Supergirl S2 Ep. 20 Thoughts & Easter Eggs

"City of Lost Children"

This week's episode of Supergirl was the first in quite a while where I felt truly entertained and engaged with what was going on from beginning to end. There were no unnecessary screen time stealing subplots thrown around this time as we get a legitimately fulfilling side story with James Olsen's arc as a hero. Even more importantly, we also get a satisfying reasoning for the Daximite family drama that has plagued this season in the disguise of an overarching season villain arc. So, let's talk about why this episode in particular felt like a fixer upper on what was a very recently dull and tedious feeling couple of episodes. 

The Man Behind The Guardian

From the first quarter of the episode alone, I was already beginning to feel the solid character spotlight development that the series is known to deliver at times with James now coming to an unfortunate realization about his vigilante persona. The Guardian story arc has been one of the better additions to the show as far as the series increasing its gallery of heroes, so it's nice to see the writers give each individual their very own character defining episode. I liked the idea of James seeing himself from an outside perspective as not the hope inspiring savior that he set out to be. It's refreshing to see our heroes given a different perspective on their appearance and presence when going about their daily acts of bravery.

It was interesting watching him tackle his very own self image and purpose by comparing himself to the likes of Supergirl and Superman. Being a street level vigilante trying to rank up to the levels of a planet saving god-like superhero might seem far-fetched to some, but given the way that they've built him up since Season 1 as someone always striving to be something greater, this attitude shift completely makes sense. This is what I like to call a "natural story transition" as oppose to just having forced conflict for the sake of drama. This is why Olsen's scenes to where he ends up being the only one able to get through to and save this week's "villain of the week" works on ever level imaginable. We're watching someone evolve towards their desired goal by finding a strong sense of purpose in life.

Because of this well developed and executed character spotlight, James Olsen isn't just some mask wearing vigilante randomly showing up to help. Being able to save the city without the need of the suit at the end of the day adds a whole new layer to the Guardian character making him a much stronger addition to the team. Now these...these are the type of Supergirl episodes that I miss. The ones that highlight a character in a fascinating and dramatically investing manner while also delivering on the science-fiction/comic book goodness with the "villain" of the week.

Ah, There's Our Season Villain!

Just when I thought the series was beginning to hit an all time low showcasing Mon-El's angry mother as our season big bad, we get one of the coolest cliffhanger sequences on Supergirl yet completely changing things around. After Rhea decided to create an alliance with Lena under false pretenses in order to build a secret project, I kept thinking to myself "What exactly could this be leading up to?" with several speculations in mind. Once Rhea activated the portal by Lena's surprise opening up the floodgates for the remaining Daximite refugees to enter Earth, everything changed for me at that point regarding this whole fiasco.

What started off as a poorly developed and thrown in soap opera with Mon-El's parents not accepting his new girlfriend (seriously this was a thing) turned into a genuinely exciting story about an alien species planning on conquering the entire planet. What makes this story direction particularly more fascinating than your typical alien invasion trope is that we've actually had time to soak in the fact that Daximites, at this point, are just people who suffered a massive tragedy with their home after Krypton's destruction. This gives Supergirl's newest threat an interesting layer of emotional context separating what could've easily been seen as expendable ships and soldiers into a desperate civilization of families struggling to make ends meet.

I cannot emphasize enough how happy I am that the writers didn't make Rhea's plans to lead the Daximites in as some ridiculously lame result of parental jealousy with Mon-El's life decisions but an actual judgement call made by a queen after seeing a new potential home for her people. There's even that scene where Mon-El attempts to shoot his own mother that actually had emotional weight behind it since Rhea was now being exhibited as both a dangerous enemy to the planet as well as to Mon-El as a blood related threat.

Because of that visually spectacular display of Daximite ships flying through a giant portal hovering over National City, as a fan who has been recently disappointed with the overall direction of the show, I'm now completely back onboard given that there's an actual conflict worth getting excited about. I can now officially say that Supergirl has made its way back on my radar where it should be. I look forward to seeing what the rest of the season brings. 

Bonus Content

1. Batman Easter Egg

During James' discussion with Wynn about Guardian not being a beacon of hope but fear, James describes himself as "a big guy in a scary mask just like Clark's friend" to which Wynn does a pointy ear gesture saying "Oh you mean..".  If this isn't a direct shout out to Batman then I don't know what is. I honestly yelled out in excitement after this scene.

2. The Royal Arsenal: White Martian Tech

Right before J'onn is attempts to take down Rhea, she quickly pulls out a device that completely paralyzes him trapping him inside of his own mind. Rhea tells Mon-El that a White Martian gave her this device which was used to keep the green martians under their control. Not only was this a great piece of inserted martian lore, but it also alludes to her royal position having several connections to various alien tech. 

3. One of Supergirl's Greatest Sequences Yet

Supergirl is no stranger to offering up some visual spectacles every now and then, but the Daximite portal entrance scene is by far one of its greatest jewels yet. The imagery of the ominous purple glow coming from the giant portal alongside the tons of different ships flying through gave Supergirl an incredible cinematic edge that has arguably never been shown before.

Episode Rating: 9/10