Two World Killers have finally each other, and the good guys get some hints that there may be a way to defeat them besides punching them into submission. A strong episode, which simply highlights some glaring weaknesses in writing:
When did Alex ever fail to backup Kara? We know Alex has been hurting after breaking up with Maggie, but why would this manifest by not following Kara’s lead when interrogating Julia/Purity. Then all of that goes out the window when it’s Alex that gets through to Julia anyway.
Marital problems between Mon-el and Imra. It’s finally revealed that their marriage began as one of political convenience, but they have since actually fallen in love. Mon-el understandably still has feelings for Kara and this has manifested itself in tension between the couple. Except that we’ve never seen this tension before tonight.
Ruby calling Lena. Previous episodes had established that Ruby had formed a strong connection with Alex, so why did Ruby call Lena when her mother disappeared? Now Alex was understandably busy hunting down a World Killer, so Lena showing up could have easily been explained by a throwaway line that she tried calling Alex but didn’t get an answer.
This is the last episode before another break. Next week, Legends of Tomorrow will air in Supergirl’s timeslot to show the second half of its season.
They should start putting together that Sam is Reign by now. Julia had similar memory lapses as Sam’s. Sam’s disappearances coinciding with Reign’s appearances, especially after Sam left Ruby at the ice rink. Lena caught a glimpse of Reign asserting herself. It doesn’t take Lois Lane seeing past Clark’s glasses to make the connection.
That Ruby called Lena at the ice rink, and hence it was Lena that briefly saw Sam-as-Reign, works from the perspective of the plot since it delays the realization by the DEO about Sam. It still throws away Ruby’s connection to Alex.
There are several 100 million people on the Earth who could be Reign (I’m assuming (based on no evidence) that our heroes are smart enough to concentrate on light-skinned women).
There is currently only one data point really tying a time loss to Reign, and Lena is currently the only one with that knowledge. Otherwise, they know she is having blackouts, but not when.
I’ll be a little annoyed if Lena makes the leap to Reign (strongly fore-shadowed), since it doesn’t seem like she would have enough information to make that jump.
Oh, and for a minute I thought Alex had signed up with the Hawaii 5-0 folks for just completely overreacting. Completely out of left field for her to jump all over Julia when Kara had things well in hand.
We previously learned that, in the future, Bon Jovi is ranked among the great masters, akin to Shakespeare. Now there’s the title to this episode. Someone on the writing staff is a fan.
With Laurie Metcalf guest starring as Winn’s mother, I was expecting this episode to be more comedic than it was. For instance, Alex having dinner with J’onn and father promised great opportunities for some laughs. Indeed, J’onn sharing an apartment with his farmer sounded like a good setup for a sitcom (My Two Martians, anyone?) but any comedic touches were completely deflated when we learned that J’onn’s dad has developed Martian Alzheimer’s. While there were some fun segments like karaoke night and the attack of the flying monkeys, these were overshadowed by the dramatic elements. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by Legends, which has managed to find the balance between comedy and drama.
How many shows is Laurie Metcalf somebody’s mom?
This and Sheldon’s on BBT are two that come to mind. (In both her first name is Mary)
She also voiced the mom in Toy Story 3
A little disappointed in last night’s show. I thought the Toyman’s toys were way over the top, you’d need incredible wealth and a team of engineers and technicians to assemble such a formidable bunch of robots. Why build the flying monkeys so fragile that they disintegrate with a single blow? They’re getting a little too tear-jerky with the Martian Alzheimer’s and Winn’s relationships with his parents. I want to see more action and less angst.
I thought the episode, although sad (the forgotten granddaughters! the trip that was never to Disneyland!) was very well written. I was sure that Winn’s mother was behind the attacks, especially since she told him she’d once worked with his father in a toy shop and understood some of his tech.
Considering Disney owns Marvel, I was surprised they mentioned Disneyland at all.
