Supergirl season 3 episode 18 review: Shelter from the Storm

And then there was one. Even as the sole remaining Worldkiller, Reign causes plenty of trouble for Supergirl and the team in “Shelter from the Storm.”

With “Trinity”, Supergirl tried its hand at the otherworldly. The Worldkillers summoned a solar eclipse with magic, and our heroes ventured into an alternate dimension to thwart them. Alas, the episode’s ambition eclipsed its abilities, its cosmic threat carrying all the weight of a hat without a rabbit.

True to its title, “Shelter from the Storm” reduces the scope and stakes — a move as smart as it is welcome. Here, the show performs some damage control, taking time to explore the aftermath of last week’s events. By no means is it stalling; on the contrary, it prepares in crucial ways for the season’s fast-approaching endgame.

If anything, it has too much going on, incorporating five distinct plotlines instead of the usual three. But what it lacks in grace, “Shelter from the Storm” makes up for (somewhat) in cohesion. Unlike “Trinity”, it presents a clear theme, as various characters find their notions of safety and danger upended.

First, there’s Lena Luthor. The episode opens with a rather jarring shot of her standing in front of a window, the zipper of her dress undone and her back exposed to the camera. Until now, the closest Supergirl ever got to showing any nudity is Alex and Maggie in bed the morning after, so this has the effect of a Victorian-era lady revealing her ankles. Far from gratuitous, the image of Lena’s back illustrates how James has affected her, convincing the normally put-together CEO to lower her guard.

(That said, from a plot standpoint, the scene feels misplaced. Surely, James wouldn’t respond to the discovery that Lena makes kryptonite by jumping into bed with her. Of course, that requires the writers to consider James’s point of view.)

Anyway, the moment doesn’t last long. Reign breaks into the apartment, shattering the window and the mood of sunlit romance. Drawing from Samantha’s memories, she knows that Lena hid Ruby and demands to know where. Never one to balk in the face of a threat, Lena refuses to spill and wards off Reign with a dose of kryptonite-in-a-can.

Soon, the DEO arrives at the scene. Alex wants to know Ruby’s location so they can help protect the girl, but, back in Luthor mode, Lena contends that Ruby is safest with as few people knowing as possible. She complies only reluctantly.

Which brings Alex to Lex Luthor’s old mansion. Now owned by an eccentric yet cordial woman named Mrs. Queller, it still boasts the defenses of a fortress. In addition to a shield that renders it invisible to the outside world, it features a basement complete with flamethrowers and machine guns. Of course, those weapons are like toys compared to the giant portrait of Lillian Luthor that hangs in the dining room; like something from a Gothic horror novel, it transforms the sanctuary into a walk-in nightmare.

Ruby doesn’t seem to mind, though; she’s just worried about her mother, who, at this point, has been “sick” for weeks. Alex, ever the surrogate parent, just wants Ruby to be happy, so she lies, claiming ignorance. She still doesn’t know what is happening with Samantha, but it’s nothing to fret about. Everything will be okay. Here’s some Young Frankenstein to distract you…

Meanwhile, Kara and J’onn pay Samantha’s mother a visit, hoping to keep her safe and gather information. After greeting the visitors with a shotgun (apparently, a man named Francis breaks in on the regular to steal pills), Patricia Arias confesses that she blames herself for Reign.

“I was a bad mother,” she says point-blank, explaining that she never told Samantha about her origins. When Samantha displayed bizarre behavior (she drew “like something just needed to get out”), Patricia “buried” it, and eventually, she kicked her daughter out of the house. Tearing off the wallpaper of Samantha’s bedroom, she reveals the glyph that woke up the Worldkillers; even during childhood, that mythic time of blissful innocence, Samantha was haunted by her fate.

Later, Reign attacks the house, fatally wounding her mother, who makes the age-old mistake of standing within arm’s reach of a villain while talking. It wasn’t all in vain, though: Supergirl and the DEO finally know Reign has Purity and Pestilence’s powers. Why they needed to know this to take Reign seriously isn’t clear. Reign already demonstrated that she can beat Supergirl on her own.

At James’s urging, Lena admits to Supergirl that she has been making her own kryptonite. It is, after all, the only substance capable of weakening Reign. Again, Supergirl only thinks about how it affects her, and again, her reaction feels false. When Lena points out that “thousands of things can kill me”, like fire and cars, but humans still use candles and drive, Kara just emphasizes that kryptonite is somehow different.

“I need to be the only one that controls kryptonite on this planet,” she declares. Sound familiar? Don’t get me wrong: I would love for Supergirl to examine its heroine’s (and her cousin’s) status as patriotic/nationalistic symbols. Yet, it’s been a while since the show addressed politics and ages since it did so with any depth. Even if it went that direction, it wouldn’t change the fact that Kara frequently feels more like a device than a character, her personality dictated by the plot instead of the reverse. I simply don’t buy that her fear of kryptonite is enough to overwhelm her sense of altruism.

Nonetheless, they agree to work together. Ruby, unable to distract herself, tries to call Samantha, which alerts Reign to her location. Lex’s defenses prove pitifully inadequate, and Reign traps her target and Alex in the basement. Luckily, Kara, Mon-El, and J’onn come to the rescue in the nick of time. Using kryptonite and Legion fighting techniques, they manage to subdue Reign, though not before Ruby discovers who’s behind the mask.

For a 12 year old that just found out that her mother is a mass murderer, Ruby remains relatively calm. Alex’s assertion that Samantha and Reign are different people seems to placate her. Lena doesn’t forgive so easily. On an uncomfortable elevator ride, she vents to Kara about Supergirl’s betrayal. Despite all her talk of truth, justice, and helping people, the caped crusader really just cares about protecting herself. She’s not only hypocritical but also untrustworthy, her very being a lie.

Well, it’s safe to say Kara won’t tell Lena her secret anytime soon.

Bullet points:

“Verse” by Rhye accompanies the opening with James and Lena, elevating the scene from suggestive to sensual. It’s honestly more than the scene deserves.
J’onn continues to struggle to help M’yrnn cope with his memory loss. David Harewood and Carl Lumbly’s acting continues to move me, despite their relatively brief screen time here.
The strategy of using Reign’s moral code against her would be interesting if I actually believed she had a moral code.
Why can’t Imra and Brainy help with Reign too? If the blight is gone, there’s no need to rush back home; the future will still be there either way.
Having Patricia get stabbed and die in separate scenes seems like an unnecessary waste of time.
Besides being in-character for Alex, Young Frankenstein reflects the episode’s theme, filtering a fundamentally tragic story through the lens of comedy.
The image of Reign hovering over National City, searching for Ruby, mirrors the image of Supergirl listening in the season premiere.
According to Brainiac-5, the New York Mets will continue to flail for at least 700 years.
“If you can overlook some of the furnishings and the fact that the owner was a serial killer – luckily, we haven’t found a body yet – the amenities are fantastic!”

Supergirl airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.

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