Monday Media Musings - 7/23/19

[owlmoose]

Supergirl, Season 4: As previously mentioned, I finished the season early in the week, but I feel I should have more to say about it than bouncing about a new ship (although I will say it's exciting to have a new ship -- it's been awhile since I've been drawn into one quite so strongly). If there had been any outside buzz about Lex Luthor finally appearing this season, I missed it, so it was a true surprise when he showed up on Lena's doorstep. I have to imagine he'll be back -- no comic book show would kill off such an iconic villain so quickly. I'm not sure how I feel about his involvement taking some of the heat off of Ben Lockwood, though. I liked Lockwood as a pure villain and The take on the Red Daughter storyline was interesting, and I appreciated the resolution. Red Son, a story in which Kal-El lands in the Ukraine rather than Kansas, might be the only Superman comic collection I've ever read (we had it at the library where I used to work, and one of my student workers recommended it to me), and although there were things about it I didn't love, the overall concept of the AU was fascinating to me. Translating it into a storyline featuring a duplicate Kara worked pretty well, I thought. I spent a lot of time this season yelling at Kara to tell Lena the truth about her identity rather than following her friends' bad advice, because I figured Lena would find out sooner or later. So I felt a little vindicated when Lex spilled the beans, even as I was saying "Oh no, oh no, oh no." I'm both excited for and dreading how that little revelation will affect things next season. I was a little surprised to discover that Kara/Lena is the juggernaut ship for this fandom, but maybe I shouldn't have been because it's the exact friend/enemy dynamic that fandom so often loves, with the bonus hidden identity angst. It's nice to see an f/f ship taking over a fandom, even if it's not my cup of tea (and Nia/Brainy is so often a background ship that it can be hard to find a fic for my own pairing!).

Arrow, Season One: After finishing Supergirl and tearing myself away from rewatching certain scenes multiple times, I came to the reluctant realization that between this, enjoying the annual crossovers, my June binge of Legends of Tomorrow, and how excited I am for Batwoman, I need to just give in and watch the rest of the Arrowverse already. I'm now about halfway through the first season of the originator show, and it's... not terrible, although I look forward to the shift I know is coming, where Oliver has more of a team behind him and Felicity (whom I already know I love from the crossovers) becomes more of a major character. I honestly don't know if I would have stuck with this if I'd started watching when it was new. I'll be glad when this season is done and I can start alternating it with The Flash, which I've heard is more entertaining right out the gate. I do enjoy seeing the very early groundwork being laid for some aspects of Legends.

The Lego Batman Move: This was a rewatch for me -- I saw it in theaters. But we are one of the million or so households that still gets DVDs from Netflix (actually we switched to Blu-Ray a little while ago), and T will often ask for movies that we've already seen and enjoyed. Although it doesn't quite match the surprising awesomeness of the first Lego Movie, it's a lot of fun and might actually be my favorite Batman film, given its focus on the Batfamily and the ways in which Batman is better when he has a team.