Pop Culture Princess

Pop Culture Princess
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Thursday, February 04, 2016

Supergirl battles Bizarro, a rather shocking dinner party moment at Downton Abbey and a devilish look at Lucifer

This week on Supergirl, Kara faced off against her own Bizarro doppelganger, created via experimentation at the behest of Maxwell Lord(a origin reboot given to that foe in prior Superman venues).

Watching Kara fight Bizarro was fun and interesting, since her confused counterpart's powers are the reverse of Supergirl's(freeze vision and fire breath,for one) and while she had to defend herself and others, it was clear to both Kara and the audience that Bizarro was a victim of Lord's twisted manipulations.

On another front, I'm happy to report that Winn seems to be back with Team Supergirl in a positive way and willing to get over his nonstarter romance with Kara to the point of encouraging James to pursue her(possibly due to both guys being a little jealous of Kara's brief relationship with Cat Grant's son, Adam).

While James is obviously attracted to Kara, he doesn't want to hurt current girlfriend Lucy by another break-up ,although Winn had a point about not being with someone who you really didn't want to be with wasn't a good plan either. After dealing with the Bizarro version of Supergirl,however, James ought to act on his true feelings towards the original edition before a new crisis hits them both(and yes, he can do it without being awful to Lucy):



There was quite the conversation stopper at a dinner party on Downton Abbey during the latest episode, as Lord Grantham spewed streaks of blood across the table, thanks to a burst ulcer.

I was expecting him to get sick, as he's been complaining of a lower body pain for several episodes now and when he rose from his chair(during a debate over control of the local hospital which has become a death match between Countess Violet and Isobel), I thought he was about to announce a heart attack.

Instead we got what my sister charmingly described as, upon hearing my retelling of that supper time surprise, "the gory chocolate in my peanut butter British coma"(she's not a fan of PBS dramas, let's put it that way).  Fortunately, Lord Grantham will survive that gruesome brush with death but it certainly did shake things up there for characters both upstairs and down:


 One of the consequences of that uproar was Lady Mary catching a mention from Countess Violet about why Marigold is a true blood member of the Crawley family which put her antenna up there. If she really does figure out that Edith is the biological mother of Marigold, I hope that Mary acts upon what spark of goodness is left in her heart and doesn't hassle her sister about it.

 Edith is slowly but surely preparing to make a life of her own away from Downton and has no intention of contesting Mary for control of the estate, so the least that her big sister could do is let the matter drop. There's plenty enough going on as it is without adding another family feud into the mix:



So, I've watched two episodes of the new series Lucifer and it's been a wicked blast so far. Based on the DC Vertigo comic, the main premise has the devil himself(played by smoldering sleek Tom Ellis) deciding to take a break from running Hell by hanging out in L.A.

While he runs a nightclub with a few of his faithful minions and takes great delight in using his ability to draw out hidden truths from humans, Lucifer does have a few troubles on his plate such as regular visits from the angel Amenadiel(D.B. Woodside), who warns of dire consequences if he doesn't return to his place in the underworld.

Lucifer is not about to take that threat seriously but when the murder of a mortal he knows well happens right in front of him, he teams up with police detective Chloe Decker(Lauren German) to solve the crime.

Turns out Chloe not only doubts his claims to be the Prince of Darkness but is truly immune to his supernatural charms, which spurs Lucifer into becoming her impromptu partner.

Sure, this is pretty cheesy but it's also fun and funny at times. Ellis has a good balance on the character and knows when to bring the mirth and the menace when called for. Also, I'm interested in seeing how Lucifer and Chloe's relationship develops over time and I hope that this is not simply going to be a romance meant to reform Lucifer. At the very least, it's a welcome diversion from some of the real world devilry going on these days:


RANDOM NOTES:

GREASE:LIVE: I didn't watch the show but wish to commend Vanessa Hudgens for going on with her performance as Rizzo, despite the death of her father not long before the production started that night. My sincere condolences to her and her family, as well as my firm belief that,based upon what I've heard and seen afterwards, that she honored his memory very well by doing that:




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