Previously on Supergirl, Kara was learning how to be single and happy even though she rocketed someone into space to meet an unknown fate, Sam starting to notice something strange happening to her body, and Lena went missing so I put out a BOLO.
We open this week with a submarine finding the alien spaceship that got jostled by Byron Montgomery’s bomb a few weeks ago. The spaceship shoots the submarine with a bright light and it’s Very Mysterious.
Meanwhile in Very Mysterious goings-on, Sam is making dinner for Ruby and eyes the boiling water and decides to discreetly put her ENTIRE HAND IN IT. A) Ruby is standing RIGHT THERE B) probably that test would have worked just as well if you just stuck a pinky in there. But you do you, Sam.
“How does it go? If your ring finger is longer than your index…”
Sam decides she can’t deny this change anymore and ditches Ruby to get some answers. She hugs Ruby and promise she’ll explain everything when she gets back… :sad trumpet noise: (Side note, they do this thing where Sam makes Ruby feel her pulse and says that Ruby IS her pulse, so I’m sure that’ll come back around someday.)
Back at the DEO, Supergirl comes for the daily report and Winn tells her about the whole submarine thing.
Yes, this is a gratuitous shot of Supergirl in uniform, don’t @ me.
Apparently the spaceship has been under this particular rock for 12,000 years and is made of a mystery metal not of this Earth.
Winn leads Kara and J’onn to the place in National City over where the spaceship is currently and in a very cute moment, Kara gets ready to wind up and become a humanoid drill but J’onn stops her, much to her (and my and Winn’s) chagrin.
“But SpaceDaaaad! I wanted to do the Tasmanian Devil!”
Instead J’onn zip-a-dee-doo-dahs them down to the spaceship using his Martian powers. Someone comes out guns blazing and speaking Saturnian and after some eye-ball glowing and yelling, a figure appears.
Doesn’t look like anything to me.
I was going to try to write this whole recap without actually mentioning or talking about him but unfortunately Kara’s whole arc this episode is inextricably tied to him which is exactly why I ever disliked him in the first place.
So they take him back to the med bay at the DEO, and Alex comes in and speaks with the voice of the fandom and asks how he’s breathing.
I TEST THE AIR EVERY DAY TO MAKE SURE IT’S STILL INHABITABLE TO DAXAMITES
They have a lot of questions but Sir Tapioca is still a little out of it from coming out of hypersleep so Kara kicks everyone else and tells him to relax.
Sam’s adventure this episode takes her home to see her mother who she hasn’t seen in as many years as Ruby is old. Sam got pregnant as a teengaer, and her mother kicked her out because of it. Sam explains that strange things are happening to her and asks about her birth mother. Mama decides now is the time to tell Sam the truth about who she is, and leads her out into the barn.
Oh, also her mother is Grandma Marin.
“I didn’t survive the Liars and their hijinks to get yelled at Jennifer Love Hewitt style.”
In this otherwise-empty barn, there is a pod under a tarp that apparently nobody has ever noticed before. Sam’s mother explains that technically she wasn’t adopted so much as found in this pod. She was going to tell Sam when she turned 18 that she was flung from space, but she was long gone by then. Sam touches the pod and it lights up and opens and presents her with a crystal of her own, and Sam is confronted with the realization that she had been suspecting for a while now: She is an alien.
All of the jokes I came up with for this caption were NSFW.
Meanwhile, Kara is lurking outside the med bay and James pops in to remind us he still knows where the DEO is, even though he’s been confined to CatCo as of late. He promises Kara things he has no business promising her, such as the motivations of an unconscious alien who has been gone for a long time and having Rao knows what kind of life-changing experiences.
Also in this episode is a side story about J’onn trying to figure out his relationship with his father he thought was long gone, and how he fits into his life. Winn encourages J’onn to take Space Granddad outside for a bit, and Alex won’t let him use work as an excuse, because we all know she can handle things in his absence.
And in his presence, tbh.
