Welcome back all you Supergirl fans! After a couple weeks of missteps and unfocused plotting, we’re finally getting back on track. While there were still moments when I checked out, mostly when Menagerie was on screen, on the whole, this felt like a return to form of the first half of the season. Plus, we got more of Hat’s terrible, terrible accent! He’s a great presence but man does that accent hurt the character.
As always, spoilers ahead.
1. The Greatest Trick the Hat Ever Pulled
So he DOES know Mzxy!
Hat is a fun character that was given a decent amount to do this week. I love how they’ve imbued him with some of the mischief that accompanies the 5th dimensional beings in the DC Universe even though he. . .isn’t one? I may have missed an establishing line, in which case, I’m glad they’re keeping him mischievous. We need more low-key mischief in this season to help balance out the more serious stories that make up the bulk of the narratives.
A little laugh in the bleakest of times can help one get through.
That said, Hat was pretty wasted this week, being mostly an extension of Manchester and his machinations. The same was true of the whole of The Elite. They’ve been pretty well and truly disbanded pretty quickly. This probably won’t be the case for long. I’m sure Manchester will break them out of wherever the DEO is holding them, right? Right?
2. Lockwood Went Down to National City
Lockwood, now that he has shed his costume and is hiding behind a different face, is, perhaps, scarier than he was before. He is a man with a vindictive agenda being put into a position of power, specifically in an office that he had been essentially working against as Agent Liberty. To put in power those who are beholden to the industries they are meant to govern rarely ends well.
And so he does exactly what we thought he would do and almost succeeds. However, the Supergirl universe is ultimately a hopeful one. One where there are people who will rise above the hatred being instilled in them, to rise above the fear they know they should not be feeling, and to start the painful process of working towards peace, to relinquishing the entitlement that they feel they have.
I’m reminded of J.M. Coetzee’s book Disgrace often nowadays when watching this season, as it doesn’t want to recon with this question, and when watching the news. The central question of the novel, which was written in the wake of the end of Apartheid in South Africa, is “What does a country do with the people who cannot change?”
I do not know, and the book does not offer any easy answers. Reality offers no easy answers. It is nice that Supergirl offers the start to one. My hope is that it continues to complicate the narrative, and I feel it will, but I also hope it continues to show a path that leads to justice, one born not of blood and sorrow as Manchester desires.
On a less serious note, do we need Lex to come in? Really? Lockwood is a good enough villain.
3. Angle to you (Dolly to me)
On the production end, this was noticeably different episode. The way the music was woven in, the way scenes were shot, and even the pacing, all of it came together to help support the themes of the episode instead of just being utilitarian. I particularly like the way the big riot scene was framed, once the Manchester dummies were poofed out of there. I do think the use of Mad World was a bit on the nose but it set the mood well and I’m always a sucker for slow songs played over dramatic footage.
That scene also got Jimmy as a photographer again! I have been waiting, WAITING for this. Waiting for more journalism to actually play a part. Cutting back to him taking the photos and his reactions was perfect.
At the start, too, the mingling of the music and action was done well, albeit a bit short. That would have been the perfect time to give us some character development for the group, giving them motivations apart from Supergirl, but no, they don’t want to be Togashi. Fine. OK. We’ll have the villains get development as foils to J’onn and Supergirl.
Continued below4. Anger Gives the Manchester a Foothold
Who gets to be angry? That is a question that has once again floated to the surface of our collective discussions. In comics, it has appeared in “Immortal Hulk,” which is an examination of anger and rage in its many forms, who gets to feel it, why, and how. In Supergirl, the discussion is not broached in the same way but it was a question I had right at the start: why is J’onn allowed to feel rage while Dreamer is told to dial it back?
While I know this is not an equal argument, as the reasons in the show she was told to hold back was because it was born from enthusiasm and Supergirl was teaching how to effectively escalate without frightening, it still struck me as odd. As the episode proceeds, we see that the rage is, in fact, not natural. It is infecting J’onn and we see, by episode’s end, that he has succumbed to it. I don’t have the tool kit to properly examine this, and I’m sure others can do a better job, but I hope that future episodes examine this.
On a pure story level, this might be the first signs that Manchester DOES have telepathic powers, even a low level of them, and that is a development I can’t wait to see more of.
5. The Brainy is in the Details
Poor Brainy. He lost his ring, his final tether to the future, and a source of great comfort to him. It would be even more impactful if the show had done any work to indicate how important the ring was to him beyond him using it in the course of his hero work. This was a moment where I really felt like I missed an entire episode or subplot. Last episode, the loss of the ring looked like a major deal but I didn’t understand why. Now I do.
I appreciate how Brainy is still fiddling with the space where the ring used to be. It’s a small gesture but the exactly one that someone who lost a ring would do. But, again, the importance of that ring was never impressed upon us before, nor did we see his worry about losing it throughout the episode. It was like an afterthought by the writers to give him motivation for becoming #AmericanAlien. He gave a great speech too, so I think I can forgive them for it.
5.5. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
*deep breath*
NOOOOOOOOOOO- I don’t buy it.
I want it to be true and I also don’t want it to be true but I also really don’t trust CW cliffhangers. I’m certainly carrying over some resentment from Gotham’s Jim Gordon getting shot, like, 30 times and walking away without a scratch but Leslie Thompkins gets one little stab wound and she’s dead. . .until she’s not. Yeah, Gotham is weird and bad and you should read our reviews of it, especially if you’ve never seen an episode! (I’m shameless, I know.)
But back to the cliffhanger, I’m conflicted over whether or not this is a good thing for the show in terms of narrative stakes and motivations but I’m also super pissed because of, well, everything that happened in the episode.
Regardless, what’s done is done and we’ll just have to see what comes next. What did you all think? Did you like a return to the more focused narrative? Or was it too all over the place? Also, who was the Milquetoast Man that Kara kept pointing out? Let me know in the comments and I’ll see you again next week for, ugh, Lex Luthor. Until then, stay super y’all.
Best Line of the Night:
Kara: “I meant more hands on hips, not scream in face.”
