Supergirl S3 E16 'Of Two Minds' Episode Discussion and Review

Of Two Minds…REVIEW

ACTING…4.5
ADVENTURE…4.0
WRITING…3.5
EFFECTS…3.5

BONUS: Star Wars (.5) Star Trek (.5)

SCORE: 16.5/20

Kara faces the ultimate in awkwardness. She and Mon-El have sort of cooled off the heat surrounding their relationship, but now Kara must face the possibility of working with Imra aka Saturn Girl. The two of them have different ideas on how to stop the third Worldkiller, Pestilence, who might become Blight in the future.

As the mayor is eating a cookie, he gets a bloody nose…looks like Pestilence has struck. And it’s possibly fatal.

Meanwhile, back at Lena’s HQ, she and Sam are discussing ways to get rid of Reign. And like She Hulk (sorry) Reign gets activated by stress. Lena fires an electric charge into Sam, sending her to the dark place…and she and Reign are about to have at it.

Back at City Hall, it’s a tent city and quarantine…good move your honor. Team DEO looks for any signs. Then, SG comes upon a redhead girl who is scared. Scratches without being scratched? And that nurse or doctor, has a rather poor bedside manner. She wants the quarantine lifted. Time for them to go to the hospital. A panic is the last thing on our minds. Leave it to Imra to summon up that panic. The two super beings have an argument and Imra rakes her force shield down and gives it to Kara.

Back at Lena’s lab, Sam recovered from Reign. Lena tells her it’s all in her head when Sam becomes Reign. Still no source on the activation point. It’s time to observe Reign.

Back at the DEO, Imra and Mon-El have a disagreement on how to do things. The transfusion of their DNA is complete. Alex and Kara are talking knowing that cures may be on the way. I really love Kara and Alex talks. Winn comes to the girls. And we find…THE RED HAIRED GIRL…SHE’S PESTILENCE..or maybe not. Meanwhile at City Hall team Supergirl makes a mistake. Pestilence got to her and killed her…AND NOW WINN IS GETTING INFECTED!

One can think of Pestilence, nee Blight in somewhat Biblical proportions as a cause of mass illness. In last week’s emotional and humor mix, Pestilence was shown as being the cause on some distant planet of turning an ocean blood red.

James comes in and Brainy in human form (in response to all the complaints about his make-up) asks Winn…and it’s a battle of wits…and a little humor. But then things turn tense between Kara and Imra…you get a feeling they might go to blows…that’s what Reign and company want.

Imra to Kara...YOU FAILED....OUCH!

Then, back in Sam’s mind, she and Reign have a war of words…and she dresses Sam down. She puts the blame on Ruby…Reign wants Ruby to DIE! How can ANYONE be that heartless? Don’t answer that. Reign reaches out her hand hoping Sam would shake it, but then, Same wakes up from the nightmare. And now Sam is arguing with Lena over what Reign will do to her.

At the DEO, Winn is peacefully sleeping as Jonn and Kara have a daddy/daughter talk…and they bring up Star Wars (.5 BONUS) and his father’s dementia. Just because something’s hard, doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Line of the night!

Mon-El and Imra are talking about her time with Kara. Mon-El then talks to Brainy about being in the Legion. And Mon-El is with Kara…Brainy is not. If Pestilence is killed, there is a greater chance in the future of Blight not showing up. Then Brainy has an alert. WINN IS GETTING WORSE. It turns out Pestilence has a different DNA structure or some biochemical things that even I can’t comprehend. The solution…GET PESTILENCE’S DNA…but how?

And then…ALEX IS HIT BY PESTILENCE. And…Imra breaks. Winn is still struggling as James is by his side. Winn has a reflection on his life which causes James to go emotional. Winn’s voice is breaking up as he contemplates what is next. When I get really sick, like pneumonia I have had in my life twice, I sometimes feel it’s going to be the end.

James than calls Lena and tells her of the problem. He wants her to help out…but almost tells about Sam and Reign. Same then readies herself to continue further. Back in the dark forest, Reign sees her again…Sam calls Reign a cancer and defies Reign, but Reign STILL WANTS RUBY! Sam wakes up and tells Lena about her nightmare. And Sam is desperate for help, but her help could make things worse.

Supergirl and the Legion at the DEO. And Brainy does now know about Social Media. It turns out…Dr. Grace Parker (Angela Zhou, who really brought it) who went to Metropolis University and is now at Nat City hospital…IS PESTILENCE…and she is supposed to be a doctor?! What is it in the Hippocratic Oath…DO NO HARM?! Well Pestilence, or Dr. Death, is going to do MAJOR harm.

