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“The Quest For Peace” wraps up Season 4 with gusto and a ton of action pieces. It left few threads unresolved and left some bread crumbs for Season 5 upcoming. It was a tour de force for the Luthor family, especially Lex, and gives an exclamation mark on the Season’s theme of hope winning out over hate.
Lenny Luthor Is All Grown Up
In a nod to Jon Cryer’s role as Lenny Luthor in “Superman IV: The Quest For Peace,” for which this Season Finale is also titled, this was Lex Luthor in some of the finest on-screen work from this iconic character. The episode opens from the last moment of last week’s with President Baker’s announcement that Lex Luthor is the savior of the U.S. from the invading Kaznian “army.” We flash back to 24 hours earlier. Kara escapes from Red Daughter after besting her with the Kryptonite so Red Daughter reports back to Lex that she has failed him because she didn’t kill Kara/Supergirl. Lex says she could never fail him and it’s time to get things underway showing her a picture of Eliza noting that Kara’s heart is her ultimate weakness. He also gets a communication from the Kaznian Commandant and tells him to begin the attack. President Baker expresses his anxiety over the Kaznian attack and Lex promptly puts him in his place. Lex takes on the Kaznian forces single handedly since he’s sent Red Daughter off to Midvale and he deftly destroys all of the Kaznian forces all the while singing Frank Sinatra’s “I Did It My Way.” Simply fantastic. Red Daughter hears the explosions from the attack as she hovers above the dead Supergirl and Alex grassing her back to life. Red Daughter meets Lex on the beach and asks why he left her out of the plan. He lets her know she never was part of the plan and with her confused as to why, he simply answers that he’s proud to be an American as he downs the last Kaznian plane. He blasts her with a Kryptonite weapon and we catch up to the President’s message with Lex holding a seemingly dead “Supergirl.” A Harun-El dosing Ben Lockwood sees on TV that the President has replaced him with Lex Luthor as Sec(!)retary of Alien Affairs (and that a posthumous Otis Graves has taken the blame for all of Lex’s crimes so the President has pardoned Mr. Luthor). Lex and Eve are at the Amertek dark site where we learn that Lex is using the DEO aliens – and all of the ones that he’s rounding up – to use their alien powers as battery life for his Claymoor satellite weapon as well as a new source of energy for the Earth. He puts Red Daughter into the collector and tells her she’s either Super-naΓ―ve or dumb. Had she bothered to google him she would have known that Kaznia is kind of small potatoes for him and that he HATES Kryptonians, and she, unfortunately, is a Kryptonian. She is devastated that he has played her in this way. He invites Lena and Lillian to the White House where he and Eve explain their greater plan to use the aliens as a power source going forward. Lena says it’s vile and Lex retorts “Vile and viable.” He also explains that the first big energy collection will be used in the Claymoor satellite to wipe out Argo City in general and Superman specifically. Eve asks for a word in private and Lena exhorts Lillian that she can’t be on board with this and Lillian agrees saying she’s poisoned his tea. Lena awkwardly chuckles. Eve’s not on board with using so much of their collected energy on Lex’s personal vendetta and Lex reminds her that her opinions don’t matter. Back in the Oval Office, champagne is brought out and Lex admits that he doesn’t kill Lillian and Lena because he actually loves his family. Oh, and he totally knew about the poisoned tea. His satellite is not doing it’s thing because Eve tells him there’s something wrong at the Amertek energy dark site. He Lexo-Suits up and the battle is on! Supergirl and Lex wrestle in mid-air and throw each other down to the factory floor. Lex thinks that Red Daughter has killed her so is incredulous that she is still alive. He alien hand-cannon’s up and she puts on her space suit to protect herself from his Kryptonite weapons. While their battle is going on Red Daughter and the rest of the aliens are freed by J’onn, Dreamer, and Brainy. She hears Lex and Supergirl going at it and goes to intervene. Just as Lex is about to deliver the killing blow Red Daughter pushes Supergirl out of the way and takes the brunt of the blast. Red Daughter implores Supergirl to protect her people just as she has protected hers. She dissolves and is reabsorbed back into Supergirl. She counters Lex’s weapon with her laser eyes and he is bested. He tries to Lexo-Suit away but she follows him and kills the suit. She grabs him in mid-air and tells him she can still save him and he would rather die than get saved by a Kryptonian. He falls to the ground and seems dead. Except, he has actually teleported back to his lab where Lena is there waiting for him with the newly constructed Harun-El extractor. After de-powering him he tells her to help him up and instead she pulls a gun on him. While he seethes that she’ll never be nefarious enough to kill…boom, boom. Two shots to the chest. He is in shock but also impressed that Lena actually is killing him. Before he goes he reveals to her in video and words that the joke has always been on her. All of the closest to her have kept the secret that Kara is Supergirl from her – even Lillian. He dies and she is left devastated. Lena meets everyone for game night at J’onn’s office and keeps her new secret to herself even as Kara and Alex talk about telling Lena the truth about her secret identity. Yeeeeeeeesh.
