Supergirl S02 E12 – Aggressively middling.

Previously: M’gann left for Mars after she killed her ex-husband.
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Luthors

Marines: I’m very curious if this extended break from Supergirl will be good or bad for my enjoyment of the show. I’m leaning towards bad because 1- I don’t remember crap about what’s happening and 2- when I think about Supergirl, it’s mostly negative feelings in my heart.

Samantha: I for real don’t remember much of anything. This show does not stick in my brain.

Catherine: I forgot this show existed.

Mari: So, that’s where we are.

We start 20 years in the past. Mama Luthor is playing chess with a young Lex, because of course she is. Lionel Luthor walks in with a surprise, and that surprise is a young human being. Mama Luthor isn’t really happy about this? But Lionel ignores that and tells a young Lena that Mama Luthor is her new mother. Lex introduces himself as her new brother and invites her to play some chess, because of course he does. Mama Luthor suddenly thinks it’ll be great for Lex to have a sister. No word on who actually wants to love this child as a separate and complete human.

Samantha: Is this our first time meeting Lex? ‘Sup, Lex?

Catherine: I think it is as well as our first time meeting Lionel. I mean, I don’t have to do an introduction to the comic version of this character right? Lex Luthor. We’re all on board. 

Mari: In the present, Kara is watching news coverage of Lillian Luthor’s trial at the alien bar. White Out (C: omg) walks over to hope that they give Lillian a public shaming after she’s convicted, as they used to do on Daxam, so Kara has to let him know that they outlawed that kind of thing around these parts a long time ago.  Mon-El notes that he hasn’t seen Kara around for a while, and she awkwardly laughs about being real busy chasing bad guys. She asks how Mon-El’s doing with his new girlfriend, Eve, and he answers awkwardly. So now we’ve established that they are both awkward and are still not using their words. (S: Who the hell is Eve?)

Kara goes back to her table where Jimmy, Winn and J’onn are waiting. J’onn is struggling a little with being back here for the first time since M’gann left, but we move on from that quickly. Everyone is here to meet Alex’s new, what they assume, boyfriend. But then Alex shows up with Maggie and everyone, while a little surprised, is super chill about it.

There is also a great little moment where J’onn admits that he knew all along because he’s psychic, but it wasn’t his place to say anything. Maggie asks Winn to play pool with her, and he gamely accepts even though he has no idea what he’s doing.

Jimmy hangs back and asks Kara if “that cop” (you just heard her name is Maggie, jerk) knows if he’s Guardian. Like, why would she? Stop being self-centered, Jimmy. (S: I do remember that he’s been the worst lately.) Kara says that Maggie does not, “lucky her.” She stops in front of the TV and sees that Lena (C: Speaking of lesbians…) is sitting in on the trial for her mother. Kara feels bad for her, and thinks she should go see her, but Jimmy is not convinced Lena is a good person. And then a pool ball flies by their head because Winn is bad at things.

We cut to Lena’s office. She’s watching the news coverage too and hears her testimony called the ranting of an estranged daughter. She turns it off as Kara is escorted in. Kara says she’s just here as a friend, not a reporter, and also she brought doughnuts. Listen, the way she grabs the bag from Kara is seriously the most flirtatious thing we’ve seen on this show since Alex and Maggie the morning after. Are they… doing this on purpose? Do these two actresses just have that much chemistry? AM I MAKING THIS UP?

Samantha: You are not. This is the most chemistry Kara has had with pretty much anyone, except maybe Barry Allen. Whether it’s intentional or not, IDK, but this is why a portion of the fandom ships them so hard. And this is part of why it was so super freaking shitty when Jeremy “I’m an asshat probably” Jordan mocked those fans for it. I’m still pissed. I get better at grudges the older I become.

Catherine: With you on the still being pissed. These two are the most shippable thing on this show right now BY FAR. And what, we’re not supposed to do that just because they’re both supposedly straight? Even though that’s never been confirmed either way and straight isn’t like, the default sexuality, friends. Nah. I’m gonna ship it (a bit) and if the writers don’t like that they can stop writing such gay ass characters. 

