5 Thoughts About Supergirl: "Luthors"

1.)  As I was watching this episode, I had to do a double-take as I realized I recalled this episode was supposed to be almost entirely devoted to the relationship between Alex Danvers and Maggie Sawyer that was centered around Valentine’s Day.   That's I'd seen from a website covering the show, at least.  They even gave minor details—like how Alex was all about the holiday while Maggie thought it was just a Hallmark thing.  I'm actually pretty into that as an idea, but unfortunately that episode is actually scheduled for next week.  A bit weird in terms of timing--instead of getting our Valentine’s Day episode the week of Valentine’s Day, we’re getting it the week after.

I get it, though.  The Valentine's Day episode is described as focused almost entirely on the new couple, and since the whole subplot that lead to the two of them getting together took up quite a bit of time, they probably wanted to get them out of the spotlight (the two of them are barely a part of this episode at all) before they gave them an episode that was mostly all about them. Still, there was a really sweet moment where Alex introduced Maggie to her friends as her girlfriend, where everyone was pretty accepting—for now, I guess that’s good enough.

2.) This week sees the re-appearance of Lena Luthor though, delving deeper into her history as a part of the Luthor family. We were initially under the impression that she was adopted, but this episode her mother Lillian reveals she's actually the daughter of an illict relationship between her father and someone who worked for LexCorp. There’s an obvious nature vs. nurture argument happening here, but for as long as this series is a thing I hope they never go against her being the one decent Luthor.  Sometimes you’re a decent kid born to a family of jerks.  Lena’s been a real sweetheart, and it’s good that Kara has a female friend outside of her sister.  That said…

3.) The longer Kara is a reporter, the more annoying it becomes for me.  She’s basically learning a handful of lessons that involve her going against everything her super-experienced boss tells her.    From the kidnapping episode where she promises the paper will get a woman her missing child back, to this episode where there’s literally video footage of Lena helping her mother break out of jail and Kara asks why they would publish a story about her being guilty.  At a time where the biggest problem in America is fake news, it’s a little irksome that Kara’s evidence for why THIS news was fake was “well, I feel like it’s wrong”/”I trust her”.   I get that Kara needs to have some success in her life—but leave that to her Supergirl persona.   She needs to start learning the basics.  The best part of that sub-plot was when Snapper explained to her, “I didn’t have a bias.  Yesterday the news reported her guilty.  Today they reported her innocent.  It’s not bias—it’s the news.” 

4.) Maybe it’s me, maybe the CW has exhausted this plot point, but I’m really tired of the “will they/won’t they” subplot on all of these shows, and I’m hoping this is the point at which Mon-El and Kara start dating.  This rose its head again as a minor subplot, with Kara finally admitting to Mon-El she had feelings for him—though I’m not sure where that goes if he’s going to end up a thousand years in the future. 

5.) Of course, that’s not exactly Kara’s biggest problem right now.  Her biggest problem is Mr. Mxyzptlk having apparently taken a romantic interest in her…and that he’s gone from being a shrimp in a bowler hat to being a scruffy-faced hot English gentleman, because CW.  Still, I'm willing to give Peter Gadiot a chance to prove himself, as Mxyzptlk is usually one of Clark's most troublesome villains that doesn't just come to Earth with an army.  (Or is an army.)