Supergirl S3 Ep. 11 Thoughts

"Fort Rozz"

This week's episode of Supergirl, conceptually speaking, may just be one of my favorites of the series. Here we have ourselves a makeshift suicide squad-like story where we follow Supergirl alongside a questionable group of super powered characters embarking on a life threatening mission. With Reign still on the loose, I was happy to see Fort Rozz being heavily utilized again as the team must venture through the aimlessly floating prison in order to gain intel about the world killer from a priestess. Now that's an engaging sounding premise if I've ever heard one. Although, like any other form of visual art, the execution may not always live up to the idea. With that in mind, let's quickly dive into whether or not this week's Supergirl was a success in the end.

The concept of Supergirl having to desperately team up with previous villains of the week as well as Saturn Girl in order to form a female led suicide squad is pretty awesome. However, although I loved the idea of Saturn Girl getting brought into the spotlight more and Psi returning to the show (one of the better villains of the week), it's Livewire that made the whole pitch seem potentially cringeworthy. This of course is due to how much the character immediately takes me back to the ultra cheesy stain found during the worst parts of Season 1 via the over the top nature of the character. Thankfully, whether this was a directional choice or one from the actress herself, Livewire is slightly toned down here never becoming a major distraction. Because of this, as a viewer, I'm able to enjoy the thrilling elements of the mission on its own.

Speaking of thrilling elements, there are several interesting things taking place during the Fort Rozz segments of the episode. You have Supergirl losing access to her powers due to the prison orbiting a Blue Star, the prison itself inhabiting dangerous criminals with vendettas against the House of El, the Legion's ship being trapped in a gravitational pull towards a supernova, Reign eventually popping up unannounced, and of course the possible threats within the squad itself. In essence, you have a constant trail of obstacles for the characters to overcome which makes it all the more entertaining to watch.

Livewire's Redemption

Aside from a horrendous wig and outfit introducing the character in the episode, Livewire was a pleasant surprise which is great coming from someone who never quite cared for the character. I was actually expecting her to have a negative effect on the entire episode, but as I've stated with last week's Arrow, I'm happy to be eating a giant bowl of my own words. Surprisingly, Livewire actually has a couple of standout scenes here. There's a great moment where Supergirl reveals that their mission is to gain intel in order to reach out to Reign's humanity as opposed to killing her. With Livewire hating the idea thinking that Reign simply cannot change, the two have a confrontation where Supergirl tells Leslie that she won't shock her as proof of said change. It's one of the rare instances to where the Livewire character works for me as it shows a criminal with a small shot of redemption as opposed to just another overacting Season 1 villain.

There's also the moment where the two get separated on their mission to find the priestess inside of a ominous fog housing demonic looking hooded creatures. It is here where we get to see the one thing that I've always liked about the character which is her use of electricity powers. As the creatures attack her, she manages to blast them out of the ship along with herself which causes them to float towards the supernova only she's able to teleport back onboard. The editing is a bit shaky here with the transition between her getting attacked and floating in space, but it was cool seeing her teleporting back on through an electrical current. What I also enjoyed is the fact that, after getting back to the ship, she immediately calls out to Supergirl in concern again showing that little glimmer of humanity which comes into full effect later in the episode.

The Battle Against Reign

Speaking of reaching out to a villain's humanity, in one of my favorite hero-villain scenes of the Arrowverse, Supergirl attempts to talk Reign into stop being enemies as they share the same goal. What makes this confrontation so profound for me is the fact that we're watching our central hero actually trying to have a conversation with the season villain about stopping their wave of terror, seeing the error of their ways, and understanding that they can still continue their mission without the bloodshed. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think we've ever seen such a direction taken towards a show's season villain before in this universe. It reminds me just why I value this series just as much as the others as you have a hero who is genuinely willing and struggling to take the time to talk things out instead of engaging in a desperate fight to the death when everything seems questionably hopeless.

Of course, things don't always go according to plan which Livewire turns up just in time to have her own battle with the Kryptonian devil. It's a pretty solid fight scene showing Livewire's powers in full display as she teleports around the room avoiding Reign's heat vision while blasting waves of electricity at her. Eventually, Reign gets the upper hand in the battle and hits her directly with her heat vision after she throws herself in front of Supergirl leading to her death. Now, I know, as someone who has criticized the character in the past, you're probably thinking that I've easily skipped over her death. Well...you'd be somewhat right. It's cool to see her get redeemed in the end by saving Supergirl's life, but unfortunately, I was honestly more compelled with what was taking place around her.

Out of desperation to save Kara while also managing the ship's function, Saturn Girl releases Psi's power dampener allowing her to utilize her fear inducing abilities against Reign. Once Psi shows up and attacks Reign, we get to witness the first sign of fear in Reign while getting an inside look at what she fears most via Sam's fear of losing Ruby. Much like Livewire being somewhat redeemed for myself personally despite the character's poor visual presentation, Reign is given a similiar moment here where her humanity shines for a brief moment. There's a strong sense of both panic and confusion when she turns around calling to Supergirl before flying off. The gears are now beginning to turn for the Sam/Reign character to have a full on conflict with each other which is fascinating to me.