Mari: Lena says that it was actually good to testify, get it all off her chest, and distance herself from the Luthor name. And then she got home to 12 calls from Lilian’s lawyers, saying that Lil wants to see Lena. Lena’s not really here for it, but Kara says that she’s spent most of her life wishing she could talk to people that are no longer here. But Lilian is still here and she’s still her mom. I get the sentiment, but that kind of thing is the kind of thing you shouldn’t say about people if you don’t know how their relationship with their parent is? Like, Lilian could’ve been abusive. Telling Lena “she’s still your mom” probably isn’t helping in that instance. (S: Hard agree.) (C: Feels like you guys are dealing with similar themes in your After recaps.)

Lilian is smirking in our direction, though Lena can’t see it when she walks in. Lilian starts by saying that Lena did a number to her in court and the jury ate it up. Lena says she could just leave, but Lilian apologizes. Lena sits. Lilian says that she wasn’t the best mother, but she did always love Lena and try to protect her. She starts shit talking on Lionel, even when Lena defends him. And then Lilian drops the bomb that Lena is a real Luthor, the product of an affair Lionel had. Which explains why Lilian had a hard time being near or around Lena. Lilian says that they are the only two Luthors left and they need to be there for each other. Lena appears to buy this all, and she holds Lilian’s hands.

Catherine: Definitely believe what your evil supervillain mom says from prison. TOTALLY sure this big revelation was just weighing on her and isn’t meant to manipulate you in some way. 

Mari: In a jail cell, Corben gets mail. In a jail cell? Do you just get packages delivered to your cell? (C: And it’s unopened??) Anyway, inside is some Kryptonite.

The next day, at trial, Corben is being questioned. He’s pretty open about hating aliens and wanting to kill them all. He loses his shit as he starts yelling about how Lilian is the only person working to protect everyone, until Supergirl silenced her. Lilian smiles happily, like a psycho. The lawyer asks the judge for permission to treat the witness as hostile. Corben stands up and menacingly tells the lawyer he’s going to treat her as hostile. Then he busts open his shirt, and some green energy pulse comes out of a thing in the middle of his chest.

People start screaming. Corben blasts people out of his way and then breaks Lilian out of her cuffs. Kara goes after them as Supergirl. She manages to avoid Corben’s blasts, but then he blasts a crane. Lilian says that Supergirl can either stop her or save some innocents. Supergirl choses to save the innocents, catching the crane before it crashes, but Lilian gets away.

Samantha: Coooooooool.

Catherine: Meanwhile Kara is smiling and basking in the praise from the people she saved which is fair but also… Lilian still got away. Maybe take your moment later, girl? 

Mari: DEO. Supergirl lands and says that she swept the city twice, but there is no sign of Lilian or Metallo, which I guess is that guy’s name I forgot. Supergirl is upset they got away and wonders how Metallo got all that kryptonite after Clark was supposed to get rid of it all. She says CLARK! very loudly, so I guess half the DEO knows his secret identity now. (C: RIGHT???) Maggie comes over to say that Metallo didn’t have any visitors while he was in jail. The only visitor came last night, and it was Lena to see Lillian. Supergirl looks concerned.

Kara visits Lena and fills her in on the fact that people suspect her of visiting Metallo while she was seeing Lillian. To that end, Maggie walks in and shows Lena some footage they have of her taking kryptonite out of safe somewhere? IDK. It’s not explained and neither is why they would show this to Lena right now. Maggie arrests Lena. Kara tries to jump to Lena’s defense, but Maggie basically tells her to STFU.

Mayhem at CatCo. They are crashing the cover to feature Lena in light of the news. Kara is very! upset! Lena said she wasn’t guilty, by golly, and they should go on her word instead of the video showing her guilt. Snapper basically tells Kara to go ahead and prove Lena innocent, but like, right now, they have to print what they know. Jimmy agrees and this makes Kara more! upset! Jimmy follows after Kara and gives her another speech about what bad news Lena is. He’s going to prove it.

At this point, I don’t know which one of them is more annoying and who I want to be right. I’d appreciate it if Lena weren’t evil, I guess, but I don’t have faith in this show.

Samantha: I’m currently fully Team Lena just in the hopes that Jimmy looks stupid. And cause it would be a nice twist if she wasn’t.

