Relationship Spotlight: Alex Danvers & Brainiac-5 (Supergirl)

(Spoilers for the end of season 3.)

When the third season of Supergirl came to a close, it brought with it some cast shakeups.  Mon-El returned to the future, and while I do enjoy him, he always felt more like a temporary cast member to me, especially in season 3.  More significantly, Winn also left the 21^st century and traveled to the future with Mon-El, while the techno-organic AI Brainiac-5 stayed behind, becoming the DEO’s new resident genius.  Now, Winn was a character I really liked, and I especially enjoyed the delightful sibling-esque relationship he’d been developing with Alex since he first started working at the DEO.  Their banter was always fun, and they were often a source of emotional support for one another, a quality that maybe felt unexpected at first but came to be a cornerstone of their dynamic.  For me, you could never really go wrong with Alex-Winn scenes, and I knew I was going to miss them going forward.

Meanwhile, Brainy’s most prominent relationship outside the Legion was probably also with Winn – in the back half of season 3, the two had an amusing dynamic marked by Brainy’s gradual (and slightly begrudging) respect for Winn’s intelligence, no faint praise coming from a much-touted 12^th Level Intellect who regards the 21^st century as hopelessly backward.  So, with the rest of the Legion leaving Brainy in our time and Winn going with them, I wasn’t sure what to expect when it came to Brainy forming relationships with the other characters.

I don’t know why I didn’t think of the possibility of an Alex-Brainy friendship.  After all, Brainy fills a similar function to Winn at the DEO, albeit in a different way, so it stands to reason that he’d take up a similar place in Alex’s life as well.  That’s explicitly highlighted at the start of season 4, when newly-appointed DEO director Alex finds herself clashing frequently with Brainy, who, recalling her closeness to Winn, decides that the best way to resolve their workplace issues is to grab some of the clothes and toys Winn left behind, not-so-subtly attempting to draw connections between him and Winn in Alex’s mind.

Naturally, that’s the last thing Alex wants, but it has an unintended positive effect anyway.  It reminds Alex that it’s not Brainy’s fault that he isn’t Winn and shows her that Brainy is trying to connect with her, even if his methods reflect a lot of fundamental misunderstandings about how humans operate.  This clears the way for them to develop their own friendship, and while there are similarities between it and Alex’s relationship with Winn, they’re allowed to be different, which gives it room to be successful in a way that simply trying to replicate the Alex-Winn friendship wouldn’t (as Melissa Benoist learned on Glee, shunting in new “replacement” characters for old favorites isn’t super effective.)

While Alex and Brainy’s friendship also gives off sibling vibes, Brainy is far more the annoying little brother than Winn ever was.  His bluntness and difficulty reading social cues gives Alex plenty to roll her eyes over, and when Col. Haley shows up, Alex finds herself occasionally running interference between the decidedly-non-human Brainy and the colonel, who’s not all that big on aliens.  As Brainy grows to trust Alex’s judgment and respect her command, he proves very loyal to her (especially against Haley,) although there are timess when the type of help he provides isn’t exactly welcome – I crack up at the scene where Alex has to explain her subtle insinuation that she wants him to disobey Haley’s orders and Brainy very loudly confirms his understanding.

As far as emotional support goes, I don’t know how closely these two would ever resemble Alex-Winn on that front (Brainy isn’t always the most emotionally-observant friend,) but they’re coming along.  Dealing with the frustrations, stressors, and dangers of the 21^st century forces Brainy to confront his emotions more often than he probably ever has before, and Alex sometimes helps him with that.  One of my favorite scenes between them comes after Brainy has a tense run-in with some anti-alien humans, which later disrupts his concentration during a high-pressure situation.  Alex is annoyed with him in the moment, but later, as Brainy is beating himself up over the consequences his mental errors may have had, Alex realizes where his distress stems from.  She gets him to talk through his feelings about what happened and promises to have his back against anyone who comes at him for being an alien.  Brainy, in turn, starts to understand that people like Alex aren’t all that easy to come by, and he develops a greater appreciation for her support and friendship.

My favorite relationships in any given show are frequently friendships, and while I don’t think we’ve seen enough of Alex and Brainy yet to put them at the top, I like them a lot.  They’re always entertaining together, they challenge each other in neat ways, and as they grow closer, their scenes provide both heart and humor.  I’m excited to see more from them as the season goes on.

Favorite Characters: Rick Macy (In the Flesh)

Even though Ricky is only on a few episodes of In the Flesh (even for a series with only nine episodes total, his arc is very short-lived,) his character is still so rich.  He’s deeply flawed but sympathetic in such a rueful way – short as it is, I love his time on the show (Rick-related spoilers.)

