Supergirl, Season 5, Episode 17: Deus Lex Machina
Supergirl has three episodes left to its season, which, like its cousin shows The Flash and Batwoman, ended up being a truncated season. And it's kind of a shame, too, since a good chunk of the post-Crisis episodes of Supergirl have felt like mostly just filler and biding time until we reach the final couple of episodes before we actually explore the Lex/Lena/Leviathan trifecta. Still, we do get three episodes left and I am happy that, so far, they seem to be pretty solid ones. "Deus Lex Machina" is perhaps my favourite episode in this season, and is a contender for being one of my favourite episodes in the show. See, a story is really only as good as its villain, particularly stories set in the superhero genre. And throughout the various CW/DC projects, we've seen a lot of seasons fall apart and be regarded as unmemorable due to poor villain choices.And Supergirl's Lex Luthor has been one of the most interesting characters to discuss. He was amazing in the fourth season when he showed up randomly halfway through the season and revealed himself to be behind the manipulation of everything, and that made a lot of sense, with what we've been told. A lot of people get tired of him because he's so smug and kind of a scumbag, but that's what exactly makes him so interesting. Lex Luthor is a very, very smart man, and I will buy that he manipulates everything and everyone to make them dance on his fingertips, but at the same time I also do love that his Achilles' Heel is his pride and his ego, which makes him do stupid things like, say, in this episode, snap at Lena after one too many (in his eyes) 'ungrateful' actions.
And while he's reduced to a generic card-carrying villain during the Crisis crossover, post-Crisis, Luthor has been so, so much more interesting than the vaguely ambiguously mysterious Leviathan. He doesn't really do much beyond making sinister deals with Brainy and acting as a corrupting mentor, and being kinda friendly with Lena, and all the while he's been interesting but with the potential of ending up as being lame if not handled well.
Thankfully, 'Deus Lex Machina' is not a disappointment. After a brief sequence showing Lex waking up after the Crisis, and realizing that, yes, his attempt to fuck with history to make him be remembered as a hero to all actually worked, Lex's first thought is, interestingly enough, his family. Lex goes first to Lilian, and I do find it fascinating how this scene really highlights Lex's weaknesses and why he isn't as effective of a supervillain as he could be. Lilian correctly points out that one of Lex's biggest downfalls is his obsession and inferiority complex with Kryptonians -- first Superman, and now Supergirl. But one could also make the argument that another one of Lex's weaknesses is his constant desire to prove himself better than members of his family. Lilian goading Lex with a 'so you can't do it?' ends up being what makes him play the long game with Lena and Supergirl, and a huge chunk of Lex's motivation this season also revolves around essentially turning Lena to be fully on his side. Whether it's a twisted desire for his sister's respect or love or affection, or just his ego to prove himself as the better Luthor, or his refusal to lose to a Kryptonian in anything -- including being Lena's BFF... I can't say, but I do find this part of Lex quite neat.
Anyway, after Lilian convinces Lex, he ends up playing the long game, playing the role of hero and basking in the adulation of the people, while also trying to turn Lena to his side and sponsoring her little pet project of Non Nocere. But when Lex finds out about Leviathan, an event that the audience saw, he actually had an enemy that he needs to crush -- and one that he can do in more obvious manners than crushing Supergirl or Superman. Of course, Lex's ultimate plan is to take out everyone -- Leviathan and Supergirl. It's just that which one is Lex's priority at the moment, and which one he'll double-cross, is the question.
The revelation that a central villain is behind everything all along needs to be planned a bit well to make it a surprise but also not feel like an ass-pull (Adrian Chase, anyone?) but this episode really does it well by showing us just what Lex is trying to do. It also fits with the events of the show as we know them, so when the show reveals that, hey, Lex is the one who sponsors random villains-of-the-week Richard Bates and Amy Sapphire, it makes sense. There's always something that's quite off about Sapphire, like there's a missing piece in her story, but since she's not very important you don't really think about her. And hoo boy, bartender Lex with hair talking to Richard Bates was hilarious. We also learn about Lex's manipulations of poor Miss Tessmacher in this post-Crisis world, and while it's not super-noteworthy and sort of just showing what the audience already knows, it's still pretty neat to see Lex basically winning over Tessmacher (promising her vengeance against Leviathan for killing her dad) and using her as a way to get information in Obsidian. Of course, after the course of the episode's events, Lex very callously discards Tessmacher's attempted romantic advances by telling her how, well, he's the one that has her mother hostage now and he never even cared to figure out who killed her father. It's particularly cruel, and it seems that Lex was being particularly petty out of Tessmacher's betrayal of him pre-Crisis.
We also get the revelation that Lex told Tessmacher to kill poor Jeremiah Danvers, telling her that he's the man who killed her father. So there's yet another "Lex is behind it all" moment for you. I do like Lex's mask of self-confidence and supreme-chessmaster slipping, though, when he realizes that Lena gave Kara like a gift of a book and tried to make amends, and when he shows emotion and bursts out in anger in front of Lilian and later Lena, it humanizes Lex a lot and makes him a genuinely interesting villain to follow instead of just a generic super-smart-super-perfect villain.
It's not all flashback, though, because there's a framing story of sorts. The episode opens with Lex being hailed as a hero, having killed Margot (the old Leviathan lady) and rescuing all of the people kidnapped by Leviathan... and then we dial back the clock a little bit. Supergirl and her team are trying to figure out the huge problem of the missing people, and they're all sort of convinced that they need to tie Lex to the crime... and Kara ends up using Myriad as a plot device to help track the missing people. As this is going on, of course, Myriad's activation interferes with Lena's Non Nocere project, and with a few prodding words from Lex, he ends up causing Lena to storm off to the Fortress of Solitude, which does a couple of things for Lex -- he breaks the whole Kara/Lena friendship right when it's at the cusp of mending; he gets the teleportation coordinates for the Fortress of Solitude; and he sends an invisible alien (a Leviathan agent, apparently?) to attack and ultimately unleash the Sun-Eater as a threat that Supergirl, J'onn and M'gann needs to solve.
The heroes save the day because of course they do, while Lex ends up making himself out to be a 'hero', uncovering where Margot has been stashing all the kidnapped Obsidian Lens people, killing Margot and then calling foul on Supergirl for suspecting him all the time. Leviathan is angry and we even briefly get to see Gemmamae reveal her creepy robot form briefly, but Lex makes it out like he's doing Leviathan a favour by covering up their mistakes, and ends up earning that coveted 'seat at the table'. This plays into the whole Lex/Brainy thing, and it really does work to sell just why Brainy is committed to this alliance since Lex, despite consistently endangering people, is always proven right that 'Supergirl will save the day' and how Lex does get results in ways that Brainy would never have considered.
Of course, though, at the end of the episode, Lex himself strolls into the Fortress of Solitude while 'My Way' plays, seemingly at a whim, and it's genuinely curious to see how this is going to go on in regards to Lex's plan, playing Supergirl, Lena and Leviathan and manipulating everyone. The episode really hammers home what an insane chessmaster Lex is, and how smart he is in controlling and positioning everyone... while also highlighting that, fundamentally, Lex can also be impulsive and caught in an ego-centric tunnel-vision when it comes to either his sister or the Kryptonians. A very, very great character-centric episode, and, hell, might be my favourite episode of Supergirl so far.
DC Easter Eggs Corner:
- We're not sure if this is the same Morae, but a Morae was prominently featured in season four as part of Manchester Black's supervillain squad.
- The Sun-Eater was last seen in the season four episode "Stand and Deliver".
No comments:
Post a Comment