Things are awkward but eventually J’onn gets his dad a new apartment and he vows to work on forging their relationship and helping his dad carve out his own space in this world.
In the DEO med bay, as soon as his nurse is gone, the interloper sneaks off into a storage room and tries to steal something but ends up getting knocked down with a really cathartic punch by Supergirl.
Give him a HA and a hi-YA!
He’s taken to a holding cell and Kara asks him what the heck is going on. He’s been quiet and distant and weird and now he’s trying to steal shit. She begs him to explain, gives him outs – is it the hypersleep? Is it not really him? He remains silent so she goes on, trying to fight back tears as she explains that she doesn’t sleep anymore because she just remembers shooting him into the unknowable abyss over and over and over. And that when she saw him again, alive, right in front of her, she remembered what hoping felt like.
He just sits there and listens and doesn’t move from his space sitting against the wall even though I was watching with Heather and both of us kept inching closer to the screen, the urge to reach out and comfort Kara in her pain overwhelming us.
STOP MAKING KARA CRY 2K17
The only thing the prisoner utters is a weak, “I’m sorry.”
Winn is next up to visit the prisoner, and all of a sudden he remembers how to talk. He convinces Winn to help him get the part he was trying to steal and go back to the spaceship, and when Kara realizes what happened, she. is. PISSED.
You won’t like her when she’s angry. (Just kidding. You’ll love her.)
Kara goes to the spaceship and the boys claim to be acting in her best interest but Kara has learned a few things since last season after all, and tells them both they’re not the boss of her.
And don’t you forget it!
Kara is ready to march them both back to the DEO but first she wants to know what the heck is going on; why would someone be acting so weird if he was only gone for seven months? (Why Kara doesn’t consider he was in an untold hell dimension I’ll never know, but that is neither here nor there.) Captain Breadbeard says that it hasn’t been only seven months for him…it’s been seven years.
So here’s the thing. My misandry has been evolving over the past few years, and exponentially over the past year. And we’re now at the point where if a man I don’t care about is talking, all I hear is a soft buzzing sound. So I THINK this is what happened but I honestly can’t be sure and I really, really don’t want to have to watch his face say words again to find out: after leaving Earth, his pod hit a wormhole and he was rocketed to a very distant future. In 300 years, L Corp will have created a cure for the lead-laden air (proof Lena isn’t in charge), which is why he can breathe the air now. Also, presumably, at some point, he was put into hypersleep on a spaceship with a half-dozen others and sent back 24,000 years in time? Which is when they got stuck where the spaceship was eventually found? Just coincidentally a few months after he left? Honestly I can’t be sure, but he’s lived seven years in our seven months. (Which is also how this year felt for a lot of us, frankly.)
Kara is confused and thinks he forgot about her or hates her for banishing him or something but then she realizes he’s still wearing her necklace.
THIS is why I don’t like this man. Because when he’s around Kara makes faces that BREAK MY HEART.
But he still won’t answer her questions and he’s still acting tortured and it’s still really annoying. (At this point, Heather rolled her eyes and said that Rory waited for Amy Pond for 1,894 years.)
Just then, the spaceship starts to beep and whir and one of the hypersleep chambers starts to drown its inhabitant, so the Daxamite tries to break the glass but can’t. Despite being frustrated by this whole situation, Supergirl doesn’t hesitate to save what ends up being a very beautiful girl from the chamber.
They take the girl back to the DEO and try to stabilizer. We find out her name is Imra, and she’s from Titan (the largest moon of Saturn).
Everything is timey wimey, wibbly wobbly, and Kara is all twisted up and doesn’t know how to feel and Alex is worried about her baby girl.
‘Cause getting your dreams, is – strange, but it seems – a little, well, complicated.
And THEN Señor Secrets DARES go out on OUR FEELINGS BALCONY and promise Kara that while he thought they were over, that he’d never see her again, he’d never forget her. She tells him that the “truth never hurts as much as secrets” which I love because it’s so, so true. They joke a bit about Kara’s ability tuck away an alarming amount of ribs at once and it’s nice to see our girl smile again, even though it’s still tinged in sadness.
