Supergirl came back, for one night only this month with a special Valentine’s Day-themed tale. Love wasn’t in the air though as much as a heart-eating alien snake that bonded with thief Pamela Ferrer (Jessica Meraz), the titular monster of this episode. (It also saw Nia’s debut as Dreamer, which I’ll come to in a second.)
1. Not the only heartbreakers in town
James Olsen and Lena Luthor has always been an unusual pairing (as far as I know there’s no precedent for it in the comics), and this thing we finally saw why it’s not really meant to be: try as she might to hide it, Lena’s still got that same innate ruthlessness as the rest of her family, which Jimmy doesn’t have. This week she tries to an unplanned trip to Paris with him, but when he finds out she’s planning to help the government create super-soldiers, he breaks things off, realizing they’re just too different. I loved the way the traffic reflected on Lena’s window in her car when he left, indicating how cold and distant she must be forcing herself to be so as to not become emotionally overwhelmed.
After their “not a date” two episodes ago, it also becomes clear Brainy does have some feelings for Nia, devoting “15 percent” of his attention to getting her something for Valentine’s. However, she’s still feeling despondent after her mother’s death, and with Brainy distracted by work and her bombastic roommate Yvette (Roxy Wood), it’s only natural she’s uninterested in him romantically, and wants him to focus on him mentoring her instead. (By the way, Yvette’s a fun character – can we have a spin-off webseries about her and Nia?)
2. Familial love
For the most part though, this episode was about familial love, which is only natural since Supergirl doesn’t have a love interest anymore. Alex’s desire to have children came up again for the first time in ages, and there was a lot of talk about how Nia is essentially forming a new superhero family with Kara and Brainy. Col. Haley also mentions she’s in town to visit her daughter.
But all that pales to the return of the Lockwood family, with George taking up the mantle of his imprisoned father. The Sons of Liberty made their big comeback, seeking to reinvent themselves as a bunch of vigilantes tackling aliens instead of a hate group, which weirdly reinforced the theme – they are truly an extension of this malevolent patriarch who has gone too far to protect his tribe.
3. Memories
We’re already getting some foreshadowing about Alex regaining her memories: while trying to retrieve Brainy from Yvette and Nia’s house party, she bumps into a woman she dated but has no memory of – clearly J’onn’s tampering had some unintended side effects. Likewise, Kara getting unfazed and uninjured by the confrontation with Menagerie in her apartment is bound to raise some suspicions, and it’s all because Kara just misses her sister and is struggling to not be part of her life. Suffice to say, I am not looking forward to the inevitable argument when Alex remembers what they did.
4. The Big Debut
Nia’s debut as Dreamer was admittedly underwhelming, as the situation didn’t seem all that dangerous: Menagerie was unleashing some self-generated “symbeasts” at a cocktail party, while the Sons of Liberty were hindering the DEO’s ability to capture her, so it felt more farcial than threatening. Also, Supergirl wasn’t having much trouble – I don’t care if the alien gave Pamela superhuman endurance, being blown back by Supergirl should’ve still shattered her spine. Still, it’s great to see Nia enter the fray after all this time, her costume looks great, and she’s got a neat Nightwing-esque baton: I’m really looking forward to seeing how she uses her powers in battle next.
5. Bureaucratic Stupidity
The Sons of Liberty take the credit for defeating Menagerie though, because Agent Liberty Jr. takes the opportunity to hack off her main tendril with his vibro-machete (to borrow a bit of Star Wars terminology). For whatever reason, the President then frees Ben Lockwood. Calling it now: the President is going to try to take control of the Sons of Liberty by giving them Lena’s super-soldier formula, basically making them a regulated militia to combat evil aliens, which needless to say, is a terrible idea. (The history of mob justice and lynching in the US is practically one and the same.)
Continued belowWhat’s worse is the Sons and military prove to be thoroughly useless, as Pamela still has her powers, and as the final scene indicates, she’s going to escape. I’m cautiously looking forward to how this conflict between the Sons and Manchester Black’s Elite pans out, especially with the Kaznian Supergirl still waiting in the wings: it could all tie together, or be a complete mess. In any case, nice going guys: just more of a day’s work for Supergirl.
Bonus thoughts:
– What, in life, is not made better by a marshmallow rose?
– Thought it was a bit of a shame the kidnapping subplot turned out to be red herring, just because it didn’t fit with the Valentine’s Day theme.
– Really liked how Kara uncovered a clue by pretending to be a klutz – you can just imagine Clark teaching how her to do that.
– I like that the show assumes everyone knows what a symbiote is so they don’t have to go into further detail about Menagerie’s nature (no doubt thanks to Spider-Man and Venom).
Supergirl will be back to a regular schedule with your real reviewer Elias in March. Up, up and away!
