By Divya Soni
Supergirl has flown back to UK
screens this year after a short break last December, throwing us straight into
the aftermath of the Reign/Supergirl showdown.
Episode 10 of season 3: “Legion
Of Super-Heroes” starts with the introduction of a new (blue) face - half-computer,
half-organic-life-form Brainiac-5 - who informs Kara she’s in
a coma after her battle with new super-villain Reign.
The episode teases the uncertainty of Kara’s return to
consciousness but let’s be real, in a show titled “Supergirl” it’s doubtful anyone truly fears Supergirl would be
killed off.
The majority of the episode flicks between the outside world, in
which Kara’s still comatose, and scenes of her and Brainiac-5 trying to break
out of her loft, which is a physical manifestation of where her subconscious is
“most comfortable”. In other words,
she’s trapped in her own mind.
Instead of focusing on Kara’s recovery throughout so much of the
episode, despite the audience pretty much knowing she’ll eventually be fine, the writers could’ve
used that time to focus on other characters. Reign, for example, we know to be
Kara’s new friend, single mother Sam, who seems as unaware of her own alter ego
as everyone else is. Despite being this season’s lead villain, we still don’t
know much about her - she speaks mostly of justice and penance and lets her
fists do the talking. Hopefully someone realises her true identity in the
coming episodes or it’ll make for a very slow storyline.
Unlike slightly darker DC show Arrow, Supergirl has
always been quite lighthearted. It would’ve been nice to see more humour in
this episode, but with lots of action and the possibility of Kara’s death
looming over the characters’ (but not the audience’s) heads, the writers are
forgiven for not throwing in as much comedy as usual.
Ever the feminist show, Supergirl continues to put strong female characters at
the forefront. While Kara herself is out of action until the very end, the
show isn’t lacking powerful women. Alex, Kara’s adoptive human sister, and the
DEO agents try their hardest to fight Reign while Supergirl is unavailable. Despite seeing the damage Reign did to her physically much
stronger Kryptonian sister, Alex still faces this super-villain head-on, even
managing to momentarily restrain her.
Overall, despite being action-packed, the lack of both a
conscious Supergirl and comedic scenes made for a slightly dull episode in
comparison to the show’s usual high standard. It still preached girl-power,
humanity and love, but lacked a certain je ne sais quoi with regard to
storyline. A new character (Brainiac-5) kept things interesting and light, and
as with every episode, the ending, which revealed the existence of more people
like Reign, filled us with intrigue and impatience for the next installment.
Supergirl airs at 8pm on
Sky1 every Monday.
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