Supergirl S3 Ep. 2 Thoughts & Easter Eggs

"Triggers"

Supergirl started off its 3rd season with an incredible premiere laying out the foundation for a much darker toned and refreshing character focused direction. This week's episode did a fantastic job in continuing that allusion with Kara's identity crisis arc and Rein's thought provoking introduction while sill giving us a solid villain of the week to play around with. As we tip-toe our way through the beginnings of what may just be the best season of the show yet, let's talk about what makes this episode such a standout entry altogether.

A Powerful & Worthy

Villain of the Week

Psi is played by Yael Grobglas known popularly from the hit series Jane The Virgin

One of the more popular complaints with the majority of shows within the superhero genre is the lack of compelling weekly villains. As fans, we've already built up the idea in our minds that there will be at least a couple of dull items on the bad guy conveyor belt, but we've always seemed to be faced with an even more less than stellar track record throughout the different shows. I'm more than happy to say that Supergirl definitely breaks through said complaint with a worthy antagonist this week via the introduction of Gayle Marsh (AKA Psi). There are several components in the makings of a great villain of the week, but one of the most significant is the way in which the hero(s) and/or story is affected by said character. This is where Psi's power comes into play.

Avid readers of the Penny For Your TV Thoughts site may know that I still believe to this day that the Black Mercy episode of Season 1 remains to be the greatest episode of the series. This is largely due to the way in which the villain's power of that episode was brilliantly utilized to bring forth something dramatically and emotionally impactful in relation to our hero. In the case of Psi, we have a similiar situation to where Gayle's fear inducing psychic abilities brings out Kara's deepest fears presenting us with a powerful inside look at her current mentality. In the premiere, we learned that Kara was having an identity crisis regarding her "human life" and the life of an alien superhero which is exactly what Psi's abilities is able to profoundly break down to its core.

Supergirl presents another artistically impressive scene this season following the premiere's opening dream transition with an intense spaceship sequence.

There are several scenes to where Supergirl confronts Gayle during a robbery resulting in Gayle using her ability to telepathically give her panic attacks. These sequences are absolutely breathtaking artistically speaking as the entire episode intimately shifts into Kara's mind at that moment. The most spectacular in scope is the second attack which forces her to relive her childhood's narrow escape through Krypton's destruction alongside seeing her mother for the last time. Everything about this scene is incredible cinematically speaking from the note worthy visual FX of the cataclysmic imagery, the artistic flare of the entire scene shown through Kara's first person perspective, and the powerful use of audio consisting of her heavy breathing with the chaotic noise surrounding her.

Kara busted through CATCO's elevator shaft. Let's see if it gets acknowledged

We've never gotten to see what Kara herself was experiencing as her mom desperately sent her away, and it's through the genius use of a side villain's powers that the show gave us the most dramatically effective way of presenting it. While Gayle herself may not be the most screen grabbing presence alone (she's okay as a cocky villainess), it's what she's able to bring out in our hero that matters the most here. Another great scene surrounding this idea takes place during Supergirl's traditional elevator clothes swap which goes horribly wrong due to another panic attack. Again, this is something that we've never seen before, and just like the Krypton scene, the imagery is striking. Kara having her House of El symbol exposed through her clothes while struggling through claustrophobia was pretty intense.

Melissa Benoist delivers a stellar performance during this episode

Continuing the central hero conflict of Season 3 being Kara's crisis with being human and Supergirl at the same time is a line of highly emotional moments centered on our hero. With Psi's psychic attacks causing Kara to relive her deepest fears, the series pulls out one of its most formidable strengths being its standout character discussion scenes. Through conversing with Winn and Alex, we learn that Kara feels helpless as Supergirl which Alex tells her that it's being Kara that matters. This is also where she finally opens up completely on how losing Mon-El and having issues at work has broken that persona. I already loved the idea of heroes having an identity crisis fitting their two lives together, but this season has done a magnificent job at also inserting the importance of being human in the end.

"It's who you are as Kara that defines you and she's got nothing on that" - Alex

The scenes between Kara and Alex were heartfelt to say the least and, yes, I did admittedly get a little choked up seeing them finally come to a mutual understanding. This was only made possible by the solid performances as well as the superb writing by the show having the issue between the two characters organically reach a conclusion. Nothing ever felt forced revolving Kara's reasoning for keeping her feelings about Mon-El a secret. This can also be said about the point to where the two went from being distant from each other via Kara's emotional barrier to hugging each other with smiles on their faces. It's a prime example of how well the series yet again delivers on its established character relationships.

Speaking of the brilliance of the writers using Psi to bring out important details about Supergirl's mentality, I could not emphasize enough how emotionally charging the final confrontation was. After Psi is able to break through Winn's psychic dampener, we get a profoundly human moment from Kara after she gets blasted away and relives her guilt over Mon-El's potential fate. This adds a whole other layer to the identity crisis arc as it shows not only her depression in losing him but also that she genuinely believes that she may have actually killed him in the process. Again, the strong character relationships are what lays the foundation for the show's success, so having Alex be the one to come in and convince her that she actually saved him like her mother did for her beautifully led to the eventual superhero victory in the end.

