Supergirl #3.19 “The Fanatical” Recap & Review

 When Coville’s cult blackmails James, he considers unmasking as Guardian to prevent the cult from creating a new Worldkiller. Meanwhile, Alex struggles to cheer Ruby up, then finds unlikely help from M’yrnn. Here is a recap and review of the Supergirl episode “The Fanatical.”

RECAP & REVIEW:

“The Fanatical” heavily relied upon past storylines to craft this narrative, which, depending on the viewer’s opinion of those storylines, means the episode’s reception could be greatly varied. My reaction is in the same boat. I feel like I’m continually an episode or two too fast on what I want to see, so James’ storyline provided a much-wanted return to tackling social issues and focusing on underutilized characters in a way that was personal and impactful. The level of surprised and excited this made me also made it apparent how I’ve gotten used to the problems I’m having with this stretch of episodes. It’s indescribably sad that solid stories are surprising. Moving beyond James, the rest of the episode fell quite flat because its foundation didn’t make an impact in the first place. I’ve decided to frontload this review because most of my critique involves the whole storyline instead of the individual scenes they contain.

In light of recent national news, it might not be the greatest idea to tackle a cult storyline in a series with a Super, but here we are. The idea of creating a new Worldkiller would be cool if they weren’t replacing Julia and Grace so soon after they were introduced and abruptly killed off without recognition of Julia’s strength and sacrifice. Coville was initially interesting because he has knowledge of Krypton that Kara doesn’t, but it also makes his character that much more concerning. Why is a human man allowed to have more information about Krypton and Kryptonian culture than the character who was born on Krypton and spent twelve years there? It makes Kara and the DEO reliant upon a figure who has no business being the well of knowledge in this situation. If only a fortress of Kryptonian knowledge existed… Speaking of, why does Supergirl not have her own Fortress of Solitude beyond the room with HoloMom where she can learn the information herself?

By detaching Kara from Kryptonian knowledge, the series has missed an opportunity to discuss the struggle of immigrants to preserve their culture in their newfound home. Kara remembers some of Krypton’s history and Kryptonian meditations, but what about her daily life? Did she try to erase her customs when she landed on Earth in order to better assimilate as human? Now that she’s openly Supergirl, has she brought Kryptonian customs back into her life? Does preserving Krypton make her feel more or less comforted?

James’ storyline was a step in the right direction of things that matter, things that should be talked about in order to incite the actions of change and prevent people from ignoring that discrimination happens. It reminded me a lot of what I loved about the beginning of last season and what I know this show is capable of if they’d just refocus. It gave Mehcad Brooks a chance to shine as he tackled a real-life, grounded issue and proved that there’s much more to James Olsen than the series has previously given him credit for. Yes, he’s a crime fighter, but James is also a photographer and a CEO, and I’d love to see more of the intersection of all of these aspects.

As great as James’ scenes were this episode, there could always be more to the story, especially since the concept of revealing your identity was set up and then not fleshed out in season one and the issue of race in America has been tackled previously this season. J’onn revealed himself as an alien two years ago and still chooses to live as a black man, despite being a shapeshifter. Without overshadowing James, he could have been a wonderful source of insight into James’ situation, or at least given some paternal advice, but these two did not even share a moment of recognition or support. It would have been a way to show that police profiling wasn’t an isolated incident and James’ concern about repercussions weren’t an individual fear. It’s a more widespread problem.

It was interesting to hear James’ and Tanya’s perception of Guardian and then consider my own perception. Don’t get me wrong, Guardian is a hero, but Guardian is vigilante. He’s stopping robberies, muggings, drug deals, essentially doing the work of the police outside of their laws. What I loved so much about this storyline was that it was different. We got to see James’ noble reaction to being the target. We got to see James’ willingness to risk his fate to help other. We got to see Guardian the way James sees him: as an inspiration capable of providing hope in the light, rather than fighting in the dark. It would be inspiring to see more storylines like Guardian and Tanya where he’s protecting someone specific, where he’s being a hero in a way the police can’t or won’t, where he’s making himself invaluable to the city and not just beating up criminals.

There’s not much more upsetting as a television viewer than seeing your favorite character ripped from her skillsets when those skills should be instrumental in fighting the good fight. Agent Alex Danvers, second in command at the DEO, owns a Kryptonite exosuit that would make her pretty valuable in the fight against a rogue Kryptonian. Doctor Alex Danvers is a woman educated in bioengineering and alien physiology who has the knowledge to assist Lena and Winn in the lab with Reign. Despite both of these traits, most of what we’ve seen lately is Alex Danvers, vulnerable human susceptible to broken legs and poisoning, and Aunt Alex, glorified babysitter.

