Brain Dump: Supergirl, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Last Tango in Halifax

Sarah Lancashire in Last Tango in Halifax

When I have to empty my head of short thoughts on various TV series, I call it a brain dump. This one talks about Supergirl, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and Last Tango in Halifax.

Supergirl

Floriana Lima and Chyler Leigh in Supergirl

Episode 5, “Damage,” is about the Alex (Chyler Leigh) and Maggie (Floriana Lima) break up. It wasn’t something the writers wanted to do. Floriana Lima was leaving the show. They choose to do it in a way that didn’t result in death – points for that. After the rush of falling in love and realizing she was gay from last season, Alex and Maggie finally talked about their future and realized they would never see eye to eye on having children. Children were important enough to Alex that she called off the relationship. There was no question that they love each other.

I thought they handled it realistically with love and sadness from both women. There was one last lovemaking session and then Maggie slowly, reluctantly, went out the door. Her final words were, “See you around, Danvers.”

Variety interviewed executive producer Andrew Kreisberg. He explained, “Some of us in the writers room had difficult break-ups with people that we loved because they didn’t want to have kids, and we thought that that was a true human experience. It’s very difficult to break up with someone that you love, but if you know down the road you won’t be happy no matter how happy you are now – it’s great drama. It was also important for us to tell this story where there are no villains, no bad guys. It’s not like Maggie did something wrong – or Alex did something wrong – they just never really dealt with this because everything happened so fast. Just as last season was about Alex realizing she was gay, this year it’s about her realizing that she wants to be a parent.”

The Supergirl producer mentioned that they hope Floriana Lima can return to the series at a later time. I’m sure the fans do, too. This episode of Supergirl is a lesson in how to write a lesbian character out of a series.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Donna Lynne Champlin and Rachel Bloom in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Rachel Bloom as Rebecca Bunch in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has gone completely off the rails. Even her bestie Paula (Donna Lynne Champlin) can’t insulate her from the reality of how far down the rabbit hole she is.

In the episode “Josh’s Ex-Girlfriend is Crazy,” Rebecca creates a movie about her life in her imagination. When she reaches the end of it, Josh Groban appears to sing her down to rock bottom.

The final scene of the episode is Rebecca agreeing to go home to her mother for a while. And treatment, I hope.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has skirted around the mental health issues that drive Rebecca’s behavior, using clever song and dance routines to minimize her mental state. Now they are going to take it head on. I’m sure the show will approach it in an unusual and musical way, but I’m expecting some wisdom about mental health to emerge from the next episodes.

The Last Tango in Halifax Merry-Go-Round

First there was this horrible scare from Sir Derek Jacobi.

Then the BBC came back with an announcement that it wasn’t true. Here’s the good news: BBC denies that Last Tango in Halifax is finished and says it will return. It isn’t over yet, folks!

Speaking of learning how to write a lesbian character out of a series, there’s no actual word from Sally Wainwright yet, who has to write any new versions of this show.

 


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5 thoughts on “Brain Dump: Supergirl, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Last Tango in Halifax”

  1. Ooooooo, you’re a Supergirl fan too. Great! I wasn’t too bothered by this break-up, I never connected with them as a couple much tbh, something about Maggie kinda bugged me. BUT I love the way they handled it. The fact she didn’t get killed off or anything else “OMG” means hopefully a much easier recovery for both Alex and Sanvers fans. Cos, we all know what happens when a writer f**ks up! I’m seeing nothing but Lena Luthor atm. Those eyes she’s constantly giving Kara. I mean… could she BE more gay?

      1. Oh yes, I hear you there! And is it just me that’s still pining for Laura Benanti? I LOVED her as Astra. The move to CW/Vancouver has lost this show some incredible cast members.

      2. She was great on Nashville, they gave her some really good songs (though tbh she could read the phone book and make it sound amazing, lol). Really good chemistry with Connie Britton too. We hadn’t really seen Rayna have any female friends up til then on the show. Shame she didn’t stick around for longer.

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