Now, as for the actual big heroic moment, I will say that I felt the episode could've had a much more satisfying end as opposed to a simple head butt to Gayle. Perhaps a fitting way for Supergirl to have defeated Psi would've been to have her "I've conquered my fears" line followed by somehow reflecting Gayle's ability back to her. Maybe using J'onn here would've been great as another reminder that the girl of steel still truly needs her circle of family and friends. So, if there are any negatives coming out of this review, it's that I feel J'onn could've been utilized better in the end being of a similiar power as the villain as well as our big triumphant win feeling more gratifying than what we were given. However, what led to said victory was definitely impactful enough to make up for it.

Ladies and Gentlemen...Our Season Villain!

So, who is Reign exactly? Yes, we know that Odette Annable plays the villainous role, yet we've only seen her as this average loving mother (named Samantha now) only looking out for what's best for her child. I find this to be a refreshing and highly fascinating direction to take with a character whom we're supposed to eventually fear in some capacity. Where some viewers might be a little turned off from seeing nothing noteworthy in a season villain reveal like The Flash did recently with The Thinker, I've absolutely love the misdirection given here. It's a twist that several other shows within the Arrowverse hasn't truly tackled yet (at least not successfully), so it'll be interesting to see how Supergirl switches things up for audiences. I also liked the idea of her daughter seeing her as a potential superhero. Hmmm.

Overall Thoughts

Supergirl continues what I hope to be a streak of incredible episodes making this an unforgettably amazing season. With a solid villain of the week used perfectly to highlight the hero's deeper conflicts, and the refreshing twist with the show's building of its season villain, this week's episode confirms a much darker and bold direction for the show. I look forward to seeing what next week's exciting ventures will give us now that that Samantha is currently Lena Luthor's replacement for L Corp (interesting how much closer these characters are getting) and J'onn's getting psychic messages from Megan. I'm more than happy to to say that Season 3 of Supergirl has already made it high on the priority list as far as the current wave of comic book shows go. Fingers crossed that they're able to keep it up. 

Bonus Thoughts

Easter Eggs

1. POV Perspective of the Opening Narration

Aside from the obvious "That's Erica Durance!" comment, I do find it interesting that we get to see a different perspective on the traditional episode intros' Krypton escape sequence. This adds a whole new dynamic to each of the episode openings going forward. Also, during Kara's conversation with Winn, Kara describes how it felt to aimlessly float in her pod alone and afraid. Interesting to see the show deeply dive into past events. 

2. Mon-El's Fate?

During one of Kara's panic attacks, we're given an inside look at one of her greatest fears being the guilt of Mon-El's possible death. It's a heart ripping scene for any fans of the character as we get a similiar POV style shot as the previous scene only now from Mon-El's perspective being destroyed by an asteroid field. This adds weight not only to Kara's story, but also Mon-El's mysterious whereabouts. 

3. J'onn's Dilemma

During the episode's cliffhanger, we see J'onn at a cafe sitting alone eventually being met briefly by Megan who surprisingly shows up telepathically telling him to leave to Mars. This brings up many questions such as whether or not this is real and to what emergency is happening on Mars. I already hold Martian Manhunter up as by far the best thing to ever happen to the series, so it's nice to see the writers giving J'onn potentially something interesting story-wise.

4. Sammantha's Power

It's interesting to note that although we definitely saw Samantha using some form of super strength to lift the metal beam off of her daughter, this same strength isn't tapped into during her actual attempt to use it. Is this teasing the idea of a possible future tragedy causing her to unleash said untapped power in some profound manner?

5. Lena's New Position

Why is the Lena Luthor story sidelined to the "Bonus Thoughts" section? Well, to put it simply, there just isn't really much to talk about here. I do find it interesting to see a refreshing change in pace with the CATCO character dynamics now that Lena's running things, but at the moment, there isn't much taking place...yet.

6. Clark's Ship

During one of Kara's panic attacks centering around her escape through Krypton's destruction, we get to see her point of view of Clark's ship flying off safely to Earth. This adds an interesting extra little detail to the traditional episode openings where we briefly see Clark as a baby inside of his pod.

7. Season 3's Amazing Opening Sequences

Supergirl delivers yet another artistically amazing opening sequence this season. The previous episode gave us a powerful dream to reality transition showing Kara's tragic dilemma which is also given here through a different means. We get brief bedroom set transitions between Alex and Maggie's happy relationship, Sammantha and Ruby, then Kara being alone laying in bed. The Alex-Maggie to Samantha-Ruby transitions possibly foreshadows their later conversations about having kids.

8. Kryptonian Meditation

Leading up to Alex confronting her about her secret feelings towards Mon-El's fate, Kara is shown engaging in a Kryptonian meditation. The language of Krypton can also be heard during this scene which is rare on the show. It's always great to see little tidbits such as these expanding on the lore of the planet's culture.

Favorite Shots

Episode Rating: 9/10