Supergirl, Season 2, Episode 21: Resist
I know, I know, it's an episode that aired close to half a month ago, but hey, I was busy, so it's only now that I've caught up to many of these shows.
Anyway, "Resist" is Supergirl's penultimate episode of season two, and I've not been very kind in my reviews of the previous two episodes of Supergirl. This one is a lot better, but not by much. One of the biggest weaknesses of CW is how poorly they handle climaxes, with Arrow's third and fourth seasons, as well as Flash's second season, being prime examples of this. And Supergirl is fast devolving into one of those, too. Still, there were a fair amount of decent character moments in this episode. I can't help but feel that it's very reminiscent to the finale of the first season, and while it's not necessarily a bad thing, it's also a bit disappointing. We even get the whole "main character gives a rousing speech with the POWER OF MEDIA" plot point from the first season's finale, albeit handled much gracefully than how it was in the first season.
Also, another problem in this episode is the return of Cat Grant, who was a character that was insufferable and insanely preachy at her worst, and dryly entertaining at her best. It's not really the fault of the actress, because Cat Grant's actress is literally the only thing that made the character bearable -- an inferior actress would cause every single scene to be nails on a chalkboard. But here, Cat Grant's sassiness basically kind of insanely backfires. It's one thing to antagonize egoistic morons like Livewire who's only (relatively speaking) a crazy radio station attendee with electricity powers, It's another when you're on a plane flying towards the alien ship and you basically throw a string of insults towards her (a known egoistical tyrant, by the way) before backpedaling and talking about how insults are a man's thing and how they are above all that.
Really, that whole sequence was just utterly painful to watch and I cheered when Rhea opened fire on the airplane they were in.
It's a good thing that Cat Grant quickly redeems herself later, when she returns to her witty mentor slash quirky media mogul mode. Her interactions with the President, with Winn and with Supergirl are all pretty fun to watch, and it's amazing how huge a spectrum that the character of Cat Grant ends up being quality-wise. My favourite moment has to be her calling out James Olsen and Ker-rah as useless and Winn nervously noting how they're both useless cowards hiding and not getting the story. Oh, and Cat Grant dismissing Guardian as immediately being James because she can see his eyes (so, yeah, Cat totally knows that Kara's Supergirl, right?)
The speech was... okay. There's obvious undertones to America's current political situation, of course, but I know better than to comment on that. It didn't grate, it didn't last very long, and it sort of made sense considering the situation. The fact that it was presented as more of a distraction is also very, very appropriate.
The actual Daxamite invasion is honestly rather underwhelming. I know it's a TV show and it's unfair to compare this to big-budget movies like Avengers or Man of Steel or Star Wars, but come on. The shots of Rhea's invasion fleet kind of looked... unfinished and unpolished, especially compared to the relatively far more impressive scenes of, say, the Air Force One's explosion or Alex's dramatic backwards-spinning rooftop dive. Which is easily the most awesome thing Alex's done all season.
The Daxamite troops' powers also fluctuate depending on the requirements of the plot. They're all theoretically as strong as Mon-El, right? So why are they having any kind of trouble at all invading the planet, or even handling Kara and Mon-El? Guardian did take out a bunch of them with the aid of lead blasts, but honestly, it's an army of people that's barely weaker than Supergirl and Superman. How are they having any sort of trouble invading the world, or, hell, even National City? How does a bunch of humans rioting suddenly give all the Daxamites trouble?
Meanwhile, J'onn is still asleep due to the device from last episode. Which is a shame, seeing J'onn and Hank Henshaw have to interact would be great.
The subplot of Rhea trying to marry Lena and Mon-El together to produce an heir (that does not require any sex to do, for Daxamites, apparently) so she can rightfully rule Earth and 'guide' it into being New Daxam (on the threat of a hospital being blown up) is... okay, I've seen worse, I guess? It's hilariously moronic for Rhea to literally stop the wedding ceremony at the moment that they exchange vows because Cat Grant calls her tiara-head on live television, instead of finishing the ceremony while her alien death squad deal with Cat. Really, Rhea is getting less and less likable as an antagonist, making more and more hilariously stupid decisions over the episodes.
Of course, the big wrench in Rhea's invasion is Supergirl, and her allies. First, we get the in-universe revelation to the cast that President
So the crux of the episode really hinges on Supergirl finally accepting a deal from the devil, with the devil in this case being Lilian Luthor's Cadmus. Lilian and Henshaw team up with the DEO, to use the phantom zone projector to beam up Supergirl, Lilian and Henshaw up onto the Daxamite mothership, due to their shared caring for Lena. And I honestly actually buy Lilian's speech this time around, that she feels like an absolute ass for picking her xenophobia over Lena in every given chance she had before this.
Of course, villains will be villains, and Henshaw only brings the humans back to Earth with the modified projector. And, well, Supergirl got Winn to plant a handy-dandy device to override Henshaw's treachery anyway, so Mon-El gets to be teleported to earth while Supergirl goes to battle Rhea, under the threat of Alex being forced to fire the positron cannon...
And then boom, stupid blue eye-lasers out of nowhere! And then Rhea reveals just where the Man of Steel has been all this while. Under her thrall. So this is going to be the climax of the season. Superman versus Supergirl, not Supergirl versus Queen Rhea, and this is the setup for next episode's finale. Hell yeah!
So, um, my verdict for this episode is that it's kind of... strangely paced? It's like the show is jumping through hoops to get the president, Cat Grant and Lilian Luthor all in place for the 'save Mon-El and Lena from the Daxamites' plot of the episode, which, to be fair, is a decent half an hour to watch. But I'm still not completely sold on how we got from Mon-El leaving Rhea to stay on Earth to all of this chaos, but honestly, despite the messiness of the second half of Supergirl's second season, at least we're going to get a final fight that's going to be worth writing home about.
DC Easter Eggs Corner:
- Maggie and Alex both refer to how they were involved in a plotline revolving around President Olivia when they first met earlier in this season.
- Cat (well, James') office is still devastated due to the incident with Marcus last episode.
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