#its actually pretty good but lately I haven't been able to invest in ANYTHING even golden kamuy

[andragoras-in-vanity]

girl help im having ambitions above my pay grade

[buddha-in-disguise]

We finally have an original trailer for next weeks Supergirl episode (5.14).

Now usually I’m more than optimistic to see the new trailers or teasers, but after not only the debacle of 5.12, but other problems that have been identified before that; the fact we are rapidly running out of episodes (still unconfirmed if it is 20 or 22, although 20 looking likely as the date for end of filming is confirmed for 17th March), that no original trailer was shown immediately after the 100th episode (that has generally been well received by fans & critics alike, a considerable improvement), I am actually being cautious/worried over the whole thing. Why wait a full week to drop the trailer, instead of riding on the high of the 100th episode? I'm not one for trying to read things into anything, but it feels as if they might've decided to re-edit the trailer after 5.12 exploded in their face so badly. Of course I could be wrong, but with William in the episode it is possible he was in the trailer, and it could've once again become a whole level of backlash (more about William later).

Anyone who knows me will tell you one of my defining traits is I’m a pretty optimistic person. I like to be pragmatic, so I don’t get bogged down often with concerns of what might happen, rather my perspective is, let’s see what happens. I was of this mindset right up until Crisis with Supergirl. I still feel that 5a was by far the strongest part of the season, which normally I find isn’t the case with Supergirl. Usually I find the second half of a season is where Supergirl generally is at its best - where it can finally pull together the strands it has been playing with in terms of main plot line from episode one. By about episode 12 or so, we begin to get an idea where it is heading. That not only hasn't happened this season, with episode numbers dwindling fast there seems to be no way they can pull back from some of the honestly calamitous decisions that seem to have plagued much of the midseason.

I was relieved to see that the promo photos show a Dansen moment.

I am though also not entirely sure we're going to get anything that is meaningful between Kelly and Alex, as the background, synopsis and other photo suggest that they get caught up in the VR world. I have a horrible gut feeling, just as they're about to make out at Obsidian (some workplace making out hello, I'm here for that), there is an explosion (as per trailer), then the fallout from that.

Don't get me wrong, we've had so little of Kelly, and Dansen in general it will be good to see them onscreen together, and working in a hostile environment as a couple; especially as we haven't seen much of Kelly beyond Obsidian or wielding the shield. I hope her army training, alongside Alex's military training with the DEO actually get to be a tangible plot point.

As an aside, remember the little video clip Azie posted just around Christmas that had the Dansen fandom collectively falling down in incomprehensible piles of goo? While the quality isn't great, there is no doubt those outfits match these. So Azie threw one hell of a tease our way beyond what we thought! I do hope that means we genuinely see more than a moment of Dansen, but again Azie has spoken or posted about scenes she has filmed or have been part of the promo set of photos, only for a lot to not make the final edits.

So below are some of the other promo photos for the episode.

My concern is once again we see William at CatCo alongside Franklin. Which infuriates me, because (as I've said many times, this absolutely isn't because if Staz), but why is William once again there, when Nia is a journalist? Yet they pop Franklin in the shot - a reoccurring character certainly, but either remove William, or remove Franklin and allow Nia to be back as a journalist in Catco. Her actual job! I know we get the following episode (15) that is Nia centric, but as with Kelly, Nia's screen time has been so ridiculously low for an established main cast member, that I find it impossible to understand why they couldn't have at least allowed them screen time in these circumstances.

But no, again William is the journalist. Even Franklin is a journalist. Nia is MIA. I'm beginning to think she doesn't even know what CatCo looks like anymore.

It's the imbalance I (and many others) am finding so annoying this season. Imbalance that wouldn't take much to address if they'd just changed scenes a little, without disrupting anything of note of the storyline.

So I decided to check main cast numbers, and it made for interesting reading. Last year had 9 main cast listed. This year it is officially 12. We can argue that James wasn't in many episodes, but he did feature quite heavily before Mehcad left. The same could be said for The Monitor, who is listed as main cast up until Crisis.

Equally Lex Luthor isn't listed as a main character, but considering his screen time since Crisis, I've no doubt he might as well have been. The same for Malefic, who was pretty heavily used prior to Crisis.

So even if we subtract James and The Monitor, and only add in Lex Luthor as a replacement we are still on a higher number of main cast from last season.

Honestly, this for me has been a big part of the problem, with trying to fit in too many characters at the expense of previously established cast. Add in that William's story has made absolutely no sense since Russell died, especially since Nia and even Kelly could've handled the same storylines; it just seems a complete mess.

