Verdict: Solitude is a slight step down from the stellar last two episodes with spates of undercooked plotting, but it nonetheless represents a solidly enjoyable episode that skilfully blends standalone stories with the show’s ongoing serialised arcs.

Review

It honestly doesn’t feel like Supergirl has been on for long, but here we are three quarters of the way through the season, with just five episodes left until the finale. The surprising proximity to the season finale goes some way to explaining, perhaps, that Supergirl has felt far more serialised lately. In amongst the regular weekly villains, we’ve had almost-weekly appearances from the season’s central villains, character conflicts spanning through several episodes and mysteries that seem content to sit slowly burning away in the background. This is clearly still a show from CBS, king of the procedural, but the notable shift towards serialisation within Supergirl’s secondary storylines has made the show into something that’s genuinely rewarding to watch weekly as the season’s storylines develop and transform. Solitude is perhaps the strongest reminder yet of Supergirl’s growing proclivity for serialisation – but, notably, it’s also an encouraging indicator that it’s learning to balance these longer-running storylines with conflicts that wrap up within the hour. And in many cases, it’s blurring the line a little, with seemingly standalone stories revealing an unexpected involvement with already ongoing plotlines.

It’s with the villain of the week, Indigo, that this blurring of lines is most apparent. On paper, Indigo is a textbook villain of the week, complete with a slightly cheap design, distinctive power-set and megalomaniacal yet underdeveloped motivations; and that’s what she appears to be for a great deal of Solitude. Laura Vandervoort, whose casting is another neat nod to past DC TV endeavours (she was Supergirl on Smallville) is clearly having a lot of fun , but for a great deal of the episode, Indigo feels undercooked and nebulous – a character for which style is prized over substance, as we’re given very little insight into her psyche, making her reasons for launching a nuke feel unfortunately hazy and uncertain. Normally, this would be deeply frustrating, and another indication of this show’s inconsistency at providing compelling villains even after a considerable number of episodes. However, with a couple of scenes at the beginning and end, Solitude cleverly re-adjusts our expectations of Indigo as a villain – from a villain who appeared to follow the well-trodden formula to the letter, Indigo becomes something very different indeed as she’s explicitly linked to the ongoing story arc of season one, assuming a far greater importance than she appears to possess on a first look. It’s particularly the idea that Indigo was the one who pushed Kara out of the Phantom Zone that really papers over a great deal of the cracks in Indigo’s portrayal by making her an intrinsic part of Kara’s character development in a way that lends her the sense of mystique (yep, intentional) and importance that’s necessary to bypass her lack of complexity. Essentially, by framing Indigo as a crucial part of Kara’s life that’s almost certainly, if the final scene is any indication, due to return to cause further havoc in the future, Solitude removes the need to make a complex and fully rounded standalone villain within one episode by promising a further exploration of the character in the future. To be cynical, that’s arguably a way of kicking the can down the road with her character development, but it’s still a clever switcheroo that reduces the negative impact Indigo’s lack of development has upon the episode, because this is simply an introductory episode for the character rather than the only episode in which she can be developed.

Outside of Indigo, Solitude generally focuses on a multitude of character-developing storylines that have either been occurring or building up for weeks. There’s a unitary theme with these plotlines, in that they’re all focused around the idea of the importance of leaning on others for help rather than trying to go it alone – this isn’t something that Solitude beats the audience over the head with, showing a little more subtlety than is typical from Supergirl. The conflict involving Astra’s death and Alex’s role in it came to a boiling point here, and it’s certainly a storyline that starts and ends very well, meaning that it’s one of the strongest parts of the episode in places. It’s not an original idea for the superhero genre by any means, but Kara’s desire to work outside of the DEO is a solid way of using ongoing conflicts to shape the way in which the standalone stories are told. It allows Solitude to tell its villain of the week story in a refreshingly different way to usual as it’s firmly split between Kara’s and the DEO’s separate investigations, and serves a thematic purpose by illustrating the absolute necessity for Kara to be surrounded by a strong support network in order to reach her full potential. Likewise, the ending of this storyline really hits home as Alex confesses her role in Astra’s death in a moment that both Melissa Benoist and Chyler Leigh bring considerable nuance and emotional complexity within their performances.

