Welcome back all you Supergirl fans! After last week’s rather disappointing start, I wasn’t expecting a whole lot from “Dream Weaver” but what do you know, it’s rather good! Or, well, it’s got some good ideas. Really wastes its title though.
And as always, spoilers ahead.
1. Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Hooty’s Door
Let’s get this out of the way first. If you’re going to title an episode “Dream Weaver” and then have the subject of that title relegated to a C plot wherein she does the same thing three times with no scenes in between to frame her changing decisions at the start of each reiteration, then you’ve officially wasted the audience’s time. Plain and simple, you couldn’t even do the bare minimum. When you draw attention to something very obviously in an episode, it better be the center of the episode in some meaningful way, ESPECIALLY when that character has been struggling off to the side for an entire season now.
It’s GALLING to me that Nia did not get to do anything active this week NOR were we given any decent insight into what pushed her over into accepting Nyx’s deal. Like, Nyx is acting suspicious as all hell and Nia is perceptive enough to pick up on this as well as the dream Owl literally telling her Nyx is bad news. Also, I must’ve missed something in the mid-season finale because I had no idea Nyx was trapped in Nia’s dream world and is likely the reason her powers have been a bit on the fritz – see her control of the ravens preventing Nia from talking to her mom – which…did we even see that last week? No? Great.
Anyway, I understand that she’s still mourning the loss of her mom and feels like she’s unable to develop her powers properly without her help but that doesn’t explain why she disregards all the obvious signs that she’s already picked up on. For G-d’s sake, she says that her mom loved owls and that they mean truth in dreams. Isn’t that a pretty fucking clear sign that her mom is trying to tell her something from the dreamscape or whatever?
My issue is not with Nia accepting an obviously bad deal, it’s that we are not shown the impetus for her change of heart. What pushed her over the edge? What failure did she encounter or reminder of her mother that allowed her to ignore all the portents of doom all for the chance to see her mom again for 24 hours? What sweetened the deal in her mind? These questions are never addressed nor answered, as if there was an obligation in the script for Nia to reject Nyx twice before accepting the third time for no reason. GAH!
2. Yesterday’s Lies
So what was the actual A-plot? Oh, you know, simple topics like abuse of prisoners and children in social services. Easily solvable problems with corruption via a vast criminal enterprise at the root that just takes a sharp light to end forever. Now, maybe we’ll follow up with these plots in a few episodes and find out that this isn’t the case but from Supergirl’s track record when tackling large, complicated issues like rampant abuses in our broken foster care & prison systems, I suspect this was a one and done meant to serve as the impetus for Kelly & Kara’s personal arcs.
I have no problem with that, and it’s good when executed properly, but you can’t just orient your A & B plots around these issues if you’re planning on resolving it in one episode! Moreover, if you’re going to have Supergirl make speeches about how the system is broken and then not actually show how said system fails the people it is supposed to help, all you’ve done is have Supergirl spew platitudes without actually accomplishing anything. All we were shown is how three corrupt individuals got away with abuse rather than how systems enable and encourage that abuse in the first place.
There are overtures made at how a lack of real oversight allowed for these abuses to occur but there’s no meat to the arguments. Kara barely turns a critical eye to her and CatCo’s role in perpetuating the lie of the program by taking the Warden’s words at face value, rather than doing independent verification of his claims. The episode gestures at new leadership but doesn’t concern itself with laying out what is actually being done to prevent this FOR PROFIT PRISON from doing something similar in the future. What’s to stop the private equity firm that runs the prison from short-changing the workers or charging them $1 for every 10 minutes of phone time or simply ordering different food than budgeted and pocketing the difference?
Continued belowLike, in the world of Supergirl, the only thing preventing this FOR PROFIT PRISON from actually being a civic good for its prisoners is a little insulation from the literal criminal syndicate that wormed its way into the Warden’s good graces. No talk of the cycle of over-incarceration driven by increasing criminalization of smaller and smaller infractions and lengthening of sentences which itself is driven by a number of factors, including lobbying by these prisons. No discussion of the actual efficacy of prison to reform rather than to punitively punish. No discussion of potential solutions to these grander issues beyond an “If you talk about it, it will solve itself” approach to spotlighting the abuses. Yes it took outside influences to get people to notice but being aware in and of itself cannot be the ultimate solution, just a start.
Maybe in the world of Supergirl that is all it takes but when it’s framed as applying to our world too, it just falls flat on its face.
3. Young Blood, Old Souls
I could complain about how poorly handled the commentary was for hours but I would much rather focus on something positive in this episode, namely the child actors. They got some good ones but the one who really got my attention was Esme. Highlight of the episode by far was Esme’s speech about how the other child stole her bread roll. I felt like I was watching a “Peanuts” special in the best of ways. It wasn’t exactly the most natural delivery but it felt genuine and precocious. Sometimes that’s all I’m looking for in a scene. Simplicity and a bit of fun.
4. Really Small Problems
Much as I was absolutely bored by the conversation Kelly has with Alex midway through the episode, the one where she recounts in excruciating detail her vision from “Fear Knot” and the frankly ridiculous set-up of her inadequacy, I found everything else with Kelly to be a pretty good first couple steps to becoming Guardian. Her desire to be a more active part of the team underpins her decision to adopt the moniker while the frustration at injustices she cannot solve as a therapist motivates her actions. It’s a much better place to have her be than whatever the hell was going on in season 5.
I still have problems with how we got here, as tends to be the case with this show, but now that Kelly is being active for reasons that are not tied to the team or Alex and instead coming from her own internal drives, I can get behind the change. Now, can we please, PLEASE stop having characters recount their motivations 5 minutes after having their revelations? For my sanity? Please???
5. Eclipse Lake
I think I’ve finally figured out what the Supergirl wants to do with Rojas and I’m really not here for it. They just want her to be a Cat Grant/Snapper Carr/Jimmy Olson stand in character. Her only purpose at this point is to pop in, yell at Kara and William, and remind us that they work at a media company that’s struggling. Rather than actually putting her through a redemptive arc which redeems her, using her for the commentary purposes she originally debuted as, or showing her as a flawed human, her only role is to gripe about rating numbers and be bossy about getting interviews with the supercrew in a very similar but far less enjoyable fashion to Calista Flockheart’s Cat Grant.
The show tries to play it off like she’s antagonistic but actually knows what she’s doing when that’s CLEARLY NOT THE CASE. She is right that they need eyeballs on the paper and that Kara isn’t seeing the use. It’s true that Kara is stuck in a specific mindset about the role of journalism and that just because something isn’t groundbreaking or investigative, it isn’t worthy of being news. But it’s also true that talented journalists need the space and funds to do this kind of valuable, deep work because often the more important stories are long-term and not as immediately obvious.
The baggage of Rojas’ character makes it hard to get behind her knowledge and unless they’re building to a real confrontation between Kara and her about her poor boss skills and obsession with chasing growth at all costs, I’ll opine for the days when I could be frustrated at her for more ridiculous reasons.
Continued belowThat about does it for now! What did you all think of this episode? Did I miss anything in my multiple rants? I’m sure I did, and I know I cut a bunch, so let me know in the comments. Let me know if I’m also super off base and I’ll see you all next week for, presumably, some of the fallout from Nia’s devils’ bargain. Until then, stay super y‘all.
Best Line of the Night:
Kelly: “I don’t know what to say except I love you.”
Alex: “We’ll see if you’re still saying that after we start your training.”
