A Luthor centric story provided another awesome episode of Supergirl.
When Lena Luthor is being framed for helping her mother escape from prison, Kara becomes determined to prove her friend to be innocent. Lillian Luthor is finally facing trial for her participation in the events of Medusa and Metallo has been called in as a character witness. He is totally brainwashed by Lillian and her cause, believing that she is completely justified in her determination to eliminate aliens. He eats up everything she says like candy, and he follows her with an intense blind loyalty. One night Kryptonite is slipped into his jail cell and Metallo uses his powers to free Lillian from her captors. When a video surfaces showing Lena with said Kryptonite, evidence begins to point to her being responsible, and she is arrested.
Regardless of what others might think, Kara refuses to give in to the assertion of Lena’s guilt and shows the depths of her dedication and loyalty to her friends when she literally puts her life on the line to prove her innocence. When Metallo breaks Lena out of prison, making it look all the more like she is guilty, Kara knows that she is in danger and goes to rescue her. This becomes a bit of a problem when it’s discovered that Metallo’s synthetic Kryptonite heart is degenerating and is going to explode, causing a blast that will kill Kara if she is anywhere near it. That definitely provided some great tension for the latter part of the episode as Winn and Alex stand by helplessly at the DEO when Kara refuses to turn back. “Kara, please!!” Watching Alex literally begging Kara to get away from the blast zone gave some definite sister feels, especially when the blast goes off and nobody’s really sure if Kara made it out in time or not. However, after an assist from J’onn, Kara and Lena both make it out of the situation alive and well. Metallo had no such luck on staying alive. There did seem to be a parallel to be drawn between his relationship with Lillian and Kara’s relationship with Lena. There is an implication in both cases of loyalty blinding Kara and Metallo to the darker, and possibly more dangerous greater picture tied to the missions of their chosen Luthors. Metallo was used for the purposes that Lillian needed him for, but when things went South, she was quick to abandon him. His loyalty to her quite literally blew up in his face, as his Kryptonite heart exploded. Could this possibly be a metaphor for Kara’s loyalty to Lena eventually blowing up in her face as well? Or maybe whatever Lillian took from Lex’s shrine will be what blows up. She seemed pretty excited about that, which doesn’t bode well for Kara. One question I have from that part of the story though: Is Lex dead or is he just in prison? The way Lillian kept talking about him, it sounded like he was dead. However, I thought that they said before that he was in prison. His little shrine of anti-Kryptonian weapons had some cool references though. I didn’t think we’d see a Black Mercy again. Obviously the war suit was pretty epic too.
When Lena Luthor is being framed for helping her mother escape from prison, Kara becomes determined to prove her friend to be innocent. Lillian Luthor is finally facing trial for her participation in the events of Medusa and Metallo has been called in as a character witness. He is totally brainwashed by Lillian and her cause, believing that she is completely justified in her determination to eliminate aliens. He eats up everything she says like candy, and he follows her with an intense blind loyalty. One night Kryptonite is slipped into his jail cell and Metallo uses his powers to free Lillian from her captors. When a video surfaces showing Lena with said Kryptonite, evidence begins to point to her being responsible, and she is arrested.
Regardless of what others might think, Kara refuses to give in to the assertion of Lena’s guilt and shows the depths of her dedication and loyalty to her friends when she literally puts her life on the line to prove her innocence. When Metallo breaks Lena out of prison, making it look all the more like she is guilty, Kara knows that she is in danger and goes to rescue her. This becomes a bit of a problem when it’s discovered that Metallo’s synthetic Kryptonite heart is degenerating and is going to explode, causing a blast that will kill Kara if she is anywhere near it. That definitely provided some great tension for the latter part of the episode as Winn and Alex stand by helplessly at the DEO when Kara refuses to turn back. “Kara, please!!” Watching Alex literally begging Kara to get away from the blast zone gave some definite sister feels, especially when the blast goes off and nobody’s really sure if Kara made it out in time or not. However, after an assist from J’onn, Kara and Lena both make it out of the situation alive and well. Metallo had no such luck on staying alive. There did seem to be a parallel to be drawn between his relationship with Lillian and Kara’s relationship with Lena. There is an implication in both cases of loyalty blinding Kara and Metallo to the darker, and possibly more dangerous greater picture tied to the missions of their chosen Luthors. Metallo was used for the purposes that Lillian needed him for, but when things went South, she was quick to abandon him. His loyalty to her quite literally blew up in his face, as his Kryptonite heart exploded. Could this possibly be a metaphor for Kara’s loyalty to Lena eventually blowing up in her face as well? Or maybe whatever Lillian took from Lex’s shrine will be what blows up. She seemed pretty excited about that, which doesn’t bode well for Kara. One question I have from that part of the story though: Is Lex dead or is he just in prison? The way Lillian kept talking about him, it sounded like he was dead. However, I thought that they said before that he was in prison. His little shrine of anti-Kryptonian weapons had some cool references though. I didn’t think we’d see a Black Mercy again. Obviously the war suit was pretty epic too.
