Supergirl Season 2 Episode 12 “Luthors” Recap

Supergirl is back this week and it’s focusing heavily on the dysfunctional Luthor family, and the secrets they’ve been trying to hide. Let’s recap.

The episode kicks off with a flashback from “20 years earlier.” Lionel is bringing a little girl into the Luthor household, who we later find out is Lena, saying to her, “Lena, this is your new mother.” Of course, he’s referring to Lillian. So Lena kicks off her shoes and starts playing chess with Lex.

Fast forward to the Snakehole Lounge, everyone’s favorite alien bar. Kara and Mon-El are awkwardly talking while the others (J’onn, James, and Winn… they sound like a boy band) are patiently waiting to meet Alex’s boyfriend.

Think again, guys.

Alex and Maggie casually saunter over and the looks on James’ and Winn’s faces were priceless, while Mon-El was questioning if that’s a problem here on Earth.

"“On Earth, not everybody supports ladies loving ladies.“"

So I guess we have one thing in common with National City.

While Winn is attempting to beat Maggie at pool, James and Kara catch a glimpse of the news which is covering Lillian Luthor’s trial. Kara decides to go visit Lena as she could probably use a friend right now. Lena’s at her office deciding if she should go visit her mom in jail. Kara’s advice is that “she’s still your mom” and she should go make her peace.

Lena takes Kara’s advice and heads to the jail to visit Lillian. Lillian exposes the secret that she’s not actually her mother but a result of an affair that Lionel was having. While this is happening, Metallo’s (also locked up in the same jail) cell received a package of a Kryptonite heart.

Supergirl — “Luthors” — Image SPG212a_0134 — Pictured (L-R): Katie McGrath as Lena Luthor and Brenda Strong as Lillian Luthor — Photo: Bettina Strauss/The CW — © 2017 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved

In court the next day, Metallo repeats exactly what Lillian Luthor wants him to say. He starts using his Kryptonite heart to kill people. Him and Lillian escape and the question now becomes who gave Metallo the Kryptonite heart. But the only person who visited the jail the night before was Lena Luthor. Maggie finds a video of Lena holding the Kryptonite heart and arrests her. Back at KatCo, everyone wants to put Lena on the front page but Kara is the only one sticking up for her.

Later that night, Metallo breaks Lena out of jail and takes her to a secret hiding place with Lillian. It becomes very clear that Lena actually was not part of breaking Metallo out and doesn’t want to be involved with the Luthor’s crazy family plan of ridding the Earth of aliens. Lillian only needed Lena’s DNA to open a vault so there’s goes that nice mother/daughter moment inside the jail cell.

Kara is still insistent that Lena didn’t do it so she forces Winn to go over the video again until he finds something, and surprise, he does! The video was fiddled with and it wasn’t Lena who got that Kryptonite heart. Winn also discovers where Lillian has taken her so of course, Kara wants to go after them. Before she does, they also find out that the bunker the Luthor’s are hiding out in have unstable Kryptonite that’s about to blow at any minute. Everyone tells Kara that she can’t be anywhere near that when it blows but Kara doesn’t care because Lena is her ‘friend.’

Supergirl — “Luthors” — Image SPG212b_0014 — Pictured (L-R): David Harewood as Hank Henshaw, Melissa Benoist as Kara, and Jeremy Jordan as Winn Schott — Photo: Cate Cameron/The CW — © 2017 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved

Kara takes off to the bunker. There’s some fighting until everyone realizes Metallo’s heart is about to explode. Lillian takes off with a few weapons she collects, leaving Lena, Supergirl, and Metallo in the bunker. Metallo and Supergirl start going at it but just before Metallo gets the last punch, J’onn shows up to help. They escape just in time before Metallo blows.

Kara goes to see Lena to check in on her after everything that has happened, and to thank her for the billion flowers that have been arriving on Kara’s desk all day for being a good friend. Lena calls Kara her hero and then they share a hug that lasted way too long for just friends which got Supercorp shippers overly excited. Kara leaves and Lena gets this weird villain like look on her face before picking up a chess piece and staring into it longingly. I have so many thoughts about this but I’ll save them for my “shocking moments” article.

Later that night, Mon-El shows up at Kara’s apartment to talk about how awkward their friendship has become. Instead of just clearing the air though, Kara confesses some potential feelings for Mon-El. Just before they kiss, they’re interrupted by a blue blob that could only represent the patronus of the entire Supercorp fandom. Enter Mr. Mxyzptik who declares his love for Kara and asks her to marry him.

End scene.

All in all, I loved this episode mostly for how much Katie McGarth (Lena) was in it but also because we got a taste of the life in the Luthor world. I find it hard to believe that Lena Luthor will be switching over to the evil side but on a show like Supergirl, you can never tell who’s good or bad.

Next: GLAAD Media Awards Include Supergirl and Wynonna Earp

Supergirl airs Monday at 8/7c on The CW.