Supergirl S04E06 Review: Beat You Up... With Physics

Supergirl, Season 4, Episode 6: Call to Action

(Yeah, I'm kind of way behind. Forgive me. I'm trying to juggle watching and reviewing these things)

It's... it's a bit of a lumpy episode, I feel. It's an episode that's clear that it's just "more of the same, but escalated" versions of the themes built up in the previous couple of episodes, but they're honestly not quite committed to doing a huge Event Episode (tm) until, like, the mid-season finale or something. I don't know... a lot of the plot lines in this episode just feels like we're retreading ground, or just giving the cast some breathing room for some of the newer characters -- Haley and Manchester Black -- to sink in.

Which is basically the climactic dragon fight in a nutshell -- it's kinda cool to watch, the production quality is top-notch, I don't mind watching it... but it's ultimately superfluous to the episode. Which, I guess, a decently-done episode isn't the worst thing for me to spend my time watching.

Anyway, we basically go around the same old Agent of Liberty alien xenophobia storyline again, only this time it's Supergirl and company trying to... stop these dudes in masks from marking houses with invisible ink and then beating aliens to death with baseball bats and crowbars. It's simultaneously scary because it evocates real-life racial fear... but at the same time... really? Considering the sheer amount of aliens with at least some amount of superpowers throughout the series, these morons aren't even more prepared? Sure, they probably aren't prepared for Kryptonians or Martians or Spike the Magic Dragon, but some dude comes up with a gun and they turn tail? I dunno... with the Agents of Liberty's access to whatever resources the Graves siblings had, I honestly felt that the plot of this episode really could've been done better, especially since the actual buildup of the hate group out to murder and lynch the aliens are actually done relatively well.

Also done well? Brainiac 5 taking out the Agents of Liberty "with Physics". That's just a treat.

In addition to Spike the magic dragon, we get to see some neat bits. Manchester Black is slowly delving into straight-up anti-hero levels of sociopathy, torturing Petrocelli the Liberty-man and trying his best to hide his intentions around his allies -- although I do like that he respects J'onn enough to not pressure him to read the mind of his captive. We've also got a pretty tame subplot involving Haley arguing with Alex as she, Kara and Brainy investigates the Children of Liberty behind her back... although I must say that I do like the mutual hate-respect thing that Alex and Haley have going on.

Lena has her own completely unrelated subplot involving experimenting with what I think is the rock from Harun-El or some shit, trying to cure cancer, and eventually actually creating an 'invincible heart'. In the (honestly kind of awkward) Thanksgiving dinner where I'm genuinely not 100% sure how much in the loop some characters like Eliza or Nia or Lena are supposed to be, she gives this speech about leveling the playing field, basically allowing good humans to gain superpowers to be just as powerful as the aliens. It's... it's a neat adaptation of the Infinity Inc. Lex Luthor story from the comics, actually.

Lena's other storyline in this plot is trying to convince James Olsen that meeting up with a shady hate group with vague pretenses is a dumb idea, but James is... he's honestly kind of a moron. Yes, he wants to report the point of view of the Agents of Liberty and maybe change their minds. Sure, noble goals. But there's a fine line between respecting and trying to change others, and just being a moron, and that's honestly how I feel about James throughout the entire episode. Whether it's dealing with Tom or Lena, he just feels like a gigantic moron and I'm really finding myself less and less invested in James's story.

Of course, the real irony is that James skips out on Lena's "safe" TV job, only to have Ben Lockwood appear as the opponent in that debate. Not that the debate really goes anywhere, in my opinion.

Speaking of weird subplots that really doesn't go anywhere? Nia's narcolepsy, which really pops out of nowhere with no foreshadowing in the past five episodes, is just shoehorned randomly and forgotten randomly. And, yes, I am familiar enough with Nia Nal's comic-book inspiration to know what this is all about, but the way it's incorporated into the episode is... kinda asinine, to be honest.

Anyway, the main meat of the story is pretty solid, if nothing new for the show. It's just that, well, there's nothing significantly super-exciting about it, and a bunch of weaker sub-plots really end up making this episode feel a wee bit more iffy than it should've been.

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• The whole "giving superpowers to normal humans" is a plotline that is roughly adapted from Lex Luthor's Everyman Project in the 52 crossover series, where he promised the ability to genetically modify anyone willing and activate their meta-gene. 
• (I'm 99% sure Alana and Spike the alien dragon are both original to Supergirl).