05:03
Unknown
I have been very pleased with this season of Supergirl. The first four episodes were quite tight, with good character moments, good action, and very solid story-telling. Prior seasons and prior episodes have been heavy-handed or clunky. And I haven't had to say that this season so far.
Episode 405, titled Parasite Lost, was a decent episode. It progressed the overall plot. There were some nice character moments. Alex Danvers ultimately saves the day with Supergirl acting more as a bystander. While Kara the reporter gets a boost, her role as superhero is again diminished. Kara again isn't the hero in her own show. There was a great moment at the end for J'onn J'onzz which elevated this episode a lot for me.
And once more, there is a nuanced approach to the metaphor of alien as immigrant. We saw a more sympathetic view of Agent Liberty a couple of weeks ago. Here we start to see signs of how hate can drive people deeper into evil. In fact, I think two themes of the season are starting to percolate a bit.
After such a solid beginning, I felt this was a bit of a 'treading water' episode, a mini-step back from the excellence we have seen before. Good is still good. I thought this was solid. Just not as fantastic.
And we don't get a single mention of Mercy and Otis. I still don't know if they are dead!
On to the show.
One plot point that I have enjoyed watching is the friction between Lena and James about what is happening in the country. Lena at times has spoken about the divisiveness solely from a business viewpoint. Here she tells James that Guardian being linked to an Earth First movement isn't all bad. In a way he has built a bridge to the other side and could use that to turn people. She honestly thinks there isn't bad press.
I wonder if Lena is so above the fray, so distanced from it, that she doesn't register what is happening. She doesn't seem to 'get it'. I kept wondering if this would be the crowbar to push her to evil.
Meanwhile, Brainy is initially drunk, tossing around big words and a 'Long Live the Legion.' He is able to sober up and there is a nice little moment of attraction between him and Nia Nal. I, of course, want Brainy to be with Kara so I don't know if I want that to happen.
That said, Jesse Rath has just embraced the role of Brainiac 5. He is pitch perfect in his approach to the character.
Meanwhile, Jensen has been infected with the Parasite and is starving. I have said before how the show is leaning into its own history and the same is happening here. During the show's opening, we see a clip of the Parasite's first appearance way back in season two. In Liberty's headquarters, Jensen drains an Infernian completely, killing the alien and gaining its fire powers. As someone who can kill aliens so easily, he is the most valuable asset in 'the war to save humanity.' There is some irony here, Jensen now infected with an alien symbiote is humanity's hope?
At the DEO, Alex bristles when she has to meet with her new commanding officer Colonel Lahey. But it turns out Lahey actually is quite thrilled with Alex's performance and commends her for changes she has made. I was wondering if perhaps Lahey wasn't as bad as I thought she'd be.
And Kara gets a plum reporter job. An alien healer named Amadei is giving his first interview in decades and he is giving it to Kara. Amadei is an old friend of J'onn's as well as both a physical healer and a spiritual leader. He says that while he can't heal humans with his powers yet, he hopes to heal the human heart by showing that divisiveness and discrimination are ripping the country apart.
This is where I worry a bit about where the show is going. I would love to have both a human and an alien come out as wanting to mend the divisiveness this way. I do wonder, based on how the show ends, if that is where we will end up.
As for Lockwood, he is fighting a two front war.
Behind the scenes he is waging a physical war as Agent Liberty.
But on line he has formed The People's Veritas, an opinion site where he stokes the fires of alien fear. He talks about last episode's fight at the state fair. He says how kids were threatened by aliens and only when the human Guardian showed up did things get better.
James and Lena see this and James is upset. But Lena continue to downplay the threat, calling Lockwood a 'fringe lunatic'. Of course, people have called other dictators in history fringe lunatics as well. One thing I did like here was both James and Lena acknowledging having met him in the past. We saw those interactions in the Liberty origin episode.
But slick sites like this led by smooth talkers aren't empty threats. They are how hate is legitimized.
At the National City Waterfront, a hipster shapeshifter is putting on a street show when Jensen arrives.
When Supergirl shows up, Jensen reveals he is the new Parasite, draining her somewhat. It is only when the DEO arrives with guns blazing that Jensen retreats, killing the shapeshifter and utilizing that power to slip away.
The effects this episode are good. Here you can see that Kara's face does partially shrivel. The feeding segments when aliens are drained to husks reminds me a bit of the old movie Lifeforce.
Back in the DEO, Kara gets a sunlamp bath. As Parasite draining her is a major threat, she and Alex decide Kara needs to sit this one out, only doing non-Parasite DEO business.
I wonder if this is going to be a running theme of the season. Kara being asked to sit out a mission has been seen a couple of times this season already and each time she has bucked those orders in order to be 'visible'. Is her being a symbol of hope, a visible icon, going to be a big deal the whole season?
And Jensen keeps needing to feed. Agent Liberty tells him to feast on as many aliens as he can to survive. I wondered if Jensen was in dire straits if Lockwood would sacrifice humans to keep Jensen alive. I do think that hard line Lockwood has of not having humans die is going to be another thematic element. I wonder if at some point he crosses that line and that is what will make him lose his sway with his followers.
