Supergirl brings back Lex Luthor for Love Week
A character-centric episode celebrates love of all kinds—from found families to romantic proposals
TV Reviews Lex Luthor
“In all the timelines, in all the dimensions, in all the universes, you were the only one that could match me”
Plotwise, not a ton actually happens in “I Believe In A Thing Called Love.” The episode-long battle over the Love Totem basically amounts to a draw. Plus we learn that totems can’t actually be permanently destroyed anyway—so the Super Friends chucking the Hope Totem into the sun back in “Hope For Tomorrow” was pointless too. On the other hand, six seasons into Supergirl, does anyone really watch this show for plot anymore? I suspect not. We’re here to follow the final journey of the characters we’ve come to know and love. And on that level, at least, “I Believe In A Thing Called Love” delivers.
That starts with everyone’s favorite bald baddie Lex Luthor, who arrived at Nyxly’s side in last week’s stinger. It turns out that when Lex casually portaled away in search of “more” back in the season’s third episode, he traveled to the 31st century and fell in love with a future version of Nyxly who wound up dying thanks to something involving the AllStone. Now Lex has traveled back to the past (er, well, the present) to ensure his future love doesn’t make the same choices that will lead to her untimely demise. And that means trying to befriend a fiercely independent woman without coming off as a creep in the process. It’s basically Pretty In Pink all over again.
Given that Jon Cryer’s take on Lex Luthor has been one of the highlights of Supergirl’s latter years, it makes sense that the show would return to him in its final run of episodes. And having him team up with Nyxly is a nice bit of streamlined storytelling. Even more importantly, having Lex be in love with Nyxly gives Cryer some new notes to play as the well-trod character. Lex may not be reformed, but he certainly is changed. In the past we’ve only ever seen him use the idea of love as a tool to get what he wants, as he so often did by manipulating his relationship with Lena. Here, however, Lex is willing to sacrifice the Love Totem to save Nyxly’s life, in what feels like a genuine move of selflessness not just a step on a grand masterplan.
Lex’s love for Nyxly makes him vulnerable in a way we’ve never really seen before. And while this episode mostly uses that for comedy in his hilarious scenes with Otis (“But you love toxic relationships!”), there’s the potential for it to be used for something more dramatic down the line too. There’s also potential for this pairing to do some interesting things for Nyxly’s character as well. It remains to be seen whether the imp princess is in for a full-on redemption arc. But her shock at the notion that someone would do something selfless for her does seem like a step towards melting her icy heart—even if it’s melting in Lex’s direction at the moment.
This episode’s love fest isn’t entirely dominated by villains, however. In fact, one of the best things about “I Believe In A Thing Called Love” is that it manages to serve just about all of the show’s main characters well. Even Brainy and Nia—who initially seem like they might be relegated to “offscreen Super Friend of the Week” roles—ultimately get a moving scene together on the Tower Balcony of Deep Thoughts. But the real stars are Alex and Kelly, who wind up planning mutual surprise engagements on the anniversary of the night they both named Hans Gruber as the best movie villain of all time back in the show’s fifth season premiere. (It was the moment they first realized they were in love.)
The whole thing is sweet but also low-key in way that feels fitting for these two world-weary women who’ve been through so much together already (including literally adopting a child). Their engagement was inevitable at this point, so the show is smart to give us a sweet surprise that Kelly is the one who booked out Al’s Dive Bar (which totally got me!) and otherwise keep things simple, with J’onn, Kara, Brainy, and Esme there to watch and celebrate. It’s just the right tone for the moment.
Another smart screenwriting choice is to circle back around to the totems as tools the Super Friends can use in their fight against Nyxly, which isn’t something that had even occurred to me before. That Kara activates the Humanity Totem while J’onn uses the Courage Totem helps make the magical stones feel like more than just generic MacGuffins. And it allows Supergirl to use the totems’ qualities as an in-road to exploring character. Though this episode is first and foremost about love, it’s also about fear. J’onn fears losing his Earth family the way he lost his family on Mars. Lena fears losing control of her magic and hurting someone the way her mother did. And Kara fears losing her humanity and becoming as coldly monstrous as the phantoms who still haunt her nightmares.
