The Supergirl Season 5 finale aired this week and I will say it is going to be hard for me to know what to make of it.
Between the COVID-19 pandemic and the pregnancy of Melissa Benoist, 2 episodes (maybe 3) were shaved off the end of the season. Filming had to stop. As a result, this finale feels a bit rushed. There is one segment that is more unbelievable than an alien being able to process sunlight to give them the ability to fly. And, unfortunately, that very same scene is one that is almost a retread of several other season finales.
Do some plots come to an end? Yes. Are things left at an odd cliffhanger? Yes. Do the characters grow? Yes.
But it all seems like this was a 'let's do what we can with what we have' as opposed to 'let's bring this season to the conclusion we had in mind'? I hope that somewhere down the line, maybe on an extra in the season blu-ray collection, we have the writers spell out what they had hoped to do and how things were impacted.
Look, I liked this season a lot. I think I liked it more than many. I definitely feel like it was better than last season. But I wonder what might have been.
And I also think that all of that wondering is going to make me give this finale something of a critical pass as well.
We start out with Lex Luthor being finally taken to the Leviathan headquarters, deep below an abandoned warehouse.
Initially he is shocked to see the poker table we have seen the Leviathan elite playing around. After all, as someone who sees all the connections, knows all the angles, he didn't expect gods to live in a casino.
As always, Jon Cryer's Luthor is a delight. He has shown ... and he will show in this episode ... that he is a couple of steps ahead of everyone.
Led through a door, he is finally led onto the Levithan ship.
But then we have a little wrinkle. This ship is set up with some focused radiation defense so that humans/non-gods will die. Even Lex didn't see that coming!
But Gamemnae thinks of Lex as a partner. She gives him a device he can wear which will protect him. She says that he is one of Leviathan now.
And Rama Khan teams up with two other 'element bender' Leviathan elite. Juiced up on Kryptonite, they are ready to kill Supergirl.
As for Supergirl, she is alone with Lena in her apartment.
And, for once, Kara isn't pulling any punches. She doesn't want to hear Lena's apologies. She doesn't want to talk about the past. She is all about dealing with the problem at hand.
Nice initial take on this, the space between the two palpable.
Kara has called in the cavalry. The Super-friends arrive and initially think that Lena is attacking Supergirl. So Kara quickly closes that space and protects Lena.
Everyone needs to work together to stop Leviathan from using the Obsidian platform to do whatever they are planning. But with Rama Khan holding onto the DEO's Kryptonite, Supergirl is in danger.
Lena then says that given time she can make an anti-Kryptonite suit like she did in the prior continuity. Lena can do that from her lab! But with Rama Khan tied to the Earth, he will be able to find her should she use her powers.
And so we get this funny bit where J'onn and Miss Martian turn into Supergirl to act as decoys. It has been a while since we saw J'onn do this. It was funny to hear Melissa Benoist's body speak with David Harewood's voice.
I also like Nia saying it was like the beginning of Deathly Hallows. That is funny.
Before they go, Alex shows off her new super-hero gear. It is a blue and black hooded suit. It looks sort of Arrow-ish. She has wild eye make up, no mask, and little braids. It is quite the look.
What should her code name be?
I vote for Nightingale.
One character I feel has been mistreated this season has been Brainiac 5 who has been working for Lex and lying to his friends the whole season.
Brainy learns where the ship is but Lex won't give Brainy the protective gear so he can withstand the radiation field on Leviathan's ship. Not until Supergirl and the other heroes are dead.
Once that end of the equation is dealt with, Brainy will be able to get onto the ship and upload the kill code.
Basically Lex is asking Brainy to let Brainy's friends be killed for the greater good. You think at this point, Brainy would simply try and take the device from Lex. Or fight him.
But instead he falls in line.
Now this is the silliest moment.
While the heroes fight the Leviathan goons (and barely survive), Lena and Kara head across town on a bus.
Really??
Lena would ride a bus??
Did she take it to Kara's apartment? Doesn't she have a car?
Alex arrives to give an update, including the fact that J'onn was hurt in the battle.
Kara kicks herself for not being out there but Alex tells her that the right thing for Supergirl to do is be safe. The two hug.
I loved this moment, Lena seeing the two hug and lamenting that she doesn't have anyone like that in her life right now.
But there is no time to waste. Kelly calls and says William hasn't been seen since he tried to track Eve Tessmacher. Everyone has some history with Eve, even if it is history from another universe. So it is time to get into action.
Meanwhile, Brainy calls on the female Brainy one last time.
