The "Legion Of Super-Heroes" Make An Unremarkable Entrance On Supergirl!

The Good: Alex's one big character moment, Brainiac-5 is well-introduced
The Bad: Plot plods along, Predictable, Light on significant character moments, No amazing performance moments
The Basics: Supergirl introduces the "Legion Of Super-Heroes" in an unfortunately dull way.


A few years ago, I was opening DC Comics trading cards and I pulled multiple sketch cards of a character I did not recognize. The character, after a little research, turned out to be Saturn Girl from the Legion Of Super-Heroes, which was not a title I was familiar with. I spoke with a comic book shop owner, who described the series as a futuristic Justice League that never really was able to support its own title, though it had a strangely loyal and rabid fan base. I was pretty shocked at the price those sketch cards of Saturn Girl sold for, but I've never had any customers ask specifically for characters from the, apparently, oft-cancelled title. So, when Supergirl teased the Legion Of Super-Heroes back in the episode "Solitude" (reviewed here!), with a ring from that group in Kal-El's Fortress Of Solitude, it seemed like only a matter of time before The CW tried to make that heroic team mainstream by inserting them into the show. Their proper introduction comes in "Legion Of Super-Heroes."

"Legion Of Super-Heroes" follows the events of the midseason finale, "Reign" (reviewed here!), and it is tough to discuss without mentioning where that episode left off. After all, "Reign" left Supergirl badly beaten and National City was at the mercy of the next big Supergirl super-villain.

Kara awakens to a knock on the door. At the door is Querl Dox, Brainiac-5 from the Legion Of Super-Heroes, who reveals that Kara is in a coma and he has been awakened by Mon-El to stabilize her neural pathways bring her out of her coma. At the Legion ship, J'onn J'onzz worries that they will be unable to save National City without Supergirl. At her house, Samantha seems disturbed seeing the picture of Reign on the newspaper and she returns to her own Fortress. She comes back to National City where she kills a thief and declares war upon crime in National City. At the DEO, Mon-El reveals that most history was lost by the 31st Century and that the Legion Of Super-Heroes can have limited involvement in thwarting Reign.

After Mon-El proves to Alex Danvers that the Legion members cannot be killed in the past, J'onn makes a detour to try to keep Kara's cover with Luthor intact. Alex lays a trap for Reign and she and J'onn are shocked when Reign is able to shrug off the last supply of Kryptonite the DEO has. In Kara's mind, Brainiac discovers that Kara might have a reason to stay in her head when Kara remembers a pet she had as a child. While waiting for Kara to regain consciousness, the Legion comes together at the National City prison where Reign is cleaning house!

"Legion Of Super-Heroes" has Reign as the rising threat in National City and the idea that the DEO has prepared for a rogue Kryptonian threat. The idea that after Kal-El had the DEO eliminate the world's Kryptonite supply a new Kryptonian would have an edge on the DEO and National City is a cool one.

Finding a balance in "Legion Of Super-Heroes" between the threats posed by Reign and the process of getting Kara out of her coma takes a little while. Peppered in between the threat and the surreal medical issue is a romantic subplot involving the budding romance between Lena Luthor and James Olsen. The two kissed in "Reign" and in "Legion Of Super-Heroes," Olsen's concern about Kara's health creeps into his relationship with Luthor. Lena manages to maintain her smart, in-control persona when dealing with "Kara" while still seeking out her friend's advice, which is a nice twist.

The surreal elements within Kara's head are a little basic. Kara has been in comas a couple of times now - the Black Mercy parasite in season 1 comes instantly to mind - so the transition from Kara wounded to the real world hardly seems original now. Moreover, it is a trope that has been done on other DC Television Universe works. The real purpose of Kara's coma storyline seems to be to introduce Brainiac-5 in a compelling way. That aspect of the scenes where Kara is unconscious are the most successful.

The acting in "Legion Of Super-Heroes" is mostly-good. Melissa Benoist gets to play unconscious, mellow and as J'onn J'onzz impersonating Kara, which gives her a lot to do. Benoist plays all the roles well, but she is more of a supporting performer in "Legion Of Super-Heroes" than she is in most episodes. Chris Wood, Jesse Rath and , by contrast, managed to play off one another to make it seem entirely plausible that the three had had extensive time interacting with one another before this episode.

The Lena Luthor/James Olsen relationship starts to show off its potential in "Legion Of Super-Heroes." Luthor has been one of the more interesting Supergirl characters and James Olsen has been a character who the show has struggled to find an interesting direction for. Olsen has drifted from "will they or won't they" love interest in the first season to Guardian in the second season and with Kara virtually eliminating crime in National City by the beginning of the third season, Olsen has been pretty generically stuck in the role of a reporter and editor at CatCo Worldwide Media. The potential of the relationship between Luthor and Olsen is that the show might find a good stride for Olsen and give Lena a chance to move beyond the "I'm a different type of Luthor" characterization.

