Previously on Supergirl, baddies called Worldkillers were sometimes on the loose and sometimes so undercover they didn’t even know they were Worldkillers, and coincidentally, Sam kept losing time. Also Space Dad saved his father from White Martians and then found out he had dementia.
Last we left our heroes, Lena had set up an entire medical bunker just for her good pal Sam. She has abandoned all earthly responsibilities and the only thing that matters to her now is finding out what’s wrong with Sam and, presumably, how to fix her.
So far what’s Lena has learned about Sam is that her friend is…transforming. It’s very sweet because Lena first records her medical findings, all business, then as soon as the recording is over, her face softens and she just begs her friend to be Sam when she wakes up.
Best bedside manner OF ALL TIME
Cut to Game Night, where Kara and Alex aren’t worried about their dear friends Lena and Sam, because sometimes adults are too busy to hang out with other adults, and that’s okay. The game is all very cute and Papa J’onn keeps accidentally cheating by using his powers. He teases J’onn about having cheated when he was litting, saying he used to blame it on his imaginary friend Zook (which is a very sweet nod to the comics).
But then Alex gets an alert that Team Supergirl is needed, and they all watch in confusion as Kara slowly unbuttons her blouse to reveal her supersuit. But hey, she likes this shirt; it gets expensive replacing all those buttons all the time!
:Kendra voice: That was me favorite shirt!
This episode was dotted with funny little moments like that and I hope they lean into it as they get through some of these heavier storylines. I want them to find the fun again, and I really do feel like they’re on their way there.
Anyway, the call Supergirl got was for a disturbance at the Gaylien Bar; it turns out a psychic alien was affected by some astronomical event and kind of went berserk for no reason — they’re normally pretty peaceful. So they put her in containment for now to keep an eye on her and try to figure out what’s wrong.
Oh and in case you were wondering where Brainy and Imra have been, they went off to check out a river of blood, since that’s Pestilence’s MO, but probably that’s fine and normal…
Back at Lena’s bunker, Sam wakes up and is, indeed, Sam. Lena assures her Ruby is safe, then tries to explain that she thinks Sam is actually Reign during her blackouts. And of course, of all people, Lena Luthor figured it out. Our clever girl, our resident genius. (Tell me again she doesn’t know Kara is Supergirl I DARE YOU.)
Anyway, Sam refuses to believe it. She wants to storm out but Lena has her trapped in a forcefield of her own genius design. Lena is so, so sad about it, but she promised Sam she would help her, and that’s exactly what she’s doing.
HELP IT HURTS
Sam is mad and lashes out but Lena stays strong.
Meanwhile, James shows up in Lena’s office because he can’t take a damn hint. If the girl wants space, give her space!!
Eh hem. Anyway, Winn gave me a new nickname for Imra’s husband, because he fixed his suit. So now he is Codpiece. I think Cisco would approve. Something I personally approve of is when Papa J’onn accidentally sends anger vibes into the DEO, Kara punches Codpiece square in the chest. It’s pretty great. (And turns out that’s what set the alien in the bar off, too; Papa J’onn’s attempts at meditation are having ripple effects.)
The anger vibes shake everyone up, and Alex tries to break up a fight between Winn and Agent Demos, but then SHE starts to fight Winn. Kara tries to break THAT fight up and then Space Dad jumps in to stop the madness. They all look like they just woke up from a trance and they decide to get psychic inhibitors on in case it happens again. Kara tells Alex about the rage-punching and Alex suggests that maybe it’s a bit deeper than that.
I love when they share the frame all suited up.
As they talk, they’re walking to check on the psychic alien, but she’s seizing and rambling in Martian. Which Alex recognizes by sound because she’s super smart.
Back in the babe bunker, Lena tries to jog Sam’s memory by talking her through every Reign incident she has logged. She of course takes the chance to compliment Supergirl while she’s at it.
SEDUCTION EYES
But when that doesn’t work, she starts to play the part of Evil Luthor that Sam tried to accuse her of being. She channels her mother and says Sam isn’t fit to be anywhere near Ruby. She pokes at the weakest parts of Sam’s armor, the ones she only knows are there because of how close they are, until finally Sam breaks and Reign emerges.
