Supergirl S02E4 “Survivors” REVIEW

Airing in the UK on Sky 1, new episodes every Monday
Writers: Paul Yoo, Eric Carrasco
Directors: James Bamford, James Marshall

Essential Plot Points:

• The episode opens on Daxam the day Krypton died, following Mon-El as he tries to save the planet’s prince.
• When they come across a Kryptonite ship the prince persuades Mon-El to get inside and gets him to flee the city before it is destroyed.
• Mon-El explains the story to the DEO, asking if he is the only one left from Daxam. Although he wants to leave, Mon-El must stay at the DEO while they figure out his abilities.
• Maggie contacts Alex about a dead alien body, which seems to have gotten into a fight with another alien despite being from a peace-loving race.
• J’onn meets M’gann at the alien refuge bar to bond, and talk about their lives post Mars.
• Mon-El continues to test his abilities, while Winn researches more about the alien killer that Alex and Maggie are looking for.
• The pair work together to try and stop the alien, and after fighting him the alien is taken by a mysterious group, likely to be Cadmus.
• Kara talks to her mother’s hologram to get advice on her work at CatCo. Mon-El and Kara start to talk to each other, and he wants her to teach him about the world.
• Alex and Kara attend a party, which turns out to be an alien fight club. Kara intervenes and fights another alien before Alex helps her.
• Mon-El really wants to leave the DEO for some time, and after persuading Winn to take him out they decide to hit the town.
• J’onn confronts M’gann about the alien fight club. It is run by Veronica Sinclair (Roulette)
• Kara tries to stop Veronica Sinclair, but fails.
• When J’onn tries to talk to M’gann again he is kidnapped by the mysterious group from before. Kara goes to try and find them, but the fight club is gone. She goes to Lena Luthor to try and find him.
• M’gann and J’onn are forced to fight to the death against each other for the fight club. When they refuse to kill each other, though, the pair are forced to fight another alien. The DEO steps in, and Kara joins the fight.
• Mon-El is being released into Kara’s custody.

Review:

Supergirl took a step back in this episode so that M’gann and J’onn could take centre stage. Although we only got our first look at the pair at the end of the last episode, their relationship is a key focus this time round, and J’onn isn’t planning on taking things slow. Meeting for the first time after their original encounter J’onn quickly turns their conversation to the subject of taking “the bond”, a ritual which is customary for Green Martians to complete so that they can connect telepathically and hear each other’s thoughts. Despite J’onn’s best efforts to persuade her, M’gann refuses and, at first, this seems related to her association with the alien fight club and her desire to forget what happened on Mars all those centuries ago. They have an interesting dynamic, and throughout the episode it isn’t easy to know where M’gann’s loyalties lie. Their exchanges during their forced battle at Roulette’s fight club were a nice touch, and seeing them coming to terms with their situation was certainly interesting.

Their interactions juxtapose well with Kara and Mon-El’s relationship development this episode. Confined to the DEO’s headquarters, the fresh-faced Daxamite can’t help but feel bored as he completes test after test to analyse his enhanced abilities. While he hasn’t got quite the same powers as Kara, all he wants is to get out of the facility and experience life outside of its confined walls but no one will let him, especially the Girl of Steel. He gets into trouble when he persuades Winn to let him out of the building for a few drinks, and soon it becomes evident that he has to be watched over while he becomes used to Earth.

Although she’s hesitant at first Kara soon decides that she will be his guardian, since she wouldn’t have made it this far if she hadn’t of had help from her adoptive family and Kal-El.

If Mon-El is being set-up by writers to be Kara’s new love interest they’re certainly doing a good job; their conversations are natural and the development of their relationship is believable. Their dynamic is certainly way more convincing than the plethora of romances thrown her way last season. The problem with James’s potential relationship with Kara was that it felt one-sided most of the time, and then when it was reciprocated it was dropped as soon as it began. When it comes to Mon-El and Kara they seem to have a good connection, and their mutual heartbreak and future partnership as heroes suggests a more natural progression at a relationship. Whether things will actually happen between them is yet to be seen, but it’s been enjoyable so far.

Keeping with the apparent tradition of superhero shows of late, Kara and co are faced with a lacklustre villain yet again in this episode. Despite an interesting premise, and great character design, Dichen Lachman isn’t given much of an opportunity to stand out as Roulette. While she was quite a good villain in her recurring role in Agents Of SHIELD here her character just seems like wasted potential. To be fair, she isn’t completely gone from the picture, but whether she’ll become a fully-developed character isn’t entirely clear.

The Good:

• M’gann and J’onn’s relationship is dealt with quite well in this episode, they have some great interactions together and it provides some good character development for J’onn. How he’ll deal with the episode’s climactic reveal will be interesting.
• Mon-El and Kara’s friendship and potential relationship is shaping up quite nicely; they will certainly make a good crime-fighting duo at least.
• Alex and Maggie’s friendship is also good so far, although Maggie didn’t seem like that important of a character both actors work really well together.
• “You should have figured out by now that it’s not okay to bet against me.”
• J’onn: “I appreciate the concern, but I’m okay.”
  Kara: “Don’t make me pout.”
• Alex: “You look like crap.”
  Winn: “Thank you, I saw the mirror this morning.”

The Bad:

• Roulette is yet another two-dimensional villain.
• The CatCo storyline is seeming really lost right now; we basically had the same plot as the last episode. Let’s hope the writers have more in store for it.

And the Random:

• Roulette first appeared in JSA Secret Files, and is known in the comics for running a casino called “The House” where super humans are made to fight each other in gladiatorial combat after being captured. Supervillains usually visited The House to bet on the outcome of the fights.

Review by Roxy Simons

• Read our other Supergirl reviews