"Both Sides Now" Brings Purity To Supergirl!

The Good: Thematically smart, Moments of character, Good performances, Decent plot development
The Bad: Somewhat simple plot, Large character continuity issue
The Basics: "Both Sides Now" continues the Worldkiller plot on Supergirl by bringing Purity - and philosophical differences between the Danvers sisters - to the forefront!


The third season of Supergirl has come into perfect focus as the Reign storyline has picked up. Earth has housed Worldkillers for decades, with Reign having revealed herself and Kara Danvers having dreams of three Worldkillers coming to destroy Earth. With "Both Sides Now," Supergirl is focused on averting an impending disaster by getting to the Worldkillers before they become active and powerful.

"Both Sides Now" picks up where "For Good" (reviewed here!) left off. Kara Danvers had visions in "For Good" about the Worldkillers who came from Krypton and are moving to teaming up with Reign to bring destruction to Earth. Kara managed to identify one of the Worldkillers from her dream, Purity. "Both Sides Now" picks right up with the hunt for Purity, in her human persona of Julia.

Kara and the DEO team visit a suburban neighborhood on the quest to find the Worldkiller, Julia. The team finds her in her living room singing Lisa Loeb's song "Stay." When she feels threatened by Alex Danvers, she manifests her impressive powers, but Supergirl and J'onn J'onzz manage to subdue her. The team brings Purity back to the DEO, where Supergirl and Alex interrogate her. Alex instantly distrusts Purity, while Supergirl sees her as a victim of Kryptonian genetic manipulation. While Mon-El, Schott and J'onzz visit J'onzz's stored space ship, Samantha and Ruby Arias take a day off together.

While Mon-El attempts to get the Legion ship repowered by using a power source from J'onzz's ship, the Danvers sisters argue about the best approach to dealing with Purity. Kara is upset with Alex's cynicism, but Alex insists that compassion is not working on Purity and she is more harsh in her interrogation of the Worldkiller. But when Schott experiments on a crystal found at Julia's home, it activates Reign and gives Purity enough power to break out of her DEO prison! Outfitted with sonic dampeners by Schott, the DEO team attempts to recover Purity before Reign can recover her for her side.

"Both Sides Now" has an interesting foil of a-plot and b-plots. The a-plot puts Purity on a rise to power to destroy Earth; the b-plot finds Mon-El actually opening up with his marriage to Imra. As it turns out, Mon-El and Imra married to end a conflict between Earth and the moon Titan. The idea that Mon-El and Saturn Girl came together as an act to bring together planets plays off Purity and Reign's destructive streak surprisingly well.

The inclusion of the c-plot with Ruby being abandoned by her mother while they are out for a day dilutes the impact of Purity's arrival. Ruby is an excuse to bring Lena Luthor into the episode more, which is not a bad thing, but at this point, it is hard for viewers not to think that if all these people - Ruby, Lena, Alex and Kara - actually care so very much about Samantha Arias, they should be expressing that to one another and figuring out that Samantha is Reign. By this point, Lena Luthor is professionally worried about Samantha, Alex knows about her blackouts and all four people who supposedly love Samantha have a pretty decent timetable of incidents involving either Samantha or Reign . . . for a bunch of smart, concerned people, it seems like none are truly living up to their potential.

"Both Sides Now" is refreshing in that the character conflict between Alex and Kara is used for far more than melodrama. Kara and Alex have a philosophical difference as to how to approach Purity and the idea that compassion might be of greater use than violence in defeating the Worldkillers is a compelling one. While they are figuring the course of action out, though, episodes like "Both Sides Now" include some decent fight scenes.

On the Mon-El/Imra front, it is only in the episode's resolution that that becomes truly compelling. There is something hilarious to a super hero wondering why her spouse didn't call about an impending battle and it is well-delivered in "Both Sides Now." Chris Wood once again earns his pay by making Mon-El emotionally complicated. "Both Sides Now" does not have easy answers for the arranged marriage that developed into an actual romance.

Chyler Leigh and Melissa Benoist play the Danvers's sisters incredibly well in "Both Sides Now." Leigh and Benoist manage to infuse their fight scenes with a realistic tension that plays out like sisters who have learned to fight for decades. And when they resolve their conflict, they talk like sisters who love one another. The ease of the body language in their final scene together goes well beyond the lines; Benoist and Leigh have a wonderful realism to their performances.

Ultimately, "Both Sides Now" manages to be a decent introduction of a powerful new adversary that works well to highlight some of the strengths of the characters already in play on Supergirl!

7/10

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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"Myriad" Arrives On Supergirl

The Good: Performances, Special effects, Decent initial concept
The Bad: No real character development, Light on plot resolution.
The Basics: "Myriad" makes for a mini-climax to the first season of Supergirl, but it poorly reconciles its own (and the season's) concepts.


Throughout the first season of Supergirl, the Kryptonians who have served as the primary antagonists to Supergirl and the DEO have alluded to their big project, "Myriad." As one might expect from an episode entitled "Myriad," the endgame of the Kryptonians has arrived. In fact, it arrived at the climax of "World's Finest" (reviewed here!) and that end was a bit baffling. The Kryptonians who have opposed Supergirl have mentioned Myriad in the context of saving the Earth from an environmental catastrophe. So, when James Olsen was kissed by Kara Danvers at the climax of "World's Finest" and then essentially became a zombie, it's tough to see how Myriad - which appeared to be a mind-control initiative - was an environment-saving scheme.

"Myriad" opens with James Olsen in a zombified state, Lucy Lane in control of the D.E.O. and Alex Danvers on the run.

The D.E.O. has fallen to the Myriad protocol, which allows Non to release all of the Fort Rozz prisoners that the D.E.O. had in custody. Lane releases Maxima, but before she can return to Non, Supergirl arrives to stop Maxima and lock down the D.E.O. Supergirl visits the Fortress Of Solitude where she learns Kal-El is off-world. She also learns that Myriad was designed to take control of the citizen's minds in order to avert disaster on Krypton but Astrid and Non's plan was thwarted by Alura and Kara's father. With National City quarantined, only Supergirl, Cat Grant and Max Lord are independent of Myriad inside the city.

