Things are not going well for the DEO as Agent Liberty continues his mission against extraterrestrials.
Previously on SUPERGIRL…
After three episodes establishing the political tenor of what’s happening this season – and one of the best supervillain origin stories told last week – we get our first real traditional episode of the season. The political rhetoric is still there, but it’s in the background, the motivation behind the actions, and viewers aren’t being beaten over the head with it in every scene.
Instead, the DEO and its allies are pushed into action this week by Agent Liberty and the Graves siblings, who move forward with their plot to bring fear of the unknown into the hearts of the people of National City and the country. Agent Liberty seems pretty good at manipulating the message to make the DEO look bad, especially with Supergirl still out of commission thanks to the release of Kryptonite into the air. Kara spends most of the episode in the suit Lena concocted for her, disobeying her sister, Alex’s orders to sit this one out until she’s ready for action.
But of course Kara can’t do that and risks her life fighting in the suit despite it not being made to sustain battle damage. That, of course, leads to the suit powering down in the climactic battle to sustain life support capabilities and Otis and Mercy Graves – and their army of mind controlled aliens – almost getting the best of the DEO.
Thankfully, the odd couple pairing of Brainiac 5 and Lena Luthor manage to figure out how to use nanites to clear the atmosphere of the Kryptonite and allow Kara back into action to help (kind of) win the day. Of course, because Alex disobeyed orders from the new President, he sends in someone to oversee the job she’s doing, so we’ll surely be dealing with some complications there for episodes to come.
Even James Olsen decides to get in on the action, disregarding the threat of being arrested if he dons the Guardian suit again, after another heart-to-heart with his new reporter, Nia Nal. Agent Liberty even manages to twist that sacrifice around, showing Guardian attacking the mind controlled aliens, and making it seem like Olsen is working against unity with the extraterrestrials. You’d think a guy running a major media conglomerate would be more media savvy. Perry White would surely be disappointed in his former cub reporter. And Cat Grant will probably be chewing him out, too.
The most intriguing aspect of the episode to me, though, was the introduction of another new character into the mythos. While J’onn J’onzz looks into the disappearance of an alien he’s acquainted with named Fiona, he runs into her boyfriend, who identifies himself as MANCHESTER BLACK. Black is one of my favorite villains created in the 21st Century, so I’m very excited to see how he’s used on SUPERGIRL. He’s not quite evil yet, though Fiona’s death at the end of the episode seems to push him towards his quest for revenge.
Overall, a pretty average episode that does a great job of advancing the plot and pivoting the show back to its roots as an hour of superhero action.