It’s time for the final confrontation as a superhero meets a supposed hero in a doctor who kills. And Pestilence is about to go after them, when Supergirl and Valor enter. Imra joins in. Kara tries to implore the Hippocratic Oath. As Grace, she says there is no good in her. And Kara’s talking to the surgeon…FAILS. Now, it’s WAR! Grace then jumps down a floor, only to be met by Supergirl and the Legion. A fight breaks out…AND SUPERGIRL GOT SCRATHCED!!!!!!!! Imra then uses her force field…and shoots a dart into Pestilence…and then in comes Purity and her sonic scream. Two of the Worldkillers have united. And now they have Pestilence’s DNA…more than enough for Brainy to work his magic and cure Alex and Winn.

Back at the DEO Supergirl is recovering thanks to her Kryptonian DNA. Alex and Jonn said things would be tough without Alex, especially with his dad.

Kara and Imra have a talk, not knowing Purity would show up. And Kara is back to being lost, but Imra brings her back to Earth and tells her about Fort Rozz…and her sister who would be killed by Blight. Imra sees her sister in Kara and Alex.

Then at the DEO, it’s another alert…the worldkillers are headed for L-corp. But then, Team Supergirl makes the shocking discovery…Lena was keeping Sam to try and cure Reign. Then…THE WORLD KILLERS ARRIVE AND TAKE SAM!

What trouble will this lead to for Lena and Kara and what will the evil Trinity do next week to the sun to rob Kara of her powers? And what of the Trinity of Kara, Imra and Lena? Is that one subject to turnover given how Lena has not been honest with Kara about taking care of Sam? And now that all three Worldkillers are united, what are their plans for National City and for the planet?

Find out next week!

The title gives clear meaning as to Kara and Imra’s different ways of battling the Worldkillers. It also refers to the battle between Lena and Sam, which showed incredible amounts of strife and emotion last week. But Lena’s plans all went up in smoke.

Now, in Lena’s defense, how did she know that Purity and Pestilence would come in to rescue Reign and reunite, thus forming the evil trinity? She didn’t, but that glowing look in Reign’s eyes should have been a dead giveaway.

Now I have also been thinking, since Lena will now be at the DEO, does this also cause her to finally link Kara Danvers and Supergirl as one and the same?

Alexandra La Roche directed this episode co-written by Gabriel Llanas & Anna Musky-Goldwyn. This moved the storyline along nicely but of course we knew that the three evil ones would reunite. Despite that, this is yet another solid episode this season, which I believe has improved season 2. One word to describe it...INTENSE.

And now Ruby is the target of Reign. But if she knew her mom Samantha was Reign, there would be no telling what would happen to her psyche.

But that’s a bridge we will soon cross.

I feel like this episode's greatest weakness is going to be this season's greatest strength, when all is said and done.

By itself, this episode really doesn't feel like much. But the rest of this season feels like it's going to be one big arc which, as individual episodes, may feel incomplete, but when viewed together overall, will be the best we've gotten since the series inception.

Last week made us excited for Pestilence. This week made us excited for the 3 Worldkiller's united. Next week will undoubtedly leave us wanting more, as well.

I agree somewhat with this in that this episode leaves us wanting more but, the weaknesses of this episode and others are also what makes me question whether or not the show will be able to deliver a satisfying conclusion for the last half.

In this episode, I feel as though the writers had all of the elements to put together a solid episode. They had a deadly virus with key members of the main cast at death's door; they had the emergence of Pestilence and the conflict on how to deal with her; and they had more of Sam's struggle with Reign. But, what I find that the show has a tendency to do is try to push everything into one episode which causes them not to spend the necessary time on the key beats of those stories that are supposed to drive our emotions and put us on the edge of our seat.

The heightened conflict between Kara and Imra came out of nowhere. There wasn't enough build-up of scenes that made me understand why Kara would be THAT frustrated with Imra so, it felt out of place. The arrival of Pestilence and fall-out from her virus, along with Alex and Winn getting sick should have made me anxious but, it didn't because we saw only fragments of the story before the crisis was resolved.

While the last episode felt slow and a tad boring because they spent too much time on plots that were irrelevant or only casually related to the main arc, this episode was choked full of plots related to the main arc but, was paced too fast. That said, I did enjoy this episode more than the last one mainly because it finally seemed as though we were spending time on the main arc of the season.

Ha! Having too many plotlines in one episode has been a problem for these guys since day one. At this point, I think we may as well make our peace with it...