The Fourth Estate Saves The Day
After Supergirl’s recovery in Midvale, Kara heads back to National City and finds Lena and Brainy at LCorp. She asks Brainy to recover her article research since the CatCo servers were scrubbed. He does and she goes to work on writing her article detailing Lex’s involvement in everything Red Daughter and Kaznia. We see her article disbursed to the population and it’s effective in swaying the people’s perception of what Lex is doing. As the episode closes George Lockwood is interviewed on live TV admonishing everyone to live in peace and get along with everyone else. James, Nia, and Kara cheer on the journalistic win.
James and Ben Are -Finally- Non-Suped!
The rebooted Brainy from last week shares that he is waiting to get the details of the Amertek dark site from J’onn and Dreamer who are currently abducted there. Kara, Alex, and Lena are understandably disturbed by this but he is still very mechanical about it. While he’s waiting and Kara is writing he fashions the Harun-El extractor. At the Amertek energy refinery J’onn and Dreamer are put to work and even without power dampening cuffs they still have no powers and we put it together because they’re on Shelley Island so the pylons are in place and turned on. J’onn coordinates a diversion so Dreamer can astral-project their location to Brainy. Once the team determines the Shelley Island location they bring James along and Ben and the Children of Liberty decide to show up as well. Ben wants to take care of Lex but is thrilled that Supergirl is there as well. A big ole beat down commences where Ben and James use their super powers to battle each other and the COL. Alex is non super powered but holds her own – of course – and the Harun-El extractors are used on both James and Ben to non-Supify them. James also injures/possibly loses his right eye in the battle. Meanwhile Brainy goes to shut down the Claymoor satellite that is going to blast Argo City and meets up with Dreamer and J’onn. Dreamer blasts him for abandoning them. Heh. Brainy tries to overload the satellite but can’t. J’onn tries using his own psychic energy to overload the system saying that he will sacrifice himself since he ran away from the destruction of Mars. Dreamer joins him and Brainy short circuits – again – over this plan not making sense. He goes into reboot mode again and comes back to the Brainy we know. He declares that their unreasonable plan is working and that Dreamer is amazing and declares his love for her. They do succeed and all of the aliens are set free. Back in National City we meet up with Alex and Kelly. Kelly is amazed how close she feels to Alex and how she’s not sure what to do with it and Alex “Ditto’s” her right on the lips. The audience is simultaneously not surprised and suffering from whiplash. π We end with Ben in prison watching his son on TV and looking like either he is getting George’s message or he’ll be killing someone else very soon. It’s kind of a coin flip.
BONUS! Leviathan Is Everywhere and Monitor Arrives With A Friend
Eve is hiding at the bus station when an older woman joins her on a bench outside. They make small talk until the woman reveals that she knows who Eve is and that she can’t get away that easily. Eve insists she’s done everything they’ve asked – worked with Lex – and is interrupted by the woman who says Lex was supposed to “move the needle” but he ultimately didn’t so Leviathan will take over from here. “Leviathan is everyone. Leviathan is everywhere.” Aaaaaand, we see a portal open and someone walk through and meets the Monitor whom we last saw in the Crossover event last year. (This is all part of the upcoming Crisis on Infinite Earths. Monitor was also on the Season finales of Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow as well as The Flash’s upcoming disappearance moved up to 2019 from 2024). The figure from the portal asks where he is and Monitor tells him Earth. The figure doesn’t understand and Monitor tells him that he’s been kept away for so long. Monitor is the one who brought him to Earth to deal with his vendetta against J’onn J’onzz. The figure is revealed to be another Green Martian who looks just like J’onn. Monitor says he has one more place to go and we see him in front of a dead Lex Luthor likely bringing him back to life.