And it almost feels like *I* can hope again.
There’s one more truth to be revealed, but before he can do it himself, Imra comes outside and all but does it for him.
Which is fine, I already like Imra Ardeen because a) it turns out she’s his wife! and b) I mean, I have eyes.
Are you the answer to our prayers, Saturn Girl?
Also Imra’s husband straight-away outs Kara as Supergirl, and Imra responds, “I can’t believe it’s really you,” which could mean a few things: he talks about her a lot, or she’s a legend, even hundreds of years in the future.
I name this portrait, “The Weight of a Smile.”
Out in the desert, Sam follows her glowy crystal to a very specific patch and up from the ground comes a henge of stone, spiky and huge. She enters the cave of wonders, and it’s all dark and glowing red and not exactly the Good Guy-est lair to ever exist. (“These people need to read more comic books.” – Heather)
A hologram appears, and Sam recognizes the figure as the woman who attacked her with symbols that one time. Sam finds out she’s Kryptonian, and compares herself to Supergirl, but the hologram says she’s so much more. She is a being designed to execute justice, which sounds pretty badass, except Sam isn’t going to get to be the hero she wants to be. The woman calls her “Worldkiller” and Sam shouts I’M NOT A WORLDKILLER. I’M A GOOD PERSON. Which is also what I’m going to shout…just at random.
I think this is what the kids are calling “big mood.”
Sam doesn’t want to be a villain, she has a life, she has a daughter. But Ruby was a flaw in the plan that will soon be forgotten, and is the reason it took so long for them to activate this sleeper alien. It’s still unclear why/how they managed to delay her being affected by the yellow sun until now but that is neither here nor there because understand it, like it, or not, it’s time for Sam to “emerge.”
And emerge she does, her eyes glowing red, declaring herself awoken.
Long may she Reign.
And honestly, as whackadoodle as it was that she shoved her hand into a pot of water and THAT convinced her she was an alien, that her mother had a pod in an empty barn she never noticed before, and that her Kryptonian powers came in like this, I’m glad she was turned into Reign by an outside source. They’ve been teasing Reign as a bad guy for months, and based on what we’ve seen of Sam so far, short of Ruby dying at Supergirl’s hands, I couldn’t see how they could possibly make this character a viable villain. But now there’s something to fight, and someone to fight for, and watching Kara and Team Supergirl try to defeat Reign without hurting Sam could be an interesting journey.
Next week will be the four-show crossover, and I’ll be recapping them ALL because this year, Alex is going along for the ride!
“Give him a HA and a hi-YA!”
I’m pretty sure I know who said that.
Oh! Yes, her, too. But I was picturing Bartok in my head but I always support a Miss Piggy kicking ass photo.
1.’he talks about her a lot, or she’s a legend’ BOTH PROBABLY. Also if Kara Danvers actual superhero brought me flowers one time I wouldn’t shut up about it for 700 years either probably.
Guessing the courtship went something like:
Mon-El:’She ate SO MANY DONUTS this one time after rescuing these orphans and like it was so amazing -‘
Imra: ‘I know, babe. I know. You’ve told me 17 times.’
2. Sam/Reign’s timeline is so egregiously bonkers it is hard to look past it. It was jarring to me to the point of pulling me out of the episode. The heck.
3. It’s time to maybe bring this up again but… This show has a million women and like… why are they all white. I think about it every time a new white lady is introduced, but like come on show. Get it together. You have an army of white ladies. Diversify!
4. This week Mon-El was stuck in my least favorite plot device of all time which is pointless silence for the sake of suspense. Just say what you need to say UGH. Boring. Lazy writing.
5. But I do hope they can all be buds now! And while the time jump was (unnecessarily! WHY WRITERS WHY!) complicated and bonkers they can at least wipe the slate clean rearding a lot of Mon-El’s…. less charming personality traits. A retcon I support if ever I supported one.