Catherine: I’m on team Lena is good for right now, but turns evil later. And then it turns out that she was always evil or whatever. And then they can’t be friends. 

Mari: In her anger, Kara walks into Eve, and we weirdly transition to boy chats. Kara asks Eve how it’s going with “Mike,” and Eve says it isnt’ going. They went on one date and he talked about Kara the whole time. Kara is shocked! Shocked! Even though Mike, like, confessed his feelings for her. But the shock! Eve is really cute about this all, by the way. #justiceforEve (S: Sorry I forgot about ya, Eve!)

Lena is in jail. Some cops joke about her going bald like Lex. They round the corner and Metallo is there to knock them out. And behind him, Guardian shows up. He expected Metallo would show up if Lena were bad. They fight and Metallo wins. He breaks the door on Lena’s cell and she seems very alarmed by this.

DEO. Alex dresses Jimmy’s wound while he tells everyone that the kryptonite is poisoning Metallo. Then everyone tag teams to tell Kara that Lena is guilty, dammit. Kara still won’t accept it on the basis of Lena is her friend. Kara stomps out, but Jimmy follows. He says that he’s her friend too. And then he makes this all about him and the fact that Kara so easily trusts in Lena but not in him as Guardian. He also reminds Kara that Clark and Lex were BFFs for a long time, but Clark was wrong. Kara says this is all very different, especially because she’s just trying to protect Jimmy. Jimmy says he doesn’t need her protection. He needs her trust. Kara scoffs and stomps away again.

Kara is taking out her anger by punching and kicking brick. Mon-El finds her so we can have some more boy chats. Basically, Mon-El gets that Kara’s thing is believing in people who don’t deserve it. Like him! Kara admits that she’s been distant lately, but only because she was mad he was dating Eve. Mon-El figures out that Eve told her the truth about their bad date. He asks why it would bother her, though, if she doesn’t like him. Kara still cannot use her words or be an adult… and stomps away. Boy Wonder Bread is sad.

Samantha: Sorry, I already forgot about this scene due to a complete lack of any kind of chemistry.

Catherine: Does anyone else’s brain literally shut off from boredom during the Kara/Mon-El scenes or is it just me?

Mari: Luthor getaway van. Lena is super mad her mom broke her out of jail without permission. Lena wants to go back, but Lilian says no one will believe her and no one is on her side. They are both guilty and on the run. You know that old saying, “the family that runs from the law together,” or whatever. Lilian asks Lena to join Cadmus and manipulates her hardcore by saying she loves her. We get a shot of Metallo and the kryptonite is spreading down his arm.

Luthor getaway bunker, which Lilian explains is an old Lex facility. It’s even got a nifty satellite for watching for aliens, because ew! Aliens are the worst. Thankfully, this place has provisions and an arsenal, but it’s an arsenal with a biometric lock. But like a fuzzy biometric lock that will open with any Luthor DNA. Lena realizes that that whole “I brought you out of prision because I love you” think was a farce, and Lillian just needed Lena’s DNA. Lena tries to run away, but Hank, real hank with the cyborg face, is there to force her to open the vault.

Catherine: Okay, I gotta say I love how nonchalant Lena was being about being kidnapped. I guess ’cause she felt her mother wouldn’t really hurt her. But she was so done with everything. On the other hand, them showing her being taken from prison and dragged to this facility robs Kara’s IS LENA EVUL? storyline of any urgency. Because we know she’s being dragged along against her will by her mother. So it’s making this episode ultra boring. 

Mari: Kara is pacing, while Winn is investigating. He finds something! Someone hacked the original video of Lena taking the kryptonite! And he can tell, because of techie things, that it was Cyborg Hank. Wow, Kara was right.

Samantha:

Catherine: Also Winn said earlier that the video definitely wasn’t fake. Am I back to hating Winn? I might be back to hating Winn.  

Mari: I’m still hating a lot of other things.

Another computer starts beeping and they all run over there. Winn’s also been scanning for a Kryptonite signature and he’s found it. But this is also bad news because the signature is rapidly degrading. It seems like Metallo is using synthetic Kryptonite that is going to basically explode. (C: All of the sudden.) Hope your alien hate was worth it, asshole. I’m getting ahead of myself.

