Supergirl season 3 episode 9 review + analysis: Reign

Our heroine faces her most formidable foe so far in the Supergirl midseason finale. But “Reign” fails to dislodge the show from its state of inertia.

Last week, Supergirl took something of a breather, converging with fellow superhero shows The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow for The CW’s now-annual crossover. “Crisis on Earth-X” followed the Danvers sisters as they battled alternate-universe Nazis, including a version of Kara, and heartbreak. At one point, Winn appeared as a bearded, no-nonsense rebel leader. It was a blast.

“Reign” completely ignores the crossover, picking up where “Wake Up” left off. There are no references, winking or otherwise, to that time Kara and Alex helped thwart a Nazi invasion. They talk about wallowing in misery, as if they didn’t have the same conversation before hopping over to Barry and Iris’s wedding. Kara appears to have learned nothing from her encounter with her evil double about the merits of accepting weakness. It’s like “Crisis on Earth-X” never happened.

However, the lack of continuity is only one reason why Supergirl disappointed in its midseason finale. Suffice to say, this isn’t an ideal way to go into a month-long hiatus.

Now begins the reign of Reign

After eight episodes of teasing, we finally meet the season’s big bad. When mysterious symbols start appearing throughout National City, the DEO is called in to investigate. Kara finds out from her mother’s hologram that the symbols are glyphs belonging to a primitive Kryptonian language called Low Speech. Not even Alura, with all of the planet’s knowledge at her disposal, can translate it.

She doesn’t have to, it turns out. Instead, Kara gets the answer from a human. She meets Coville (aka the cult leader from “The Faithful”) in prison, where he informs her of a prophecy involving a being “made of darkness and teeth” that will destroy the world. The glyphs are the first sign of this apocalypse. How Coville became better-versed in Kryptonian lore than actual Kryptonians is unclear. (Okay, he says he spoke to prisoners from Fort Rozz, but shouldn’t Alura have access to their knowledge as well?)

The whole thing is muddled and tedious. Mythology has always been a weak point for Supergirl (see the bungled Project Cadmus storyline), and this is no exception. Like with Caitlin and Killer Frost in The Flash, Samantha’s transformation into Reign strips her of agency, reducing her to a robot controlled by some vague malevolent urge. But whereas Caitlin can at least switch between her personas, Samantha seems permanently stuck in “world-killer” mode. All of a sudden, her entire personality is gone, replaced by generic mustache-twirling.

In theory, she could still be compelling. The show brings up religion again, positioning Reign as the judgmental god to Supergirl’s benevolent one. Here, though, its treatment of the subject feels superficial, devoid of emotional weight; Kara’s assertion about the relationship between belief and power goes unexplored. Or maybe Reign’s nonexistent personality is the point — a statement about the nature of humanity. Regardless, it isn’t riveting drama. Besides, Kara already faced a version of herself that turned her back on humanity in “Crisis on Earth-X”.

A terrible situation

Remember when Supergirl was basically a rom-com in disguise? It was bubbly and sweet, and quips flew, and the characters smiled on occasion. Sure, it had a sprinkling of angst (what rom-com doesn’t?), but that never got in the way of its sense of fun. There was a playful quality in the absurd contrivances and awkward mix-ups and even the melodramatic comparison of Kara and Mon-El’s ill-fated fling to that of Romeo and Juliet.

So, there’s a world in which the show handled Mon-El’s return with panache. Kara and Mon-El would have exchanged some screwball banter. She and Irma would have become friends, despite whatever jealousy she felt. Somebody would have made a joke. Sadly, we don’t live in that world. In our world, Kara just glowers at everyone all the time. Look, I get that she wants to hide her human side or whatever. But at least show her struggling with it; show some internal conflict. Let Melissa Benoist act, for Rao’s sake. As it is, “Reign” has no spark or wit, and only the most stilted emotion; it’s as if not even the writers can convince themselves to care.

It actually makes me nostalgic for the Kara/Winn/James love triangle. At least they punctuated their hostility with crime-fighting sessions.

Who needs mistletoe when you have alcohol?

Yet, the Mon-El situation isn’t even the episode’s most frustrating storyline. That dubious honor goes to Lena.

For starters, it involves Morgan Edge. When she sees the glyphs, Lena jumps to the conclusion that they must be part of an elaborate plot orchestrated by her archenemy. So, with James tagging along, she confronts him. Cue another round of empty threats and toothless insults. Again, no offense to Adrian Pasdar, who fared better in a similar role on USA’s Colony, but Edge has only grown more annoying since his introduction in the season 3 premiere. Are we supposed to find him intimidating? Pathetic? What is the point of him?

Then, someone tries to kill Lena again, and she escapes with James’s help. Afterward, they share a drink. During the drink, they kiss. I would say that it comes out of nowhere, but earlier in the episode, Kara observes that they “have chemistry”. Plus, several fans saw it coming based on the characters’ fleeting previous interactions.

I’m not one of those fans. Maybe I’m missing something (in fact, I definitely am, since I still fail to understand what everyone else sees in Lena), but I don’t detect any special chemistry between actors Mehcad Brooks and Katie McGrath. They’re … fine, I guess. As for the characters, there’s no reason for them to be together aside from the writers’ baffling inability to find material for James. (Remember when he was supposed to be the male lead? Sigh.) Even if they didn’t want to follow through on the Guardian storyline for whatever reason, a James/Lena rivalry would have made more sense than a romance and been infinitely more interesting.

Throwing two random (heterosexual) characters into bed with each other won’t solve your creative woes. It’s just lazy.

Bullet points:

It’s that time of year, so we hear a couple Christmas tunes: “Jingle Bell Rock” by Hall & Oates during the party and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” during the fight.
In DC Comics, Irma Ardeen is the alter ego of Saturn Girl. A telepath, she can not only read but also manipulate other people’s minds.
I’m both intrigued by the Legion of Super-Heroes and skeptical that a superhero team is what Supergirl needs right now.
Lena and James rock those coats they wear when talking to Edge, and that’s the only nice thing I have to say about them as a couple.
The action this episode felt very Arrow, with the constantly moving camera and hand-to-hand combat. During the drug deal scene, I briefly wondered if we’d somehow switched shows.
Seriously, is there any reason Kara, Winn, and James barely interact anymore?
“Bah humbug.”
Midseason grade: B-. It has been an uneven nine episodes, and unfortunately, Supergirl ushers us into the winter hiatus on a low note. Going forward, I hope the new year and/or the exit of producer Andrew Kreisberg kicks some life back into the show.

Supergirl returns to The CW on Jan. 15, 2018.

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