Five Reasons We Need Season 2 of Supergirl
Freshman CBS drama Supergirl ended its first glorious season on a high note of hopefulness, with a brain-teasing cliffhanger to boot. While there’s no word yet about the show’s renewal (we have confetti and champagne on hand, patiently waiting for the official announcement) much like Supergirl‘s titular character, we have an endless supply of hope. Hope that the show will be renewed; hope that its audience won’t be left hanging; hope that Papi Chulo’s dedicated National City Tribune co-hosts will get to keep prattling on about our favourite show. What started out as a mediocre, ham-fisted ad for feminism in a cape exploded into one of the best superhero offerings on television, as actress Melissa Benoist suited up each week to deliver both the adventures of Supergirl and Kara Danvers— so far, she’s rocked it. We’re pretty sure she’ll don the big red “S” again in the fall, and here’s why we need it to be true:
1. We Need to Know What (Or Who) Was in That Pod
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Spoilers if you haven’t seen the season finale (seriously, stop reading and go watch it. You need to): just when it seems like Kara and co. can enjoy a nice night at home with cool champagne tricks and happy-go-lucky toasts and a fitting Charlie Puth song crooning in the background, another Kryptonian pod crash-lands on Earth. What (or who) is in it? Kara was obviously pretty shocked. Should we be shocked? Should we panic? Is the precarious balance of National City about to tip with the arrival of its newest visitor? WHO’S IN IT?! WE NEED TO KNOW. THIS IS A MATTER OF NATIONAL (City’s) SECURITY.
2. We Need to Know What’s Going On With Jeremiah— And Cadmus
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Cadmus Labs, a scientific research facility owned by LuthorCorp (dun, dun, dun!) has cropped up over the years in many different DC properties. (In Smallville, it was ultimately Lex Luthor’s cloning factory: he cloned himself in the event of serious injury, so he could replace his body parts with new ones. However, not all of his doubles popped out as perfect copies. In Young Justice, Cadmus Labs held Superboy/Connor Kent, the genetically-engineered son of Superman). But the only thing we know about it in the context of Supergirl is that it’s where her adoptive father, Jeremiah Danvers (previously presumed dead) is being held. Is he there as a captive? A scientist? A mind-controlled lackey? How is Supergirl going to put a new spin on Cadmus Labs, and does this mean Lex Luthor has a place in National City?
3. What Will Kara’s New Job Be?
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Supergirl saved the planet and humanity itself, but the good just kept getting better when Kara was given a promotion at Catco, and a heartfelt speech by her mentor, Cat Grant. However, the details of her upgraded professional life were kept intentionally vague: Cat told her to take a few days, think about what she wanted. We all know Kara has poured her heart into making National City safe, but her soul, the part that keeps her human, is only enhanced by working a thankless job for a ferociously fierce boss. What’s next for Kara, professionally? Who will take her spot as assistant? What jokes will Cat make at her expense next season?
4. Will We Ever See Clark And Kara In The Same Room?
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So far, the extent of Kara’s communication with the Man of Steel (AKA, her cousin. Don’t people hang out with their cousins anymore?) has all been behind a screen, and while those heart-warming IM chats sure know how to pluck at the heartstrings, they would be yanked on if we finally witnessed Supergirl and Superman (or Clark and Kara) in the same room. It doesn’t matter if they’re fighting intergalactic evil or bonding over coffee, we just need to see these two hang out. Yes, Supergirl is about Kara, but having Superman show up wouldn’t automatically spell cancellation or make her irrelevant. It would only add to the narrative.
5. Will Kara and Barry Ever Be BFBs?
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Yeah, okay, whatever, fine. Kara is with James and Barry is going to end up with Iris. But they were so cute together in the crossover episode; Barry was able to help Kara through a rough patch, and Kara brought out a side of Barry viewers haven’t seen since his own debut on Arrow. These two nerds need to couple up, or at least sleep together. You know, for science.
