Supergirl Season 1 Finale Thoughts

"Better Angels"

After such a mixed to positive first season of Supergirl, we finally got to the season finale, which in my opinion, did exactly what it needed to overall. I'm not quick to consider this episode as one of my favorites, but it is relieving to see that the showrunners wanted to end everything on a high and promising note. So, with that out of the way, let's dig into this week's climatic and action packed episode of Supergirl.

"Myriad Alex" Is Awesome

First, we must acknowledge the beginning scene between Supergirl (or rather Kara in this case) and her mind controlled sister. If you remember in my review from last week's episode, I was really looking forward to see this fight considering the anti-Kryptonian gear that Alex was equipped with and the fact that Non was in direct control of her (mentally anyway). Although, this won't make it on my Awesome TV Moments blog, it was actually pretty cool to see Alex in action surprisingly controlling the fight against her super powered sibling in a one on one battle. The suit's physical enhancements, kryptonite blasters, and Alex's kryptonite laced sword are all shown off here in a pretty decently directed fight scene, so I must give credit where credit is due.

The moment when J'onn shows up with Eliza to snap Alex out of it with an emotional speech (something this episode is filled with), I was actually a little disappointed with the idea that the "sound of hope" was the key to snapping someone out of an alien mind controlling device. Sure, the overall message of hope being the key to take on all obstacles was strong in this episode, but there was something about the whole logic in this scene specifically that simply didn't sit well with me afterwards. However, I do have to admit that the fight scene overall was pretty satisfying, and just like I stated earlier, it was pretty cool to see Alex's potential as a human being able to take on powerful aliens shown off. 

Question: Did J'onn flew all the way back to get Eliza knowing that her words would help Alex in this situation? Keep in mind that he didn't know about Myriad's "weakness" until afterwards.

The Iconic Hero Speech

Speaking of slightly cheesy yet pretty effective themes, we get a very well executed scene in which Supergirl delivers hope across National City via an improv to speech. Now, what didn't work in the Eliza-Alex scene for me is completely forgiven here as the impact and the power of Supergirl's words are shown through several civilian reaction shots. Much like I said in my past episode review about the writers boldly giving us some pretty huge hero and villain moments this season instead of saving them for the future, the same can be said here regarding this motivational citywide speech. 

National City's Savior?

On another note, I do have to point out the fact that Maxwell Lord does end up being the city's savior in many regards when you really break down everything that he's done during the past few episodes. Not only is Maxwell the only reason Supergirl is able to deliver that speech reaching everyone in National City, but he was also the guy that cracked the code of Myriad's weak point. Despite his obvious villainous moments in this season, we might be looking at a pretty interesting and multi-layered antihero here when all is said and done.

The Final Epic Battle

One of the main issues that I've encountered with this show overall revolves around the visual FX behind the fight scenes taking place (as any reader of the blog may know). However, I must admit that the set up and impact of some of these fight scenes are well presented despite the spectacle element being weak. In the season finale, we have a rare situation where not only does the impact of seeing Supergirl finally take on Non in a final battle felt climactic, but the visuals are also pretty decent overall in delivering it. 

The heat vision battle between the two Kryptonians was highly entertaining to see especially with the image of Fort Rozz laying in the background. The open and isolated setting was perfect for the scene and the scale of the battle itself felt grand in size.

 

We also get to see J'onn take on Indigo in their 2nd and hopefully final battle as the two square off alongside Supergirl and Non. It was pretty awesome watching the Martian Manhunter in action as he takes on and defeats one of my least favorite characters on the show. Of course we simply cannot talk about this scene without mentioning the Mortal Kombat fatality move (pardon the reference) that J'onn does to Indigo once she gets distracted by Non and Supergirl. The moment where J'onn lifts Indigo up and actually rips her in half by pulling her apart was one of the most satisfying scenes on the show so far.

It's one of those moments where you yell "Yes! That's what I'm talking about!" at the TV screen. It's great to see the writers fully taking advantage of having a character like J'onn J'onzz on the show. The overall matchup of Supergirl and J'onn taking on other aliens is a great idea that I hope we get to see in the next season. There is so much potential in seeing these two characters grow some kind of a bond as a superhero dynamic duo alongside the growing father-daughter relationship that they already have. However, I hope that they only utilize this concept when it comes to the much bigger and threatening villains and not your average "villain of the week" expendable. 

Now, I'm not entirely sure if Indigo is officially dead as Season 2 can easily throw in some random explanation of her saving a part of herself in a computer, but as far as Non goes, I'm pretty sure getting heat visioned in the eyes isn't the equivalent of getting laser eye surgery. Did Supergirl end up doing what she and Maxwell discussed regarding the idea of killing to save the planet or is Non simply blinded and unconscious.

