On the heels of a nationwide controversy over Trump’s executive orders on immigration, Sunday night’s Super Bowl featured numerous commercials that took a stance on equality and support of refugees and immigrants. And last night’s episode of Supergirl, regardless of the intention of its timing, also delivered a political message that was both compassionate and inspiring. Director Glen Winter curated a gleeful, welcoming platform for tackling tough and timely issues and weaving them together to deliver a positive and encouraging outlook on difficult subject matters.
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This week’s episode “The Martian Chronicles” examines various forms of relationships and the selfish, shallow judgments we sometimes make as human beings while being honest with ourselves about what our feelings truly are. Episode 11 opens with Kara posting up at her usual spot with her club soda, looking to clear the air after Mon El revealed that he likes her as more than just a partner in fighting crime. She clumsily attempts to explain to him why they aren’t a good match, fumbling in a way that makes it clear she doesn’t even believe herself.
Cue Alex’s perfectly timed entrance to break the news to Kara that she’s changing the plans for their usual annual routine to celebrate Kara’s 13th “Earth Birthday”. Kara had made last minute plans for them to take a line dancing class, but Alex informs Kara that Maggie surprised her with tickets to see her favorite band, the Barenaked Ladies! Talk about a throwback band. Only slightly attempting to mask her disappointment, Kara brushes off the news and abruptly ends the conversation as Maggie pops in to announce she was able to upgrade their tickets. Alex’s growing excitement results in Kara’s growing sulk that clearly has to do with more than just a change of plans.
Ever the empath connected to Alex’s emotions, Maggie can tell something is amiss between the siblings, and a sufficiently awkward moment is had for all. I feel bad for Kara’s big plans falling through, but the excitement on Alex’s face over having a thoughtful girlfriend who wants to make her happy is just contagious. We’ve all been on both ends of this conundrum when the honeymoon phase, particularly with those who are new to a serious relationship, can cause the bestie to feel left out and unimportant. Not to mention Kara is obviously perplexed over her own feelings, asking M’gann to make her whatever Mon El is having only to discover he has been ordering club soda for the last week. Feelings are hard.
Meanwhile, M’gann confronts J’onn outside the bar for following her around while disguised as various strangers. Just as she’s insisting that she doesn’t need protection since the White Martians haven’t arrived yet, one of them suddenly attacks, struggling with both M’gann and J’onn. Supergirl intervenes, surprising the White Martian, who swiftly takes off. Everyone gathers at the DEO headquarters to reassess the situation and try to track the White Martian’s whereabouts, but M’gann abruptly insists she can handle the situation herself.
M’gann arrives back at the bar only to be confronted by the White Martian again, who turns out to be Armek, M’gann’s mate from Mars who is a bonafide “White” supremacist convinced his race is superior to all others. Armek and M’gann proceed to argue over the justification of eradicating other species, because apparently this conversation is a necessary one still in 2017. Afterward, M’gann packs a bag and tries to discreetly leave town but is confronted by, you guessed it, her savior J’onn. He explains to M’gann that everyone wants to protect her as she is part of their community now, convincing her to stay and let J’onn and the rest of the DEO.
Cut back to the status of Sanvers, who are each rocking some seriously badass vintage Barenaked Ladies t-shirts and are in the middle of a pregame that Alex doesn’t appear to be completely enjoying. Maggie delicately asks her why she’s not as excited as she’d normally be, always careful to allow Alex to share her feelings on her own terms before reminding her that she already knows what’s bothering Alex. After some loving prodding and persuasion, Maggie instructs Alex to go talk things out with her sister before the concert, reminding Alex that she’s not longer going to push down her feelings. Now that they’re officially together, Maggie has admirably taken on the role of not only being Alex’s partner, but also someone who is willing to take care of Alex’s emotional health and influences her to feel safe enough to be open with the people around her, a quality Alex’s mother has often stifled.
Now that they’re officially together and we’re beyond the hesitancy that almost kept these two from pairing up, Maggie has admirably taken on the role of not only being Alex’s partner, but also someone who is willing to take care of Alex’s emotional health and influences her to feel safe enough to be open with the people around her, a quality Alex’s mother has often stifled. Sanvers is one of my favorite on screen relationships, gay or straight, because of it’s honest and open exploration into the concept of being willing to accept you partner for who they are and still bring out their best self. With a quick kiss and goodbye, Alex takes off from a super supportive Maggie to track down Kara at the DEO.