At their headquarters, Non and Indigo discuss National City and Indigo advises Non to kill Kara Zor-El once and for all. Meanwhile, Alex and J'onn get to Midvale where Alex turns to her mother for help. Max Lord devises a plan: a Kryptonite bomb that will make National City inhospitable to Kryptonians, but risks killing 8% of the population. Supergirl is susceptible to the idea that his plan is the best when Non has three people attempt to kill themselves and Supergirl can only save two of the three. Determined to come to her aid, J'onn and Alex head back to National City, while Indigo goads Non into using the human race as his personal army to take control of the galaxy. Indigo incapacitates J'onn and takes Alex to Non's headquarters, where Alex attempts to reason with Non. Influenced by Indigo, Non sets Alex - in a Kryptonite-powered super-suit - to kill Kara.

There's a cute joke in "Myriad" by Calista Flockhart pertaining to Harrison Ford, which Flockhart delivers with a perfect tongue-in-cheek delivery. But the explanation of how Kal-El has fallen under the influence of Myriad is deeply unsatisfying. The viewer is supposed to believe that because Kal-El was raised as a human, he would be susceptible to something that seems to be targeting genetic humans is pretty ridiculous. In a similar fashion, as Kara is tested by Non by having three people take a flying leap, Kara seems to be the last person in the world to understand just what Non is having them do.

Calista Flockhart gets a decent role in "Myriad" as she begins to open up to Supergirl. Flockhart sells the idea that Cat Grant has made a transition and it is an interesting idea, considering that when first Grant is shown in "Myriad," she references her reign of terror. Being able to balance the two ideas in such a short period of time is an interesting performance challenge for Flockhart, but by the time Grant gives her impassioned speech to Supergirl, there have been enough scenes that have Grant simply absorbing information being presented to her to make the transition seem reasonable.

Max Lord is presented as a decent tactician in "Myriad" and it is unfortunate that Myriad is not presented in a way that plays more toward Lord's strengths. Lord came up with a quick solution that has the potential to both save most of National City and kill what is statistically considered "acceptable losses." "Myriad" is lacking a decent scene or two where Max Lord attempts to take on his mind-controlled employees, has a victory or two, but then finds himself outflanked by the hive mind. Myriad is essentially a hive mind and in "Myriad," the titular "character" is remarkably docile. The viewer sees a city worth of people plugged in and working in Kryptonian, but not actually accomplishing anything, save to extort Supergirl.

The result is a penultimate episode that seems remarkably simplistic. Supergirl does not make a truly difficult decision, the villains do not grow or develop, that nature of the problem is not redefined in any way that is particularly compelling. Instead, the characters move incrementally and in a painfully problematic way. Alex Danvers and J'onn J'onzz return to National City, which carries the inherent risk of taxing J'onzz's psychic abilities and leaving Alex in the hands of her enemies, which is an entirely foreseeable consequence. With Supergirl relying upon Max Lord in National City, the fact that three smart people neglect to even momentarily consider that there is a potential benefit of continuing their original mission is disappointing. Had Alex and J'onn found Project Cadmus and Jeremiah Danvers, they would have - potentially - had an ally to use in liberating National City, as opposed to risking exactly where "Myriad" takes the heroes!

"Myriad" is okay, but not a spectacular hour of television.

For other works with mind control, please visit my reviews of:
"Yes Men" - Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Attack On Gorilla City" - The Flash
Jessica Jones - Season 1
"Observer Effect" - Star Trek: Enterprise

6/10

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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There Is Little "For Good" In Lillian's Return To Supergirl!

The Good: Lena Luthor manages to not go over to the Dark Side, Well-directed, Fine performances
The Bad: Simplistic and contradictory characterization, Simplistic plot, Not a lot of big character moments to afford interesting performances.
The Basics: Supergirl limps through "For Good" as it attempts to find a good use for Lena Luthor.


Ensemble pieces are tough to find a good balance for. Supergirl is an ensemble piece that began with two different ensembles - Kara Danvers's CatCo Worldwide Media coworkers and Supergirl's DEO coworkers - and has slowly blended the two. In the third season, Supergirl seems to be making a desperate attempt to re-establish two ensembles, with Lena Luthor taking over CatCo, which also is making James Olsen relevant again (since his Guardian character arc pretty much fizzled out). But, as the DEO is overrun with more characters (with the appearance of the Legion Of Super-Heroes from the future) and Kara's CatCo job life has been entirely minimized this season. The CatCo ensemble gets the a-plot in "For Good."

"For Good" follows on "Fort Rozz"(reviewed here!), though it diverges from the main plot of that episode. The Reign plotline, which was front and center in "Fort Rozz" is continued as a b-plot in "For Good." While the search for the Worldkillers mentioned in "Fort Rozz" starts out "For Good," the episode follows more on Lena Luthor than Reign.

Opening with Reign, Purity and Pestilence (the Kryptonian Worldkillers) descending on a burning Earth in Kara's dream, Kara returns to the DEO where Schott indicates that the Kryptonian heat signatures are not traceable, like Kara and Kal's. While the DEO searches for a correlation between Kryptonite and Kryptonian pods that crashed to Earth, Alex takes Samantha to L-Corp for an MRI. When James Olsen and Lena Luthor are out for breakfast, they run into Morgan Edge. Moments later, Edge's car drives itself into the river and explodes. Edge survives and accuses Luthor of trying to kill him at CatCo. At L-Corp, Alex is unable to find anything wrong with Samantha's brain on the MRI and she performs a blood test.

At CatCo, an attempt is made on Lena's life and Kara flies her friend to the DEO to try to save her life. When she regains consciousness, Lena listens to Olsen's description of the assassin used by the barista and she recognizes the technology used to kill that assassin as coming from Luthor Corp. Lena visits the manufacturer of the dissolving bullet and finds her mother there. While her mother encourages her to let her kill Morgan Edge, Lena leaves her mother and returns to CatCo. Lena enlists Kara to help her save Morgan Edge's life.

