This is one of the worst episodes of television I've ever witnessed (and I've been watching Supergirl). It used to be a good show, but it's no longer watchable. It's like the old Dukes of Hazzard writers contracted Alzheimer's and wrote this in a drugged stupor after 3 days of sleep-deprived bar crawling. Seriously, nearly all of it is impossibly, incurably brain damaged.
The most obvious thing is the writers don't know how to write male characters. All the me are either duffuses or over-testosteroned caricatures of bad Hollywood propaganda meant to create a subservient male. The women are actually more like strong men than strong women. I get that this is fantasy, but in what world does a former CEO of a huge tech company (Ray Palmer) have trouble driving straight when his breaks are affected? And when did The Atom get nervous talking to a country sheriff. Did he sustain brain trauma and I missed it?
The truth bug was used very conveniently. It seemed to enjoy popping from person to person as a weak camp device.
And the agent who could have shot monster Mona and instead let himself be mauled? Seriously? Would anyone hesitate shooting a monster when in mortal danger given plenty of time to do so, much less a trained agent?
I get that they were doing a Smokey and the Bandit homage this episode, but it didn't work.
This is bad writing at its worst; because it's lazy. Instead of taking the time to write a well-crafted story with realistic characters to get people interested in comics and their characters, this dreck got puked out of the writing room and ended up contaminating our lives.
Sorry for the passion. I loved this show I'm its first season. The frustration comes from seeing it steadily descend into the campy Hee Haw show it is now. Even Hee Haw was better because it embraced its campiness. This show tries to be campy and poorly character-driven but wants us to take some of the menaces seriously. In that, it has failed.
I've tried, but with this episode, I think I'm giving up.