While superhero stories often supply us with an endless amount of 'oohs' and 'ahhs' when it comes  to the thrilling acts that our favorite heroes perform, there is a dark side to their incredible adventures that isn't always addressed...the fact that sometimes, the hero in question, cannot save everybody.

Sometimes they are a moment too late, or meet a villain that knows how to beat their abilities and someone potentially loses their life or great harm is caused, and while this kind of darker storytelling is readily explored in comic books themselves, you often don't see such matters discussed on television, that is until last night. Because as it turns out Supergirl, a television show that is never one to shy away from challenging storylines, took such matters in hand and the end result of doing so made for a powerful and intense episode that left Kara working to save someone supremely important to her...Alex. 

Yes, her beloved sister was kidnapped by an unknown assailant who quickly made contact with Kara to share his demands. He wanted Supergirl to break a man named Peter Thompson out of prison in the next thirty-six hours, or Alex would die and this mystery man knew that Kara could help him because...he was fully aware of her true identity as Supergirl. This of course led to a frenetic hunt for Alex, which eventually turned up her kidnapper, and as it turns out, the man responsible for Alex's disappearance just so happened to be a childhood friend from Midvale named Rick Malverne and he was able to put two and two together when it came to Kara's powers and he planned to use that knowledge to his advantage, to get Supergirl to do his bidding.

In fact, Malverne's plan and push to bend Supergirl to his will is what made this episode so fascinating to watch simply because, he in essence robbed Kara of her powers. It didn't matter how fast she could fly or what her X-ray vision could see, Rick planned for all of it and was ready for anything and everything that the DEO threw at him, leaving Kara helpless for the first time ever and that was quite the adjustment for her. A hero that is always used to getting the job done is forced to sit back and potentially watch her sister die and well, it was a stroke of genius to go in this direction. It allowed for Melissa Benoist to truly shine in her role and she was complimented nicely by Floriana Lima's performance as a desperate Maggie Sawyer who thankfully helped facilitate Alex's safety by being pushed to the edge.

In the end however, credit is due to the writer's room for making this one quite the intense tale. There was a real sense of danger when it came to Alex's predicament and it was incredible and terrifying to see a problem in front of Supergirl that she simply couldn't solve and those elements were so strong, they vastly overshadowed the B story this week wherein Lena discovered Queen Rhea's true identity and made a deal with her regardless, setting in motion all kinds of trouble, but in the here and now, we can all be thankful that Alex is safe and that Maggie and Kara have a new understanding for one another and I do hope Supergirl continues to push the envelope like this, because this episode was one impressive one off storyline. Until next time.

It's rare when a television show goes to a place so dark and so visceral that you're forced to sit in silence and ponder on what you've just seen for a few moments after a particular episode has come to an end. But that's precisely what happened to me following the shocking moments that the third episode of The Handmaid's Tale presented us with.

Sure, I knew that 'Late' was going to be dark and ugly as the series is wont to do, but I never expected it to pull off the proverbial shackles and provide us all with a vision if pure hopelessness in an episode that revealed so much. After all, we saw some of the side effects of when it comes to being a Handmaid, part of the formation of Gilead and just how far the people in charge in this awful land are willing to go to receive compliance from the masses and when you look at those three elements in that order, you come to realize that this episode played out like a downward spiral, one that drags the audience deeper and deeper into the darkness.

Take for example the first element in this episode, the consequences of being a Handmaid, since this particular story allowed for us to get out of the Waterford house and spend a little more time where we did last week, in the household where Janine gave birth and as it turns out...dear Janine was not doing well post birth. Because June/Offred was able to discover that Janine had bitten her Commander's wife and to make matters worse, she firmly believed that the baby was hers, even going so far as to give Angela a new name before expressing her belief that her Commander was now in love with her and was going to whisk her and the baby away to a new life and it was heartbreaking to watch Janine fall to pieces like this and it was evidence of how awful a Handmaid's life can be and it fully demonstrates that Gilead's desperate attempt to remove emotion from sex and procreation as a whole is a rousing and destructive failure.

But the show wasn't done shocking us just yet. As June dealt with watching a pseudo friend collapse under the weight of Gilead's edict, her mind was wont to drift to the past, wherein she recalled the day a new law was enacted where women could no longer own property and the unfortunate, violent protest that followed where she watched innocent people die  in front of her by way of gunfire from Gilead's new army and man...this was just plain tough to watch. To see June lose her job under the watch of armed guards, and to see Americans gunned down for organized protest was bone chilling and sobering, yet that was not the darkest moment this episode had to offer, it truly saved the most painful...for last.