What buggered me is how little Kara's emotional reaction on Alex being down (and Winn being down) was focused on because the show was very busy electrocuting Sam for the umpteenth time. Odette gave those scenes great weight. But was it necessary to show it so many times when we never see our lead's reaction to her sister and her best friend--one her bulwark, the other a person she values greatly--falling victim to something that doesn't have a cure? I have no idea why Winn had to fall ill.. But, Alex's falling ill purely seemed like a plot point for Imra eventually confiding in Kara about her own sister. Which is fine to be honest. I don't mind Kara being a plot point in Imra's life for one episode.

But... for that, the could have just had Alex down at the beginning right after she came into contact with that doc. That would also have solved the problem Kelly mentioned about Chyler needing time away to support Nathan. But, it appeared that Alex did have enough to do this episode (so no time for shooting was taken away from Chyler) but it was not used appropriately. Kara rushes away both after Alex collapses and after Alex gets us.. And we have no idea what she is doing when she is away because we cut to Sam and Lena.

I didn't catch it during the episode itself but from gifs, you get Kara's pain more from the emotions playing on Melissa's face. Ditto Chyler when she realises that Kara is in the bed next to her (how she springs up). Which seemed more like actors making up for the writers and directors.

I liked the Imra bit because I had been preparing for the worst and it came as a pleasant surprise. And, I do think Imra could have been given more screen time for the past couple of episodes to build up her and Kara's relationship; but still, I liked what we got this episode. I liked that someone actually challenged Kara on her methodology instead of telling her how great she is all the time (before anyone complains... I have no issue with Mon El or Alex doing that either.. when it makes sense). I am on Kara's side on the issue (as mentioned in the episode review page) because I think these decisions cannot be made lightly. Kara didn't know the chances from Brainy. What Imra said doesn't mean as much because as they said, they lost a lot of what happened in the past.. .so Kara doesn't even know whether what happened was what she was currently doing.

And.. even if it is 50% chance, this is something that needs much forethought... And again, not something a very powerful being should plan for. It is one thing for a human and a soldier like Alex to kill someone on the battle field. It is another thing for someone who is immeasurably powerful (depending on the episode and plot point of course ) like Kara to go into battle field deciding to kill because other ways are just too hard. Besides, with planning, they could decide to keep an eye on Grace and act to neutralise if she even goes beyond what she planned. After all, doesn't Kara say she has always kept her eye on Livewire? It'd be irresponsible to just let a criminal out into the world without backup. But, with adequate contingency measures in place, that seems to be the better idea than killing them outright while there is a 50% chance of it turning out for the better.

Civilisations have been destroyed because many powerful nations felt the need to strike preemptively. Think of Carthage and Rome.

I agree that the whole pestilence at the shareholder/Board meeting seemed weirdly edited. The transition and her actions seemed all weird. Anyways, I felt that Grace is not a very nice person herself. Unlike Julia or Sam. Even if Sam had Ruby... Julia didn't have that. Yet, she stood up to her alterego. And.. Grace didn't.

I really liked what the writers have been doing with James and with James-Winn relationship. I like James far better than I have ever liked him.. and I enjoy the James-Winn friendship. But, I'd have liked Kara to have a little chat with either Winn or James or both too.

I liked Kara's and Alex's talks with J'onn.

And... I really liked having Alex as Kara's sounding board again.

And.. I liked seeing how Lena could turn to the dark side believably.

I actually enjoyed the episode. But, I thought in some areas (namely editing and camera angles) it was weaker than others.

And.. .whatever the case, I think this season is far better than the others... And I am hoping the writers continue to learn and improve so that we get a far better fourth season... That this cast and its leading lady deserves.

Agree, Sully. I never even got the least bit anxious or emotional for Winn and certainly not for Alex because it all seemed a bit crammed in with too many other story elements. As many have already mentioned, we really didn't get any dramatic Kara reaction to Alex, or even her best friend Winn. That part of the story felt emotionally detached. Imra's reaction to Alex and Kara's relationship could have even had way more deep meaning to it had that part of the story been given time to "marinate." I think it would have had 100% more impact had we watched Imra listening in on a heart-to-heart almost desparate talk between Kara and Alex. Instead, it was just a quick glance through glass. Arrggg... So much missed opportunity there.

The Sam/Reign story was given enough focus, as was Lena's. But I think separating this episode into two different ones would have served us better as viewers.

I feel like this episode's greatest weakness is going to be this season's greatest strength, when all is said and done.

By itself, this episode really doesn't feel like much. But the rest of this season feels like it's going to be one big arc which, as individual episodes, may feel incomplete, but when viewed together overall, will be the best we've gotten since the series inception.

