Supergirl engages in some “Magical Thinking”
The Totem of Humanity takes center stage in an action-packed episode
TV Reviews Supergirl
Back in Supergirl’s third season, the show started with a promising arc about Odette Annable’s Reign only to make a bizarre, disastrous late season swerve into an arc about Argo City instead. Now Supergirl’s sixth season is following the opposite trajectory. While the season never quite found its foot with its opening Phantom Zone throughline and the transition period that followed, the random late season swerve to this totem storyline is one of the more exciting things the show has done in a while. It’s allowed the series to recapture the balance of zippy superhero fun and thoughtful ethical questions that once made the show so special. And it’s given Supergirl permission to be lighter and more character-centric in its final stretch of episodes, which is absolutely the right choice.
Best of all, “Magical Thinking” proves Supergirl has the capability to explore this seven-totem arc without making each episode feel like a repetitive quest. Though it’s unsurprising that this hour ultimately ends with the Super Friends claiming the Totem of Humanity to even the score with Nyxly (who still has the Totem of Courage), the path to getting there isn’t just a repeat of last week. Sure, the fact that the residents of National City go mad because they’re robbed of their humanity isn’t that different than last week, when the residents of National City went mad because they were hopped up on courage. But that background chaos is really just an excuse for the show to provide some requisite action while it puts its focus on the unique themes and ideas raised by each totem.
This week, those themes are all about compassion and empathy—the qualities that make us human, according to Lena. When Nyxly activates the Totem of Humanity, she drains those qualities from the people in the nearby vicinity, giving herself an accidental overdose of compassion in the process. It’s a plot device that lets Peta Sergeant give a performance that’s alternately hilarious and kind of wrenching, as Nyxly is suddenly forced to deal with an overwhelming amount of empathy for everything and everyone. (She can’t even get off the floor once she starts thinking about poverty, disease, hunger, and endangered snow leopards.) It’s yet another welcome dose of depth for this final season’s big bad. And that, in turn, lets Kara delve into some interesting new emotions too.
The opening scene where Kara is too worried about Nyxly to even think about taking an evening off for game night speaks to a level of panic we’ve never really seen from her before. And the way she’ll suddenly burst out in Nyxly’s emotions is a brilliant way to give Melissa Benoist more notes to play in her own performance. One downside of Supergirl’s elder statesmen years is that the series hasn’t always been the best at finding interesting emotional arcs for its leading lady now that she’s firmly settled into her role as Supergirl. So I’m glad this final season is starting to break that trend with something more complex for Benoist to play.
When “Magical Thinking” isn’t delivering compelling moments for Kara or sweet scenes for Lena and Nia (I love that friendship so much!), it’s zeroing in on two different ethical conundrums. William’s new role as the official Super Friends reporter raises some intriguing questions about the ethics of reporting on issues of national security in a way that keeps people informed without jeopardizing public safety. Meanwhile, Lena and Kara spend the episode’s emotional climax hashing out the ethics of a “for the greater good” argument. Kara wants Lena to use her magic to overwhelm Nyxly with compassion by sucking even more of it from the people of National City. But Lena doesn’t want her relationship with her new magical abilities to be defined by hurting people in the name of helping them—something that once took her mother down a dark path (and also calls to mind her whole Non Nocere thing too).
Unfortunately, the biggest weakness of this episode is the way it tries to resolve those two conundrums by tying them together. Though Lena and Kara briefly seem to reach a consensus that harming people is wrong, they ultimately decide that they can actually do pretty much whatever they want so long as they let William report their actions to National City after the fact, which doesn’t really make much sense to me. Meanwhile, William decides that the only truly ethical way to report on the Super Friends is to follow his own gut—rather than the story they want him to spin or the one Andrea pushes him to write. While it’s all supposed to be a commentary on transparency and accountability (and maybe comfort zones and friendship boundaries?), it mostly just feels like a shrug.
