Verdict: Supergirl’s heroism is challenged for the first time in a confident, focused episode where our sympathies aren’t always with the all-American hero.
Review
Ask anyone why Supergirl works, and it’s very possible that they’ll talk about the show’s bright and optimistic tone, which stems from the immensely likeable, clean-cut Kara Danvers. The strength of its heroine has propelled Supergirl through occasionally choppy writing and plotlines that fail to spark to life throughout its early episodes, because there’s always been a doggedly kind-hearted undercurrent to the show that’s made even its weakest episodes a lot of fun to watch. In its 2016 run, however, Supergirl’s storytelling has become smarter and more mature, as it’s begun to tinker with the core formula in frequently rewarding ways.
Truth, Justice and the American Way keeps up the momentum from last episode by challenging another of the show’s core tenets – the squeaky-clean heroism of Kara Danvers – as her morality and ethics are put under serious scrutiny from both friends and foes alike. It’s those themes of morality that form the bedrock of the episode, percolating throughout the DEO and CatCo storylines in a way that manages to make the show’s disparate halves feel cohesive and in tandem with one another. Like For The Girl Who Has Everything, this episode neatly averts the dissonance that often appears between the DEO and CatCo storylines by inter-weaving them in a way that makes the episode as a whole more efficient in its storytelling. For instance, the imprisonment of Maxwell Lord within the DEO is obviously a plotline pertaining to the more fantastical side of the show, but it neatly progresses the relationship drama between James and Lucy by creating suspicion and mistrust on Lucy’s end that could just lead to a major change in the CatCo dynamic if Kara does indeed decide to tell Lucy that she’s Supergirl. I’ve made no secret of enjoying the superheroic side of Supergirl more than the relationship drama, but Truth, Justice and the American Way manages to make both the personal drama and the superhero action genuinely complement each other in a way that ensures that the relationship drama keeps up the episode’s momentum rather than inhibiting it.
A key part of that thematic exploration of ethics and morality was Truth, Justice and the American Way’s presentation of Supergirl as a flawed hero determined to ‘do what needs to be done’. It’s an unusual depiction of the character that would seem to be at odds with Kara’s core principles – but to Supergirl’s credit, the show has put a great deal of work in the last few weeks pushing Kara towards an emotional place where this slip into a more ruthless ideology seems like a natural and organic development; the end result of a long conga line of trauma and stress ranging from her brief spat with Winn to Astra’s death. With solid foundations, the execution (no Master Jailer reference intended) is thankfully just as strong. I mentioned a couple of weeks back that there was a lot of room for a thought-provoking exploration of the ethics of locking Maxwell Lord up with no warrant, and this episode managed to exploit that potential in a genuinely satisfying manner by substantially criticising Kara’s ruthless approach to this particular issue.
It’s a better, more nuanced take on the murky ethics of superheroes imprisoning their enemies than anything The Flash has ever done with its consistently problematic Pipeline prison (The Flash has gotten an awful lot of things right, but the consistent illegal imprisonment isn’t one of them) because it makes compelling cases both for and against this kind of emergency imprisonment that are equally understandable, with the episode coming to the intriguing conclusion that a principled leap of faith may be necessary, even if the repercussions could be potentially very harmful. It’s a pleasingly mature and substantial take on an ethical problem that very few live-action superhero adaptations have tackled, displaying considerable confidence in the way that it depicts the show’s central hero acting directly against the principles of truth and justice that she normally works so hard to uphold.