At the DEO, Space Dad finally comes clean to Alex and Kara about how his dad is deteriorating and the psychic episodes are all his fault. His space daughters listen intently and are supportive, assuring him that they’re in this together. They understand that he feels like he’s losing his father all over again, but Alex tells the story of when her mother had to take away her grandmother’s keys and how hard but necessary it was; sometimes you have to take steps to protect the ones you love from themselves.
What do you MEAN Everything Sucks was cancelled?
(Not unlike what Lena is doing for Sam as they speak.)
Kara says her uncle used to say, “The son becomes the father, the father the son.” Or maybe the sun. Either way, it’s the circle of life.
When Sam comes to, the room around her is destroyed. Lena plays the video and Sam watches her body zip around the containment room with superhuman speed, and zap things with laser vision. Lena hates making her watch it, but she knew seeing it with her own eyes was the only way Sam would have believed her. Sam realizes now that she did indeed kill people, and her heart is broken for knowing. Lena lets down the barrier and goes to her friend, rests her head on her, says that it’s good that they know now, for sure. They can get through this. Together.
Katie McGrath just has more chemistry with women than men on screen, it’s science, I DON’T MAKE THE RULES.
J’onn goes to talk to his dad and give him a bracelet that would be a psychic dampener to help prevent these dangerous incidents, but Papa J’onn feels like he’s being imprisoned again, so things get worse. Kara is affected again, and calls Codpiece a lying jackass who disrespected her and now claims to be this new good person but he wasn’t here during all that supposed development and no one around here seems to be willing to say out loud that he was the literal worst so how are we supposed to trust it’s going to get better!!!!
I mean, more or less, that’s what she says. She speaks our frustrations out loud with her mouth. Alex comes in and gives her a dampener and she looks like she feels a little bad, but hopefully just at the way she snapped and not the actual message she delivered.
Papa J’onn’s episode gets worse and opens all the containment cells, letting loose a slew of baddies, including a White Martian, which really doesn’t help things. Alex fights with taser sticks in a way that would make Sara Lance proud, and Kara uses new cape tricks that I doubt they’ll be able to afford to let her do too many more times.
While Space Dad fights off the White Martian, Kara gives Papa J’onn a pep talk, saying that sometimes things happen that are simply beyond our control; no amount of fighting will change it. And when that happens, the only thing we can do is try to make the best of it.
I want a therapist that’s one part Kara, one part Lena, two parts Alex.
Papa J’onn finally understands that his son is just trying to help him and takes the bracelet, instantly calming the chaos.
Underground somewhere, Sam calls Ruby to try to keep her from worrying too much, and makes Lena promise her that she won’t even tell her where Ruby is until they cure her. They sit on the floor together on either side of the containment unit—yes, Lena fucking Luthor was sitting on the floor to be there for her friend—and Lena promises her friend she’ll do everything she can.
She probably works out in heels and yet, here she is, sitting on the floor for her friend.
While the DEO is being cleaned up, Papa J’onn gathers everyone together and apologizes that his stubbornness caused so much damage, but they rally around him and support him because they’re a found family and that’s what found families do.
Lena goes back to her office, maybe for her sweatshirt, who knows, and finds James there again. He claims he was just dropping food off but we’re bordering on stalker-like behavior now. Lena says that because of the nature of her work, she can’t share everything with him. He claims to be okay with that, maybe because there’s things he can’t tell her either, but only time will tell if he truly gives her the space she’s asking for.
In the training room, Kara admits to Codpiece that she realizes now, after that release of anger, that she hadn’t really been dealing with her feelings about him being back.
I love this track suit so much? I didn’t even think I liked track suits??
She says, however, that she does feel better after having said what she said. She feels bad she didn’t just talk to him, and let it kind of spew out of her like that, but doesn’t retract any of the statements she made. She says she romanticized their relationship, especially in the time she thought she rocketed him into space just to die, but now that he’s back she sees how toxic their relationship really was. He apologizes. You read that right. He says he realizes now that he was a jerk to her and he’s sorry. She then says she’s sorry for punching him because the patriarchy has conditioned women to apologize the most but he says they should just stop now or they’ll be apologizing back and forth for eternity so there it ends.