Still, when the rest of the episode is so gosh darn fun, it’s hard to mind too much. “Magical Thinking” has a sense of style that was desperately missing from the dour first half of the season. In his first time in the director’s chair, stunt coordinator Simon Burnett brings an eye for creative action beats—like Nia’s awesome thigh grab move or the sequence of Kara casually catching a bullet, which is one of the coolest images in the show’s history. Meanwhile, the script by Karen E. Maser and Derek Simon is really good at weaving character moments throughout the action. The way Kelly and Alex catch up on their days mid-battle sells their relationship better than any generic “bond over wine” scene ever could.
Speaking of which, kudos to this episode for taking the “Alex and Kelly adopt orphaned alien Esme” storyline from a bland inevitability to a genuinely moving addition to the season. Seeing the way Esme’s foster parents are willing to use her alien fire-breathing skills as their own emergency security system is a reminder of the dark side of humanity. And it also roots the Esme storyline in something more specific than just “Alex wants a kid!” In fact, thanks to the way this episode frames it, taking in a scared, lonely alien girl actually seems like a completely natural endpoint for Alex, a character whose entire life has been defined by protecting her alien sister.
I’m also both curious and intrigued by how much these past two episodes have positioned Lena and Kara’s friendship as the emotional heart of the series. Though I still have no idea what this show is building towards for its ultimate endgame, I’m really looking forward to watching it unfold. There are definitely still quibbles to be had with this final season—like the fact that J’onn hasn’t had anything resembling even a minor storyline lately—but the show also feels alive and activated in a way that hasn’t always been the case over the past few years. And that makes for a refreshing change of pace.
Stray observations
- I’m assuming Supergirl just doesn’t have the budget to include every cast member in every episode anymore. Poor Brainy is off scanning for Nyxly’s ship this entire hour.
- Lena casting a spell that accidentally causes Nia to lose her sense of left and right is a perfect excuse to let Nicole Maines do some comedy!
- I don’t know if this show strictly needs William as a character, but I actually really enjoyed the scene where he compared Lena using her mom’s spell book to his own experience trying to recreate his dad’s baking recipes.
- Less successful was the absolutely baffling choice to have William do a bunch of hand-to-hand combat when Kara was standing right there.
- Here’s a screenshot of the Super Friends’ big board of totem research. Next up, Nyxly is heading for the Totem of Hope, while Nia has her eyes set on the Totem of Dreams.
57 Comments
Back in Supergirl’s third season, the show started with a promising arc about Odette Annable’s Reign only to make a bizarre, disastrous late season swerve into an arc about Argo City instead.When I got 3+ seasons into a rewatch before S6 came back, this was even worse on binge. Because the first half of the season through Reign kicking Kara’s ass through an office Christmas party is so, so good, and the end of it goes so fucking wrong. The contrast is even worse when you don’t have a month off between arcs.-“Lena broke my brain.” I love the Nia+Lena friendship and Lena messing up the first spell was fun. Also enjoyed Nia partnering with Space Dad J’onn for Game Night.-Forcing all the humanity into Nyxly, at risk of other people further losing theirs, is a really dastardly plan for Kara!-This whole social worker storyline has really been a leadup to learning *which* kid Alex and Kelly would adopt, wasn’t it? Props if you were savvier than me and didn’t think it would be the first one.-Always grateful for Kara/potstickers scenes, but where has our Danvers Sisters Bonding Time gone? William’s new role as the official Super Friends reporter raises some intriguing questions about the ethics of reporting on issues of national security in a way that keeps people informed without jeopardizing public safety.I would have liked this better if it felt like they spent more than two seconds thinking about the “ground rules” for his reporting. We’re just whiplashing from J’onn throwing “off the record” out after saying something to Andrea thinking it’s cool to order her reporter to burn sources without considering long-term repercussions to Catco or William?-Excited for Nia and the Dream Totem.
“Always grateful for Kara/potstickers scenes, but where has our Danvers Sisters Bonding Time gone?”I really dislike how much the writers have sidelined Kara and Alex’s relationship. With the show ending they should be focusing on that relationship more.
Yeah I feel like a drawback of this show being so arc driven (not that most superhero shows aren’t these days) is too often we don’t get the fun adorable downtime stuff the main characters do because they have to be focused on saving the world. I realize conflict is the driver of story but c’mon we need at least a couple more hugfests before the end.