Okay, let’s be real here: there’s no way Supergirl is going to get cancelled. They’re probably just keeping us waiting for the fun of it. But even if season one is its only season (impossible! Blasphemous! An outrage!) Supergirl has changed the TV landscape and inspired a metric crapton of viewers (women and men alike) to have hope. What more could you ask from a superhero show? A second season, that’s what.
Burning Glass Might Be What You’re Looking For
Any YA book that starts off with arson and mass murder deserves (at the very least) an honourable mention, with extra points if it’s set in a dazzling fantastical world amidst royalty, secrecy, and magic powers. Did we mention there’s sort of kind of a love triangle happening? Sort of. It’s cool.
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Chosen Ones: Lost Souls Book Review
Social media is probably the loudest and proudest platform for people to express their opinions about the state of the world around them. But what if, in a not-so-distant future, social media, books, art, music, and even expressing one’s own opinion was outlawed? Tiffany Truitt’s young adult dystopian novel, Chosen Ones: Lost Souls takes a look at that reality.
Burned to the Ground (Burn For Burn #3 Review)
You can’t put the past behind you when a vengeful spirit is hell-bent on destroying your future. The final book in Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian’s Burn For Burn trilogy, called Ashes to Ashes, had great expectations to meet after two glorious predecessors (both of which ended with intense cliff-hangers that left the reader slack-jawed and hungry for more). Given how utterly addictive Burn For Burn and Fire With Fire turned out to be, this finale was supposed to dazzle readers with a glitzy, glorious bang. Except it came and went with a pathetic whimper. (more…)
Disney’s Zootopia is an Instant Classic
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Disney’s latest offerings— with the exception of lacklustre Pixar collaboration The Good Dinosaur. We’re pretty sure Finding Dory will pick up The Good Dinosaur’s slack— have all been amazing, a constant reminder to people everywhere that they still have a monopoly on making feel-good, so-relatable-it-burns movies that turn into cash-cows and classics alike. Its latest family flick, Zootopia, which has already made bank beyond even Frozen’s record-setting debut, continues the time-honoured Disney tradition.
There’s Something About Mary… (Burn For Burn #2 Review)
What would you do if you were able to orchestrate the perfect payback plan? If the person who hurt you the most was forced to swallow a spoonful of their own medicine— and then some. If everything went accordingly, if you got exactly what you wanted, how you wanted it… would you go back for more? Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian return to Jar Island to find out. (more…)
Does Agent Carter Need to Be Renewed?
Agent Carter‘s second season finale, “Hollywood Ending,” was an example of good television. Loose ends were wrapped up in a neat little bow, and a thread was picked up for a potential next season (with executive producer Michele Fazekas teasing, “He’s [Thompson] not necessarily dead. He got shot. That’s all we show. It certainly didn’t tickle. But we were really clear when we talked to Chad about it, we were like, ‘Just so you know, you are getting shot. And that is all we are saying.'”) There’s just one problem: even with such a great finale, Agent Carter has not been guaranteed a third season. TVLine has reported the rather bleak ratings— 2.37 million viewers with a 0.7 in the ratings— despite its readers giving the episode an overall “A-” grade. Already, articles have popped up championing a third season with heated debate filling the comments section— the excuses range from the Nielson ratings system is archaic (we hear that), to ABC’s website is problematic for those who don’t have cable, forcing viewers to turn to unofficial streaming sites (fair enough), to Dish Network subscribers don’t get ABC (is Dish Network the be-all-and-end-all for TV viewers? Can it make or break a show?)— and despite the fact that Agent Carter has never been a ratings all-star, audience reception has been (for the most part) overwhelmingly positive. But if rumours of cancellation are enough to prompt hundreds of fans to come out of the woodwork— hundreds who, when combined, could impact those ratings. There’s even an article about how to make unsuspecting viewers watch Agent Carter on the down-low) fans of the show are doing their best to endorse it. Why is it consistently doing badly in the ratings?
