Review: Supergirl 5×05-“Dangerous Liaisons“
[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers]
Director: Alysse Leite-Rogers
Writers: Rob Wright & Daniel Beaty
Starring: Melissa Benoist, Chyler Leigh, Katie McGrath, Jesse Rath, Nicole Maines, Azie Tesfai, Julie Gonzalo, Staz Nair & David Harewood
Reviewed by: Sean Blumenshine
Summary
On the eve of the worldwide launch of Andrea Rojas’s VR contact lenses, Kara and William team up on an investigation that exposes a terrorist plot. Kelly and Alex celebrate an anniversary, but Alex’s safety is in jeopardy.
Positives
Leviathan becomes a more interesting entity with each episode. While it’s clear that Andrea is tied to them in some way, it’s not exactly what I thought it was. And the twist with Rip Roar at the end is great.
Rip Roar’s plan is really cool. It’s a unique villain scheme with a lot of stakes; using the environment against humanity is a fun concept. And I like that it requires Kara and J’onn to do something in one location while Nia helps in a different one. I’m not entirely what Nia did or how she did it, her powers seem kind of limitless at this point, but I always like when she gets a moment to shine.
One of the episode’s highlights is the scene between Kelly and Nia. The former has faced a traumatic event every single episode this season and has handled it all unreasonably well. It was good to finally see her start to break a little. Kelly has been on the blander side of things so I appreciated the episode adding a bit more dimension.
My favorite scene of the episode is the talk between Kara and J’onn. She expresses a feeling of doubt because she was wrong in her assumptions about William and Andrea. Beyond this being a good character moment for Kara, it’s also brilliant set up. The biggest threat to Kara and humanity right now is Lena; Kara doesn’t have the slightest clue that Lena is on such a dark path. I like that they’re using how bad Kara is at reading people to set her up for the ultimate betrayal.
Negatives
Rip Roar is so goofy looking. Part of the show’s charm is its cheesiness that comes from a lack of shame in being a comic book inspired show. But Rip Roar looks cheap and uninspired; it’s cheesy in all of the bad ways.
One of Kara’s most consistent traits is how impulsive she can be. And while I do appreciate that attention to detail, it’s a little weird that she still hasn’t really learned from any of the instances where that got her in trouble. She thankfully doesn’t act on her impulses because Alex talks her down. But it’s a little dull to watch Kara and Alex have the same arguments multiple times in an episode when Kara should definitely know better.
Verdict
This is a fine episode. The final act is the most engaging part. The action is cool and the reveals are great. I like a lot of the individual character moments as well. But the episode is a little dull. It weirdly feels like a filler episode despite containing a lot of story momentum; I just wasn’t that interested for a lot of it.
