Wow, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? Supergirl is finally back after its midseason break and is ready to resume life after the ‘Invasion!’ crossover. With an episode that feels like a classic DC story, Supergirl must find a way to save the day even without her powers. Can she pull it off? Well… y’know, probably, but the fun isn’t in knowing whether she does it or not, but in finding out how. And this episode is a great reminder of just what a joy Supergirl can be.
Without any further ado, let’s dive into our Five Thoughts on ‘Supergirl Lives’. Which will obviously contain spoilers.
1. Snootchie Bootchie, Supergirl-y
So, this was Kevin Smith’s episode of Supergirl and I think it turned out really good, honestly. I used to be a huge fan of Smith’s back when I was in high school before he became a full time podcaster, part time director and I wasn’t super impressed with his episode of The Flash. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that it was an episode long dream sequence, but it didn’t really show off what this unabashed comic book geek would do let loose on one of these CW DC shows. This episode did, thankfully.
From the cold open that showcased the strengths of Supergirl and Guardian to the importance of Kara’s journalism to the setpiece of the episode stranding Kara without her powers to her triumphantly regaining them, this was a great episode that encapsulated just what’s great about Supergirl. This episode gave me hope that the rest of the season could be as good as the last episode, ‘Myriad’, was.
2. Domestic Lesbians, Or “Screw You For Being Happy”
Just give me one episode, Supergirl. One episode where Alex gets to be happy and gay and makes out with Maggie a lot without some near disastrous lack of communication nearly rips apart their relationship. Seriously, you dragged out the “Will they? Won’t they?” of them getting together for three agonising episodes, I don’t need another three episodes where Alex learns to fucking chill out for two seconds.
Alex coming out and building a relationship with Maggie is one of the best things this show has going for it and to treat it the same way CW treats hetero relationships, by drawing out the tension of them actually committing to a long lasting relationship by throwing new roadblocks at them every episode isn’t going to work. And it’s not going to work because lesbian relationships in the media have historically been shown as either ending in the death of one or both parties or being disrupted so one can have learned some moral.
Just let me gays be happy, CW.
3. Kara Danvers, Investigative Journalist/Going Full Doctor Who
I really admired how this episode merged Kara’s job as a journalist and her development there throughout the episode with the Supergirl plot of Slaver’s Moon. Despite my misgivings about making Kara a reporter, it did feel like the structure of a good Superman story and that’s why it worked. From Kara and Snapper meeting Izzy’s mother to tracking down James Urbaniak’s Doctor to being stranded and the eventual story that came out of it and the (fairly obvious) revelation that Snapper’s tetchiness has been pushing Kara to prove herself to herself more and more, this was a really solidly structured episode.
Plus, the whole Slaver’s Moon stuff was just fun. It was a real change of pace for the show, going full sci-fi and showing an actual alien world and utilising sets and props that feel like leftovers from Doctor Who or Stargate SG-1. It was campy and cheesy, but in a way that felt earnest. There wasn’t an attempt to make the cheesiness of the sets of the alien costumes feel more serious than it looked (like they tried in the ‘Invasion!’ crossover) and that went a long way in making the story enjoyable.
Plus, putting a Super-character on a red sun planet so they have to save the day without using powers is the oldest trick in the book, but predicating this specific instance on Kara showing Mon-El that she won’t stop fighting even in spite of that was superb.
Continued below4. “Hey, What Should Mon-El Be Doing In This Scene?” “IDK, Just Whatever. Be Handsome.”
Speaking of Mon-El, he really is just wandering through scenes until he learns whatever lesson he needs to learn in that episode, isn’t he? I feel like the show wants to use his aloofness to allow him to be anywhere they need him to be with very little justification, but introducing him with a new job in the bar only to have him show up at CatCo the next day just because they want him to be there when Kara is abducted by James Urbaniak was a little… convenient. And by convenient I mean lazy.
Look, I get that the show has to do something with Mon-El. I get it. Now that Kara is comfortable with her life as a superhero, they need a character who needs to grow into that role and I guess they also needed someone with her powers and her backstory for her to connect that isn’t Clark. But they need to tighten up their storytelling and characterisation because at this rate, Mon-El has learned the same lesson on at least four different occasions only to be at the same place he was five episodes ago when he was too horny to want to be a superhero. You can’t just let him run around in circles until the end of the season.
5. Winn Levels Up
While Mon-El’s subplot about learning the importance of standing up for people who can’t help themselves (again) was fine, I guess, the real subplot was about Winn actually getting to develop for a change. This was a great way of having Guardian be in the episode without actually disrupting the story (speaking of characters they need to do something with) as well having Winn feel important to the story and not just a walking bag of nerd cliches.
His development wasn’t huge, it only covered maybe four scenes in the whole episode, but it was done in a really concise manner that supported the rest of the narrative as a whole. Plus, it was just fun. Winn is a character that has come a long way since the days of him bemoaning being friendzoned by Kara and it’s great to see him actually develop.