Closing Thoughts
Alrighty, let’s deal with the (very few) gripes. I wish that the resolution of Red Daughter could have been a little more fleshed out and I wish that Brainy had gone more in a direction of his evil ancestry. Oh, and I wish Ben were dead. Look, I know Agent Liberty becomes a Superhero in the comics; but, I’m not convinced that’s where they’re going with him. Will we actually see him in Season 5? Let’s hope not. That’s it! This was a freaking fantastic Season finale that solidly delivered on almost every level after an admittedly very rough first half of the Season. When I think about how Season 3 ended limply crossing the finish line after such a strong first half I’ll take this kind of imbalance every time. The season long theme of what to do in the face of hate was brought to a climax in this episode with a very satisfying conclusion. Supergirl will always stand for hope even in the face of the worst of circumstances and I love that she won on the level against Lex and that Kara won on the journalistic front and perhaps earned some of that admiration of the prisoners from several episodes ago. The consistency that Lena has shown throughout this season has been amazing and even under pressure from brother Lex she still stays true to the force for good that she is – even going so far as to murder him to keep the world safe from him. Even in the face of Kara’s duplicity I sincerely hope that the writers keep Lena in her lane of where she is. Kara and Supergirl both grew in the face of the conflict presented. We had additions of Nia Nal and Brainy to the main stage that really worked well. Alex was sidelined but I have every confidence she’ll continue to grow and amaze us with what’s coming. May I also say how much the Big Bad’s outside of Ben Lockwood really worked this year? And how excited I am that they built up the next Big Bad in Leviathan that has me really excited? In two minutes or less?! The momentum from the back half of this Season gives me such a huge high for this series along with everything building to the upcoming Crisis. Bring on Season 5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cougar’s Comic Corner – It’s Summer, So There’s 2!!
“Crisis On Infinite Earths” Written by Marv Wolfman and Art by George Perez
This is the story that changed the DC Universe forever. A mysterious being known as the Anti-Monitor has begun a crusade across time to bring about the end of all existence. As alternate Earths are systematically destroyed, the Monitor quickly assembles a team of super-heroes from across time and space to battle his counterpart and stop the destruction. DC’s greatest heroes, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Aquaman, assemble to stop the menace, but as they watch both the Flash and Supergirl die in battle, they begin to wonder if even all of the heroes in the world can stop this destructive force. Collects CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #1-12.
Buy it on Amazon here!
“Batman Incorporated Volume 1: Demon Star (The New 52) Written by Grant Morrison and Art by Chris Burnham
Eisner Award-winning fan-favorite writer Grant Morrison concludes the Batman epic he began nearly a decade ago in BATMAN & SON, pitting the entirity of Batman Incorporated against the Levianthan organization headed by the Dark Knight’s former romantic interest Talia al Ghul. As Leviathan enacts a plan that threatens the world, Batman and his allies must fight against the rising storm–but not everyone will make it out of the encounter alive. Collects BATMAN INCORPORATED #0-6
Buy it on Amazon here!
Next time on “Supergirl”!
Season 5, Episode 1 TBD
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*looks at episode length* 3 hours basically, cool; that’s a solid hour to yell “DON’T MAKE LENA EVIL WRITERS!!!” right? π
Some blog post comments…
“Oh, and I wish Ben were dead.” – that’s fair. You know this will probably mean he’s coming back as a redeemed version; I suspect many fans won’t care though and will once again see him as taking up screen time. They may do him better the second time around but it’s going to take half a season I think before fans come around to him after this appearance. I don’t think we’ll see Ben in S5, S6 maybe and 7 probably but not 5, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him again; I feel the writers will at least pose the idea of bringing him back at the table but fan reaction may have them cutting him lose.
This was the best season finale of the group I think; I’ll give “Flash” credit theirs was really good too and made it a competition but I think on the whole “Supergirl” wins!
“May I also say how much the Big Badβs outside of Ben Lockwood really worked this year?” – not enough Mercy though.
