Supergirl S3 Ep. 10 Thoughts & Easter Eggs

"Legion of Superheroes"

With such a dramatically brutal mid-season finale cliffhanger, fans have been eagerly awaiting the return of the Girl of Steel's solo series within CW's now highly expansive "Arrowverse". How does one follow up such a climactic battle (albeit not the best presented one but that's a different story) with a tragic hero defeat? You deliver an engaging story about said hero's resurrection while keeping the villainous threat alive. This is exactly where this week's Supergirl highly succeeds as an impactful and equally entertaining return to the season. Yes, there are still a couple of striking issues that I had from the previous episode that flows into this one, but it doesn't fully detract from the amazing entry that we're given here. So, let's talk about why fans of a long awaited team of superheroes will happy as well as comic book fans in general.

The Debut of Brainiac-5

Alright, let's be honest, the trailers for this episode showing off Brainiac-5 wasn't exactly the best introduction for fans to get. Without any context to his scenes, we were essentially just shown tidbits of him sitting down or standing somewhere which, as viewers, we're only focused on his appearance. This led to many including myself worried about his less than stellar presentation due to the half decent make up job given to him. Fortunately, and to my pleasant surprise, Brainiac-5's inclusion in this episode was arguably the best part of the entire viewing experience. Just by the concept alone of him being activated out of cryosleep in order to aid Kara mentally inside of her comatose state was intriguing as it played a huge part in the hero's eventual return.

It was interesting seeing Kara having to come to terms with being afraid of a new threat and accepting defeat with Reign which is only made possible through Brainiac-5's interaction scenes with her. I also really enjoyed the idea of him being able to interact with her inside of her comatose state while simultaneously speaking with the team on the outside. Unlike Reign, they've managed to make me almost completely sidestep the less than stellar presentation of the character's aesthetics due to how intriguing and entertaining it was to see him overall. Jesse Rath does a more than solid job in the role playing up the robotic yet charismatic enough and curious personality of the character.

Seeing him scan around Kara's mental loft for signs of deterioration through the furniture's condition or simply pouring tea and sitting back as Kara stubbornly fails to escape never felt like forcefully inserted levity for the character. Instead, it made for an interesting exploration of our hero's mind setting up the rules of said comatose state via a new character giving him a crucial role in the situation. If it's not obvious already, I'm already fully onboard Supergirl's rendition of Braniac-5 despite the fact that it looks as if the make up job on the actor was rushed off with every scene. It's a prime example of how a series or film having a lower budget doesn't have to lead to sci-fi or fantasy character adaptations being complete fails.

So, Let's Talk About Reign

That beginning chase scene mislead showing what appeared to be Sam pursuing her daughter was a bit cheesy, but I did like the idea of her getting somewhat triggered at the news article about Rein defeating Supergirl. If there's one thing that I will praise about the character here is that I enjoyed the way in which the news about Reign's debut presented itself as this brutal event that transpired with the city's hero. Conceptually speaking, the series has done a fantastic job at hyping up their season villain. Unfortunately, the second we see Reign geared up in her world killer attire getting ready to embark on a new mission to "cleanse" the world, I am immediately reminded of how much I despise how unremarkable she looks.

Now, I'm not here to repeat my previous rant on how embarrassingly lackluster Reign's design comes across in comparison to the incredible lore development that led to her introduction. However, I simply can't get over the fact that someone in the production room thought "Kryptonian Devil" or "World Killer" and gave us…well...that. I still feel as though I'm seeing Odette Annable in a Party City costume with the product label hanging off to the side reading "Bad Kryptonian" on it. This is an interesting situation for me as I find the effort in making her seem powerful and threatening through storytelling and other characters definitely admirable and well developed, yet her presentation never meets those expectations. Low budget or not, considering some of the characters that Supergirl has shown in the past, I'm confident that we could have seen Reign in the apocalypse bringing appearance that she deserves.

WooHoo! Let's hear it for the DEO! Anyone?

After the Legion reveals why they're not able to interfere with the whole Reign dilemma, J'onn activates the Sun Down Protocol which is essentially a contingency plan if Superman were to ever turn on humanity. First off, I love the idea that there's an actual contingency "Evil Superman" protocol, and second, it's awesome to see said protocol being used on a Kryptonian villain. This adds yet another layer to the magnificent threat development given to Reign that I mentioned before. Red sun grenades, sonic wave blasters, a chain with a Kryptonite rock at the center acting as an anchor to pin her down, and what appears to be a somewhat solid strategy to trap her all came together in a pretty badass scene. It's not often that I get to give a thumbs up for an awesome DEO moment so kudos to the show for delivering one here.

Does the plan succeed in the end? Of course it doesn't as this isn't a series that celebrates the agency's grand solo victories, but instead its star heroes so expectations can't get carried away here. However, it doesn't downgrade the excitement of seeing J'onn punch the crap out of Reign or fans getting an idea of how the DEO would have possibly planned on taking out a turned Superman. By the way, where is the man of steel anyway? You'd think he'd show up to help considering the threat level and origins of the villain. Has Kara or J'onn told him about Reign yet? This is one of those moments where a fan must simply turn off their brain towards the fact that there's literally another hero nearby who can and should be present but simply isn't for unforeseen reasons.