Last week made us excited for Pestilence. This week made us excited for the 3 Worldkiller's united. Next week will undoubtedly leave us wanting more, as well.

I agree somewhat with this in that this episode leaves us wanting more but, the weaknesses of this episode and others are also what makes me question whether or not the show will be able to deliver a satisfying conclusion for the last half.

In this episode, I feel as though the writers had all of the elements to put together a solid episode. They had a deadly virus with key members of the main cast at death's door; they had the emergence of Pestilence and the conflict on how to deal with her; and they had more of Sam's struggle with Reign. But, what I find that the show has a tendency to do is try to push everything into one episode which causes them not to spend the necessary time on the key beats of those stories that are supposed to drive our emotions and put us on the edge of our seat.

The heightened conflict between Kara and Imra came out of nowhere. There wasn't enough build-up of scenes that made me understand why Kara would be THAT frustrated with Imra so, it felt out of place. The arrival of Pestilence and fall-out from her virus, along with Alex and Winn getting sick should have made me anxious but, it didn't because we saw only fragments of the story before the crisis was resolved.

While the last episode felt slow and a tad boring because they spent too much time on plots that were irrelevant or only casually related to the main arc, this episode was choked full of plots related to the main arc but, was paced too fast. That said, I did enjoy this episode more than the last one mainly because it finally seemed as though we were spending time on the main arc of the season.

Aside from the look, what makes Pestilence the scariest one to me is the fact her human side seems just as nasty as her WK side. AS for as the scariest LOOK award...totally goes to Purity.

I don't know, based on the fact that they showed Reign trying to convince Sam to just lean into the evil over and over again. Then had Grace respond in a way that sounds like a slight variation of what Reign said Sam, I don't know that you can make that judgement. It looks like Grace went through the same sort of thing Sam did and lost. Maybe it's easier if you are fighting for a person rather than a principle? We know that Sam is 'stronger than she should be'

Where I got by assumption was based on what we've been shown-- any time Purity and Reign are in their human form, they seem to fight back against their WK; whereas, Pestilence appears to welcome the WK metamorphosis. But, there could be more to it. I'm simply going off what we've seen.

I feel like this episode's greatest weakness is going to be this season's greatest strength, when all is said and done.

By itself, this episode really doesn't feel like much. But the rest of this season feels like it's going to be one big arc which, as individual episodes, may feel incomplete, but when viewed together overall, will be the best we've gotten since the series inception.

Last week made us excited for Pestilence. This week made us excited for the 3 Worldkiller's united. Next week will undoubtedly leave us wanting more, as well. And I just feel that's going to be the trend until this season's conclusion.

Aside from the look, what makes Pestilence the scariest one to me is the fact her human side seems just as nasty as her WK side. AS for as the scariest LOOK award...totally goes to Purity.

I don't know, based on the fact that they showed Reign trying to convince Sam to just lean into the evil over and over again. Then had Grace respond in a way that sounds like a slight variation of what Reign said Sam, I don't know that you can make that judgement. It looks like Grace went through the same sort of thing Sam did and lost. Maybe it's easier if you are fighting for a person rather than a principle? We know that Sam is 'stronger than she should be'

Agreed, that mas y be why Reign specifically threatened Ruby, trying to take out the thing that makes Sam stronger. I liked how they showed that Sam wasnt even a little bit tempted by Reign.

Aside from the look, what makes Pestilence the scariest one to me is the fact her human side seems just as nasty as her WK side. AS for as the scariest LOOK award...totally goes to Purity.

I don't know, based on the fact that they showed Reign trying to convince Sam to just lean into the evil over and over again. Then had Grace respond in a way that sounds like a slight variation of what Reign said Sam, I don't know that you can make that judgement. It looks like Grace went through the same sort of thing Sam did and lost. Maybe it's easier if you are fighting for a person rather than a principle? We know that Sam is 'stronger than she should be'

This is also an indication that maybe Lena trying to draw Reign out is bad idea?
Wasn't Lena able to bring Reign out by upsetting Sam last episode? If words were sufficient before how electric shock the only way now? Is Lena sleep deprived or something? Because her reasons for not reaching out to Supergirl are contrary to what Lena herself has experienced. When Lena was framed then captured by her mother, Supergirl rescued her saying "Kara Danvers believes in you" (looking back it would be better if she said "I believe in you", but still Lena must know that Kara would vouch for Sam if that was what it took) so why would Lena assume that Supergirl would attomaticaly dismiss what she says? Also Supergirl is pretty public about her support for alien rights, so it's odd that Lena thinks she would be cool with someone dissecting Sam. (It sounds more like something Lillian would do. Also, dissecting is bit old fashioned at this point. Wouldn't they just use an MRI?)