He has an idea. Instead of killing the Leviathan gods, he'll do what any self-respecting Brainuac would do ... he'll shrink them.
Unfortunately, that would mean exposing himself to the radiation field, in essence, killing himself.
He clearly has remorse for all he has done, isolating himself from his friends. He simply doesn't want to die alone. And this other relative being there is a comfort.
Poor Brainy. He isn't acting like the smartest guy in the universe.
Alex does some Mission Impossible wprk to sneak into Obsidian's mainframe so she and Kelly can find Eve Tessmacher's location. It is a nice way to show Alex's skills but seemed a little superfluous.
That said, Alex talks about how despite all her training, she felt helpless ... human ... against Leviathan. Let's face it, she is just a human. A well trained, well armed human but just a human.
She is punching a bit out of her weight class.
The two get some information about Eve but it is encrypted. So it is back to Lena for help.
Once more, Lena tries to get Kara to forgive her but once again Kara isn't budging.
In what might be the harshest scene I have seen Benoist play, she gives Lena a scolding.
Kara points out again how knowing a secret identity endangers people. She didn't tell Lena because she was protecting Lena. But instead, Lena did everything she could to hurt Kara once the truth was known.
Kara isn't ready to give absolution.
That is about as rough as you are going to see Kara be. It is borderline cold.
Lena is able to crack the code. They know where Eve is hiding. So even if it means endangering herself, Kara is off to save William. And Lena decides to join.
She can't let Lex kill her mother. He can't let William out her.
So she straight up shoots him.
Incredible!
Despite being shot through the chest (okay, upper right chest), he doesn't die immediately. After a painful cauterization by heat vision, he is stable enough to tell Supergirl that he knows he is on the right track. He got kidnapped. That's what Kara has told him.
Immediately, Lena helps keep up the pretense that Kara and Supergirl are different people. Now Lena is defending a secret identity.
Fascinating.
But Supergirl flying there does bring the Leviathan baddies.
And just when it seems like all is lost in a haze of Kryptonite green, Lena (who had taken off with Eve once the bad guys arrived) sends in the complete anti-K protection suit. Once again we see Kara look like something out of Tron.
And then, is that a Robocop reference by Dreamer? With her friends with her it feels like a more even fight.
And we start it out with a super-clap.
Very good special effects here.
The Leviathan trio shatter into rubble. But then they begin to reform.
Maybe it isn't as even a fight as we thought.
The heroes retreat.
In a show of compassion, Kara approaches Eve and forgives her taking a shot at William.
Kara teases out that Lex is threatening Eve's mother. When Kara promises she will do all she can to protect the Tessmachers, Eve spills the beans.
Gemma is Gamemnae, the head of Leviathan. And she is going to pull the plug on the billions on Obsidian when things go live.
Throughout the show, Nia keeps getting images of Brainy dying.
It is clear that she still cares for Brainy and wants to know what these dreams mean.
With the plot revealed, Kara shifts gears. The right thing to do is try and save the people not fight Leviathan.
And it isn't like she can just turn off the power. As we learned in an earlier episode, the power source is a LexCorp engine which cannot be unplugged without exploding taking out National City.
It isn't easy in this world.
Nia then asks what we all have been thinking.
Is it really time for another 'classic hope speech'??
It turns out the answer is yes.
Interestingly, both Alex and Lena say at the same time that if anyone can convince the world to unplug from virtual reality it is Kara.
It shows how much Lena has changed in a short time. She seems to have complete faith in Kara's capabilities.
J'onn and the others again coax out Rama Khan and his friends for a throwdown while Supergirl uploads herself into the Obsidian VR to try and get people to end the simulation.
With everyone off the Leviathan premises, Brainy sneaks in. Fighting the toxic radiation field, he begins downloading the shrink code into the Leviathan mainframe.
But it is clear he is in agony. He is dying.
Gamemnae senses that Supergirl is in the Obsidian VR. Panicked, she thinks of activating the kill switch, ending the lives of 2 billion people rather than 4 billion.
But Lex cautions her to not be hasty. They have slowly unfurled this plot. Why rush when Gemma could send another assassin out to kill Supergirl's body while it is helpless in the virtual reality.
You have to love Lex. I don't even think killing 2 billion people is standard of his plans. But if he wants to kill Supergirl and eliminate Leviathan, he has to break a few eggs.
The assassin Gemma chooses?
Andrea.
Remember, Andrea has shadow powers but in this universe she hasn't used them before.
No time like the present. Gamemnae gives Andrea a K-dagger and says she has to end Supergirl's life or Andrea's father will be killed.