I was so excited for the Danvers sisters reunion coming back. I’ve enjoyed the Nyxly/totem plots, but give me the sisterhood too.
“-Always grateful for Kara/potstickers scenes, but where has our Danvers Sisters Bonding Time gone?”To the Totem of Courage. Seems pretty obvious at this point that the series is baiting the online Supercorp shippers through the rest of the season.
If past behavior and the rumors of the finale are accurate, they are going to massively troll the Supercorp shippers, who are fucking fanatic on Twitter.
I would appreciate that. If anything, Lena and Kara being friends is the most meaningful outcome for that relationship, and I would love to piss off the irritating fans constantly trying to argue otherwise.
To me Reign and Nyxley might be the show’s two best non-Lex villains. Though they are pretty different. Reign was scarier and Nyxley is funnier & has somewhat more variable fashion sense
They’re pretty good, but I really loved watching Teri Hatcher chew scenery in S2 too.
Teri Hatcher as evil queen Rhea was also an effective supervillain I thought. Which her Desperate Housewives costars I guess would not find surprising
I thought Agent Liberty was great, until Lex eclipsed him.
I’m pretty sure season three is when they had to fire a producer halfway through the season due to sexual harassment allegations. I think they weren’t able to use some of the stories he developed for the 2nd half of the season, so they were forced to rewrite the second half of season 3 on short notice.
– This fucking show.- Gotta love how National City becomes a war zone, but not only is nobody seriously injured, nobody even bleeds! Nobody uses a knife, nobody uses a gun (except for that one guy, who only does so once Supergirl arrives), and we never, ever see how the Rage Wave affected anyone who was driving or were in crowded areas like a subway platform or downtown store. Or hell, a goddamn hospital. Can you imagine how many people died in whatever hospital was nearby?
– Also, all everyone did was fight each other? Nobody broke any windows or destroyed any property? LOL.
– So, Andrea says that Kara & Nia are handling the Rage Wave coverage so William can focus on the Superfriends. Now, William keeps getting harassed by Andrea to get results, with him commuting to and fro from CatCo to the Super Tower multiple times throughout the day (it’s never implied that this episode lasted more than 24 hours), but we never actually see HOW Kara & Nia actually “kept on top” of National City freaking out to Andrea’s satisfaction. Also, this is a goddamn news station, where are the rest of the field reporters? God, Andrea sucks.
– Speaking of William and the Super Tower, how does he get in and out without finding the secret entrance? The tower is literally right above J’onn’s PI detective business that the show seems to have forgotten about. And William very clearly knows who J’onn and Alex are. Oh! Remember when Andrea said that they had no idea who Martian Manhunter and Sentinel were?
– Did J’onn REALLY have to throw the carjacker out the window? Why didn’t he phase in, unlock the door, then open it up and throw the guy out? I’m pretty sure he’s not gonna be paying for the replacement.
– Guardian and Sentinel being in the suburb to rescue Esme feels so, so contrived with everything going on. Especially since they are both non-powered and went together instead of splitting up.
– Remember last season when Andrea told everyone that they had no-compete clauses in their contracts? I’m guessing Crisis retconned that out too?
– I couldn’t help but laugh at Alex and Kelly adopting Esme. First off, there’s the fact that she doesn’t know they are Sentinel and Guardian. Second, when exactly are they gonna have time to raise a little kid? Both of them spend most of their day superheroing. Is Esme gonna hang out in the Super Tower now? I supposed Alex will get the majority of the watching duty since Kelly, unlike Alex, actually DOES have a day job. Granted, it’s a day job that doesn’t ask why she disappears to go superheroing, but a day job nonetheless.
– Goddamn, this fucking show.
I think Alex might work for J’onn as a P.I. (they worked on a case together last season) but they haven’t talked about J’onn’s P.I. business at all this year. It would have been nice to see them work on another case this season. It’s annoying that all the build up to Alex and Kelly adopting a kid was done with just Kelly and Alex ends up deciding to adopt Esme a minute after meeting her.
i don’t think they have mentioned j’onn’s side business since season four
Did J’onn REALLY have to throw the carjacker out the window?I thought that was hilarious overkill on the level of The Tick or some other hero parody, especially with the carjacking victim right there.
