Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Friday, December 2, 2022

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Supergirl - Season 2

 


+++Warning, this contains spoilers from season one, but no major spoilers from season 2+++

The second season of Supergirl marks a major shift in the direction of the show. This is largely due to the shift from CBS to the CW, which had plusses and minuses. The big plus is that the show could be brought into the Arrowverse more easily because the show moved the filming location from Hollywood to Vancouver British Columbia where the other Arrowverse shows are filmed. Of course, the show was brought into the Arroverse by a crossover with The Flash during the show's first season in which The Flash (Grant Gustin) ended up on Earth-38 and ended up in National City, and Supergirl was shown as The Flash was running in the speed force in one of the season-two episodes of The Flash. The big drawback to the network and filming location switch is that there was a lot of cast turnover. For example, Peter Facinelli ended up leaving the show, so the entire Max Lord storyline was dropped. Also, Callista Flockhart went from a series regular to a recurring cast member, with Cat appearing in just a handful of episodes. 

The season picks up immediately after the crash of the ship that ended the season one finale. Supergirl finds an unconscious man in the pod and takes him to the DEO. Meanwhile, in the first episode, the Arrowverse's version of Superman is introduced, played by Teen Wolf's Tyler Hoechlin as he helps Supergirl save a commercial rocket that experiences engine failure and falls back to Earth. They discover that Lena Luthor, Lex's sister (played by Merlin's Katie McGrath) was on the rocket Kara begins a complicated friendship with Lena. The rest of the season is a mix of alien of the week and a couple of serial storylines. One involves a version of the project Cadmus, and one that involves the mysterious man in the ship (played by Melissa Benoist's now husband, Chris Wood). In the eighth episode, Supergirl is recruited to help in the big Arrowverse Crossover, Invasion. Although Supergirl did not get a stand-alone episode in the big crossover, there is another crossover later in the season with The Flash which is partly a musical episode. The season ends with a couple of big cliffhangers that set up season three.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the show looks and sounds great, as all of the Arrowverse blu-rays do. The extras include several behind-the-scenes featurettes, including one on the Alien "fight club" episode, another that details the different kinds of aliens the show features, then you get a portion of the 2016 comic-con panel, a conversation with Kevin Smith and the series creator Andrew Kreisberg discussing the series, and a commentary track on the episode Supergirl lives (which Smith directed) featuring the two of them. Then there is a series of seven short trivia featurettes that are anywhere from about 30 seconds long to just under two minutes. 

Overall, the show is good but takes a decidedly different direction this season, and almost has to start over. While most of the cast returns, including Mechad Brooks (whose role as James is expanded in a couple of ways), Chyler Leigh, Jeremy Jordan, and David Harewood, the loss of Calista Flockhart, Peter Facinelli, and Laura Benanti definitely hurt. Plus, actors like Jenna Dewan and Italia Ricci, who may have had additional guest-starring roles would not return. Although in season two, Teri Hatcher, who, of course, played Lois Lane in the 1990s series Lois and Clark, had a major guest starring role, and the show got other notable guest stars like Helen Slater (reprising her role as Kara and Alex's mother Eliza), Lynda Carter (who played the live-action version of Wonder Woman in the 1970s), Dichen Lachman (from Dollhouse), and Darren Criss. The show most definitely incorporates elements of the real-world political climate into the storylines, and the political leanings of the showrunners and cast are very apparent. Some people will definitely be triggered by that, others will like it, and others will ignore it. In terms of tone, the show is somewhere between The Flash (which tends to be a bit more lighthearted) and Arrow (which is darker). So, while I cannot say that everyone will like it, I definitely think it is worth watching.



No comments: