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“Crime And Punishment” sets Supergirl on the path to repair her good name and character and learning about other ways to fight for justice along the way. Oh, and Alex and Kelly might bring the Olsen and Danvers families together in some meaningful ways!

Prison Diaries

Supergirl -- "Crime and Punishment" -- Image Number: SPG418b_0112r.jpg -- Pictured (L-R): Katie McGrath as Lena Luthor and Melissa Benoist as Kara/Supergirl -- Photo: Bettina Strauss/The CW -- © 2019 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Supergirl — “Crime and Punishment” — Image Number: SPG418b_0112r.jpg — Pictured (L-R): Katie McGrath as Lena Luthor and Melissa Benoist as Kara/Supergirl — Photo: Bettina Strauss/The CW — © 2019 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

We pick up the story once again with President Baker calling for martial law and a country-wide curfew and ready to go to the mat with Supergirl. She, Alex, and Lena are in Lena’s office and not happy with the whole thing. Someone calls for help and despite being Public Enemy Number One Supergirl goes to help. She rescues a man from his flipped and fiery vehicle but also gets shot at by some citizens arrest-minded folks. She catches their bullets but the vehicle nearly explodes. She flies the injured man to safety and he thanks her. At the same time he doesn’t understand how she could let down his daughter who looked up to her as a hero. She goes back to Lena and Alex and they decide to follow up on a lead at Stryker’s Island and ask the Warden what he knows. Actually, Supergirl and Lena threaten the Warden to expose his wrongdoings and if he’ll let them in Lex’s cell they’ll keep the Warden’s husband out of it. How gracious of them… Anywho, they make their way to D Block and all of the prisoners are glad to see Big Bad Supergirl on their hallway, even chanting her name. In the cell Lena moves to the chess board where she and Lex would leave each other messages inside the pieces. She opens one and finds a grim reminder of 07/16/18 where she killed the first person to try her Harun-El serum in “Rather The Fallen Angel.” She lies about it to Supergirl but from the memory it triggers a certain checkmate solution that opens up the top of the board to reveal a compartment underneath that holds Lex’s diaries. Lena notes that Lex would leave them there just to mentally torture her. She and Supergirl start going through them without much result but they do notice another prisoner watching them through a small mirror. Supergirl goes to ask him for information and we meet Steve Lomeli who exposed illegal drone warfare and got sent to prison for his do-gooding. Steve’s not going to give Supergirl anything because she has a habit of doing what she wants and not worrying about the collateral damage, which he thinks is going to be the other prisoners when the government comes to try to take her out. He even goes so far as to call her a belligerent narcissist. Hey, now!! And then Otis “Metallo” Graves shows up and lets the prisoners loose so they can try to take her down. She locks Lena up for safety and deals with the prisoners in no short order. Even though Lena brought along a Kryptonite shield for Supergirl (wait, what?!), Otis is beating the ever-living green out of her. And then the soldiers show up. So, in getting away from Otis Supergirl Kara’s herself and explains that she was doing a article on prison reform if Otis would care to comment. He doesn’t trust the press to understand the nuance of the topic so leaves her along. Steve and another convict show up and try to take Kara as a hostage until Steve realizes who they have and fanboys out about meeting THE Kara Danvers from CatCo. (Wait, WHAT?!?!) Kara gets away from them and re-Supergirl’s herself and uses a sonic clap to get the prisoners in a safe position with the soldiers coming in. She goes back to Lena – who, through a memory of her’s and Lex’s childhood – figures out that behind Lex’s mosaic on the wall is actually a hidden passage and his own lair-lab. Otis comes to Lex’s cell where Lex remotely detonantes him and Supergirl and Lena fly out just in time. Back at L-Corp Supergirl decides that it’s time for her to lay low and figure out another way to get justice. The ending scene is Kara and Steve sitting down for an article all about Lex. Steve just happens to have a flash drive with everything important from Lex’s Lair-Lab (I can’t really type out how far my eyes are rolling). The pen might be mightier than the sword – or maybe a cape. Oh, and Miss Tessmacher reanimates Otis – again.MOS 84 Stoog