I am glad that Andrea's powers are again brought into the plot and not forgotten. But it seems to me that it would make more sense for Gemma to call back the three big guns she has rather than sending out an untested agent for murder.
In the VR, Supergirl's persona is able to be multiplied so it seems like she is talking to each person individually.
Everyone seems to be in VR to avoid some personal pain rather than just have some fun. Kara explains that pain helps us evolve and overcome. They all need to shut down and leave.
They do.
Hmmm ...
Another hope speech to the masses?
And aren't most people in the VR for escapism and fun? Not just to avoid emotional pain? I think if I was in VR so I could fly like a superhero, a speech that says we need emotional pain to evolve might fall on deaf ears.
But this is Kara. It works. Everyone ... EVERYONE ... logs off.
In a nice resonance though, Kara's speech where she says she believes in people is echoed by two people.
One, the female Brainy tells our Brainy she believes in him and that he can last the ten minutes in pain.
And more importantly, Lena steps in between Andrea and Supergirl. Lena talks about the dark path she has been on and how she also can help Andrea. But she isn't moving. If Andrea is going to kill Supergirl, she'll have to kill Lena first.
And that snaps Andrea out of her killing mode.
Just at that time, Brainy's code is activated.
The three Leviathan Element Benders, who were having their way with our heroes, are called back to the ship and shrunk, stuffed into Brainy's jar!!!
Dying in the ship, Brainy clutches the Shrinking Jar.
But who should come in? Lex.
He anticipated that Brainy wouldn't kill anyone and would shrink them. That is just what Lex wanted. Although he hoped that all that would happen after Supergirl was killed and 2 billion people snuffed.
Still, Brainy is helpless as Lex grabs the tube and makes off with it.
Nothing left but the wrap up.
After all this, Kara is ready to forgive Lena. The two shake hands vowing to take out the last bad guy!
After a season of sniping and backstabbing and yelling, it is good to see the two friends united again.
Gemma, not caught in the shrink trap, goes mad. We see her true form, a sort of alien metal with tentacle like hair.
I wonder why she wasn't taken into the bottle with the others?
And then Lex hands over the shrink receptacle to his mother. It is time the Luthors went to work. And he needs to prepare to kill Supergirl himself.
Now that is once cliffhanger. And we will be on that cliff for a while! This is the finale!
Okay, what do I think.
The Obsidian plot seemed to be too easily thwarted. I am glad Brainy finally realized he is/was being played. But how will he get out of that killing room? But most of all, I am thrilled that the Lena/Kara feud is over.
Still, this didn't feel like finale. And the fact we have to wait so long for the resolution is maddening.
So what did you think?
7 comments:
I set the bar low on this one because between MB's "blessed event" and Covid_19 I knew the finale was gonna be a messy game of "Connect the Dots".
My Question is, has Brainiac Five (who comes off the worst in the whole of this season) truly and thoroughly microwaved to death? Or in true Supergirl fashion will he return for a redemption arc next season (which starts when late spring of 2021? Thats a long time from now)?
Glad to see Lena and Kara bury the hatchet, in fact I'm prepared to become a loud Supercorp Shipper...I mean thanks to social distancing there is nothing else to do at this point. Besides McGrath & Benoist have a real rapport.
I've finally come to the conclusion that MB's get these "hopeful speeches" in almost every finale because she is just so good at them, they are the best expression of her core charisma when playing Supergirl on TV. Unfortunately much like Patrick Stewart on ST-TNG the producers have gotten very dependent on Ms. Benoist's particular skill set to redeem mediocre or plainly substandard material...that go-to was very in evidence this time.
I'd also like to echo our host's request for some explanation on the DVD/Blue Ray as to the writer's original intentions for the finale...a fuller "connect the dots" would be deeply appreciated.
JF
The problem with this episode - like many others, recently - is that Supergirl - the titular star of the show - hardly got to do anything "super." She didn't even need her powers to save the day! Instead, she relied once again on one of her sappy "hope speeches" to convince THREE BILLION PEOPLE to log out of Andrea's virtual reality system. Not only was it ridiculous that she got 100% compliance, despite the fact that she was speaking English to the entire population of the world, but also because of the fact that even her teammates are making jokes about Kara's "Superpower of Persuasion," because it's become an overused plot device in a show that seems afraid of letting Supergirl punch her way out of a problem. We waited all episode for Lena to finish the Supergirl Armor, and then we saw Kara use it in battle for only a couple of minutes, and not very decisively at that! Meanwhile, her team isn't providing much help.
