Supergirl finally finds a direction for its final season
A funny, earnest episode about courage feels like a throwback to the show's early days
TV Reviews Supergirl
For the first 10 minutes of “The Gauntlet,” I was
worried we were in for a classic late stage Supergirl episode filled
with expositional overload and the sort of “let’s just get through this!” energy
that can often define the show in its weakest moments. Sure watching Jesse Rath
impersonate a Kryptonian witch in order to jazz up an exposition dump is fun,
but is that really the most the show has to offer in its final run of episodes in its
last ever season? Thankfully it’s not! Instead “The Gauntlet” surprised
and impressed me with its ability to refocus the season back on its leading
lady and where she is in her journey. And it did so by calling back to the show’s
first ever action scene: Kara’s impressive plane rescue from the show’s pilot.
Seeing Kara revisit that memory immediately grounded this episode in how far Kara has come since her first public debut as Supergirl. And while “The Gauntlet” never fully explains what Kara should’ve done to pass the emotional
test the Totem of Courage was trying to force her to confront, just raising the question is enough to
make this one of the most thematically interesting episodes of the season. What are the values that Kara embodies? How have they grown and changed since
her earliest days as a novice superhero? And what lessons are still ahead for her
to learn, particularly about things like truth, destiny, love, dreams, hope, and humanity—the qualities that make up the other six totems of the AllStone?
To be fair, those descriptors themselves might not actually mean much. This episode takes a rather, er, broad view
of the concept of courage. A blast of the totem’s 5th Dimensional energy
gives Alex “the courage to be optimistic” and J’onn “the courage to openly
express your feelings,” which really seems to be stretching the definition.
But when it allows Chyler Leigh and especially David Harewood to turn in some
of their funniest performances in the show’s history, I’ll give it a pass. In fact, across the board, this
episode recaptures the earnest, wholesome, unabashedly goofy energy of Supergirl’s
first season as well as any episode of the show’s CW era. (Lighting-harnessing
scientist Dr. Lahr even feels like a riff on season one villain Livewire.) And
that makes it easier to coast along on the hour’s charms without thinking too deeply about its weaknesses.
The best choice “The Gauntlet” makes is to put the overly complicated
expositional stuff second and a simple, emotional story first: When the Totem
of Courage (a.k.a. the slingshot David used to slay Goliath) is split in half
during a museum heist, Kara and Nyxly must race to pass its test of courage and win the other half for themselves. While Kara revisits
that aforementioned plane rescue, Nyxly revisits the moment that her father stopped
his children’s attempted coup and her brother chose to side with their dad over her. Like Kara, Nyxly fails her initial test by making an
action-focused choice (she kills her dad out of vengeance). Unlike Kara, however,
she gets it right on her second try by opening up to her brother about how much
his betrayal destroyed her emotionally.
It turns out that what the totem was looking for from Nyxly was the
courage to be vulnerable. And, indeed, that newfound vulnerability also makes Nyxly far
more interesting as a character as well. While it’s been fun to watch Peta
Sergeant vamp it up as a confident imp, she’s equally impressive when playing more emotionally rich material. And giving Nyxly more dimensions helps make
her feel like a worthy adversary for this final season—especially now that she
and Kara are psychically bonded and able to sense one another’s emotions. While
introducing these totems so late in the game initially seemed like a
desperate attempt to give this loosey goosey season some semblance of
structure, I’m now actually really looking forward to seeing how the show’s final seven
episodes will use them to explore Kara’s personality—and the personalty of everyone around her.
Indeed, pretty much everyone gets a nice character beat or two this week. Without taking up too much screentime, Williams gets
an arc about overcoming some gunshot related PTSD (who knew!) and
deciding to embed himself among the Super Friends. Elsewhere, the show acknowledges the
depth of what Kelly went through last week while moving her
relationship with Alex forward as well. And maybe most importantly, “The
Gauntlet” puts Kara and Lena’s friendship front and center in a really lovely
way. In addition to some mid-day pep talks, Lena even gets the honor of
filling in for Alex at one of Kara’s classic “eat and debrief” living room
scenes—where she quickly comes clean about the whole “Surprise, I’m a witch!”
thing, a reveal that Kara takes in stride.