Purity and Pestilence’s costumes are awe inspiring and scary. If I were Odette I might be just a tiny bit jealous that thier costumes are better. Although the mask does make Reign look threatening.

BAH HA HA AH A HA Brier....thought same thing, especially today looking at some pics they posted on Instagram together. Love Reign's mask. Hate everything below the crest on her chest. Reminds me of the look of black dance pants that fit too big on little girls when they first take dance. lol

Aside from the look, what makes Pestilence the scariest one to me is the fact her human side seems just as nasty as her WK side. AS for as the scariest LOOK award...totally goes to Purity.

Purity and Pestilence’s costumes are awe inspiring and scary. If I were Odette I might be just a tiny bit jealous that thier costumes are better. Although the mask does make Reign look threatening.

One thing that didnt make sense was how Reigns costume just appeared on her after they all held hands. Although the Shelter from the Storm pics show that the Mask at least is removable in 'Reign' form. Is there a point to Reign wearing the mask anymore now?

Purity and Pestilence’s costumes are awe inspiring and scary. If I were Odette I might be just a tiny bit jealous that thier costumes are better. Although the mask does make Reign look threatening.

Same, Kdogg...

From the newly released stills... By the looks of the paintings, books, furniture, old computer, etc etc behind, what looks to be museum/ storage type environment... appears to me that they take Ruby to the future to "hide" her there. That explains Alex's new clothes. 

As soon as the doctor touched Alex's hand, I knew that was Pestilence.

The three WK together are.... AWESOME!

I definitely can see a reason for Lena to now slide downward... questioning herself. And I definitely can see how Lena feeling judged by Supergirl for keeping the secret from Supergirl is going to cause major problems now when Lena finds out they ALL have been keeping secrets from Lena. In the words of Scooby Do... "Ruuup rroooo!"

**Copying my own comment from the "recap" thread.

Having the same problem with Kara that I had with Barry, 2 weeks ago. Killing should never be the goal, but should never be OFF THE TABLE when innocent lives are at stake. It should always be an option, but only as a last resort.

Kara has killed at least twice. Parasite and Rhea. Not to mention how many White Martians she incinerated, on Mars, with that staff.

And her 2nd/3rd/4th chances with Rhea had to have cost some civilian lives, with the Daxamite invasion.

I think they are just trying to draw the hard line against killing so they can make it more impactful when SOMEBODY has to die by season's end, whether it be Sam/Reign or other Worldkillers.

I'm really just hoping, however this season ends, it doesn't give season 4 another half season of "Mopey Kara".

This episode reminds me of the Flash

Yes, but now I think Kara will go 100x on the no kill bandwagon due to her now knowing that Sam is Reign.

This episode reminds me of the Flash

Other users were pretty adamant that Kara is better than Barry when it comes to the necessity to kill. I think this episode serves as a reminder that none of this characters have a fixed personality through the seasons. Their views change at writers' will.

David definitely posts all the best BTS stuff.

Just re-watched the trailer for next week. Just noted, that finger nail that suddenly grows into a claw? Liquid drops from it. Muah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

so, I've noticed in pictures of Alex and Winn on the DEO sick bay beds, both had a red scratch on their hands. Then, on the trailer it shows a long nail growing on someone's hand. Starting to think perhaps Pestilence scratches both of them to infect them? Hurry up, Monday. Dang you, Wednesday.

A thought just occurred to me with Pestilence and the sickness she's causing now would've been a really good time to call Eliza, the expert in astro-biology. Her skill set would've been especially useful against a plague of Kryptonian origin. Not to mention since Alex is dangerously ill it's kinda far fetched that Kara wouldn't call her. People complained that Superman didn't show up when Reign beat Kara up but where the heck was Eliza who would've surely heard about the fight on the news. At least with Eliza DC doesn't care.

Based on the extended preview, it looks like the Sam's secret finally comes out of the bag for Supergirl and co.

I feel like, from here on out, it's pretty much progression the main story for most of the rest of the season. Pestilence's appearance, the unity of the 3 Worldkillers, and the progression from there.

Not every single episode of this season has been a knockout, but I definitely feel it's the strongest of the 3 seasons, so far.

Yep, no doubt they will demand that Sam be moved to the DEO, and probably Ruby as well. I wonder if Kara will be compassionate for Sam knowing that she was not conscious of what she did as Reign.