There’s a version of this paragraph where I talk about how important it is to see women portrayed simultaneously as career-driven and as mothers, and that would be a wonderful paragraph, but that would require Alex to be depicted as doing both, and she isn’t. She could be. They’ve proven they can do this storyline. They touched upon it with Sam earlier this season. They explored Kara’s struggle to juggle multiple tasks when she babysat Carter in season one. Sure, it might be a little repetitive at this point, but it would be more relevant and understandable to her character development if they insist on making her a mother figure this soon. If they’re going to use Ruby to validate Alex and Maggie’s breakup, at least have Alex teach Ruby how to throw a punch to get her anger out instead of resorting to failed coping tactics. This episode shouldn’t have been about Alex struggling to reach a kid who went through the same thing she did. It should have been about the practicality of Alex having a kid. To be fair, they may tackle this storyline next week, but there has already been at least three episodes (two consecutively) this season that have ignored her potential usefulness.

I don’t mean to sound like I’m against Alex eventually becoming a mother. She’s allowed to want a kid. Alex has such an innate desire to validate another human’s existence and make them believe in themselves as much as she does like she’s done with Kara the entire series, so it’s understandable. What’s not understandable is not even seeing her try to do everything within her power to save Sam. The Alex Danvers who has provided inspiration for so many is not afraid to take risks with her own physical safety and with her heart. The Alex Danvers who has provided inspiration for so many is capable of forging her own path, going rogue if necessary, to save the people she loves. The Alex Danvers who has provided inspiration for so many does not stop fighting even when the water’s rising fast. This is not that Alex Danvers. Her power, her strength, her intelligence, like Supergirl’s, have inexcusably been taken away in favor of highlighting manufactured drama and making space for a different fighter at Supergirl’s side.

If the writers aren’t going to put effort into distinguishing Kara from Supergirl, I’m not going to put effort into distinguishing them either. Not only is the growing rift between Kara and Lena a problem story wise, but it’s also the continuation of a troubling trend that dates back to the first season. Why is Kara not allowed to have and maintain female friendships? Kara was romantic rivals with Lucy. Professional rivals with Siobhan. Just not friends with Imra or Eve or Maggie, even. Granted, some ladies tend to get along better with guys, but that doesn’t mean they’re incapable of having girl friends. Lena was a chance to provide a positive example of female friendships rather than perpetuating the idea that women are each other’s competition and enemies.

Now that they’ve essentially re-written Mon-El’s personality in hopes of course-correcting his problematic behavior last season, I have less of a problem with his personality and more of a problem with his general presence. I have (sinceriously) tried and I am not grasping the benefit of keeping him around in the manner that they have chosen to. I’d be fine with him sticking around if they’d have found a new, unique space for him to occupy that didn’t push Supergirl’s support, and Supergirl herself, aside. He’s not a love interest (or he better not be a love interest because he’s married). He’s not a mentee. He’s not the second most powerful superhero at the DEO because Martian Manhunter exists. His abilities don’t provide a unique advantage to the team because they’re less powerful versions of Supergirl’s abilities. At least Imra had telekinesis, and Brainy was a 12^thlevel intellect with helpful future technology. Mon-El doesn’t even have future information that could help them defeat Reign. With Supergirl previously stuck in plastic and now with Supergirl curled up on the floor, he’s been receiving the heroic moments that the protagonist should receive. I’m all for building a team of heroes who each have the opportunity to shine, but not at the expense of Supergirl’s honor. Let Supergirl make the decision to give someone else the spotlight or put her in situations where she realizes someone else’s unique abilities make them a better candidate rather than taking away her power and her voice.

And now, on to the nitty-gritty. The episode begins in the L Corp lab. After Lena’s failed experiment, Reign lashes out, so Lena activates an opaque shield that Supergirl’s x-ray vision can’t even pierce. Supergirl accuses Lena of creating a Kryptonian weapon, but Lena argues it’s not a weapon. She wasn’t obligated to inform Supergirl because not everything she creates she does with Supergirl in mind.