Why hasn't J'onn J'onzz simply read Lex's mind, to find out what his nefarious plans are? For that matter, why hasn't Dreamer "dreamed herself" into Lex's dreams, to get ahead of the game? How can a team with a Telepath and a Precognitive Psychic always find themselves two steps behind, and surprised at every turn?
Alex looks ridiculous in that clown makeup, and her new suit isn't nearly as cool as her previous black leather catsuit. If her weapon is only limited by her imagination, then why didn't she come up with something that could deal with the Elementals, like a disintegrator, or some kind of containment field projector? One thing's for sure. Alex is NO Green Lantern!
In the comics, Brainiac 5 has two signature pieces of tech; his Legion Flight Ring, and his personal force field. The latter should have been able to protect him from the radiation on the ship. It was almost as if he WANTED to sacrifice himself, which doesn't seem very logical at all.
Lena's "Non Nocere" project always felt rather cumbersome, plot-wise, and apparently, the showrunners agreed. They finally dumped it as unceremoniously as Lex dumped poor, lovestruck Eve Tessmacher. Look out, Lex! Hell hath no fury, and Miss Tessmacher is a Bad Ass!
It's ludicrous that just about anybody can go rummaging around in the Fortress of Solitude, and swipe any tech they want, without the Fortress Defense systems sending them straight into the Phantom Zone. There's simply no way! Lex and Lena's plans would've fallen apart if they didn't have such easy access to the FOS, and the truth is, they shouldn't even know it exists! That's kind of the whole point of the place.
Finally, a story is only as good as its villain, but despite the fact that we JUST learned that Gamemnae answers to someone else, she never struck me as particularly threatening at all. In fact, in this episode, she reminded me of "Stiffler's Mom" from the "American Pie" movies, only less intimidating. It also helps if the villain has a clearly defined goal. If Leviathan's objective was to kill everyone on Earth, it seems to me that for so-called "Gods," with their elemental powers, there should've been an easier, less complicated way to accomplish that, other than mass murder via virtual reality. For me, that's where the whole plot bogs down. I never felt like there was ever a chance that they would pull it off.
I miss villains like Reign, and the Russian Supergirl, and even LiveWire, who were good fits for Supergirl's Rogue's Gallery. She's been fighting these amorphous, "shadowy organizations" for the past couple of seasons, and that's simply not Supergirl's forte.
"Why hasn't J'onn J'onzz simply read Lex's mind," this is why I sort would like MM written off the show, every single script has to write around his core super power which is telepathy, which should make him permanently one step ahead of the opposition. Besides MM was written in to have a suitable mentor for Supergirl absent her cousin, he's done his job she is an independent adult he doesn't have a role anymore IMHO.
But then I've made the same argument about Alex as well.
Dreamer has never been in full control of her precognition powers maybe dreaming about Luthor is a little hard for her to do...who knows? But its their inherent randomness that allows the writers to write around Dreamer's own type of omnipotence.
I'm assuming the supergirl-light nature of the finale was largely driven by MB's blessed event and Covid 19...some fight scenes were clearly simply not shot.
As I said I still enjoyed it, despite being a bit of a mess, besides, Lena-Kara in alliance makes for interesting plotting going forward.
JF
This 'finale' was always going to leave us with loose ends, as it originally was going to be the penultimate episode. Series got cut down to 20 episodes because of Melissa's expectancy, and the cast and crew had been working on 5.20 when production shut down due to COVID-19. There's a strong possibility that the show will use the unused footage for beginning episodes of next season.
As usual for me, a few replies:
"And so we get this funny bit where J'onn and Miss Martian turn into Supergirl to act as decoys. It has been a while since we saw J'onn do this. It was funny to hear Melissa Benoist's body speak with David Harewood's voice.
I also like Nia saying it was like the beginning of Deathly Hallows. That is funny."
Indeed, although they're definitely not the House of Griffindor. Melissa in triplicate roles is always a treat.
"What should her code name be?"
We'll probably find out in next season's opener, as this reveal was supposed to be in 5.20.
"Now this is the silliest moment.
While the heroes fight the Leviathan goons (and barely survive), Lena and Kara head across town on a bus.
Really??
Lena would ride a bus??"
Sure, if Leviathan is supposedly everywhere. When working at stealth, always keep a low profile.
"Poor Brainy. He isn't acting like the smartest guy in the universe."
True on that, and Lex has played him like an emotionally unstable fiddle ever since B5's break up with Nia Nal. Matters of the heart aren't usually intellectual pursuits.
