I'm not sure if this was just a generally great episode all round or it was just a solid episode in what has been a pretty low second half of the season, but either, damn this was the episode Supergirl needed. Not since the first half of the season have we had an episode as well done like this one. The focus was where it needed to be, their was stakes, the romantic plot lines were in the background and our main character wasn't so big headed.
I know this mainly happened at the end of the episode but I need to start here, thank god they knocked Kara down a few pegs. One of my biggest complaints about the second half of this season is how big headed Kara has become. She was taking on her bosses and rubbing it in their face when she was right, she was jumping on her "I'm Supergirl" high horse when she had the lower hand in an argument, she was simply not the Kara they gave us for the first season and a half. This all changed this episode. In the real world, crossing your arms and putting your foot down isn't the best was to get around a problem, and Kara learned it the hard was this episode. As someone who is currently studying journalism, one of the first things you learn is there is no story without proof and sources. What they did this episode was have Snapper hold strong with that rule and did what any real boss would do and fire her. Regardless of if she was wrong or right, similar to the Lena Luthor situation, if she wanted to do that job seriously, she would of done it the proper way, but she didn't and therefore got the punishment she deserved.
I mentioned in the intro that they was stakes in this episode, something that we haven't had for a while. When that spaceship was flying out to space and Kara was trying to stop it, I actually had no idea what was going to happen, and I loved that. In recent weeks, the show has been predictable and you never felt like they have ever been in real danger. I felt danger this week. I was starting to think of how they are going to get Alex back from space because at one point I was convinced Kara was going to fail. Going into the back end of the season, stakes like this are needed, my hope is that when they do come, sometimes the good guys lose.
Something I have to touch on, neither as really a positive or a negative, which in many ways is a positive for me, is the relationships. They were just there this episode. There was no drama, not story revolving around them, they were just present and the show moved on. That's what I want in a show like this. It's okay to have a little drama here and there but when it comes down to the nitty gritty of the season, I want to be concentrating on out end goal not whether Kara and Mon-El are going to stay together or not.
Moving into something I had a slight problem with is the Alex situation. While I agree to a certain extent that what Jonn did with ethically wrong, I still agree that the decision to suspend her from the mission was the right one. Usually what comes next is something from Kara, but because it was Alex, I don't view it as negatively. Alex's decision to continue working annoyed me because it is the flip side of the Snapper/Kara situation during the episode. Regardless on what is right or wrong, there's a line you can't cross and she crossed it. I know the theme of the episode was doing wrong things to do right, and what Jonn did was in line with that theme, I think in every real world situation, there is a line of how wrong can you go to do right and both Kara and Alex crossed it in my books. Shows like this use themes to teach younger audiences life lesson, however I think sometimes they might simplify those lessons a bit too much and the message they are trying to get across isn't what it should be.
There is one big negative I had with this episode and this is a problem I have had for a while now, Mon-El. I really like this character and I'm excited to see a bigger story revolving around him soon, but for the mean time, he is being short changed. Why is he even on this show at the current moment. When he first came on the show they balanced him well between him adjusting to Earth life while training to be a superhero. Now they balance him between a romantic love interest who gives love advice and a bar tender, which in many shows is the same thing. I don't want to get to the end of this season and he is no longer around and he is just going to be remembered as the alien that was always hanging around.
Overall, while this wasn't a perfect episode, this was a massive step in the right direction for the back end of the season. For the first time in a while I'm excited for Supergirl next week, and that is always a great sign. Hopefully they can continue to pull the ship up and avoid an Arrow season 4 situation where it started strong but crashed and burned in the second half.
8.5/10
I know this mainly happened at the end of the episode but I need to start here, thank god they knocked Kara down a few pegs. One of my biggest complaints about the second half of this season is how big headed Kara has become. She was taking on her bosses and rubbing it in their face when she was right, she was jumping on her "I'm Supergirl" high horse when she had the lower hand in an argument, she was simply not the Kara they gave us for the first season and a half. This all changed this episode. In the real world, crossing your arms and putting your foot down isn't the best was to get around a problem, and Kara learned it the hard was this episode. As someone who is currently studying journalism, one of the first things you learn is there is no story without proof and sources. What they did this episode was have Snapper hold strong with that rule and did what any real boss would do and fire her. Regardless of if she was wrong or right, similar to the Lena Luthor situation, if she wanted to do that job seriously, she would of done it the proper way, but she didn't and therefore got the punishment she deserved.
I mentioned in the intro that they was stakes in this episode, something that we haven't had for a while. When that spaceship was flying out to space and Kara was trying to stop it, I actually had no idea what was going to happen, and I loved that. In recent weeks, the show has been predictable and you never felt like they have ever been in real danger. I felt danger this week. I was starting to think of how they are going to get Alex back from space because at one point I was convinced Kara was going to fail. Going into the back end of the season, stakes like this are needed, my hope is that when they do come, sometimes the good guys lose.
Something I have to touch on, neither as really a positive or a negative, which in many ways is a positive for me, is the relationships. They were just there this episode. There was no drama, not story revolving around them, they were just present and the show moved on. That's what I want in a show like this. It's okay to have a little drama here and there but when it comes down to the nitty gritty of the season, I want to be concentrating on out end goal not whether Kara and Mon-El are going to stay together or not.
Moving into something I had a slight problem with is the Alex situation. While I agree to a certain extent that what Jonn did with ethically wrong, I still agree that the decision to suspend her from the mission was the right one. Usually what comes next is something from Kara, but because it was Alex, I don't view it as negatively. Alex's decision to continue working annoyed me because it is the flip side of the Snapper/Kara situation during the episode. Regardless on what is right or wrong, there's a line you can't cross and she crossed it. I know the theme of the episode was doing wrong things to do right, and what Jonn did was in line with that theme, I think in every real world situation, there is a line of how wrong can you go to do right and both Kara and Alex crossed it in my books. Shows like this use themes to teach younger audiences life lesson, however I think sometimes they might simplify those lessons a bit too much and the message they are trying to get across isn't what it should be.
There is one big negative I had with this episode and this is a problem I have had for a while now, Mon-El. I really like this character and I'm excited to see a bigger story revolving around him soon, but for the mean time, he is being short changed. Why is he even on this show at the current moment. When he first came on the show they balanced him well between him adjusting to Earth life while training to be a superhero. Now they balance him between a romantic love interest who gives love advice and a bar tender, which in many shows is the same thing. I don't want to get to the end of this season and he is no longer around and he is just going to be remembered as the alien that was always hanging around.
Overall, while this wasn't a perfect episode, this was a massive step in the right direction for the back end of the season. For the first time in a while I'm excited for Supergirl next week, and that is always a great sign. Hopefully they can continue to pull the ship up and avoid an Arrow season 4 situation where it started strong but crashed and burned in the second half.
8.5/10