Supergirl S02E12 “Luthors” REVIEW

Airing in the UK on Sky 1, new episodes every Tuesday
Writers: Robert Rovner, Cindy Lichtman
Director: Tawnia McKiernan

Essential Plot Points:

• Lillian Luthor’s trial continues this week, and the media are attacking Lena Luthor after she testified against her. Kara goes to visit Lena to see if she’s okay.
• Alex comes out to the gang, and it’s great.
• Lena visits Lillian in hospital, and tells her how Lionel Luthor had an affair and that she is not her mother. That’s why Lillian has always favoured Lex. She asks to have a second chance with Lena.
• Metallo, in jail,  is sent kryptonite before testifying at the trial of Lillian Luthor. This enables him to attack people in the court room and take off with Lillian in tow.
• Kara tries to stop them but she’s forced to let them go when Metallo destroys a crane, threatening some innocent bystanders.
• As Lena was the only person to visit Lillian, everyone assumes she was the one who smuggled the kryptonite to Metallo. Lena is jailed but Kara wants to prove that she’s innocent.
• Metallo goes to free Lena from prison, and Guardian tries to stop him. He fails, and Lena is taken by Team Lillian to become a part of CADMUS.
• Lillian gives a good spiel about wanting to be a family again, but it turns out the real reason she’s brought Lena along is because he needs Luthor DNA to open one of Lex’s vaults full of weapons
• The DEO finds out that Metallo’s kryptonite heart is unstable and going to blow – if Kara is anywhere nearby when it does then she will die.
• But Kara is determined to rescue Lena, which she does just before Metallo explodes.
• But Lillian escapes.
• Kara proves Lena’s innocence with the help of Winn’s skills at deconstructing doctored CCTV footage.
• But Lena may not be as innocent as she seems…

Review:

Trust has always been an important part of Supergirl. Whether it comes to Kara’s feelings towards her relationship with Alex or, as is the focus of this week’s episode, her friendship in Lena Luthor, Kara has always wanted to see the best in people. So when her faith in Lena’s innocence is questioned it stands to reason that she would go out of her way to prove her innocence.

Lena hasn’t been given much time in Supergirl lately, so it’s great that the writers decided to have a Luthor-heavy episode this week. It excellent to see Katie McGrath back in full force, and against none other than her onscreen mother, Brenda Strong. The pair had some great dialogue with each other, and the use of flashbacks to Lena’s childhood certainly helped to strengthen their characters overall.

It’s unclear whether Lena will become an adversary to Kara in the future; there certainly was a hint of it being a possibility when it was revealed in flashback that had beaten Lex at chess on her first try. Perhaps there’s more to her than we think? Is she playing a really long game as James suggests?

The relationship between Superman and Lex Luthor has always been one of the best between a superhero and villain in DC comics; they were friends at an early age and despite Clark wanting to believe in the best of Lex he, ultimately, had his trust betrayed. This notion was applied quite well to Kara and Lena’s friendship this week; everyone warns Kara not to trust in her like her cousin had done in Lena’s brother but her mind won’t easily be changed. It’s this goodness that makes Kara so likeable, and it’s also why she’s such a strong character in the show.

While it was the Lena Luthor storyline in relation to her mother and Kara that was strongest this week, there were a number of smaller storylines that really helped to tie loose ends and turn certain events around. The first of which was Alex’s simple, yet very effective, coming out to everyone, and everyone taking it so well, with Mon-El and J’onn’s reactions definitely the best; the fact that J’onn already knew (he is psychic, after all) and was waiting for Alex to be ready to tell him reflected his role as surrogate father to Alex and Kara.

In terms of the other budding relationship in the series, Kara and Mon-El’s will-they/won’t-they seemed to come to a head in “Luthors”. With her final speech to Mon-El about being confused over whether she could be Supergirl and get to have a relationship as well, it seems that it won’t be long before we see the pair together as more than just superheroes.

Mr Mxyzptlk’s sudden entrance – which disturbed a kiss between Mon-El and Kara – and his claim that he is in love with Kara was so surprising and brilliant that it bodes well for lots of fun to be had in the next episode.

The Good:

• Lena and Lillian Luthor’s relationship, and the dynamic between the two actors playing them, was a great divergence from the usual “Kara beats bad-guys” storylines of late.
• Kara’s unwavering belief in Lena’s innocence was quite heart-warming; let’s hope that Lena doesn’t ultimately turn on her like her brother did.
• Alex’s coming out was well thought out, especially in relation to J’onn’s reaction to the whole thing.

The Bad:

• It’d be a shame if this is the end of Metallo in the series as a whole, but if it is at least he went out with a bang.
• How did James have time to be Guardian this week? It seemed like CatCo was pretty much under fire to deliver the new issue of the magazine.

And the Random:

• Mr Mxyzptlk is a nemesis of Superman in the Superman comics. The 5th Dimensional nymph appeared in Superman #30 and is likely to cause Kara some spelling problems as the only way to send him back to the 5th Dimension is to spell his name backwards.

Review by Roxy Simons

• Read our other Supergirl reviews