Supergirl Review by John Keegan

Supergirl 2.08: Medusa

Supergirl 2.08: Medusa

Written By:
Jessica Queller and Derek Simon
Directed By:
Stefan Pleszczynski

It's really sort of pointless for me to keep mentioning that Supergirl has to hammer out its themes for each episode in such obvious ways. This is, after all, a superhero show that has to be earnest, has to leave its heart on its sleeve in a metaphorical way. Unlike all of the other superheroes in the DC TV Universe, Kara Danvers is largely unencumbered by any sort of past traumas (though, more on that in a second) that drive the others to do what they do. As a result, she's a beacon of light and goodness who doesn't wallow in darkness and gloom. The show has already established that point through the run of almost thirty episodes so they should feel free to move on to other things, or perhaps expanding on that central theme.   

 


 

Of course, it's hard to escape a theme like the bonds of family when this episode opens on Thanksgiving dinner at Kara's apartment, a quintessential time for family gatherings. Like the Thanksgiving episode from last season, "Medusa" is used to show how much Kara's family has changed over the past year. She's no longer romantically pursuing James, which serves to also magnify her growing relationship with Mon-El, who obviously still harbors a crush on Kara despite whatever protestations he musters to anyone who notices (including Kara herself). The show used to blow through plot at warp speed, so I wouldn't have been surprised if someone amongst James, Winn, or Alex revealed the big secret that James has been moonlighting as the Guardian. Alas, it seems the show is either learning from that past mistake, or intentionally saving that revelation for after the winter hiatus.

 

Nevertheless, the Thanksgiving dinner allows for Eliza to have a much larger role in the episode than is normally allowed for her character. Lilian Luthor unleashes the (modified) Medusa virus on the patrons of the alien bar, the effects of which have the DEO stumped. Eliza is conveniently an astrobiologist, allowing her to diagnose exactly what the problem is, cure both Mon-El of the sickness from his contracting the Medusa virus and J'onn of his White Martian transformation affliction, and she also figures out how Lilian Luthor plans to weaponize the virus. She also gets to be an amazing mother in understanding Alex's coming out as a lesbian and even casually calling Supergirl a term of endearment whilst working in the DEO.  

 


 

All around, Eliza is the MVP of the episode. She needs to be so because Kara finds out some rather extreme revelations about her parents here. She visits the Fortress of Solitude in order to gather more information about the Medusa virus, only to have the projection of her father Zor-El reveal to her that he created the virus as a brutally effective protective measure for Krypton (it only affects non-Kryptonians, though I would assume that Lilian made some modifications to the virus in order for it to not affect humans. If not, that is a rather large and lingering plot hole throughout the episode).

 

So, to recap, Kara's mother Alura tried to save Krypton by enacting several measures to save Krypton from ecological disaster, in rather futile fashion. Now, her father so hates everyone who isn't Kryptonian that he engineered a virus to kill anyone who isn't one. But Kara has spent more than enough time on Earth, among humans. Her human family, Alex and Eliza and (to a small extent) Jeremiah are all that she knows now. Well, aside from her superpowered cousin. They have more of an influence on her than her biological parents did, and it shows in her actions, trying to save all inhabitants of Earth, not just aliens. 

 


 

It's a rather pointed way to fit into the season-long running theme of a struggle between accepting all races and basically exploiting human xenophobia to rain down hatred on any and all aliens. That conflict is given a direct personification in the form of Lilian Luthor going against (adopted) daughter Lena. They have a mother-daughter relationship that isn't exactly unfamiliar. Lilian clearly has favored Lex, and was stuck with Lena once Superman imprisoned Lex for his crimes. Lena, of course, discovers that her mother is the head of Cadmus and ultimately responsible for the unleashing of the Medusa virus (even though Cyborg Superman deployed it in the alien bar) and has to struggle with this new revelation.

 

That struggle is put in the usual black-and-white manner, as she either falls in line with her mother and turns evil, or she stays with the side of the good. It's hidden well for the most part, until she ultimately chooses to stay on the side of the angels and betrays her mother. The choice doesn't quite land as well as the show thinks it should, as Lena basically just tells her mother off and then walks away, but it's nice to know that the show can buck convention once in a while. If it could just somehow tone down the heavy-handed nature of delivering its themes, then the show could turn out to be something great, instead of just playing along with what the network wants it to be.



Our Grade:
B
The Good:
  • Eliza gets a much bigger role in this episode than she ever has before
  • The show is doing better about slowing down plot revelations
The Bad:
  • The concept of the virus doesn’t seem all that well thought-out
  • The moral themes are still being delivered with an utter lack of subtlety

John Keegan aka "criticalmyth", is one of the hosts of the "Critical Myth" podcast heard here on VOG Network's radio feed Monday, Wednesday & Friday. You can follow him on twitter at @criticalmyth

Supergirl by - 11/29/2016 7:55 AM269 views

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Danger Mouse
Danger Mouse
11/29/2016 11:18 AM

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That's all right and good, John, but as the lead-in to the big Crossover event they were championing, it was not a good episode. Not me, but anybody who was tuning in specifically to watch a superhero team-up had to wait until the last minute or so, and even that was pretty disappointing.
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