Supergirl goes full PSA—literally and figuratively
Kara learns to amplify other voices, rather than centering her own
TV Reviews Supergirl
Well color me surprised! Last week, I wrote off the story of
brothers Orlando and Joey Davis as an episodic parable the show resolved way
too easily. But it turns out Supergirl was just getting started. “Still
I Rise” returns to the Davis brothers to explore how difficult life can be for
formerly incarcerated folks, whose past can make it hard to find jobs and whose
lack of jobs can make it impossible to find stable housing—and vice versa. It’s
a vicious cycle that doesn’t lend itself to permanent “happily ever afters,” and Supergirl seems poised to use Orlando and Joey to explore that cycle this season. As Brainy
points out in one of Jesse Rath’s best Balcony of Deep Thoughts scenes: “The fight
for systemic chance often feels never-ending. All we can do is keep showing up.”
The good news is that means more of Jhaleil Swaby’s truly excellent
performance as Orlando, which goes a long way towards making the character feel
lived-in and specific. The bad news is that in using Orlando and Joey more as symbols than as major point of view characters, the Supergirl writers run the risk of getting stuck in soapbox mode. While I
have a famously high tolerance for Supergirl’s blunt socio-political
commentary, even I was finding this episode just a little bit hard to swallow
in how overtly it laid out its messaging. There’s a fine line between weaving a
relevant social issue into your narrative drama and just releasing a PSA.
Supergirl at least seems to know that it has
the tendency to lean too far towards the latter, and lampshades it with a really fun scene of Supergirl
and Brainy recording a hilariously awkward PSA about the importance of eating
your vegetables. While it doesn’t entirely make up for the episode’s more unsubtle moments, at least it winks at them. Elsewhere, the closest “Still I Rise” comes to using its social themes for
actual character drama is in the idea of Kara going all-in on advocacy. Now
that she’s realized how much of a difference she can make by weighing in as
Supergirl, Kara’s starting to become obsessive about calling out as many social injustices as she
can. But that frenetic approach coupled with her impulse to frame things from a
detached reporter’s point of view leads to a fairly disastrous CatCo live
stream that only winds up undermining her case.
The idea of Supergirl doing a social media takeover is such
a fun and original one, that I wish Supergirl had built an entire
episode around it. Instead, it’s just one small stepping stone on the way to
this episode’s bluntly stated thesis: Sometimes powerful public figures like
Supergirl need to use their platforms to amplify other voices, rather than
centering themselves. A great lesson to be sure, just not one that Supergirl manages
to dramatize particularly well. In fact, pretty much everything about Kara’s attempt to
stop National City’s City Council from selling the Ormfell affordable housing
building to be used as headquarters for cloud computing company Orquoia was
forgettable at best and tedious at worst.
“Still I Rise” attempts to spice things up with a whole
bunch of different subplots—from Kelly training to be Guardian to the surprise return
of Mitch the cosmic menagerie hunter from the time travel two-parter. But the
most intriguing elements of “Still I Rise” belong to Nia and Nyxly, respectively. Though I’m still not sure exactly how Nyxly got stuck in the
dream world while hitching a ride back to Earth, it’s fun to watch her repeatedly pull various
iterations of the con she first used to appeal to Kara: Pose as a powerless,
put-upon victim and then turn the tables on anyone who believes the sob story.
It’s how she goes from being Mitch’s prisoner to using him as a pawn in her plan—which is to trick Kara into giving her the heat vision boost she needs to get
her powers back. And while that twist doesn’t quite make up for how lackluster this episode’s big
action climax is (shouldn’t Kara be able to quickly fly those people out of danger
before stopping the freeze bomb?), at least it’s something.
It’s actually the Nia stuff that works best this week, as she’s
treated to 24 hours of tough love from her mom Isabel (a returning Kate
Burton). This is probably the closest Supergirl has come to nailing the “dead
parent returns from the grave” storyline it keeps insisting on returning
to. And it’s fascinating to watch Isabel hold her daughter accountable for her
mistakes while still doing her best to empower her in the process. Isabel points out
that Nia has a tendency to flee from her dreams rather than fully experience
them, which ties in to her tendency to run when things get tough. And while I’m
not sure the running thing is something Supergirl has really established before, I’m glad the show is finally circling back around to Nia’s sister
Maeve, who we last saw in the fourth season episode “Blood Memory.”