“Also, all everyone did was fight each other? Nobody broke any windows or destroyed any property? LOL.”We literally see scenes of windows being broken and a group of rioters turn over a car.“there’s the fact that she doesn’t know they are Sentinel and Guardian. Second, when exactly are they gonna have time to raise a little kid? Both of them spend most of their day superheroing. Is Esme gonna hang out in the Super Tower now? I supposed Alex will get the majority of the watching duty since Kelly, unlike Alex, actually DOES have a day job.”Agree with you about Alex and Kelly thinking they can adopt/foster Esme when they both have jobs and are super-heroes. Where do they think all of this free time will come from for them to take care of her? Also, Alex DOES have a day-job – she’s J’onn’s partner in his PI business. They literally say this when J’onn is telling William about his PI business and Alex walks in.
All they have to do to defeat Nyxly is publish an article with her name spelled backwards & get her to read it.
“Lena broke my brain!”Move over violet; Lena Luthor looks great in green!
Has it ever been established that the way to rid the world of Nyxly is identical to Mxy or is the series going to end on Nyxly getting all seven totems and then somehow managing to imprison herself in a really stupid fashion?
Congrats to William on being useful for the first time ever on this show with his advice to Lena. I still don’t like this whole magic plot though, and in hindsight, I really wish they had done something better with Silver Banshee. She could have been your magical team member.I did quite Nyxly this week though, with her reaction to the totem (apparently) not doing anything and then her interactions with Mitch later on.
If I like one thing about the magic plot with Lena, it’s that she’s out of her depth and it’s challenging her very empirical way of thinking.
Yeah, the attempt to touch on where journalism ethics vs public need-to-know was interesting, especially with Kara & Superfriends framed as the ones trying to hold info back. Shame that they didn’t dig a little deeper. This is definitely the best use of William so far. I wish Andrea was a little less of a cardboard bad boss, especially after they’ve shown her friendship with Lena.I thought Kara’s plan to continue draining humanity from people to eventually force Nyxly’s hand was her also having some humanity drained as well and not recognizing it, but NOPE! That just sounds like a horrible, horrible idea. Not a fan of bangs as a hairstyle in general, was amused when Nyxly’s transformation gradually took her bangs away, only for them to be restored once all the infused humanity left her.
Yeah, Kara’s “break some eggs, let the press sort it out” attitude seemed really out of character. I also assumed she’d had some of her “humanity” leeched.
Remember how pissed Lena was about one of her best friend’s lying to her and keeping her powers secret?
Now Lena’s doing the same thing to Andrea.
I’d like to think that’s going to come up somehow.
This was maybe the best episode in a few weeks (relatively speaking, of course; the show is so awful at this point that not-terrible is a plus) if only because there was so much plot, there wasn’t a lot of time for terrible acting. It was still there every time McGrath, Tesfai, Gonzalo, or Maines was on screen, but it was less noticeable than usual.
My favorite part was how quickly CATCO Magazine is published and distributed. William had finished writing that article, what?, fifteen minutes before, and the printed version of it was already on the newsstands? Also, his threat to take the story to the Planet? Guess CATCO doesn’t believe in exclusivity clauses.The worst part? Once again, these damn space orphans. Just let Alex adopt one already so we can be spared the torture. At least this week we were spared the endless saga of Orlando and Swaby’s own terrible acting.
The thing is, they DO have a non-compete clause. Andrea mentioned it in her very first appearance, when she was telling them about how she wanted CatCo to publish brainless clickbait, and people were threatening to quit.But I guess Andrea and William kinda forgot about that, as David Benioff would say.