And I won’t lie, it felt a little like the writers were apologizing to us through Codpiece. It felt like they were acknowledging that they fucked up, and that they see that now, and that they want to prove that this new, improved man is here to stay. But the thing is, other shows have apologized to us right on screen. And the apology is nice, it is, and I appreciate it, but it’s what comes after that matters. That said, I think this is a step in the right direction, and if the marketing team can stop putting only the Codpiece in the promo gifs and stills, and we can go back to the Kara-first storylines, everything is going to be okay. And I do think Codpiece is here to stay, and while that is unfortunate, I think we have to do what Kara said and make the best of the situation. That is, hope that he’ll put his money where is mouth is and actually change, actually step back and let her be in charge. Time will tell.
Supergirl and Captain Codpiece suit up and go out together to do some patrolling, perhaps the way it always should have been, just a girl and her sidekick. And together they find enough dead birds to make a horror movie.
Pestilence is here.
It’s amazing how after this, when even the writers had to admit that Mon-El treated Kara badly, that the Karamels are ranting online about, “Well Kara was bad to him too.” *Shakes head*
First off I’d really like to thank you Val for doing these recaps, and for doing these so quickly too, because till this season ends I am entirely going to follow the story through mostly your recaps cause like…..Look, generally I try to be optimistic and look for the best when people put out their work for the world to see. But with how long Supergirl was off air I had a lot of time to sit and stew in my feelings about the show. And its not been a good place for me, considering the fact that mulitple of my favorite female characters on continuing stories on the television are on this show.
So while this episode was better than a vast majority of season 2, I still don’t completely trust this writer room anymore to do justice to the characters that they’ve written. With how deep into just a bizarre relationship that they put Lena in to how really, all the upcoming tidbits of the episodes yet to release all make me deeply anxious with how deeply entrenched in this story the jar of mayo is going to be. I really hope I am wrong with my gut feeling about the direction this show took and continued to walk on since the second season. But like I really can’t take all the empty platitude this show throws on my face just to go back to its “strictly hetero please” kind of story telling.
Like I really don’t think that this entire scene with Kara calling out her ex has any weight to it because the entire history of television points to these two characters ending together, and I really don’t have anything from the writers side to doubt that outcome.(And like this comment is a big enough rant already without adding to all my feelings about how they completely ruined the character of Lena Luthor, and that fucking “we are sisters” scene because really that just left such a bad taste in my mouth. Like that was written so basically people could call out supercorp shippers and tell them that Kara and Lena are like sisters in canon so fuck that entire storyline.) And like with all the anxiety I have about coming to America to pursue my masters and the political climate and how it will be like for me in my field of engineering in the state which I’d be going to, its like I really wanted them to at least write Lena and Kara interactions or give them some character points so I could look forward to them being used in fanfiction (at least Alex still lives and grows bit by bit) and like I really cant take even more anxiety about what happens to these characters added on top to what all is happening.
I’m only following the show in these recaps now too. I agree in terms of an apology being nice but it not really meaning much given what the writer’s room has done so far. It almost makes it seem *more* likely that they’ll end up together now? Idk. And yeah, I love that they’re letting Lena and Kara take their friendship really seriously, but “we’re sisters”? Seems unnecessary and intended specifically for shippers. Ugh.
Hoping that the show pleasantly surprises me! But in the meantime, I’m very grateful for Valerie’s recaps and for not having to actually see Codpiece’s face ever.
And I’ll continue to put my all into these recaps, FOR THE PEOPLE
You’re the hero we need and probably don’t deserve.
I’m worried what sort of blowback Lena will suggest when (yes, when) Reign escapes from what I assume is the basement of L-Corp. Some unscrupulous mustache will probably try to use it as proof of her verdigree. Or maybe the hurt from her totally qualified to help friends who she isn’t telling, “hey, I found out who the season big bad is!” Maybe Lena is worried what Supergirl would do to Sam?
…what did Winn do to Pam in HR? Best headcanon wins a bottle of Captain Jiwa Spiced Rum.
Winn used (And I do mean used) her as rebound for Lyla.
I believe Lena is a fixer. It’s what she does. All her L-Corp gizmos are designed to solve problems, whether they’re real or not. The alien detector from last season comes to mind. She believes she can “fix” Sam by herself. Plus, she probably doesn’t trust anyone else and with good reason. She’s seen what her mom does to aliens and there are undoubtedly others like mom out there. I’d like to think she knows Supergirl well enough to know she wouldn’t do anything to Sam except as a last resort but Sam is her friend and you protect your friends. But yeah, I suspect this will not end well.
