Welcome back all you Supergirl fans! It’s the start of The Gauntlet, a seven episode hunt for mystical macguffins to teach life lessons. We’ve got our template for the rest of the season and it has given me the courage to say: I think I’m going to enjoy these episodes.
And as always, spoilers ahead.
1. Return the Totem or Suffer My Curse.
I am not afraid to admit when I’m wrong. I was pretty down on idea of fetch quest making up the bulk of this half of the season but now that we’re one episode into it, I’m actually really digging what the team has in store. I think what I like is how the hunt itself is secondary to the character building it elicits.
Like, this was hands down the best Nyxly episode thus far. She was given depth, I was able to understand where all this rage comes, it was a far better way to convey how the patriarchy screwed her but not her brother over, AND it clarified the dissonance between the story she tells others (and herself) and the reality. Her brother still sided with the patriarchy, embodied by their tyrant father, but the camera has empathy for her brother without denying his betrayal and failure to stand by his sister; he is just as much a victim as he is a beneficiary, his moral failing being a lack of, well, courage to stand against the system when push comes to shove.
This one scene completely reframes her character and retroactively provides the understanding we needed way back when she was just some “wacky, vengeful imp” in the negative zone; I seriously think they rewrote the character’s motivations at some point but by that time a couple episodes had already been put in the can so they needed to retcon things. Regardless, I’m grateful for the short scene, especially since it also strengthens the “solitary/prison isn’t actually helpful” critique, seeing as she really changed
2. Mitch in the Middle
Did anyone else notice that it was Mitch who was being robbed in Kara’s test? If I remember my exposition correctly, they said Mitch got out 8 years ago and cycled in and out of jail for petty thefts and this may have been the moment that convinced him it was his only way back. This is all speculation at this point but it can’t be a coincidence, especially since Kara failed her totem trials for simply stopping the robbery. I’ll get to that soon but first, a bit more Mitch.
I’m actually growing to like him as the sidekick to Nyxly. Sure, he’s a bit of a “let me spell everything out” but that’s a series-wide scripting issue that will never go away. He’s just a ton of fun when he’s on screen and I suspect he’s going to play a larger role as the season rolls on. I mean, with hair like that and a love of elaborate heist planning, you gotta. What a waste otherwise.
3. Too Much Blue Energy is Dangerous
One really interesting aspect of this episode is how the writers chose to interpret what an over-abundance of courage looks like. For some, they take on a traditional braggadocio and a lack of fear, leading to overconfidence and reckless decisions. For others, it is emotional, like with J’onn letting himself be emotionally vulnerable and expressive. Still for others, it is more subtle, like when we find out Brainy has been allowing himself to guesstimate, which had me cracking up. Nia being in a dream coma kinda stunk, since it took her out of the episode, but I can forgive them if they give her more to do later.
While I think I would’ve liked to see a bit more positive courage, along the lines of William’s or a slightly modified version of Dr. Larr’s, this was a good, fun and cohesive approach. Seriously though, you had the perfect opportunity for both unintentional mad scientist lightning death machines AND sticking it to a vengeful former lab partner. Eh, at least it was fun to see these characters make increasingly bad decisions while yelling at the TV “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” at increasing volume in between chuckles.
Continued below4. Strange Charm Snap Crackle Pop Jerk
I was right about last week’s magic scenes being there simply because there wasn’t room in either this episode or “Mxy in the Middle” but, honestly? They could’ve left them off entirely. Since the book is going to be important, it could’ve just shown up next week when Lena decides to get serious with the magic with a note and a 30-second scene to establish it was magicked there. Easy peasy.
We’d already gotten a good idea of Lena’s conflicting emotions with regards to her mom being a witch and magic being real. “The Gauntlet” reinforced this conflict while also helping her come to an understanding of it. I get the hesitation to use the word magic when you grew up in a family and live in a society that centralizes “science” but science is a process, not a set thing. If “magic” is an extradimensional process of matter and energy transmutation and manipulation, then just call that magic. We already have flavors of quarks and familially passed down traits, like diseases and physical characteristics, so why not an affinity for magic?
5. Kara Loses
I’m honestly shocked Supergirl allowed Kara to lose to Nyxly but I’m glad they did. We were given inklings of this last episode but I think the show is finally allowing Kara to face some of her shortcomings and part of this was done through her failing the test of courage. Kara has things she needs to face, things she can’t see, and until she does, she won’t be living up to the hero she can be. Putting the hero through their paces to grow as a person and not just overcome whoever they’re put up against is good stuff.
I’m ready to see her move forwards; I’m just sad it took this long into the season (and series) to be doing this.
That about does it for now! What did you all think of the episode? Did you have as much fun with it as I did? What were some of your favorite scenes? I didn’t even get to talk about Brainy being possessed by the Kryptonian Witch Lyta, which was a delight. Let me know in the comments and I’ll see you again in a week for another totem and, uh, lots of big budget punch cues? Huh. Until then, stay super y’all.
Best Line of the Night:
1. Brainy (as possessed by Lyta): “What are these? His nipples?”
2. Kara: “Magic totems. They are a bitch.”
