Supergirl had a milestone evening tonight! Ever since the end of the fourth season, we've been contending with the very dangerous and very scary Ma'alefa'ak. With James and Kelly off to keep Kelly safe, it was team Supergirl that had to find J'onn's brother and put him down. Using good old shape-shifting and a few of those holographic projectors, the team was able to fool Ma'alefa'ak for a time. However, a lot more took place this episode with Lena lending a hand and James selecting a new course. Here's what stood out to us!
- Supergirl vs Ma'alefa'ak: Ma'alefa'ak is seeking Kelly because she has the advantage of seeing him. They use this to their advantage and J'onn takes Kelly's form and Supergirl hides behind a hologram to fool Ma'alefa'ak. Supergirl hits Ma'alefa'ak hard but he is able to get one of the other DEO agents to shoot at Alex. Kara catches the bullet and fries the gun. Ma'alefa'ak gets away though because his brain is not like normal Green Martians.
- Stories Unfold at the DEO: Before using a very dangerous weapon against Ma'alefa'ak which could kill J'onn, Brainy is tasked with fixing the phantom zone projector. The team calls in Lena to help. Lena jumps at the opportunity to further her own goals. Meanwhile, Supergirl is tipped off that William is headed to Mexico to meet with Elena Torres. Kara follows but Elena is already dead from what looks like a car accident. William is there and gets into a car at the scene. Nia let's Kara know that William is working with a member of the underground, a gang member.
- Elena Torres: Supergirl heads to Elena Torres' apartment to find out what she was working on before she was killed. Another woman with wind powers arrives and asks if Kara is Elena. Kara decides to play along and gets blown out of the window. She returns as Supergirl and takes out the would-be assassin.
- DEO Martian Protocol: Ma'alefa'ak has done exactly what J'onn was afraid of. He incepted someone to get into the DEO and has taken control of the deadly Martian weapon designed by Hank Henshaw. He then forces Alex to turn against J'onn. Kelly, being connected to Ma'alefa'ak is still able to feel when he incepts on someone. Kelly gets tipped off while pulling out a pizza back in James and Kelly's hometown. Kelly isn't quite sure what it means yet.
- Elena Torres' Death Faked & Martian Madness: It would seem that Elena wasn't the person in the car. It was a body that died of natural causes. Nia has found an account that has been receiving money for over a year. Meanwhile, back at the DEO, Alex's incepted self calls out J'onn that he mind-wiped Ma'alefa'ak from existence. Alex really lays it own J'onn and he is heartbroken. Alex calls J'onn a monster and leaves J'onn broken on the DEO balcony. Supergirl finds J'onn in a DEO conference room. J'onn tells Kara what he did to Ma'alefa'ak. Of course, Kara is able to speak to J'onn and show him a better path. She says that as long as J'onn is able to make it better, there is a path forward. J'onn then tells Kara that it was Nia that told Alex, but that is what tips J'onn and Kara off to Alex's inception.
- The Planetarium: Alex under Ma'alefa'ak's control starts taking shots at J'onn. J'onn, now with Kara's words in his mind, asks for Ma'alefa'ak's forgiveness. He pleads for Ma'alefa'ak's forgiveness. Then Ma'alefa'ak reveals himself and begins his assault on Alex and J'onn. Alex has a bomb attached to her. J'onn is able to phase Alex free while Supergirl takes the hit from the bomb. She is also able to get to all of the stolen alien weapons with her super speed. Ma'alefa'ak is then identified by Kelly and J'onn is able to fire the phantom zone projector at him in the nick of time.
In the final wrap up moments, J'onn and Alex share a moment in the DEO medical wing. Kara and Lena speak at the DEO. She mentions that Lena is now an official "Super Friend". Brainy asks for Nia's help and the two are still committed to working on their relationship. James then announces at the bar that he is going to move back to Calvintown to help the people in that city. He is going to buy the Calvintown Gazette as a publisher not a reporter so he can avoid his non-compete clause. James notes that the reason he was in National City in the beginning was at Clark's behest. He says Kara never needed his help and he knows the city is in good hands with her. William's investigation is actually into Andrea Rojas. He doesn't have a wife. William is actually still working for the English newspaper but is undercover. He says he isn't really the jerk he has been pretending to be. James hires the boy from Cavintown to be a reporter. The boy calls him Chief but he says to call him "Jimmy". Finally, Lena actually has Ma'alefa'ak instead of being in the phantom zone.
