Supergirl, as a series, isn't very good. That being said, it's never been so agonizingly horrible that I've given up watching the show. Not even season five's "Reality Bytes" did that for me. I've considered quitting watching The Flash not once, but twice, and this time I'm not going back. That's the difference between Supergirl and The Flash. When The Flash is bad, it's always, *always*, completley garbage without fail. Supergirl has garbage episodes, sure, and their garbage is genuinely terrible, but it's never been as bad as the garbage on The Flash.
As for this episode, the first ten minutes were pretty great, then we got a bunch of nonsense for twenty five minutes, and then I was mixed on a lot of what happened after that. So pretty much, your typical Supergirl episode.
I really like that Kara's dealing with PTSD from being in the Phantom Zone. I honestly didn't think the show would go in that direction, but I'm so glad that it did. It gave Kara her first sense of relatability since... Well, ever. When your character is literally strong enough to bench press Fort Rozz (depending on the season, because sometimes she can beat Superman in a fight, and other times she has trouble breaking through webs), it's hard to make them relatable. This is a very simple, but really great way to do that. It's also a really great way for Kara to get some new character development. Kara isn't like Clark. She can't just be a static character having her morals tested, lest she be an unoriginal tokenization of a character. Kara needs development and other things to make her stand out from her cousin, and this show has managed to do that in the past, like in season four when she fought against the Children of Liberty, and literally stood as a beacon of acceptance for human and alien kind. Granted, that's also the season that stole Superman's most iconic villain, but I digress. Additionally, giving Kara PTSD from the Phantom Zone gives that story a new sense of weight it just didn't have before, and that's really great! Overall, I think this was the best part of the episode. It checked off a lot of the boxes it needed to, and was actually really well done in the episode.
That being said, I can almost guarantee that this won't last more than one episode. I'll be shocked if it does. This is the CW after all. I know what network I'm watching.
I also like how Zor-El was used here. Do I think it was a colossally stupid decision to send him off immediately at the end of the episode? Yes. I felt his character was underutilized throughout the entirety of the Phantom Zone arc, and he definitely could've stuck around until Kara inevitably goes to live on Argo City in the series finale. I thought it would've been cool to have them go together, but now we don't get that. I understood a lot of where Zor-El was coming from, honestly. He just wanted to help, and ended up making things a lot worse. I could've done without the "better, faster, cheaper" line about companies, we all know pollution is a problem, but they used that issue in a smart way here to further Zor-El's character and give a better understanding of his psyche. He basically spent the major part of his life trying to save a dying planet, so when he saw it happening to another planet, it only makes sense that he wouldn't be able to stop himself from trying to save it. He even says that he won't let Earth die, but misspeaks and says "Krypton" instead. I am sad to see the character go, I think that was way too soon in my opinion, and they could've used him and Kara fighting crime together to explore how Kara would react to having her real family fight by her side, but everything else he did in this episode was great. I'm just a little sad about the missed potential on some fronts.
The action in this episode was... Weird. I mean, they literally had the Super Friends fight a giant robot made out of garbage. It was... Well, it was dumb. There's no way around it. Superman and Lois handled their kryptonian characters in a really smart way by affecting them with kryptonite, trapping them inside their own minds, distracting them, and forcing them to fight people on a similar or greater level than them. Here, one of their characters gets their anti-kryptonite suit destroyed and is affected by kryptonite, but Zor-El just kinda chills back at the base so that the fight scene can have some stakes. That's the real issue with Supergirl as a show. They don't really have a way to keep an experienced kryptonian superhero in check. That's why the best villains of this show were in the earlier seasons. Astra and Reign challenged Kara physically, while Agent Liberty challenged Kara ideologically and created an enemy she couldn't punch, but had to disprove by just being a good person and keeping the peace. The newer seasons however have to go out of their way to create either "ancient threats" like Leviathan, or just put no effort into explaining why Kara can't punch her way out of every problem. Having Kara's anti-kryptonite suit get disabled is a good narrative device, but the way it happened was really lame. That's just me taking a deeper look into this show's fight scenes though, and doesn't really have a lot to do with this episode specifically.
I could've done without the beef Nia suddenly has with Kara and her dad spending so much time together. I get that she lost her mom, but that happened two seasons ago at this point, and it's never really been a big thing for Nia until this season. If Nia was more honestly sad about it and less bratty and whiney, I don't think I'd be able to complain about the sudden drama. However, the way she said "I'm glad they get to spend that time together" took me out of the scene a bit to be honest. I really hope this isn't a theme with the character going forward.
