Supergirl S03E3 “Far from the Tree” REVIEW

Supergirl S03E3 “Far from the Tree” REVIEW

0 comments 📅30 October 2017, 15:22

Airing in the UK on Sky 1, new episodes every Monday

Writers: Jessica Queller and Derek Simon

Director: Dermott Downs

Essential Plot Points:

  • Alex and Kara talk about their mum’s plan for a bridal shower, as the pair talk about the festivities J’onn comes to visit them to let them know that M’gann needs him to go to Mars. Kara decides to join him there.
  • M’gann is working alongside several White Martians in rebellion against the dictatorship, she tells J’onn that they’ve discovered that his father has been kept alive for centuries because of his knowledge of a mythical psychic weapon. As he has closed off his minds to the White Martians, they ask J’onn to help persuade him to help.
  • After Maggie explains how her dad kicked her out as a kid for being gay, Alex feels that because time has passed and Maggie still loves her father then perhaps she can reach out to him and repair the burnt bridge.
  • J’onn tries to talk to his father but he is sure that it’s a trick to reveal his knowledge, so he refuses. When he tries to talk to him again, and the resistance turn on M’gann, Kara takes them away to safety.
  • Maggie’s father comes to the party but leaves shortly thereafter, telling her that he worked hard to give her a life without prejudice and that society still doesn’t accept them.
  • After persuading his father that he is really his son, J’onn and the others go to where the staff is and defeat some White Martians to take the staff away.
  • Maggie confronts her father, saying that she’s accepted herself and got a family around her, so she doesn’t need him. J’onn brings his father to earth.

Review:

Family is the focus of this week’s episode of Supergirl, and the writer’s show us how the messy family lives affects the series’ best supporting characters: J’onn and Maggie. In this intriguing self-contained episode, we get to see -as the episode’s title suggests- if the apple has fallen far from the tree for the pair. They deal with separate but similar problems concerning their fathers, J’onn discovers that his father has been kept alive for two centuries by the White Martians and must persuade him of who he is so that he can help J’onn and the resistance. Maggie, meanwhile, decides to reconnect with her father who abandoned her and tries to bring him back into her life.

This is a great episode for the development of both character’s but it’s especially the case for J’onn who has been so defined by his grief, war-torn past, and his desire to build a new family on earth over the past two seasons. For him to discover that his father, M’yrnn, is alive gives him the chance to connect with his past in a more comforting way, and the flashback of his birthday spent with his daughters and father perfectly encapsulated this feeling. Given that J’onn had to persuade his father that he was real, and not a trick used by the White Martians to test M’yrnn, the episode also gave the pair a great opportunity to shine through their heartfelt performances.

What was more powerful, though, was the development of the relationship between Maggie and her father. Their interactions were charged with emotion, and the tension between them was evident from the moment that Maggie’s father stepped out of the bus to greet her. Floriana Lima and Carlos Bernard worked well together, and the strength that Floriana expressed through her character even when her father continued to reject her was a good choice on the part of the writers, as it gave Floriana the chance to stand out as a performer.

Sure, this week’s episode didn’t do much to progress the general plot of the series, but it was welcome all the same. The narratives flowed well, contrasting each other in interesting ways and giving two much-loved characters the chance to stand in the spotlight again. It was also nice that Kara was the comic relief in this episode, with everything she’s been going through it feels like it’s been a while since we’ve seen her happier side and this episode did well to change that.

The Good:

  • Floriana Lima’s performance, and the interactions she had with Carlos Bernard.
  • J’onn’s story with his father was also well written, it presented a part of the Martian resistance and was a good way to develop J’onn’s character further.
  • The CGI has certainly improved from previous seasons
  • Kara was light-hearted again and the comic-relief she gave was certainly a nice change of pace to the way she’s been in previous episodes.

The Bad:

  • There wasn’t much progress for the season’s overall story, but this was still a great episode.

And the Random:

  • Carl Lumbly, who played J’onn’s father M’yrnn was the voice of J’onn in the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited cartoons

Written by Roxy Simons

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