The gang all gathers at the DEO again to discuss how to track down Armek and protect M’gann, when they discover that Armek has been impersonating M’gann and has been brought directly into DEO headquarters. After a scuffle with J’onn, Armek runs off leaving J’onn to make a rushed decision to put the DEO on lockdown to trap Armek inside until they can identify and stop him. Tensions rise as the group realizes one of them is the White Martian in disguise, causing chaos and tension that leads to the unholstering of weapons and an assumption that since one of them has deadly intentions, it’s appropriate to be suspicious of the entire group. Sound familiar?
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After trying and failing to identify Armek telepathically, J’onn decides to use fire to reveal who the imposter is, as the flame shows the real skin color of a Martian when placed near it. One by one each person holds their hand up to the fire, eventually unveiling *gasp* Winn as the White Martian! More chaos ensues and Supergirl fights Winn/Armek, and he disappears again as everyone discovers while impersonating Winn, Armek had the ingenuity to sabotage the main reactor, setting it to explode and take the surrounding ten city blocks with it. A frantic search ensues to find the real Winn and stop the reactor.
Kara and Alex are paired together for the attempted search and rescue, leaving them to talk about feelings as sisters often do. Eventually Kara admits to being upset by Alex’s change of plans, acknowledging that she’s starting to become afraid that Alex is going to abandon her now that she’s in a relationship. Understandably, Kara clings to Alex as her security blanket since she’s been her primary caregiver since her parents sent her to Earth. As Alex begins to reassure Kara that she will always be there for her, J’onn and M’gann are also having a serious conversation about feelings, as J’onn admits caring for her in a way he hasn’t cared for anyone since his late wife. Just as both of these talks start to get heavy, J’onn and M’gann discover the real Winn and the real, wait for it, Alex!
The two sisters, well, one sister and one Martian, erupt into an intense fight as Armek also attacks J’onn as he and Winn are attempting to shut down the reactor. The next few sequences follow a high action battle between the two White Martians and the members of the DEO, which reaches a boiling point as M’gann joins the fight as a Green Martian, exclaiming, “This skin is beautiful” before defeating Armek. Just as Winn stabilizes the reactor, the White Martian Supergirl had defeated rises back up only to be shot down by Alex, who is taking ownership of more than just her feelings. After the dust settles, Alex realizes she’s late for the concert and takes off.
Coming to a realization of how valuable Winn is and that he’s always at risk and should be able to make his own decisions on helping the heroes, Kara approves of Winn’s decision to go help Guardian, so he leaves for his second shift of saving lives for the night. M’gann realizes the White Martians are only going to continue to hunt her down and that there must be more of her people on Mars who feel the same way she does about equality, so she expresses her reciprocation of J’onn’s feelings for her before breaking the news that she intends to go back to Mars to try and start a rebellion. The two have an emotional goodbye, but we’ll probably see her again, because we sure could use her back on Earth to kickstart our revolution when she’s done with her own planet.
Meanwhile back at her apartment, Kara sulks on the couch on the night of her Earth Birthday, only to be interrupted by Alex, who shows up with a cupcake to celebrate. Because of the psychic link when the White Martian was impersonating her, Alex remembers the conversation the Martian had with Kara about her fears of abandonment. Alex reassures her that there’s plenty of room in her heart for everyone she cares about and she will never abandon Kara. The conversation shifts to Maggie’s support of Alex’s actions that evening since she missed the concert, and subsequently turns to the real reason Kara is projecting: her feelings for Mon El. As Kara expresses a fear of rejection over suffering a repeat of what happened when she had decided to open up to James last season, Alex reminds her that romantic risks are always worth it in the end.
Kara listens to Alex and decides to open up to Mon El about her real feelings toward him, only to see that he’s at the office to pick up a coworker of hers to take on a lunch date. Unfortunately, Kara is too little too late for now just like she was the last time, so we’ll see what happens with that. The relationship dynamic here that’s a real joy to watch evolve belongs to Kara, Alex, and Maggie. As Maggie teaches Alex how to acknowledgment and take ownership over her own emotions, Alex begins to teach Kara the same thing. This circle of emotional growth is a beautiful example of human interaction and family growth, showing viewers that even when the outside world is sometimes falling apart, you can still be grounded by being surrounded by people who love you. Maggie’s influence over the two sisters and the compassion for the both of them as a bonded pair is a testament to how vital an addition she is to this show. Survey says, Sanvers for life.