Though Supergirl hasn’t put too fine a point on it, Nia’s inability to control her powers is tied
up in her sense of guilt that she “stole” them from her big sister, who spent her whole life
preparing to inherit them from their mother. If Nia wants to get a handle on
her abilities, she needs to confront the pain she’s been holding onto ever since she
parted ways with her once supportive sister on a horrible note. As Supergirl sets about wrapping up all of its various dangling threads in this final season, I’m glad the show hasn’t forgotten about one of its biggest ones.
On the whole, “Still I Rise” actually makes some intriguing
big picture storytelling choices, particularly in its willingness to engage with
the show’s long and short term continuity and to complicate its heroes’ wins with
some losses. Not only does Kara make a new enemy in Councilwoman Jean Rankin (Kari
Matchett), Nyxly winds up vengefully destroying the Ormfell affordable house building anyway, leaving Orlando and Joey out in the cold again. But for all those smart big picture choices, “Still I Rise” just isn’t hugely engaging as an hour of TV in its own right. And while I’ll aways take a so-so episode with good social intentions over a so-so one with no social messaging at all, ideally Supergirl will find a better way to blend its activism with artistry.
Stray observations
- What’s up with The CW not airing promos this season? Ah well, at least the return of Thomas Lennon’s
Mister Mxyzptlk serves as an effective tease for next week! - I get that Kara is trying to make systemic change, but given
how personally invested she is in Orlando, couldn’t she also directly
help him get an apartment too? Sometimes direct aid is the best form of activism,
and surely tons of places will rent to the Davis brothers if Supergirl is their
co-signer. - The scene of Kara and Kelly training together while working through
their frustrations is a nice little callback to the time that Kara and James did
the same thing way back in season one. - There’s something rather poignant about Mitch’s deep desire to reconnect with Naxim,
who fled Earth last year. I wonder if that’s a throughline the show will return to again. - “Sweetheart, you’ve unleashed a force of hell on Earth.”
71 Comments
I’m surprised by the last second Mxy cameo, since LoT just recently went out of its way NOT to have a character appear on camera for a last second reveal so they wouldn’t have to have that actor in the episode.I’m still a bit annoyed by Dreamer’s powers being hereditary, but they can ONLY be passed on to one child. I know they’re aliens, but… that’s not how genes work. It should be just as likely for both or neither of them to have the powers. Nia got the powers before her mother even died, so it’s not like they’re literally being transferred.
To be fair in Superman and Lois only one of the sons got powers like Nia and her sister so at least it is consistent. I do think it makes more sense that either both of them get powers. Also I think Myx will die next episode that or help them take Nyx down.
See, I get that they shouldn’t be guaranteed to inherit powers, but the episode with Nia’s sister made it clear that it was ONLY possible for one of them to get the powers, and that Nia getting them meant Maeve couldn’t. If their mother had 20 kids, only one would have powers.Stuff like that just makes me question how the powers are supposed to be widespread in their race if the very first Dreamer could only pass them to one daughter and every time a Dreamer dies without having kids the powers are lost forever. It gets close to Star Trek Voyager and the Ocampas only being able to get pregnant once in their lifetime and not having multiple births.
But Nia and her sister are both half-human, half-whatever-alien-race-can-do-that-stuff, right? Maybe that affects who gets powers and who doesn’t? Same for the Kent twins.
The Dreamer powers seem to have a strong mystical component to them so it stands to reason they don’t perfectly conform to a rational scientific view. Dreams aren’t rational, why should dream powers be? In other words, Dreamforce, they don’t have to explain shit.
I knew that Mxy appeared in this season but I feel that the show made a mistake by putting Thomas Lennon’s name in the Guest Starring credits at the start of the episode. So the entire episode I was waiting for him to appear, and when we got the to the Supergirl/Kara showdown at the end I knew he was going to show up, if only for a moment. Would have been much more surprising if his name had been post-credits.
Sounds like a bunch of woke nonsense, but still, I had to LOL when the reviewer completely failed to mention Maya Angelou. Thanks for the chuckle!
Addressing the institutionalized bullshit ex-cons have to deal with isn’t “woke nonesense”. HOWEVER, as is par for the course, Supergirl tries to paint this as a black or white issue.