It’s the kind of pleasingly fast-paced, streamlined plotting that fellow Berlanti show The Flash frequently displays – a reveal that discards potential future weeks of excessive angst in place of a more rewarding and satisfying conclusion that feels truer to Kara’s kind-hearted, forgiving nature than a furious reaction would. It’s a terrific emotional moment to end on, sticking the landing after a couple of episodes of build-up in a way that’s far less protracted than expected. Some may resent the quick return to the status quo as Kara begins working under the DEO once more, but it’s a good indicator of how Solitude effectively carved a standalone plotline out of an ongoing conflict, allowing for a conclusion that’s satisfying both as a conclusion to Alex’s secret-keeping and Kara’s desire to work alone.

The love triangle storyline isn’t as strong here, as it’s coming from weaker and less interesting foundations that have been laid in previous episodes. I’m not sure I necessarily like the story Supergirl is trying to tell here, because it’s frustratingly familiar and mired in the type of angst that really weighs down these kinds of shows when it’s made an important part of a character’s psyche. Likewise, the moment where Kara gives her permission for James to tell Lucy about her true identity only for James not to tell Lucy due to their break-up is an irritating bait and switch that promises a gratifying, cathartic conclusion but instead ends in a less satisfying place where Lucy is none the wiser, presumably delaying that revelation for another week or two. But despite my reservations about the end-point of the love triangle storyline, in which Lucy splits from James after recognising his love for Kara (and this is certainly something that can work if it’s played slowly and patiently), Solitude’s execution of this storyline is actually quite strong in how it handles everything in a mature fashion that allows these characters to act like genuine adults (this is a low bar to clear, but superhero shows often fall short). Notably, there’s very little shouting and storming out in the handling of this storyline, particularly in the latter part of the episode. It’s reflective of a more naturalistic idea that James and Lucy are realising that their relationship is built on shaky and unreliable foundations, which is just about the best way Solitude could have handled a plotline that looked deeply frustrating on paper.

As for Siobhan’s storyline, it’s two steps forward but one step back. Thankfully, Siobhan is given some level of complexity this episode as she reveals her relatively tragic back-story, making her feel like an actual character as opposed to the robotic Anti-Kara she appeared to be last episode. Her unusual bond with Winn is also a good way to bring her further into Supergirl’s core (which willl presumably make that transformation into Silver Banshee sting just that little bit more), making her an important part of the central character dynamics at CatCo that goes a long way further to justifying her presence on the show than last week’s episode did. It’s a shame, then, that this enjoyably volatile relationship ends on a romantic note here as Siobhan impulsively kisses Winn – that development comes from completely out of left field, contradicting almost everything we’ve learned about Siobhan’s character thus far. It’s a strange ending to a solid bit of character building, but it doesn’t ruin what is undoubtedly a significant step forward in the development of who seemed to be a thin and cartoonish character.

Solitude isn’t the best hour that Supergirl’s put out, and very few of its plotlines are unquestionable successes – there’s leaps of logic and character decisions that don’t make a great deal of sense, and the episode plays an awfully long game with a villain who seems to be an identikit robotic foe for a great deal of the run-time. Nonetheless, Solitude is a good episode, introducing an intriguing new recurring foe into the mix while presenting a handful of really satisfying emotional moments. It’s an episode that works as a standalone 45 minutes of television, but also fits neatly into the ongoing arcs of the season by significantly pushing several plotlines forward in often surprising ways, representing the fact that Supergirl is gradually correcting its early tendency to lean too hard on villain of the week plots, while still staying true to its nature as a superhero show.

Odds & Ends

• The final action scene as Kara tried to stop a nuclear missile was really great here, utilising the time-old tradition of the ticking clock to wring a surprising level of tension out of a familiar conceit.
• Winn’s rapidly becoming more likeable, as evidenced by the revelation that he watches Doctor Who.
• The Fortress of Solitude was a bit of a let down here, despite some good set design – presumably this was just an introduction, as I can’t imagine Supergirl not returning in future episodes.
• The Diamond Discretions idea is a clunky attempt at linking to real events, but it serves its purpose as a gateway into the Indigo storyline.
• One day, maybe, Non will become genuinely imposing when he threatens people. Another day after that, he could become interesting.
• The shot with Kara and Alex hugging while holding Hank’s hand is a lovely way of presenting the unconventional family dynamic at the DEO.
• Another week off now, but the show is back March 14 with Falling, which introduces Red Kryptonite and a new costume for Kara. See you then!