Can I just say I’m not excited about Leviathan? It’s another not Supergirl specific plot being adapted and I’m like “Come on writers.” because Kara has villains too, some of who are connected to ones already set up such as Decay. Now I’m about to Wiki these so Karen correct what is wrong but still…
“Daniel Pendergast observed modern society as “decay” and manipulated psionic Gayle Marsh into becoming the super-villainess Psi to help him destroy civilization under the ambiguous definition of wiping out “decay.” Psi would trade blows with Supergirl and be defeated, returning to Pendergast. He attempted to kill her for her failure and she instinctively lashed out, turning him into a hulking monster of decay. He set himself upon Chicago and began to melt and consume matter, battling Supergirl, before Psi would appear and revert him to his human form. Introduced in Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #1 (November 1982).” – now we’ve already met Psi so some work would need to be done to make everything in line continuity wise but still – another girls team up mission; Psi isn’t Leslie so it won’t be the same with the trash talk (come back Leslie!) but it’s a Supergirl plot instead of coming from someone eland comics.
“Black FlameΒ β A Kandorian who takes to a life of crime and fights Supergirl. Introduced in Action Comics #304 (September 1963).”
“Matrix-PrimeΒ β A powerful robot built by the Council that acts as their agent, collecting funds and eliminating threats. Introduced in Daring New Adventures of Supergirl#6 (March 1983).”
Right there is 3 enemies we haven’t seen yet and that’s just the cool sounding ones!
Given the comic recommendation it seems Leviathan is more something that should be on “Batwoman” than “Supergirl”.
Here’s a plot summary (with spoilers fair warning)…
“During the events of H’el on Earth, Kara is manipulated by H’el into believing that Krypton and all it’s people, her family and friends included, could be brought back to life. And it could have been, but only at the cost of Earth (something H’el conveniently neglected to tell her). Infuriated when she learns of his deception, she stabs him with Kryptonite to stop him from killing Earth, and is poisoned by it herself in the process.” – now Kara knows people still exist so they’d have to work something else to bring him in, currently this is more of a plot that could work with J’onn better but hey at least it comes from a Supergirl comic so there’s that! Also no killing Kara if they do this plot and no taking her to the future to cure her unless you know who (Mon, I don’t want to see him again) isn’t going to be there…I know I’m asking for too much there so I’ll just say let him him be happily married like he was and have him leave her the Hell alone unless it’s to help as friends only! We have Lena and Alex though – they can fix her in now, if we need future help we have Brainy.
They kept teasing Green Lantern so if that was a crossover special somehow for the shows there’s this “a Red Power Ring chose Kara. She has been shown to be able to charge the ring when depleted with her Rage. However she is more prone to violent outbursts and has a hard time controlling The Ring.” – this would be a mini arc but still is a plot from her years not someone else’s.
I’m just saying writers don’t forget Kara has comics to pull plots from too, and this is just from the Supergirl stuff not the 5 other versions of her – the biggest being Power Girl.
On to the podcast…
6 hours, that’s it? You’ll take them in the mega crossover podcast episode recap. π
Subbie and Green Butterfly, John is brining all his super friends to this recap!
Hope you did a blowout party for her John. π
I didn’t like some of the lines in the “Batwoman” teaser I have to say but on the whole I’ll check it out. Still don’t get the time shift as you’d think the darker themed “Batwoman” would work better in the later slot. You would think the new show would need an audience pull for the first few episodes so again why wouldn’t “Supergirl” go first then have the audience stay for “Batwoman”; I don’t think “Supergirl” is in trouble because it’s one of the top 3 shows on the network and certainly in the DC specific realm but I don’t get the timing unless S5 of the show is going to be their “dark” season but even then “Batwoman” is saying it’ll be darker so it just feels like a weird choice.
Alex did get shafted plot wise because we were all excited to see her as the DEO director and what do we get instead – her it in name only really. I’m looking forward to seeing real Director Danvers in S5 not being handcuffed or babysat when it comes to the position! Also yes Chyler is AMAZING!
“Kara still barely knows Kal El” – I’m fine with that; much like Barry he is more than welcome to keep his distance! Kara has Eliza she’s good; Barry interacts with his father/father in law Joe I think so he’s on the show, just not a focus always in Barry moments…I’d take more Eliza, especially if they threw in moments when she and J’onn together to show them having lives outside of the girls. #EarthMomSpaceDad! ? I’d also take a Kelly-Lena moment because it would be great to see Kelly as more than just a love interest or tied to Alex plots; this is kind of where they could learn from Maggie because she was awesome but sadly not used enough beyond Alex…especially when you think of how she took issue with Supergirl’s actions or was the cop of the moment and should have interacted with more than just her girlfriend.
