Welcome back all you Supergirl fans. Another week, another episode and thankfully my hopes and prayer have been answered for this show. It seems to have found its footing and proven (so far) that the first episode was a fluke. Anyway, let’s get on with the show and, as always, some spoilers are ahead.
1. Creepy Cult
You know, as heavy handed as that opening scene was for setting up our main antagonist’s motivation (did we really need that many shots of that many people praying?), it did a good job of setting up who he was before and who he was now. It primed us for the start of the cult that we’d see soon. At first I thought we were going to get a Cult of Conner type deal here but then I realized that would mean Supergirl/Superman/the currently non-existent Superboy would have to be dead first.
I think this was a nice twist on the cult storyline too. I was afraid the whole time that the cult leader (whose name I genuinely cannot remember) would turn out to be some evil mastermind/a puppet for some evil mastermind/just plain in it for the money but instead he just turned out to be a selfish, misguided but ultimately genuine man. He truly found purpose in worshiping Kara and while his actions were bad, at least he wasn’t your standard cult leader villain. No tricks, just a misguided idiot.
2. Children, can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em
I like to set these up so you can see my thoughts before going into an episode and what they’re like afterward. Going into this one, I kept wondering why the baby plotline was so prominent for Alex and Maggie. Like, it’s been a major part of their plot line ever episode this season. I just didn’t get it, this felt like a smaller plot point that would influence other ones later on down the line. That it would be a source of contention between the two of them that would manifest itself in smaller ways before slowly ballooning out into a much bigger conflict in later episodes.
I still feel like this was way too rushed and prominent (this is only episode four after all) but it gave Alex a great scene near the end which opens up a whole new set of issues for her. She truly wants to have children but she also does not want to lose Maggie and she knows that Maggie is stubborn as a rock and will not change her mind. Alex originally put aside her own feelings for Maggie but now she’s struggling with that. The ramifications of that decision are settling in and it sucks for her.
She’s conflicted and this is a conflict that, hopefully, won’t be resolved next week (it feels like a longer burn). I don’t want this to end their marriage though. Don’t you dare do that CW! But I do want it to lead to a true fight between Maggie and Alex, not one of those one scene yell a couple times then perfectly understand each other types of conflicts. It has to mean something and either bring about growth in Maggie as a character (accepting other people’s wishes in addition to her own) or a struggle for Alex to acquiesce to Maggie’s desires.
3. It all felt too…neat
I can’t be the only one who felt like cult leader guy’s plan felt too put together. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d just stumble upon this Kryptonian artifact and just start up a religion. The latter part, sure, he was probably worshiping Kara well before finding this stuff. But who gave it to him? How’d he know how to use it as a bomb? I don’t want this to be tied into the larger, season long plot unless the point was merely to cause chaos or test Kara.
If this was planned so that weird ship would power-up, I call bullshit.
4. Speaking of season long teases
Powers! Writing! Creepy, cloaked snake lady! Yup, I was wondering at the beginning if we’d see that strange person that popped up in Samantha’s dream in episode one returns (at least I think that’s the same person) and she seems to be tied up with Krypton somehow. I mean, that’s par for the course by now. Hopefully we start to get some answers on this and Sam’s sometimes here powers soon. Some, not all. Please. Mysteries are only fun if we don’t have all the pieces.
Continued belowAlso, that strange ship we saw a few episodes ago returns again with a mysterious person in a pod. I wonder who that could be. Is that ship Mon-El’s? I sure hope not. But speaking of, I’m glad that Kara continues to be effected by the loss of Mon-El in smaller ways and in normal conversation. It feels real and give Kara more depth. Soon she’ll fully get over him but for now, it’s nice to see that the character had an impact unlike the lack of Cat Grant……Bring back Calista Flockhart!
5. Wasted side characters
I feel like I have to say this every week but as great as this season has been, it feels like the writers just have no idea what to do with most of the DEO or CatCo. Jimmy, Winn, and to a lesser extent, J’onn are all noticeably in minor, minor roles and don’t get a lot of screen time outside of Winn’s occasional joke or technobabble or Jimmy’s…..jimmy-ness. They need to repurpose Jimmy, get him out of CatCo now that Kara is barely there.
Have him do crazy ridiculous things like in the comics, put him on the streets again. Have him find the crazy multi-colored coat and go on a trip to the sun (I really like “All-Star Superman” if you couldn’t tell). Same goes for Winn. He’s turned into exposition kid and doesn’t feel like a part of the team anymore. J’onn is off with his own plot with his father and Alex & Maggie are both integral parts of Kara’s life. I think what we gained in overall consistency for the show, we lost in character interaction and team dynamics.
But, to quote Linkara, what do I know? I just review comics on the internet. Tell me your thoughts on the episode. Did you like it as much as I did? Did you find it sub-par without any super villains (I, for one, did not)? Let us know in the comments and I will see you next week for another round of aliens, agents, and arguments.
