"Supergirl" Review!

Written by C.M. Houghton ("Triplet")

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NOTE: I will reveal pretty big spoilers in this review, so be warned.  If you don't want to learn important plot details before seeing the episode go view this and come back when you're done.

A lot of people have posted online how much they hated this episode.  I can sort of see why, given the prominence Kara was in a show that's supposed to be about her cousin, Clark Kent. Personally, I don't think she had too much screen time. Laura Vandervoort is a significant 'Special Guest Star,' after all.  When she comes back to the show, she should be more than a bit player.

Maybe this episode is also seen as being too dark.  I can see that, yet with the way the season has started, I think how this episode played out it makes sense and Anne Cofell Saunders did a fantastic job with it. 

First off it started out really well, we got a look at how Gordon Godfrey (beautifully played by Michael Daingerfield) got 'infected' by Darkseid.  Then, after a cute reunion for Clark and Lois, I liked the save Kara had made.  That was an unexpected reversal, her saving Lois and everyone instead of Clark.  It was a good way to end the tease and re-introduce Kara back into the show.  It was nice to see Laura Vandervoort back, but I think it was partly her actions in the episode that made some people seem to have problems with it.

It didn't help that Jor-El continued his Kryptonian tough-love toward Clark, but I hardly think that what happened in this episode equals 'emasculation' of Man of Steel, as one comment I had read stated.  Yes, Kara did all the rescuing in the episode, saving Lois and the crowd in the tease and then coming to Clark's aid later.  However, I don't think that qualifies as her cousin being unmanned, not even figuratively.

The way I see it, this episode is part of Clark's dark before the dawn.  Before he can go up to the top, he needs to hit bottom.    I'm not sure going into this season I would have guessed that there'd be quite so many obstacles in his way.  However, the eventual ending of the series, Clark finally becoming Superman, will be far more satisfying if he has serious challenges to overcome before then.

Yeah, maybe it was hard to see how difficult it was for him to attempt taking off, but Clark's inability to fly is a manifestation of his self-doubt and it always has been.  He's physically been able to fly since at least the second episode of the series, when he was dream-floating in 'Metamorphosis.'  It's been his personal doubts and insecurities that have apparently held Clark back from finally picking up this last and most profound power: flight. 

Making his struggle to control his signature ability a major story arc in this final season makes sense.  If it were easy for him, he would have flown back in the first season and he would have become Superman as a freshman in high school, but then the show would have been over.  The show is supposed to be about Clark Kent becoming Superman, not Superman.  As I said before, he's not quite there yet so there is definitely room for growth.

Tom Welling said in an interview once something along the lines that he didn't want Clark to fly, I'm not sure of the exact quote, but that statement has been often been taken out of context or totally misconstrued.  The reason he said that was because of the idea of that when Clark flies, he's Superman and then the show's over.

Now, in the tenth and final season he will finally have to try and master that power, while at the same time the stakes for him to gain confidence and surety of purpose have never been higher.  He needs to clear his mind, stay focused, become pure of heart, and learn to fly.  It's only if (or when since we all know how the story will end) he can do all that will he be able to defeat the darkness that is manifested by Darkseid. 

I'm actually glad he wasn't taught how to fly by Kara, which would have been a bad thing.  I'd be dissatisfied if he had mastered the skill after only one lesson from Kara.  I'm ecstatic it's not an easy skill to master.   

Yeah, I know that Kara and Zod and others flew for the first time with no lessons required, but they hadn't lived as humans for most of their lives.  And they aren't Clark.  For him, and I think Tom portrayed this beautifully in the brief flight he had in this episode, it has to be a huge thing.  Even more than being bullet proof or heating things up with his eyes, flight will completely set him apart from humanity.  He's largely been in denial about this.  He isn't human even though he was raised as one, accepting and embracing this last power will set him apart far more than anything else has ever done.  It will hammer home to him that he's not the same as everyone, like nothing else about him does.  It's why he basically panicked when he went up.  It made perfect sense to me.

And I think letting this all take time is a very smart move on the producers' and writers' parts.  This way they get to play out Clark mastering the skill over several episodes.  

How Anne handled those scenes, with a serious assist from Tom Welling's beautiful performance (and Mairzee Almas' highly capable direction) in this episode, was fantastic.  Clark wasn't whiny at all.  He was angry, confused and frustrated, but not pouty or petulant.  He was resolved he was going to learn to fly, but angry he wasn't able to his first time out.  He'll get there probably only when there is some huge problem he will desperately need to fly in order to solve.  In the meantime, he will likely try again and fail nearly as badly.  In this episode, Anne's contribution to Clark's 'learning to fly' story arc was terrific.