Kara decides she’s gotta go save Lena, even though everyone is telling her she won’t have time.

At the bunker, Lillian is very happy to see Lex’s war suit, a bargain bin Mjolnir, and a plant she calls a Black Mercy. (C: Which has also been on the show before I mean, but we took a long break. So.) (M: Whoops.) Lena calls Lillian worse than Lex, so she gives another speech about how she really does love Lena, for real. Lillian spots something else that makes her happy.

Supergirl lands in the bunker. Lena is excited to see her. Supergirl tells her that Kara Danvers believes in her. Lilian throws something at her and it starts squealing loudly, messing with Supergirl’s super hearing. Metallo and Hank grab Supergirl to lock her in the vault. Supergirl tells them that Metallo is going to blow up. Lillian doesn’t believe it at first, but then Metallo’s kryptonite heart starts like short circuiting so maybe she believes it now. Supergirl finally thinks on her feet and uses her laser vision to destroy the super dog whistle. (S: She has so many powers it’s like she legit forgets about some of them sometimes.) Metallo blasts her with his Kryptonite and Winn yells at her that it gets worse every time he uses the Kryptonite. (C: But WHY though?) 

Supergirl is weakened and tries to fight Metallo, tries to reason with him, but nothing works. Martian Manhunter arrives and knocks Metallo away. For some reason, he sends Supergirl to grab Lena. And for some reason, Supergirl is very slow and looks around a lot. Meanwhile, at the DEO, Winn and Alex are yelling for Kara to get out, so not only does everyone at the DEO know her secret identity, I guess, people in the neighboring cities do too.

Metallo explodes and we watch the Kryptonite mushroom cloud but omg what a shock, Supergirl and Martian Manhunter make it out in time.

CatCo. Kara saunters in and gloats a little to Snapper about being totally right about Lena. Snapper don’t curr because yesterday Lena was guilty and today she’s innocent. He sends Kara to go maybe actually do her job.

Samantha: Sure. Sure.

Catherine: That’s it? She’s just not guilty now? And the public has forgiven her? Okay….

Mari: Instead of going to work, Kara spots Jimmy. He apologizes for being wrong about Lena. He was just trying to protect her. Kara asks if they can stop trying to protect each other and just go back to being friends. They decided on a game night soon and hug. Hey remember when this show wanted us to like Kara and Jimmy, built us to a point of “maybe?” and then was like LOL JAYKAY JIMMY WHO?

Good times.

Kara visits Lena who compliments her article. And Lena sent her a million flowers. And then she calls Kara her hero. Seems platonic. (S: Lol.) (C: Come on, writers. COME ON.)

They hug and Kara leaves. And then, for very little reason, we get Lena looking nefariously at a chess piece. We flash back to the same night she arrived at the Luthor mansion and see that she wins her first game against Lex. Lillian tells her that maybe she is a Luthor after all. In the present, we can see just how much Lena is rocking some bad girl styling, and then she looks nefariously out into middle distance.

I’m so excited to keep playing the IS SHE EVIL? game with Lena.

Just kidding, because I’m not.

Samantha: It sucks cause Katie McGrath is fairly talented, or at least good at being compelling, so give her more than just vaguely bad.

Mari: Mon-El visits Kara because it’s time for more boy chats. She tells Mon-El that she doesn’t like to be vulnerable. Also, they are very different. He calls himself fun and her hypercritical. She says he’s an arrogant dudebro and she’s the personification of the American way. Mon-El is like, “uh, okay, who’s arrogant.” Kara tries again and basically confesses her feelings for him and they start to kiss… (C: BOOOOOO.) 

But they are interrupted by like a pixie. A pixie looking thing that turns into a guy. Kara asks who the heck he is and he says he’s Mr. Mxzyptlk, and he’s in love with her.

So, I guess the thing I most forgot about it is that I don’t love it or hate it, but it is aggressively middling.

 

Next time on Supergirl: A trickster proposes to Kara in S02 E13 – Mr. & Mrs. Mxzyptlk.