Even visually, this episode has a lot more to offer than
what the show was capable of delivering in its early COVID filming days. The big
lightning storm climax actually looks decently cool. And while that’s mostly just
thanks to canted angles, some wind machines, and the occasional sweeping camera
shot, I appreciate the show’s attempt to do what it can with a clearly very limited
budget. Though Kara doesn’t pass her courage test, she does display strength of a different kind by prioritizing stopping the storm over keeping her half of the totem. Kara essentially loses the battle to win the war (or at least to save a bunch of people from an
immediate crisis). Just like when she smashed that mirror back in the Phantom Zone, she has faith that she and her friends will be able to find a different
solution to the seemingly impossible problem that lays before them. Kara might not
have courage, but she definitely has hope—and hopeful is exactly how I’m feeling about this show’s final run of episodes.
Stray observations
- So how was Kara supposed to pass her test? By telling
Alex something? By letting Alex die?? Whatever it is, I assume it’ll tie into the endgame this season is building for Kara. - I sort of brushed it aside up there, but Brainy
impersonating Vita the Kryptonian witch was actually very, very funny. (“What
are these, his nipples?” killed me.) I also really enjoyed the moment he realized
with horror that he’d been guesstimating all day. - It feels wildly convenient that the first totem just happened to be in National City.
- It was very sweet of Nia to notice that William was stressed and give him a tip about where to find the Super Friends—even if it did kind of
backfire on her in the long run. - I wish we’d seen a little bit more of what Kara tried on her second attempt at the Gauntlet trial. Just saving more people
throughout the city, I guess? - “Have portal, will travel.”
67 Comments
I really liked this episode. It gave good character development for Nyxly. Honestly Peta is a great actress. That moment when she talks to her brother touches on all the right emotions. Second thing how is Guardian blocking lightning with a metal shield like even if you have some thing to try and absorb the lighting it was still supercharged and the heat alone should burn your arm.
I also just realized that Alex superhero name is the same as Kelly’s. Alex is called Sentinel and Kelly is called Guardian. Like they mean the same thing and they plan to work together as duo like that’s just bad branding to have pretty much the same name as a duo
Alex should have been Crimebuster!
Shot in the dark about Supergirl’s test. The test was about the courage to be vulnerable so I think it either had to do with Supergirl either talking to the man she saved from the mugging face to face after the plane crash since she didn’t want to be seen and the dude still looked scared and probably needed a friendly face or helping the people get off the plane instead of just leaving in the water.
I liked how the episode set up the situation where the villain won while making it feel earned and I also like how we got to see Martian Manhunter use his powers effectively.
Why did both Supergirl and Superman & Lois do a character named Larr this year?Nice bit of characterization from Nxyly with her family ties. I guess she wasn’t lying about what happened with her family.Yeah I have no idea what Kara was supposed to do for her test. None of the other options she had were in anyway courageous. “You should have had the Courage to let your sister die and continue living in anonymity forever.”
No, no, the scientist on Supergirl was named Lahr, totally different.
Lahr- as in Burt Lahr, who played the Cowardly Lion. It was a nice little Easter egg.
It’s ironic that Lesla-Lar is Supergirl’s evil doppelganger in the comics.
All I can say is this week’s episode wasn’t as bad as the show’s been recently. The only logical challenge would have been to let Alex die in the crash, which would have spared everyone concerned a lot of grief over the last six years.
So, umm… is nobody going to mention the pickle in the room? Seide even included a pic… Probably just me….
-DAVID DIDN’T USE A SLINGSHOT, HE USED A SLING. THERE’S A DIFFERENCE.-“Oh no! This machine is generating a giant lightning storm and it will destroy the city if we don’t shut it down quickly!” For Christ’s sake, just throw it out into space. There’s no at atmosphere out there.-My interpretation of Supergirl’s test was it wasn’t about doing what she wished she’d done (saving the mugging victim), it was about facing up to what she DID do (ignoring his cries for help because she was afraid to reveal herself, because, you know, saving one guy in a dark alley is way more noticeable than saving AN ENTIRE FUCKING PLANE). So I think she needed to go talk to the guy and maybe own up to her own real-life cowardice, which she never did.
Okay yeah, that’s a good explanation.
I was thinking something similar, except instead of having the courage to talk to him and own up to it, she just needed to have the courage to accept what happened and not try to change anything
“-DAVID DIDN’T USE A SLINGSHOT, HE USED A SLING. THERE’S A DIFFERENCE.”Due to Crisis, there were a few changes in God’s timeline as well.
