In trying to preserve his mental strength, M’yrnn unknowingly creates dangerous psychic disturbances, leading to a reduction in his own control. Meanwhile, Lena works to convince Sam that she is Reign and assures Sam that they’re going to make her better. Here is a recap and review of the Supergirl episode “In Search of Lost Time.”

RECAP & REVIEW:

“In Search of Lost Time” attempted to follow up last week’s emotional hour with its own character driven, emotionally charged episode, but it only moderately succeeded. The case of the week lacked development, a sense of danger, and a viable threat, while the anger that bubbled to the surface produced no sustainable changes. Regardless, there were quality moments throughout both main storylines, thanks in part to the bonds that have developed between the characters over the course of the series. Although an overall lackluster episode, the secondary storyline in “In Search of Lost Time” outshined Supergirl’s case of the week with the only promising developments: Sam’s acceptance that she is Reign and a sample of Reign’s DNA.

It’s day three of Lena watching over Sam. After assuring Sam that Ruby is safe with her nanny, Lena reveals that Sam’s cells mutate when she blacks out. Sam doesn’t believe that she’s Reign and tries to leave, but Lena trapped her there, so Sam plays the Luthor card – of course Lena assumes she’s a supervillain. Lena is called to her office because James stopped by. Learning of her employee emergency, James discusses the ineffectiveness of interventions. No matter how badly you want to help, all you can do is guide someone to accept they have a problem.

As interesting as it is that Sam’s DNA undergoes a temporary metamorphosis when she transforms into Reign, it also appears to be a convenient sliver of information to reveal now. Maybe it was always the intention, but it feels like retcon at this point – the easiest way to explain and support the Alex/Sam/lab storyline in “For Good.” And how in the world did Lena manage to get Reign’s DNA? Or was Lena studying a sample of Sam’s DNA and figured out a way to activate its transformation in the lab?

A disturbance at the alien bar cuts game night short. Supergirl subdues a Kalinorian, a psychic woman, and takes her to DEO containment. Having been brought into the DEO, M’yrnn begins praying, setting off psychic ripples. Kara grows increasingly frustrated while learning cape tricks and punches Mon-El. When Winn checks on Agent Demos’ progress finding the worldkillers, an insulted Demos starts a fight, which an annoyed Alex breaks up. J’onn creates a mind shield, returning everyone’s anger levels to normal.

The beginning of this storyline attempted to set up the Kalinorian as the episode’s antagonist, but it became quickly evident to the audience that M’yrnn was responsible, thus making the subsequent revelation fall flat. Giving the audience more knowledge than the characters in this instance took away from the sense of danger and investment and prevented the threat from feeling unpredictable and harmful. Although the threat escalated from consuming a couple of people with anger to enraging the whole DEO, the stakes were still not present. We never thought they would have sweet, Star Wars-referencing Winn actually murder a co-worker. We never thought they would let Kara lose control and hurt anyone more than she did in “Falling.” We never thought M’yrnn was intentionally causing harm or would still resist help by the episode’s conclusion. At least Supergirl and J’onn did not blame or villainize the Kalinorian, but rather explained her potential threat as a consequence of her species’ susceptibility to astrological events.

Agent Demos believed that Winn traded his friendship with Supergirl for favor with director Henshaw, which opens up a whole world of opportunities for interoffice conflict. I hadn’t realized it until now, but we haven’t been shown the scope of the DEO. We haven’t seen many of the DEO’s supporting players other than Vasquez, who needs to make a comeback. How many people actually work there? What kind of various fun personalities do Supergirl and co. interact with on a daily basis? Do other cities and states have offices, or is there just the cave and the glass skyscraper in National City?

To convince Sam of the truth, Lena shows Sam Reign’s greatest hits, including Morgan Edge, which Lena wishes she had witnessed, and Supergirl, who’s so solid and powerful. Coaxing her further, Lena brings Ruby into the conversation, saying Sam isn’t a mother, she’s a monster. That does the trick; Reign takes control. A jolt of Kryptonite brings Sam to the forefront. Upon viewing the video of herself as Reign, Sam breaks down and believes Lena. There’s good news though; Lena swiped Reign’s DNA, so they have knowledge, and knowledge is power!

This is how to use Lena’s “Luthor-ness” in a positive way, in a way that allows her to choose her own path. By using her intelligence and somewhat devious methods to produce positive, beneficial results to save her friend, it shows that Lena is capable of walking the line between “good” and “what her family would do” and then pulling herself back over to the side of proving people’s expectation wrong. It’s fascinating to see her switch from wholesome Lena to mischievous Lena in the same scene, allowing Katie McGrath to channel her inner smirking Morgana. It’s the best of both worlds and completely in-line with the character.

When Sam finds herself in a field, then standing in a dark forest, is this where Sam’s consciousness goes whenever Reign takes control? That would be an interesting aspect of her split personality to explore because that field looked a lot like the one Kara found herself in when she spoke to her mother in the season premier. Perhaps Sam can tap into a Kryptonian memory or knowledge pit to extract information to use against Reign. I’m just waiting for the moment when Reign pretends to be Sam to get the drop on Lena and escape.

It’s a testament to Lena and Sam’s friendship (which I’m still waiting to see more backstory for) that they can both say somewhat mean things to one another, but there’s no hard feelings afterwards, no spite, just a sense of frustration, comfort, and solidarity. I love this relationship and these scenes; their friendship feels genuine and mature and well-rounded, so I hope their scenes continue to grace our screens, but I also want to see Lena and Sam back in the fold with everyone else, and I think it might be coming.