6. I am excited for the crossover!
Om my god Eva, you can’t just ask somebody why they’re white.
True tho.
Genuinely would support retconning if it was to make him less annoying and make him and Kara just friends.
Odette Annable, who plays Sam, is Latina. Her mom is Cuban and her dad is Columbian; Spanish is her first language. Pale, yes, but actual Latina (unlike the actress playing Maggie).
True about Odette. I had forgotten; and she is a very good actress too. I am sad that she is here only for this season.
I hated so much of this episode, but it’s nice to see that Heather and I have similar thought processes!
While she thought about ROry and Amy, my mind immediately went I Luke keeping Lorelai’s horoscope for eight years. Suck it, Mon-El.
And when Sam came to the giant sandcastle of evil, I immediately screamed at her “that place is evil! Haven’t you ever see a movie before!?”
Ugh. It says nothing good about a show if the best episode is a crossover, but honestly, that’s the only thing I’m looking forward to about Supergirl right now.
A Westworld caption joke? I didn’t think those existed outside Reddit! Thank you
“My misandry has been evolving over the past few years, and exponentially over the past year.”
Isn’t “misandry” defined as the contempt for men?
Yes but it’s been rendered into a joke because shrieking idiots would throw it at women protesting for things like equal pay and other feminist concerns so they adopted it sarcastically.
Getting a job in “male field” MISANDRY
But also on some level it’s not sarcasm because what passes for a man (mature human male) in this society can be something rather awful and not mature in the slightest.
You don’t have a very high opinion of men. Why is that?
Dude (if I may assume).
This is a website specifically for and about women who either aren’t attracted to men, or at least have other options. Therefore, the target audience has very little incentive to put up with our bullshit, and more-than-average reason to resent it.
So, if you’re honestly trying to broaden your mind here, I recommend more reading, less making waves.
Like, have you even watched the news lately?
No I just have a “high opinion” on what a man should be vs entitled over grown children who can’t keep their hands and various bit to themselves.
Blame my father he behaves like a man not a mannerless child.
He doesn’t even go here
Yup! That’s what I was saying, that I have an increasing contempt for men.
As you should! I don’t know about you but I’m ready for Themyscira
So ready.
Hear, hear!
“And we’re now at the point where if a man I don’t care about is talking, all I hear is a soft buzzing sound” — hard same! I don’t watch Supergirl but these recaps are gold.
Well. I do like this recap a lot. And, please I mean no offense, but I was surprised to find it. (I thought you would stop because Sanvers is no longer there). And very happy. I mean, I don’t always agree with you Valerie Anne, but I always appreciate your recaps. They are written so well; and I like it that someone likes Kara and Supergirl so much. And anyways, I do appreciate you as a person.. So there is that. (And Heather too).
And… Heather’s comments were fun. :)
I still don’t understand how Mon El managed to hold his tongue and keep his peace after seeing Kara in pain. Even if it is seven years later, how can you do that to Kara?
But, I am glad he is married. I hope he phases out of Kara’s romance and becomes friend and supporting cast. and then, goes back to the 31st century at the end of the season.
(People online has been reminding me of Alias, and Grey’s Anatomy; I hope whatever Alias did–I didn’t see it, doesn’t happen here).
By the way,
Amy Jackson is a south Indian actress, but still white. However, Brianiac 5 is POC (I think). I guess, they have more men POC than women?
My peeve about Imra is that if they’re keeping her white, why not also keep her blond? The WB has de-blonded-but-kept-white all of it’s originally-blond superheroes. (Kara doesn’t count because she started on CBS.)
P.S. Brainiac 5 is also originally blond (and green-skinned); even if they keep the skin (perhaps often hiding it with a hologram), I doubt they’ll keep the hair.
Alex is still gay without Maggie! And she’s the second most important person on this show! Of course we’re still recapping! :)
:) Ha! Thank you!
