Spoilers might stretch themselves a little thin.
I have to give it to the writers of Supergirl this week as they explored the whole savior mythos that has always surrounded Kara’s cousin. I wished it would’ve provided for more introspection, but the note in which it ended was appropriate and awkward. The Flash went with the tried and true method of making the lead wrong about someone until the very end, but at least we got a new hero introduced out of it all. Then again, Elongated Man? Let’s get into it.
Highs, Lows and You Gotta Have Faith:
- There was a lot of potential with this subject. Supergirl being idolized as a Goddess and joining the faith by being saved. I don’t think there would’ve been time to cover it all, by which I mean this could’ve been spread out more into several episodes.
- That being said, it’s surprising they went as far as they did. It’s rarely being explored, but Supergirl was raised somewhere else and has an extraterrestrial religion. She literally worships something else than anybody else on Earth. I’m kinda curious how did this resonate with the audience. Superman has always been the All-American Hero, and by extension so has his cousin. The religion of superheroes is rarely touched on, specially the ones that have outworld-ly origins.
- The savior mythos that surrounds Superman is legendary enough than the latest movie versions can’t help to touch it (again and again and again). It was interesting to see Kara react to it. It was also endearing to see her almost desperately trying to exclude herself from that narrative, but sadly it’s not that easy.
- The seeds planted in the previous episodes have begun to sprout. Alex Danvers can’t help but remind herself of what she wants in life eventually (children) might not be the same than Maggie’s own life goals.
- Hey we have been Guardian-free for a while now. I’m not missing it, but chances are we’re due for a re-appearance soon. Hopefully Jimmy finds concentrating himself on bringing facts can be as heroic in this age of “alternative facts”.
- We continue to build on Samantha March (Odette Annable), to the point that she now receives a very strong vision about becoming Reign, complete with hieroglyphs that look Kryptonian and a shapeshifting alien/creature.
- I have to give a shoutout to Liz Huett, because her song STFU & Hold Me was playing in the background during the scene at the girls’ night at Kara’s. You can barely make out the melody and I’m pretty sure the lyrics never get to the chorus for whatever reason, but it’s there.
- It’s the first we see Kara praying, and I’m glad we can see someone we consider an icon prays to a different religion than her fans. It feels like there’s a lesson of acceptance here that transcends personal belief.
Ok, STAR Labs really needs to up its security.
Highs, Lows and Big Stretches:
- So, Elongated Man… Yeah, not really big on my book, but you know, he’s an established hero. In this continuity, Ralph Dibny (Hartley Sawyer) is a former detective turned private investigator. No word on him being married, which one presumes it would’ve come up at some point, so don’t expect Sue Dibny to popup unless necessary.
- My personal high of this week was Caitlin Snow reminding Barry of them both having gone through their own meta awakening.
- This formula has been used before: The lead (Barry) being a bad judge of character against someone from his past (Ralph Dibny). The guest star demonstrating to the audience that there’s still hope, the lead recognizes their mistake and they learn a lesson until it’s convenient for them to forget it again.
- Since it’s hard to make light out of Barry’s life at the moment, we rely on Cisco to bring the awkward laughter. Also along for the ride are Gypsy’s dad, Breacher (Danny Trejo). A little shout-out goes to the Matrix, another sci-fi IP where people dress in black trenchcoats and jump in and out of realities.
- Cisco is really developing into his Vibe persona and branching out. I actually appreciated Harry Wells more as mentor in this episode. I also would wish Caitlin be doing the same thing instead of having to suppress her powers all the time.
- Seems we’re going to learn what Caitlin Snow / Killer Frost was up to during the time Barry was in the Speed Force.
- DeVoe is finally mentioned by name this season and we get a quick refresher flashback to the times he’s been mentioned before. Clifford DeVoe is the alias of the Thinker, an enemy of The Flash, as I’m sure we’ve all googled about already.
That will do for now.
Never Think Impossible 