I’ve had this suspicion that the show’s final season is building up to the point where Kara’s realized she’s done “enough” and can put away her cape, which isn’t how I’d end the show, but hey that’s just me. And if that is the case then maybe the test was for Kara to have the courage to realize she can’t, or shouldn’t, try to take one so much, the world was good with her saving the plane, she didn’t need to go and save every other mugging victim. But at the same time, that’s a vaguely terrible moral so it can’t be right.Really, the opacity of the Gauntlet was the big drawback of the episode for me. Maybe I’m just a big dummy, but the episode didn’t seem to give us the viewers any clue what the test wanted from Kara so it just felt like a capricious DM or something, and that’s no fun.
I thought it was hilarious that Nyx just randomly lucked into an amateuer psychotherapist-shaman as a partner in crime, who guided her deftly through this harrowing emotional trial, and then did a brilliant pivot to help her with its aftershocks too.Meanwhile, Kara’s shaman-buddy – Lena, this week – was just like “fuck yeah girl, that totem sucks! You’re great!”Just like you said, though, it broke down because the audience had no fucking idea how Kara/Lena could actually be wrong. That’s a big missing piece, of course, but everything else around it was genuinely clever. If only the writers had been able to hint towards something… and, well, something not idiotic and arbitrary.But what? I’m stumped.At this point, even a rug-pull twist about how the totems are just as petty as the imps themselves might be better than any attempt by these writers to deconstruct Supergirl. The game was rigged. No genuinely-decent mortal was ever going to be allowed to pass the test.That would be in keeping with the traditional interpretation of 5th-dimensional-imp society. Unfortunately this show has already stepped away from that with Mxy’s great moral awakening (which he asserted was imposed upon him by other members of his own society.)
It’s yet another storytelling issue that crops up when your main character is effectively an all-powerful immortal god. Don’t they…have a duty to never stop helping people less fortunate?Of course, the Snyder Superman movies delighted in the idea of Superman not owing anything to anyone, making him borderline frightening as a result.
Insert that smbc comic about Superman here.
But why DO these people have to be heroes? I don’t understand what they owe to pathetic other beings. I’m not saying they should become dictators, it’s just that if they don’t want to do anything, they don’t have to. Or do we all have a sacred responsibility to dedicate our lives to helping those less fortunate than us? If so, I have bad news about 99% of humanity.
Found the psycho Snyder fanboy
the Snyder Superman movies delighted in the idea of Superman not owing
anything to anyone, making him borderline frightening as a result.
I’d say closer to “utterly sociopathic”, but you do have to take some off for my deep-seated and frequently-expressed utter loathing for Zack Snyder, and anybody who’s actually a fan of his.
I kind of enjoyed that we didn’t get a pat answer, and that Kara (surprisingly!) lost the first round because of it. The obliqueness of the gauntlet was a nice subversion of how these episodes usually wrap up neatly every week. I’m sure the show will reveal what the true answer is at some point, and I do hope it ties into Kara’s finale in a satisfying way.
I THINK that what was going on with Kara’s test is that she saved the plane not out of need to help the people on board, but out of fear of losing Alex. She needed to have the courage to continue living life the way that she had, and trust to the pilot to save the plane.
Man, I hope not, because not even Sully could’ve saved that plane.
I agree, but that’s not the point.
the basic a leads to b leads to “c” stuff has always been the weakness of the writers on this show. Since season 2 just about every plot they have had had plot holes so big you could drive a truck through them. People who like the show like the characters and they do a good job with that, but it is kind of sad even at the end they can never just do a plot where everything makes sense.
it feels wildly convenient because it definitely was
Lately Supergirl does a better job with episodes like this than the social commentary ones. It’s been such a weird last season. You wouldn’t think they had plenty of time to plan it. It was interesting that Alex having the courage to be optimistic meant being reckless and impulsive. Alex already can be a little reckless and impulsive sometimes.
In fairness, they had to give the previous season an actual conclusion, handle Benoist’s maternity leave, and then wrap up the show, all while writing the entire season remotely. It was a lot to balance.
Always glad to see an episode that isn’t leaning into the social justice aspect–it’s the stronger side of the show. Even still, this season has felt very weak; I would’ve liked a more traditional overarching narrative, but I suppose COVID (and Melissa’s pregnancy) made that impossible. Still curious about where finish–whether it’s Kara ending her super-career, or…maybe no ending at all? Just letting this arc finish and showing that finales don’t have to be finales? I’d be satisfied with that.