DEO Shenanigans

MOS 84 DoxSECRETARY Lockwood shows up at the DEO to ambush Supergirl and employs Col Haley to summon her with the Super-signal-watch. Alex bucks up that Lockwood can’t do that without an Aricle Blah-Blah-Blah Presidential Proclamation. Lockwood seethes through his teeth that they really don’t want to waste his time and Col Haley gets the troops ready for when Lockwood comes back, despite Alex’s protest. Meanwhile, Brainy follows through on the logic that once Lockwood gets done with Supergirl that he’ll come after everyone on the alien registry. So he discusses deleting it from the DEO servers with Alex. She is fine as long as he’s clandestine about it. “No one is more clandestine than I!,” he shouts. Good times. Alex goes to talk to Kelly, who is a therapist, to work out her feelings about the conflict she’s having with Boss Colonel Haley. Kelly advises her to stop getting mad and approach Col Haley with what means more to her. Alex is “very glad” Kelly hung around National City…and, swoon. Brainy Ethan Hunt’s his way down to Sub-Level 5 and tries to talk his way around (to himself) deleting the list or not. He’s undecided because of the potential ramifications so he goes to see Nia Nal and get her to dream what he’s done with the list so he knows what to do with the list. Calling him out on his bold-faced hypocrisy Nia plays along and pretends to dream that he didn’t erase the list. He is incredulous – of course he would delete the list! And she says exactly, sometimes hearing the wrong answer leads you to the right one. Alex tries to appeal to Col Haley not to ambush Supergirl by brining up her daughter. Haley is having none of it and knows Alex lied to her about how the Super-signal-watch works telling her to hit it twice to get Supergirl to come. Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire and Haley is kicking that fiery butt out of her sight! Nia Nal does in fact dream that Agent Liberty comes after Brainy directly so she calls to warn him. He says no worries, he deleted the list to his own brain, and also because she’s not very good at interpreting her dreams. Always a good way to win the girl, Brainy. Sure enough Lockwood comes back with Proclamation in hand and Haley signals the watch TWICE! Lockwood takes his toys and goes back to the Presidential bunker where Baker authorizes him to deputize the Children of Liberty since the DEO obviously has leaks. Oh, joy. Haley reveals to Alex that her daughter’s teacher – an alien – has gone missing since the repeal, either hiding or worse… Haley hates being manipulated by Alex, by Lockwood, and hates that the loyalty she held to her service is not clear anymore in all of this political and Lex Luthor muckety muck.

Brother and Sister

MOS 84 BrotherMOS 84 SisterJames and Kelly drive up to the Dr’s office for James’ first appointment with the PTSD counselor. James is The Guardian and he’s miffed that he needs help at all. The counselor walks him through an exercise of bilateral stimulation that will help calm him through the triggers. As he undoubtedly triggers during the exercise we see the Harun-El course through him. Later on in his office at CatCo he has another incident except this time it’s full on Harun-El heightened senses and strength. He calls Kelly and when she comes he tells her that they have to get to Lena. This is more than PTSD.

Closing Thoughts

While the overall plot was not really forwarded this episode, it was a fascinating dive into the character of Supergirl and what she thinks she stands for vs. what others around her see. Steve’s callout of her not really caring about the fallout of her actions is pretty spot on because she feels entitled by her motivations. Yes, helping people is noble. No, mass destruction in the process is not. The other interesting dynamic that this brings up is that Kara is going to lean on herself rather than Supergirl to try and get to the truth. Hopefully this will lead to a more balanced character on both sides when this is all said and done. Steve is not very convincing of being a “helper” for the cause and I can’t wait to see this blow up royally. What I was surprised about was that Supergirl didn’t turn to the media herself – I mean, she does know the top dude at CatCo – to try to clear her own name. In a world full of aliens how does a doppelganger draw the line of impossibility in the peoples’ minds? It feels like we’re going the slow route and I’m not sure why. And where is Lex? I need more Lex, please. Summing up, I really like the examination of Supergirl’s name and character this week and I hope that we get continued nuance in the writing like this moving forward along with some great action pieces like we had in the prison scenes. Great stuff!!

Cougar’s Comic Corner

“Supergirl (2016-) Volume 4: Plain Sight”
729731._SX360_QL80_TTD_This public service announcement is brought to you by the Department of Extranormal Operations! You saw how Supergirl hid a murderer underneath National City right before our eyes. What other dangerous secrets is she hiding? She is not human, and therefore, she cannot be trusted. D.E.O. agents will be stationed at every school to ensure their safety! Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.
Get it on Comixology right here!

Next time on “Supergirl”!

Season 4, Episode 19, “American Dreamer”
As Kara doggedly works as a reporter to clear Supergirl’s name, Dreamer picks up the slack as National City’s protector, which leads to a showdown with Ben Lockwood. James takes drastic measures to relieve his PTSD. This one was directed by David Harewood!!

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