Of all of the Luthor related scenes we got in this episode, I think I most enjoyed the flashbacks of the Luthor family from when Lena first came to live with them. These were a fun way of including Lex and Lionel Luthor in the show and showcasing the various Luthor family dynamics. We instantly see Lillian’s preference to Lex, and Lionel’s protectiveness over Lena, two things we know carried on as the Luthor children grew up. Chess is also an important feature of the Luthor story, and we see Lillian, Lex and Lena all playing it at various points. It’s a game of strategy and manipulation, which the Luthors are well known to be good at. Lena’s key playing piece is the knight, which hints at an important reference to the organization Checkmate, a deep cover government group from the comics, often associated with Amanda Waller, the leader of Task Force X (aka Suicide Squad), and which Maxwell Lord also has had ties to. On Smallville, Checkmate was a rather shady group that tried to forcibly recruit members of the Justice League to their team. Given Lena’s implied connection to the group at the end of the episode, I am curious to see what they have in mind for Checkmate’s role on this show. Especially since that could be a key factor in determining whether or not Lena really is fighting for the side of good, or if she’s pulling a fast one on Kara. I’m of the mindset that, as of right now, I don’t think Lena is lying or trying to manipulate Kara. I do genuinely think that she views Kara as a real friend. Her mother on the other hand, I do think Lena is fighting a battle of wits against. When she visits her mother in prison and learns that Lionel was her biological father, they play it as if that discovery is a shocking revelation for Lena. I find it hard to believe that someone of her means and intelligence hasn’t bothered to do proper research on her true biological roots. I honestly think that this was all a show to make Lillian believe as though she had some upper hand over Lena. I don’t think Lena planned on getting framed and kidnapped by her mother and Metallo, but based on the Checkmate reference, I do think that she has some grander plans in mind, either as revenge, or as a part of something that she has been designing all along.
At one point, James draws a comparison between Clark and Lex’s friendship and Kara and Lena’s. I actually think this is a valid and interesting connection. This show follows the Smallville idea of Clark and Lex being best friends turned mortal enemies. James fears that Kara and Lena may be in the same boat. This is a valid concern. Part of what destroyed Clark and Lex’s relationship on Smallville was the fact that Clark was never able to be fully truthful with Lex. He never trusted Lex enough to let him in on his super powered identity, and it was something that created more and more tension between them as time went on. Between that and the strained relationships with his father and others around him, Lex eventually lost the ability to trust anyone. I can see trust becoming an issue with Lena and Kara as well, because they continue to make it a point that Lena has a different relationship with each of Kara’s personas. Lena tells Kara that while Supergirl may have saved her, Kara is her hero. If Kara continues to keep up that identity separation, it will eventually become a sticking point between them. However that goes both ways. Lex was involved in some things that he kept from Clark, just as Lena is obviously not telling anyone about her involvement with Checkmate. So Kara could also start to develop trust issues with Lena. I’m curious to see how it plays out. Again though, I think there is much to be explored within the Lena and Kara friendship dynamic.
Being an NCPD cop, Maggie is obviously involved in investigating Metallo and Lillian’s break out. She also is responsible for arresting Lena. While Maggie was great, I took some issue with Kara’s interaction with her in this scene. Maggie is a cop. She has authority over the situation and she has evidence to justify the arrest she is making. Kara is a reporter. She has no authority over the situation. So when she tries to use her personal connection with Maggie to try to gain some authority, I think she way overstepped. That was not the time and place to try and undermine what was happening, especially based solely on her own personal belief that Lena was innocent because “she wouldn’t do that.” I applaud Kara’s steadfast loyalty to her friend, but the way that this scene went down rubbed me the wrong way. I do think it’s somewhat amusing that neither one of the Danvers sisters takes kindly to Maggie trying to assert authority over them. All of that said, it did seem a bit odd to me that no one in Kara’s life seemed to have any faith in her assertion that Lena might be innocent. Honestly, is it that hard for people to think that Kara’s belief in people might have merit? The whole episode, she was treated as this fragile innocent girl who was naïve for not just following the evidence. No one else even wanted to attempt to find another side to the story. It was actually rather annoying, as I don’t think Kara has done anything to deserve the lack of faith she received.