Maybe this period piece is (strangely) ahead of its time. Lots of great shows with interesting characters and ideas have gotten the axe despite being incredibly watchable— Tru Calling, The Secret Circle, Lie To Me, Red Band Society, etc.— or maybe it’s just not meant for TV. Not in the traditional sense, anyway.
Let me be clear: I am not advocating for Agent Carter‘s return because third-wave feminism dictates I should. I’m not doing it because I’m tired of seeing heterosexual, cis-gendered white dudes all over my screen. I’m not even doing it to complain that mainstream television is a pile of tripe that only the most brainwashed of sheeple could enjoy, which somehow means that my tastes are superior to society’s at large (spoiler alert: they’re not).
I want to see Agent Carter renewed because it’s funny and smart with an all-star cast. But I also (and maybe this is my inner optimist reaching. I rarely let it out, as it’s so often proven wrong) think that the third season and all its potential will see the light of day. Peggy Carter will live to fight again. And I don’t think low ratings will stand in the way of an obviously quality (if under-appreciated and under-viewed) television property.
That said, if ratings are the issue people are fussing over: maybe (as Maureen Ryan pointed out in her article, linked above) it’s not the right fit for cable TV and would reach a wider audience on a streaming service like Netflix, or maybe Marvel needs to get its television properties onto a subscription-based app, much like Marvel Unlimited (disclaimer: I use Comixology to get a little bit of everything, but the die-hard Marvel fanatics in my life have assured me that Unlimited is worth the price). I’m not going to lie: I’ve often wondered what sort of show Agent Carter could become if it were made into a Netflix property. Given how wonderful Jessica Jones turned out to be, I really do believe they could work magic with any given series, even one that struggles to find a sizeable audience.
The show has so much more to do before it makes its exit, and Peggy has so much room to grow and change and inspire those around her to do the same.
On the off chance that it does get cancelled— at least we had it for two seasons. At least Atwell brought everything she had to the table and made Peggy a heroine worth fighting for. At least Peggy is more to the Marvel universe than just a woman Captain America once loved. But again, I don’t think it’s naive to hope for a third season and not worry about cancellation at this time. Agent Carter has beat the odds before, and there’s no reason that it can’t do it again.
Karma’s a Trip (Burn for Burn #1 Review)
It’s fair to say I’ve been out of the literary loop for quite awhile, missing out on hundreds— if not thousands— of potential favourite books because I simply didn’t have the time to read. That’s why having a boss like Papi Chulo is a good thing: as long as my writing is semi-coherent, I can ramble on about whatever I want. Even if I want to write about a trilogy of books that originally made its debut in 2012. Why am I writing about a trilogy of books that’s been over and done with since 2014?
You need to read it, that’s why. I’m doing you a favour, because friends want friends to have nice things. And every friend who’s any friend knows one thing: revenge is a dish best served with vodka and chocolate. Yeah, yeah, everyone knows that karma is supposed to work on balancing the universal scales of justice, but let’s be real: with all the transgressions she has to sort out, karma is slower than those Disney sloths working the DMV. That’s why revenge fantasies run amok, and for everyone who’s been silently stewing over the misdeeds of another: Burn For Burn is the perfect medicine. (more…)
Get Your Sh*t Together, Arrow
Are we watching Arrow or Desperate Housewives? Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference these days, especially when such a large portion of each episode is dedicated to Oliver setting off a chain-reaction that is destined to ruin his personal life (see: “Legends of Yesterday“). Seriously, after watching the latest Arrow episode (see: “Taken“) I found myself rolling my eyes so hard they almost fell out of my skull. I have loved Arrow since the beginning, and Felicity Smoak even more so (Emily Bett Rickards is flawless, no matter what material she’s given). Felicity once brought all kinds of light to Oliver’s darkness, including unstoppable verbal diarrhoea, mad skillz behind a computer screen, and a sort of naiveté that drew hard-bitten Oliver towards her. Recently, they’ve traded their yin/yang dynamic for manufactured relationship drama that no doubt sets the crazy Olicity fans on Tumblr barking. (These “fans” are so dangerously into Olicity that they feel entitled to it, at the cost of genuine character development and storylines. They have a history of harassing the executive producer on social media, demanding that the flames of their passionate shipping fire be met. Hell hath no fury like an Olicity shipper scorned, but not all of us are evil. Just the ones that take it too seriously). As someone who has loved the show and Felicity (and yes, Olicity) from the very start:
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Please get your sh*t together. I will admit: Arrow has always been rife with relationship drama (is there a woman in Star City that Oliver hasn’t bedded?) with the innate understanding that Oliver has no idea what a happy, harmonious relationship is supposed to look like. (Remember the time he invited his then-girlfriend’s sister onto a yacht trip and lied to his then-girlfriend about it? Also, there was that time he slept with the woman that was obsessed with his father? Those are just two examples in a very long list of head-scratching decisions). But when that relationship drama takes over the show, and the introduction of an illegitimate child is less of a storyline and more of a plot point to drive a wedge between Oliver and Felicity, I wonder if I’m the only one unhappy with it.
