Welcome To Earth - Leave Your Bias At Home

I have said it time and again,  DC should stop wasting their time with feature length films and focus on prime time television, because at this point DC truly owns that time slot!

Thus far this season of the CW's Supergirl has just continued to prove my point.  From the introduction of Tyler Hoechlin as Superman, to this past Monday when Lynda Carter was introduced as President Oliva Marsdin, the casting for this series has been fantastic!

But my opinion goes far beyond casting, through the writers this show has been willing to tackle some tough topics and has done so in an thought provoking manner.

Welcome To Earth which is the third episode of season two began the character development of Mon-EL after his arrival in the season one finale.  Mon-EL is the last survivor of the plant Daxam, a sister moon to Krypton which was turned into a wasteland following Krypton's destruction.

Mon-EL had been in a comatose state up until now but upon waking up he fleas the DEO, most likely out of fear,  and becomes the subject of a city wide manhunt having been labeled "Dangerous" by the powers that be.  Meanwhile the President of the United States arrives in National City to sign the "Alien Amnesty" act, a law intended to give all illegal aliens the same rights as any other American citizen.  Unfortunately not ever alien views this new law in a positive light, with some viewing it as an attempt to expose and track the alien population.

One such alien sets out to eliminate the President before such a law can be set in motion.

After the first attempt on the Presidents life, J'onn goes on record as disagreeing with this bold act, he states that having lived both as a black man and an alien among humans that humanity is not ready to accept the differences of others.

Meanwhile Kara is so blinded by her distrust of the now absent Mon-EL that she immediately assumes he is responsible for the attempts on the President and enlists Winn to help track down and imprison Mon-EL once and for all.

While Kara is searching for her rogue Daxamite Alex takes another approach with the help of National City Police Detective Maggie Sawyer, another new character played by Floriana Lima. Together they investigate a private drinking hole known to be frequented by aliens, at least according to Maggie.  Maggie admits to having known of the alien presence and the existence of the DEO for quite some time and states that for a Lesbian from a small town she has always felt like she could relate more to aliens then to humans.  Alex holds a different opinion, she states that beyond her sister, Superman and J'onn J'onzz there are few trustworthy aliens to be found.

Kara and Winn are eventually successful in finding Mon-EL who is at the National City observatory desperately trying to send a distress call to Daxam.  After a physical altercation Kara is able to return Mon-EL to a DEO holding cell were he states his innocence and ultimately the shared bias of to former enemy races began to come to light.

Kara is now convinced that with Mon-EL imprisoned that all is right with the world again, that is until another attack takes place against the President.  Now having to accept that Mon-EL was not involved, Maggie, Alex, and Kara set out to find the real perpetrator and are once again exposed to the prejudices of an alien who, like J'onn, believes mankind while never accept that which they do not understand.

In the end Kara must set aside her personal bias, she  releases Mon-EL and break the news of Daxam's fate to him.  Meanwhile J'onn J'onzz, the last Martian goes to investigate  an alien refuge, the private bar Maggie introduced Alex too, and comes face to face with another alien in hiding - M'gann M'orzz the last daughter of Mars.

This most recent episode of Supergirl was ripe with the unfortunate bias that seems to be inherent in humanity as a species.  The shows writers did a impressive job of communicating this through the narrative and in the end gave us all something to think about.

This is the type of storytelling that will continue to bring me back week after week,

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The Walking dead - The Breaking of Rick Grimes?

"Eeni meeni miini moe"  how many episodes does Negan have to go?

When season six ended fans where left to question who was the unfortunate recipient of the beating from Negan and Lucille?

Now that season seven has begun we know that it was in fact two of the members of 'Team Rick" that have left the show with the systematic murders of both Abraham and Glenn.

This horrifying event was followed by a powerful statement by Rick who promised that one day he would kill Negan.  In response Negan then drove off with Rick to began the methodical breaking of his spirit which concluded with a simple threat,  either Rick was to cut Carl's arm off with an axe or Negan would kill them all!

This scene concluded with Daryl being taken hostage and an injured Maggie out to seak her revenge.

