Better Angels not the Best….
This week was the Supergirl season 1 finale. Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) has to do whatever it takes to stop Non (Chris Vance) and Indigo (Laura Vandervoort) who have turned the good people of National City into their army. Lucky for Kara she still has Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart) and Maxwell Lord (Peter Facinelli) on her side. Of course before Kara can do any saving she’ll have to deal with her sister Alex (Chyler Leigh) who is under Non’s control, armored and packing a kryptonite sword.
SPOILERS FOLLOW
The fight between Alex and Kara starts off the episode with a bang. Kara doesn’t want to harm Alex, but the feeling isn’t mutual. Alex gains the upper hand but thanks to Mom’s (ex-Supergirl herself Helen Slater) speech and some help from Martian Manhunter (David Harewood) they can talk Alex back into being Alex. Mom giving Alex hope broke Non’s control over her.
Supergirl broadcasts a message of hope that Max piggybacks onto Myriad. Benoist as always does a stellar job selling the speech. Sure, it’s a little corny but in today’s cynical world a little hopeful corn may not be such a bad thing. Hope has been the central theme to Supergirl. The message sets the human’s minds free which of course irks off Non and Indigo. They (well mostly Indigo) decide to destroy Earth. It turns out by cranking up Myriad; they can kill all the humans.
Back at the DEO, we learn Superman is still down after all this still isn’t his show. General Lane wants to tie up J’onn, but Lucy Lane actually grows a spine and fights back. But J’onn defends the General’s decision. Max clues everybody in on how Myriad is going to kill all humans. They need to find the source of Myriad’s power and shut it down. Max tells Kara it’s going to be a tough battle versus multiple super powered beings. Max has faith in her, but he also calculates her odds aren’t great. One Supergirl versus a bunch of super powered beings means this is most likely a suicide mission.
Kara heads off for nice thank you talks with Winn (Jeremy Jordan) and Cat. These are followed by an emotional heart to heart with Jimmy. A distraught Kara blows him off and tells him to find somebody who will love him for being him. Jimmy sends word to the DEO that Supergirl seems to be saying good-bye (which she was). Now time for J’onn and Kara’s emotional chat. Supergirl is worried that she’s going to die though she is determined to save Earth no matter what. I understand the sentiment, but this seemed to drag on a bit long especially considering everybody on Earth is going to die fairly quickly. At least this sparks J’onn to decide to join the battle. After some coaxing General Lane shows he’s a bit human and agrees to let J’onn help Kara.
Max finds the source of Myriad it’s in Nevada, it’s Fort Rozz. The government has been “hiding it” there. Their defense, “it’s hard to move a million ton building.” J’onn and Supergirl head to Nevada for the big knock down, drag out battle versus Non and Indigo. The latter two have conveniently put the rest of their super powered beings in sleep pods. That’s a bit cocky, but that’s how bad guys run. The battle itself is enjoyable especially with Manhunter ripping Indigo in half. Supergirl unleashes her pent up heat vision furry, burning out Don’s eyes. Not really sure if this kills him guess we can assume he’s just crippled. The bad duo may be beaten and fried, but Myriad is still active. The only way to save Earth is for Supergirl to fly Fort Rozz into space. Of course, she doesn’t do this until after a long heartfelt talk with Alex. Again a bit corny and the timing is kind of off since everybody on Earth has minutes to live. This version of Supergirl can lift 100 million tons and fly it into space but apparently can’t survive for long without oxygen. Supergirl saves the planet but is on the verge of suffocating. Luckily, Alex somehow knows how to fly the ship Kara came in and saves her.
Kara wakes up at the DEO. All is right with the world. J’onn is once again put in charge. Ms. Grant promotes Kara reassuring me she knows Kara is Supergirl. We end with a nice warm and fuzzy family moment with Kara and her closest friends chowing down. Kara and Jimmy even kiss this time with feeling. They are going out of their way to make sure we realize the show is about hope and family. Oh and then, of course, we have the required “cliff hanger”. A pod very much like Kara’s comes crashing down to Earth. Kara opens it up, amazed at who or what is in the pod. Cut and hold for season 2.
Notes: Best line of the night Cat, ““You people were more punctual when you were drones…” Max and General Lane seem to be scheming something. Ms. Grant finally called Kara, Kara. Mom learned Dad is still alive, and Alex and J’onn are going to find him, which shouldn’t be hard now that J’onn is back in control of the DEO.
Summary: Not my favorite episode. How come the government didn’t do something with Fort Rozz? Why can’t Supergirl hold her breath forever in space? I like “love and hope and teamwork” but they went a bit overboard this episode. As previously mentioned it seemed a bit too cocky that Non and Indigo wouldn’t come with some backup. Non was a pretty wishy-washy main bad guy. He never seemed like an imposing threat. Still, I mostly enjoyed this show and see a lot of potential here. The fights were on the short side but enjoyable. As stated before Benoist and Flockhart are Emmy worthy. Truthfully, all the characters grew on me as the season went on – yes even Jimmy. Next season, they need to send Superman off world and leave him there. Maybe what’s in the pod can be the reason Superman takes off? If they remove Superman, get a true “Big Bad” and clean up the writing Supergirl can truly fly next season.
