Supergirl S02E16 “Star-Crossed” REVIEW

Airing in the UK on Sky 1, new episodes every Tuesday
Writer: Katie Rose Rogers, Jess Kardos
Director: John Medlen

Essential Plot Points:

• Kara and Mon-El are chilling on the sofa and she announces she’s happy. BAD IDEA, KARA! Never do that on a TV show or you jinx yourself…
• Sure enough, an announcement suddenly interrupts what they’re watching on TV and asks for Mon-El of Daxam to hand himself over to the ship that’s suddenly appeared in the sky.
• Supergirl flies off to investigate. The ship fires at her. Things are looking hairy, but Mon-El gives himself up to save her.
• He is beamed up to the ship (pretty FX there, incidentally) but she leaps in to join him at the last second… only to discover the aliens on the ship are his parents!

• And, to her horror, they’re the King and Queen of Daxam. He’s the Prince, and has lied to her all along!
• Meanwhile, Winn goes on a date with Lyra, during which she steals Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” from a gallery. She was just using him for his tech skills to get past the museum’s security, and didn’t love him at all! Nooo!
• Kara has dinner with Mon-El’s parents and it’s very awkward, especially when they talk about slavery as though it’s totally cool and fun. She is not impressed.
• Later, she argues with Mon-El: “I thought you were just born on a cruel planet, but you LED it!”
• The Queen wants Kara to talk him into going home with them to rebuild Daxam. Kara is annoyed with them all.
• Lyra is caught. She tells Winn she’s not evil, honest, it’s just that there’s a criminal gang who are holding her brother, and that’s why she stole the painting.
• He releases her from the DEO and they confront the gang: and sure enough, there’s her brother! She was telling the truth. Winn decides to forgive her.
• Mon-El tells Kara that he didn’t know he was spoiled and useless until he met her. He says he loves her and begs for forgiveness. Kara, however, has been hurt too much: she kicks him out.

• Mon-El tells his parents he detests who he was and wants to stay on Earth now. They let him.
• At the DEO, a prisoner arrives who, within the space of about 20 seconds, does something weird to Kara that makes her collapse, then leaps through a portal and escapes. TO BE CONTINUED ON THE FLASH!

Review:

It has to be said that both Melissa Benoist and Chris Wood act their little hearts out this week, with the latter in particular delivering an immensely moving speech at the end with tears in his eyes, chin wobbles and the works. These two actors are so endlessly likeable and fun to be around that we can’t help but feel our hearts clench when they’re in pain, and while we totally understand why Kara is annoyed with him (lying is bad, guys!), we’re also rooting for them to get back together.

To see whether they do or not, it’s probably a good idea to watch The Flash, as their issues may be resolved during the musical crossover between both shows… but hey, we won’t ruin that one for you if you haven’t seen it yet.

Of course, anyone with half a brain has known from day one that Mon-El was actually a Prince, and the writers don’t patronise us by making it a “DUN DUN DAHHHHH!” big reveal; it’s actually quite downbeat. (Not to Kara, of course.) What is surprising, however, is that Mon-El’s Ma and Pa are so… ordinary. Huge ship and silly outfits aside, they’re actually a bit dull: aren’t Daxams supposed to be evil? And why do they let their son just bugger off at the end, as though they don’t care that he wants to stay? We must be going to hear more from them – surely they won’t give up that easily. And big-hitter guest stars Kevin Sorbo and, in particular, Teri Hatcher can’t just fly in for this episode and then leave. Hatcher also needs to share a scene with Dean Cain or we want our money back!

It’s interesting to note, too, that in the flashback to Mon-El leaving Daxam, he’s not quite as much of a bastard as he could have been. Sure, he runs past injured people and stuff, but he does look a little perturbed as he does so. It’s not as though he flicks them out of the way with a gruff, “Move, puny peasant!” Sure, he was a git, but he wasn’t exactly stabbing people personally to get to the ship. Plus when he tells his parents, “That woman is the best thing that’s ever happened to me!” and proceeds to explain how Kara made him nicer, you really do feel it’s true.

The sub-plot, with Winn discovering his girlfriend has been fibbing to him, isn’t that compelling, but that doesn’t stop Winn coming out with some excellent one-liners or proving to Kara that forgiveness is important (not that she heeds his advice just yet).

The Good:

• Kara trying to put a positive spin on being fired by calling it “funemployment”.
• The Queen says she wants to “make Daxam great again”. This play on Trump’s campaign slogan also recently appeared in an episode of Supernatural, when a demon said he wanted to “make Hell great again”. Funny how it’s always the bad guys saying it on these liberal TV shows, isn’t it, and not the heroes…? Make of that what you will.
• Alex trying to talk Kara into forgiving Mon-El is rather adorable.
• The snitch wants Hamilton tickets in exchange for giving information to the DEO – talk about free publicity for the musical!
• “It is great that Picasso is intergalactically adored,” says Winn. Given Picasso’s lack of ability to draw a human face at times, and the fact some aliens might actually look like his cubist drawings, this probably shouldn’t be a surprise.

The Bad:

• Lyra telling Winn she wants “divine museum sex”, and him later talking about having bruises in intimate places, implies that they boffed inside the art gallery. Which is pretty damn gross, when you think about it. Hope they cleaned up afterwards. What if there’s a school trip there the next morning?!
• Yes, yes, it’s kind of a thing with this show – especially when there’s a crossover – but it’s a little tiring how often Supergirl ends with a last-minute visitor turning up and then a massive cliffhanger. Can’t the writers just find another way to do it? Most shows (when there isn’t a crossover, anyway) just put these cliffhangers in the teaser at the start of the next episode.
• Apparently Winn sings at his desk if he’s had sex the night before. Surely that’s something his co-workers should be complaining about to Human Resources? How annoying.

The Random:

• We see Mon-El’s guard stealing a ship from a Kryptonian in order to send the Prince to Earth – which explains how he got hold of a ship that didn’t look so different to her own.
• There are teases for the musical episode of The Flash – “Duet” – way before the Music Meister turns up. Kara enthuses about the classic Audrey Hepburn/Fred Astaire musical “Funny Face” (1957) and will sing a song made famous by Audrey Hepburn (“Moon River” from Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1961)) in “Duet”. She also shouts “Super friends!” at one point, which is the name of one of the new songs in “Duet”. Plus there’s that whole “bribing a snitch with Hamilton tickets” shtick, which also continues Supergirl’s love affair with that stage musical.

Super Friends

• Best Quote: Kara, apparently watching Game Of Thrones: “Wow, we are six seasons in and winter still hasn’t come!”

Reviewed by Jayne Nelson