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Aaaannnd we’re back… again. To be honest I feel like I have typed this sentence or some semblance of this all season. I don’t know if it’s The CW or just the writers, but I’m kind of sick of the breaks. Anywho let’s get into it.
James, Winn and Lyra
Guardian is in the street kicking butt and taking names (does Supergirl just leave lower level crime to the police and James?). He returns to the Guardian van where Winn (who is supposed to be his extra set of eyes) is busy making out with his girlfriend. Winn suggests that Lyra can be another form of help and James isn’t having it. After some begging and pleading from Winn, James agrees to let Lyra help.
On their next mission, Guardian is stopping a robbery when he finds out the thief is just a kid. He holds back, but Lyra (who, friendly reminder, has super strength) does not, and starts attacking him, believing he should be punished. James stops her and lets the young thief go.
After the disaster that was their last mission Winn calls Lyra to the bar to tell her that they are kicking her off team Guardian. She doesn’t take it well, and makes a scene before angrily leaving.
Later, James apologizes to Winn for what happened with Lyra and he invites Lyra back on the team.
Snippy Snapper
Supergirl is super bored because she doesn’t have a job (been there friend), and there’s nothing for her to save. Lena stops by to visit Kara, and asks her to go to this press conference because her ex is going to be there (somewhere in the distance Lara shippers are crying).
Kara runs into Snapper who is snippier than usual. Lena’s ex (played by iZombie’s Rahul Kohli) presents nanobots that have the ability to cure human ailments. Kara and Snapper have a showdown when the press are allowed to ask questions and Snapper takes it upon himself to interrupt Kara mid-sentence. She stands him down and gets her question out there but Snapper’s disdain for Kara is evident.
Later, Lena and Jack make plans for dinner and Kara gets word of a possible flaw in BioMax’s ethical practices, she agrees to meet her “Deep Throat” later.
Kara meets with her “Deep Throat” (his name is Joe) and he tells her that there are no records for the human trails for BioMax. Just as he’s telling Kara that the nanobots are dangerous, the nanobots fly into the car and blow it up, killing Joe in the process.
Kara goes to James for help filing a Freedom of Information Act request (because you know he’s the acting EDITOR IN CHIEF) and of course Snapper comes out of nowhere and has a hissy fit.
Snapper has a meeting to interview one of the people who allegedly was a part of the BioMax human trials. The guy admits that he didn’t really do anything but put his name on a list. While they are talking a swarm of BioMax nanobots comes through the guy’s window and… eats him? (look I’m not really sure what happened and I watched the episode twice, he’s there and then he isn’t). Luckily Supergirl (more like Super-stalker amiright) saves Snapper from also being eaten and the nanobots get away.
Frustrated Kara goes home where Mon-El is reading on the couch (who taught him to read?) She has no leads and two people are dead. Mon-El suggests that Kara use Lena as a lead, and instead of waiting, Kara crashes her date with Jack.
Upon leaving the date they weren’t invited to, Mon-El manages to steal Jack’s work key card (which as a bio-tech company you would think BioMax would have more body based security i.e. retinal scanners). Kara and Mon-El get into Jack’s office undetected and look up the human trails. Just as her whistleblower said there are no records of human trails but there are records of Jack testing the nanobots on himself. They download the information, but their actions do not go unnoticed and they are attacked by the nano-swarm.
The next day Kara tells Lena what she found and Lena asks Kara not to say anything before she can talk to Jack. Kara asks Lena to stay away from Jack because he is potentially dangerous. Kara goes to Snapper to help him with his article and apologizes for going behind his back three episodes ago. Through Snapper, Kara realizes that Jack might not be acting alone in these nanobot killings and excuses herself from their impromptu meeting.
Lena (who’s really good at following directions) goes to confront Jack and he’s hella confused. It turns out that Jack is being controlled by Beth (Spherical CFO). She does the whole supervillain explanation thing (amateur) and then decides to use the nanobots to control Lena as well so she can get control over L Corps. Lena tries to talk some sense into Jack, but that doesn’t seem to be working. Luckily (and obviously) Supergirl comes to save the day.
The nanobots grab Supergirl and proceed to slowly kill her, leaving only Lena free to figure out what to do. She finds the override information in the mainframe but if she kills the nanobots Jack will die as well. She chooses to save Supergirl… because duh, and Jack dies.
Kara comes to visit Lena the next day to give her condolences. Later, still distraught Lena is cleaning up getting ready to leave when she is visited by Rhea (Mon-El’s mom) with a business proposition. And Snapper gives Kara her job back (FINALLY!).
This episode was pretty okay in terms of plot but did a lot to move the entirety of the Supergirl story forward as a whole. While I’m relieved that Snapper gave Kara her job back, he took over for Mon-El as the annoying white guy who flaunts his privilege.
Usually, I give Snapper a pass because when he’s being obnoxious he is also making important commentary about journalism. This episode? Not so much. Treating Kara the way he did was sexist (blatantly interrupting her while she tried to gather her thoughts) and childish (holding a grudge for something that happened presumably like a month ago (I don’t know the time lapse on this show). And his disdain for her being at the press conference because she was working freelance is elitist.
While I understand that Kara’s actions when she got fired were unprofessional, a betrayal of his trust and probably a breach of contract, his actions in this episode were inexcusable. Also, I’m sure I’ve said this already, but the way Snapper addresses James IS NOT okay. I’m assuming that Snapper is coming from a place of longevity seniority, but he would NEVER treat Cat like that, so what in his mind makes it okay to disrespect James?
Musings
- Who’s paying Kara’s rent?
- A MAN-NECTION !?!