Looking To The Future

Going back to the DEO and completely skipping over what might've been an engaging sequence with them nearly escaping a dying star, we get a nice exchange between Supergirl and Psi. Sealing the deal on the makeshift suicide squad concept, after Psi gives her condolences to Leslie, Supergirl tells the guards to give her a better room with a view resulting in both of them smiling. Is this alluding to a possible future partnership with the two? Perhaps adding in more villains from the past for future missions? The potential for incredible super power team ups in the future are now endless making the battle against the world killers even more interesting.

Adding more heat to the idea is the follow up scene where Sam shows up to pick up Ruby realizing that she's lost time yet again. Only this time, she brings it up to Alex which honestly got me a little excited at what might've happened before the scene transitioned. It is possible that Sam can be checked out by the DEO through Alex as opposed to a regular doctor (government connections and all) revealing her world dominating persona. I'm really curious to see how this situation gets handled later on in the season and maybe...just maybe...Reign gets a better costume at the end of all of this. Just putting it out there.

After reuniting with Saturn Girl and Kara, Mon-El talks to Kara about how she was able to get through to Livewire before she died. It's a nice scene that cuts through the whole awkward ex-boyfriend drama showing a much more mature side to the series. I also admire the fact that they took the time to reference the now discovered world killers intel showing that the mission to Fort Rozz wasn't a complete waste. This accompanied by the cliffhanger scene showing a world killer being activated through a lady surviving a car crash teases the remaining conflict of the season. Now, this random lady who so happen to be thrown into a car crash in order to show off her super resilience and eye flashing indicators didn't do anything for me. It felt like a forced in display of super powers to introduce us to one of the world killers, but hey, it's just a small tease.

Overall Thoughts

What I really loved about this episode is the fact that fans get to see how useful these weekly villains can be when placed into a heroic position. It's something that is rarely shown on the other Arrowverse entries, and considering how powerful Supergirl's season villains are, I'd love to see this idea interwoven more. Alongside a solid action scene, we got to see different levels of redemption from previous villains, an interesting change in setting and story direction, and a major tease regarding Reign and the world killers. Overall, I'd say this was a successfully entertaining episode introducing audiences to new things to look forward to for both the season and series itself.

Bonus Thoughts

Easter Eggs

1. Jindah Kol Rozz

Tying back to Coville, we finally learn about the mysterious priestess onboard Fort Rozz who held information about Reign. Jindah Kol Rozz, which the prison was named after, has been imprisoned on Fort Rozz before Krypton's destruction. In order to protect her mission, Reign kills her which is unfortunate as she could have added an intriguing new layer to the series given her intel.

2. Brainiac-5's Place On A Primitive World

While Supergirl and her team of unlikely heroes fights the good fight in space, Brainiac teams up with the DEO in order to assist from a distance. This is the first time we get to see Brainiac-5's conflict of struggling with present day Earth's technology making him somewhat helpless. This creates a little heat between him and Wynn who has been the show's "tech guy" as he potentially feels inferior despite his high intellect.

3. Reign's Questionable Power Limits

Something that we've been seeing frequently now is Reign's surprising resilience to several elements. In last week's episode, we see her manage to break free from the presence of Kryptonite, and in this episode, she reveals to not be so reliant on the sun for power as Kara while also withstanding Livewire's powers. However, she is fully affected by Psi's fear projection which can come into play later on in the season.

4. Alex & Ruby's Adventures

Perhaps the weaker link of the episode as it took away valuable screen time away from the entertainment highlight that is the prison infiltration female led suicide squad segment. However, I did enjoy seeing the "cool mom" dynamic between Alex and Ruby almost foreshadowing a future tragedy regarding Sam and perhaps surprise reunion with Maggie now that a child is in the mix.

5. Fort Rozz's Inmates

Once onboard Fort Rozz, I was hoping for an intense infiltration mission direction where the team would encounter several supernatural inmates, but alas we were only given one. Not entirely sure if they mentioned her by name, but I did like the fact that the series reminded us that the House of El family crest is essentially a death wish symbol. There are many eagerly waiting to get revenge on the family, but was that put to an end with the prison's unseen destruction?

6. Reign's Ship

Once given her mission to board Fort Rozz in order to stop Supergirl from getting intel, we get a brief shot of her ship. It's nice to see them bring the ship back into play as it reminds viewers that Reign does possess the technological means to travel far out into space if necessary. Perhaps to reach other world killers in the cosmos? The world killers are stemmed from different alien species, so let's hope that the series explores this concept.

7. Super Powered Pair-Ups

With Saturn Girl and Psi being left to tend to the ship, the two never got to do much of anything together power-wise. However, I couldn't help but think on the endless possibilities surrounding these two psychically powerful characters. Imagine the damage that they could inflict on the many villains of the week that Supergirl might struggle with. Take that then consider the many other villain-hero team ups that we could potentially see.

8. Cool Sci-Fi Imagery

This week's episode of Supergirl isn't without its heavy science-fiction elements. If it's one thing that this series never fails to impress me on is its visual flare of cosmic imagery. Here we see several shots of space vessels, a blue colored supernova in effect, and creepy hooded demonic/alien-like creatures.

9. The World Killers' Alternate Arrival

My comic book/sci-fi loving mind imagined a moment where Sam fearfully senses the presence of the world killers arriving when talking to Alex. She panically walks over to the window and looks up at the sky. Cut to then a spectacular shot of uniquely designed spaceships emerging through the clouds of a moon lit sky. My hopes are that the lady that we saw at the end of this episode isn't an indicator that the world killers are all human guised sleeper agents.

Episode Rating: 8/10