It’s Kara’s ruthless judge/jury attitude that heightens the effectiveness of this week’s villain, Master Jailer. On paper, Master Jailer is a relatively dull villain – there have been plenty of characters of his ilk in similar shows before, and the villain does kind of lack a personality. Despite the slightly bland and generic nature of the character, however, he serves his purpose here as a foil to this week’s particularly ruthless version of Kara – someone who takes Kara’s attitude about doing what is necessary to an extreme level. It’s far easier to understand Master Jailer’s motives when Kara is practicing a less extreme version of his own ideology – so while he’s far from sympathetic, Master Jailer is a villain that has a bit more depth to his motivations than your average villain despite his underwritten portrayal. He’s ultimately there to push Kara away from an extreme, ruthless attitude and back towards her typical brand of tolerant, sunny heroism, and in that respect Master Jailer is a perfectly decent villain that works efficiently enough at serving a specific purpose – not a particularly memorable foe, but one that this specific episode required in order to service Kara’s own character arc.
Speaking of Master Jailer, it’s his appearance that leads to some of Supergirl’s best action scenes yet. Lexi Alexander of Punisher: War Zone (who also directed the terrific Beyond Redemption episode of Arrow this season) is evidently a very skilled action director, and those abilities are put to good use here with fight scenes that feel grittier and more down-to-earth than Supergirl’s usual action scenes, focused more on relatively visceral ground combat where the punches and kicks have a genuine impact. Supergirl’s always had solid enough action scenes, but during the Kryptonian episodes it can all devolve into a mess of close-ups and floaty action that’s hard to get truly invested in – that’s absolutely not the case here, and Alexander deserves plaudits for giving the fight scenes a bit more of a kick than they usually have. Instead of being an entertaining means to an end, the fight scenes here are undoubtedly satisfying and enjoyable pieces of action filmmaking on their own, and that’s certainly a step in the right direction.
For an episode that succeeds partially due to its coherency and the way that its separate plotlines manage to complement each other, it’s hardly surprising that the weakest parts here are the storylines that feel separate to the main plot of the week involving Master Jailer. On the superhero side, Non’s brief appearance to warn Kara after Astra’s funeral feels strangely disjointed and out-of-context, having very little impact on the rest of the episode and feeling like an artificially mandated, clumsily delivered reminder that the next confrontation with the Kryptonians will be in a couple of episodes. And on the CatCo side, there’s the introduction of Siobhan Smythe, Cat’s second assistant. Italia Ricci is genuinely good as Smythe, portraying the comedic smarm of the character convincingly, but she feels a little too caricatured here – precision-engineered to annoy Kara and drum up conflict with Kat in a way that feels overly artificial and contrived. Siobhan feels like less of a real character here and more of a mildly annoying plot device to create drama, so here’s hoping that she develops a little more on the road to her transformation into the super-villain Silver Banshee before the end of the season.
Supergirl still has a lot of issues to iron out with both its Kryptonian villains and the CatCo storylines, and it’s got work to do with fleshing out its villains of the week. Despite this, it’s absolutely heading in the right direction, becoming more efficient and focused in the way that it tells its stories and confronting thought-provoking themes that are handled in a refreshingly mature manner. Truth, Justice and the American Way is an encouraging indicator of the growing confidence of Supergirl in being more than a boilerplate superhero procedural, and a potentially exciting sign that greatness isn’t all that far off for the show.
Odds & Ends
- It looked like yet another high body count for DEO agents this week thanks to Master Jailer. Why does anyone bother to work there if it guarantees certain death?
- Hank taking the fall for Alex plays out intriguingly here, and it has a far bigger impact on Kara’s relationship with him that I’d have expected. It’s a tad frustrating and repetitive in places, but it seems to be heading to a very interesting conclusion.
- More Myriad references this week – when Kara asks the AI Alura, the AI freaks out and threatens to shut down. The AI is still a thoroughly weird plot device, but it’s a neat progression of the mystery nonetheless.
- Kara recommends Call the Midwife and The Wire this week – two shows which I’m fairly sure have barely anything in common, so I have to salute her varied tastes.
- We’re off to the Fortress of Solitude next week! The title? At least it’s shorter than the last couple of weeks.
- On a side note – those pictures from the set of the Flash crossover look amazing, and March 28 simply can’t come any sooner.