I did like the episode but I don’t get why they are acting Like Mitch was a victim of circumstances when he was doing the whole kidnapping thing in the first place and while had no house he had spaceship so again Mitch isn’t a victim of any system he’s an asshole who was kidnapping people and taking them to a zoo for many years before he arrived on Earth and could have left after his sentence since he has a space ship but chose to steal and kidnap people to for a menagerie . The man is essentially a human trafficker or species trafficker who chose to go back in the business.
So is the show going to do something with William or is he just Kara’s Reporter liaison who shows up at the begging then vanishes for the rest of the episode like Andrea? Will we ever get any Luthor back or is he being saved for Superman and Lois or will he be in Lena’s episode?
William’s main purpose was to be Kara’s love interest. The writers backed away from that, but the actor is still contracted for the rest of the season, so yea, he’s not getting much more than being Kara’s reporter sidekick.
remember how he was first introduced as investigating russell’s death? now that’s a story that went nowhere
Well, they solved that in the first half of Season 5, but then Crisis retconned it to involve Lex, and then they kinda dropped that due to presumably not being able to get Jon Cryer for many episodes.
I’m pretty sure that in Kara’s world, existing just to shove pastry in her face is a very important role.
yeah, sidekick with pastries is a way better role for him than either dickhead coworker or bland potential love interest were.
Lex will definitely return for the finale.
Honestly I like Nyxy as the villain so far She has been enjoyable and poses a threat to the heroes. Again I am not a fan of new guardian simply because I think its overkill for everyone to be superhero.
kelly has so much value outside of being a costumed hero but the writers don’t seem to realize it or care
Yeah, as clumsy as ever in articulating issues, but I am glad that they saw fit to call attention to these specific problems in as blunt a manner as they did.
You can write this shit but you sure as hell can’t watch it.
I’m glad it’s putting more follow through into its commentary on convict rehabilitation & recidivism than the lone episode on environmentalism.
I was expecting Orlando to deactivate the bomb with his EMP power.
For an actual dead person, Nia’s mom feels more alive than Kara’s parents.
Orlando use his alien powers? Hey now, only one story line can carry over.
surely tons of places will rent to the Davis brothers if Supergirl is their co-signer
“Thank you, Supergirl. Now if you can provide us with some proof of your income? We’ll need your legal signature on this page.”
Kara crushes a lump of coal into a diamond and drops it on the landlord’s desk.
She’s also co-owner of a crystal fortress at the North Pole, that must be good for the ok’ credit-rating.
I was thinking about that the other day. People like to throw at Lex that he could spend his money to end, or at least alleviate poverty. Why doesn’t Superman just buy a load of coal and make enough diamonds to give all the homeless in Metropolis houses?
It would devalue diamonds.
Good! Overpriced hunks of rock that have caused more misery than they have ever bought joy in this world, in my opinion. Making De Beers life difficult is just an added bonus.
In practical terms it probably wouldn’t be too much different from regular synthetic diamonds, which I think are already fairly economical to produce.
Makes me think, I would love a Superman story where he (literally) single-handedly crashes the precious gem market.
But if the diamonds aren’t worth anything anymore, there’s no benefit to giving them out.More to the point, if he gave everyone in Metropolis enough money to afford a house, then the price of houses would simply increase until they couldn’t afford them anymore. Price is governed by supply and demand – increase demand without increasing supply (which is what giving money does), and you just increase price. Increasing prices just allows the housebuilders and landlords to make more money without having to build any more houses…
Direct cash payments are very rarely the best way to alleviate poverty on a large scale.
This is why you need an anti-hero anti-Supergirl running around doing high-level Robin Hood shit. It’s a killer showdown of values that legitimately challenges Supergirl’s perspective.“So hey I just bribed six city council members with millions of dollars I stole from violent drug dealers. Problem solved.”“…huh.”
That sounds like a crossover opportunity with Black Lightning. Very much Blackbird’s MO.
This was even a plot point in Falcon/Winter Soldier. After the banker fanboys all over Falcon, he turns him down for a loan because he doesn’t have a good record of income (being snapped for five years is hell on one’s credit history).
I had a problem believing that because at that point, Sam was working for the Air Force again. THAT’S his income!