Morgan Edge's return to Supergirl serves to bring Lena Luthor back to the show's forefront. Luthor's main character conflict has been to avoid falling into the anti-alien villainy that has characterized her family. Luthor wants to avoid the anger that Lena and Lex were consumed by. In the second season, Lena was interesting when she was used outside the simplistic "will she go bad or won't she" type storyline. "For Good" has her irritated and egged on by Morgan Edge. Unfortunately, "For Good" reverts to the familiar conflict for Luthor, where she is irritated by Lillian and encouraged by her mother to kill Morgan Edge. Lena's assertion that she would never act on her instinct to kill Edge is easy to take at face value and boring to watch. It is impossible to suspend disbelief that Lena would take a meeting before calling the police with a tip about Lillian Luthor's return as opposed to believing that Lena is going to simply let her mother do her own thing.

"For Good" is a weird episode of Supergirl on the character front. Kara is sloppy - flying over National City as herself - and while it is mentioned within the episode, it is not satisfactorily dealt with. The amount of time it takes Kara to change into Supergirl is insignificant compared to blowing her cover in a city filled with people likely to be looking up to see Supergirl. Alex Danvers is oddly written as well in that she suddenly has incredible medical skills and no broken leg (which she had in the prior episode). Having recently been watching the first season of Supergirl, Alex Danvers's characterization never included such advanced medical training as the ability to diagnose multiple poisons on sight. And the return of Guardian rather suddenly feels more plot-convenient than organic for James Olsen . . . who acts more like Batman than an ethics-driven vigilante.

The oddities in the characters in "For Good" reach their peak with Samantha Arias. Arias has a support network of both Danvers women and Lena Luthor who refer to Samantha as "family." That definition for the relationship seems like a dramatic overstatement. Connecting Arias (Reign) to the main cast feels forced and rushed; if Maggie had been developed as Reign, the sense of character betrayal would actually work when the inevitable revelation comes.

"For Good" is unfortunately simplistic on many fronts. The drones used by Lillian Luthor miss multiple shots, Morgan Edge has the Digital Voice Recorder in his possession for well long-enough to delete the incriminating evidence and Lena Luthor is supposed to be smart enough to know that a confession gained under a literal threat of death would never be admissible - even to a grand jury! "For Good" hints at a moment of genuine complexity, but then backs horribly away from it; Lillian Luthor heavily implies in one of her lines that she is actually behind the attempt on her daughter's life, but Edge never backs away from his coerced confession. As well, Kara roughs up a bouncer at a party with the crowd-pleasing line "don't touch women" . . . when it is the guy's job to stop people from entering the party behind him. This is not a feminist issue, but it is treated (rather ridiculously and simplistically) like one.

The result is that Supergirl is hampered by its own bloated cast; Lena Luthor is a wonderful and intriguing character who is well-performed by Katie McGrath, but the writers and executive producers seem unable to figure out how to use her in a compelling way.

3.5/10

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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All The Women Return To "Fort Rozz!"

The Good: Good performances, Decent direction, Fun team-up plot
The Bad: Undermines all the main characters for the sake of plot convenience, Predictable
The Basics: "Fort Rozz" and Livewire return to Supergirl for a mediocre team-up storyline!


The DC Television Universe shows have one fundamental problem with their formula: all of them have a super-hero who is surrounded by an ensemble of strong supporting characters. All of the works in the DC Television Universe stand on the idea that no person is an island. The result is that all of the shows are team shows and in some ways Supergirl suffers the most. Unlike Arrow, The Flash, Legends Of Tomorrow or even Black Lightning, Supergirl is bloated with powerful characters and it makes it especially difficult to make compelling adversaries who are able to realistically threaten Supergirl or National City. Between Supergirl and the Martian Manhunter, though, there are few adversaries that the pair could not - realistically, based upon their abilities - take in a fight. Indeed, outside magical adversaries, a Kryptonian and a Martian are pretty much on par with every Earth-based DC Comics villain and with the additional support team of Superman in a neighboring city, allusions to Batman, and the full DEO team, Supergirl is unfortunately hero-heavy. In fact, it is so overloaded with heroes now that the Legion Of Super Heroes has arrived from the 31st Century, it is hard to suspend one's disbelief to believe that Reign - a Kryptonian who has a much greater charge of Earth's sun than Superman or Supergirl but is backed only by religious fanatics - could actually be such an effective adversary against so many heroes.

Despite the overpower aspect of the good guys on Supergirl, "Fort Rozz" begins with the idea that Reign is such an amazing threat that Kara has to enlist others to help her on a mission. "Fort Rozz" picks up after "Legion Of Super-Heroes" (reviewed here!) and the set-up is that Reign is such an inscrutable and powerful enemy that Kara has to make a new team to simply get intelligence on the Kryptonian. With Alex out of commission, Kara turns to Psi and Livewire for a team-up infiltration mission.

With DEO intelligence on Reign sorely lacking and Alex home with a broken leg (and taking care of Ruby), Kara learns that the only people who might have information on Reign are imprisoned in Fort Rozz. Fort Rozz has taken up orbit around a Blue Giant star, which leaves Supergirl without her powers and in a position that is fatal to anyone with a Y-chromosome. Kara assembles a team of women with powers she believes she can trust - Saturn Girl, Livewire, and Psi - to journey to Fort Rozz to find Jindah Kol Rozz, a Priestess imprisoned there who knows about Reign.

On Fort Rozz, the team discovers all of the cells open and all the imprisoned men there dead. When they are attacked by an inmate, Psi puts a whammy on Irma. After putting Psi and Irma in a safe place on the Legion ship to watch over their prisoner, Livewire and Supergirl head to find Jindah. Psychically attacked by Jindah Kol Rozz, Supergirl is entirely helpless and separated from her allies when Reign arrives to stop her!

"Fort Rozz" is a pretty familiar team-up episode which puts the heroine in a place where she is forced to rely upon her enemies. The episode adds predictable adversity, like a solar flare which will destroy Fort Rozz and puts a ticking clock on the mission in space, and Reign showing up on Fort Rozz. The whole episode has a fairly formulaic execution. Indeed, as Reign and Livewire square off, it is easier for viewers to recall that Supergirl was only able to defeat he with the aid of water and The Flash when reason failed. Reign's ability to harm Livewire is problematic given the precedent from past episodes.

Livewire has a decent arc in "Fort Rozz." She has gone underground because Reign has slaughtered many of her criminal friends. That makes for a sensible motivation for Livewire and her arc is well-executed in "Fort Rozz." Leslie Willis has grown and developed over the course of Supergirl and in "Fort Rozz" it shows. The way Kara reached Willis on her last appearance led her to make real changes and she is a surprisingly compelling character in this go-around.

