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Five Thoughts on Supergirl‘s “Make it Reign”

By | June 12th, 2018
Posted in Television | % Comments

Welcome back all you Supergirl fans. It’s the penultimate episode and you know what that means! No, it doesn’t mean the show got better. No, it doesn’t mean the villains got any more threatening. No, it doesn’t mean…you know what, let’s just jump right in and see what was accomplished this episode. As always, some spoilers are ahead.

1. Know Your Enemy

Serena and her merry band of lackies arrive on Earth and exposit about how the prophesy came true and how they’re so evil and how the precious burns them and if you couldn’t tell by now, I’ve checked out.

These villains are bad. They offer nothing new, have no decent motivations, or at least none that have been explored with any thought, and they feel like an afterthought, added in to pad out the season. Prior to Supergirl and Mon-El’s arrival on Nu Krypton, there were no hints to the existence of the city or the High Priestess. I’m going to give the show the benefit of the doubt that this was the plan all along. If so, this was poor planning at its finest.

If these plot points were introduced at least five episodes before they were, this might have had the breathing room it needed to develop Serena as either a more formidable villain or as an actual surprise reveal. As it stands, we know two things about her: she’s smug as hell and belongs to a heretical faction of Krypton. On that faction, we know bits and pieces that were presented as long past background info for understanding why Reign was on the planet instead of present action motivation for a different character.

Is she just a fanatic? Why is she a part of this cult? Has she always been the high priestess? What was the point of keeping it a secret from the audience since we only knew her for, like, 7 minutes before the “big reveal?” This and many other questions will never be addressed because she’s evil and must be defeated. We could have had an deeper discussion about the concept of heresy and the fanatic but instead we got half a season build up to Reign, who was too powerful to be introduced at the mid-season point, and then the slow padding of her story.

Also, despite me hearing it as Serene, according to google, her name is Serena. Who knew.

2. Born as Ghosts

One of my favorite things in TV and Movies is when actors have to pretend to be other characters. Anthony Hopkins playing Loki playing Odin is one example. Erica Duance playing Kara playing Alura is another. Getting the mannerisms and inflection down is part of the fun and being able to hear the other character through their lips is always a joy. It’s a small thing but it’s the small things that make a show more enjoyable.

3. People of the Sun

Sam was the best in this episode than she has been in a while. She may just challenge Jimmy for most adult character in the show. She’s grown, which is always nice to see, and treats her child with the right balance of respect and softening of the truth. Although, she really is the only one (outside of My’rnn) that gets any decent dialogue this week.

Winn’s is…okay but nothing special. The weird sisters’ is bad all around, entirely made up of overwrought clichés and unnecessary and clunky exposition. Kara’s and everyone else’s is obvious to the point that it felt like I was reading a golden age comic when everyone says what’s supposed to be happening on the page, or in this case, the screen. It was filler, plain and simple and that’s what this episode, despite its plot importance, felt like.

I think this line, spoken by Alura after Winn called them up, sums it up best: “Your friend was back but now he’s gone.”

4. Clear the Lane

The strongest part of this episode was, once again, Carl Lumbly and the My’rnn storyline. There isn’t much to say here that I haven’t said before. I’m going to miss Lumbly next season and I wish we had gotten more of him. He brought a charm to the character that never felt fake. We haven’t gotten his end just yet and I know it will be sad, although, if I know Supergirl, it’s not going to end without a 5-minute goodbye speech and he won’t die before finishing with J’onn.

Continued below

Or maybe him fusing with the Earth will upend my predictions. Who know? Regardless, he will be missed. I hope next season learns to utilize a larger supporting cast than this one did. They squandered so many opportunities, none more so than with Deimos and the DEO staff. For the most part, they’re nameless, faceless drones that populate the background. Once, early on, we had a couple members who I thought would become regulars. They were spunky, interesting, and I wanted to see more of them.

We never saw them again. Deimos, on the other hand, has been named and when he appeared this week, I took notice. It was weird how much screen time they were giving a character who’s only other big appearance in the show was a few episodes ago at the start of the Myr’nn’s Dementia arc. Turns out he was our emotional death of the episode and I felt nothing when he died.

Cruel and callous to say, yes but the show did a poor job of establishing emotional investment in him by literally having him re-appear for one episode. Remember Pestilence? It’s the same problem. They’re essentially named red shirts. The lack of integration into the show made their sudden prominence stick out and I wasn’t having it this time. Neither was the show. They moved past that death pretty quickly all things considered. I blame the world-killing earthquakes and the bad CGI lava tunnel.

5. Rage Against the Machine

Kara Zor-El. Why did you think that was a good idea? Why did you think throwing the blood in the air dramatically instead of just vaporizing the stupid thing in your hand was the right move? Serena has the same powers as you now! The same goes for Deimos. Why didn’t he smash the vials when running from the other witches three? They don’t need the blood anymore, do they? If they do, I must’ve missed the memo.

The whole thing feels contrived to make sure that Reign can be reborn for one final episode. Such is the problem with these last few episodes. I keep repeating this because it keeps being true and it is frustrating to no end. There are good ideas buried here. Reign as a villain works but only when she’s a true threat instead of the version we’ve gotten. Her first appearance was brutal and the explanation for why she didn’t start up then and there was fine. But once the world killers were defeated and absorbed, there was no reason to pad her story out any longer without having already introduced more complex ideas in the background.

It was a missed opportunity. One that this next episode has no hope of saving. Maybe it will surprise me but it probably won’t. Let’s hold out hope that next season finds a better focus and constructs a more character driven and complex story.

As for this season, we’ve got one episode left and unfortunately, this is where I leave you all. Due to the wonders of life, I will not be able to cover next week’s episode. We will have a fill-in writer for the final episode! Think of it as a reprieve from constant complaining about the poor season story in these last few days of spring.

For those who want more of my writing, I’m still doing the look at season 1 of Babylon 5 on Wednesdays. As for this, well, I hope to see you all when the show returns. Until then, stay super folks.


//TAGS | Supergirl

Elias Rosner

Elias is a lover of stories who, when he isn't writing reviews for Mulitversity, is hiding in the stacks of his library. Co-host of Make Mine Multiversity, a Marvel podcast, after winning the no-prize from the former hosts, co-editor of The Webcomics Weekly, and writer of the Worthy column, he can be found on Twitter (for mostly comics stuff) here and has finally updated his profile photo again.

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