Reign hovering over the city, listening for Ruby, mirrored Supergirl hovering over the city in the first episode of the season, which itself mirrored Superman hovering over the city in Superman Returns (starring Brandon Routh aka ATOM).
Speaking of homages, Reign approaching the safe room had to run a similar gauntlet as Christopher Reeve’s Superman: https://youtu.be/psDtIYqya2w?t=46s
I am surprised, though, that Lena didn’t add any kryptonite into the mix.
Since Lex presumably built those defenses, I’m surprised Lex didn’t add any kryptonite into the mix, considering that the person most likely to be trying to come after him would be Superman.
So, I am now convinced that Lena totally knows who Supergirl really is, and was trolling Kara during that scene in the elevator. At least that’s how Katie McGrath seems to be playing it, whether that’s what the writers intend or not.
I presume Superman destroyed any kryptonite when he defeated Lex. Lena knows how to make more and should have refilled any kryptonite traps. That she didn’t or add kryptonite traps if there weren’t any to begin with, indicates to me that she isn’t as smart as she thinks she is. And since she isn’t that smart, she also doesn’t know who Kara is.
I’m not so sure. Lena didn’t have to tell Kara about how James lied about checking her vault. Trolling Supergirl is one thing, but she threw James under the bus, too.
And I thought Lena had a good point about the Kryptonite. Supergirl could kill Lena in the blink of an eye, but Lena trusts her not to; and yet, somehow, Lena possessing something that could kill Supergirl is a huge betrayal?
Yes, I was pretty much on Lena’s side in the argument, and I hope that this isn’t the beginning of a Lena-Goes-Evil storyline, because I don’t think she’s really in the wrong. As this episode demonstrates, Supergirl (and Superman, by extension) isn’t the only potential Kryptonian that people may have to deal with. What if, instead of just beating her up, Reign had killed Supergirl in their first fight? What’s the next line of defense?
For that matter, both Supergirl and Superman have been mind-controlled just within this series. If that happens, how do you stop them? Heck, in the comics, Superman gave Batman a piece of kryptonite to hang onto for that very reason. Just in case it becomes necessary…
Not that there aren’t good arguments on Supergirl’s side. Sure, Lena might be trustworthy, but what if she loses control of the kryptonite? What if somebody evil gets their hands on it? But I notice that Supergirl didn’t make any of those arguments, focusing instead on the sheer effrontery of anyone presuming to have a substance that could hurt her. Like Lena said, a bit of a God complex.
Supergirl has a natural bias however - while Lena meets many people who have cars who don’t want to kill her, the majority of people Supergirl meets who have kryptonite, are actively trying to kill her (Lena is probably the first person (who is not a family member) that Supergirl has met who owns kryptonite and is not trying to kill her). Maybe Clark can talk Kara down on this issue.
I suspect there will be a future episode in which somebody close to Lena is kidnapped and threatened in an effort to make Lena give up the kryptonite formula. (Kara, possibly? I think there’s a trope called Kidnapping Bruce Wayne.) Or maybe Lena herself will be kidnapped for that reason.
SUPERGIRL: “ZOMG, you made kryptonite?!! How could you! The only possible thing you could have made it for was to kill me and my cousin Superman! What other possible reason could you have had for making kryptonite?!?!???”
What other reason? Well, gee, I seem to remember this whole cadre of Kryptonians bent on taking over the world back during season one or two! C’mon, Kara Zor-El, you don’t have Jonn’s dad’s brain disease, you don’t have that excuse for not remembering that far back!
I was unimpressed with Lex’s keypad. Either know the code, or just disconnect/punch the keypad - either method turns off the invisibility shield. I personally would set up the key pad to leave the shield up if it disconnected, but I’m not a super genius.
Also, daxamites canonically have flight as an ability under a yellow sun. How long it takes them to develop and control is another matter. But yeah Mon-El/M’Onel/Valor can fly with or without a Legion ring. Just not as well as a kryptonian.