“I Believe In A Thing Called Love” ultimately lands on a pretty nuanced thesis: True strength comes from the ability to face the part of yourself that you’re most afraid of, and move past it with the help of your friends and family. J’onn passes the Courage Gauntlet not by finding a way to save his Martian daughters from their deaths, but by coming to peace with the fact that there was nothing he could’ve done to change what happened and that the best way to honor their memories is by protecting his Earth family. Kara, meanwhile, has a similar realization about her time in the Phantom Zone: Though it was a traumatizing experience, it also gave her faith that her Super Friends will always pull her back from the edge, no matter what happens. And that gives her the courage to use the Humanity Totem, even though it has the potential to mess with her humanity in the process.
It’s wonderful to see J’onn get some more prominent screentime tonight, and for his perspective to be the thing that helps Kara gain some inner confidence of her own. Kara, meanwhile, goes on to empower Lena to fully severe her emotional ties with Lex and use her magic from a place of love for the Super Friends, rather than hatred for her brother. It’s a similar idea to the one Nia eventually passes on to Brainy: Doing things openly, honestly, and with good intentions is different than doing them secretly and nefariously, even if the actions are the same. Like Lex himself, the Super Friends are now seeing life through a whole new lens.
It’s another nice touch that this love-centric episode doesn’t just celebrate romantic love, but love of all kinds, with Alex emphasizing her love for all of the Super Friends in the lead-in to her proposal to Kelly. “I Believe In A Thing Called Love” might not have much plot, but it does have heart. And that’s a fitting tribute to the theme of the week.
Stray observations
- While Lex manifests a new version of the Hope Totem for Nyxly, we learn that Esme has become the new Love Totem. So technically the goodies and baddies both add one more totem to their score this week, even if the Super Friends don’t know it yet.
- I’m glad J’onn got a scene to explicitly narrate what happened in his Courage Gauntlet because the visual storytelling wasn’t the clearest there.
- In general, I like using CatCo as a location to explore Kara and I don’t mind William as her journalism BFF. But now that Kara has quit, William’s scenes with Andrea felt very superfluous tonight. (Also weird to use him in the Kelly/Alex proposal throughline too.)
- Of the seven totems, the show has now dealt with love, dreams, hope, humanity, and courage, so that still leaves truth and destiny on the docket.
- We also get a mysterious cliffhanger that sees Acrata Andrea break into Lex’s mansion (I literally forgot she had those powers), while William ominously meets up with Otis.
30 Comments
My only hope with the kid becoming the love totem is that it somehow kills her; my goodness, what an irritating character — though that really doesn’t make her stand out on this show. Were it not ending, I’d have given up by now. As it is, I can endure three more hours of what is becoming the worst-written show on television.
On the other hand, six seasons into Supergirl, does anyone really watch this show for plot anymore?
I do, mostly because that’s all that’s really driving it for me at this point. Character work is pretty damn spotty a lot of the time. Like tonight, it’s been 3 seasons and I just don’t care about Alex and Kelly’s relationship. I don’t dislike it but its never worked for me. They fast forwarded through getting them together during season 4, spent a lot of time not really doing couple things during season 5, and now in season 6 they’re getting engaged and have a kid. I feel nothing.On the other hand, one episode in and I already like Lex and Nxly’s relationship so again, spotty character work but not always bad.
Congrats to J’onn though, finally getting kind of a plot tonight, here with three episodes left to go in the season. Also J’onn’s PI Office finally came back! I honestly thought they had gotten rid of the set since it hadn’t shown up since the start of season 5.
I agree about Alex and Kelly. It does feel like its too little, too late. They had some nice moments tonight but the show skipped over any romance or intimacy for so much of their relationship. Kelly talked about Alex being a passionate person but we’ve seen very little passion between them. It’s easier for audiences to invest in a couple if you pull off the build up and the early part of the relationship but they didn’t put much effort into writing that. “Congrats to J’onn though, finally getting kind of a plot tonight, here with three episodes left to go in the season. Also J’onn’s PI Office finally came back! I honestly thought they had gotten rid of the set since it hadn’t shown up since the start of season 5.” I wish J’onn had gotten a real multiple episode arc this season. I know David Harewood was injured but other characters didn’t get stories until late this season so I’m not convinced J’onn was going to get that much more of a story. It was good to see that his PI Office still exists though.