The episode features a b-plot involving Alex and Ruby. Alex is contacted by Maggie, who wants her passport back. This is a fairly ridiculous conceit as Alex mentions that Maggie traveled a lot; she was not in a rush when she left the apartment she shared with Alex. As such, it is entirely unrealistic that Maggie would have left behind her passport . . . or that it would have taken months for her to ask for it back (whatwith her needing it to satisfy her penchant for travel). This leads Alex and Ruby to have a conversation and allows Alex to bond with Ruby over Ruby being bullied. As the two go off to confront Ruby's bully, the viewer has the sense that the show is moving inexorably in the direction of Alex ending up with custody of Ruby (thus giving her the child - having children being the issue that broke up her and Maggie - and making losing Maggie somehow "acceptable").

Unfortunately, "Fort Rozz" gives Supergirl a good new direction while undermining all the impact of the established villains. Jindah Kol Rozz alludes to Reign's potential allies who need to be found, which offers a good new direction for Supergirl. But Psi has the information about who Reign is and the means to transmit that information to Supergirl or J'onn J'onzz . . . who could put it together. Barring that, Alex now has key information that would allow her to recognize that Samantha Arias is Reign and given how smart and efficient Alex has been in the past, it is disappointing that "Fort Rozz" does not climax with her putting it together.

On the acting front, Sarah Douglas makes an awesome return to the Superman franchise - too briefly - in the role of Jindah Kol Rozz. She makes decent use out of her time on screen, but is given shockingly little to do in the episode. It is Brit Morgan who rules over "Fort Rozz." Morgan manages to be snarky as Livewire, but exhibit an emotional side that shows more range than she was previously allowed. Livewire is hurt by the loss of her friends and scared that she might be next and Morgan plays that emotional gamut well.

Ultimately, though, "Fort Rozz" is a very average episode of Supergirl that is supposed to feel like the stakes are being raised, but instead plods along making the viewer wonder just how inefficient Supergirl and her allies truly must be.

For other Supergirl episodes with Livewire, please visit my reviews of:
"We Can Be Heroes"
"Worlds Finest"
"Livewire"

5/10

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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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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The First Supergirl Crossover: "Worlds Finest" Is Blandly Entertaining.

The Good: Good use of humor, Decent on-screen chemistry between Grant Gustin and Melissa Benoist
The Bad: Little character continuity, Generic villains, Simplistic plot
The Basics: The Flash ends up on Supergirl in "Worlds Finest," which is fun, but not much more than that.


The crossover events on the DC Television Universe shows have become an annual tradition. Ever since Arrow first appeared on The Flash, even being in different universes could not stop the crossover phenomenon. The first Supergirl crossover episode was "Worlds Finest." "Worlds Finest" is more or less a standalone episode whose sole purpose is to bring The Flash to Supergirl and give the two heroes two villains to stop in a fun, team-up kind of way.

"Worlds Finest" comes after "Manhunter" (reviewed here!) put J'onn J'onzz and Alex Danvers on the run together. And Siobhan Smythe, having nearly fallen to her death, saved herself using a superhuman scream, which revealed to fans in the know (who already figured it out by her very name) that she was the Silver Banshee. "Worlds Finest" is set up to have Supergirl squaring off against two of her most popular and powerful villains and The Flash arriving to help her save National City.

Siobhan Smythe is taken to the DEO where she is examined by doctors there while Kara tries to win back the trust of the citizens of National City. Schott, Danvers and the DEO doctors are baffled by what Smythe might be, when she appears human. Meanwhile, Lucy Lane gets familiar with her new role at the DEO, Smythe sees her interact with Livewire and realizes that they share people they want revenge upon. While Kara gets romantic advice from Cat Grant, Smythe begins to suffer the effects of her physical transformation into a possessed woman with super powers. When Smythe goes to the CatCo offices, she tries to kill Kara and when Kara is thrown out the window and before she can be killed from the fall, she is rescued by The Flash.

After Barry Allen gives her a proper introduction, Kara returns to CatCo to introduce him to Olsen and Schott. Grant tries to name the new superhero in National City, while Smythe visits her aunt to learn the history of the Silver Banshee. Silver Banshee breaks Livewire out of the DEO prison and the two team up to take on Supergirl. When Barry and Kara fight Livewire and Silver Banshee to a stalemate, the two have to withdraw to build the technology that will allow them so survive an attack from the Silver Banshee. The villains capture Cat Grant and force a showdown.

"Worlds Finest" is fun in the relationship between Kara Danvers and Barry Allen. Allen and Danvers have great on-screen chemistry, but in order to sell the fun aspect of the episode, Melissa Benoist has to play Kara and Supergirl with a bubbly quality that almost completely redefines the character. Benoist and Grant Gustin worked on Glee together and it seems like they are enjoying the reunion on Supergirl in a way that makes both of their characters seem uncharacteristically happy.

Peppered throughout "Worlds Finest" is the "will they or won't they" character tension between Danvers and Olsen. Danvers is given trite advice from Cat Grant on how to win over James Olsen and it involves trickery and techniques, as opposed to being honest and genuine. That sense that Grant would endorse ridiculous games in winning over a love interest undermines Cat Grant's character and Supergirl. Supergirl viewers deserve better advice about forming adult relationships than "withold until he notices you."

"Worlds Finest" has Alex and J'onn J'onzz on the run the entire episode, but Kara is so bubbly about the appearance of The Flash and teasing James Olsen that she does not truly suffer any emotional consequences to her sister's absence.

In a similar way, the first appearance of the Silver Banshee is muted some by a dilution of her essential character traits. Smythe's aunt tells her that she can purge the spirit of revenge by killing the person who has wronged her. That is fine, albeit basic. But in teaming up with Livewire, Silver Banshee loses all focus on her desire to get revenge upon Kara. The result is something of a generic adversary who just showed up.

And that is how much of "Worlds Finest" goes: it is fun, without much reason, the villains are opposition without much sensibility or fury and the episode serves only to bring Supergirl to the attention of viewers of (at the time) the CW DC Television Universe shows.

For other Supergirl crossover episodes, please visit my reviews of:
"Medusa"
"Duet" - The Flash
"Crisis On Earth-X, Part 1"

4.5/10

For other movie and television 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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The Martian "Manhunter" Is Given A Proper Introduction To Supergirl!