I didn't really like the fact that they never mentioned the two after the fight scene (unless I missed something), but I will forgive them if they at least bring them up in the beginning of Season 2. These are two high level villains after all and they both have deep connections to the lore of Supergirl's planet. We'll just have to wait and see I suppose.

Myriad's Plan B

What Supergirl did in this episode is something that fans of The Flash get to enjoy quite often which is the idea of the hero's job never being finished until the very end. What I'm referring to is the fact that even after the big hope bringing and mind control freeing speech that Supergirl delivers, we still get a sense of the city being threatened when Myriad's second feature is triggered. The fact that Supergirl's final fight with Non was taking place while a city destroying timer was being implimented made the scene all the more intense. 

The several transitions of the epic battle and the increasing brain damaging effects of Myriad on the population was a brilliant idea as it added a whole new level of excitement to the scene. 

The Sacrifice

As I mentioned before, this is a very speech heavy episode but not in a way that negatively distracts from the entertainment value. Once Maxwell and Kara have their discussion about taking on Non and her chances of walking out alive, we then get a series of "final goodbyes" between Kara and the people she cared about. It's an emotional set of scenes that does a great job in setting up the final fight but also the big heroic sacrifice scene as well. The moment where Supergirl decides to fly Myriad into space was amazingly done and the visual FX were great in showing the spectacle elements of a giant ship be lifted into space

The "hero sacrifice" is a pretty iconic moment in many comic book properties and I feel that the show did an incredible job in setting it up as well as executing it. The scene only works if the audience truly cares about the character and her life before the moment arrives. So, to some degree, this scene on its own sort of works as a test to the audience to see if whether or not the writers did a well enough job in making the viewers care about the characters on the show. For me personally, despite Kara obviously not dying and eventually getting saved by her sister in the end, this was a pretty strong scene overall as I did in fact care about her relationship with everyone back on Earth. 

Question: What's gonna happen with Fort Rozz now that it's floating in space? Are there any plans in dealing with this potentially dangerous situation?

A Happy Ending

Alongside Episode 13's heart warming ending scene with everyone hanging out together, we get another nicely done family bonding scene here with the new inclusion of Eliza and J'onn. It's a great scene overall seeing a very mundane environment with these characters especially having J'onn officially be a part of the family. I would've been perfectly fine if they ended off the season finale here as it would've made for a very satisfying and relieving reaction towards the episode overall. 

Note that the president has actually granted J'onn his freedom making him sort of an official new hero for National City and possibly the world to look up to alongside Superman and Supergirl

Of course, this being the first season and all, we had to end things off on a cliffhanger getting audiences excited for what's to come. During last week's anticipation driven conversations about what the season finale might end with, I remember sharing my idea of them actually ending on a very dark and spectacular note with a huge named villain (perhaps on the level of Darkseid or Braniac) either looking at National City from a distance or actually slowly hovering down to the city in a terrifying apocalyptic-like manner. Now, the reason that I'm actually glad that I didn't get my wish is because of how much the characters had to undergo already with Myriad and the fact that the season needed to end on a much lighter note.

Now, in this case, we're given something more mysterious as a Kryptonian ship crash lands in National City resulting in Supergirl shockingly reacting to whatever offscreen entity is in that cockpit. It's not a particularly strong ending, but it does bring up some interesting conversations speculating on what she may actually be looking at. A clone of some kind? Another Kryptonian? Or perhaps a remnant of Braniac that made its way to her location via Indigo sending a last minute distress beacon. There are so many interesting theories to talk about which is why this cliffhanger successfully works. 

Overall, the first season of Supergirl may have been a hit and miss viewing experience for me, but what I can say about the show is that it definitely ends on a high enough note to make me more than curious to see what we'll get in the next season. 

Bonus Content

Superman's Cameos

Superman's...foot

More Superman text scenes which I'm strangely fine with now

The First Time Indigo Did Something Cool

As those of you are aware, I'm really not a fan of the Indigo character design whatsoever aside from the Braniac symbol, but the scene where she morphs her hand into a spike was pretty cool from a visual perspective

Martian Manhunter's Phasing Ability

One of my favorite things to see on the show is Martian Manhunter's powers being fully shown off. It's nice to see that the season finale gave us something to cheer about as J'onn phases through Non's heat vision and knocks him right into the sky.

Kara's Promotion

Not only did this scene work as a nice way to show that the Kara story arc has evolved in the end just as Supergirl's did, but it was also nice to see Cat being shown to positively change as well. We just might be seeing a whole new dynamic between the two for Season 2.

The Army's New Toy

Something that I never really talked about this season was the army's presence in the story. Honestly speaking, I never really liked Sam Lane's character as he came across more as an annoying one note antagonist despite me understanding what they were going for with the character. However, the scene where Maxwell gives Sam the Kryptonian battery makes me think that we'll be seeing a much stronger presence with his character in the future.

Episode Rating: 9/10