"I am glad that Andrea's powers are again brought into the plot and not forgotten. But it seems to me that it would make more sense for Gemma to call back the three big guns she has rather than sending out an untested agent for murder."
...except the Leviathan elementals are an 'old school' solution, which is why Gemma chose Andrea, who still owed her a favor, with her father's life hanging in the balance (just like in pre-Crisis Season Five).
"Gemma, not caught in the shrink trap, goes mad. We see her true form, a sort of alien metal with tentacle like hair.
I wonder why she wasn't taken into the bottle with the others?"
Suspect that this may be a dangling plot thread that may return sometime in the next season.
"I'd also like to echo our host's request for some explanation on the DVD/Blue Ray as to the writer's original intentions for the finale...a fuller "connect the dots" would be deeply appreciated."
DVD set info came out today, and it doesn't look like that will be an extra.
"The problem with this episode - like many others, recently - is that Supergirl - the titular star of the show - hardly got to do anything "super." She didn't even need her powers to save the day!"
Sure she did....because Supergirl's the Paragon of Hope. You still haven't completely caught on that this is her distinctive superpower. Punching one's way out of a problem has never really been a Supergirl trait, and the series' writers totally know this.
""Why hasn't J'onn J'onzz simply read Lex's mind,"
Since Lex got an upgrade post-Crisis, his mind's probably not detectable to Jonn's mind-reading ability. Did it ever work on Maxwell Lord? Maybe smart guys are immune. :)
KET
Although I don't like cliffhangers for the conclusion of a season for any series they seemed to have done a reasonable job considering the circumstances.
We've been used to Kara Danvers and Lena Luthor being best friends socially so it does feel like a different dynamic (now Lena knows the secret and doesn't have a problem any longer) with them finally joining forces to save the world.
Before their falling out it would have seemed that Kara would welcome Lena back with open arms but I thought it was realistic that she was hurt by Lena's actions. Also without uttering it verbally it was like Kara was saying your going to have to prove yourself before I can trust you again, which she did.
I feel their friendship which is more like a partnership at the moment will be all the more stronger with everything they've been through.
Would have preferred Supergirl going up against the Leviathan trio on her own. As a hero who's already powerful the odds should not be in her favor and it would have made for a more interesting confrontation I would have thought.
The overall reaction to the slightly recycled hope speech from season 1 on the VR did seem a bit far fetched and I found Lena's version to Andrea more touching.
I think Supergirl's main power which is not even a superpower and fundamentally what she's about is persuading ones to do the right thing without her fists and her compassionate nature even when it is exercised towards those who don't really deserve it. That may not make her an appealing superhero for everyone but it does for some of us.
It was a good season, but it was very easy to tell where stunt doubles were used this time and other stuff such as in one of the earlier episodes where SG caches Kelly when pushed off a building the background looked fake on the closeup.
My favorite to least favorite of the seasons would be S1,S3,S5,S2,S4
Season 1 was more focused on Supergirl but I wonder whether they should have renamed the series to something like 'Supergirl and the Department for Extranormal Operations' sometime after this.
"Sure she did....because Supergirl's the Paragon of Hope. You still haven't completely caught on that this is her distinctive superpower. Punching one's way out of a problem has never really been a Supergirl trait, and the series' writers totally know this."
I'm sorry, but that's completely ridiculous.
Your show's main character is supposed to show off. She's supposed to show why she's awesome.
Supergirl standing around, hardly doing anything, while everyone else save the day is bad because it guarantees the audience will not care for her. It's a serious flaw, and ignoring it by pretending she's saving the day by merely existing and wearing some pretentious moniker while everybody else actually save the day will not fix said flaw.
"Lena and Kara head across town on a bus.
Really??
Lena would ride a bus??"
I thought it was a callback to an S2 scene early in Lena&Kara's relationship: at L-Corp, Lena offers to validate Kara's parking. Kara, blase', "that's not necessary I flew here {awkward stammer} . . . on the bus!" [The only other thing I got, is that if Lena took a company limo (as we've seen her in before---memorably, when she broke up w/ James) to Kara's apartment, it might clue in Lex. Because you KNOW he would have a tracker on those suckers!]
On a superhero show, there are many things You Just Have to Take on Faith: that a (heavier than air!) person can fly, shoot lasers out of her eyes, blow freeze breath . . . and that she can persuade multiple billions of people to log off of VR. "If anyone can do it, you can" {jinx} Yes. Yes, Kara can. She's Supergirl.
Post a Comment