Supergirl S03E10 Review: Legion

Supergirl, Season 3, Episode 10: Legion of Super-Heroes

Supergirl's return from its mid-season break has a pretty hype-inducing title with "Legion of Super-Heroes". With the classic stories of Supergirl (and, yes, Superman) being closely tied with the future group of alien superheroes, it's definitely mind-boggling for me to realize that, yes, the Legion of Super-Heroes is actually getting some really huge representation in live-action. How insane is it that obscure DC superheroes like the Legion of Super-Heroes, Commander Steel, Mr Terrific and Wild Dog all have relatively decent live-action TV adaptations of them? Of course, the adaptation's not perfect, and in this particular case, Brainiac 5's costuming choices actually looks pretty cheap, but the spirit of of the characters is definitely well adapted.


Sadly, the episode's not all sunshine and games. It's suffering from a particularly bad case of having Reign be a recurring villain that is built up to be this badass, but because we can't have her beat the superheroes or get beaten in this episode, we get her retreating no less than three times in this episode alone, turning her into something more akin to Team Rocket than this indestructible force of nature. Throw in some rather poorly handled and frankly poorly-scripted 'oooh shipping' nonsense between James and Lena, two of the show's more... problematic characters, and the episode stops short of being a gigantic bucket of goodness all the time. As hilarious as it is to have J'onn masquerade as a sick Kara and discuss about James Olsen's kissing abilities with Lena, that scene's only great because of the fact that Melissa Benoist is an amazing actress that handles "J'onn masquerading awkwardly as a sick Kara" well. But the rom-com stuff feels definitely out of place, even moreso than it usually already is.

The main plot that Supergirl herself goes through is that she's trapped in a rather cliched "escape from your own insecurities in the form of a mind prison", assisted by a new Legion member, Brainiac 5, who's woken up in order to help Supergirl 'interface' and escape the prison her subconscious has created around herself.

It's all meant to be a payoff to Alex telling Supergirl to "be alien" and reject her humanity in the previous episode, and, again, Melissa Benoist is an amazing enough actress that the scenes are engaging enough, especially the talk about Streaky the (Super-)Cat, but it's definitely nothing new or unexpected, leading to a somewhat underwhelming subplot that feels more like ''oh, okay, we're done, Supergirl's back" instead of the gripping character analysis it's supposed to be. It does introduce Brainiac 5, and despite the rather... sub-par costuming decisions, the actor they got is engaging and likable enough that it's believable that Brainy helps Kara to rediscover her humanity of sorts.

Reign herself is also somewhat... iffy. I like her well enough as an antagonist, but she's clearly suffering from a split personality so nothing she's going to do as Reign is going to be held against Samantha herself, making this another tired Killer Frost plotline. She's just ranting about being the True Justice and some such, with the wacky Kryptonian cultist Thomas Coville throwing his lot in with Reign because she clearly is the new 'Kryptonian God', and presumably so Reign will have someone to actually talk to and not just rant about the same one or two points about destiny and true justice all the time. Oh, and apparently Reign's not the only World-Killer on Earth, and that she and Coville are now dispatched by the creepy holo-lady to get the others.

Reign as an unstoppable antagonist is great, though, with the (awesomely-named) Project Sundown, the DEO's attempt to take down Reign with Kryptonite and sonic bazookas, being shrugged off due to Reign's half-blood status. The Legion of Super-Heroes are sworn to not interfere in history not because of some vaguely defined prime directive or whatever, but because they're quite litereally carrying the way to counter an alien threat called the Blight in their very DNA -- a very convenient handwave, but a handwave nonetheless that makes them passive observers until the third act until Mon-El and Saturn Girl realizes that, fuck, they're superheroes and they have to fight. No real justifications about them not going to Superman for help, though, especially since J'onn and Alex actually discuss Superman without even mentioning reaching him for help.

And boy, what a fight that was. It was short, sadly, but the sight of the assembled Legion of Super-Heroes swooping in and battling evil Kryptonian Reign in the prison yard, with Saturn Girl telekinetically throwing weights at Reign; the glorious usage of Bon Jovi to get Reign's attention; Martian Manhunter grabbing Reign and pulling her under the ground, causing them to fight underground and explosions to rattle around the prison yard; and, best of all, the awesome visual effects as Reign unleashes her freezing breath at Mon-El, while Saturn Girl protects him with a telekinetic bubble. Supergirl wakes up in time and drives off Reign, but it's a decent showing altogether.

Overall, though, the episode's definitely a very serviceable one that engaged me throughout despite yet another questionable James/Lena sub-plot and some cliched moments in their storytelling, but it's overall a neat little episode.

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Brainiac 5, a.k.a. Querl Dox, is a half-Coluan and a major member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. We've heard him be mentioned in previous episodes, but this is the first we've seen him in all his glory. Like his comic-book counterpart, Brainiac 5 likes to mention that he's a twelfth-level intellect, has a crush on Supergirl, and is called "Brainy" by his friends. 
• One of the Legionnaires mentioned off-hand by Mon-El is "Ayla", hailing from the planet Winath, which is a reference to the Legion member Lightning Lass. 
• Also mentioned as ravaging the planets of the 30th Century is The Blight, one of the Legion's antagonists in the post-Zero Hour series, which is a race of techno-organic symbionts who have mutated into a race of perpetually decaying beings. 
• Kara's pet cat, Streaky, is, of course, a reference to Streaky the Super-Cat, one of Golden Age's Supergirl's many, many super-powered pets. While in modern stories only Krypto the Super-Dog makes it to Earth, several adaptations have given Kara or the Kent household a non-powered pet cat called Streaky in honour of the super-cat.