The Good: Good performances, Decent moments of characterization
The Bad: Very simple plot, Heavy on exposition (plot and character), Generic villain
The Basics: Supergirl deals with the presence of the Martian Manhunter by revealing his backstory in "Manhunter!"


Once Hank Henshaw - who fans of the whole Superman franchise had a reason to be excited about appearing in Supergirl - was revealed to be J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, viewers were set up with something of a narrative time bomb. The Martian Manhunter is considered a pretty a-list DC Comics character to begin with, so when characters beyond Kara and Alex Danvers on Supergirl learned of his true identity, the show would have to try to figure out how best to balance the nearly invincible with a character who is virtually omniscient, at least in relation to dealing with other characters. The process of reshuffling the characters on Supergirl to more accurately explore their abilities and experiences begins properly in "Manhunter."

"Manhunter" picks up after "Falling" (reviewed here!) and it is impossible to discuss without some references to the prior episode. After all, in "Falling," Supergirl was contaminated with Red Kryptonite, essentially went evil and in the process of bringing her down to cure her, Hank Henshaw was exposed as a shapechanging alien and brought back to the DEO as a prisoner.

National City is afraid of Supergirl following the incident with the red Kryptonite, with crime rising and Kara feeling depressed. While James Olsen mans Cat Grant's phones, Schott acts as a shoulder for Siobhan Smythe to cry on. Smythe wants revenge upon Kara for getting her fired. At the DEO, Alex visits J'onn in his prison, where he implores his employee to distance herself from him. The military arrives to prosecute those who knew about J'onzz before he was revealed. Lucy Lane and Colonel Harper debrief J'onn to learn his story. While Alex is interrogated, Smythe breaks into Kara's e-mail at CatCo and sends a message to Cat, impersonating Kara. When Alex is arrested for lying to Harper and Lane, J'onzz and Danvers are shipped to Project Cadmus.

Hank Henshaw and Dr. Jeremiah Danvers, ten years prior, were working at the DEO. Henshaw had his team headed to South America where the DEO is tracking the oldest, most dangerous alien they had yet encountered. Dr. Danvers is hesitant to hurt the alien and, in the jungle, he encounters J'onn J'onzz. When Hank Henshaw attempts to kill J'onn, Dr. Danvers steps in to save the Martian's life. Dr. Danvers is stabbed in the process and J'onzz replaces Hank Henshaw at the DEO.

The relationship between Alex Danvers and Hank Henshaw/J'onn J'onzz is strengthened in "Manhunter." Earlier in the season, Alex worked through her feelings of betrayal in relation to J'onzz, so it is refreshing to see Alex completely committed to the DEO and reconciled with J'onzz. While J'onzz is being interrogated, Alex works to find a way to get him released. Alex's loyalty is well-portrayed in "Manhunter." Alex's history with Hank Henshaw is fleshed out and the idea that Alex was essentially a drunk party girl on a course for self-destruction when Henshaw recruited her is an intriguing twist.

A surprisingly little amount of time in "Manhunter" is spent with Dr. Danvers and J'onn J'onzz building a bond and establishing a friendship. The two bond over their daughters and Danvers's unwillingness to kill J'onzz after J'onzz rescues him and realizes he is not dangerous. The foundation for a friendship between the two men is laid out satisfactorily, though it is very fast that the replacing of Hank Henshaw occurs within the narrative.

The introduction of Project Cadmus in "Manhunter" is a decent bit of foreshadowing for the second season of Supergirl. In fact, there is an added richness to some of the second season episodes because events in "Manhunter" that appear to be straightforward and simple from the perspective they are given in this episode are fleshed out later. Unfortunately, while Cadmus becomes a powerful and dangerous on-screen adversary in the second season, Colonel Harper in "Manhunter" is utterly generic. Harper is a Marine, who was personally betrayed by J'onzz and that makes him angry and dogmatic in an entirely predictable way.

Similarly, Lucy Lane is presented in "Manhunter" as a jaded ex-girlfriend. Both Lane and Harper, in real-world circumstances, would have to recuse themselves from the assignment involving J'onzz and Danvers. That leap makes the science fiction elements seem more ridiculous than they are compelling.

In the end, "Manhunter" fills in important gaps in the Supergirl narrative, but it does so in a painfully blunt and unimaginative way. That makes for an episode that is more average than it ever is exceptional.

For other works with Zayne Emory, please visit my reviews of:
"Alex" - Supergirl
Crazy. Stupid. Love.

5/10

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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Supergirl "Falling" Transitions From Generic To Painful In A Clever Way!

The Good: Good performances, Moments of character
The Bad: Simple plot, Issues with character/plot progression
The Basics: In a blatant bit of cross-promotion, Supergirl puts Cat Grant on The Talk while Supergirl is mutated by red Kryptonite.


There's a certain irony to going through Supergirl's first season now, years later; the show has since moved from CBS to The CW (with the other DC Television Universe shows) and some of the elements of the earlier episodes play very differently now. One that seems almost laughable is the way Supergirl was used, the way many network television shows are, to cross-promote their other programs. While the DC Television Universe does that at least once a year with its crossover events, while Supergirl was on CBS, it was used to promote other CBS programs, like The Talk (CBS's answer to The View). In "Falling," Supergirl was used as a tool to try to get the audiences of Supergirl and The Talk to look in on one another by including an "episode" of The Talk in the Supergirl narrative. It is, sadly, a pretty blatant and clumsy attempt at cross-promotion more than it is organic storytelling.

Following on the heels of "Solitude" (reviewed here!), which was noticeably lacking in Max Lord, "Falling" throws Lord back into the mix for the first time since he left DEO custody, armed with the knowledge of Supergirl's mundane identity and her connections with the DEO. And, as soon as the crossover with The Talk gets done, "Falling" gets going in a fairly decent direction.

Cat Grant appears on The Talk, where she is snarky to the hosts, but says positive things about Supergirl. Grant returns to CatCo where she continues to treat her employees badly and, after Kara witnesses Schott and Smythe hooking up in a closet, she reveals that Lucy Lane has quit. Kara is called in to the DEO, where Senator Crane is visiting and being more outwardly affectionate to J'onzz. Supergirl is called away to deal with a fire and, after rescuing people from the fire, she is exposed to red Kryptonite and goes rogue. Affected by the red Kryptonite, Kara gives herself a makeover and starts exhibiting constant anger. When she is tasked with capturing a K'Hund, she beats him down, then gets bored and lets him go.

