Loved it? Hated it? What did you think of "Changing"?

[WickedJenn]

What did you think?

[DigificWriter]

My review:
Tonight once again continued Supergirl's track record as presenting stellar episode after stellar episode (27 in all so far), which makes me a very happy panda.

I'm going to post this review in bullet points:
* Melissa playing drunk!Kara was hilarious, and once again affirms that she was the perfect choice for this role. I also love that Kara ended up falling asleep at the DEO just as trouble decided to rear its head

* It was a nice touch for them to name the research facility where Rudy Jones and his fellow scientists were working after Lena Luthor's comics alias Thorul, because it shows that there's a Thorul family as well as a Luthor family in this universe and that they're separate

* I had thought that they were going to drag out Alex's misunderstanding about Kara's reaction to her confession about being gay longer than they did, but was pleasantly surprised that they didn't, especially since you really needed the two characters on the same page in order for the episode's ending to work

* In hindsight, maybe I should've been a bit more lenient on the writers for the way they handled the conversation between Alex and Maggie last episode since they paid it off in this episode in a way that I wasn't expecting and that was admittedly heartbreaking, but also very true-to-life and will, ultimately, make Alex's journey of self-discovery more poignant and resonant in the long run

* I liked that Kara's ingrained prejudices manifested themselves again in the form of her reaction to finding out that Mon-El's "job" was using his powers as a 'heavy' because it showed yet again that she's not a perfect character and does have her flaws, one of which is being very judgmental of people and expecting them to live up to the same standards that she does

* Alex basically "guilt-tripping" Mon-El into 'stepping up' and following Kara's example was a really well-written and well-acted scene, and I like that it dovetailed into the situation with Alex needing to find M'gann in order to save J'onn/Hank, which was also a really well-written subplot that almost makes up for the misgivings I had about the writers sticking to the comics with regards to M'gann being a White Martian

* I'm not one of those people who immediately prejudged the storyline involving James becoming Guardian as being either nonsensical, stupid, or 'reaching', and therefore thought it was pretty neat to see him in his full costume actually fighting. I also really like the partnership between him and Winn, especially since they weren't entirely on the same page throughout the course of the episode yet came together when it counted

* Yes, Kara trying to scan James' costume with her X-Ray vision was a bit forward and invasive, but it again plays into the character not being perfect

* Cadmus abducting Mon-El is not something I was expecting, and it'll be interesting to see where this particular subplot is leading

* It was really gutwrenching to see Alex get rejected by Maggie, but, as I noted above, it does make her reaction to Alex's underplayed coming out in last week's episode make more sense retroactively, and led to yet another example of why Kara and Alex's relationship is and will forever remain the emotional heart of the series, giving us a really nice payoff to the two characters' sisterly arc in the episode and making the fact that they didn't drag out the tension between them stemming from Alex's misunderstanding about Kara's reaction to her coming out confession pay off in a very satisfactory manner

* It looks like those of us expecting them to make Jeremiah Danvers into the Cyborg Superman were mistaken and they're going to be bringing back the real Hank Henshaw after all, which doesn't have as much significance from a 'metacontextual' standpoint but should nonetheless make for some fun storytelling

[vantheman77]

The episode was about three or four characters changing such as James, Mon-El, Alex, and Rudy Jones. James becomes Guardian, Mon-El stepping up to become a hero, Alex coming out, and Rudy Jones becoming Parasite.

I like seeing James and Mon-El working together like in the comics and you add in Winn and you could have a potential 3-man partnership. I wish M' Gann was there with them as well. When Supergirl and Martian Manhunter were down, it's like seeing the A-Team down and the B-Team stepping up.

I hope this thing with Alex and Maggie does not become a will they, won't they situation.

Sad that Parasite is dead as he could have been used over with Superman. He's a major Superman villain.

Glad the Cadmus storyline is still kicking when they kidnapped Mon-El that will lead into the next episode. Kind of reminds me of some of Smallville's plots in the later seasons.

[costas22]

This was a typical example of an episode that could have been good, but was ruined by all the ailments we've come to expect from a DC CW show: melodrama, secret keeping and characters acting over the top.

The Parasite storyline itself was ok. Not my cup of tea, but the execution wasn't lacking a great deal. Even the Mon-El/Guardian/Supergirl team up at the very end worked. And I guess congratulations are in order to Kara. After Oliver and Barry, now she's also off the mark as far as her kill list is concerned.

