Wow, what an episode. After a two-part opener to its second season, Supergirl is pulling no punches with an episode that marries real world social commentary with superhero action in a packed episode. Seriously, there was so much going on in this episode that I don’t know how I’m going to cover it all in just five thoughts.
Without further ado, then, let’s just dive right into it!
1. Welcome To Erf
The thing I loved most about this episode is how it shows the world as being a place where the existence of aliens is common knowledge. This isn’t a place where Superman and Supergirl are exceptions to the norm, but more they’re some of the most well known figures of a community of non-humans living on Earth. To have a President not only acknowledge the presence of non-humans living in America, but to open the country’s doors to them was a story beat that affected me pretty powerfully.
To have Lynda goddamn Carter stand in front of a presidential podium and give a speech about how America should welcome refugees with open arms and amnesty was an incredibly courageous move in the middle of an election cycle where America is trying its best not to elect a fascist dictator as President. Now, I can’t wait for the waves of straight, cis, white men for whom politics has never been an issue to claim that we should keep politics (that they don’t like) out of superhero stories, but I, for one, am grateful that Supergirl stood up to spread a message like this.
2. Make America Wonderful Again
Speaking of Lynda Carter, she was amazing in this episode. I mean, I feel like we all knew she would be, but the direction they took her President in was a fantastic move for the show. It was like watching an America where they’d just elected Wonder Woman on a platform of peace, justice and equality for all. It was everything I wanted and more when the show revealed that Lynda Carter would be the President. I mean, is it too late to elect Lynda Carter as President in real life?
That being said, I was surprised by how short her role in this episode was. Sure, this episode had a lot going on, but I feel like we didn’t get to see much of Carter interact with Supergirl herself, only some passing scenes. Hopefully, that last second tease of her possibly being an alien will mean that she will have a more recurring role in the future.
3. A Newsroom Governed By Respect
Last episode saw Cat Grant step away from CatCo because CW can’t afford to keep bring Calista Flockhart up to Toronto for filming so now it lands on James Olsen to take the reigns. Also introduced in the last episode was Snapper Carr, the living embodiment of the ethics in journalism movement and one of the most frustratingly dickish characters I’ve ever seen on screen. This episode got to see them fight! This was a strange sideplot for the episode because on one hand, Carr came off as an overbearing dickbag who Olsen had to embarass to gain his respect because he is, in a word, a bully, but on the other hand the episode also showed Carr finally act like a responsible editor and give Kara workable advice as a journalist.
I hope this a move to push Carr towards the rough yet fair editor that Perry White is sometimes played off as (or something like a less maniacal J. Jonah Jameson), but to have one episode show the character as a mentor to Kara and a bully to James felt a little off. I know characters can be multi-faceted, but it felt like the episode was trying to pull the character in two wildly different directions.
Or maybe he’s just racist? Who knows.
4. Detective Sawyer, Light Of My Life
I had the same problem when Patty Spivot showed up in The Flash, but female detectives who show up to win the hearts of the main characters are automatically my new favourite characters. This time, it was Maggie Sawyer and I swear my heart swelled three sizes watching this episode. Not only did she play into the overarching theme of the episode which was making characters realise that even though someone isn’t human, they’re still a person to be respected by introducing the Dollywood bar, but the episode tied that theme to Maggie herself by being open about the fact that she is a lesbian woman of colour.
Continued belowThis is the kind of realness I’ve wanted from Supergirl since it began and at CBS, it languished under a sense of white feminism in which the pinnacle of female strength was a white woman who could be one of the boys. Here, the show is finally introducing women of colour and characters who aren’t straight (let Winn admit he’s not straight, by the way) and actually discussing that as part of the plot.
It went hand in hand with J’onn’s earlier line about knowing that humans are distrustful of what they don’t recognise which he knows because he’s both an alien and has worn the face of a black man while on Earth. It’s a level of real world social commentary that this show needed to address if it wanted to feel actually relevant.
5. DaxFields & McKryptons
While much of this episode was about how America could learn to accept those that are different from them, it was interesting to see how the episode showed an other side to that with Kara’s storyline. Sure, she was a huge proponent for alien amnesty and fangirled over the President for much of the episode, but then Mon-El was revealed to be a Daxamite. This is something that I’m glad they kept from the comics because it brought up a long seated prejudice in Kara that she grew with and showed a fallacy in her thinking. She became blinded by this built in hatred for Daxam that she couldn’t think straight.
To see her deal with a prejudice like that shows that no matter how altruistic we want to be, there are things we have grown up with that are poisonous inside us. We all grow up with prejudices inside of us and that’s not necessarily our fault, but when we act on those prejudices and someone gets hurt then it’s a problem. The point at which Kara realises that she harbours that prejudice against Daxam and, instead of acting on her hate, decides to sit down with Mon-El to connect with the fact that they’re both refugees stranded on Earth with no homes to return to was that icing on the cake of this episode.
Bonus Thought: The Last Daughter Of Mars
Miss Martian! M’gann M’orzz! I mean, we all knew Miss Martian was going to be in this season, but actually seeing her just brought this episode to a close with such a fantastic note. This might be pulling away as the best superhero show on television.
