her in a leadership role, mostly because she’s spends so much time questioning her leadership role. OK, I appreciate she has doubts but Alex needs to move on beyond that and embrace being in charge.

A quibble about the show’s opening where Kara narrates. 1) Do we really need a recap of Kara’s history every week? 2) And I’m irked by the line “most people know me as Kara Danvers, a reporter for Catco”. No! Most people know you as Supergirl!  Please, just lose the intro. 

The Good Place

I’m kind of concerned about this show. It’s still funny and thought provoking. But the lack of a cohesive narrative in the last few episodes has been a bit disconcerting.  







After Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani and Jason learned from Michael and Janet that the afterlife is real and what it takes to get there, they are by default no longer able to earn points to get to the Good Place. So they are on a mission to help others to get to the Good Place. The result has been a series of episodes where our self-described “soul squad” are split up on separate missions across the globe.

By last week, the gang was back together in one place. Meanwhile, Sean and his fellow demon helpers have hacked their own portal to Earth, intent on getting our friends back to the Bad Place. So manybe we’re heading towards some kind of cohesive narrative.  

Outlander

Claire and Jamie are back for season 4 and now they’re in North Carolina in 1767.

Actually, they’re filming in Scotland pretending its North Carolina.  





When the season premier kicks off, Claire and Jamie are in Wilmington which is the southeast corner of the state on the Atlantic Coast. There’s a scene where Claire and Jamie are a few miles inland, watching the sun rise over some rolling hills that would not be out of place near Pilot Mountain, some 200 miles to the west of Wilmington. 

I grew up in in the southeast corner of North Carolina. I’m reasonably sure that morning sunrise view that so entranced Claire and Jamie can’t be seen there. 

After losing most of their stuff in the shipwreck off the coast of Georgia last season, Jamie has finagled enough money to book passage back to Scotland. But while he’s in the colonies, he wants to pay a visit to his Aunt Jocosta who lives in North Carolina. 

An English governor sees Jamie as someone he would like to do business with and offers our beloved Highlander a stake to own some property in North Carolina. Jamie considers the offer as an opportunity for a fresh start and to do something good in this new land. Claire who did not sleep through history class back in the 20^th century advises Jamie that there’s a revolution coming in about 10 years. If Jamie aligns himself with the English, he will be on the wrong side of history… again. 

But nah, Jamie and Claire decide to make a go of it in North Carolina. But first, it’s time for a boat ride up the Cape Fear to go visit Aunt Jocosta.. However, their boat is beset by river pirates who pretty much clean out all the financial gains Jamie had obtained in Wilmington. The pirate assault is particularly violent and brutal, set to “America the Beautiful” performed by Ray Charles. 

Oh and the leader of the pirates is a man Claire and Jamie had helped back in Wilmington. 

Man, Claire and Jamie never catch a break. 

Well, maybe things will get better when they meet Aunt Jocosta.

Or maybe not. 

Claire and Jamie run afoul of the legal institutions that make pretty darn hard to not own slaves. Jocosta wants Jamie to take over her plantation which means Jamie & Claire will own slaves. Claire is not down with that since she's a thoroughly modern woman from the 20th century and Jamie isn't either because he might be an 18th century kind of guy but owning people as property seems wrong to him, damn his progressive views, chiseled chin and sparkling blue eyes. 

OK, I am straight but damn, I can see what women see in Jamie.  

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

OK, I finished season three but I admitted I cheated.  I skipped some episodes and fast forwarded through scenes with Lillian and Jacqueline that did not involve Kimmy. 


I really, really, really enjoyed this series in season 1 but the show has become a slog for me. Anytime the focus is away from Kimmy, I get bored. I'm OK with some Titus storylines on his own but really, he works best as a foil for Kimmy.  

I will next endeavor to get through season 4, the 2nd half of which drops in January and will bring the show to a close.