James becoming Guardian remains a pizzling arc that I can't seem to resonate with. He wants to become a hero because everyone else around him is. That's not something that makes me root for him, sorry. It also didn't help that James came across as a jerk to Winn during their scene at the DEO. Thankfully though, their scenes improved after that and their rapport was quite fun. What turned me off towards the end was their decision to keep it a secret from Kara and the reason behind it ("she won't let us"), which felt awfully childish.

This was the first episode this season were I actually felt sorry for Mon-El. Both Kara and Alex's attempts to guilt trip him about not wanting to become a hero made the two of them look really bad. How about letting the guy decide for himself what he wants to do with his life? He's not a dog that requires discipline. And yes, in the end he stood up to the Parasite, but it doesn't justify the coercing on Kara and Alex's part. From what we've seen, there are many aliens in National City. Have Alex and Kara cornered all of them and tried to force them to be heroes?

Megan giving MM her blood was an interesting development and one can only wonder what that will man for J'onn. Again though, what's with all the secrecy? Couldn't Megan tell Alex that she is a white Martian and let her decide if the risk is worth it?

The Alex storyline was a hit and a miss. The scenes between her and Kara were on point and told the story very well. The scene were Maggie shot her down was just more melodrama for the sake of it. It's like they can't help themselves.

P.S. Kara can get drunk?

4/10.

[jon-el87]

Surprised nobody's picked up the Smallville homage with Mon-El's clothes during the fight with Parasite. And, then you have a Star Spangled Kid easter egg, with the truck Winn sits in.

Rudy Jones was really stupid, for just randomly doing an autopsy on that wolf (is he even qualified to do something like that? Feels like one of those moments of "oh, he's a scientist, so he can handle any field needed"). Put it in quarantine and wear proper protection during (they weren't even wearing masks). Don't just stick your hand into it.

I really disliked Alex in her interaction with M'gann, where she pressured her into giving blood (which contained some unsubtle jabs at people who don't give blood). Alex knows that M'gann and J'onn have the same blood type... how? You can't just randomly pump someone's blood into someone else, just because they're the same species. Maybe she has the Martian equivilent of HIV and Alex is now giving it to J'onn, just because she didn't care what objections M'gann might have about giving blood.

I also disliked Kara and Alex trying to pressure Mon-El into becoming a superhero. If he doesn't want to, just leave him alone. Furthermore, Kara put on a suit, 12 years after she came to Earth. Mon-El's been here for five minutes. At least, give him the chance to settle in, before you're expecting him to run around in a goofy suit.

And don't get me started on Kara trying to x-ray Guardian (how about respecting the man's privacy?).

[Backward Galaxy]

This is one of those episodes, for me, that's about half pretty great and half pretty awful. The good news is that it at least breaks down into whole parts. It's not that half of each story was great, and then they blew the finale. It's that of all the major stories, some of them were all good, and some of them were all bad.

1: The Parasite stuff was a trainwreck. His dialogue was awful. The commentary on real world climate change issues lacked nuance or anything substantive to say. They basically just ripped off The Thing, attached a heavy-handed metaphor to it as lip service, and pretended like it was more than a freak of the week when it wasn't. This was only made worse by the way Kara defeated him with a deus ex machina that came out of nowhere and had no explanation whatsoever.

2: The Alex stuff, I really liked. I have to again point out that a lot of the feelings she describes are not something I have any experience with. I'm not gay. I have gay friends, but not on a level where I can with any confidence pretend like I know if her words ring true or are coming across as "written". So while I can't comment on that part, I feel like I can comment on my appreciation of how things played out with Maggie. This is a big deal life event for Alex, something she's going through basically on her own. Maggie spurred it on. It makes total sense that Alex would fall for Maggie and then be absolutely devastated upon being rejected. At the same time, Maggie's answer isn't just an "I don't feel that way about you" answer. It, too, is nuanced, and comes across as the mature response of a real person who has been there before. There is some extraordinarily complicated psychology going on here and they are treating it as such.