I know, I know, Oliciters, you’re ready to come for me in the night and force me aboard your ship. In case there are any neutral parties out there, please note that Felicity is still a precious cinnamon roll. Oliver is still working on personal growth. But:
[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuDB57IUoUw[/embedyt] (more…)
Five Books We Wish Were Mandatory In High School
We get it: mandatory reading bites, especially since it’s the same book selection every year with no variation or excitement (if I see Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin one more time, I’m weaponizing it and throwing it off a rooftop). We understand that schools are underfunded and curriculum needs to be met, but as book-lovers who enjoy reading for the simple fact that it is actually fun, we thought we’d offer up some suggestions for what should be on the required reading list (note that some of these beauties are technically for more mature audiences, but if you’re in high school and you haven’t used profanity, seen someone naked, or witnessed a catfight in the hall that was later spread all over social media for replay value… you’re lying). You might balk at this list while reading it, but thinking high schoolers can’t handle these books is a discredit to the minds of tomorrow. So without further ado, check out our reading recommendations!
5) Just One Wish by Janette Rallison
Published in 2009, Just One Wish centers around a 17-year-old girl named Annika Truman whose whole world revolves around her little brother Jeremy, a cancer patient. Jeremy is still young enough to believe in the magic of miracles, and so Annika, a tireless optimist in the face of his illness, tells him that a genie will grant him one wish. Expecting Jeremy to wish for a successful tumor removal surgery, our heroine is bamboozled when, instead, he wishes to meet up with his idol, teen TV heartthrob (and live-action Robin Hood), Steve Raleigh. Desperate to deny her brother’s terminal cancer and fulfill his deepest wish— as if, in doing both of those things simultaneously, she will somehow be able to stop time and cheat death— Annika drags her best friend along on a road-trip to entreat Steve Raleigh to help her grant her dying brother just one wish. Cheesy, right? Totally. But hidden in the pages of this seemingly far-fetched tale are sober truths about life, death, love, family, and the inevitability of saying goodbye. The cliché elements of this book aside, if you know a young adult who has recently lost someone— or is facing that very grim prospect— Just One Wish deals with death in a poignant, honest way that is neither manufactured nor hopeless. Annika and co. are realistic, even if the situations they find themselves in are a little on the implausible side (we’re willing to let that slide).
