Supergirl, 2.04 - "Survivors"

Warning: SPOILERS IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED.

I've finally caught up with Supergirl, so let's get into the latest episode! (Yes, I know this is a week late.)

Kara and J'onn discover that there is a secret underground alien fight club orchestrated by the cunning and smart Roulette, who makes money off of rich people bets. These fights often turn violent and end in the death of the loser. This discovery is especially personal to J'onn, as M'gann, his fellow Martian, is one of the club's top fighters. M'gann sells him out to Roulette, who forces the two to battle to the death. After shaming her for her priorities, J'onn realizes that she fights because she believes she deserves it for surviving. M'gann insists upon not killing her opponents, and they eventually reach a truce to defeat Roulette, who of course escapes arrest to some loophole that's never really explained.



J'onn was....pretty strange this episode. The whole "sharing the bond" thing was kind of creepy and rushed, to be honest. I know finding a fellow Martian who understands the horrors he witnessed and faced is important to him, but I felt it was just uncharacteristic of him to drop his defenses so fast. It also seemed like they were pushing a romantic angle, which is...fine, but considering there was little build up, it, again, seemed out of place. To make it worse, we discover at the end that M'gann is actually a white Martian, the same kind that oppressed and massacred the green Martians. I was kind of impressed at how well she's able to glamour herself as a normal person and a green Martian. Since J'onn took Hank's body when he died, did M'gann take a body? Or did she make it up herself? It's understandable that M'gann would keep this from J'onn, but what is she planning?

"Wanna see a dead body?" Maggie cheerfully chirps over the phone. Smooth, Sawyer, smooth. The intense chemistry between Maggie and Alex continues, and even Kara can tell, confused by their chummy interaction. There's even a scene where they walk to the fight club holding hands, dressed to the nines and donning masks. There was no real need to hold hands, so if that isn't a big giant hint towards romantic Alex/Maggie, I don't know what else it would be. We sadly find out that Maggie already has a girlfriend, politely declining Alex's offer to get drinks. The look on Alex's face when she sees Maggie kissing the stranger....well, I can relate all too well, and I'm sure it broke the hearts of my fellow viewers too. I never thought Alex and Max Lord had any decent chemistry, so I'm rooting for Alex and Maggie to find their way back to each other. I ship it hard, people!

Meanwhile, the DEO has forbidden Mon-El from leaving the premises, so he spends his time showing off his abilities and learning inaccurate English slang from Winn. I'm gonna be honest - Mon-El doesn't really have much of a personality. He barely reacted when Kara told him about the state of Daxom, and he doesn't get particularly worked up about being forced to stay inside. There were some bright moments, though - the scene where he calls Kara's mom a babe thinking it simply means "beautiful woman" was hilarious and pure. Winn caves and lets Mon-El go to a bar, where Mon-El stuns bar-goers with his super strength and Winn gets drunk out of his mind. Winn and Mon-El are actually cute together, and have good chemistry. However, I don't like shipping white men with each other thanks to my traumatic experiences being in other fandoms (Looking at you, Stucky and Sterek shippers....) Anyways, at the end, Kara lets Mon-El out, offering to take him under her wing. It's kinda strange, though. Kara got her ass kicked by those alien fighters, so what kind of indication is there that Kara would be a good teacher?

Kara continues her storyline of struggling to be viewed as worthwhile by her boss Snapper. (So apparently that's his name. I wasn't intending on learning it, but I was googling the name of this episode and it just showed up.) He rightfully points out that she lacks sources and confirmed reports, and Kara ends up using Supergirl as her source. Wooooooow. She better be thankful she can do that, but Snapper is impressed, and it's one step closer to her being a legitimate reporter. There was straight up no screentime for James this episode, which pisses me off. I ranted passionately about the racism Mehcad faces, and it seems to be continuing. The showwriters clearly don't know what to do with James now that he's no longer the love interest, and that makes me sad. Now that I'm talking about it, making the black woman a villain was also not one of their best ideas. Fix yourselves, Supergirl writers and the CW!

Overall, this was a pretty solid episode. The season is definitely more interesting than the last, and for the most part, the new characters have a defined purpose and are written decently. Maybe the Arrow writers should get some tips from the Supergirl writers about that. However, I still have a major problem with their treatment of characters of color, particularly black characters, and if that doesn't get fixed soon I will end up losing my patience with the show.

Rating: 8
Extras that didn't make it in: Lena was awfully (suspiciously) nice to reveal the location of the next fight club. Kara should talk to her mother's hologram onscreen more! It shouldn't just show up randomly.

*My next review will probably be of the Flash episode that I have yet to watch! See you then!