This isn't about who you ship or who you prefer as a character. Everyone is suffering because of the uneveness of it all. Alex has no cohesive story so far (even though she has a good amount of screen time). Kara and Lena have the screen time, but it also feels really clunky of late, and getting ridiculously drawn out; although I'm hoping since the 100th we'll see it begin to smooth out. The Danver sisters, Brainia, Dansen, even Lena and Kara (whether you view it platonic or as Supercorp is neither here nor there on this and I'm not about to get into arguments that are not relevant to what I'm trying to say here), J'onn with Alex and Kara, Nia and Kara, Brainy and Lena; the list goes on. Every single interaction seems to be suffering.

We all invest in characters, but overall it feels like a mess of unnecessary pairings (Lex and Brainy, Kara and William primarily) or cast additions that has detracted from all characters, and the crux of the story seems to have been lost in the midst.

I really want Supergirl to show us otherwise, but this is about the 3rd or 4th time I've written similar posts, and there has been no or little forward momentum. Time is now against the show as much as the problems it has generated, and there is no way sidelined cast will be able to pull the numbers back up, even with centric episodes like Nia in 5.15. Will Kelly get a more centric episode that doesn't revolve around her brother? Nothing suggests she does, so she'll lose further ground, which in turn means so will Dansen. Brainy has been used a lot, but again at the expense of all the previous pairings the viewers were invested in (whether it was Alex and Brainy, Brainia, Brainy and Lena or to a lesser degree Brainy and Kara).

But hey. Don't worry. William is here to save the day and the girl. *sarcasm, in case anyone wasn't sure*.

[diary-of-a-teenage-cultleader]

Diary Entry #2:

Today's Date is Sunday Oct. 3rd, 2021. Current time: 11:00pm

Dear Diary and to anyone who reads this,

Today I woke up late again. Staying up late like this probably isn't good for me but I've been tossing and turning. I've been feeling a bit odd all week but overall okay. My biological mom has been really snippy with me for not cleaning the house as often because I'm supposed to clean everything pretty much. I'll get more into that situation later.

Today me and J watched my favorite musical, after he got back from work, we were gonna play in the switch but he didn't have the online membership so we ended up watching the movie instead. He really enjoyed the movie and I was glad, he liked the music and everything! J is so cool in all honesty, I accidentally ended up gushing about him to my friends...we'll call them Doll, and Madre. I'll get back to them too. I wanted to express quickly the dream that I had of J which I typed down this morning.

"I had a dream that me and J went to a a weird snowy "mountain" area (is was more like a glorified hill) but at the top theres tables where you can break and eat. I feel like I've had this dream before and I'm curious if its a real place but it was beautiful the white snow was shiny and the mountain was high enough you could see plenty of frozen water. We ate food together and looked at the view."

I really do dream to see these things with him sometimes but I don't wanna see overly obsessed with him so ill move forward. I think I might just be hyperfixated lol 😅

So tomorrow I will be hanging out with my "adoptive parents" which is just this millenial couple I met, I'm super excited because I haven't spoken with them in a long time and I miss checking up on them. My adoptive dad (AD) and adoptive mom (AM) are really cool! AD has his own art account and encourages my art, he likes to bully me but in a loving way which makes me really happy. He never really puts me down like my bio dad. And AM is so kind to me, she babies me a bit but not in an annoying way, she makes me feel like a special kid compared to my actual bio mom, which I wanted to speak more on. My bio mom today got snippy with me because she had to clean the living room, I've been dealing with a bad leg injury for a couple of days now and haven't been able to do much. She gets mad at me but won't get mad at my little brother who doesn't even do anything. I'm stuck being the maidboy of the house just because I live here. I'm not in work or school but I'm working to fix my mental health and she's not been very helpful. I know it could be worse and I could be back with my abusive bio dad but sometimes I feel underappreciated and like I can't do anything else but clean and that is all I'm good for.

I ranted about my mom and gushed about J to Doll and Madre and it was nice. Doll is super happy for me and I love her so much. J really wants to meet her as well which makes me super excited. I know Doll is super excited to meet him too. I'm still just a bit traumatized from bringing my ex into my friend group. I know it's not my fault and J isn't like that but I'm still getting used to this safe feeling I have with him. Doll showed me her new characters she rolled for in the game we play. Madre was super invested in her work but we watched a movie together today too! Madre's cousin came in and interrupted our movie halfway in, which was annoying, but I don't care enough about him to rant about it. The movie was really good and one of my current hyperfixations. We chatted for a bit and joked. I really missed talking to them; I also miss my best friend, GT (for Goliath twink). GT has been really busy with his boyfriend but its always fun talking to him. Hopefully I'll get to talk to him soon! I'm getting a bit tired now of writing so I'll finish this off with saying that from the last entry J seems to be doing better with his friend and they're hanging out tomorrow which is why I've got some time to myself tomorrow so I'm excited! That's all for now! See you tomorrow.

-JB

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