Why does this show hate the foster system so much? It feels like they’re just stacking the deck so that Alex and Kelly can come out looking like the most awesomest, lovingest parents ever, and that seems pretty goddamn insulting to everyone who actually works in foster care. Remember how loving and supportive the foster parents were in the Shazam movie? This show probably would have had them turn out to be abusive drunks.When Kara first flew into the tower and proposed her morally questionable “for the greater good” plan, I thought it was going to turn out to be the alien dude in disguise with an image inducer and some kind of knock-off flight ring, because of how haphazardly she was flying. And then when Lena was calling her out on the callousness of her plan, I thought they were going to say Kara was losing some of her humanity because of the totem, and that was why she was being callous. But no, it was just regular old Kara, deciding that endangering innocent lives by escalating city-wide violence is okay as long as a reporter writes about it so we can “discuss it in the open.” So I guess drone strikes are all right, too, as long as they get news coverage?HOW THE FUCK IS EVERY TOTEM ON EARTH THAT IS SO LAZY
They stated earlier that every planet has its own set of totems. I’m guessing not Mars though since it’d probably be easier to get those. And the adoption storyline is probably fueled by Twitter superfans, who have long convinced themselves that Supergirl is the greatest show ever and its characters are always right and beyond reproach.
I 100% thought Kara was losing her humanity because of the totem. That was quite the inhumane scheme.
If you look up the foster system in real life it can be pretty messed up. In fact this show is making it look pretty decent by comparison.
I’m actually genuinely impressed about the astoundingly fucked up choice to have the foster family sticking the little girl outside to fight three grown men.
Also yay for actually spending some money this week with some nice bits like Nyxly dropping the totem or the bullet catching.
i think that foster mom was the real villain of the episode
The foster mother had just seen Esme breathe fire at a rioter. She assumed that Esme would be able to do that on command so she thought she could protect them.
I’m assuming Supergirl just doesn’t have the budget to include every cast member in every episode anymore. Poor Brainy is off scanning for Nyxly’s ship this entire hour.Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this a result of COVID? The other Vancouver-based Arrowverse shows also shuttled cast members in and out of episodes this past year.
It’s really obvious if you watch all the Arrowverse shows. LoT had a multi-episode arc where Behrad spent an episode passed out in the lounge because there was no other way to write a main character out for only one part.
This was…fine, with some good moments of comedy but, again, most of the drama didn’t land to me. Especially the adoption storyline; I can’t quite say why it feels so inauthentic to me, but it does. Oh well.
Brainy and J’onn being sidelined isn’t the worst news I’ve heard today. I like J’onn as a character and it’s been great to have the Martian Manhunter on my TV, but it doesn’t really feel like he has a place on the show anymore. And I’ve never been enamored with this show’s version of Querl Dox. Take William with you and we might actually have enough breathing room to explore the characters who are actually interesting.
I watched the season 3 episode The Faithful a few weeks back. I was disappointed that they never did follow through with Alex’s wanting to have a child. It was nice to see it finally happening for her.
IIRC the show came up with the “Alex wants a child” thing to explain why Maggie (?) was leaving the show. They had to come up with a reason why they would break up. I don’t think before this Alex ever showed any interest in having a child. So kudos for remembering this and doing something with it.
I liked Lena standing her ground against Kara & not having to apologize for having her own point of view. Though while I appreciate the focus on that relationship, I do miss there being more Kara-Alex, and also more Lena-Alex, though I guess that “ship” has sailed sadly
Okay, so…The second I saw Esme on screen, I knew Alex and Kelly were gonna adopt this kid. It’s so on-the-nose. I love how much fun everyone seems to be having in this swan song season. Give me more of it, please!Then…there’s William and Andrea. WHY? As much as I love Julie Gonzalo, she serves no purpose other than to be a Great Value Cat Grant, and she’s no Calista Flockhart. And William is just pointless.It would be nice for J’onn to have something more to do than be Team Dad, but I guess this is where we are with his character. Okay, I guess.
Seeing the way Esme’s foster parents are willing to use her alien
fire-breathing skills as their own emergency security system is a
reminder of the dark side of humanity.Dollars to donuts Esme’s alien powers (are they really fire-breathing powers, or are they “can reflect the powers/energy of others back at them”?) are going to somehow be necessary to stop Nyxly and there’s going to be a whole lot of Kelly & Alex drama about whether or not they’re OK with that.I like comedy Nia, more of that please. I also kinda enjoy the fact that Lena is basically the Orko of this group now, though I suspect her magic will get better. But overall, this feels like another season of throwing a bunch of crap at the wall and hoping it all sticks. Maybe I’m still pissed at how they completely misused Manchester Black in one of those previous seasons of trying to do too much, but it’s just not working for me at all.