I thought this episode was fun. It reminded me of how the show used to be – especially with the original music stinger thrown in there. The social commentary stuff doesn’t bother me, but even I get tired of it at times…like, I get it; we’re perpetually struggling and – if what Brainy said last week had any sort of credence, we’re going to be still struggling a full millennium into the future. And what the hell was Guardian doing out there with a metal shield deflecting lightning?Anyway…FUN EPISODE! I wish we could have more of these. It was definitely a palate cleanser after the absolute downer episode of Stargirl – which I’ll discuss on that post.
The secret was friendship, all along.Zzzzzzz……
well you would say that
The apple don’t fall far from the Tree of El…
This is how the writers rehabilitate this mess:Last 1-2 episodes of the series: some imp pops in.“Wow, so, that was fun, huh? Honestly, some of us were super concerned that you’d realize that you’d already run into a suspiciously-timed virtue-themed scavenger hunt during Crisis, and might figure out that this was all an elaborate imp prank. But me? I had total confidence in your, uh… charming forthrightness? Yeah we’ll go with that.“Anyway, there’s no dragon ball wishes or anything. We just wanted to see if Nyx could chill out a little bit before we let her back into the clubhouse. Sorry for the bother, we’ll patch up your reality before we go. And Kara, relax, the tests were rigged. We couldn’t let you win all of them right away because this was all about imp stuff all along.”
Seeing Alex and John all drunk on courage made me think of Gussie Fink-Nottle’s performance at a prize-giving:Last time I checked, Supergirl was the Paragon of Hope, whereas Batwoman was the Paragon of Courage. This episode certainly helped remind me.
Is it such a good idea for Kara to let herself become psychically linked to Nyxly? Shouldn’t she try getting some Occlumency lessons from Professor Luthor right about now? 😉
Is that chick from Merlin?
yep.
So we’ve gone from Kinja not showing us links to where folks replied to Kinja not notifying us when we get our precious stars? Jesus Christ.
I have more than a few replies still stuck in the Phantom Zone.
But not this one.
William was shot? I don’t remember that at all… Honestly embedding William with the Superfriends isn’t a terrible idea as a means to link the Cat-Co characters back to the main story.Was that Kryptonian witch linked to the coven from season 3? And was that David Harewood doing double duty as the voice of the totem? That Kara lost the first trial and we’re seemingly stumped as to why is the most intriguing thread the show has done in years. Also nice that the scavenger hunt won’t follow the predictable thread where the heroes win all the totems only for them to be stolen away at the 11th hour.
The Kryptonian witch was one of the ones from Selena’s coven (“The Children of Juru”) who created Reign I loved Lena’s double take on hearing that there were Kryptonian witches, I guess she was not in the loop about that (?)
maybe the Kryptonian witches only came up while she had Sam locked away to fix with science?
Really glad Lena is back & stepping up as Kara’s confidante/ BFF. And despite how embarassed she is at being a witch she tells Kara about it. I am thinking that Kara needs to have the courage to put herself and her needs first for once but I don’t know exactly what that means. Hopefully not retiring as Supergirl. Maybe she needs to have the courage to tell Lena how she feels about her…
Lena taking the spot on the couch at home usually reserved for Alex (who has her own couch now with Kelly!) was sweet and a nice example of an organic evolution in the show. Kara retiring/stepping back wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world (hell, Clark did it to her briefly so he could visit Argo with Lois) except her sacrificing her own needs for the greater good hasn’t really been an ongoing theme, and while new heroes have certainly stepped up like Guardian 2.0, it’s not so pronounced that Kara could say “hey National City is in good hands, my work is done.” Plus it feels like an odd sentiment one year after losing Oliver.
I think Nyxley has the potential to be the show’s best villain other than Lex, she is intimidating and funny and sympathetic & it seems like her problems legitimately can be resolved by Kara getting through to her and befriending her, as she wants to do
-Is this the first time Kara’s taken Lena been back to the Fortress since Lena’s betrayal?-Oh no we’re doing a science again.-Jesse Rath is having A LOT of fun with the witch possession.So how was Kara supposed to pass her test? By telling Alex something? By letting Alex die?? Whatever it is, I assume it’ll tie into the endgame this season is building for Kara.-Did…did the gauntlet want Kara to let Alex die? I’m not convinced the show knows how Kara could have passed her test. The gauntlet was a cool mcguffin that could have produced an excellent episode, and I liked this one, but they didn’t quite nail the ending/use Kara’s test to explore what she should have done and what she thinks she should have done well enough.-Good that they didn’t have Lena hide the witch thing while there’s a ton of witch energy flying around.
