Supergirl, Season 2, Episode 19: Alex
This is... not an episode I'm a big fan of. The concept of the episode is relatively decent. Writing an episode revolving around Supergirl and Maggie butting heads about her superhero swoop-in-punch-faces technique is, while inevitably going to lead to several exhaustively preachy moments, still a pretty relevant topic to be explored in a series about a godlike superhero. Yes, Maggie does have a point that Supergirl might be just a wee bit too destructive (smashing holes in buildings, anyone?) and apparently criminals have been using the 'Supergirl Defense' to get out of trials, but honestly, if the choice comes to a swift, decisive end of a hostage situation, regardless of how long you've been standing there with a megaphone and negotiating (also, Maggie, you have Kara on speed-dial, why the fuck are you negotiating for hours) would still be preferable. In the words of the Flash from Justice League Unlimited: "the bad guys got taken down and no one got hurt, that's a good day".
But should the way to explore this particular issue be the inclusion of one of Supergirl's most ridiculous enemies ever, mr. Richard Malverne? Apparently this random ex-classmate of Kara Danvers is so freaking well-prepared that he (a) knows Supergirl's secret identity, (b) capable enough to take down Alex, a trained DEO agent, (c) have the resources and ability to build a foolproof cage equipped with a James Bond villain flood-the-cage-system that is able to evade Supergirl's super-senses, (d) apparently able to wire the camera on said cage through several laptops that is so well-done that mr. "I hack alien operating systems every weekend" Winslow Schott can't break it, (e) knows everything about the DEO and (f) somehow managed to block J'onn J'onzz's telepathy... all so that he can blackmail Supergirl to break his father out of jail. Why not use all that resources to break your father out of jail instead of antagonizing Supergirl? Also, how?
They try to pull off a Batman-style situation with Richard Malverne, but honestly, the sheer amount of ass-pulls that they went to make Supergirl, J'onn and the rest of the DEO basically look like complete morons is ridiculous. Also the inconsistency in this episode's own logic -- Malverne can somehow block J'onn's telepathy, but not to save him from being mindwiped at the end of the episode? -- is very galling.
They try their hardest to make the plotline work, but the petty arguments between Maggie Sawyer and Supergirl just felt forced and over-dramatized, Malverne felt like a boring Gary Stu villain, and the general difficulty in suspending my disbelief in this show (and it's a show that stars a flying, godlike reporter with laser eyes, who hangs around with a shapeshifting, telepathic martian).
Oh, meanwhile, the B-plot has Lena Luthor be played like a puppet by Queen Rhea. So yeah, it's some pretty blatant setup for the season finale as Rhea shapes up to be the main villain instead of Cadmus, though I wouldn't rule out them showing up to fuck shit up. This B-plot was... well, Lena was smart enough to deduce that Rhea was an alien with that DNA scanning device, and I kind of buy that Rhea would be able to appeal to the part of Lena Luthor that yearns for approval from a parental figure...
But on the other hand, how the hell did Rhea (a.k.a. Queen Xenophobe) learn Earth's culture so much that she can hold a conversation with Lena that references things like universities and pop cultures, and apparently learn so much about Lena Luthor in order to push the right buttons? Again, it's something that doesn't really make sense in terms of the show's internal logic.
So yeah, this episode is, in my opinion, pretty much kinda a failure on all levels. Season two of Supergirl has had this consistent, fun feeling that made it so much more immensely enjoyable than the very spotty quality of the first season, but this episode was the first in a very long time that I really kept looking at the clock, waiting for the episode to end and groaning at every stupid development.
DC Easter Eggs Corner:
- Richard "Dick" Malverne was from the Golden Age era of the DC comics, a hopeless suitor of Supergirl who is involved in several stories of trying to prove that Supergirl and her civilian alter-ego, Linda Lee, was one and the same, basically acting as a gender-flipped version of Lana Lang. Comics' Malverne was a lot more benign in his intentions, though, never actually being any more than a nuisance.
- Young Kara saving the family from a burning car was from episode 17 of the first season.
- Kara mentions that she stands for "hope, help and compassion", which is one of Supergirl's catchphrases from the comics.
- Dick calls Kara a 'mild-mannered reporter', a reference to a phrase that's used to describe Clark Kent all the time. He also calls her 'girl scout' several times, which, of course, is a reference to Superman's nickname of Boy Scout.
- Kara quips about flying fast enough to turn back time, which, of course, is a reference to the first Superman movie where he does exactly just that.
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