Andrea being worried about CatCo declining was a good way to take things and make the company still seem relevant, but it comes with a big drawback. Andrea literally caused the decline of CatCo sales by turning a respected news outlet that relied on old fashioned journalism into a glorified gossip site in the last season. She has no right to say that she didn't see this coming. She literally tore CatCo's soul out, but now she cares about her sales declining? Get out of here! She did manage to find a new subject though, and I'm actually intrigued to see where this goes. Andrea is going to have William and Kara investigate Supergirl and her "Super Friends" and try to get them to sign on with CatCo, and this is actually something interesting that's happening in the back half of this season. It might even lead to Kara's identity being leaked to the public, which then would lead to that dystopian future that we saw in the 100th episode. Okay, that second part probably won't happen, but any excuse I can get to see Sam Witwer reprising his role as Agent Liberty is something I'll look forward to. Regardless, I'm curious to how Kara would handle her identity being exposed. I honestly don't think she'd take it very well, and that's what intrigues me. She could be seen as a wolf in sheep's clothing, and then she might overreact and do something that puts civilians in harm's way. There's a lot of potential for a story there.
Also, the Central City Citizen is apparently listed as a more popular new outlet than CatCo, which is hilarious considering Iris lost her lead photographer when Cisco and Kamilla left the show, and the Citizen was never heard from again for the rest of season seven. That got me to smile just based on how ridiculous it was.
Oh yeah, and it appears that Lena Luthor is leaving with the end of this episode. Good. Last season ruined this character beyond all recognition, so I have no desire to continue seeing this character. So long, Lena. I won't miss you.
Overall, this episode could've been a lot worse. It's only really rated on the lower end because of the nonsensical action and the stuff with Lena and Nia, because barring all that, this was a really solid episode. I'm still gonna miss having Superman and Lois to look forward to on my Tuesday nights, but if Supergirl delivers more episodes like this, I think things can only improve. All they really need to do is fix some of the melodrama and nonsensical action, and give Kara a reasonable enemy to fight, but not somebody so ridiculously overpowered that the only way to beat them is with a pep talk, and I think this has potential to be the best season of the show since season four Pre-Lex. Yeah, a lot of the episodes in the Phantom Zone arc were bad or could've been easily explained out of existence, but the arc as a whole brings a lot of narrative potential to the table that the show can toy with now. One thing is for certain though: I'm looking forward to Supergirl's finale more than The Flash's finale, and I think that has something to do with the season having above average writing. Don't screw this up, CW. I'm honestly optimistic.
6 / 10.
As for this episode, the first ten minutes were pretty great, then we got a bunch of nonsense for twenty five minutes, and then I was mixed on a lot of what happened after that. So pretty much, your typical Supergirl episode.
I really like that Kara's dealing with PTSD from being in the Phantom Zone. I honestly didn't think the show would go in that direction, but I'm so glad that it did. It gave Kara her first sense of relatability since... Well, ever. When your character is literally strong enough to bench press Fort Rozz (depending on the season, because sometimes she can beat Superman in a fight, and other times she has trouble breaking through webs), it's hard to make them relatable. This is a very simple, but really great way to do that. It's also a really great way for Kara to get some new character development. Kara isn't like Clark. She can't just be a static character having her morals tested, lest she be an unoriginal tokenization of a character. Kara needs development and other things to make her stand out from her cousin, and this show has managed to do that in the past, like in season four when she fought against the Children of Liberty, and literally stood as a beacon of acceptance for human and alien kind. Granted, that's also the season that stole Superman's most iconic villain, but I digress. Additionally, giving Kara PTSD from the Phantom Zone gives that story a new sense of weight it just didn't have before, and that's really great! Overall, I think this was the best part of the episode. It checked off a lot of the boxes it needed to, and was actually really well done in the episode.
That being said, I can almost guarantee that this won't last more than one episode. I'll be shocked if it does. This is the CW after all. I know what network I'm watching.
I also like how Zor-El was used here. Do I think it was a colossally stupid decision to send him off immediately at the end of the episode? Yes. I felt his character was underutilized throughout the entirety of the Phantom Zone arc, and he definitely could've stuck around until Kara inevitably goes to live on Argo City in the series finale. I thought it would've been cool to have them go together, but now we don't get that. I understood a lot of where Zor-El was coming from, honestly. He just wanted to help, and ended up making things a lot worse. I could've done without the "better, faster, cheaper" line about companies, we all know pollution is a problem, but they used that issue in a smart way here to further Zor-El's character and give a better understanding of his psyche. He basically spent the major part of his life trying to save a dying planet, so when he saw it happening to another planet, it only makes sense that he wouldn't be able to stop himself from trying to save it. He even says that he won't let Earth die, but misspeaks and says "Krypton" instead. I am sad to see the character go, I think that was way too soon in my opinion, and they could've used him and Kara fighting crime together to explore how Kara would react to having her real family fight by her side, but everything else he did in this episode was great. I'm just a little sad about the missed potential on some fronts.
