[Episode Discussion] 5x2 - "Stranger Beside Me" Oct 13th 2019
 

- So according to Brainy, Q-Waves only exist in the future…. yet Obsidian is using them in their tech? And it was this tech that allowed Kelly to go into J’onn’s mind palace – which is something we’ve only seen Brainy do (first with Kara, then with James).

I’m really surprised Brainy didn’t wonder about that, because I’M sensing some serious time travel shenanigans here.

Also, merging Eve with an AI is essentially making a human into what Brainy is (an organic/AI hybrid).

Is it too wild theory to say that Leviathan recruited Eve when she was 16 because they KNEW what would happen to her? Knew what Lena would do? And is it possible that Leviathan is from the future and connected to the Brainiacs? Or is that just wishful thinking?

- Speaking of Lena - it looks like she has both feet firmly planted in Villain territory. When you kidnap a woman and take over her mind with your AI, you’re no longer one of the good guys. Sorry.

- Franklin the Dryad is still around. Yay!

- William has the NSA on speed dial? Does he work for Mi6? “Dey. William Dey. Shaken, not stirred.”

- Brainy getting all that food as a show affection kind of makes him the perfect man for Kara, not Nia.

I mean… just sayin’… ;)

- If I recall correctly, H’ronmeer’s curse was caused by Malefic in the comics. Looks like they’re borrowing from that. It will be interesting to see which way this story goes.

- Dansen is Endgame! I love them so much.

The bit with Brainy getting food for Nia was sweet, but the sheer amount of food he ordered is odd. He must know she can't eat *that* much. So it's bad writing to have him be that clueless. I did like how Kara appreciated the food & wanted some of it.

I found it funny that Brainy complained about Alex smelling like the sewer & then was later reading to Nia from his book & saying something about developing a sense of smell at the tender age of 14. I wonder how old he is supposed to be. In the comics Coluans live to be about 500 so he is likely still very young for his species.

Jesse Rath posted some closeups of the journal he had with the "poetry". It was in Binary & had a misspelling. Something like To Ly Dearest Nia and then repeated A rose by any other name would smell as sweet over and over and over.

It bugs me a little that Brainy wasn't picking up on Nia's nonverbal cues that she wanted him to stop reading to her. I'm hoping he'll realize on his own that he's frustrating her & that he'll talk to her & dial it back.

Am I the only one who noticed that William seemed to have pictures of his boss being shouted at by some guy on his screen? (or was that his boss- I wasn't sure). I suspect he's undercover to expose her, but it's odd that he's spying on Kara as well. I think he's trying to figure out what is going on. I don't think he's actually a bad guy, but he's trying to appease the boss to avoid suspicion. I think he'll end up being an ally in the end.

James moving on to another career reminded me of how Shep Smith just resigned from Fox News & his contract prevents him from working in journalism for awhile too. I suspect it was a similar situation of being told he needed to change his narrative & having too much integrity to do it.

I'm really liking Kelly (so glad I finally remembered her name). She's a great addition to the cast. I hope to see her interact with Brainy more. I also think she & Alex are really cute together.

I kind of wish that Lena had just smacked the crap out of the new Catco owner (I still keep forgetting her name). Lena is obviously having some sort of mental breakdown. I'm hoping that maybe Kelly can help her.

Yes, he SHOULD have known her food limitations. Calculated it to the last decimal point, even.

The show is writing Brainy as "dumb" in regards to his relationship with Nia, and it's not funny or cute. I don't know why TPTB decided this was the way to go, and I just want them to end it already and let Brainy be the 12th Level Intellect he's supposed to be (even Aligned!Brainy was much more preferable than this version).

Er... sorry for the rant. It's just really frustrating me now.

Don't forget - he was a part of the Legion for several years before he got stuck in the past. Assuming he began with the Legion in his late teens, he must be in his late 20s at the very least.

Based on this episode, I'm thinking William is working for some Intelligence agency. Journalists don't normally have the NSA on speed dial, nor can they ask them to track people unless there's some important connection there ;).

William has become a very interesting character now...

The CatCo boss' name is Andrea Rojas. :)

And Lena is a Luthor. She's following in her family's footsteps, and doesn't even realize it. It's really interesting to watch.

Honestly -- I'm looking forward to Villain!Lena, and I hope the show doesn't tie it all up in a nice happy bow at the end of the season.

Hmm, interesting theory. I really like Brainy and Nia together but I hope this struggle, how to interact with each other doesn't lead to them breaking up. I mean, this is the CW after all.

There are notable differences though. Smith is in his 50's & was at FOX News for much longer than Jimmy has been at CatCo. Also, reportedly Smith clashed with his co-workers more so than his bosses if he clashed at all with his bosses that is.

I did find it odd though on this episode that Supegirl wanted Jimmy to run for the U.S. Senate. OK. First of all, does anyone know which state that ''National City'' is in? In real life if he lived in New Jersey, New York or Massachusetts for examples, because I think that National City is on the East Coast, if he lived in either of those 3 states it would be difficult as hell to win a Senate race vs. I think any of the 6 current U.S. Senators, particularly if Jimmy's a Republican. It's just a tough task. Now, he doesn't seem to have many if any skeletons in the closet, which is key if running for office. We just saw what happened in real life to Katie Hill who resigned over allegations of an affair along with dealing with explicit pics her ex made public recently. Now there is a such thing as a double standard of course, so faced with the horrific same circumstances perhaps Olsen wouldn't have resigned, but it does show that a person can go into politics with the best of intentions & still have horrific results. Good for him for wanting to make a difference in people's lives. Following what happens in the real U.S. congress though, where things get done at a snail's pace as the saying goes, well it's hard to recommend anyone to run for U.S. congress these days I think.