Jonathan Kent is the name you’re looking for John.
“I am Iron Man” – ??? why Geoff WHY?! That was so cruel!
The S3 finale was bad, it needed more Reign V Kara and Sam; was it the worst…Mon was in S2 also so I don’t know but it was hard to watch at times sadly. It was made doublely hard because everything started off so interestingly with Reign/Sam; I’d say we’re still batting 50% on the finales because S1 and 4 are great but S2 and 3 have more of a debate to them. Maybe we’re 75% when it’s all tallied up which is pretty good and we definitely have the best series as a whole still I think even with issues.
“We both know you’re not ruthless enough to pull that trigger.” *Lena pulls the trigger* *Me – squeals in joy* Such a great moment. π
Interesting thoughts re: Brainy and his alternate side.
YAY for depowered Ben and James!
I agree Geoff Sam was great acting wise but Ben’s progression to evil just did not feel earned, as you said yes bad things happened to him but does that equal him going evil – not necessarily so the extreme in which he flipped just made Ben long run more annoying than someone to be feared. If Ben returns maybe Justina can get her shirtless Agent. π As for Manchester Black, who did go out too soon I agree John, I wouldn’t call him a man of peace – currently nonviolent when he was with Fiona yes but he was not a peaceful man when not with her.
“Do we want more of the haranel story?” – shut up John; don’t give them ideas! π We are done with powered humans, especially no more powered James YAY, for now let’s enjoy it. π I hope we get the standard powerful Kara Justina.
“I don’t want evil Lena” – SAME Justina!!!
Keep him as a reporter/fill in Cat – it’s not that hard, why they ignore that plot with James I will never know! If they can’t do that ship him to Metropolis I say because he is just wasting screen time currently with all these random plots they try on him.
“What does James think about this; does anyone care?” – NOPE! 1) Kelly is an adult he can’t tell her what to do regardless of their relationship (stand in dad instead of brother) and 2) I’m telling you now if they try to push him into their relationship to give him something to do I am going to be against Alex/Kelly. I already lean more Sam/Alex as it is so if James involves himself it’s going to cause me to be even more meh about their screen time which is sad as they’re very important for representation at the least.
Monitor did physically pick up Oliver on “Arrow” and for “Flash” the date on the paper just changed to confirm it’s this year as their Crisis tie in beats. Maybe because we’re on a different Earth we did get Anti-Monitor where as the others got the good version.
I’m ok with Alex being a more proactive Director and being in the field more because Alex has the best stunts so I’d hate to lose them.
Agreed Darryl – stop making Kara Clark and don’t make Lena Lex or Lillian! Here’s my thing: if Winn can be a good guy even with his father being evil and his mom lying to him, not to mention Kara hiding her identity for awhile, then so can Lena! As others have said do not repeat “Smallville”!
I have to give it to Monty, I’m glad too they didn’t do a team up with Kara and Ben to take down Lex! Super Nope. π LOL to Monty’s lines about James! -20 – I think we have a new lowest rating from Monty! π
K Vox checked in, she’s over Lex too. π
Kara has been saying for the last 3 episodes she’s going to tell Lena tomorrow about Supergirl so the fact she still hasn’t spoken up yeah she can only blame herself when Lena yells at her!
Legends was rough to try and watch this season so I wouldn’t use this season as an example!
I’ll agree John, for the CW years S4 is probably the best season so far because while the Alex S2 stuff is perfection and the introduction of Lena was well done the rest of S2 wasn’t great (because of Mon in my opinion – too much focus on him instead of Kara and the way they wrote her with him just no) and while Reign/Sam was great in S3 it did swing wildly in terms of focus so on the whole S4 is the most like S1 we’ve had so far. I would still say S1 is the best season of show so far. True Ben wasn’t great in S4 and James has been a bust since S1 but on the whole S4 was good.
Agreed John, definite hugs to Karen and Emilee for giving us this great place to talk about this great show! ?? Also thank you to all of you hosts who have helped keep it going when they weren’t available! ?
here’s the thing about winn. he was set up as having a huge crush on kara from the start so he certainly wouldn’t go evil on her even though he was never going to be the love interest. also she told him pretty immediately that she had powers after alex’s reaction was so negative so she wasn’t lying to him nearly as long as she has been lying to lena