[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers.]
Director: Larry Teng
Writers: Andrew Kreisberg, Caitlin Parrish & Greg Berlanti
Stars: Melissa Benoist, Mechad Brooks & Chyler Leigh
Summary
James Olsen and Mon-El must step up when Supergirl and Martian Manhunter are severely injured.
Positives
The writing team treats Alex’s sexuality with a lot of heart. There are several touching moments dealing with her trying to come out to Kara. I like how hard this is for her. Sexuality is so complicated and our society only makes it more complicated by trying to simplify it. All of that is creating conflict in Alex and it puts in her in a vulnerable state that she does not like to be in.
It was cool to get Parasite without knowing he was the villain. I had no idea that he was the antagonist of the episode from watching the trailer which is cool. It’s nice to be surprised.
While I’m still not completely sold on James as a vigilante, it was a lot of fun to see him fight Parasite. It’s a good action scene and the suit is great. The moment the shield comes out is a standout scene. I do hope the suit is a prototype and we get a blue and gold version later.
Drunk Supergirl is amazing. It was nice to see her let loose a little and have some fun. That doesn’t happen enough for her. And Melissa Benoist plays it hilariously.
Negatives
While it was cool to see him, the CGI on Parasite is pretty weak. It’s a TV budget and I get that but he never quite looked solid. The design didn’t do much for me either. His face reminds me of the Lizard from The Amazing Spider-Man. It just looks goofy.
I hate that James and Winn are going to lie to Kara about James being the Guardian. Friends don’t do that. And it’s only happening in order to manufacture cheap drama later. They don’t even have a good reason. James just thinks she would try to stop him. But he doesn’t know that and he’s not giving her a chance. That’s not fair and it’s selfish.
Just like with Kara and James, the writers tease us with a relationship and then do nothing with it essentially wasting everyone’s time. If Maggie and Alex are not going to be an item, I don’t know what the point of hinting at a relationship was. It allows Alex to come out but that’s it. She immediately gets rejected and will probably go back to her old habits of repressing her feelings. The resolution to Alex’s story in this episode feels like taking steps back after serious progress.
Kara is hardcore judging Mon-El again about the same things she judged him for last week. Except, in last week’s episode, she was wrong and in this one, she’s right. They are contradicting something that just happened a week ago. Kara’s big conflict in that episode was that she was expecting Mon-El to be just like her which isn’t fair to Mon-El. Everyone needs to find their own path. In this episode, Kara expects him to be a superhero just like her again. There is a potential argument for Mon-El to be a hero because he has the physical ability to. He has the responsibility to help people because he can. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean superhero. That is not his only option; he doesn’t even know what his options are. And instead of actually trying to help him figure that out, Kara beats him up and judges him. This was all fantastic last week when it was acknowledged as a flaw for Kara but it’s not in this week’s episode. She learned nothing which is a huge problem in the Berlanti-verse. No character ever really grows or learns from their mistakes. They just keep going in circles.
Verdict
This is an okay episode. Most of my enjoyment comes from Alex’s story and the action scenes. Both of those work really well especially Alex’s conflicted feelings on her sexuality. As cool as it was to see Parasite, he is very generic with very little to no personality. There’s nothing to this episode outside of Alex’s sexuality. I don’t like how Kara is treating Mon-El and the episode directly reversing an arc she just had. This is probably the weakest episode of the season so far despite its highlights.