The Legion of Superheroes' Mission

In dropping some more future knowledge, we learn that, in 1,000 years into the future, a farming planet by the name of  Winath goes dark resulting in Ayla (or Lightning Lass to whom we haven't seen on the show yet) embarking on a mission to find the source of the problem. After discovering that the planet was completely dried out by creatures known as the Blight, Brainiac-5 finds a solution to the problem. However, the Blight was already ahead of the Legion forcing them to hide the information into their very own DNAs.

As a result, the Legion must remain alive in the present so that there DNA hidden intel can survive into the future. Sounds complicated? Sounds like a cop out reason to not have the team show off their B-level Justice League ensemble greatness to its full extent? Personally, I actually find this to be a compelling reason as it gives us, the audience, a window into Mon-El and the Legion's life mission as well as a tease into the type of situations where they find themselves caught up in. In a sense, the writers found a way to give credence to why Mon-El didn't simply jump in and help Kara with her initial fight while at the same time setting up his new and significant role in this expansive universe. For that I say "well done".

-On a slightly negative note, it is brought up that Reign does eventually leave in the future and Supergirl lives which may seem obvious to fans, but kinda puts down the threat level of the season villain doesn't it? Just a thought. Also, since when is "world killing" a crime fighting task?

Why This Episode Works

Similiar to Arrow Season 3's mid-season climactic villain confrontation taking its hero out of the picture, Supergirl dishes out its own version of the "What do we do now with our savior gone?" concept. The difference is that Arrow actually suffered a little from not having its star vigilante around kicking butt as it showed a fearfully anticipated weakness within the show's ensemble. With Supergirl however, we get to enjoy the company of already established heroes (Alex, J'onn, and the DEO) as well as new heroes (the Legion) figuring out a game plan while one of the new additions aids Kara with her internal conflict. The writers manage to show us what a crisis would look like without the protagonist being heavily involved in the action while successfully never sacrificing the entertainment value of getting to see them.

If you're a fan of the Supergirl character, you're given a fascinating story of her interacting with Brainiac-5 and finding a means to escape her psychological constraints. If you're someone who've always wanted to see the DEO get the spotlight for a change, you're given a pretty decent scene of them actually managing to at least pin down the season villain temporarily. If you've been clamoring to see the Legion of Superheroes on the show, you get to learn about their ultimate mission, an idea of what the future holds for the planet, quite a bit of Brainiac-5 screen time, and of course, seeing them in action taking on Reign. I call this a win-win situation being that the episode gives just enough to every type of fan watching.

The Legion's Grand Debut

You know. Despite my ranting, Reign actually looks menacing in this shot. Hmmm.

Also, not gonna lie, I did geek out a little seeing the Legion suit up after teasingly stating that they needed the exercise and positioning their rings together. In just that one scene, we get a feel for the Legion's personality as a functioning team and I enjoyed every second of it which can also be stated for the rest of their scenes later in the episode. Alright, now for the fun stuff. After Reign, during one of her "world cleansing" missions, decides to attack a max prison, we get to see the Legion show up in quite a grand spectacular fashion blasting Bon Jovi's "Living On A Prayer" through the ship's speakers. This is where the many episodes of patience and anticipation to see the Legion really pays off just from the site of Brainiac-5 utilizing their ship's defenses alongside Mon-El and Saturn Girl who decides to take Reign head on.

If getting to see one giant showcase of superheroes showing off their abilities was something that you felt has been lacking during Supergirl, then I'm happy to say that you get more than you bargained for here. Before the fight itself even starts, you have Brainiac-5 controlling both the ship's defenses while also attempting to multitask with Kara's comatose situation. It's a fun little tidbit seeing him try to confidently juggle fruit in her manifested loft while failing and yelling out random battle dialogue. Kara tells him that he should focus on his outside conflict instead of hers leading to him telling her about Alex's thoughts on liking Kara more than Supergirl. This of course puts things into perspective as she discovers the dust covered glasses next to her (a nice touch of visual story telling there) having to confront the idea of choosing who she wants to be again.

As for the battle taking place in the real world, you get that awesome shot of the Legion's rings glowing before Mon-El and Saturn Girl hovers in front of the ship to confront Reign. It's a pretty cool fight scene despite my struggle to get over how cheaply put together and unimaginative Reign's design comes across. Whops, slipped up again in repeating my previous Reign rant. On a much more positive note, I have to give a huge thumbs up towards the visual FX here showing not only the incredibly presented Legion ship as it emerged out of the ocean flying towards the prison, but also the several different superpowers on display here. You have Saturn Girl using her telekinesis to hurdle the prison yard's exercising equipment towards Reign (which already sold the entire scene for me).

