Supergirl Episode 312:For Good

Supergirl episode 312, titled 'For Good' came out this week and was a decent episode, nudging the Reign storyline forward and showcasing Lena Luthor in a very interesting way.

Ultimately though, I think I will sound rather blase about this episode. Not that this was a bad episode. But the prior two episodes were big screen thrillers, filled with comic book action and definitely building on the season theme of humanity and compassion being important for heroes. This episode did the same but writ small. So there was a bit of a let down feel. I suppose that's a good thing as it means the prior episodes shined so much.

And that's a shame because as a Lena episode this is fascinating. Remember last season where we all ruminated over her holding up a chess piece, wondering what that foreshadowed? Well, this episode gives us much more to chew over. The title 'For Good' probably was meant to assure us that Lena is now working for good permanently (or for good .... nice play on words). But, for me, it raised the specter of her going bad once more. Maybe season four?

Finally, I think it is a shame that Morgan Edge was taken off the board as a bad guy so quickly. There is a lot more story for someone like him in this season. He, and guest star Lillian Luthor, represent the inhuman human, the normal people who lack the compassion that Kara displays, that will win the day in the end.

I haven't even mentioned my favorite scene in the episode so I guess that's my cue to get down to it.

The episode opens with a killer shot of the World Killers floating in an orange sky that looks like it is on fire. We know Reign. We met Purity briefly last episode. The third's face is hidden. But that is a killer shot, showing us what Kara is up against. Could the third be someone we already know? Would it be wild if it was Ruby??

Turns out it is a dream. Reign and the World Killers are haunting Kara. She is frustrated that the DEO is just biding time for the Killers to reveal themselves. But they aren't easy to track. They aren't Kryptonian and can't be tracked that way. Mon-El says they are genetically modified beings, similar to others the Legion have fought. (For me, he has to be talking about the Dark Servant clones Darkseid made of heroes in The Great Darkness Saga.)

And then Mon-El comes up with a good idea. The Killers probably arrived when Kryptonite hit the Earth. So perhaps investigating those sites will lead to them. Mon-El says Brainy has tracked the K-storms that way when the Legion needed Kryptonite to fight General Zod. Winn says Superman killed Zod, which means (perhaps) the Man of Steel continuity is true on this Earth. And I hate that. So let's move on.

At first I wasn't sure if the math made sense. Could Reign arrive with the K-meteors when Superman did? I guess looks older than Kara. She could be Superman's age.

Cut to James and Lena heading to a fancy breakfast. They are debating how much of a presence Lena needs to be in simple staff meetings. The boss being present can make people nervous. And, to be honest, it does seem a bit like overkill for someone in Lena's title to be at daily meetings.

Outside the restaurant, the two run into Morgan Edge. He is at his 'evil, rich, misogynist, conservative male' peak here. He  is shocked the restaurant will let liberals in. He says that Lena isn't a powerful women. That Lena wants the 'gleam of liberal media' will rub on her. And that she is basically dead already, stuck at CatCo.

When he drives off, his car goes out of control. Edge needs to bail out the trunk of the speeding car before it explodes. Tattered, he confronts Lena at the CatCo offices, saying she was behind the hijacked car and vowing to get even. He tells Lena that she should 'man up' and finish the job, another veiled sexist comment. But it seems out of character for Edge to be so personal in front of so many people. He seems more calculating.

Meanwhile Alex is working up Sam, trying to diagnose why Sam is blacking out. Using the LCorp labs, Alex gets an MRI and sends off blood work. She even makes a funny comment about having a medical job in Seattle, a sneaky Grey's anatomy joke.

I was surprised to see that Alex is able to draw blood. It means that somehow Sam morphs into Reign to gain the powers she has. If not, the needle should just break off. That makes me think that she is two entities, perhaps setting up some sort of split is imminent in the ending?

Sam finally confesses that she is afraid to be a burden to people. She is used to standing up on her own two feet. Alex tells Sam that the right thing to do is open up to friends for help. She talks of Kara helping Alex through her breakup. To ease the pain, she gives Sam a lollipop for being a good patient. Sam's smile over a nickel candy reminds us that she isn't all-evil, all-unfeeling. That humanity is still there.

This ending interaction was a good way to build on this slowly building plot that Reign will be defeated by reaching out to Sam's human side. It is going to be this sympathy, this empathy, that will break through. I wonder if the Sam persona will somehow usurp control, making the body vulnerable, allowing the heroes to defeat her ... or maybe for Sam to sacrifice herself. How very Phoenix of her!

Back at the DEO, Lena wants to break the cycle of violence and retribution she sees in her feud with Edge. She wants to clear herself from taking control of Edge's car so he'll stop hunting her. You sense that she saw enough of revenge in her family. It also is a nice reverberation from Kara's complaint of not having any movement with the  World Killer mystery.

She downs her signature coffee only to collapse and froth at the mouth. She's been poisoned. Not wasting any time, Kara ... still in her civilian clothes ... flies Lena to the DEO.

Meanwhile, James chases the assassin barista from the coffee cart only to see the killer shot down by a sniper.