The no promos thing is so weird, they aren’t even posting them to the CW Youtube channel. It’s like the network stopped caring about the show now that it’s in the homestretch or something. I did wish that in their too on the nose by half political commentary they pointed out that these sorts of sweetheart deals to corporations never wind up benefitting the community.
The CW did the same thing with Black Lightning. Though Supergirl’s final season has still gotten more promotion than Black Lightning’s did.
I have also noticed the no promos thing, it’s like the CW is saying “just get this show the fuck off the air and we’ll pretend it never existed”
I’m surprised they’re not airing double episodes just to burn through them faster.
Well that would mean no Stargirl, and we can’t have that Stargirl’s good.
the series finale will actually be two hours
The network is running out the clock on this show. They aren’t going to run any more promos because the suits have determined there is no upside to it. The ratings just aren’t coming back. A tough break for the fans who have stuck it out these past 5+ years, but that’s life in the big entertainment city, I guess.
“I’ll aways take a so-so episode with good social intentions over a so-so one with no social messaging at all” I disagree on this, especially when it’s as ham-fisted as Supergirl’s attempts have been. Obviously superhero shows can be a force for good, but Supergirl is so often unsubtle and poorly done, it’d be better off not trying. Tonight was no exception. It’s all just too much. Hopefully the show is headed somewhere better in its final episodes.
Man, I am so happy I stopped watching this show.
– Supergirl’s cheesy ad for greens is hilarious since in-universe she eats almost nothing BUT unhealthy food.
– I’m honestly a little surprised Joey and Orlando are recurring characters rather than one-offs.
– Do they not have homeless shelters in National City?
– How is Mitch able to arrive on Earth to kidnap imps if there’s a mass of magic mushrooms that’s supposed to protect Earth from aliens? Why yes, I AM going to ask this again and again whenever aliens appear in the Arrowverse from here on out.
– This whole “Supergirl can push for social justice change” is a plot line that honestly SHOULD have been incorporated much, much earlier. In-universe, Supergirl was a beloved icon after, like, Episode 5. Also, if this were a proper shared universe, Kara should have gotten some advice from Clark, since most likely he dealt with this issue at some point too, even if the conversation was off-screen or via texts.
– So… is Orlando the only one living in the Ormfell apartments? I mean, for such a huge landmark decision, there were a LOT of empty seats there. Why not get any of the other residents to appear?- As Orlando is making his big, heartfelt speech, I have to chuckle a bit at the cameraman behind him, who’s getting nothing but Orlando’s back.
– I get that Kryptonians in this universe don’t tap into the Speed Force for their super speed, but Kara should still have been able to run/fly everyone out of the building in less than a minute.
– The show can barely justify Alex being on the field, the attempts at justifying Kelly being a superhero are just eye-rolling.
– So… Brainy rescued everyone in his human disguise, not his natural green form. Shouldn’t this version of him get back to Andrea and have her recognize Brainy whenever he decides to pay Nia for a visit at work?
– I knew the Council would decide to allow the area to be for the housing. Still makes me facepalm.
– “That’s why I’m gonna make a kickass Guardian.” “Damn right, it is.” Ya know, maybe it’s a good thing this show is ending. And just to make things even more corny, apparently one of New!Guardian’s first acts is to save Joey in a couple episodes.
Mitch is an alien coming to earth to kidnap other aliens. Magic mushrooms DGAF about aliens being kidnapped.
I actually like Alex being on the field and she was the first character to go out on the field with Kara. Though I find it harder to accept other regular humans joining the team because they don’t have Alex’s DEO experience or her alien weapon. And there is just too many people on the team at this point.
On paper, Alex being on the field is fine. In practice, however, she usually ends up doing nothing but stand there or she actively makes the situation worse. They gave her a super suit in, like, Season 2 or whatever, but it disappeared almost immediately. Didn’t the doohickey J’onn give her also allow her to shoot fireballs or something?
She actually did have moments where she contributed to saving the day earlier in the season. I do think she had better action scenes in the early seasons (like in Crisis on Earth X). They need to let her use her Alien weapon in more creative and varied ways.
How is Mitch able to arrive on Earth to kidnap imps if there’s a mass of
magic mushrooms that’s supposed to protect Earth from aliens? Why yes, I
AM going to ask this again and again whenever aliens appear in the
Arrowverse from here on out.