The next day in the office, Siobhan Smythe tries to shop a story to Grant about Supergirl letting the villain go. Smythe attempts to sell the story to The Daily Planet, which Kara uses to get Smythe fired. After aggressively hitting on James Olsen, Supergirl is called in to speak with Cat Grant. Fed up with Cat Grant, Supergirl throws Grant off her own building. As the DEO team recognizes what happened to Kara, Max Lord arrives and reveals that he attempted to make Kryptonite and the experiment went wrong. While Max Lord searches for a cure to his red Kryptonite, Grant denounces Supergirl and Alex works to save her sister from herself.

"Falling" continues to illustrate how Cat Grant is a terrible corporate leader. Grant starts the episode snarky to the hosts of The Talk - it's not witty or sassy, it's just mean the way she treats some of the hosts - and returns to the office where she continues to address her employees in demeaning and dismissive ways. Grant's ability to create connections that would allow her to rise through the corporate world has now passed the point of suspension of disbelief; she is so mean and inefficient with the way she treats her employees that it is unrealistic she could have achieved her accomplishments.

Kara Danvers getting sudden attention at work for changing her wardrobe is another bit of suspension of disbelief a bit hard to bear. Danvers works at a major big business with hundreds of employees and changing her outfit alone seems like not enough to get people to suddenly look up from their own lives to notice her.

"Falling" makes some good points about how a hero might feel about being constantly relied upon. When Supergirl confronts Cat Grant, she has some legitimate ideas that would come from deep psychoanalysis. Unfortunately, the subtlety of the character concepts and conflicts within Kara Danvers are well-written, but when they are revealed in "Falling," it is after an unfortunate amount of generic "bad girl" outbursts. As the red Kryptonite continues to affect Kara, the outbursts become more angry, less subtle and actually make it seem like Kara is sick.

Melissa Benoist once again earns her paycheck by playing a new skill set in portraying Kara as both angry and ill. Instead of simply being powerful and dumb (like moments of her portrayal of Bizarro), Benoist gets to tap into anger and vulnerability in ways she has not been allowed to show on Supergirl before. The onscreen chemistry between Benoist and Chyler Leigh continues to be absolutely amazing. The two play their characters' relationship like that of realistic siblings and both rise to every occasion offered to them.

"Falling," outside its cross-promotional aspect, continues the general upward motion of the first season of Supergirl by, generally, playing well the "evil side of the hero" conceit.

For other works with Sara Gilbert, please visit my reviews of:
The Big Bang Theory - Season 2
The Big Bang Theory - Season 1
Laws Of Attraction

6.5/10

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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"Solitude" Makes For A Better Supergirl!

The Good: Acting, Moments of actual character, Decent plot progression, Good direction/special effects
The Bad: Simple plot, Simple solution to the powerful villain, Continuity issue (failure to utilize Max Lord in the episode), Cat Grant.
The Basics: Supergirl spends one-on-one time with James Olsen in "Solitude," which gives a chance for all of the actors to (eventually) show off their range!


One of the big issues with the first season of Supergirl was that, in building the show's villains, the series inadvertently made them (even momentarily) more compelling than the heroes. For a decent period in the first season, the Myriad program that the Kryptonians Non and Astra are working on appears to be the aliens attempting to save Earth from an environmental catastrophe. So, when the show did Alien Of The Week episodes that were related to the recurring villains, it helped to better characterize the villains as bad people, despite their apparent environmentalism. "Solitude" was one such episode.

"Solitude" picks up after "Truth, Justice And The American Way" (reviewed here!) and with Non and Max Lord being the season's primary antagonists at this point, the introduction of Indigo as an ally of Non helps renew the idea that Non is more than just a misunderstood environmental terrorist. "Solitude" also begins with Kara out of the DEO, having left because she feels she cannot work with Hank Henshaw any longer. Since Alex killed Kara's aunt Astra, there has been a narrative time bomb waiting to go off.

Thirteen years ago in the Phantom Zone, Kara Zor-El unwittingly leads Fort Rozz out. In the present, Kara is visited by Alex, who tries to get Kara to return to the DEO. Failing that, Kara goes to work where she squares off with Siobhan Smythe. When Cat Grant refuses to use hacked data from an adultery website, Smythe takes the information to use herself. Shortly thereafter, Indigo hacks CatCo and threatens chaos. To prove her point, she turns all of the traffic lights in National City green. While Winn Schott attempts to locate the hacker, the alien Indigo reveals herself to Supergirl. After menacing Supergirl's friends, Indigo escapes through the internet and meets up with Non.

When Alex recruits Schott to help the DEO stop Indigo, Olsen suggests to Kara that they visit the Fortress Of Solitude. There, Kara learns that Indigo was considered the worst prisoner in Fort Rozz. Olsen is a little disturbed by how Kara turns to him for help, as her sole teammate in the attempt to stop Indigo, and his ire grows when he returns to CatCo and is reminded by Lucy that they were supposed to have a date the night before. Lucy and Schott, independent of one another, come to the conclusion that Indigo's target is General Mathers. Indigo's plan to uncover Mathers's online footprint reveals to the agents and superhero that Brainiac-8 (as Indigo is also known) intends to use the General's access to launch a nuclear missile at National City!

Cat Grant continues to be characterized in "Solitude" as an absolutely terrible leader. Grant is supposed to be a strong woman who has built a major multinational company, but in "Solitude," she continues to be characterized as, unfortunately, a maniacal bitch. Instead of inspiring or illustrating any level of charisma that could make it realistic that she could have risen to the heights she has, she hits her employees' soft points (calling Winn "Toy Maker Junior"), referring to her assistants as "Tweedle Dee" to let them duke it out for her affection, and making unrealistic and ridiculous demands (asking Smythe, who just started work at CatCo, to contact her broker, without any realistic expectation that Smythe would have that information).