J’onn informs Kara and Alex that his father’s anger and aggression about his memory situation infects others during his prayers. J’onn could stop it, but worries about taking away the only thing M’yrnn’s White Martians captors could not: his dignity and independence. Alex recalls how painful it was to see her mother take away her grandmother’s car keys, but it needed to be done for everyone’s protection.

J’onn speaks with his father about how he’s hurting people, which angers M’yrnn, triggering the problem. Kara drops truth bombs a season in the making, chastising Mon-El about everything he never apologized for and bemoaning that she apologized for trying to make him a better person. “I gave my heart to a lying jackass who was unaware of his behavior towards me, who disrespected me at every turn, and now is this reformed person, who, what? Wants to reminisce about the good times?” Alex swoops in with a psychic dampener, bringing Kara back to normal.

Well, that only took a year and a whole lot of fan anger to come out. Even so, it was still cushioned. It was still treated as if maybe Kara shouldn’t have said those things. Following her angry confession with an apology later in the episode reinforces this idea that women are not allowed to express anger, especially at work, even if they’re justified because it makes them “difficult” or “unprofessional.” Kara previously received a lesson from Cat Grant on this topic, but this wasn’t in front of her whole office or even her boss; this was just Mon-El, someone she should have been able to have an honest conversation with without regretting what she said because she meant it.

I don’t know if it’s that society has trained women to apologize when they don’t need to or the fact that I was raised in the South, but I’ve found myself apologizing for saying no. I’ve felt a lot like Kara in this moment, but what I (and what we all) need is not something to relate to, but rather something to aspire to. Media has the ability to reflect the times in which we live, but it also has the ability to create an idealized version of the times in hopes of making changes, in hopes of teaching us that “no” doesn’t need an explanation or an apology, that being angry or upset doesn’t make you an “emotional woman,” it makes you normal, and that standing up for yourself should not be followed with a step backwards.

In addition, by having Kara say these things only because she was made to indicates to the audience that she wasn’t brave or confident enough to say them on her own. We all have doubts and moments when we don’t say what we should say. A fictional role model should be able to find the power within herself, without supernatural forces at play, to stand up for herself, especially when it comes to the way she was treated by someone she loved and who loved her. It didn’t have to be immediate, it didn’t have to be easy, but it should have been a feat of strength that she accomplished through her own volition. If she can’t even do this on her own, how can we expect to?

M’yrnn phases through the DEO, causing a containment breach that allows alien prisoners to wreak havoc. While J’onn subdues a White Martian, Kara reasons with M’yrnn, saying it’s hard when everything you know to be true suddenly changes, but you have to make the best of a bad situation. M’yrnn accepts the dampening technology, and everyone goes back to normal.

Having experience with people who save the world, James knows that sometimes they forget to eat, so he brings Lena dinner. Inviting him to stay, Lena hopes her discretion regarding her work won’t ruin the good thing they have going. James trusts her to keep the secrets she needs to.

James so quickly and easily understanding that some secrets need to be kept strikes me as something that’s going to come back around in the near future. I’m wondering if this is foreshadowing that he’ll have a secret he needs her to keep, or if James is justifying keeping his own identity as Guardian a secret from Lena. Either way, here’s hoping their relationship either moves forward or reverts back to friends because it has been stalling since episode nine. The more time that passes, the more this relationship strikes me as odd because other than a few scenes in episodes ten and twelve, James and Lena haven’t been given the real estate to make this relationship as plausible as it could be. It almost seems as if the writers were testing the waters before diving in and are still deciding whether or not to go for it.

Calmly chatting with Mon-El, Kara reveals that she romanticized their relationship in his absence and feels a weight off her shoulders now that she’s faced and expressed the truth. Mon-El apologizes for being a jerk and proposes they stop apologizing. They soar around the city, but land once birds start falling to the ground. Pestilence is coming.

With the impending arrival of Pestilence, the worldkillers’ story looks to be slowly shaping up, but not as clearly as it should given that a group from the future is helping the DEO. Not only does the lack of the Legion sharing their knowledge put Supergirl and her team at a disadvantage, it also places the audience’s understanding about the big bads’ agenda below where it should be for this far into the season. Unlike Rhea, who arrived as a big bad in episode 15 of last season, Reign and the worldkillers have been on the rise since the first run of episodes. We know Reign is super strong, Purity has mind powers, and Pestilence brings plagues, but the steps to accomplish their goal of reshaping the world are murky, making the overall threat and sense of danger murky as well. Since Pestilence seems to have a plague or a series of plagues announcing her arrival, it would be beneficial to have the worldkillers preceded by a checklist of events to give a more clear indication to the audience and the DEO where the worldkillers currently are in their process of killing the world. If next week’s episode description is any indication, we may receive a few more pieces of this much needed information.

ODDS AND ENDS:

– Alex said there was trouble at the Salt Mine… did we just get a name for the alien bar?!

– If Kara carefully unbuttons the shirts she loves, does she also go around picking up the clothes she leaves behind?

– Did I miss the part where Mon-El gained the ability to fly? Or is that filed under “future fighting tricks”?

– Winn: I have done something amazing.
Kara: Did you find Pestilence?
Winn: I have done something… okay.

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