Superhero Weekly: Supergirl – Why Myriad might be Kryptonian for clusterf*ck

At least it wasn’t a weather-controlling machine. Sorry, spoiler alert.

I have to be honest with you. I was not crazy about Laura Benati’s character, Astra. She was been played up to be the season’s big bad villain, but she had the same problems that Neal McDonough’s Damien Darhk character in Arrow. Her personality would literally traverse from an over the top megalomaniac to a conflicted antagonist with a misguided but somewhat noble intention. Well, actually Damien was a lot more bipolar and I’m including Benati playing both Alura and Astra. In what looks to be a conflict of schedules, her recurring role has been relegated to Alura appearances as the DEO’s computer-generated assistant to Kara.

But without a major big bad, what Supergirl has been left with is worse. We literally get a replacement with Non, played by Chris Vance. In the same vein that all evil Kryptonians, he’s over the top and loud and shows up, threatens, creates havoc and leaves with no reason. Non is the one who finally gets to deploy Myriad which is… A mind control thingy. We don’t really see the proverbial MacGuffin, just its effects. No, I don’t believe it’s that little rotating ball because that’s the Omegahedron (why hasn’t anybody in the show dropped its name yet?) which is a nice throwback to the original Helen Slater-led Supergirl movie. It was already used to put Avatar Girl aka Indigo back together.

Laura Vondervoort could use more badassery involved in her character. I hate the name Indigo and the look needs to be a little more threatening. They should’ve stuck with Brainiac 8, but odds are the show is constantly limited by DC with “you can’t use that!” or “you can’t show that!” and that’s why we get Smurfette. The show did bring in Superman. From a distance. And he’s not going to be any help because…

Oh boy, this one is really a strain on my suspension of disbelief system, but Superman falls to the spell of the Myriad device which has been calibrated for Earth inhabitants. We learn this from Maxwell Lord, who has a device to keep him safe. What’s more, he even gave a pair of earrings to off-and-on possible romantic interest Cat Grant. The fearless leader of CatCo appears on her personal elevator right as Supergirl is figuring out that all her friends are under a spell. Ok, ok, they’re under Myriad control. This really looks more like a plot from Mr. Mxyzptlk. Why it doesn’t affect Kara is never explained.

So we want to make the situation more dire. Let’s have Non popup and show the power of Myriad by having three completely random people throw themselves off the building. Even better yet, let’s have two of those people be James and Winn. The third one is a girl that might as well be wearing a red shirt. Supergirl gets two out of three, and now we have given some edge onto the show. Then Non leaves. Ok, no this whole idea is stupid. Let’s put something better together. No? Ok.

I did found Calista Flockhart a little more funny which was refreshing. I find her Mean-Girls shtick endearing when it’s obvious she’s got a warm human being below, but not when she’s cruel for cruelty’s sake. Unfortunately her best advice was a little too much of a self-help trope. Just be Supergirl? Being yourself is the best you can come up with? And of course, Kara magically comes up with an alternate plan to Maxwell Lord’s. I did appreciate Maxwell saying we’ve gone beyond “kitties from trees and villain of the week” but I’m not so sure. His plan requires a percentage of people to die because… of course it does. Kara’s plan is… hopefully a draft that will be in its final form for next week.

Alex Danvers and J’onn J’onzz traveling as mother and son on a bus. Adorable, but the moment that Myriad went down we all knew that Alex was going to come back running. I dare say that the Martian Manhunter could’ve hold his own longer or even won against Blue Man Group had he not been having to mind-shield Alex. And yeah, Alex ends up being suited up with a battle armor with Kryptonite elements and we even get the sword with a speech. It’s all supposed to be exciting but falls short.

My apologies, but there is lazy writing throughout the episode. I understand we sometimes want great scenes to happen, but there has to be a flow. Otherwise it’s a collection of skits. Also, something more original that mind control? This does not bode well for the finale. Unless it was all a dream. No, wait, that’s worse. As messed up as it is, the show will have to see this storyline through.

Highs/Lows/PlotHoles

Don’t bring Superman in at all. Rising the stakes by just naming him and CGI-ing him in a cape is pointless if he didn’t bring in anything to the story. Say that Non choice a timing in which he was battling something offworld.
Supergirl is unaffected. That makes sense if it only affects humans but it doesn’t if you make Superman be a target too.
There’s no time to tell Eliza Danvers (Helen Slater) that Jeremiah (Dean Cain) is alive? J’onn and Alex have too much going on? No, regardless of what you think Eliza had every right to know.
I did like to see Alex and J’onn mascarading as mom and son on the bus.
Loved the entrance scene with Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart) saying she won’t take Harrison Ford’s calls because she doesn’t date older men. They’re married since 2010.
The whole visit to Eliza Danvers was awkward. What was that meant to accomplish?
Supergirl fighting Maxima (WWE wrestler Eve Torres). Maxima tells her she once chose her cousin as her mate. Kara’s adorable response: “Ew, gross!”
Can someone please mention the Omegahedron thingamajig? My nerd senses are killing me.
I don’t expect the finale to magically fix all the shortcomings of the series, but you did have some hits so hopefully it’s enough of a patch to get you renewed. Non should get killed by his own creation somehow. Maxwell Lord should steal some Kryptonian tech left behind.
Please learn from all your mistakes and start writing a better second season. Max needs to build up to become the big bad of the second season or at least build something that the actual supervillain can use. My money’s on the Omegahedron.