National City has several unexpected visitors coming to town. First, the Senator Miranda Crane who is pushing an anti-alien agenda. Her visit and political rally is threatened when a white martian shows up attacking Hank Henshaw and the DEO. To further complicate things for Supergirl, Cat Grant’s estranged son, Adam Foster, has come into town after receiving a letter that Kara sent in Cat’s name.
The Positive
Kara has taken her own feelings about her mother and added what Cat’s regrets about her son and finished a letter that Cat started. It makes for a very touching opening to the show that ultimately pays off in the end as only Kara can seem to mediate the troubled mother-son relationship.
The main focus of the episode is dealing with the Martians. By using his powers, Hank has exposed himself to the White Martians who are looking to finish what they started on Mars. The White Martian makes a great monster in it’s true form and an equally good human faced villain as it takes a form to hide and infiltrate the DEO.
The show is improving in it’s visual effects and action scenes. The final fight between the Martian, J’onn, and Supergirl is a big step up from the similar fights we saw earlier in the season.
David Harewood delivers a great performance in this episode. He’s conflicted about using his powers, angry at what the White Martian has done, and dealing with the pain of loss all over again. Harewood even has an emotional confrontation while speaking in the somewhat silly sounding martian language. The flashbacks to the martian genocide are some of the show’s most emotional.
The Negative
After the first encounter with the Martian, it’s more than a little obvious that the Senator has been replaced, but the show still does a good job with it. It’s possible even some of the characters didn’t believe it was truly her. However, they do include the very overused trope of “I never told you it was a white martian.”
It’s also somewhat predictable with the Senator’s sudden reversal on her anti-alien views. Yes, she was saved by Supergirl and the DEO but she was also proven right by the White Martian.
The Verdict
This may have been my favorite episode of the season. Great performances, great action, and a great monster. The tragedy of the Martians is powerful and sad. A few predictable story beats but they don’t bring the overall episode down. The inclusion of both the White Martians and the Senator add lots of story potential for the show’s future.