Well, at least they’re not fighting about kryptonite anymore. However, this scene further buries them into a dispute built upon Supergirl’s presumptuous belief that she has a right to control Lena’s technology. Given that she’s an alien, Supergirl does have a right to be concerned about technology that could potentially hurt her or expose her, but she should come to Lena as an equal, not as someone who believes she has authority over Lena’s personal and business-related decisions. The only thing (that we know of) that Lena created with the intention of harming aliens was the lead dispersal device, which Supergirl approved of and used herself to save the world from destruction. Even the alien detection device, which Kara initially disapproved of and then came around to understanding Lena’s point of view (last season, before they had the benefit of best friendship), was created for information, not as a weapon. Lena created kryptonite and this refractive scatterfield with the sole intention of saving one of her best friends. There have definitely been moments in which I agree with Supergirl’s root concerns about kryptonite, but it’s still been more difficult to take her side over Lena’s. Not only has there been a problem with the content of this storyline, there’s also been an issue with the storytelling technique.

A story basically boils down to conflict resolution, and yet, there has been minimal attempt to have these characters actually discuss the issue, understand one another’s point of view, and resolve the conflict. Instead, they’ve stated their side and shut down the conversation. This would have been an interesting place to discuss what constitutes a weapon. Is it something that can hurt someone? Or is it something intended to hurt someone? Maybe Supergirl and Lena should just draw up a peace treaty detailing the terms of their negotiation.

Kara confronts James about telling Lena he broke into her vault. James needed to be honest to move forward, but Kara can’t be honest for Lena’s safety and because Lena would lump her in with every other person in her life.

Is it just me, or is it odd that Kara didn’t confront James about lying to her after he didn’t break into Lena’s vault like he said he did? She’ll let James get away with lying but not let Lena get away with anything?

Not telling Lena about her identity in order to protect her from people using it against her doesn’t really hold up as a strong argument, and yet it is repeatedly a concept in superhero stories where there’s a secret identity. If Supergirl’s concern is that the antagonists in question would torture Lena (known Supergirl cohort) for the truth about her identity, then not telling Lena only subjects her to further torture, harming her more. Also, it implies that Supergirl believes Lena would cave under the pressure and betray her identity. Granted, Lena may not be trained in the art of withstanding torture, but give the girl some training and a chance before you write her off. If Supergirl’s concern is that the antagonists in question would go after Lena based on the knowledge that she knew Supergirl’s identity, there’s no reason I can think of that would explain how the bad guys in question would know that Lena knows. No one went after James, friend of the Supers. No one went after Cat, writer of Supergirl’s profile. The only reason Rick Malverne went after Alex was because he knew Kara from before she was Supergirl. Crazy thought… Supergirl could ask Lena if she truly wants to know her real identity and then allow Lena to make that decision for herself, instead of deciding what Lena’s best interests are, especially after Supergirl scolded Winn and Mon-El for deciding her own best interests in “Wake Up.”

A young woman named Tanya barges into CatCo with Coville’s journal, which includes a recipe for a bomb. Storming CatCo, Olivia and other acolytes kidnap Tanya, so Guardian chases them. Olivia shoots Guardian’s mask off, then police storm the scene and turn hostile toward James, who pulls a Houdini. Conveniently, the police who saw his face don’t put out a BOLO.

Tanya, reader of Kryptonian and fangirl of Guardian, was a wonderful addition to this episode; I wish we could keep her around. With the exception of Mary Schott and Ruby, most guest stars tend to be the antagonists, but Tanya wasn’t. She was thrown into a situation where she could have just been a victim of the cult’s attack, but she wasn’t going to let that happen. She braved her fears and took control. She made a difficult choice, despite the danger to herself. She did what she could for the greater good. She’s what this show should be every week.

Having repeatedly failed to cheer Ruby up, Alex doesn’t know what to do. Going through the same thing with his father, J’onn heard that 3D games can slow the mind’s decay, so he and Alex take M’yrnn and Ruby to the arcade. The shooting games trigger M’yrnn, so J’onn heads to grab the car. Ruby asks M’yrnn how he recovered after the war on Mars. M’yrnn believed if he had faith and a pure heart, he would be provided for. It worked. Ruby and M’yrnn soon relax over a game of foosball.

In addition to the above critiques about Alex’s character this half of the season, there’s also been a distinct lack of depth with her scenes lately. As she even mentioned herself, Alex is someone who lost her father when she was not much older than Ruby, so she knows exactly what this girl is going through and what helped herself get through it. I guarantee you, it was not surface-level enticements like a new motorcycle and blue hair. That being said, I do enjoy television’s continual symbolic trend of characters cutting or dying their hair when going through life crises. Similar to the problem with J’onn and M’yrnn last episode, Alex tried to snap Ruby out of her sadness, rather than helping guide her through to the other side. Where was Alex’s attempt to speak with Ruby on a relatable level? We could have had a scene where Ruby says she doesn’t want to talk, and Alex tells her to just listen, then proceeds to pinpoint exactly what’s happening and promise to help her heal, like she did with Maggie in “Distant Sun” on the very same couch.

