[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers.]
Director: Jesse Warn
Writers: Robert Rovner, Caitlin Parrish & Andrew Kreisberg
Starring: Melissa Benoist, Mehcad Brooks & Chyler Leigh
Summary
Supergirl deals with the loss of Mon-El by ignoring her life as Kara Danvers and only focusing on being a superhero.
Positives
I am a fan of the New 52 Supergirl stories, so it’s fun to see Melissa Benoist’s version resemble that a little more, especially since Reign is part of this season. Kara is angry and cold which Benoist plays well. Her personality has been forced into a darker place and I like seeing that. She sacrificed a person she loves for the sake of everyone else. I imagine that makes her terrified to have any sort of relationship. That makes her vulnerable and she’s scared to be put in that situation again. In her head, it’s probably easier to not have these relationships than to be forced into scenarios in which she has to sacrifice the people she loves. What if it’s Lena next time? What if it’s Alex? Additionally, the episode ends it in a nice way. It’s subtle; she’s not magically better but she’s starting to relax and reach out. I hope she isn’t completely back to the way she used to be by next episode and that she more naturally finds herself again.
Alex has a sweet subplot that I really enjoyed. The writers have kept her feelings for her father very consistent and I buy that she’s hesitant to have a wedding without him there. And this leads to a great scene between Alex and J’onn which is the highlight of the episode. There’s also some good humor about Alex’s overly serious demeanor and these moments are genuinely funny.
The episode features great action. There’s a car chase that starts the episode; it’s exciting and an excellent way to start the season. Kara gets to show off some cool laser dodging skills later on and she fights a submarine. It’s awesome.
Negatives
Odette Annable premieres as our big bad for the year, Reign. She’s given a small role just to establish her and she’s fine for the most part. But there’s a point in the episode in which the character is hysterical, looking for her daughter. And the acting is not great. It’s very over the top. The scene is intended to be intense and sad but it comes across as awkward.
The opening and closing scenes of the episode use pop music which the show typically does along with the other CW shows. However, the scenes would be so much more effective without them. These songs make scenes cheesy that would otherwise be solid. Both of these scenes are silent with some great camera work. The scenes could work and be emotional with Blake Neely’s score underneath. But obvious pop songs make it feel cheap and kind of lame. I get that Kara’s daydreaming; I don’t need a song called Daydreaming to get that point across.
Verdict
This is a solid start. I like the place Kara is in emotionally and how the fall out of last season has affected the show. The action is cool with some solid cinematography. I have some minor quibbles in certain scenes but the great scenes more than make up for that. This is an enjoyable episode.
