Welcome back all you Supergirl fans! Passover is in full swing and Easter has wrapped up so you know what that means! That’s right, we get to watch Supergirl watch Lena read traumatizing diaries, listen to Otis Graves mug for the camera, and try to figure out if James’ story is supposed to be about his trauma with being shot, Lex, or the Haron-El juice in his veins. Oh, and Kaznian Supergirl is nowhere to be found.
So, you know, typical Sunday night fare.
And as always, spoilers ahead.
1. The Siblings Luthor
Much as I malign the appearance of Lex and his prominence in this season now, I can’t help but appreciate how they’re handling Lena’s reactions to all this. This is the most personal for her and it is tearing her up inside. In ways that they have failed to explore with James, the show is dealing with the effects that Lex’s pride and narcissism and sociopathy has had on her and how she is using that to try to stop him.
It is a battle of wits and while it still seems like the show is positioning Lex as the “smarter” sibling, despite lip service to the contrary, they are showing how adept she is at seeing through Lex’s bulllshit and uncovering the things he wishes remained hidden. Or, at least, I hope that’s the case. It feels like they’re going to pull a, “it was a trap all along.” You saw that intricate chess piece puzzle with multiple layers of torment and impossible bullshit. How did he build that secret cave of secrets?! WHY!? Why give the clues to it? It just raises too many questions.
2. The Idiot
Otis Graves is much more fun on his own than he was with Mercy. Why? I don’t know. Maybe because the two were always trying to be a comedy duo but one wasn’t in on the joke? Whatever the case is, Otis has earned his place among the villainous henchmen since his return, even though his presence without Mercy raises the question of why him and why has Mercy just been totally written out.
However, I do not like Otis Graves. He is, perhaps, TOO much. I can handle him like I do X-rays. Fine in small doses, occasionally, with protection but lethal in anything more. Right now, he’s starting to lean towards overstaying his welcome. Although, his radioactive pecs & abs was a hilarious gag that was not played up nearly enough. Why Luthor is keeping him around, and why he sticks around post being blown to bits (how DID he survive intact?) is beyond me.
Maybe Eve just likes toying with him.
3. Notes from Underground
Plot-wise, this episode was pretty thin, focusing more on advancing some of our character’s personal arcs but Supergirl’s adventures in prison were not in vain! She has a new source, Steve, who is played by none other than Mozzie from White Collar. I’m a big White Collar fan so anytime I get to see those actors in anything I’m game.
Once I got over the shock of seeing him again, I found myself quite angry at what the writers decided to do with this character. Not because of who they gave it to but because of what he represented. He plants the seeds of doubt in Supergirl’s brain as to her efficacy as a superhero and whether or not she is doing more harm than good. It reinforces and mirrors events earlier in the episode but making this character that mouthpiece seemed. . .disingenuous.
That said, he’s not wrong. Supergirl doesn’t always think about her actions and, while the show has never dwelled on it in the past, she is involved in substantial amounts of damage due to the way she approaches problems. It is a critique of many superheros, or, more specifically, the way we portray them in media. Man of Steel revels in destruction as a vehicle to show the intensity of the fights without thinking about the consequences that portrayal creates. Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice attempts to reckon with it after the fact but, just as with this, it is a case of attempting to apply and map the logic of a different universe onto the world.
Continued belowIt can be done, and is a fine idea to critique and approach and deal with, but it is also not the utterly profound character moment the show seems to think it is. It is a moment that illuminates a problem of consistency within the competing meta-interests of the narrative — action for the audience’s enjoyment vs verisimilitude and character consistency in actions & beliefs — but one that fails to properly reckon with it and uses it as a cheap way to push Kara into hanging up the cape for the time being.
Oh, and the actor, Willie Garson, also played Sanford Blatch in Sex and the City for the curious.
4. The Gambler
Alex & James’ sister are probably going to be a thing either by the end of the season or the next, I’m calling it here. But that’s not what got me about Alex’s plot this week. What got me was how bad she is at executing advice she is given. Seriously. After having her ca’a’fee date with Kelly, she basically just regurgitates what Kelly told her she did, making for the kind of TV moment that fills me with deep second hand embarrassment. And the strangest part is, it worked! Kinda. Sorta.
It shouldn’t have but it did which brings me to the second thing that struck me during all the DEO stuff: Colonel Haley is a much more complicated character than she was when she was first introduced. Each time I think I have a grasp on her, she changes and surprises me and I’m all for it. She has her core values but why and how she expresses them always changes.
She is not a hero, nor is she a villain, which I think Supergirl could do with exploring a bit more than it does.
5. The Adolescent
Brainy and Nia finally have a lot to do after a bit of a drought and oh how I have missed these two. The awkward interactions and the things they are about to teach each other about being human and being a hero respectively. (I know Brainy is Coluan but I don’t have a better term.) That whole sequence with Brainy breaking into the data core was priceless, especially the phone trick! I love when plans like that work because, of course it would. I’ve even done that! (Shhh, don’t tell the Louvre.)
Even better is how this will almost certainly come back into play in future episodes but for now, crisis averted and everything can go back to normal. . .Well, not exactly. There’s still the small matter of the political commentary the season has been doing well at setting up lurking in the background and now the Children of Liberty are deputized. Ah, smell the sweet sounds of injustice.
Oh, and there’s something up with Jimmy but I’ve run out of thoughts and I think I spent most of them before the break. Ah well.
That about does it for now. What did you all think of the return? Did it live up to expectations? Were you sad that Kaznian Supergirl is gone again? Let me know in the comments and I will see you all again in one week for the return of Kara Danvers, ace reporter. . . for all of 5 minutes, I’m sure. Until then, stay super y’all.
Best Line of the Night:
Warden: “That was after he threatened to kill me.”
Lena: “Oh please. He does that to everyone.”