I don’t know if you find all my thanks tiresome (people have at times pointed that out to me before). I just have been thinking that I should show appreciation whenever I can–as long as I am truthful, because there is so much to be unhappy about in this world too (and so much beauty as well, as J’onn’s dad said–I love him for it). It’s best to appreciate beauty when you see it, where you see it.
And.. I am grateful. That is all.
“Amy Jackson is a south Indian actress, but still white. However, Brianiac 5 is POC (I think). I guess, they have more men POC than women?”
Amy is English (from Liverpool) ,she has just made a career in India playing the Anglo ingénue in Indian period movies.
The actor who plays Braniac is indeed POC .He is Goan and he played Jaime Murray’s son Alak in Defiance .His sister is also an actress – she was Sally in Being Human and just replaced Grace Park on Hawaii Five-0
This episode seemed like filler, or transitional to me. There really wasn’t a message or a point, but I thoroughly enjoyed multiple moments (and since the bar last season was set that low, I don’t know that I can ask much more)?
In no particular order:
1. Kara Danvers/Supergirl
2. Alex Danvers
I’m so glad there’s an increased presence of their sisterhood on my screen this season. Words cannot express. I wish they would fight crime more together at the same time, but even having them interact is something.
3. Space Grandpa and Space Dad awkwardly (SO awkwardly) hanging out; this was just so precious to me (and family drama and togetherness in fandom is kind of my wheelhouse); I’m not saying that I’d watch a whole Odd Couple series of them, but I might if Kara and Alex dropped by all the time
The rest was varying levels of meh. I’m kind of glad that Reign’s story is so slapdash ridiculous. I agree, Valerie, that it’s good that outside forces took her agency without consent; her struggle to regain herself could be an interesting one. I didn’t mind the evil desert growths. I thought it was nice that we could have Kyptonian crystals in the sandy desert as well as the snowy desert. Ecosystem diversity! But her adoption story, and the location of her pod defy suspension of disbelief. Unless her “mom” is an alien too.
I don’t know what to make of James this season. It’s better somewhat than last season. I didn’t even mind him standing up to Lena at Catco (though he probably could have taken her aside to complain, which would have been more professional). But his whole-hearted support of Mon-El kind of disgusted me. One of my friends pointed out that this guy (Mon-El) shows up suddenly under suspicious circumstances after months on a ship that endangered people, mysteriously isn’t poisoned by the atmosphere, and James is all Team Mon-El (even to the point of saying how happy Kara was with him, ignoring how sad she was every time Mon-El abused her agency and trust), yet he’s quick to blame Lena Luthor for everything (especially last season), even after she’s been shown to be on their side. I don’t know. It rubbed me the wrong way too.
I hope Kara gets her necklace back? I mean, it was from her mom.
Mon-El refusing to talk to Kara and only talking to Win also really pissed me off, though I’m trying to unpack why. And I’m not usually very violent, but I have to admit that I enjoyed Kara punching him in the face. Like a metaphor for punching the patriarchy.
Yeah! They have been so regular with Kara and Alex interaction. I am happy about that because I watch the show for that (and Kara herself because I like her a lot). I can ignore everything else.
What a strange girl Sam is. Flung out of space.
This episode was so filler-ish that I want to pretend that it didn’t happened.
Actually, I think that the only two things that I enjoyed were:
1) Seeing how heartbroken Sam was when she found out that she wasn’t a hero because this shows that she is really a good person and she’s not greedy enough to change just because she discovered that she is Kryptonian and has incredible powers like Supergirl.
2) Kara punching Mr. Tapioca (as a Brazilian who eats tapioca, I screamed reading this) was like a tribute to everyone who dislike him and I’ve felt contemplated!
Can’t hardly wait for the crossover and the Sara/Alex moments!
She wanted to be a hero for her daughter! :cries forever:
So… if Sam is Kryptonian, that means Ruby is at least half Kryptonian, right?
I loved that you and Heather watched together. I would read any recaps / reviews / experiences of things you two watched together.