Snapper and Kara have a disagreement about confirmation bias, and whether or not Lena should be a front-page story before she is officially determined to be guilty. Snapper’s argument is that there is evidence, and Lena is famous, so thereby it’s newsworthy enough to be front page, despite the fact that he’s encouraging Kara to keep digging if she thinks that she can help prove that Lena is innocent. I think this speaks to a larger issue about media being all about the biggest story or the biggest sell, rather than genuinely seeking out impartial truth. Everyone assumes Lena is guilty because she’s a Luthor, so the story sells itself, so therefore it’s worth front-page exposure regardless of whether it is true or not. Honestly, I think James and Snapper were both the ones guilty of confirmation bias in this situation. They had the basic evidence necessary to support what they believed to be true, so they didn’t bother to look for any other angle. Ideally, journalism and media should be unbiased, but it rarely ever is anymore. It often preys on people’s preconceived beliefs and ideas, and sells them stories that they want to hear. That’s why we have news channels that notoriously lean to one political side or the other in their reporting. The issue with widespread bias is that it becomes difficult to determine what the actual truth is. As Kara states later, there is almost always another side to the story. You have to keep digging, get all the facts, and only then will you find truth.
“No way Alex Danvers dates someone who doesn’t own a firearm.” Alex introduces Maggie to the rest of the Superfriends as her girlfriend. I love that Supergirl continues to have these moments where Alex keeps coming out. Unfortunately, given that we live in such a heteronormative society, someone who is gay will still usually spend most of their life coming out to each new person they talk to. As the scene in this episode demonstrates so well, unless you fall into stereotype, the assumption will always be that you are straight. Having spent so much time this season exploring Alex’s sexuality and seeing her happier and more fulfilled through coming out, it’s almost uncomfortable to listen to James and Winn talk about meeting Alex’s “new guy.” “My money’s on your girl, Alex.” J’onn, however, was amazing. I love that he has known about the fact that Alex was gay but that he has waited and allowed her to come to him on her own terms. Mon El’s casual acceptance and surprise at the fact that this was something that needed to be big news also made me love him as well. He’s right. “Ladies lovin’ ladies” shouldn’t be big news. It’s 2017. Why are we still living in a world of prejudice and hate? Aside from the way that everyone reacts in a supportive manner, my other favorite part of this scene was Winn agreeing to play pool with Maggie. “It is geometry with sticks.” Yeah…I think there’s a little bit of skill involved too, buddy. At least Maggie’s finally found someone she can beat at pool. I laughed when James and Kara have to duck as a pool ball comes flying past their heads. The one sticking point of the bar scene was James finding a way to make it all about himself. “That cop, she doesn’t know I’m the Guardian does she?” “No, lucky her.” I feel the same way, Kara. Also, James must have taken a few too many blows to the head while out crime fighting if he seriously doesn’t understand why Kara doesn’t trust him anymore, but still trusts Lena. He lied to her for forever about being Guardian. Lena has not (at least to our knowledge thus far) been dishonest with Kara in any way, nor is her ego anywhere near the size of his. It’s really not that hard to figure out. As such, it bothers me that, even when James is proven wrong about Lena, they boil it down to “let’s go back to being friends.” They do absolutely nothing to give Kara even an ounce of credibility for her feelings about the Guardian situation.
“I’m super fun and you’re hypercritical.” “More like you’re an arrogant dude bro and I’m the personification of the American way.” Kara is jealous of Mon El and Eve dating, even going so far as to slip up and actually tell him that seeing them together made her mad. Not that it really should have since she finds out that he spent the date talking all about her, much to Eve’s dismay. How these two continue to be so oblivious to their situation is beyond me, but it’s getting tedious. Fortunately, by episode’s end, Kara finally decides to be honest with her feelings. She even takes the glasses of when she talks to him, so you know she means business. Unfortunately, when she tries to kiss Mon El, she’s interrupted by Mr. Mxyzptlk. A magical nuisance known for causing trouble in the Superverse. In the case of Supergirl, he has come to declare his love for Kara. Question. Why is it that literally every time Kara kisses a guy, something weird happens? I look forward to seeing what kind of havoc Mxyzptlk wreaks on National City and how our hero manages to get him to say his name backwards and send him back to where he came from.