Chatting with Lena, Supergirl takes responsibility for her mistake and doesn’t want this tension to ruin their friendship. “It won’t,” says Lena. “We don’t have a friendship.” Ouch. Lena has friends who don’t scheme behind her back, and right now, Lena is a professional with a mission to make crazy science.

Maybe Lena doesn’t know that Kara is Supergirl? I don’t know… what is truth and continuity? All I know is that we’ve come a long way from Lena, at the beginning of this season, saying, “This is new for me, too… having friends,” to her being this confident in her friendships, even though the majority of that growth happened in off-screen land. I’m not convinced that Lena has more than two friends (three if you count her previous friendship with Supergirl), so it’s saddening not to see her leaning on Kara, her one remaining friend, while she’s in the midst of losing the other two. You’d think she would make extra sure that their friendship didn’t die off, as someone who understands that her friends are keeping her from being the Luthor everyone expects her to be.

Supergirl blames herself for the cult worshiping the Worldkillers, having disillusioned them by showing her vulnerability. Mon-El says she can’t be all things to all people. All she can do is be true to herself. Mon-El adds that not telling Lena the truth is the more noble approach because it considers Lena’s feelings, not her own.

James receives a blackmail message from the acolytes demanding the journal in return for keeping his identity a secret. James plans to reveal himself first. Lena supports him, but doesn’t understand the stakes until he tells the story of being put in handcuffs at age seven. While staying at a nice hotel, he and his cousins played a game of hide-and-seek until the police cuffed them all, believing they didn’t belong there. Being Guardian was the first time James was judged on his actions, not his appearance.

From what I can gather from Mehcad Brook’s Entertainment Weekly interview, this is an actual story that happened thirty years ago, which makes it all the more upsetting and troubling. Now I feel a lot like Lena in this scene because I’m not sure what else to say aside from being appalled at the situation. How do you combat something like racism that makes no sense? That’s founded on false prejudices and generalizations? Words are a start, but they can’t make this better, only actions can cause and sustain change, and it should not fall on the shoulders of the discriminated against to cause that change.

Lena discovers that Coville’s cult plans to make a new Worldkiller, not a bomb, with the rock of a Kryptonian goddess. It’s basically black kryptonite, which can be inverted to cure Sam. Deciding to give herself up, Tanya gets into a van with the acolytes. Mon-El, as Mike Matthews, enters the van and does what he does best: plays dumb by saying it’s his Lyft. At their destination, Olivia goes all double, double, toil, and trouble, mixing a new Worldkiller in a caldron abubble. Mon-El suits up, only to be sent crashing through an entire stadium of chairs by Olivia, who’s obtained Worldkiller powers and is super powerful despite having just emerged from the womb.

Fighting Olivia, Supergirl grabs the black kryptonite, but it flares up her powers. Supergirl regains composure to reason with Olivia. She knows what it’s like to not know which role to play. The rock fuses further into Olivia’s hand until Mon-El rips it off. James tells Supergirl he will unmask eventually so people can see heroes like themselves. That’s his story. Hers is different. He respects, understands, and appreciates her decision not to reveal her identity.

This episode reminded me of a quote from Heroes, said by Sylar. “We’re all at war with ourselves; that’s what it means to be human. The trick is figuring out how to be on the winning side.”I though Kara had figured out which side had the most pull in her life because Kara Danvers was the furniture she chose to populate her mental attic in Brainy’s water tank simulation.

Ruby apologizes to Alex for her attitude, then Alex apologizes for pushing Ruby to feel better before she’s ready. Ruby’s scared of turning into someone like Reign. Alex can’t promise she won’t, but she promises to protect her, forever, and adds that the smartest people on the planet are working to help Sam. But are they? Because you’re not, Alex, and Eliza’s not. Brainy’s not.

Needing more black kryptonite to cure Sam, Winn and Lena discover that the same rock is hurling through space. Supergirl will take Mon-El there. Coville finds the cauldron and says he’s never been better.

ODDS AND ENDS:

– I hope CatCo has good building insurance given the Supergirl-sized and bullet-sized holes that have been put in the ceiling this season.

– Winn: *brings up Ransom*
Me: We don’t need a movie reference, Winn. We need a plan.

– Lena: You shouldn’t have to wear a mask to be seen as you really are.

Come talk about “The Fanatical” on our Supergirl forum!