Lena was at the Fortress when Lex zapped Kara to the Phantom Zone.
I think she was meant to let that other guy get mugged, to preserve her identity, finding the courage to put herself first maybe
This episode really grated on me. In this day and age, routinely spending peanuts on visual effects is inexcusable and just makes it impossible to get into the story. Perhaps it doesn’t matter quite so much for episodes that are largely character driven and there isn’t much in the way of visuals to begin with. We have seen the garbage monster, the giant cat that looks like it escaped from a 1995 video game, and now the absurd ‘lightning storm.’ I am starting to dread what the final battle is going to look like.
Harewood was excellent in this one. I like relentlessly positive J’onn.
David Harewood is underratedly one of the absolute best ArrowVerse actors
I’m disappointed Dr. Beatrice Lahr didn’t become the new Livewire.
It being an alien dragon in disguise was less weird than just being an emotional support iguana some lady was walking around the Science Museum in her arms.
Possessed Brainy sounds like Taika Waititi doing Yoda with regular syntax.
The Fifth Dimension palace looks like high fashion sci-fi when I hoped for surrealism.
The show is now Warehouse 13?
It would be kind of pointless to introduce a new Livewire now, when we’re in the final season and there are only seven episodes left. That would be like suddenly having supporting characters assume new superhero identities or randomly gain magic pow— oh wait.
I prefer the idea that the dragon was a normal iguana but when infused with 5th dimensional courage it was able to evolve into a dragon because it was now brave enough to do so.
Still can’t stand new Guardian. The show tries to shove it down our throats that Kelly is awesome and we have to accept it; it’s just not working for me.Everyone on the show feels off, like the tone came from an episode of “The Flash”. J’onn in particular is a mess. If they wanted to justify his openly paternal side, I would have done it as, he has the courage to just accept the loss of everyone he loved on Mars, all the stuff that has made him radiate melancholy.So, how did Supergirl fail her test? I think she failed by immediately trying to retreat to the shadows rather than just openly be the hero she was meant to be. The black outfit suited her, she could easily have made that her superheroing deal.
I’ll chalk it up to Supergirl as a fictional character in a fictional universe, but the totem being David’s slingshot made me cringe. In our world, David used a sling to defeat Goliath, not a slingshot.
Kara’s test was easy: don’t run (fly) away from the plane crash. Let the news helicopters and the passengers and the world see that Kara Danvers is Kryptonian.That’s something she’s always been afraid of.
Kara said that she hadn’t helped that person being mugged because she was afraid of being found out. I think the test was for Supergirl to not hide who she is. After all, Nyxly’s courageous act was to be honest and open, so wouldn’t that be the same with Kara?
It feels wildly convenient that the first totem just happened to be in National City.It feels wildly convenient that the first totem just happened to be ON EARTH!!!Also, thanks for reminding me about Livewire. Oh Brit Morgan, how do I miss The Middleman!
I think the courage Kara was supposed to have exhibited was for her to publicly reveal who she was. She always hid her secret identity for fear of jeopardizing Alex. But as has been shown, Alex can fend pretty well for herself, so Kara’s fears were unfounded.I expect that the next few episodes will see every one of the Super Friends fail their quests and in the finale, each will find redemption and they’ll get the totems back. The end one will be Kara showing the world who she really is.
Though it’s just a minor point, but during the action scenes, J’onn called
Alex “Alex” and I believe it was Brainy or Alex who called Nia “Nia”. Maybe those names would not mean much to some rando on the street, but how many Alexs hanging out with Nias does William know?
I’m surprised no one mentioned the Beatrice Lahr Easter egg- Bert Lahr was the actor who played the Cowardly Lion in Wizard of Oz.
I think to pass she was supposed to let the world know Kara saved that airplane and the people inside it. She was never SUPPOSED to have a secret identity I think
Considering how many other Arrow-verse shows have had a character needlessly keep a secret from everyone for multiple episodes that causes unnecessary drama, I’ve appreciated how both Nia and Lena have had a secret, took an episode to ruminate on it, and then reveal it to Kara.This may have been the funniest episode in a long time. The Super-friends being infected with an excess of courage, especially J’onn, was hilarious.Was I the only one that thought the episode was going to end with a reveal that most of it had been Kara’s courate-test-vision and that she finally passed it by releasing her half of the totem to Nxly in order to save the city?