The action in this episode was... Weird. I mean, they literally had the Super Friends fight a giant robot made out of garbage. It was... Well, it was dumb. There's no way around it. Superman and Lois handled their kryptonian characters in a really smart way by affecting them with kryptonite, trapping them inside their own minds, distracting them, and forcing them to fight people on a similar or greater level than them. Here, one of their characters gets their anti-kryptonite suit destroyed and is affected by kryptonite, but Zor-El just kinda chills back at the base so that the fight scene can have some stakes. That's the real issue with Supergirl as a show. They don't really have a way to keep an experienced kryptonian superhero in check. That's why the best villains of this show were in the earlier seasons. Astra and Reign challenged Kara physically, while Agent Liberty challenged Kara ideologically and created an enemy she couldn't punch, but had to disprove by just being a good person and keeping the peace. The newer seasons however have to go out of their way to create either "ancient threats" like Leviathan, or just put no effort into explaining why Kara can't punch her way out of every problem. Having Kara's anti-kryptonite suit get disabled is a good narrative device, but the way it happened was really lame. That's just me taking a deeper look into this show's fight scenes though, and doesn't really have a lot to do with this episode specifically.
I could've done without the beef Nia suddenly has with Kara and her dad spending so much time together. I get that she lost her mom, but that happened two seasons ago at this point, and it's never really been a big thing for Nia until this season. If Nia was more honestly sad about it and less bratty and whiney, I don't think I'd be able to complain about the sudden drama. However, the way she said "I'm glad they get to spend that time together" took me out of the scene a bit to be honest. I really hope this isn't a theme with the character going forward.
Andrea being worried about CatCo declining was a good way to take things and make the company still seem relevant, but it comes with a big drawback. Andrea literally caused the decline of CatCo sales by turning a respected news outlet that relied on old fashioned journalism into a glorified gossip site in the last season. She has no right to say that she didn't see this coming. She literally tore CatCo's soul out, but now she cares about her sales declining? Get out of here! She did manage to find a new subject though, and I'm actually intrigued to see where this goes. Andrea is going to have William and Kara investigate Supergirl and her "Super Friends" and try to get them to sign on with CatCo, and this is actually something interesting that's happening in the back half of this season. It might even lead to Kara's identity being leaked to the public, which then would lead to that dystopian future that we saw in the 100th episode. Okay, that second part probably won't happen, but any excuse I can get to see Sam Witwer reprising his role as Agent Liberty is something I'll look forward to. Regardless, I'm curious to how Kara would handle her identity being exposed. I honestly don't think she'd take it very well, and that's what intrigues me. She could be seen as a wolf in sheep's clothing, and then she might overreact and do something that puts civilians in harm's way. There's a lot of potential for a story there.
Also, the Central City Citizen is apparently listed as a more popular new outlet than CatCo, which is hilarious considering Iris lost her lead photographer when Cisco and Kamilla left the show, and the Citizen was never heard from again for the rest of season seven. That got me to smile just based on how ridiculous it was.
Oh yeah, and it appears that Lena Luthor is leaving with the end of this episode. Good. Last season ruined this character beyond all recognition, so I have no desire to continue seeing this character. So long, Lena. I won't miss you.
Overall, this episode could've been a lot worse. It's only really rated on the lower end because of the nonsensical action and the stuff with Lena and Nia, because barring all that, this was a really solid episode. I'm still gonna miss having Superman and Lois to look forward to on my Tuesday nights, but if Supergirl delivers more episodes like this, I think things can only improve. All they really need to do is fix some of the melodrama and nonsensical action, and give Kara a reasonable enemy to fight, but not somebody so ridiculously overpowered that the only way to beat them is with a pep talk, and I think this has potential to be the best season of the show since season four Pre-Lex. Yeah, a lot of the episodes in the Phantom Zone arc were bad or could've been easily explained out of existence, but the arc as a whole brings a lot of narrative potential to the table that the show can toy with now. One thing is for certain though: I'm looking forward to Supergirl's finale more than The Flash's finale, and I think that has something to do with the season having above average writing. Don't screw this up, CW. I'm honestly optimistic.
6 / 10.