At the DEO, the relationship between Hank Henshaw and Alex Danvers is very realistically played out in "Solitude." The two had a friendship before Supergirl arrived on the scene and when Henshaw observes that the DEO has existed well before Supergirl. The idea that the DEO could - and should - operate without the assistance of Supergirl makes sense and is a compelling direction that is under-developed. In a similar fashion, it is very cool and makes great plot sense for Alex to attempt to recruit Schott in order to try to thwart Indigo. In some ways, Supergirl suffers when it insists upon being a team series because the team portion of the show existed as a fairly well-oiled machine prior to Kara coming out publicly.

Indigo is an instantly compelling villain for Supergirl and her characterization is such that it makes it almost entirely unrealistic that she could be defeated. "Solitude" is missing something from its failure to include Max Lord. Lord's entire powerbase is built on gathering information and being connected to electronic devices; the idea that to defeat Indigo might require a Revolution>-style power outage would have a direct effect upon Max Lord's agenda and industry. His failure to appear in "Solitude" is somewhat problematic for his overall arc in Supergirl. Indigo is so powerful and well-characterized that the solution Schott comes up with to defeat her seems painfully simplistic.

The interpersonal drama in "Solitude" actually plays out comparatively well. James Olsen has prioritized his relationships with Supergirl and Kara above his day to day relationship with Lucy Lane and in "Solitude," that becomes more evident than in the past. Olsen told Kara the story of how he got his father's camera and Kara inadvertently reveals that story to Lane, which clues Lane in to the idea that Olsen is more open with other people than with her. The realism of that type of subtle moment plays out better than much of the melodrama in the first season of Supergirl and it makes the inevitable feeling that Olsen and Lane cannot endure together feel much more true than a story point.

Laura Vandervoort and Jeremy Jordan dominate the positive moments of "Solitude." Jordan makes Winn Schott feel utterly indispensable and while the episode telegraphs the connection between Schott and Smythe, Jordan makes it feel more organic than it otherwise could. Vandervoort plays Indigo with a coldness and malice that is very different from her other villainous characters. The physical performance Vandervoort gives expands her range while also playing to her strengths for playing an adversary.

Actually, all of the performances in "Solitude" allow the performers to actually show off more depth than usual, though it takes most of the episode for the actors to be given the opportunity. Mehcad Brooks and Jenna Dewan Tatum play a break-up scene amazingly well without a hint of melodrama. And the final full scene of "Solitude" gives Melissa Benoist, Chyler Leigh, and David Harewood the chance to interact with subtlety and subtext beyond their lines and make a legitimate tearjerker of a scene.

In the end, "Solitude" manages to course correct the first season of Supergirl astonishingly well while still using the essential plot conceit of the Alien Of The Week style episode!

For other works with Laura Vandervoort, please visit my reviews of:
Ted
V - Season 2
V - Season 1

8/10

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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The Ethics Of "Truth, Justice And The American Way" Guide Supergirl Well!

The Good: Decent performances, Good themes
The Bad: Simplistic plot, Irksome character conceit
The Basics: "Truth, Justice And The American Way" refocuses Supergirl on the ethics of imprisonment when the Master Jailer from Fort Rozz starts killing escaped alien prisoners!


As I continue my way through the first season of Supergirl, I am reminded why it took me three takes to get through it for review. The show did not initially grab me, whatwith its overstated view of its characters as women and their place in the world the series created. On the third (at least) watch through, I'm caught by simple aspects of the plot and characters that annoy me more than the thematic heavyhandedness of the early episodes. As "Truth, Justice And The American Way" begins, Supergirl is falling back on a very simple character time bomb conceit and the familiarity of that trope is irksome.

"Truth, Justice And The American Way" follows immediately upon "For The Girl Who Has Everything" (reviewed here!) and it is impossible to discuss the follow-up episode without spoilers for the prior episode. After all, despite the set-up with Kara in an alternate reality in her own mind (thanks to a parasitic organism stuck on her by Non), "For The Girl Who Has Everything" led into a climactic battle between Astra (Kara's aunt) and Non and the DEO team, with Astra being killed. Alex stabbed Astra through the back with a Kryptonite sword in order to save the life of J'onn J'onzz, but before Alex could tell Supergirl the truth, J'onzz took responsibility for the murder. "Truth, Justice And The American Way," then, begins with the secret that Alex Danvers and J'onn J'onzz share that the viewer knows will inevitably come out and have an effect upon Kara's relationships and the waiting for that little time bomb to go off is more immediately tiresome, as opposed to compelling; the pretense makes Supergirl just like every other super hero show - attempting to hinge upon the reversal that comes when the truth comes out as opposed to characters being honest with one another and actually dealing with the consequences of their actions like adults.


Kara and Alex are hanging out as Kara gets anxious about returning to work. Non appears and takes Kara off to send Astra's body off into space. Kara returns to work to find that Cat Grant has hired Siobhan Smythe as another assistant. Grant believes that Max Lord has been abducted and sets Lucy Lane and James Olsen upon finding him, which puts Olsen and Danvers in conflict with one another over the DEO's methods. At the DEO, the team hunts for an alien in human skin, but when Alex leads a team to capture him, she and the DEO are stopped by an intervening force. The individual is the Master Jailer and after abducting the DEO's suspect, he kills the alien, who was an escapee from Fort Rozz.

When the DEO figures out that the Master Jailer is killing escapees in the order of their incarceration, Supergirl flies out to try to save the next alien target and stop the Master Jailer. Cat Grant tells James Olsen a story about one of her regrets and in the process, Olsen gets the strength to stand up to Kara Danvers about the DEO's incarceration of Maxwell Lord. When Supergirl and Alex follow a lead to try to stop their suspect, the Master Jailer reveals himself and captures Supergirl. In the prison, Kara meets with Professor Luzano and becomes sympathetic to his plight.

"Truth, Justice And The American Way" works to redefine both Supergirl and Kara Danvers and her sense of ethics. James Olsen is the moral core of Supergirl in "Truth, Justice And The American Way" and he advocates for fundamental American rights, like due process. Olsen does a good job of advocating for important ideas that have long been corrupted or ignored in recent American history. It is refreshing to hear any character rail about Guantanamo Bay and comparing the DEO facility to that atrocity to human rights is an important way to keep the debate about its existence alive in the public's consciousness. Olsen's argument that the DEO has overstepped its mandate by imprisoning Max Lord is a compelling one, well-executed in the episode.

