Supergirl, Season 3, Episode 4: The Faithful
Back to our irregularly scheduled superhero TV episode reviews!
In this episode, we discover that Supergirl has... accidentally created a cult! It's actually a very plausible thing to happen and I'm surprised that not more superhero stories actually tackle this concept, considering how superheroes are already compared to gods as they are. I mean, I know Superboy had a cult created around him prior to New 52, but it's a very interesting storyline that engages me more than I thought it would when the episode summary was basically 'Supergirl tries to stop a suicidal cult'.
It's nowhere as exciting or fun as the previous episode, but considering that one involves a crapton of great martian lore, a shapeshifting car and Carl Lumbly returning as a green martian, not many episodes can honestly top that. A good part of it is the B-plots. Which, again, aren't bad. They're necessary to build up these side characters like Alex and Lena and Samantha, but at the same time I wonder if there aren't any better ways to actually get about doing that. I don't really care all that much about Alex crying because she wants to have kids and Maggie doesn't -- her actress is amazing and she truly sold her acting, and that's the only reason I'm not complaining really loudly, but I really just wanna see Alex and Maggie be a badass FBI/cop duo. And Samantha is going to be super-relevant in this season, considering her apparent alter-ego and that final scene where she finds herself tattooed with Kryptonian glyphs and some creepy nightmare-faced fucker shows up to tell her that she's the Chosen of Rao or whatever... yeah. Mostly her plotline in this episode involves a generic 'mommy is working too hard and doesn't pay enough attention to me' story.
But the cult! It's certainly a very interesting story, as we see the horrors of what's going on inside the plane that Supergirl saved in the very first episode, with Thomas Coville, our episode's antagonist, being stuck in there and being a complete douchebag because his life is shit, but as the plane falls and he's faced with death, he looks into a saviour, what he views as a god -- Supergirl. And that transformation really sells that two years later, he'd be running a cult that worships Supergirl as a god, comprised of everyone who had a transformative experience after being rescued. Hearing James Olsen's own recap of how he was first saved by Superman is also a very great choice of showing just how these near-death savings can be transformative to someone ordinary, even if James isn't the cult-starting type.
And while Supergirl spends some time saving a dude from a blazing fire he started to gain admittance into the group, I did like the acknowledgement of how they're essentially untouchable by the law since they haven't actually technically broken any laws yet. And while the Children of Rao might be a bit cartoonish in their depiction (I mean, this show is sort of meant to appeal to younger audiences too, after all) it's still pretty scary to see the fanaticism behind Coville's words and actions as he twists the religion of Rao, the Kryptonian sun god, which he makes after finding the Kryptonian equivalent of a voyager pod. Twisting Rao's religion and his own being saved by Supergirl has caused Coville to be convinced that what he's doing is right, and when Kara confronts him (I did love the scene when Coville identifies Kara as Supergirl and goes 'is this a test, my god?') he's just convinced that it's either a test of faith from Supergirl, or that Supergirl herself has lost her way. It's a very interesting critique about how many people who devote themselves too much to their religion tend to warp everything -- even the religion itself -- to suit their own mind-view. The Cult of Rao has became a cult that seems far more intent on proving that Supergirl can save everyone whatever the problem is, just to get more people to believe in their fanatical views, more than actually respecting their saviour's wishes.
Of course, the final climax of the episode was... okay. It features a weaponized Kryptonian bomb (a Betahedron, a near call back to the Omegahedron from season one), Supergirl cutting her own hand to show that, no, she is not a god, just a freakishly powerful alien, Coville at prison with his faith still around but a bit less insane, and showing the little kids at Ruby's school dancing while dressed as Supergirl, showing that not all hero worship is bad. I did feel the sudden 180 that the cult has when Supergirl cut herself is a bit weak, because I don't think anywhere in the cult talk did they say anything about their saviour being indestructible... but oh well. Crazy cult.
So yeah. While the execution is far from flawless, I do unexpectedly like this episode a fair bit, with its unique and fascinating premise. Despite the scene where little ruby singing did take a bit too long, the final scene where we see our heroes pray -- including the very welcome cameo from M'yrrn -- showing the positive side of religion, is great. Oh, and the whole plotline and Supergirl shoving the bomb into a hole she cut with heat vision is apparently the catalyst for waking up some mysterious thing which apparently is the creepy cult witch that terrorizes Samantha in the final scene..
DC Easter Eggs Corner:
- While Coville is original to the show, the episode is apparently based on a 2000's-era Supergirl story, 'Hero Worship', where they believe Supergirl (the Linda Danvers one, who actually has straight-up angel powers) is a divine messenger. Other than that, the Cult of Conner was built around Superboy when he died in the Infinite Crisis, and I think I sorta remember the Eradicator setting up a cult for Rao too.
- He's been mentioned a couple of times in the past, but Rao is, of course, the Kryptonian God of the Sun.
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