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Comments
2. Loved the Lena reveal at the end. Holy cow this is getting good. First time in a long time I actually feel the real danger for Supergirl.
3. Nice, respectful goodbye to James...nice touch.
4. Loving the relationship between Kelly and Alex, great chemistry. I think Kelly's connection to Mal will come in handy later.
A solid 8.5 out of 10 for me. Looking forward to more of Jay's writing.
Yep. My first thought was that Kara didn't help by saying, "What are you doing here?" in a tone that suggested she recognized him.
Poor gal has no poker face...
I think William may know that Kara is Supergirl, based on what he said to her in this episode and also that he found Supergirl fighting a white Martian in the previous episode, when he expected to find Kara.
I have really enjoyed the scenes of Kara changing to Supergirl throughout this season. I also think she looks much stronger and more imposing in the new suit. It almost seems like Melissa feels it too, and carries herself differently.
This episode presented the best balance between Supergirl and Kara as a journalist in the entire series, IMO.
Now about Lena. She is really conflicted, in my opinion. On the one hand, she is engaged in an obsession to improve humanity which, though noble on its face, could lead to great danger for herself and everyone else because of the unscrupulous methods she is using. On the other hand, she does care deeply about these people even though they deceived her, evidenced by her concern for J'onn and Brainy in this episode and Kara in some other instances. This will indeed be a battle for Lena's soul. I think that when Lex re-enters the picture she will see in him an image of where she is headed, and that will provide the opening for Kara and the others to help her pull back. I just do not believe that the PTB would write this so that Supergirl would fail to redeem her best friend. Lena may remain a grey character who sometimes is at odds with Supergirl, but I don't expect she will become a true, over-arching villain. That's my take, but it will certainly be a wild ride!
Ma'alef'ak was brought to Earth 38 for a reason, so I am not surprised he wasn't vanquished to the Phantom zone. Leviathan had Eve working with Lex because they thought he was a key to whatever is coming and obviously they were right as Monitor apparently took Lex somewhere. I am eager to see where Leviathan fits into all of this and when will HopEve clue Lena into Leviatha. Oh... and the the Ancients. Lots to come.
Yes it's great to see Supergirl using her powers and doing the rescuing instead of having to be saved. It's a good trend that started in the Lex Luthor episodes as the writers seem to understand now that this is what the show's viewers want to see.
Yeah that's what I thought too. I was a bit confused there
I fully agree with kdogg87: "Lots of Kara, lots of Supergirl. None of her having to be saved by non-powered allies. Instead, she did the saving, over and over, in this episode." I love seeing her save the day!
It was clear from the first episode that the new guy was going to end up being good, and given that he’s now the only male character who hasn’t been involved with Kara, it was equally obvious that they’d eventually have some pointless love story there. I say pointless, because I simply don’t think this show is ever going to pair off Kara with anyone, until MAYBE the last season.
Andrea was telegraphed as evil immediately. Lena’s switch from grey/good to grey/bad has been so rapid as to be completely unbelievable, unless there is some underlying force at work - which I wouldn’t doubt. The whole appearance of QWaves in literally EVERY storyline pretty much tells us that all storylines will eventually connect and Leviathan is likely the root cause.
Already bored with Alex and Kelly - just not the same chemistry she had with Maggie, and Nia and Brainy have gotten on my nerves since the first episode of the season - which is unfortunate because I thought they were cute last year.
The acting remains very good, and I like that they have some interesting stuff going on, like Leviathan, but it would be nice to actually have some surprise or suspense, and ditch the story retreads, like J’onn’s tortured past