LoT introducing this has made me wonder how the Invasion crossover was possible, as well as most Supergirl season finales…
“How is Mitch able to arrive on Earth to kidnap imps if there’s a mass of magic mushrooms that’s supposed to protect Earth from aliens?” Didn’t they say on LoT that the mushrooms protect from alien invasions, not a single alien coming to Earth? Of course that calls into question previous alien invasions in this series by Kryptonians/Daxamaites, although weren’t all of those of pre-Crisis?“So… is Orlando the only one living in the Ormfell apartments?” Yeah, when Supergirl said that she wasn’t the one who was going to talk to the council I expected a huge crowd of potential residents to walk in, like the bags of letters to Santa in Miracle on 34th Street. Seems strange that they wouldn’t have gotten *everyone* affected by this to show up. Would have been a natural response for the council to say “You’re *one* guy. We’re not going to change this multi-million dollar deal that benefits the entire area for just one person. If this is such a big issue why are you the only resident here to complain about it?”“I knew the Council would decide to allow the area to be for the housing. Still makes me facepalm.” I knew they wouldn’t do it, but part of me *really* wanted the council to say, after they were rescued, that they were still going through with the IT company deal.
So, here’s the thing that bothers me about the Maeve thing. The last time we saw Maeve, she had turned into a transphobic ass after discovering that Nia had gotten the powers instead of her. And in the two years since then there’s been no indication that Maeve has tried to reach out to her and apologize to her, or contact her at all. And I don’t know they’re going to have Maeve apologize or not for what happened or if it’s just going to be Nia because she feels guilty. There’s nothing wrong with reconciliation but needs to come from both ends of the equation.You can tell that that Q&A is occurring in a fictional world because of the lack of horny assholes in the chat.Also all that effort to save the building and it got destroyed anyway. I do hope that’s addressed next week.
it has been over two and a half years since the episode “blood memory” aired. they should be ashamed of themselves for leaving that bleeding wound open for so long
Regarding Maeve, I had to think to remember who that character was. I remember that Nia had a sister who was supposed to get the powers but I can’t remember her being mentioned at all since then, so her suddenly being so important to Nia just seems to come out of nowhere. I understand that this could have been something that had always been in the back of her mind (as it should be) but she didn’t want to mention it, but it just feels like “let’s give Dreamer a personal arc this season.“You can tell that that Q&A is occurring in a fictional world because of the lack of horny assholes in the chat.” Agreed. It would have been funny if when the chat started William said “Um, I’m going to skip over *that* question.”“Also all that effort to save the building and it got destroyed anyway. I do hope that’s addressed next week.” I’m assuming Mxy will restore that building with his magic to undo the damage Nxly has caused.
-Antagonistic councilwoman is Joan from Covert Affairs! Hi Joan!-Supergirl vs. the NIMBYs, probably, but it’s hard to tell because nobody spent more than 10 seconds thinking about policy. Which, honestly, they’re not going to fix anything by trying to go more in-depth here.-Guardian remains a dumb idea in a world of superpowered aliens and metahumans, but I really liked both 1) Kelly’s training scenes/frustration with Kara and 2) the scene where she blocks the glass shatter from injuring the antagonistic councilwoman.-I like how quickly Kara thought to call Mxy.Supergirl at least seems to know that it has the tendency to lean too far towards the latter, and lampshades it with a really fun scene of Supergirl and Brainy recording a hilariously awkward PSA about the importance of eating your vegetables.Rath and Benoist did a great job with that.
i got so excited when i saw kari too!
Don’t forget that Nia’s mom is also Alex’s half sister Meredith’s mother.