As Reign uses her heat vision to blast away each barbell right before using her ice breath to freeze Mon-El, Saturn Girl uses her power to encase Mon-El in a protective psychic barrier, which again, looks pretty damn amazing. Then, just when the geek out meter started to spike, J'onn J'onzz appears out of nowhere, grabs Reign with a badass line about putting her back into the hole that she came from and uses his phasing ability to force her underground. This leads to them having some unseen battle causing the ground in the prison courtyard to erupt in several energy bursts. Again, I cannot emphasize enough on how awesome it is to see such an excellently displayed variety of superpowers in one action scene.

This leads to Kara using the discovered key after finding her identity to unlock the metaphorical door to her revival giving fans that epic moment of seeing their hero return just in time. It's a cool scene seeing her use Kryptonite to weaken Reign by injecting both herself beforehand so that any physical contact would slowly wither her strength away then injecting it directly into Reign's bloodstream. I'm always intrigued with the way Kryptonite is used in this series sometimes. It's either this essential tool to defeat the season villain or the center of a conversation about why it shouldn't be accessible to begin with. Either way, it was great having the team reunite in the end with a new expansion to the roster.

The Reunion

Though I've had my issues with Mon-El in the past (primarily Season 2), I actually enjoyed the scene where he talks to Kara about still caring about her despite their predicament and the fact that he misses fighting besides her. This could have easily been an overly dramatic downer on the episode, but thankfully, the writers were smart enough to see it for the touching moment that it should be between complicated friends. We also get a fun interaction between Kara and Brainiac-5 now that she's seen him in the real world commenting on how surprisingly short he is. Already, I'm loving the dynamic that the Legion brings to the team as it never feels as though the DEO is now becoming overcrowded with heroes (as other shows in the Arrowverse has suffered from in the past).

Speaking of things getting back together, I forgot how much I actually miss one of the traditional episode ending types for Supergirl showing Kara and someone (sometimes the whole team as a family) having some sense of a happy ending while something dark and ominous brews behind the scenes. It's nice getting to see both Alex and Kara have their sisterly discussions about relationships and coming to terms with the many situations being tossed their way. Now, would this have been the perfect time for Alex to reference Maggie or perhaps some Crisis on Earth-X tidbits to fully tie back to the crossover? They fought nazis from another Earth as well as Kara's doppelgänger who so happened to be Earth-X's version of the Führer's wife. You'd think it would be brought up in conversations, but hey, beggars can't be choosers right?

Where things get really interesting is where we transition to Reign recovering from the Kryptonite injection followed by her master telling her that there are others who can aid in their mission. Is this our first big tease for the season to introduce other world killers from the comics? Why is Coville now aligned with Reign? Will he be playing both sides? There are several things to get intrigued by or excited about which makes this a successful cliffhanger in my book.

Overall Thoughts

With so many potential things that could have went downhill such as Brainiac 5 coming off as a terribly presented new character, the Legion of Superheroes feeling completely wasted, or Supergirl's absence to the action being a major disadvantage to the episode, this week's entry surprisingly ended up being pretty engaging overall. The interaction between Brainiac 5 and Kara made for some intriguing character interactions, the Legion themselves delivered on why they're considered to be a legitimate superhero team in the future, and Supergirl's return didn't feel rushed for the sake of the show. With possible world killers appearing on the horizon, I can't wait to see what's in store for the girl of steel and the Legion of Superheroes as they face an even more dangerous threat. Now...about that costume change for Reign.

 Bonus Thoughts

Easter Eggs

1. Earth's Future Extinction Event

We learn through the Legion that, in the Year 2455, Earth undergoes a third degree extinction level event. Although humanity eventually comes together, Earth suffers the loss of its history and culture. Mon-El is the one who resurrects the planet's history through all of the knowledge that he held with him. Now, the fact that its history and culture that's being emphasized on here, I couldn't help but think of Brainiac who specifically collects knowledge in his planetary exterminations.

2. J'onn's Hilarious Use In Kara's Life

"The Indignity"

With Kara being missing in action just as Supergirl is, I admire the fact that the writers decided to address this, and as a bonus, in a comedic way. Having J'onn be forced to disguise himself as Kara in order to speak with Lena about relationship stuff was hilarious. Melissa Benoist does a fantastic job at playing up J'onn's stoic demeanor while awkwardly having to discuss human situations. It's absolutely hilarious to see, and if I'm being honest, I'd love to see a lot more scenes like these in the future.

3. FX's Legion Inspired Scene?

During the scene where Kara attempts to blast her way out of the loft via heat vision, I kept thinking to myself "This sure looks familiar" as you see the objects in the environment tossed around the room in a slow-mo rotating shot. I immediately referenced the iconic shot from the FX X-Men series Legion where the main character, David, has a psychic breakdown in a kitchen causing a telekinetic explosion with a similiar effect. Considering the fact that Legion deals with reality bending, one has to wonder if this was an homage.

Favorite Shots

Episode Rating: 9/10