Superman Homepage writer Michael Bailey reviews episodes from the “Supergirl” TV series, airing on The CW.
Check out his review of the 22nd episode of Season 4 in which Lex Luthor (guest star Jon Cryer) descends upon Washington, DC and summons Lena (Katie McGrath) and Lillian Luthor (guest star Brenda Strong) to the White House. Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) realizes she has one last chance to stop Lex and turns to the power of the press to help her.
Originally Aired: May 19, 2019
WRITTEN BY: Rob Wright and Derek Simon
DIRECTED BY: Jesse Warn
REGULAR CAST:
Melissa Benoist (Kara/Supergirl)
Chyler Leigh (Alex Danvers)
Mechad Brooks (Jimmy Olsen)
Jesse Rath (Brainiac 5)
Katie McGrath (Lena Luthor)
Nicole Maines (Nia Nal/Dreamer)
GUEST STARS:
Jon Cryer (Lex Luthor)
Sam Witwer (Ben Lockwood)
Azie Tesfai (Kelly Olsen)
Andrea Brooks (Eve Teschmacher)
LaMonica Garrett (The Monitor)
April Parker Jones (Colonel Haley)
Brenda Strong (Lillian Luthor)
Bruce Boxleitner (President Baker)
Helen Slater (Eliza Danvers)
Rating – 4 (out of 5): It’s kind of weird that the most unbelievable thing that happened in an episode with clones created with Harun-El, characters fighting each other with sophisticated battle armor, humans with super powers given to them by the previously mentioned Harun-El, astral dream projections, and a super villain being named to a cabinet position that the thing I had the hardest trouble accepting was that people would suddenly turn against the bad guy because of an article on news site.
Seriously. Given the current socio-political climate in the United States, I had problems with Kara’s article being the catalyst that allowed them to finally prove Supergirl’s innocence, prove that the President was in the pocket of Lex Luthor, and stop Lex’s master plan. I get that having the article be such a huge part of the finale plays into the overall tone the showrunners have been going with over the course of the season, but it broke my willing suspension of disbelief.
It’s not that I didn’t enjoy this episode. I think this is the strongest season finale the show has had thus far and there were plenty of things to like about the way they wrapped up the various storylines. The scenes showing us how Lex’s plan played out in the background of the previous episode made for a strong opening and I continue to absolutely love the Lex Luthor this show has given us. Once again the television side of DC Entertainment gives me a version of the character I want as opposed to the movie side. It’s nice to have options. This Lex is evil, but likeable (in the love to hate him way) and the dynamic he had with Lena and his mother gave him more depth as a character. Seeing the armor was just icing on top and proves, like SyFy’s Krypton, that certain things from the Superman comics can look amazing on screen.
To be fair, the Marvel films cracked the code on how to portray a character in armor, but still. It looked great.
The rest of the episode was a bit of a contradiction for me. On one hand, I enjoyed how all of the plot lines were resolved. On the other, there was a certain rushed quality to those resolutions that I had a hard time ignoring. I realize they had a lot to resolve in a short amount of time, but given how these storylines evolved, it seemed like they were wrapped up faster than they should have been. Ben and Jimmy have been experiencing the side effects from the Black Kryptonite, but that was cured in a single fight scene. Yes, Jimmy now has an eye patch, but they’ve been stretching out the Hauren-El sickness for several episodes now, so it would have been nicer to see that get resolved at a different pace.
Likewise, Red Daughter seemed to be taken out rather quickly. I appreciated that she sacrificed herself to save Kara and give her additional powers, but we’ve been seeing her on and off all season, so having her basically take the hit for Kara and then die was a let-down. Maybe having her be more of that final fight would have been better. Kara was all armored up. It could have worked.
Brainy’s sudden coldness was one aspect of the episode that I felt was dealt with just right. It was a little much to have Nia and J’onn overloading the satellite, but Jesse McGrath absolutely crushed his performance of Brainy finding his emotions again. I like the romance they’ve developed between Brainy and Nia, so seeing that go to the next level was great.
So, this one was a mixed bag. I give it a four out of five because I did enjoy watching this episode. There were a lot of great moments that made up for the fact that the pacing was a bit off. The epilogues were a lot of fun as well. I was surprised they jumped on to Leviathan as fast as they did, but there is some synergy to be had there. The Monitor appearances were also neat, especially him coming to the dead body of Lex Luthor. Next season has a lot of potential. There is a part of me that feels maybe they should back off the heavy-handed social commentary a bit, but we’ll see how that goes.
Check out the “Supergirl – Episode Reviews” Contents page.
The article thing I also found a bit “shyeah, right” about. I know it’s a throw back to when newspapers, especially in Superman lore, were a trusted source of information. I mean, how many times has Lex or someone tried to either stop or start a story for the Daily Planet in order to further their goal? But yes… in today’s climate, and our real world, it doesn’t really resonate as plausible as it once did… but it might be once again when rewatching this in the years to come? One can hope. I also didn’t like Red Daughter getting… Read more »
I have to say, for a season that I have not enjoyed, this finale was excellent. Seeing Lex suit up and take out the Kaznian army to “My Way” as he sang along was one of my favorite scenes. It was sad to see Red Daughter get the short end of the stick. I knew she wasn’t going to make it through the episode, but I was hoping for more than we got. I wish we’d gotten more of her this season instead of Agent Liberty. I think Sam Witwer is an amazing actor and he did the best with… Read more »
It was decent. I for one haven’t got that excited over this version of Luthor. I thought his “role” was somewhat over the top. Let’s try out fire power with new power glove and shoot one of his thugs. Then yell “get a mop.” Seemed exaggerated to me. Especially how he could have orchestrated everything that unfolded. Jimmy losing an eye. Then at the end the dialogue, “I can’t believe what happened to your eye.” And he’s sitting there like, no big deal, it’s only an eye. All and all the way the entire season has gone this episode was… Read more »
The thing with Jimmy also didn’t make any sense. Three episodes ago, he was a quivering mess crying on the floor with ptsd after a couple gunshots and now he goes through a super powered battle that costs him an eye with no reaction at all. These writers are so inconsistent with their characters. It’s like they don’t plan anything beyond the episode they are working on while completely ignoring what happened before