Rick doesn’t appear until the second episode, but his presence is felt before that.  For both Kieren and the Macys, Rick is a sort of spector hanging over the entire first season.  His parents have spent four years mourning him after his death in combat in Afghanistan, celebrating ghostly birthdays with his picture on the mantle.  Meanwhile, Kieren blames himself that Rick felt he had to join the army in the first place, and Kieren’s depression and misplaced guilt after Rick’s death led to Kieren’s suicide.  Even without taking PDS into account, it’s a big deal when episode 1 ends with the news that Rick is coming home.

But of course, this is In the Flesh, and so PDS has to come into it.  Rick, the war hero who died in combat, rose from the grave and has spent much of the past four years as exactly the sort of “rabid” that his dad Bill has been fighting against.  This is right around the time that people with PDS are just starting to come home from the treatment center, and PDS folks in Roarton are in hiding for good reason; in the pilot, Bill spearheads a raid on one of Kieren’s neighbors, dragging a woman with PDS out into the street and shooting her in cold blood.  This is the environment, this is the family, that the undead Rick comes home to.

But something’s broken in Bill.  His loathing toward undead “rotters” collides with his love for Rick, and the two feelings can’t reconcile.  He sees Rick in his flesh-toned makeup and colored contacts and goes into complete denial that Rick has PDS.  Despite the jagged-looking scars running down his son’s face held together with surgical staples, despite knowing that Rick died four years ago, he can’t accept it.  He pretends that everything is normal, but not in a “he’s still Rick, no matter what” way.  This is in an unhealthy “nothing has changed, you are definitely 100% living” way.  He takes Rick to the pub, glaring daggers at anyone who suggests that anything is different about Rick and pouring drinks down him even though Rick’s undead body can’t digest anymore and trying to do otherwise makes him sick.  He praises his hero son in the same breath that he condemns the rotter “abominations” who’ve come back to town and urges Rick to go on patrol with him to search for rabids in the woods (and, upon finding some, his aim is not to get them sent to the treatment center.)

And Rick, breaking my heart, goes along with it.  Just like he did when he was alive, joining the army to prove his “manliness” after Bill got freaked about Rick and Kieren being too close, he lets his dad’s prejudices dictate who he is, which absolutely keeps him from finding peace with who he is now.  He physically can’t act like nothing’s changed, but Bill’s attitudes force him to try, anyway, to the detriment of his own physical and mental well-being.  That shot of Rick looking at himself in the bathroom mirror, covering the scarred half of his face with one hand and trying to smile, just kills me.  In his limited time on the show, Rick is caught between Bill and Kieren, who are both battling for his soul.  Bill is trying to make him what he can never be again, and Kieren is trying to help him acknowledge who he is.  You know which side you want to win out, but even as you root for Rick to go with Kieren, you know Bill won’t let things lie.

A Little TLC(w): Young Cops (1985)

Young Cops is one of those Tony Leung Chiu-wai films that I sort of like in spite of itself.  I know it’s not really a good film, but it’s still kind of fun and has a rather low-rent ‘80s charm.

Leung Siu Po and his buddy are, as the title says, young cops learning the ropes.  They spend most days trying to deal with their strict captain and seething at “Prince Charming,” a cheesy officer who continually schmoozes his way into favor.  Meanwhile, both guys fall for a beautiful dancer who lives across the way from the apartment where they both rent rooms.

In a way, it’s a bit like Come Fly the Dragon, with two young recruits pulling pranks at work and trying to smooth-talk their way out of trouble.  However, this film works much better for me than Come Fly the Dragon.  A lot of the humor is funnier, there’s more of an actual story, and the characters are more enjoyable to watch.  Oh, and some of the action scenes are straight-up ridiculous, which are sometimes too corny for words and at other times just cheesy enough to be weirdly amusing.

Not that any of that makes it a great movie, or even a good one.  It’s definitely hokey, and the overall thrust of the story is imminently predictable, even if some of the particular beats it takes in getting there are more off-the-wall.  Still, I dunno.  It’s not good, but it’s not bad.

Leung plays Leung Siu Po, one of our titular young cops.  Like many a Tony Leung Chiu-wai character, he’s a little fish who thinks he can talk his way into being a big fish.  Sometimes that works for him, sometimes it doesn’t, but he never stops trying.

As you can tell from the picture, this was a pretty early role for Leung, the earliest I’ve reviewed so far.  While his talent has obviously developed immensely over time, it’s clear why he’s played so many of this type.  Even in his younger days when his acting chops were still being honed, he had just the right charm and energy for playing a wiseass who always has a plan.  In this movie, I like how he walks in and tries to own the police station on his first day, despite plainly not knowing much of anything.

Recommend?

In General – A cautious possibly.  With the appropriate expectations, it might be enjoyable enough.

Tony Leung Chiu-wai – Eh, maybe but not essential.  While Leung is still pretty entertaining here, he’s gotten quite a bit better over time at playing this kind of character.

Warnings

Sexual content, violence, language, smoking/drinking, homophobic jokes, and thematic elements.