Do you think Winn ate Pam’s lunch? Or like, ate half of her yogurt and put it back every day for a week? Or didn’t invite her to karaoke even though she has told him PLENTY OF TIMES how much she loves karaoke? Ate the candy on her desk she had saved especially for J’onn? Told Demos she had a crush on him even though she told Winn that when she was VERY DRUNK and Winn pinky swore not to tell? I DON’T KNOW I’M DESPERATE HERE, I REALLY WANT CAPTAIN JIWA SPICED RUM.
I think I count five different headcannons in your post and the best part is all them can be true simultaneously, so you win a barrel of Captain Jiwa’s Spiced Rum.
I think they wrote this Kara “calling out” scene so that when she and the guy get back together, they can say that she really forgave him and he’s a truly changed man and we have to accept that they belong together because that’s the way things are.
Yeah, that’s what I think too, and it just makes me really sad :/
Oh, ghawd I hope not. I want to see him gone after this season and anyway, dammit, he’s married and where I come from that means something. We’ve seen no reason to think Imra is anything but decent and she doesn’t deserve to be the one he “settled for” until he got another chance.
Yeah, I’d hope that he’ll be gone too but, as Valerie said, it seems like he’s here to stay. And he already said that his marriage with Imra had a political purpose, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he dumped her to be with Kara.
The processing and anger and apology is nice but like… I STILL am unclear what Kara DID like about Mon-El? I WANT ANSWERS I am so confused still! She gave her heart to him sure but whyyyyyy?
Anyway no one hates Mon-El more than the person who made his costume. I get it’s a re-do of the Superman suit but it does not fit him well and is also ugly. Re-fit it or toss it.
ALSO, Valerie Anne I DISAGREE WITH YOU Lena does not work out in heels. She feels obligated to wear them to work because of the patriarchy and that’s it. Why do I think she does not like heels? She could barely wobble her way over to Sam in the Babe Bunker post-Reign. To be fair those shoes were ridiculous but still – that walk indicated Sacrifice To The Patriarchy not I Love Heels.
Is James working 9-5 as the editor of Catco or what’s going on with all his spare time??? God, this show still doesn’t know what to do with James. Or Kara’s supposed day-job, she’s never there anymore even during the day?
I can’t speak to whoever made the “Codpiece” suit but it’s fairly close to the original from the comics. If anything it’s improved because the original had a peplum and puffy sleeves. What guy wears something like that?
I dunno about Kara’s day job but I think her takedown of “Codpiece” may have been the first time it was mentioned this season. Have they really given up on that side of her life? If so, it’s a shame because to me, the Kara part has always been just as interesting as the Supergirl part.
Agree to disagree I guess! Because I just don’t believe Lena Stigma-Be-Damned Luthor does anything because the patriarchy told her so.
Lena has a surprise for Kara. Her tongue is pierced.
this gif is rude
Okay, you got it: Lena doesn’t know. Happy? Seriously, she only knows what the writers want her to know and right now they want her to be in the dark. Besides, Kara passed the alien detector last season. And Lena has never heard Kara snap, “Silence!” as if she were a different person and seen her eyes literally light up, which happened with Sam just two episodes ago.
As for Lena+James, there’s a difference between wanting space and checking out. Lena has been incommunicado for a week. What is he supposed to think? Perhaps you could enlighten me. Personally, I wouldn’t blame him for walking away but he didn’t. He made a last ditch effort. That’s not stalking unless we have very different definitions.
As for “Codpiece,” I think he and the Legion will be gone after this season. Then again, I said that about him last season and look where we are now so I could easily be wrong.
He should think she wants him to bugger off is what he should think. She answered him enough to know she’s safe/alive, he should just back off and stop showing up uninvited. Send a text once a day to be like “hope everything’s okay!” if you want to, but don’t just appear with dinner and sit near it until she appears.
So walk away. Which, by a happy coincidence, opens the door for Lena+Kara or perhaps Lena+Sam. Got it.