And the complications for him don't stop with his inability to master flight:  Clark also has to struggle to face his personal doubts, made into an external threat via Darkseid's possession of Gordon Godfrey and the threat to possess him.  Added to that he also has to face other people's differing views on whether or not he should come out into the open, that is another thing which will make Clark doubt himself because he's going to be torn about which is the right decision. 

Kara's (and Jor-El's) decision to come out into the public eye contrasts with Lois' desire to keep Clark (and Oliver) safely anonymous.  Clark's instinct probably is to continue staying unseen since he's done that his whole life.  It's the safer option, but from what happened here, he also has seen why it would be good to step out into the spotlight like Kara.  We all know how it's going to turn out, but in the short-term it will be interesting to see how Oliver's announcing he's Green Arrow, which was very much like Tony Stark coming out of the Superhero-closet in the Ironman films, affects Clark.  Also, the consequences of that will probably not be what Oliver expects.

And speaking of Oliver: although I would usually have issues with a TV character having a long soliloquy, I didn't have problems with Oliver's in this episode. If you don't know the term, a soliloquy is a speech where the character talks to himself.  Since the audience only knows what they can see or hear, a speech like this lets the audience know what's going on inside a character's head.  Usually, unless it's Hamlet or Macbeth and William Shakespeare wrote the speech, it's deadly to have one.  Soliloquies are old-school theatrical and in TV they usually feel contrived or forced, but in this case Oliver's soliloquy was very well handled. I liked the way it was played, how it was motivated, and the results.

Justin did a terrific job avoiding coming off whiny in the speech to his dead parents.  He played it like he was just laying things out, explaining how much he felt like a failure.  After his talk with Lois, Oliver was understandably upset with a loved one maybe getting hurt while trying to protect his secret, like Chloe was.  He did the one thing he never wanted to do, hurt someone instead of helping them.  It's an interesting solution for him to come out into the open, and addressing the speech to his long-dead parents gets around him the contrivance of just talking to himself, but it also makes a lot of sense.  It was established a long time ago that part of Oliver's reasoning for becoming Green Arrow was because he wanted to do something with his life that would have made his parents proud. 

His past womanizing and hard-partying ways probably would have made his parents very disappointed, so his compensating for that makes sense. He's a little like Bruce Wayne in that, but I can't see Bruce doing what Oliver did. Part of the reason Bruce is successful as a masked vigilante is because his persona as the Batman is threatening.  No way would his alter-ego version of Bruce Wayne (a self-indulgent, narcissistic, vapid billionaire playboy) be nearly as terrifying to the criminal element as the Batman is. 

I think it could be argued that part of reason the Emerald Archer is effective is because he has a bit of the Dark Knight's intimidation factor.  The man uses bows and arrows.  In a world filled with sub-machine guns and armor piercing rounds, using a bow and arrow as your preferred weapon is probably crazy.  It's the intimidation factor that helps him out in a gun fight.  So, I would think, coming out and announcing he's the Green Arrow negates the advantages being anonymous (and thus more threatening) gives him.  Yet, I can understand Oliver's decision as unexpected as it was mostly because of how well that scene was written and how beautifully Justin played it.

I think the only thing I didn't like was the 'Club DeSaad' series of scenes. I suppose the name being spelled like that, instead like the Marquis De Sade after whom the term 'sadism' was coined, was meant to reference a Darkseid follower named Desaad.  A sadist, he was essentially an enforcer for Darkseid, but his loyalty only went as far as it would benefit him.  After I ran across his name almost by chance when reading up on Darkseid, it was interesting to find out that Desaad was tied to Metropolis' Intergang crime syndicate.  That was a group which Darkseid only worked with in order to help him find the rest of the Anti-Life Equation. 

If you don't recall, that equation is a way to control others.  That sounds like it will tie into what Darkseid apparently wants to do on earth, going by his little chat in the back of the limo with Godfrey's publicist.  Naming the fetish club night after a follower of Darkseid's who was a sadist is a nice detail and likely a shout-out to the more knowledgeable comic-book fans out there.  It's especially fitting since Desaad probably would have enjoyed the kinds of activities going on in the back rooms of Maxwell's.  That was a nice geeky detail thanks to Anne.  She actually sprinkled quite a few things like that throughout the episode, which made the episode more fun for me.