Kara's article on Amadei is a hit but gets its fair share of haters. What doesn't these days.
She gets word that Amadei is dying and rushes to the compound.
In a bit of a McGuffin, it turns out that Amadei needs an amulet to survive his healing sessions. The amulet has been stolen. J'onn probes his mind and his last vision is of a young girl, perhaps the culprit.
The alien group is afraid to go to the police because of the amount of prejudice in the world. Amadei's handler asks J'onn to handle this privately. I am sure that the best way for aliens and humans to come together is to avoid law enforcement. That won't breed any distrust.
At the very least, as a high-end crime, Kara could have offered DEO official assistance. That would let the aliens see that not all officers of the state are hate-filled.
Instead, using the DEO in an unofficial capacity, J'onn and Kara track down the girl and break into her house to investigate. That is another bad way to instill trust between aliens and humans. Let's have the alien who can go intangible invade me place.
It turns out the young woman in the vision is Amadei's estranged daughter. He had a one night stand with a human and abandoned them.
The Amadei side plot, for me, took a bit too much time of the episode. It was one of those clunky aspects that the show suffers from a bit.
In another nod to the prior fight with the Parasite, the DEO plots to overload the Parasite with radiation (like they did with him the first time). Lahey and Alex brainstorm together to come up with a forcefield dome idea as well as a radiation gun. Brainy can configure it all.
It is another good scene showcasing how Lahey and Alex riff well together on strategy.
Despite James disgust, Lockwood tries to turn the tables, saying it is James who is close minded to other viewpoints. Not recognizing that people are afraid will drive them deeper into darkness.
It is a great scene and the actors are on point. Lockwood's origin shows that on this world people should be a little afraid. Lockwood is right that ignoring people who are afraid isn't going to help them. James should know he needs to defuse people's fears to improve the world. And the best way is through educating people and reporting the truth. There are aliens we should be afraid of just like there are humans we should be afraid of.
But Lockwood is so charismatic that we might not recognize that we need to be afraid of him.
I actually wouldn't have minded if Amadei had abandoned his daughter because that is a human and a sad reality sometimes. But it turns out he wanted to be with his daughter all along. It wasn't a one night stand. There is evidence he knew the mother for a long time. Unfortunately, the two broke up and the mother, out of spite, kept Amadei away from the girl.
So now the alien is less flawed and the human is all flawed. Giving Amadei the more human story might have made him (and other aliens) more relatable.
When the daughter discovered all this, she ran away. In anger, the mother stole Amadei's amulet and gave it to Agent Liberty. And now the Parasite is armed with the amulet allowing him to survive longer and keep the powers he drains. The obvious attack point? Amadei's vigil, sure to be chock full of aliens.
Great shot. Alex has really shined this season.
And Kara is there in her human guise.
Quickly they learn that Jensen is more powerful with the amulet. The radiation gun as designed won't kill him. They'll need to detonate inside the dome killing all the civilians inside.
The summit is interrupted by news of the Parasite attack. Lockwood sort of forces James hands when Ben says The Guardian is needed.
Now James could have sat out but instead he does don the armor and run interference for damage leaking outside the force field. I don't think James would let himself be played so easily.
While the sights and effects are well done, I don't want Kara on 'crowd control' on her own show.
What that does is allow Alex to be the hero.
She asks Jensen to look around at the carnage he is causing and to ask himself if he is actually making the country safer this way. He is hurting aliens and humans alike. He can't let fear define him. She knows he is a good man.
And this a great speech because it rings so true. Terrorism is never the way to peace and safety.
It works, He takes the amulet off and saturated with power, he basically explodes, collapsing.
Alex has saved the day.
Nothing left but the wrap-up.
Lahey shows her true colors. She had told Alex to detonate to stop Jensen. She tells Alex to follow orders. She has taken Jensen to the desert facility before Alex could interrogate him. She says he is comatose. But I wonder if she sympathetic to Lockwood's cause and is holding Jensen back from Alex.
And then Lahey bashes J'onn as a traitor. When Alex lets Lahey know how loyal she is to J'onn, the chasm between the two grows.
Despite working well together, they will never be friends. They won't agree. This just proves the point that people can act one way and think another.
I look forward to seeing more of these two.
J’onn as detective. Who aliens can go to.
Meanwhile, Kara decides to run a series in CatCo showcasing aliens living in the city, both the good and the bad. She'll show how similar everyone is and how we can live together.
And James decides to go undercover into Lockwood's world. Maybe they will accept Guardian and will reveal things to him.
So not a bad episode. But I think too much time was spent on the Amadei side of things just as a way to demonize the mother. The real purpose of his plot was to get Jensen the amulet which could have been any LCorp gadget. And I am kind of sick of Kara being the back up feature in her own show.
Still, there were good moments for Alex, Brainy, and J'onn in this.
What did you all think?
Posted in: Reviews
0 comments:
Post a Comment