I mean, the show’s Twitter fanbase fully believes that Alex/Kelly is one of the greatest romantic stories ever told in fiction, so it doesn’t surprise me that the show thinks the pairing is amazing.
It’s so refreshing to see Lex Luthor out of his comfort zone trying to woo Nyxly. I’m glad Nyxly’s first instinct was to immediately spurn Lex for being too much like her father. Lex & Otis were a comedy dream team. Lex traveling to the future & back requires plenty of disbelief suspension for this storyline to work. I wish we’d gotten a flashforward episode devoted to that.Nia won at sweaters
Lex genuinely being in love with Nyxley is a nice twist that I am still trying to get my head around. I have to say though I still hope there is a possibility for her to be redeemed and I don’t think that is consistent with her becoming soulmates with the most selfish and manipulative villain in the multiverse
They can go off and be selfish and evil together.
– I find it funny that the show went straight from “Supergirl quits CatCo to focus on Nyxly” to “Alex has to take the day off to plan a special dinner to propose to Kelly.” Sure, they’re vastly different things and I’m not sure Alex knows Kara quit yet, but I just kind of find it hilarious how easily Alex is able to be written out of the superhero side of the show given her track record.- Lex’s face when Otis told him Lillian made the doofus a board member was everything. – Speaking of which, was it ever stated before this that Lillian was running L-Corp? – I get it’s because of storytelling convienence, but I find it amusing that there is no chance Lex appeared in the 30th Century or the 32nd Century. No, it HAS to be the 31st. – Nice of the show to actually give J’on something to do for once. Now maybe he can ask where the hell M’gann went. – How sad is it that I buy Lex/Nyxly way more after 10 minutes than Alex/Kelly over the past two seasons?- How did the recoil from Guardian’s shield, that didn’t even touch Alex, cause her to throw the Totem so high in the air?- At least we know why Mon-El comes back to the present, ready whisk Kara away so people will stop asking where she is in Superman & Lois.
Once they brought up Lex in the 31st century, it makes sense that they would have Kara go to the future. It’s possible we see some of the supporting cast stay in National City and then have them available on S&L next season.
Kara went to the future in the beloved (by me at least) Justice League Unlimited cartoon as well. (Partly because she had a crush on Brainiac-5!) The Legion of Super-Heroes hasn’t really been much explored in the Berlantiverse, and it would be nice to open that door, even if it’s just as an easy way for Supergirl to ride off into the sunset/embrace new challenges. Because she’s gone from the only superhero in National City to one of, like, eight now? Nine? Both Lena Luthor AND her boss at CatCo have powers now so… it’s not that you’re not special anymore Kara, you are. But at the same time…
Christ the SuperCorp bait is off the charts by this point. After all this anything less than explicit onscreen tribadism for an entire episode is going to come off as a let down.
I enjoy how every week there’s that one person on twitter that’s saying it’ll happen next week, but then it never does.Part of me is still holding out hope that all this may not have been for nothing, but I know deep down it probably won’t. But hey, maybe we’ll get like a hopeful semi open ending a la Rizzoli & Isles.
I’m really only watching to see how things end at this point. I never could get as invested in Kelly and Alex as other couples, including the recently betrothed Sara and Ava, and I think the show did both of them a disservice. I’m glad Luthor is back for the final few episodes, as he’s obviously the show’s best non-Kara character. Very curious to see how this wraps up.
I think part of the problem with Kelly and Alex is they are very similar. Alex is a doctor who was trained to become a Deo Agent. Kelly was a soldier who became a doctor. Both of them have superhero siblings who inspire them to become hero’s themselves. Hell even their superhero names are similar. Alex is Sentinel and Kelly is Guardian. They could have benefitted from some more contrast.