This was a well-constructed episode. The Luthor story was interesting throughout, and the depth that they continue to add to Kara and Lena’s friendship has made me feel genuinely invested in seeing how that dynamic plays out in the coming episodes. Lillian’s escape also hints at more Cadmus story coming, so hopefully that means we’ll get more on the search for Jeremiah soon. Alex’s coming out story has come pretty much full circle now that everyone in her life knows about her relationship with Maggie. I’m excited to see what’s in store for them for the rest of the season as well. Guardian continues to be a sore point, but it doesn’t appear that he’s going away, so I guess I’ll continue to grin and bear it. The Kara and Mon El romance seems to finally be turning into something real, though I guess we’ll see what kind of effect Mr. Mxyzptlyk has on them next episode. Overall, I genuinely enjoyed Luthors. It definitely ranks among the top episodes this season. Will the Valentine’s Day episode coming next be even better? I think it has the potential. Time will tell. Keep bringing your A game Supergirl.
At one point, James draws a comparison between Clark and Lex’s friendship and Kara and Lena’s. I actually think this is a valid and interesting connection. This show follows the Smallville idea of Clark and Lex being best friends turned mortal enemies. James fears that Kara and Lena may be in the same boat. This is a valid concern. Part of what destroyed Clark and Lex’s relationship on Smallville was the fact that Clark was never able to be fully truthful with Lex. He never trusted Lex enough to let him in on his super powered identity, and it was something that created more and more tension between them as time went on. Between that and the strained relationships with his father and others around him, Lex eventually lost the ability to trust anyone. I can see trust becoming an issue with Lena and Kara as well, because they continue to make it a point that Lena has a different relationship with each of Kara’s personas. Lena tells Kara that while Supergirl may have saved her, Kara is her hero. If Kara continues to keep up that identity separation, it will eventually become a sticking point between them. However that goes both ways. Lex was involved in some things that he kept from Clark, just as Lena is obviously not telling anyone about her involvement with Checkmate. So Kara could also start to develop trust issues with Lena. I’m curious to see how it plays out. Again though, I think there is much to be explored within the Lena and Kara friendship dynamic.
Being an NCPD cop, Maggie is obviously involved in investigating Metallo and Lillian’s break out. She also is responsible for arresting Lena. While Maggie was great, I took some issue with Kara’s interaction with her in this scene. Maggie is a cop. She has authority over the situation and she has evidence to justify the arrest she is making. Kara is a reporter. She has no authority over the situation. So when she tries to use her personal connection with Maggie to try to gain some authority, I think she way overstepped. That was not the time and place to try and undermine what was happening, especially based solely on her own personal belief that Lena was innocent because “she wouldn’t do that.” I applaud Kara’s steadfast loyalty to her friend, but the way that this scene went down rubbed me the wrong way. I do think it’s somewhat amusing that neither one of the Danvers sisters takes kindly to Maggie trying to assert authority over them. All of that said, it did seem a bit odd to me that no one in Kara’s life seemed to have any faith in her assertion that Lena might be innocent. Honestly, is it that hard for people to think that Kara’s belief in people might have merit? The whole episode, she was treated as this fragile innocent girl who was naïve for not just following the evidence. No one else even wanted to attempt to find another side to the story. It was actually rather annoying, as I don’t think Kara has done anything to deserve the lack of faith she received.
Snapper and Kara have a disagreement about confirmation bias, and whether or not Lena should be a front-page story before she is officially determined to be guilty. Snapper’s argument is that there is evidence, and Lena is famous, so thereby it’s newsworthy enough to be front page, despite the fact that he’s encouraging Kara to keep digging if she thinks that she can help prove that Lena is innocent. I think this speaks to a larger issue about media being all about the biggest story or the biggest sell, rather than genuinely seeking out impartial truth. Everyone assumes Lena is guilty because she’s a Luthor, so the story sells itself, so therefore it’s worth front-page exposure regardless of whether it is true or not. Honestly, I think James and Snapper were both the ones guilty of confirmation bias in this situation. They had the basic evidence necessary to support what they believed to be true, so they didn’t bother to look for any other angle. Ideally, journalism and media should be unbiased, but it rarely ever is anymore. It often preys on people’s preconceived beliefs and ideas, and sells them stories that they want to hear. That’s why we have news channels that notoriously lean to one political side or the other in their reporting. The issue with widespread bias is that it becomes difficult to determine what the actual truth is. As Kara states later, there is almost always another side to the story. You have to keep digging, get all the facts, and only then will you find truth.