4) Sweet Tooth by Jeff Lemire
Sweet Tooth is something that no sane teacher would ever assign to their students. Luckily, we know some pretty out-of-the-box educators that might take the chance on a story like this— just be aware that it’s not for the faint of heart. Sweet Tooth is a limited comic book series set in a post-apocalyptic world, the premise of which being that most of humanity has been wiped out by an illness called The Affliction. Everyone has it. The people still left are going to die of it, anyway— the ones that are immune to The Affliction are human-animal hybrids, who are hunted and killed in a desperate bid to save humanity. One such hybrid— half-deer, half-human— Gus, is the main character of the story. At the beginning, he lives in a cabin in the woods with his dying father, who has expressly forbid him from venturing out of the forest (cautioning demons and fire and hell beyond the safety of the tree line) but after his father’s death, Gus is cornered by hunters in the woods, where he’d believed he was safe. Said hunters are brutally murdered by a man named Mr. Jeppard, who promises to take Gus to The Preserve, a safe-haven for human/animal hybrids. The journey is just as important (if not more so) as the destination for these two characters, as Gus— who discovers he really likes chocolate, devouring Jeppard’s candy stash and earning himself the nickname “Sweet Tooth”— who grew up in a sheltered bubble, searches for a safe place to call home and Jeppard wonders what the point of living is, since everyone is an Affliction-carrying ticking time bomb. The contrast of sweet, staunch, faith-rooted Gus and world-weary, violent Jeppard adds another interesting layer to the story, and in the end, though nothing is quite as it seems, readers develop attachments to both characters.
We already mentioned that this series would probably be banned in the classroom, right? Jeppard has the ultimate potty mouth, violence is a guarantee, and (among other things), Gus finds himself in a whore-house. Still, this hits all the marks of “classic,” with us, and if The Blind Assassin is fit to be read in schools, then so is Sweet Tooth.
3) A Grown Up Kind Of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson
Every 15 years, a baby girl is added to the Slocumb family. Or at least, that’s how the pattern worked (first Ginny with her daughter, Liza, then Liza with her daughter, Mosey) until 30-year-old Liza, a recent stroke victim, unearths human remains in their backyard. Suddenly, hitting the baby-making age of 15 is the least of Mosey’s (who has never even kissed a boy!) worries. This masterfully-crafted novel weaves the story of three generations of women together, branching them out, ripping them apart, and tying them back together again. It might not sound like much, but this stunning Southern novel illustrates deeply-buried secrets, dark, horrific truths, the boundless love of family, and just how far a mother will go to protect her child.
2) Defending Jacob by William Landay
Landay’s third novel, Defending Jacob was published in 2012. It tells the story of assistant district attorney Andy Barber, who has spent years trying to right the wrongs of his forefathers, only to have his teenaged son Jacob accused of murder. This book grapples with unconditional love (how far would you go to protect your family? What would you justify?) and the question of whether monsters are born or made. It raises interesting questions about nature vs. nurture; whether biology plays a bigger part in who we are and how we see the world than the love (or lackthereof) from those who raised us.
1) The Sculptor by Scott McCloud
Warning: This graphic novel contains nudity and foul language. Okay, warning over. If you’re not sold on graphic novels (we’re not sure why you wouldn’t be, but just in case) as a valid form of literature, do yourself a favour and pick this up. David Smith, a once-promising sculptor who burned almost all of his professional bridges, makes a deal with death: he can sculpt anything he desires with his bare hands, but he only has 200 days to live (and of course, within this time-frame, he meets the woman of his dreams, so, you know, that sucks). This graphic novel is utterly wonderful, positively gripping… and so, so emotionally draining. It’s amazing, but because its subject matter is so heavy, and David is his own worst enemy (emotionally stunted by a life that’s even more tragic than Batman’s. Except he’s poor and obsessed with sculpting things that don’t sell and, you know, not Batman). This is a story that slams the worst parts of your life together with an existential crisis, making a sandwich for the reader that leaves them wondering about life— “Is there a point to existence? Why are we here? Who are you? Who am I?”— and with poignancy and charisma, gently reminds that when a door is slammed shut in your face, a window can be pried open. It deals with the obvious things, life and death (duh) but it also delves into themes of grief, mental illness, cowardice, and having the courage to leave your mark on the world, even if it’s not permanent.
There are tons of books (novels, comics, graphic novels) that we didn’t mention here. Let us know what you wish was required reading for school in the comments!