Welcome back all you Supergirl fans! After four season, we’ve finally got our Lex Luthor, a character no one was asking to see nor that we needed but, well, here we are, with yet ANOTHER big villain for the season. You had a good thing going Supergirl. It wasn’t perfect, it certainly wasn’t escapist TV, but it was a good thing.
*sigh.* At least we’ve still got Brainy and Nia. And as always, spoilers ahead.
1. Cryer Me a River
Much as I will bash the presence of Lex in this episode and going forwards . . . shit, they really broke out the good material for Jon Cryer.
He’s pitch perfect for this character and brought a fantastic range to his manipulations. It was easy to buy every single bit of bullshit he spouted while also being completely unable to tell what was real and what was false, despite it all being calculated. The same can be said for Katie McGrath, but there is still that nagging feeling that having to put on an American accent is hampering her delivery at times.
Seeing the two of them interact was fantastic, though, as brother and sister play off each other, bicker, and then reconcile before the sudden but inevitable betrayal. You never forget that Lex is the absolute worst but there are moments where we are put in the same shoes as Lena, accidentally allowing ourselves to be sucked in. To hope that things can turn out OK, despite all evidence to the contrary.
Also, bookending the episodes with Lena being handcuffed to a chair by Lex was a bad move all around. It’s to show Lex’s eeeeeeevilness but, did they really need to show that? We’ve had three seasons of us saying how bad Lex is. The ending at least makes sense because of the other reveals and Supergirl’s arrival, somehow, but it still left an ashy taste in my mouth.
2. The Haunting of J’onn Jones
Poor J’onn. Manchester has really done a number of him. It would be a really tragic arc if it weren’t so infuriatingly stupid. Why is Manchester doing this? To make J’onn a killer? How’d he gain the telepathic abilities to see into J’onn’s mind? Was it always there? What point is this here to prove? Is it just to push J’onn to opening himself up to violence again? What happened to J’onn the consultant detective? What is the point of this whole thing?!
It feels like there were plans for Manchester and J’onn that both got rewritten and those rewrites were never brought into full alignment so they decided to end it by killing Manchester. What a waste of Manchester Black. Not only did he fail to be a decent antagonist or a compelling character after his “fall,” we didn’t even get to figure out what his whole endgame was. He’s probably not actually dead but this was a poor way to go out.
3. Jimmy with the Bullet Wound
So, let me see if I got this straight. Jimmy is shot, he gets soap opera-itis and has his spine shattered, and then is almost dead but is saved by magic stone juice that also, maybe, has made him invincible? Oh, and Lex orchestrated the whole thing, and was funding the magic stone juice research despite there being NO indication of this earlier, and either Eve or Otis Graves shot Jimmy at the behest of Lex?
Man is that a frustrating turn of events. Seriously. Did anyone think this was the doing of Manchester? Because I sure as hell didn’t. The show did and it wasn’t until writing this that that was the assumption the episode was operating under.
This could have worked out perfectly without our good buddy Lex, despite the Who Shot JR? conundrum. I think I’m just confused as to where they want this plot to go. Did they want to give James superpowers? Did they just need the serum to be completed? Is this going to be a wedge between Lena and James again? I don’t know and I don’t know if I want to know.
The only good things to come of this plot point, which was wrapped up thankfully quickly, were the introduction of Kelly Olson (who, if that lingering shot was any indication, might become Alex’s new SO eventually) and Brainy’s breakdown. Speaking of. . .
Continued below4. Kiss Kiss, Fall in. . .Break Up?
We were so close! SO CLOSE! They shared a kiss, it was a great moment and it came after a fantastic scene from Jesse Rath. The perils of compartmentalization are coming to haunt him and I really appreciate the ways the writers chose to show this and to build it up. It was a small plot, with nods to it throughout the season, and the catalyst for his breakdown, while sudden, was exactly the kind of situation that would cause a catastrophic failure in his system.
It need not be prominent nor directly resolved but it was presented to us as Brainy’s natural reaction, making it all the more heart wrenching. He has all these worries and frustrations and feelings that he doesn’t allow himself to express and experience, making his perceived failure to predict Jimmy’s shooting all the more painful.
And then we got the kiss! But then Brainy had to go and mess it up again because, most likely, he, again, does not know how to process his feelings. The situation with Jimmy is one part of this. He does not want to be hurt again if he “fails” to see danger coming, which is both very rational and very irrational. However, I have hope, and so does Nia, that he will change his tune as he re-evaluates what he wants out of the new life he is building.
5. Hronmeer’s Punishments
Let us take a moment to see if we can glean what Hronmeer’s punishments are supposed to be. The first is fire, the second the desecration of the past, the third is darkness, the fourth is the loss of one’s children, and the last is the death of the person you hoped to be. Ah, but it is said that Hronmeer is a wrathful god, one who came down with vengeance AND fury. Thus, is it not so that each punishment is actually TWO punishments? Or is it Five, as it is said that Hronmeer sent forth upon them the fierceness of His anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, and a band of evil angels! Thus, the martians were visited with 25 punishments in Egypt and 125 at the red sea.
Hmm, that doesn’t seem right. Oh well. It’s as good an explanation as we’re given for the point of this whole plot.
That about does it for now! What did you all think of this episode? Did you find it as baffling, yet somehow effective, as I did? Let me know in the comments and I’ll see you again in a week for more Lex (ugh) and the integration of Kaznia Supergirl (fucking finally.) Until then, stay super y’all.
Best Line of the Night:
Lex: “Oh no, the story of you mother was true. That’s what made it so effective.”