Increasingly, this show feels like a bunch of stuff that happened, and that’s it. I feel like the show is divided into two parts: a bunch of people stopping the bad guy because the bad guy is bad, and then there will be insufferable Alex / Kelly moments intended to showcase what magnificent people they are and what a magnificent couple they are and what magnificent crime fighters they are.This show feels like a CW show that’s running on fumes to its series finale. That’s a shame.
I’m complaining about this show being just very blah and unmotivating, which I guess obligates me to offer some suggestions. Okay, we’re reaching the end of the series, so some themes to cover:- What does the series want to say about what it means to be a hero?- What impact has Supergirl had on National City / the world?- What impact has Supergirl had on her enemies? – What impact has Supergirl had on her friends? – Has Supergirl accomplished what she has wanted to?- What is Supergirl’s legacy?I guess we could get to some of that via dealing with an imp doing magic crap, but it doesn’t really feel like we’re going there.
Why wasn’t Kara overwhelmed by Nyxly’s emotions via their psychic link?Why didn’t William run the story by the Super Friends before publication like they asked?Why was the abusive lady who got arrested waiting to pick Esme up and take her back to the orphanage? That place’d look like the disaster girl meme if she were to lay a hand on Esme…
i took another look and fortunately that’s a different lady at the end of the episode
Thank you, I was really confused by that otherwise.
My question is what happened with Lex like he sort of just left the show off a cliffhanger and hasn’t been seen since. Are they saving him for Superman and Lois?
lex is coming back. there’s an article about it
Did I miss the part where Lena decided she was totally on board with magic being a real thing? I thought she was still a bit weirded out last week.
It’s one of the most rushed storylines they’ve ever done.
This episode has multiple instances of Lena saying that “magic” is actually unexplainable science. She is definitely not “on board with magic being a real thing” and was constantly trying to explain it away via science.
F you Andrea.
O.K., I suppose they are going to do these get-the-totem eps until we get to the final battle next month. Although this episode didn’t work for me, there were a few bits that were on the nose:(1) We get a look at a superhero’s amazing powers, with pretty good visual effects for a change—sorry, giant cat. Grabbing the bullet out of the air was super-cool. Although, Wonder Woman may have to sue for trademark infringement….(2) Call-back to the hero’s weakness for potstickers. And despite everything that’s going on, billionaire Lena does not eat with her hands.(3) Mitch’s ship looked pretty impressive, nice interior sets and external visuals for a change. It is clearly different from the ship seen in the Prom Night episodes, which Brainy tracked without any issue. This one has improved shielding/cloaking capabilities that the hero team can’t cope with. I guess Mitch went to the bad guys’ space vessel dealership and traded up.(4) Nyxly feeling bad about the endangered snow leopard.
Why William and Andrea are still in the show consuming precious time from its final season?Alex and Kelly will seriously adopt a kid? Seriously? I mean SERIOUSLY?
What they will be doing every time they go to fight for the greater good? calling for a super-nanny? Or they gonna take the little one with them? This is stupid!It is a bit of a miracle people still want to live in National City (or any superhero city). I guess real estate in NC is not a very prosperous job anymore..
Simply putting this in writing to both see if I’m correct later on, as well as to get my fellow viewers’ takes. When she obtained the Totem of Courage, Nyxly ended up learning the courage in vulnerability. When she obtained the Totem of Humanity, she was overwhelmed with compassion.
Supergirl has always at its core been about hope and the potential for redemption. Does anybody else get the idea that perhaps the totems will continue teaching Nyxly virtuous qualities until she no longer desires world domination, or vengeance, or whatever her current idea of an endgame is.
It seems to me it would be very Supergirl if the key to defeating the final Big Bad was not through punching and lasers, but rather the triumph of “the better angels of our nature” over our darker impulses.
Just a thought!
Writing is so bad on this show