Did it bother anyone else that there was very obviously no bathroom anywhere in Lena and Sam’s bunker???? Do Kryptonians not poop or something? Or at least want to bathe?
GOD I was cheering for Kara when she spilled all that tea on her shitty ex in his overly padded spandex… I do think they’re gonna go the love triangle route but I’m enjoying what I can until then, and for the most part I really am enjoying it. It’s just such a bad look to have Supergirl having an affair with a married man, even if it is just a marriage of convenience or whatever. (I don’t think even Oliver Queen slept with anyone who was married, did he?) They could’ve introduced Imra as his new girlfriend or even just his friend but they went for WIFE, and whether they like it or not, that means something.
Also, when do I get my Pam in HR centric episode? A day in the life of Pam, just filling out forms to replace all the windows broken in this episode when suddenly all the forms are destroyed by alien fire or something… classic Pam shenanigans
I would LOVE a Pam from HR episode!!!
You already wrote a whole wonderful Pam fanfic above, too! Dumb Winn keeps terrorizing her with small but significantly office crimes. Poor Pam just wants to live her life, and people keep drinking her seltzer and stealing her stapler!! She needs it to staple all the alien-related forms together that she has to fill out every single day!
Super here for this, already invested.
What, you’ve never heard of a bedpan? Seriously, the holding cells at the DEO don’t have toilets either. It’s apparently something the set designers don’t think about. This set at least has shadowy areas around the edges where a bathroom could be. (Mind you, there isn’t one but there could be.)
In fact, back in season two, the first time Kara throws Mon-El in the holding cell (the same cell they put Purity in) there is a toilet on screen right.
Good eye. I never noticed a toilet. Must be “the exception that proves the rule” or something. I know it’s been a trope going back to season 1.
„Sisters.“
„We‘re close.“
I really figured we‘d be over the familial connections excuse to reason away the gay..
Remember when Haruka and Michiru suddenly became „cousins“ in the American translation of Sailor Moon? How many years ago was that? Like, seriously, Supergirl? Homophobic much?
There is chemistry between Kara and Lena, the guys you’re trying to hook them up with, don‘t work out. Ok, so you don’t want to pursue the coupling that‘s laid out on a platter in front of you, for whatever reason, but seriously, don’t pull stuff that was outdated twenty years ago already.
Hooking Lena up with a beard and then the sisters thing…come on, show, I really expect better of you.
Any chance we can stop calling James a stalker? He brought dinner to a woman he’s been dating. You can be critical of the James/Lena pairing without calling a black guy a criminal.
Thank you. He’s concerned and he cares. That doesn’t make him a stalker.
I said “bordering on stalker-like behavior” I didn’t accuse him of being a criminal. He showed up uninvited twice in the same episode. I just wish they made me believe Lena liked him, but she didn’t seem particularly happy to see him either time.
I miss OUR James, you know? The writers are doing him a serious disservice. I wish they would figure out a way to get him to be part of the story without involving a romantic relationship. I’d pick Guardian helping out at the DEO over Codpiece any day.
Or she could, I dunno, actually communicate with him instead of being passive-aggressive, expecting him to read her mind. Fortunately, she rectified that at the end of the episode but only because she felt she had no choice. This has a chance as a grownup relationship but there’s work to be done.
“And together they find enough dead birds to make a horror movie.”
I found this very funny. Thank you for that laugh! :) And.. in general doing great recaps that I love to read.
Eh… But.. didn’t like at all that pigeons had to die. It didn’t make sense to have wildlife die no matter the biblical connotations.
I found James supportive the past couple of episodes, including this one. I am still not sure what James and Lena think of each other, but even as a friend, I found him supportive… considering he was not about to wait for Lena after leaving the food.
And.. I am so glad Kara acknowledged that romanticised her relationship with Mon El because of sudden loss.. I think it was a much needed acknowledgement not in terms of this show but in general life too.. We do sometimes get into relationships that are harmful to us or even not the best fit at the time.. and for a variety of reasons (in Kara’s case, I have always suspected that she felt lonely and abandoned when her friends and sister seemed to have other lives and left to do other stuff; Mon El was the only one willing to hang out with her).
As much as the earlier scolding, I liked the later calm talk more. Because it emphasised that their relationship had problems that Kara had buried deep within.