- Shout out to the alien girl with the fish fins on her face who reacted exactly as I would during the Lyra and Winn bar scene.
Beth: Behind every great man is a woman
Lena: I wouldn’t know I’ve never stood behind a man
Me: YAAAAAS
2×19 “Alex”
This week’s Supergirl takes a page from Saw when Alex is kidnapped and Maggie and Kara team up to save her.
Maggie V Supergirl
Maggie and the NCPD (National City Police Department) are dealing with a hostage situation when Supergirl saves the day. Later the two meet at Alex’s apartment for dinner and Maggie is pissed, because Supergirl moved in without considering the cops. Kara doesn’t see what the big deal is, since Supergirl got the job done, and no one had to die.
Maggie and Kara get into a fight, Kara gets really annoyed (classic) and storms out. Alex goes after Kara to talk her down from her angry cliff, and tells Maggie not to wait up for her.
The next day, Maggie visits Cat Co looking for Alex who is not at work or at home. Kara gets a call from a random stranger demanding that she release Peter Thompson out of prison or Alex will die.
The DEO (ie Winn) can’t find Alex or trace the call on Kara’s phone. Maggie, J’onn and Kara go to visit Peter Thompson in prison to get some answers. He says doesn’t know anything but since Kara is impatient she goes all bad cop on him getting super aggressive. J’onn reads his mind and finds out that he was telling the truth and indeed knows nothing.
Winn thinks that Peter’s son Rick Melvern is behind all of this. Rick, it turns out grew up in Kara’s home town. Kara flies to Rick’s old home and finds footage of Alex trapped in a cage, along with Rick.
Rick is brought into questioning and he reveals that he’s been stalking Alex for a year. After that day when Kara saved that lady from that car crash in middle school (see Se1 Ep17), Rick knew she was Supergirl. He wants to free his dad because he saved him from an abusive household when he was younger.
Maggie brings in Peter so Rick can let Alex go, but it turns out Rick’s a lot smart than Maggie thought and recognizes that Peter is J’onn.
Meanwhile, Alex MacGyver’s her way to helping the DEO find her (using a credit card, a belt and a security camera). Kara rushes into the interrogation room and tells Maggie that Winn found Alex. Rick doesn’t seem perturbed by this and tells Kara not to go there.
Maggie tells Kara that something seems off, but in typical Kara fashion she doesn’t listen and goes to find Alex. It turns out that Alex is not where they think she is, and instead of saving her, Kara makes it worse, as water starts to flood the box Alex is in.
Alex and Maggie talk via video chat and Alex seems to think she’s going to die. They have an emotional moment talking about their firsts before the computer breaks. Maggie’s tells Kara off for not listening to her.
Rick talks Maggie into breaking his father out of prison and she complies. Kara realizes this and goes to stop her. Supergirl talks Peter into fathering his son. They ask Peter if there’s anywhere his son would’ve taken Alex, and he gives them the address of the warehouse (?) she’s in. Maggie and Kara find Alex just as she’s about to drown and save her.
Lena’s Lunch with Rhea
Rhea is posing as a human to trick Lena into building a transmatter portal, which she has pitched to Lena, since L Corps has the funding and scientific space to fully build it.
The two go to dinner where they talk about Lilian and Lena’s relationship as well as Rhea’s with Mon-El (though Rhea doesn’t tell her Mon-El is her son). Rhea manages to twist the story so Kara is the bad guy as an attempt to further connect with Lena.
It seems to be going well, but Lena can tell there’s something off about Rhea. Later, at her office Lena uses her alien detector (from season two, episode three) to determine what she already knew; Rhea is an alien. She outs her and tells Rhea she isn’t going to help her and kicks her out.
Rhea shows up at L Corps again, in her normal clothes to reconcile. Rhea still thinks they’ll make a good team (conveniently leaving out the fact that her son is Mon-El) and leaves Lena to think about it.
Lena calls Kara to ask for advice about Rhea (which hahahahaha) but due to the Alex crisis, it’s not a good time for her, and she tells Lena she’ll call her back.
Lena calls Kara back to make bunch plans, and to check up on her. She tells Kara she no longer needs her advice and it is revealed to us that she has decided to go into business with Rhea.
Musings
- This episode was enjoyable, not so much because of the story but the character development. Despite Rick being an entertaining villain, there was no suspense. At no point was I afraid for Alex’s life. Rick was great however, I enjoyed him being one step ahead of everybody, and thinking everything out so meticulously.
- I like Kara the best when her anger management and impatience flair up. In past episodes, her anger management was a little harder to believe but this one made her reaction and urgency believable. Kara was the most human here, and I related to her more than any other episode.
- I also appreciate that despite the position she was in, the show stays true to Alex, allowing her to still be a bad-ass.
- I’m kind of over Lena being put in these positions where she’s used by villains for their own means. The direction for her and Rhea’s story line is pretty obvious, and I’m curious as to whether Rhea (probably) outing Kara as Supergirl (I’m predicting the second to last episode of the season) will be the catalyst that causes Lena to become evil (hopefully, this just strengthens their relationship).
- I’m not going to lie, I thought Maggie or Alex would propose at the end, but I love yous are nice too!
- I wonder if how Rhea described what happened between her, Kara and Mon-El is how she really sees it, or if she was just lying to build Lena’s sympathy.
- Kara is terrible at police work
Stephanie Francis is an aspiring journalist with a TV addiction. She has been published in a multitude of small papers including the Gloucester Times, the Salem News and the Boston Globe. You can find a collect of her published work at adventuringsomewhere.wordpress.com. And her live tweets @stephsfrancis.
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