“I like how quickly Kara thought to call Mxy.”Agreed. I knew Mxy shows up this season but I thought he’d show up on his own, like he sensed Nxly was loose and showed up to apprehend her. It really surprised me that as soon as Supergirl was told that only magic could save her she realized “Oh crap, I need to call Mxy right now!” and did it.
it was a basic example of a clever plot development based on established worldbuilding that Supergirl so rarely managed to do :/I don’t know if you also watch Legends of Tomorrow, but I’ve been thinking about that a lot in S7 as they refer to MacGuffins they planted a few scenes/episodes ahead.
i’m a liberal and at times even i wish the show would stop pushing its liberal agenda. i think the cw isn’t doing promos because they don’t care about supergirl since the show is ending soon
“I knew Nyxly couldn’t be trusted, but I decided to release her anyway because I’m apparently a huge dumbass. And I thought the owl was probably from you, but I decided to ignore the screamingly obvious symbolism and help Nyxly because, again, I’m a huge dumbass.”“Yes, selling the building to this corporation will help the area economically, but there will be a great human cost. Next question.” OH, WELL WHEN YOU PUT IT THAT WAY…
Being an incredible dumbass who makes horrible decisions and can’t detect a horrible person who acts with all the subtlety of Snidley Whiplash is a requirement for a character on this show. It can’t end soon enough.
I like that Supergirl is leaning full into the social justice angle, but damn I miss scenes like her fight with Reign. Nyxly isn’t going to be one of those types of villains.
At this point we’ve seen Supergirl fight plenty of physical villains, so it’s a nice change of pace for her to fight someone that she can’t just physically beat up.It’s a similar problem that the Flash series has by continuously having Barry fight speedsters. Eventually you want a villain where they have different powers that Barry’s speed alone can’t help him.
I hope Alex and J’onn get more story and screentime in the second half of the season because I think William got more screentime this episode. It feels wrong for the final season to have less of the OG characters than any other.
I miss Lena Nyxley has a chance to be one of the show’s best villains. Hard to top Lex or Reign, but she is her own thing, very creepy and interesting. I would like Live Wire and Bizarro Supergirl to come back for the final season
I realize this doesn’t mean much in a comic book universe, but Livewire died.
I don’t understand the reviews sometimes, because this was one of the best “Supergirl” episodes I’ve seen in a while. Its virtues:- It’s about Supergirl trying to help make things better rather than just wait for the bad guy to show up.- Supergirl tries to win the day through persuasion and standing up for what’s right.- Nia and Nia’s mom and Nia learning how to use her powers.- Nyxly’s skill at manipulating people. She’s legitimately good at it, and not just when the script requires someone to be an idiot.- Supergirl’s awkwardness in the PSA. Lordy, that PSA was painful to watch.Things I didn’t like:- J’onn isn’t behaving like J’onn. He’s more “generic superhero supporting character” at this point. Make him wise and a smidgen melancholy.- Kelly. Good God, I get it, the writers expect us to take their word for it that she’s wonderful and amazing, but I really wish the script would let people come to that conclusion on their own. Remember Rory on “Doctor Who” and how he because my favorite companion, not because the writers decided that for me, but because he never gave up on Amy and even waited 2000 years for her.
I can’t really buy Supergirl being “I-can-change-Nyxly’s-inherent-psychopathy-with-niceness!” level naïve after 6 seasons.
Writing is horrible
I liked the livestream and agree that it was given too little screentime (no pun intended). Especially since Kara got a negative question/feedback and had to immediately leave to save someone – there should have been some ramifications from that, like the public thinking that she faked that excuse to leave because she got negative feedback and didn’t know how to respond to it.Kudos on Nia’s mother for reading her the riot act and not sugarcoating how badly she screwed up by making a deal with Nxly. I would have preferred her to refuse to talk to Nia at all as punishment but I realized that wasn’t going to happen. I also liked their explanation that Nxly’s magic would prevent anyone from missing Nia or noticing that she was gone for those 24 hours.While I don’t want the show to go this dark, I kinda hope that Nxly does some real damage that Nia has to live with – i.e. if Nxly kills some people Nia should realize that she is responsible for that.I did find it hilarious that Kara spends the entire episode trying to save this building for Orlando and others like him, and at the end Nxly just destroys it. I assume Mxy will repair it with his magic, but it was a nice heel move by Nxly: “Oh, this is something you’re passionate about? Boom, it’s gone, how do you like that?”And the show messed up by putting Thomas Lennon’s name in the opening “Guest Starring” credits. I knew Mxy showed up this season but when I saw his name I spent the entire episode waiting for him to appear. So that tense showdown at the end between Supergirl and Nxly was kinda robbed of its tension since I knew that Mxy was going to appear, if only for a moment. They really should have put his name in the closing credits. I did like how Supergirl instantly calls for his help the second Nxly says “Only magic can save you now.”