Ultimately, "Legion Of Super-Heroes" is an episode that is somewhat hoisted on its own petard; whenever the titular character is put in a coma, she has to come out of it. Super hero shows like Supergirl usually concoct a fight sequence that allows the hero to come out of their wounded state swinging and "Legion Of Super-Heroes" does nothing to defy that paradigm, it merely embraces and embodies it. The result is a lackluster return to Supergirl as opposed to a proper demonstration of what the Legion Of Super-Heroes can actually do.

For other midseason premieres, please visit my reviews of:
"Supergirl Lives" - Supergirl
"Despite Yourself" - Star Trek: Discovery
"Bouncing Back" - Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.

4/10

For other television season and episode reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2018 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Inevitable Return, Inevitable Villain, "Wake Up" Is Unfortunately Crowded Supergirl

The Good: Generally good acting, Moments of character
The Bad: J'onn J'onzz's character, Meandering plot, Too many plotlines to allow any of them to breathe
The Basics: "Wake Up" is a Supergirl episode that bites off more than it can chew to make any of its three major arcs feel satisfying.


As Supergirl has progressed into its third season, the show has been doing a good job of keeping the memory of Mon-El alive. Fresh in Kara's mind after six months of mourning the fact that Mon-El had to flee Earth after the Daxamite invasion is Kara's sense of loss. The fact that Kara's relationship with Mon-El was so short makes the period of her grieving seem disproportionate, but this has been enough to keep Mon-El fresh in the mind of viewers. It is also enough to make viewers anticipate a return for Mon-El and in that regard, Supergirl does not disappoint. The episode in which Mon-El returns is "Wake Up."

"Wake Up" continues after the events of "Midvale" (reviewed here!) and it plays off elements of several of the prior episodes. "Wake Up" is notable for continuing the stories of M'yrnn J'onzz, Samantha Arias, and Mon-El while introducing Imra (Saturn Girl). "Wake Up" also explicitly confirms that Arias is the Kryptonian from the last shot of the second season finale of Supergirl.

Samantha Arias begins to test her abilities, including placing her hand in boiling water and discovering she has no pain (or burn reaction to it). At the DEO, Schott is miffed when M'yrnn asks him to be able to go to the bathroom and he approaches J'onn to suggest J'onn take his father out of the DEO facility. When an expedition under water near National City is attacked, the DEO becomes aware of a massive, ancient space ship under the city. J'onn, Kara and Schott investigate and find Mon-El aboard the vessel. Samantha visits her adoptive mother to try to learn if she ever showed any abnormalities in her childhood, but Patricia is reticent to reveal anything about her childhood.

While J'onn is off-campus with his father, Mon-El regains consciousness and sneaks into the DEO armory. Kara incapacitates him, but when she has him back in custody, he refuses to answer her questions. When Winn Schott visits Mon-El, the Daxamite asks Schott for help and together, they return to the ship. Kara, however, intervenes while Mon-El is attempting to repower the ship and its stasis tubes. They are able to rescue Imra from drowning in her stasis tube and Mon-El confesses that he has lived seven years in the future, while Kara has lived the last seven months alone in the present. Samantha goes out into the desert where she inadvertently creates her own Fortress Of Sanctuary! And after a heart to heart with Kara, Mon-El reveals the true nature of his relationship with Imra.

"Wake Up" continues the trend of diluting Supergirl. Gone are the days when the super hero narrative has a single, strong protagonist. Kara is a support character in "Wake Up" and the episode desperately tries to incorporate James Olsen and Alex Danvers, while neglecting entirely Lena Luthor. "Wake Up" continues to crowd the cast of Supergirl and with so much focus on Samantha Arias, by the time the episode gets around to J'onn dealing with his father, it feels like an afterthought within the narrative.

J'onn J'onzz is severely weakened as a character in "Wake Up." J'onzz long-believed his father was dead and that he was the last Green Martian. When J'onn learned of the existence of M'gann in the second season, he began obsessively spending time with her. And yet, with his own father, he is neglectful and uncaring. That reads somewhere between false and cheap; like J'onn was just a sucker for a cute face and doesn't truly care about his actual family. Given how he has continued to pine over his dead wife and children, his neglect of his own father is disappointing.

The winner on the acting front for "Wake Up" is Chris Wood. Almost immediately, Wood leaps back into Supergirl portraying Mon-El with a reserved quality that is quite good. In fact, it pretty much telegraphs his big reveal at the climax of the episode.

Ultimately, "Wake Up" is a crowded episode, with one too many plots, so none of them get developed well-enough to truly be satisfying.

For other works with Chris Wood, please visit my reviews of:
Supergirl - Season 2
"Duet" - The Flash

4/10

For other television season and episode reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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