I legitimately thought Lex’s “I’ve been to the future,” bit was just an elaborate scheme on his part to get closer to Nyxly. So it turning out to be true felt like the writers just spun a big wheel marked “How Lex spent the bulk of the season.” Always good to see my man Otis though.I was a little bummed that Kelly didn’t get to finish her proposal to Alex, and then Alex was the one who ended up proposing to Kelly. Or have them propose at the same time or something.
I am not opposed to the Lena magic storyline but it isn’t really gripping me either. It might need a visual boost, like a sexy witch costume for her? Just a thought
Why? So the SuperCorp shippers can lose their minds even more? Where every glance turns into a declaration of love between them?
I don’t wish any more pain or suffering for the SuperCorp shippers
Eh, I kind of do. They irritate me to no end.
I feel that they are somewhat misguided in trying to impose their fantasies on the show, but mostly think they are just hurting themselves
I generally don’t care about them either way, but r/supergirlTV is gotdamn insufferable.
-Haaaaaaahahahahaha Nyxly’s initial reaction to Lex.-I love how excited Kara and J’onn are for Alex proposing to Kelly.-But Alex you do NOT propose in that horrible superhero eye makeup.-Very Lex to try to stalk Nyxly into loving him.-If Kara is able to just walk away from her Catco contract, and William is supposedly a journalist of similar stature, why doesn’t he just fuck off out of Andrea’s nonsense too? J’onn passes the Courage Gauntlet not by finding a way to save his Martian daughters from their deaths, but by coming to peace with the fact that there was nothing he could’ve done to change what happened and that the best way to honor their memories is by protecting his Earth family. It did not occur to me that we’d get a gauntlet try from anyone other than Kara, but I love that they finally gave J’onn something to do and that he was able to help with both the gauntlet and the trauma debrief he and Kara do on the Balcony of Deep Thoughts.-The helmetless spacesuit look works great for Kara.-Kelly having booked Al’s is predictable but cute. Aww, cheese.-Because this is Lex Luthor, I’m paranoid and theorizing that Lex giving up the love totem is just a con. He knew the love totem would never accept him if he chose it over Nyxly?-Rao help me, I’m starting to have hope they’ll land the finale. The totems have been pretty good plot devices and the found family vibes have been awesome.
The anti-Kryptonite suit without the helmet is a better costume than her current everyday Supergirl suit.
yeah, I appreciate suit2.0 for giving us “Pants!” but it’s not a great suit.
Andrea, being so hellbent to get dirt on the Superfriends, never thought to assist them as Acrata and ingratiate herself into the team. It could have been a lot easier for her.
Man, I was not prepared for how hard I would laugh at the line “After conferring with the Kryptonian witch hologram…”Also, I was reeeeaaaaally hoping Lex would catch Andrea sneaking into his office and kill her, so we could finally be done with her.
For me, Jon Cryer was a welcome addition to the plot. Nyxly has been spending a lot of time sneering and laughing at the heroes and it was starting to get tiresome. Her “bad guy” cred was a little weak. Lex Luthor brings more to the table in that regard (good thing for the heroes that his 31st century tech apparently isn’t good enough to remove that depowering cuff).I also liked how, for the second time this season, J’onn J’onzz overcame several seasons’ worth of badass decay. He defeated the prime phantom in “Fear Knot” on his own. And now, in the scene at the Lisbon church, he took on Luthor and ultimately prevailed, blasting him back a good distance. Had Lex not regrouped just in time to portal himself and Nyxly out, the heroes would have captured their target. This was a welcome change from the usual depiction of J’onn getting defeated by opponents who should not be a match for him based on his power levels as established in Season One.
I actually liked this one a lot!
Except for every Alex-Kelly-Esme scene that I Fast Forward. As others mentioned already, their relationship was so badly developed that for me they are now simply consuming valuable time from the show.
I dunno… can the series end with Lex and Nyxly living together in some universe happily ever after? I like those two.
How old is Esme and why she makes all this remarks like an adult? She doesn’t look more than 4-5.. Do five years old kids talk like this?
Only the Dryalian ones, I guess.
Writing is trash in this show lol