Kara is attempting to keep herself and her family safe and she is guided by anger throughout much of "Truth, Justice And The American Way." Kara is furious about the death of her aunt Astra. Throughout "Truth, Justice And The American Way," Kara needles J'onn and rejects his authority at the DEO. The general idea about that is all right, but it is part of the ticking bomb conceit that at some point Alex will tell Kara the truth. As a result, it feels more obnoxious than compelling. It is especially frustrating to see the conceit playing out given that in "For The Girl Who Has Everything" Kara prioritized Alex over her illusory life on Krypton. As such, Kara's concept of family is malleable and the idea that Alex or J'onn killed Astra to save anyone seems like something Kara could adapt to.

Italia Ricci bursts into Supergirl as Siobahn Smythe, instantly establishing the character as a formidable presence in the life of Kara Danvers. In addition to finally giving comic book fans a definitive pronunciation of the character's name, the writers of Supergirl get off a good crack at Cat Grant given that she is able to accurately pronounce the future antagonist's name. Ricci has the look and feel to play someone who would attract Cat Grant's attention and actually be able to impress her.

Mehcad Brooks gives one of his best performances as James Olsen as he makes a compelling ethical argument in favor of human rights. Brooks makes the articulate audience credibly and he has the presence on screen to hold his own opposite Melissa Benoist's Kara. While Benoist gets through her lines just fine, she is given far less compelling material in "Truth, Justice And The American Way." Kara is, unfortunately, saddled with two melodramatic subplots as she is needlessly angry at J'onn and given an immediately forced conflict with Siobahn (who, realistically, can free Kara up to do more of her superhero work without drawing as much attention to herself).

Ultimately, "Truth, Justice And The American Way" does a decent job of presenting its case in the context of an "Alien Of The Week" plot that is the predictable form of Supergirl . . . at least in its first season.

6/10

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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Supergirl "For The Girl Who Has Everything" Meanders Awkwardly!

The Good: Melissa Benoist's performance, Decent final battle sequence
The Bad: Stiff writing, Poor characterization for J'onn J'onzz, Predictable plot development
The Basics: "For The Girl Who Has Everything" is unfortunately erratic Supergirl, taking a pretty basic science fiction trope and executing it in the stiffest, most predictable, way.


One of the nice things about hiatus time is that I finally get to catch up on things that have either slipped by the wayside or I'm working to catch up on. Before the third season of Supergirl began, I was working to catch up on reviewing the first season episodes of the show. I was not into Supergirl to begin with, but through the show's second season, I got into it and I reviewed it - as I do with many other programs - as it went along. So, I was going back to the first season and when the third season began, I had to put those reviews on hold. Fortunately, with only one current show airing new episodes, I have a chance to go back to finishing the first season. My return to the first season comes with "For The Girl Who Has Everything."

"For The Girl Who Has Everything" follows on the final scene of "Bizarro" (reviewed here!), which found Kara returning to her apartment and being attacked by something on her ceiling. "For The Girl Who Has Everything" is, essentially, an alternate reality episode of Supergirl that finds Kara trapped in her own mind living out an alternate existence.

Kara wakes up after being attacked by the parasite on her ceiling and she finds herself in her bed on Krypton, being ministered to by the Kryptonian medical droid. Kara is surprised when her mother tells her that she is recovering from Argus Fever. At CatCo, Cat Grant demands Kara show up - believing that she is hiding because she broke up with Cat's son - and Olsen and Schott check in with Alex Danvers, who informs them that Kara is not out in DEO business. Finding Kara at her apartment and bringing her to the DEO, the team discovers that Kara is under the influence of an alien parasite, the Black Mercy. At their lair, Non admits to Astra that he set the Black Mercy on Kara in order to keep her incapacitated so they could proceed, unimpeded, with their Myriad Project. While Kara is on Krypton in her mind, Cat Grant demands that Winn Schott produce Kara, so J'onn J'onzz impersonates Kara to help her keep her job.

While at Kara's apartment, Astra appears and gives Alex the information needed to save Kara. While Alex works with Maxwell Lord to enter Kara's hallucination state, Schott joins the DEO team to form a theory as to what Non might be doing and why he might need the planetary satellite network off-line. As worldwide solar flares knock the planet's satellites off-line, Alex meets with Kara in Kara's mind to try to convince her to reject the Black Mercy's false reality.

"For The Girl Who Has Everything" makes a stab at fleshing out the characters, but has a weird way of undermining them. Alex Danvers talks to the Alura hologram and makes a lot of explicit character type remarks. The dialogue in the scene is painfully predictable, as Alex bares her soul to the hologram in an unfortunately clunky way. The attempts Alex makes to express herself sound inorganic, like exposition and character descriptions, as opposed to dialogue from a real character.

J'onn J'onzz is unfortunately weakened by his characterization in "For The Girl Who Has Everything." J'onzz is a powerful telepath and in "For The Girl Who Has Everything" he is treated like a complete chump. First, while impersonating Danvers at the office, J'onzz is unable to anticipate Cat Grant's needs or preferences, which makes little sense for his abilities. When Grant demands to know what the most important thing that Grant asked of Kara when she interviewed her, Grant would naturally be thinking of the answer. J'onzz should have been able to read that thought and answer correctly. Similarly, the whole Black Mercy villain is an intimidating one, but using Max Lord and a technological connection to the story makes far less sense than J'onn "mind melding" with the incapacitated Kara and incepting her with the idea of leaving the hallucination. Until the episode's final scene, J'onn J'onzz is woefully misrepresented.

Non continues to be a pretty generic villain in "For The Girl Who Has Everything." Non's agenda, Myriad, is utilizing Maxwell Lord's technology for its next step, with the solar storm as a smoke screen. The purpose of Myriad remains unclear in "For The Girl Who Has Everything," but Non and Astra continue to pursue it violently.

Ultimately, there is nothing truly special about "For The Girl Who Has Everything" until the final act, where the episode becomes a pretty basic and simple resolution to the prior character conflicts that Supergirl had been wrestling with.

For other works that have characters trapped in alternate realities, please visit my reviews of:
"Far Beyond The Stars" - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
"Duet" - The Flash
"A Little Song And Dance" - Agent Carter

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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