Supergirl (TV Series) Far from the Tree (2017) User Reviews

Back to Mars

[ThomasDrufke · 7/10 · 23 October 2017]

In the same way that this season of Arrow is about fatherhood, tonight's episode of Supergirl dove deeper into that vein. Instead of focusing on Kara and Alex's father, who has been a recurring character, we got to see both Jonn & Maggie's father. For what it's worth, I'm glad we were able to see them, both impressed and both are two characters I would like to see going forward.

It wasn't perfect, including some typically cliché CW-ish family drama, but I enjoyed the change of formula tonight. Maggie thought inviting her disapproving father to her bridal shower, which turned out to be a predictably bad decision. While Jonn traveled back to Mars to help M'gann with an emergency, which turned out to be relating back to his father who was remarkably still alive. I'm not entirely sure whether or not either of the fathers will make more appearances this year, as I would probably prefer only an episode here and there, instead of a full-blown supporting role (I'm looking at you Arrow Season 4 with Felicity's parents).

No matter the turn out, both David Harewood and Floriana Lima were noticeably really strong tonight. A particular take with Maggie at the dinner table in which she describes what happened between her and her father was an impressive showcase of Lima's emotional range. Harewood also had several opportunities to show his range, in which he succeeded one after the other.

I understand this review barely goes into plot details, but I wasn't too fond of the overall Mars based story with white martians and M'gann. I'm always more interested in how this show displays true character emotion. Tonight, that was a major strong suit, even if the overall plot was lackluster.

7.6/10

More of This...

[lassegalsgaard-45284 · 8/10 · 20 January 2018]

I have expressed my feelings about "Supergirl" in the past and the fact that I think it is the weakest of the four CW shows. By saying that, I don't mean that there's nothing good about ti, or that it never has episodes that really hits it with me. I'm merely saying that in overall quality, this is the weakest of the four shows. It's tonally uneven at times, and it tries way too much to be a CW show when it comes to the romantic subplots and dramatic punches. That said, I think the show has introduced a legion of strong characters throughout its run and I have always been happy to see when the writers go into more character-based episodes. And "Far from the Tree" is definitely one of those episodes, as it focuses on the some of the most interesting characters that the show currently have, and I couldn't have been more happy with the storytelling and the writing of this very good and very emotional episode.

This was definitely one of the best episodes of "Supergirl" that I have seen in a long time. It pushed all the romantic stuff to the side and focused on some of these individual characters to give us a better understanding of where they are coming from. And the characters that they decided to focus on were some of the characters that we knew the least about. So I appreciated that they took the time to further develop J'onn and Maggie so that we can get more invested in what happens to their characters later on.

And, to give some credit to the performances, I will say that David Harewood gave the best performance he has ever given in this particular episode. All the rage that comes from him when he realizes that his father have been held captive by the white martians for so many years, and then to see the sadness that is in his eyes when his own father doesn't realize that it is actually him. It was a really heartbreaking and strong performance from Harewood, and by keeping his father around, it opens up the door for future definitive performances from Harewood's side.

I will also give a lot of praise to Floriana Lima, who has never really had that strong moment to define her. In this episode, she got that. She got to really show every single emotion that she could in front of her dad - and as a massive "24" fan, it was such a pleasure to see Carlos Bernard in this episode - and it was heartbreaking to hear how she was treated after coming out to her parents. The effect was real, but it was strengthened by brilliant writing for both parts, because when we get to hear why her father has scolded her for so long, I totally understood his reasoning, even though I think he is still a little bit overreacting. However, that is the entire point of it, and I was so happy to see that they were actually able to convey real emotion through these characters.

This is also one of the more funny episodes that they have ever done. There was a lot of great humor in the episode that landed, which is pretty rare for this show, because for me, most of the humor feels forced. There were same snappy pieces of dialogue from many characters, but never to the point where it felt like too much. I think that the comedic elements had the perfect amount of time on screen, and I think they should keep it there.

The episode isn't perfect, because they are some things I didn't like. Most of those negatives surround the white martians in this episode. The white martians that have joined the resistance just came across as douchebags, even though there was nothing to power their anger towards J'onn, nor his father. I think that the writing for them was a bit weak, but I appreciated where that story ended up and how it all came to a close at the end.

Supergirl - S03E03 Far from the Tree

[j_forbesy · 6/10 · 25 October 2017]

Season 3 of Supergirl was off to an okay start for me. It set up a bit of potential but it wasn't knocking anything out of the park and I really felt that this episode had to be the first to really set this season straight.

Unfortunately it wasn't. This episode was very much about 2 father centred story lines, except that one was done semi well that if it was just that story, I would call it a solid episode, but the other story was done so poorly that it brought down the whole episode for me.

I am going to start on the poor story line, Maggie and her father. I get what this show tries to do with pushing views and I accept that this is a part of the show, but when they present it the way they did tonight, it comes off way too strong and preachy. I've really enjoyed the Alex and Maggie relationship up until this point because it was always a background thing, and because it was happening to Alex, a character we had already had a whole season with, it felt somewhat natural it how they went about it.