The only part I had a little trouble with was Kara's "apology" to Alex for sucking up all the focus during their childhood. That part felt like forced drama 101, where the writers forced the coming out to Kara scene to end poorly just to have an excuse to have Kara turn around and apologize after digesting it. The apology itself feels like an agenda the writers are pushing, as if the judgmental and ignorant of us owe an apology to those we've ignored. Set aside whether or not that's true for a moment, it didn't work here because Kara is apologizing for something from their childhood that we don't see. They didn't want to make Kara too homophobic and awful in the coming out scene, but they still wanted Kara to be in the wrong somehow so she could apologize, so they reached. To be honest, they didn't really even need to do that. There was enough of a disconnect between Kara and Alex during the coming out scene that the drama created between the two of them felt real without being a falling out, without being homophobic, without all that extra add-on stuff. It's a complex matter. It played out bumpy. Skip the rest. It's just over-writing. The characters and actors did enough good work to that point that they didn't need to go there.

But I will say that wasn't a dealbreaker for me, and I'm by and large pleased with the overall arc in this episode for Alex.

3: The best I can say about the Guardian stuff is that their enthusiasm during the Parasite stuff was a bit charming. I also liked Winn telling James to be patient or he could die, mostly because the line delivery was excellent. The rest of it just doesn't make sense. Where does Winn get the equipment? Is he stealing from the DEO? How can he sneak off and be in that van without anyone noticing? Why is this the only thing James can do to feel fulfilled in life? Why does Kara let him drive off when she can easily catch him and rip his helmet off? How can James be the fulltime editor at CatCo and still have time to show up at the DEO and fight crime at the drop of a hat all the time? About the only part of the entire storyline that makes even a modicum of sense is the most cliche part of it, which is them keeping it a secret from Kara. Even though the superhero secret keeping plotline has been done to absolute death, Kara absolutely would put an immediate stop to them if she knew what they were doing. So, in this case, the cliche makes sense.

4: Mon-El continues to be a strong character for me. I like that Kara still has prejudices about him being from Daxam, even though that point has been addressed in the past. I like that he sees nothing wrong with using his powers to make money. I like that he's his own guy, but also recognizes that Kara is a caring person. I like that his impetus for going after Parasite is as much to him about hurting the guy who hurt Kara as it is about trying to make her proud. I understand why some people would be turned off by him being the token bad boy, but everything about him is working for me.

5: I like where they're going with the M'Gann stuff. J'onn is going to throw an absolute fit when he finds out.

Highlight of the episode: I'd be remiss if I left out any mention of drunk Kara. That... was... HYSTERICAL. Dictionary dot com is going to have to embed a YouTube clip of Melissa Benoist's performance during that scene on their page for the definition of the word "adorable".

To sum up:

Parasite, BAD. Alex, GOOD. Guardian, BAD. Mon-El, GOOD. M'Gann, GOOD. Drunk Kara, WORTH THE PRICE OF ADMISSION.

[costas22]

Surprised nobody's picked up the Smallville homage with Mon-El's clothes during the fight with Parasite.

Good catch. I knew that outfit reminded me of someone.

[Backward Galaxy]

I didn't draw the connection, either, but yeah... Very Welling-esque.

[Aurora Moon]

Everyone up above summed my feelings on the episode.

I would however add... I found it really weird that the DEO let that parasite guy go just like that. Seemed a little too quick for me, you know? It didn't seem realistic to me. I think realistically DEO would had put him into a comfortable holding cell while they investigated what really went up there in the arctic.
Of course... if they had done what any realistic police force would do, then we wouldn't have a story to start with.

Parasite's motivations to me, were pretty meh. I hope Camadus gets to bring back him, but give him a different sort of motivation beyond being a Eco-terrorist.

[speople]

Best ep of the series so far for me, contained a truckload of stuff and once again showed everything that The Flash isn't.

The characterizations here were superb, brilliant and well done. Alex's scenes, all of them, were a joy to watch and you couldn't help but feel for her at the end. Loved how she told Mon to stand up.

Guardian, great 'answer' before sticking on the suit.

MM, white martian blood makes you wonder where it will lead.

The Parasite was a bit meh, but regardless, the ep wasn't about a FotW, it was about so many chars moving in diff directions and that is EXACTLY what was delivered with aplomb. Great stuff. 10/10

[Backward Galaxy]

Aurora, I thought it was weird they let Parasite go so quickly, too. He was the only survivor of an unexplained massacre and they let him go before they even checked the security footage.