“No way Alex Danvers dates someone who doesn’t own a firearm.” Alex introduces Maggie to the rest of the Superfriends as her girlfriend. I love that Supergirl continues to have these moments where Alex keeps coming out. Unfortunately, given that we live in such a heteronormative society, someone who is gay will still usually spend most of their life coming out to each new person they talk to. As the scene in this episode demonstrates so well, unless you fall into stereotype, the assumption will always be that you are straight. Having spent so much time this season exploring Alex’s sexuality and seeing her happier and more fulfilled through coming out, it’s almost uncomfortable to listen to James and Winn talk about meeting Alex’s “new guy.” “My money’s on your girl, Alex.” J’onn, however, was amazing. I love that he has known about the fact that Alex was gay but that he has waited and allowed her to come to him on her own terms. Mon El’s casual acceptance and surprise at the fact that this was something that needed to be big news also made me love him as well. He’s right. “Ladies lovin’ ladies” shouldn’t be big news. It’s 2017. Why are we still living in a world of prejudice and hate? Aside from the way that everyone reacts in a supportive manner, my other favorite part of this scene was Winn agreeing to play pool with Maggie. “It is geometry with sticks.” Yeah…I think there’s a little bit of skill involved too, buddy. At least Maggie’s finally found someone she can beat at pool. I laughed when James and Kara have to duck as a pool ball comes flying past their heads. The one sticking point of the bar scene was James finding a way to make it all about himself. “That cop, she doesn’t know I’m the Guardian does she?” “No, lucky her.” I feel the same way, Kara. Also, James must have taken a few too many blows to the head while out crime fighting if he seriously doesn’t understand why Kara doesn’t trust him anymore, but still trusts Lena. He lied to her for forever about being Guardian. Lena has not (at least to our knowledge thus far) been dishonest with Kara in any way, nor is her ego anywhere near the size of his. It’s really not that hard to figure out. As such, it bothers me that, even when James is proven wrong about Lena, they boil it down to “let’s go back to being friends.” They do absolutely nothing to give Kara even an ounce of credibility for her feelings about the Guardian situation.
“I’m super fun and you’re hypercritical.” “More like you’re an arrogant dude bro and I’m the personification of the American way.” Kara is jealous of Mon El and Eve dating, even going so far as to slip up and actually tell him that seeing them together made her mad. Not that it really should have since she finds out that he spent the date talking all about her, much to Eve’s dismay. How these two continue to be so oblivious to their situation is beyond me, but it’s getting tedious. Fortunately, by episode’s end, Kara finally decides to be honest with her feelings. She even takes the glasses of when she talks to him, so you know she means business. Unfortunately, when she tries to kiss Mon El, she’s interrupted by Mr. Mxyzptlk. A magical nuisance known for causing trouble in the Superverse. In the case of Supergirl, he has come to declare his love for Kara. Question. Why is it that literally every time Kara kisses a guy, something weird happens? I look forward to seeing what kind of havoc Mxyzptlk wreaks on National City and how our hero manages to get him to say his name backwards and send him back to where he came from.
This was a well-constructed episode. The Luthor story was interesting throughout, and the depth that they continue to add to Kara and Lena’s friendship has made me feel genuinely invested in seeing how that dynamic plays out in the coming episodes. Lillian’s escape also hints at more Cadmus story coming, so hopefully that means we’ll get more on the search for Jeremiah soon. Alex’s coming out story has come pretty much full circle now that everyone in her life knows about her relationship with Maggie. I’m excited to see what’s in store for them for the rest of the season as well. Guardian continues to be a sore point, but it doesn’t appear that he’s going away, so I guess I’ll continue to grin and bear it. The Kara and Mon El romance seems to finally be turning into something real, though I guess we’ll see what kind of effect Mr. Mxyzptlyk has on them next episode. Overall, I genuinely enjoyed Luthors. It definitely ranks among the top episodes this season. Will the Valentine’s Day episode coming next be even better? I think it has the potential. Time will tell. Keep bringing your A game Supergirl.