Supergirl Episode 304: The Faithful

"The Faithful", the fourth episode of this year's season of Supergirl, aired on Monday and was an exceptionally good entry. There is something about this season which just feels different from last year. It seems like this year everything is working. Many of the supporting cast have their own plotlines bubbling; all the supporting cast have presence and weight. The mini-bosses and the big boss are on their way to final battles.

This episode focused on an interesting idea, one seen in comics before, the idea that super-heroes might become viewed upon as deities. While that plot worked very well on the surface level, there was another level to be mined here. This Kara is struggling with her feelings, shutting them away, declaring herself 'not human'. And in the episode she has to show that she is, in fact, fallible. She isn't indestructible. That is how ultimately the day is saved. That's a nice wrinkle.

I also love that there are callbacks to both the comics and prior seasons. From Alex's rescue in the premiere to the '-hedron' power sources to the upcoming World Killers, there is a lot here for continuity fans to cling to with joy.

As always, the acting is just amazing. Melissa Benoist runs the gamut of emotions here from perplexed to wounded and does so with her usual emotional dexterity. Chyler Leigh has a particularly heart wrenching scene at the end, continuing her amazing work. And Mehcad Brooks has another great episode showing that maybe (if we're lucky) The Guardian will go away and James Olsen can be a force on his own.

On to the show!
 

 The episode starts on a plane where a disgruntled man named Thomas Coville talks of how awful his life is. Suddenly the engine explodes and the plane begins to plummet. Coville looks around and sees different passengers praying, all in different ways. He isn't praying.

Amazingly, the plane skids to a safe landing on the river.

A passenger from the front stands up and says she is from the FBI and she'll check things out. It is a Alex.

And that's when it hit me ... although I suppose it should have hit me earlier. This was the 'Alex plane rescue' from the premiere on CBS 2 years ago!! Coville looks out his window and sees the soaking wet Kara standing on the wing.

This turns out to be a religious experience for Coville.

But I love ... LOVE ... the callback to the premiere. I think it was actual footage from that episode. I'll need to go back.

In the present, Sam is given a pamphlet while at Ruby's soccer. The woman handing them out says Sam and Ruby are special and chosen.

Later, at LCorp, Sam tells Lena that the big merger with 'JBQ' is going to happen  (Could JBQ be the initials of Supergirl writer Jessica Queller?) They decide to celebrate by joining the Danvers for their 'girls night' at Kara's.

While the two are talking, Kara sees the pamphlet which has the Kryptonian symbol of Rao. She decides that she needs to investigate. And when she mentions this at CatCo to James and Winn, they decide to join her.

 The meeting is in something of an abandoned looking warehouse. But there are people gathered. There is a pulpit and Rao banners. And Coville leads the congregation in prayers to Rao. He says very specific words for him to have written himself. A phrase like 'gladsome rays' sounds a bit too holy and inspired for Coville to have come up on his own.

And indeed, in a nice touch, we get a flashback of Kara and Alura in some holy place on Krypton, reciting these exact prayers. It is clear Coville knows them, the actual Kryptonian prayers.

That's pretty cool.

The 'mass' continues. Everyone there had been saved by Supergirl. They have faith in her. One of the attendees is a young girl who says she was saved by Supergirl when she was drunk and fell off a high building. She prayed and was saved. By Supergirl.

Coville talks about how people can be spiritually lost. So they begin to pray in 'The Name of Supergirl' as well as Rao. They are basically worshipping her. Obviously it is pretty creepy to Kara and James and Winn.

Perhaps the best line in this scene was that Kara says she remembers all the people she saves. That is a nice touch.

At Girls Night, once again we see how uncomfortable Alex is when saying she and Maggie won't be having kids. Sam says Ruby's father isn't around. But the sassy banter is broken up by a siren call. Looking intently out the window, Kara slips out. There is a fire.

She finds a young man on the roof as the building burns down around him. The roof collapses and he is just saved when Kara streaks in for the save. This is another great shot of the two of them coming up to the camera from the flames.

It turns out this man had intentionally set the fire to draw Supergirl out so he could be saved. His faith didn't waver and he was saved. He is also arrested as an arsonist.

But Coville can't be arrested. Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Speech protects him.

Kara heads to the Rao center to 'interview' Coville. But he immediately recognizes her as Supergirl. He looked into the eyes of his god that night on the plane. He wonders if Supergirl is trying to test his faith. Kara is stunned.

He quotes passages about Rao verbatim, about how gods can get lost and need their followers to help guide them. He talks about how Rao says gods walk among the people.

Coville says he searched the world for all artifacts from Krypton and found something which gave him the words of Rao. Incensed at his twisting of Rao's words, Kara takes off her glasses (always a sign she means business) and tells him to stop his teachings.

He agrees but when she leaves he enters a back chamber where we see a rocket looking device with a glowing omegahedron like device in the center. He vows his next act will 'save Kara'; he will still do Rao's will.