As for the several scenes in Maxwell's Desaad Fetish Club Night, including women in latex and men being pulled around the room by leashes, I don't know how I feel about that.  I'm no prude, but even as vanilla and bland the sexiness in those scenes were, I'm not sure that was completely appropriate for the family hour on TV.  Although I'm sure real fetish clubs (if there are such things, and there very well might be) would probably be far raunchier and direct about what and who they'd have on display.  Yet, as barely sexy as that all needed to be for TV, Lois getting tied up and nearly strangled by some sort of weird silk scarf/bondage contraption was still a bit shocking.  The reason I'm not sure how I really feel about that aspect is mostly because I thought it was fitting.  

If Darkseid, in the body of Gordon Godfrey (also named after a minion of Darkseid's in the comics, Glorious Godfrey, which was also referred to in that Inquisitor headline – nice touch), was looking for people to exploit who've lost faith I suppose a 'fetish club' is probably  a pretty good place to go.  I imagine that the folks there, both those who enjoy hurting others and the ones who want to be hurt, might be easy pickings for a demigod looking for people to influence who aren't pure of purpose.  There probably weren't any pure or noble intentions in any of their hearts.

I think it's interesting that Darkseid is like a Phantom from season 6, incorporeal (without a body) plumes of smoke.  (Although, it probably reminds me more of how demons are portrayed in "Supernatural" than how the phantoms were in previous seasons on "Smallville.") Yet unlike the phantoms, he is able to make himself whole and apparently go from body to body of others at will.  Darkseid being a demigod, or an omnipotent alien so strong that his powers are like a god's, I suppose he could do almost anything.  Yet, that doesn't look to be one of his traditional powers.  In researching Darkseid, I did find something about him losing his body when an estranged son killed him.  The son destroyed his father's body, but not his essence.  Darkseid became disembodied and had to resort to possessing the bodies of others.  So, it's similar to what happened to the phantoms in previous seasons, which is interesting and probably at least partly explains why they chose to handle Darkseid this way. 

I think it was also a good choice given that it's a threat that Clark can't fight physically.  Previous threats to him have all had physical aspects, this time it's a mind game too.  It ups the stakes for Clark in a huge way.

Anne had done a beautiful job with this script, the continuity tying this episode back to earlier events was terrific and the stakes built for all of the characters, but especially for Clark.  There were great act break cliff-hangers and the pacing was great, even the more dialog intensive scenes had some tension.  The humor between Clark and Lois was awesome, in addition to being well played by both actors, and brought some much needed comic relief in an otherwise dark episode. 

The pathos of Oliver's situation was heartbreaking and I loved how she had Lois latch onto the problem of protecting Clark, and Oliver, and wouldn't let it go, no matter what the consequences.  I also liked all the nice little details that showed she's tried to throw in little Easter Eggs for devoted comic fans too.  I loved the script, even if I didn't love every minute of the episode.  Although this wasn't as fun an episode as 'Shield' was, I think in a lot of ways it was just as strongly written and was a terrific outing for Anne.
Mairzee Almas, previously a 1st Assistant Director with the show, was in the director's seat on this one.  Her episodes are usually very dramatic, she directed 'Metallo' last season (probably one of my favorite episodes of the series), and this one was no different in terms of dramatic power.  I'm sure the writing and acting helped her out a lot, it was a very solid script and a strongly acted outing for everyone.  It was a stellar outing from Mairzee.

DP Randal Platt shot a beautiful episode.  I adored the soft, romantic lighting in the scenes at the farm with Clark and Kara. 

Production Designer James Philpott and his Set Decorator Andrea French did an excellent job redressing the Talon coffee shop set as Maxwell's on Desaad Club night.  It was hard to tell it wasn't a completely new set.

Costume Designer Melanie Williams did a terrific job with Kara's revamped wardrobe.  She didn't exactly copy the designs of Kara's Supergirl outfit from the comics, but it so strongly resembled those it looked awesome.  All she was missing was the shield across her chest, which I'm so glad they didn't put on Kara.  The first use of the more colorful symbol should probably be on Clark's chest, not his cousin's.

Probably not quite perfect, and not really all that happy an episode, but overall it was well executed and beautifully written, acted, directed and shot.  I give this episode 4.75 Supergirl wristcuffs out of a possible 5.

Note: The views of Triplet don't necessarily represent the thoughts and feelings of everyone at KryptonSite. Send her feedback