Because I think it's safe to assume that everyone was wondering what was going to to happen to the original Ofglen and we were able to find out that she was locked up for being a gender traitor and for having a relationship with her Martha and unfortunately, June was also subject to questioning to uncover more on the matter, giving us a fine introduction to the Eye and we learned that they are friendly but firm and more than happy to use violence to get their answers and we also learned, that the court has minimal mercy for the guilty. While Ofglen's lover was sentenced to death for her 'crime', Ofglen was spared thanks to the fact she can bear children and while it seems like that should be that, the land of Gilead is more than happy to hammer home its lack of intolerance to the guilty, by allowing Ofglen to watch her lover hang and to see to it that genital mutilation came into play to ensure that Ofglen would no longer have such urges. 

That's right ladies and gentlemen, the show went there, and what Ofglen witnessed, we witnessed, and it made for another uncomfortable but brilliant viewing of this show, and while I did indeed need a moment to collect myself after watching such horrors, I have to applaud the show for holding nothing back. It is never afraid to show us the darkest parts of what humans are capable of and what's equally amazing is that the true awfulness of this world is being revealed to us one episode at a time which means there's a fair chance that things are going to get far worse on this show before they ever get better and it may be best to steel's one self before every episode because it's clear now, this series isn't messing around and who knows what horrors await us from here on out. Until next time.

Sometimes, when our life begins to spiral out of our control and we are lost with how to proceed, taking a moment and hitting the reset button is never a bad thing. Because by reinventing ourselves and where we want to go in life, we can inadvertently create a second chance and open ourselves up to new opportunities and possibilities and perhaps find the happiness we so desperately seek.

It's an old and wonderful concept in storytelling that has shown up time and time again and last night on STARZ, it appeared once more as the central theme to the network's latest new offering, American Gods, but with quite a twist. Because while this new series at first seems as though it is going to be a 'starting over' story for an ex-convict named Shadow Moon, fans of the Neil Gaiman novel, know in their heart that this tale goes above and beyond, and others can now share in their knowledge as well. Because this is a story that reflects its title and draws us into a rich and wonderful world where Gods do exist and well...the good news is this long awaited adaptation of the aforementioned novel is as wonderful as the book, with a dash of reinvention of its own to give it the life it deserves on screen.

Now we won't be spending a ton of time comparing the show to the book in this or any future recaps. That's another blog series for another time. Instead it would be best to focus on what this show managed  to accomplish in a single hour, which is plenty. For starters, it is truly a visual feast for the ages, with incredible places and imagery that leave your eyes wandering away from the story from time to time because there's simply so much wonder to see. In a way, American Gods plays out like a lucid dream where anything and everything can happen and that matters because it allows you to comfortably slip into a world where you meet a Leprechaun and a God who takes her need for worship...a little too far. ​

But once we get past this visual buffet, we are plunged into what I enjoyed the most, a story that truly did focus on reinvention, for both an everyday man in Shadow Moon, and for the Gods as well. Because it's clear that some of these Gods are working to stay in the limelight, since the world has changed around them and in a way, forgotten them. Plus there is a clash brewing between the old guard and the new guard, since it is now evident that the mysterious and delightful Mr. Wednesday is working on a comeback of sorts and he will have to contend with a new generation of Gods to stay relevant and it would seem his bridge to find said relevancy falls squarely upon the shoulders of Mister Moon, and it was his journey that mattered most in this series premiere.

After all, Shadow is in many ways a man with nothing to lose, especially when one considers that we spent a good majority of the story watching his life fall to pieces. He just spent three years in prison, his beloved wife is gone. He's broke, destitute and unemployed and to top it all off...the woman he thought he knew and loved was unfaithful in his absence, adding insult to injury, and well...once the dust has settled, he's left with nothing. Yet what's impressive is the fact that Shadow is able to hold it together emotionally throughout this mess and stay strong and that kind of mettle is likely why Mister Wednesday has chosen Shadow to work for him and the best part when it comes to all of this, is that Mister Moon now has the grand opportunity to start over in life, and find a purpose and utterly reinvent himself in the process.

Either way, what a wild and wonderful series premiere and while it was light on heavy plot progress, nor did it 100% set up the plot line, that's okay because a few things needed to happen first. It was necessary to truly understand Shadow Moon as a man first and it was equally as necessary to build this world up in proper fashion and introduce us to some of the Gods that move among us and when all is said and done, I'm hooked. I have to know more about this world and the conflict brewing amongst the Gods and truthfully, I think we all need a little more Mr. Wednesday in our life, because he was without a doubt the best part of this premiere with his carefree attitude and penchant for comic relief. In the end, STARZ has graced us with an absolutely incredible story, one that will no doubt be picked apart and analyzed thanks to the love of the source material, and this is a tale that has truly immersed us into a brave and weird new world, one that I simply cannot get enough of. Until next time.