A few points. For one, Kara has super-speed. Take the one second to put on the Supergirl costume. Second, the coffee killer looked a little like Chris Wood making me do a double take that Mon-El poisoned Lena. Do all killers need to be brown-haired white males? Pick a different phenotype. Lastly, I wondered if the person killing the assassin was someone upset that he tried to kill Lena or the person who hired him to kill Lena, tying off a loose end. I wondered that for most of the episode.

At the DEO, I get to see Alex in action as an emergency medicine physician, running a code. I am more forgiving about medicine in these shows than in medical dramas. But using her wits and some physical exam cues, she diagnoses cyanide poisoning and correctly orders the right antidote sodium thiosulfate! She also asks for induced hypothermia which Kara supplies with super-breath. I'll roll with it!

Hooray medicine on Supergirl!

And then we get a Guardian sighting ... sigh. Still not 100% on board with this. But okay.

James confronts Morgan Edge, implicating him in the Lena poisoning.

The problem is Edge denies it, in a very believable way. He says he'd love Lena to be dead. But he had nothing to do with it. And, I guess blame Adrian Pasdar's acting, I believed him! It sounded like Edge didn't do it. 

We then get the best scene in the episode.

Out on the DEO balcony (the season three version of the season one CatCo balcony), Kara has a heart to heart with J'onn. He applauds her for bringing Lena in so quickly even if it endangered Kara's secret identity. And then he talks about how her willingness to take action, to protect Earth is worth applauding. The cynicism of the world, the sniping between lawmakers, the escalation of hostility, it reminds him of Mars and the civil wars. Supergirl is a beacon of hope, showing the way. She reminds us of what is best in ourselves. And she is an inspiration.

That is a great scene. It keeps that theme of Kara empathizing with people, reaching out and changing them. She did it with Livewire. I am sure she'll do it with Reign. And I liked that J'onn didn't seem to pick one side or the other. He talks about both sides of an argument escalating and not coming together.

Lena wakes up at CatCo. She dreamed of flying with Kara. She was poisoned and given an antidote by a paramedic who left her there (now that is medicine I can't roll with). And the barista was gunned down with a vanishing bullet. Perhaps the most chilling line is Lena thinking Reign might be right and certain people should be 'put down'. Those are heavy words lightly thrown by a Luthor.

That clue of the vanishing bullet leads Lena to an old LexCorp experiment which then leads her to an old warehouse where we see ... Lillian Luthor! Great to see Brenda Strong back. And nice shot showing the cold distance between these two.

I love Lena/Lillian scenes. Here Lillian says she returned to National City to kill Morgan Edge. How dare he try to kill her daughter.

Lillian's words are fascinating. All last season it was clear she favored Lex. Now, it seems, she is embracing Lena. She talks about how Lex was a hothead but Lena was just as 'fiendish' only savvier. She was more strategic, thinking of future moves. And frankly, Lillian thinks Lena is wasted at CatCo.

So does this make me more nervous of Lena turning dark. Lena seems to accept all that is being said. Lillian, like Edge, says Lena is 'bigger' than CatCo. At least Lena agrees that killing Edge to prove a mother's love is insanity. But Lena being strategic and fiendish? Delicious!

 Sam finally confesses to Kara and Lena that she is having blackouts. Everyone agrees that they will help Sam any way they can. But let's be honest, she should take a medical leave and stop being the CEO of LCorp.

Sam talks about how her biggest fear is not being there for Ruby in some way. And we saw that played out in the vision she got from Psi last episode. This also plays into the key theme again. Somehow Sam's love of Ruby is going to play into her rejection of Reign. It has to be.

Lena realizes she needs to count on her own cunning to both save Edge from Lillian and bring him down. She knows from the warehouse that Lillian will attack Edge at a Nature Conservation charity even. So with Kara's help, she sneaks in.

Lena tells Edge that Lillian will assassinate him and only Lena can save him. And she will if he confesses to all his crimes. He does just that, confessing to the lead poisonings and the murder attempts. I guess he did the coffee crime after all!

Lillian upset that he has survived decides to take matters into her own hands and puts on a classic Lexosuit battle armor complete with action Kryptonite-shiv. A brawl ensues in which both Edge and Lillian are taken down by Supergirl and her on scene allies Guardian and Mon-El.

I would like to comment on one side scene. To get Lillian in, Kara tries to rush a security guard who grabs her, stopping her from entering. She elbows him saying 'don't grab women sweetheart'. It is a good empowering moment, especially in these days. But this was a security guard trying to protect partygoers, not some creep on the street or a Hollywood agent in a casting room. Should he have let her go by without trying to stop her? What if she *was* dangerous? I'm all for appropriate messaging but let's make sure the villains are villains.

 There's nothing left but the wrapup.

Lena has to admit to her mother that she has woken up as a Luthor. She'll use her cunning and guile now more, to think ahead and make sure things happen the way she wants.

Sam's medical work-up is completely clear. Meaning something else is causing the blackouts.

Mon-El says he thought of using a drone as a weapon based on prior Legion battles with Computo! Cool!

And Winn may have tracked down candidates for the other World Killers.

I guess I'll say 'not bad'. Great Lena stuff. Embracing her Luthor-ness is a very intriguing turn, perhaps the best thing about this show.