Supergirl S04E14 Review: Room of Plot Convenience

Supergirl, Season 4, Episode 14: Stand & Deliver

"Stand and Deliver" is... it's an interesting episode of Supergirl. It's no secret that I haven't been the most excited about this series for a while, particularly with its insistence on stretching out a couple of plot points that I genuinely feel have overstayed their welcome. But throw in the Elite and a bunch of fun superhero hijinks into the episode, and this episode flows a lot better than what it would be.

That said, though, let me state again that I'm not one to really comment on politics or politically-charged TV shows in a country I don't even live in, so suffice to say that I am genuinely clueless and I don't intend on offending or propping up any one political party in the USA, although anyone who's remotely aware of America's current 'hot topics' would probably be able to tell what specific part of the government this series is... lambasting? Parodying? Referencing? It's never a proper analogue, of course, since the aliens in this show are literal ones, and as with any comic-book based media, characters tend to be exaggerated or sometimes written as one-dimensional to get the point across that racism and fear-mongering are bad. This episode does end up getting a wee bit too preachy and conveniently has the peace protest mostly end up positive, but Supergirl has always tended to be far more positive than her counterparts. Still, that one random man (is he someone we are supposed to know?) who is okay with Supergirl but not other aliens, and ends up getting converted at the end... that feels shoehorned in and just doesn't work for me.

And while the whole peaceful protest against a very ranty and two-dimensional Ben Lockwood is a pretty simplistic and honestly rushed at some points, the episode's cast honestly elevates this episode from being just another banal episode that does the same thing over and over again, and into a genuinely fun half-hour despite my current distaste for anything that has anything to do with American politics.

And let's go over the parts of the episode that really didn't work for me. Ben Lockwood ending up being appointed as the Director of Alien Affairs could probably be far more interesting if the show handles a racist being appointed in that position with more subtlety than literally standing in front of a crowd of people chanting "FUCK THE ALIENS". And... yeah, maybe some real-life politicians do have the subtlety of a Saturday morning cartoon villain, but this particular bit honestly ended up really making me roll my eyes at Lockwood. He's just turned out to be so one-dimensional in this episode. Also pretty bland is General Haley, who the show writers probably think is a much more complex character, but honestly, that one episode has really ramped up her villain qualities that nothing she's done in this episode and the previous one really made me sympathize with her at all. In fact, why are Alex and Brainiac still taking orders from her instead of quitting the DEO?

Likewise, the idea that Alex is assigned to protect the pretty scummy Lockwood is a good one on paper, but the execution was very much rushed, jumping from the introduction to a brief confrontation to the eventual conclusion. Brainiac being #AmericanAlien, as fun as the actor's delivery might be, also ends up feeling like it went nowhere. Those last two bits do help to give Alex and Brainiac something to do and make the world feel a bit more rich, but I do feel like maybe these particular plot lines would've worked a whole lot better if it had been spread out in the previous slew of episodes instead of the utterly lame James/Lena one, or that still-not-interesting amnesia subplot.

Speaking of which... Lena Luthor is a significantly far more exciting character when removed from her stupid romance with James, yeah? Trying to figure out which side of the morality spectrum she falls on, especially when General Haley tries to rush things on to give mankind an advantage, is genuinely more fun than anything she's done in this entire season.

James is... well, he does some actual photography in this season, doing something genuinely Jimmy Olsen-y? He's still doing the whole looking-into-L-corp stuff, although that is genuinely a very uninteresting bit that I don't really care all that much for. Him being a mentor for one of his journalists is neat-o, though.

Going back to the main plot, I didn't really like that Menagerie (and later Moe the Morae) gets captured pretty quickly and anticlimactically by Supergirl and Dreamer when the Elite splits up in the beginning of the episode, and just sort of forgotten and used mostly to fuel an argument between the very vendetta-ridden Manchester and the more "I thought you were about bigger things!" Hat. This argument, as well done as the two actors delivering the lines are, honestly feel rushed, like so many other things in the episode, and it's resolved without much hoo-ha either. So is Manchester Black faking his death with the Sun-Eater, a scene that was framed so bizarrely that even with the comic book knowledge of the Sun-Eater, I was baffled why everyone panicked when Manchester essentially just closed a door. Don't get me wrong, all the fun comic callbacks and using the Fortress of Solitude as a backdrop is genuinely fun, but the actual story progression isn't that well-structured.

What did work for me, though, was J'onn and Manchester's relationship, and just how much J'onn sounds angrier, knowing how Manchester can get under his self-admittedly thick Martian skin. Part of it is, of course, the show's let J'onn and Manchester's friendship-turned-rivalry build up properly in the previous episodes, which is something that I really wished was done for some of the other storylines going on in this episode.

Anyway, it's a messy but enjoyable ride. Special bonus goes to Nia, whose adorable "SURRENDER OR DIE!" new-superhero antics are genuinely hilarious, as is Supergirl constantly telling her to dial things down a notch. There's a fair amount of good stuff on Supergirl, J'onn and Manchester to really enjoy this episode, so even if I do have some problems with other aspects of this episode, I would lie if I said that I didn't enjoy watching it.

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• The key to the Fortress of Solitude being a gigantic golden key that is made of super-dense white star material that only Kryptonians can lift is something that's been around since the Golden Age.
• Superman having a pet Sun-Eater, an alien beast that eats suns (or miniature suns, at least) is a particularly famous piece of lore from the All-Star Superman comic.
• The Hat confirms that he's buddies with Mr. Mxyzptlk.
• Gotham City and Metropolis are briefly referenced by the cast as also being involved in the protests against Lockwood.