[AlSahHim]

James becoming Guardian remains a pizzling arc that I can't seem to resonate with. He wants to become a hero because everyone else around him is. That's not something that makes me root for him, sorry. It also didn't help that James came across as a jerk to Winn during their scene at the DEO. Thankfully though, their scenes improved after that and their rapport was quite fun. What turned me off towards the end was their decision to keep it a secret from Kara and the reason behind it ("she won't let us"), which felt awfully childish.

This! I really don't understand the whole "I've always been a sidekick, I need to be a hero" thing and as if that wasn't bad enough his debut as a "hero" wasn't well thought out at all. It was just him asking Winn what to do. Not to mention the whole 3 aliens not being able to take down the parasite but a human thinking they could do it.

[Aurora Moon]

Aurora, I thought it was weird they let Parasite go so quickly, too. He was the only survivor of an unexplained massacre and they let him go before they even checked the security footage.

My reaction was literally this:

"Wait, you're just gonna let him go like that? Well, I guess that can be forgiven because it's obvious that they did this so there's a story to tell." *raised eyebrows*

*later on, when they see the footage*
"Wait a minute.... you had security footage of the event and you let him go before you reviewed everything?? That should had been the very first thing you review before you let anybody go! I take it back, this is way too stupid for words!! There's holding the idiot ball temporarily for the sake of the story, and then there's being too dumb to live!! The first one was forgivable, but this is not!"

[President_Luthor]

There was both good and bad in this one.

Overall, I liked the Alex coming-out subplot. Kudos to Chyler for bringing it. They had Parasite, the first appearance of Guardian, Mon-El being a hero, even a pop-up appearance of Cadmus -- but this was Alex's episode, she was the star here. Naturally, they had to do the friend-zoned outcome with Maggie to stoke the melodrama angle (Girl, you cannot catch a break!) but besides this, the Alex subplot was the strongest one in this ep.

The Parasite subplot did seem like a FOTW one that they tried too hard to make into something more than that. Clunky would be the word for it. Maybe it might have been better if he was merely a FOTW without the verbose baggage.

They're doing some interesting things with Mon-El and I was glad he and Kara got into a tiff over what she wants for him re: using his powers vs. what he wants. A welcome reminder that he is not from Krypton ... so why should she expect him to adhere to all of its values, just because. It's a bit of House of El elitist snobbery there, which he totally picked up on and called her out.

Bearing that S-shield does not automatically make her right, and he made a valid point that she also loves the attention and praise her deeds bring. Sometimes, Kara's Hallmark Channel-esque saccharine platitudes need to be put in check and Mon-El did that here. Kudos (again) to Alex for breaking it down to him -- she was actually the one who got him to step up.

I'm still not entirely sold on James' transition to Guardian, though they are trying really hard to make it seem like it's a logical progression. Once he was Guardian, his partnership with Winn was fun to see. Winn, thank Rao, leveled with him and reminded him that being a superhero will come at a cost, maybe even his life and he can't just rush things. James' "inspiring" speech before he got his suit was adequate for the scene, but he lost me when he went on about not wanting to hide behind the camera. So, what, is he saying he's done nothing of substance or meaningful at any point prior to wanting to become a superhero?

I don't know, how about defending the First Amendment in his capacity as a photojournalist/CatCo boss - it sounds like a pretty noble deed too. Everyone's gotta be a superhero, it seems. (Somehow, I don't think people would dare say Lois Lane isn't a hero, even though she has no costume, no powers and "hides" behind a press pass.)

In the way that SV Clark learned journalism through osmosis, CatCo can apparently now run itself without James' input or oversight. People will be wondering how many executive power lunches, client dinners, out-of-town conferences and red eye flights Mr. Olsen takes.

(If Mon-El needs a job ... maybe he can take James' job, since it seems James doesn't need it any longer.)

I do understand that the series needs to give James something more to do than just hold a candle for Kara and making him into Guardian was, they believe, their way to do this. If we had a hint last season that he was somehow dissatisfied in his civilian role, they might have sold it better. James was always lagging character development-wise in comparison to most of Kara's circle and they needed to do something to change this status quo. Does his superhero turn work for me, right now, in getting the job done? Not yet.

And keeping it all a secret from Kara, that sounds like a swell idea that won't cause any problems between Kara and them.

[acer15]

I thought it was a good episode but there was no need for the Alex stuff.