I think part of the show's long form story is Sam's slow descent to Reign. I get the sense that her love for Ruby is somehow going to be a catalyst for the change. (I still hope it isn't the death of Ruby.)

Throughout this show, Sam has been pulled between her job and being the doting mother. When the JBQ merger was almost shelved by Morgan Edge, Sam had to leave for work. As a result she didn't hear Ruby practice a song. While the merger is saved, she nearly breaks down.

Luckily Lena is there. I love how Lena says she has the actual worst mother in the world. She tells Sam that her actions are teaching Ruby how to be a badass. I like this scene more from Lena's viewpoint that Sam's. Sam seems almost too fragile.  And Katie McGrath's kills it!

 Meanwhile, at CatCo, James and Kara have a great scene together where they talk about faith and miracles. It starts on the balcony!!! You know that means some wisdom is going to be delivered.

Kara keeps downplaying how special she is. But James talks about how he was rescued by Superman once. He fell off a bridge spire. When falling, James prayed to 'anyone' to intercede. And then Superman showed up and rescued him.

He talks about how prayers aren't usually answered. Kara is something physical, something that can be seen and touched. How could she not be considered a miracle. It is a great scene. And it is solid stuff from Mehcad Brooks. I have to say I like what I have seen from James this season much more than the Guardian nonsense from last year.

Ultimately, the artifact Coville gave Kara turns out to be a travel 'bible' that Kryptonians put in space probes they fired (a sort of version of the Voyager probe). Those probes were powered by Betahedrons (smaller versions of the Omegahedron from first season, another nice callback).

Coville has smuggled the Kryptonian probe into a National City hockey game and set up the Betahedron to explode. He and his followers hope that when Supergirl saves the 15,000 fans in attendance that their church will swell with numbers.

I love this shot. Coville looks the part of preacher. Kara floating in the background, light behind her, is very holy. It looks like a church of sorts. Great directing here.

Kara can't get near the probe because soil samples inside it have become Kryptonite. To prove she is no god, that this isn't her testing people's fates, she scratches her K-weakened hand and draws blood. She says she is no god and she will need help to stop the bomb. The followers run out.

Now look, there is all sorts of Christ imagery here. Person and god as one? Stigmata of crucifixion. It is a little on the nose. But I loved it.

Alex arrives. The staggering Kara burns a deep hole into the ground with her heat vision. Coville and Alex push the probe into the chasm where it explodes harmlessly ... sort of. The arena is fine.

The continuity nerd in me questions how the soil rocketed away from Krypton before it exploded could have turned into Kryptonite. Wasn't that a result of the nuclear reaction when the planet blew up? I'll chalk it up to comic book science.

One thing I have to compliment this season for are the wrap-up last scenes. Every episode has given us huge moments, building momentum for the next episode and season, all in the last 5 minutes.

Coville has been arrested. He won't release Kara's secret identity (he says he doesn't remember her actual name). But he sees that right now Kara is missing the clarity he saw in her that night on the plane wing. He sees doubt and loss. He will continue to pray to her and for her. (We better see him again.) I like that Coville wasn't a charlatan looking to bilk people out of money. He actually had faith!

Lena, Kara, and Alex join Sam in seeing Ruby's school song performance. Ruby sings 'Pure Imagination' from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The words stir strong feelings in Alex. She runs out and breaks down in front of Kara. Alex finally admits to herself she wants kids and everything that goes with them. She has been hoping she'd get over these feelings. She loves Maggie but she can't be whole without children.

We knew this was going to be the wedge in this relationship. Chyler Leigh is just wonderful in this scene, saying as much with her expressions and body language as she does with her words.

 Kara, who earlier talked about how those Rao prayers reminded her of community and her time on Krypton, recites them in the DEO with the AI Alura.

I suppose this shows that Kara is still in the 'I am an alien' mode.

And then we get the real meat of this ending.

Sam has a vision of the shrouded, monstrous person she saw in her vision in episode one. This time it speaks to her telling Sam she will Reign. And Sam thinks she is covered in Kryptonian letters.

It is all a hallucination. But Odette Annable really shows the horror she is feeling in that moment.

You might remember that at the end of this season premiere, we saw Reigns pod underwater and jostled to life by Morgan Edge's torpedo attack. Here we see that the Betahedron bomb exploding underground activated it further. In a beautiful homage to the Worldkillers in the New 52, we see tubes of orange goo in the ship. When the computers kick on we see movement inside of one. The Worldkillers are coming. It is probably this ship that is triggering the changes and visions in Sam.

Whew!

Lots of stuff happened in this issue! I love the discussion on faith and religion. I love what I saw of Chyler, Mehcad, Odette, and of course Melissa. And I love all the callback and references to prior events in the show and comic plots as well. Just brilliant.

And this time Supergirl was the center of the show.

Hope you guys liked it as much as I did!