With Maggie this episode however, it started strong with her telling the emotional story about her father, but went down hill when he finally did turn up. His rant about working hard as a Mexican so that his kids would have an easier life but then says the world hates homosexuals had no logic at all. Logically, as a Mexican, he should of understood what it is like to be an outcast, instead they tried to make him representative of the homophobic society so that Maggie could have her preachy moment.

Onto something I thought was a lot stronger was the Mars story line. While the acting from some of the supporting actors weren't too great and the CGI wasn't too good either, I felt as though this story line packed one of the biggest emotional punches this show has given yet. J'onn is my favourite character on this show and to see him go through this with his father was really emotional. It was also great to get a big deeper into the Mars mythology and history of what happened to the martians.

Overall, despite packing a massive emotion punch from the Mars story line, the secondary Maggie story with her father and a few other aspect of the episode really brought this episode down. 

6.5/10

The Best out of all the DC shows

[megaruda · 9/10 · 24 May 2020]

The show balances melodrama with action, on one hand we get The introduction of the Martian war, I am surprised they get away with showing so many CGI alien fights in a TV show, besides Legends of Tomorrow this Is the most expensive looking of the Arrowverse, on the other hand we get The standard homophobic parent Story, It Is kind of cliché but well executed, imo the speech could of been More aggresive and less empathic, but, this Is the shows nature. Now that I see the other reviews It seems like these stories need to be told More often. Ive been binge watching all DC shows AND this Is easily The most cleanly written aND Tryhard. I dislike tryhards in gaming but not in TV show writing. Of Course this show Is not suitable for homophobes, racists or mysoginist, but neither Is the World anymore, this seems to be the biggest complain about the show. It Is awkward.

A lot of emotion with next to no action

[hawkins_saints_rock · 7/10 · 25 October 2017]

A very emotional episode this week as we deal with "long lost fathers". J'onn in the literal sense of that phrase as he goes back to Mars to find his father still alive in isolation. While Maggie in the theoretical sense of that phrase as she saw her disapproving father for the first time in many years.

On to the beginning of the episode, J'onn and Kara go to Mars. And since when has J'onn had a spaceship??! I feel like this could've been handy in previous seasons, but anyway moving on. J'onn's arc this week involved the rebelling White Martian's needing his help to find a sacred spear that only his father knew where it was. J'onn's reaction to his father being alive was bang on, and involved some great acting. Of course, when J'onn approached his father he did not believe that he was really J'onn, but another white Martian trying to trick him. This made sense for his father to feel this way as he had been tortured for so long, but it got old quickly. The scene where J'onn proves to his father that he really is his son was very touching, best scene of the episode.

Maggie's arc this week involved her reaching out to her father to come to her wedding shower. Her story of her father (and mother) abandoning her for liking girls when she was a teenager was very heartbreaking. So this side of the episode was very political as you can imagine, and I always knew that this type of episode was coming. Going in I didn't necessarily believe that this plot line would make for bad viewing, but I was convinced that it needed some good action alongside it to be a good episode because all in all I watch Supergirl for the hero parts. Sadly this was not the case, as there were very minimal action scenes. So this episode was 95% of family drama, which is not something I want from a superhero show.

Finally, I'm now convinced that Alex won't be able to move past not having kids, which will result in the break up of her and Maggie. Don't think I like this move from the writers as, for the most part, I have enjoyed their relationship.

An okay episode, but more action pls. 6.9/10

This series is getting to political for entertainment

[rwgilmore24 · 4/10 · 24 October 2017]

I tune in to watch SCIFI not political engineering or correctness. The writers are pushing social agenda's as hard as possible. They pushed on Ultra pro Immigration without of course the discussion of Legal vs. Illegal, gay lifestyle and people's acceptance, or lack thereof. I am surprised that they did not have John Jhonz (a "GREEN") Martian refer to the "WHITE" Martians as plantation owners or privileged. Maggie's discussion with her father they should have had him refer to the people he had worked with as "white Christians" JUST to pull it all together. Completely off the rails the writers of this series are.

More political nonsense

[brennantracey · 1/10 · 5 June 2018]

Tried and failed. The fathers arguements were completely flawed, abandoned his daughter because she's gay and his reasons being that when when he came to America as an immigrant people were racist towards him. Maggie being gay he doesn't want her to face the same sort of discrimination which he demonstrates by discriminating against her!! Yep - try wrap your head around that one? Does someone want to tell CW it's 2018 and no one cares about sexual orientation anymore!

It had such great promise...

