I'll give this episode one thing, it feels like a season finale, they pulled out all the big stops, alien invasion, returning heroes like Superman & Miss Martian, ending with some major character and plot progression with a hint of what's to come for season three. Honestly I'm just really impressed with what they did with the invasion, it felt huge, and everyone got a moment to shine and be a badass. Except for maybe Maggie but...well she's a cop, probably can't do much compared to aliens and secret agents. But with that being said, it still sort of felt like a standard invasion that we've seen plenty of times before in superhero stories, especially DC. Hell, this isn't even the first alien invasion we've had in the DCW this year. Part of me is just desensitised to it now.
The real highlight for me was the final conversation between Cat Grant and Kara, the bond between them is genuine and touching, and her speech about wearing emotions on their sleeves is what makes them strong holds some genuine truth. Also they finally admitted she knows Kara's Supergirl because boy she is not good at keeping that a secret. That's something upon reflection of the show as a whole is that the bond between the characters seems very genuine. All of the DC Shows reflect a different type of group, Team Arrow feel like co-workers, Team Flash like best friends, and the Legends are the dysfunctional family. Supergirl's case is the perfectly healthy nuclear family (Except with aliens).
Though really this is kind of a difficult season for me to come to a consensus on. It's certainly much better than last season, the characters have stronger relationships, the writing is more consistent, the episodes more memorable. But there's still clearly an unbalance in the main plot, as if this season couldn't really decide what it wanted to be about. At one point Cadmus were the villains, then it was the Daxamites, and somewhere in there all the stuff about the martians came and went with no real conclusion. The only real plot that had a consistent focus and structure was the romance between Alex and Maggie, which I'm sure most people will walk away from thinking that was the best part, and it's easy to see why. It got the perfect amount of screentime, never overshadowed anything else, didn't come across as forced and is adds more diversity to the series. That's another thing I can say about this season, it is certainly the most socially aware of the DCW shows, with plenty of relevant social commentary and reflections of real world issues. Even down to the title of this episode is in reference to US Senator Elizabeth Warren. It does put more effort into what it's series is saying and I respect that.
However then there are the subplots that really don't work. The main one being James playing superhero, which I have complained about numerous times. He doesn't make a good superhero, he only does it so he can feel useful, his contribution is minimal, he constantly goes against the logical and sensible thing to do. He's the definition of a vigilante, he takes the law into his own hands and decides on his own brand of justice and we're supposed to support him even though he's being selfish, irresponsible and dumb. Then there is the romance with Mon-El which while I don't hate nearly as much as some people, I can't disagree when they say this is clearly a messed up character. He's manipulative-even if he doesn't know it-he constantly contradicts himself, he's selfish and was pretty much made irredeemable when he so casually says he misses living on a world where he was allowed to be misogynistic.
This season may have had its misses, but in my opinion I think it had just as many hits, if not more. There's been a large improvement from the first season, it's more entertaining, has best character relationships, features more of my favourite characters from the comics that just give me a big ol' smile.
The finale I give a 7/10.
The season overall I also give a 7/10.
-Danny
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