Tonight's episode was a powerful season premiere with the surprising departure of not one but two cast members.  This has brought us two questions,  how long does Negan have before Rick truly seeks retribution?  OR has Rick truly been broken?

Head over to our Facebook page and let us know what you think comes next!

Thanks for reading.

Going GEEK: October 14th - October 16th

If you live within or relativity close to the Greater Toronto Area this is a great weekend to be a
geek!  With multiple events taking place your biggest challenge might be finding the time and money to take in these outstanding events.

1.  Unplugged Expo:

Celebrating their fifth anniversary & featuring a lineup of guests from multiple genres, Unplugged Expo is a little bit cosplay, a little bit nostalgia and a lot geek!  The staff strive to maintain your level of excitement from the moment you arrive.

Featured events include but are not limited to the YTV Zone PJ reunion, the Harry Potter: Room Of Requirement, the Masters Of Cosplay competition, Unplugged singing idol,  and Just Dance 2016 dance off.

Unplugged Expo is being held at the Weston Harbor Castle hotel on October 15th and 16th with tickets ranging in price from $10.00 to $35.00 plus applicable taxes.  For a complete list of events and guests head over to the Unplugged Expo website.

2. LEGO Imagination Nation Tour:

Concluding a tour which began in June with stops in Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver, the LEGO Imagination Nation event roles into the Metro Toronto Convention Center from October 14th to October 16th.

From diving into a pit of LEGO bricks or going hands on with the latest and greatest in LEGO Video Games including LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens and LEGO Dimensions this event promises to have something for every LEGO enthusiast.

This event also boasts your opportunity to meet one of only seven people to be certified as a LEGO Master Builder in the world, this is your opportunity to learn from a true LEGO master.

With a general admission ticket valued at $28.50 plus applicable taxes this seems like a can't miss event for the entire family.  Head over to the LEGO Imagination Nation Tour website for all the details.

3.  Oshawa Comic-Con:

We love our small regional shows, they don't seem to get lost in their own hype and the vendors aren't fighting to make up the costs of overpriced tables by super inflating prices.  

One such show is the Oshawa Comic-Con held at the Harmony Creek Community and Events

center.  We've had the opportunity to attend this show a few times now and have found the staff and the vendors to be friendly and outgoing folks who are attending as much out of a sense of enjoyment as they are for financial gain.

This one day event which is presented by Pop Culture Canada runs from 10:00am until 4:00pm with a completely reasonable $5.00 admission per person.  For more details we recommend visiting the Oshawa Comic-Con Facebook events page.

As always thanks for reading and remember to visit the CanGeek website for links to our various social media feeds.

 

Glow Swords Unite Generations

"If Dad likes it than it can't be chill!"

As a father of two I sometimes find it a challenge to develop common ground with my boys.

I'm not old, not by any stretch,  but even if I was in my sixties what is age?  It's merely a number used by society to define the time you've put in and experience you've gained.

One such place that I've attempted to achieve a measure of common ground with my kids is in our shared love of Star Wars!  So when I was introduced to Glow Sword Battle Toronto last year (formerly the Toronto Lightsaber Battle) it truly felt like the will of the force!

Administrated by Newmindspace this is a free all-ages event were the only costs you are responsible for are your personal lightsabers. 

My eldest son who was twelve at the time was not an easy sell, he couldn't imagine a group of people with Lightsabers battling it out in the dark representing any measure of fun, so he stayed home.  My youngest son was nine at the time and he was all over this, so together we went into the darkness armed only with our glowing swords and when we emerged into the light we had become a little closer and had a fantastic evening of fun!

Over the past twelve months my older son has come to realize just what he missed out on last October so together this year we will all converge on Glow Sword Battle Toronto 2016 ready to defeat our foes!

That is after all the magic of fandom,  Finding shared interests with others in order to develop not only common ground but also friendships and memories that endure the test of time.

Should you be interested in learning more about this event check out the Event Page and as always remember to follow us on our CanGeek Community Page.

Thanks for reading!