[ouroboris · 1/10 · 25 October 2017]

...but I'm done with this obscene telling of the Supergirl story. They should have just created an original super-powered female alien from scratch and gone from there, because that's basically what they've done with this. It's junk, and there are better shows on which to spend my time.

shark worthy

[glstrom-14260 · 3/10 · 27 October 2017]

I don't really care for overused cliché jump the shark (or under the bus, throw shade, etc) but the moment Supergirl drives into cave cranking Brittany in her 57 Chevy and asking directions because she took a wrong turn at Albuquerque (GPS problems) I just had to shake my head and say "is this not the most pathetic attempt to cater to every demographic on the face of this earth?" I get that certain communities are a target of their affection (wall, really, stick with the storyline and try to remember you live in a fictional place with fictional prez) but I do think people enjoy the escapism of cheering for a superhero to do good, fight injustice, etc, not have agendas and perceived current events shoved in their faces with a plot line as weak as any daytime drama. Not sure how this got such high scores but am sure the suits know their audience better than I, just wish show were a bit more worthy of Melissa and her Supergirl.

Now half Supergirl and half SJW Virtue Signaling

[hopszilla · 5/10 · 29 October 2017]

The writers have made their minds up with this show and have went in a disappointing direction. The direction they chose was to move away from a beloved DC comic book superhero and to heavily push their political/social agenda onto the audience at any cost.

Even the demise of the show itself.

Every week I give the show another chance and every week a little less superhero action and a little more SJW virtue signaling and far Left preaching.

This week they wedged in a bigoted Father and Mother who left their teen daughter in the cold of winter abandoned due to her liking a girl at school. So after two decades Maggie just calls her dad and he agrees to show up at her lesbian wedding shower. The Leftist fantasy continues as her father is an illegal alien who became a sheriff because everyone hates Mexicans and the wall and etc etc.

The preaching is so bloated and forced on this show it makes it near unwatchable. If the writers had talent (they don't) they could weave a story of struggle with likable characters where you wouldn't care if they are lesbian or illegal alien. But no they treat the audience like rubes and hicks who must be taught to be as virtuous and wonderful as they are in their elitist rich homes looking down their nose.

So at least half of this episode is pure Leftist virtue preaching and they throw in a half baked Martian story line as an afterthought.

This show will be canceled after this season sadly. It had great promise and the casting is strong but these writers are simply obsessed with their political party and agenda more then creating well thought out SUPERGIRL story lines. They put in lines against President Trump when he isn't President on their Earth. How childish.

Just throw Michael Moore into Supergirls costume and get it over with.

If they fire the lousy writers and get some mature talent to script Supergirl episodes I may come back. Could care less about Alex or who she is with she is a SIDE CHARACTER who should only be seen in one or two scenes NOT HALF OF EVERY SHOW.

Five stars. Barely worth watching if not for Kara and John Jones it would be unwatchable sadly.

"Validate my choices, or you're dead to me"

[cjwsbw · 2/10 · 17 July 2018]

In s2e3, we were introduced to Maggie, a potential love for Alex. Once they were officially a couple, around episode 5, EVERY episode for the remainder of the year made sure we got a heavy dose of their relationship. I don't remember the last time I saw so much screen time devoted to a relationship unless it was pertinent to the story. This relationship is not. This show is intentionally pushing a social/political agenda "ad nauseum". But this episode went one step further.

At the beginning of the episode, Alex had a short encounter with a child in which Maggie noted how good she was with children. Alex indicated how she had always wanted children. Maggie's response was that that was something they should discuss. More on that later.

Another conversation was discussing Maggie's backstory. We learned that her father threw her out when she revealed her sexuality at the age of 16, and she has been on her own ever since. When Maggie shared that story with Eliza, Alex's mother, at the shower, Eliza said that the only thing wrong with that story was her fathers behavior, indicating that Maggie's dad was wrong to adhere to his Christian beliefs.

Prior to the shower. Alex had encouraged Maggie to invite her father, saying that time had passed, and people have changed. The father accepts the invitation, although Maggie's mother does not, indicating she does not accept her daughters lifestyle choice. Later, he shows up at the apartment where the shower is being held. Alex answers the door, although he doesn't know it is her at the time. They are exchanging some pleasant conversation when Maggie comes over and introduces Alex as her partner. Right away he becomes noticeably uneasy. Alex then kisses Maggie. That kiss is more than he could handle, so he leaves. Maggie catches up to her father as he is preparing to leave for the airport. During the ensuing conversation, he admits that he has worked hard to overcome racism, and was even elected sheriff by the same men who used to bully him when they were boys, so that she would not have to live with the bigotry and dislike by those who do not accept the gay lifestyle. Maggie tells him the world has changed, and she is surrounded by people who love and accept her, and that she no longer needs him or anyone else in her life if they do not feel the same. In other words: "screw you, dad, and everyone else for your Christian views. If you don't validate my lifestyle, then I don't need you in my life". In a not so subtle way, it encouraged separation from those who do not agree with you, and that even your family should be sacrificed so you can live how you want. No matter that they still love you. Screw them anyway.

The tail end of the episode was Alex and Maggie resuming their talk about children. Maggie tells Alex that her picture of marriage never included children, and that she hopes Alex feels the same. A very noticeably hurt and disappointed Alex says she does. Lifetime dream killed with one clean shot.

Maggie is quite selfish. She has demanded much, and given little, for this relationship. She is far too willing to sacrifice the relationship of anyone who doesn't validate her choices. She also seems to require anyone close to her to give up their dreams for her sake.