Supergirl, S2E4 – Survivors

This week’s Supergirl centered on the survivors of various tragedies, as the episode title would suggest. The hour opened with a flashback to the destruction of Mon-El’s home world of Daxam, which helped tie him even closer to Kara. At the same time, J’onn J’onzz is navigating a burgeoning friendship with a woman he believes to be the other last Green Martian. But that’s not the only kind of survival this episode deals with – Alex and Maggie investigate an alien fight club run by the sinister Roulette (Dichen Lachman) in which the members are forced to fight to the death.

Kara learns to trust Mon-El.

Both Kara and J’onn have to tread carefully when getting to know their fellow survivors, though their reasons for it are quite different. At first, Mon-El thinks that Kara had been standoffish with him due to her preconceived notions about Daxamites, but he soon learns the truth. In a touching scene, Supergirl reveals to to him that she still feels guilty about her family indirectly causing the destruction of Daxam. Once he makes it clear that he holds no one responsible, Kara decides she is going to fulfill her original purpose in coming to Earth by helping Mon-El through his adjustment period since she never got the chance to help Clark. And she’ll have no shortage of assistance in that endeavor, as Winn’s eagerness to join Mon-El in a boys’ night out showed. This story line is shaping up to be at the very least a fun one, even if it’s unclear what Mon-El’s greater purpose is outside of becoming a new ally to Kara.

Meanwhile, J’onn runs into the trouble of being too overeager to merge with M’gann in the Martian way. “But you guys just met!” Kara gasps, in one of the episode’s best laugh-out-loud moments. Turns out that it only means creating a psychic link to see into each other’s minds, but M’gann actively recoils from it. It’s wonderful to watch J’onn try to be more understanding, and even better to see Kara and Alex supporting him instead of him always being their rock. But of course the real trouble is that M’gann is hiding a few secrets of her own, one of which Supergirl can clear up in the span of the hour and another that’s going to take some time to unravel.

Roulette makes a riveting villain.

Her first big secret leads into Alex and Maggie’s investigation throughout the episode. Their hunt for an alien killer leads them to Roulette’s underground alien fight club, and introduces us to the season’s most exciting villain so far. Roulette is ruthless, and her power over both the aliens and the rich of National City brings up a lot of questions. Although Supergirl doesn’t delve much into her backstory, she makes a formidable enemy without having to lift a finger herself. Kara is momentarily defeated by Draga, one of Roulette’s fighters, which reminds viewers that she is not invulnerable even as a superhero. Furthermore, Roulette is chock-full of chilling villainous speeches that apply to the real world. Such as, “People don’t care about what happens to aliens, but they do care about dogs.” M’gann also plays an important role in this plot, willing to do whatever it takes to survive until it means killing another person. Her inability to kill J’onn even if it means her own death is even more spectacular in light of the final reveal: she’s actually a White Martian, and therefore part of the race that murdered his. Her very existence in this episode proves Roulette wrong and Kara right. Oppressed individuals will pull together against a greater enemy when there’s more than just themselves at stake.

Alex and Maggie didn’t just go undercover and help Supergirl bust Roulette, however. This week’s episode spent a good deal of time exploring Alex’s attraction to the cop without expressing it verbally. The chemistry between the two actresses is electric, but it looks like the audience will have to deal with yet another slow burn. It’s not yet confirmed whether Alex even knows why she’s feeling jealous, but the story line has been handled with care so far. I only hope the resolution to this romantic arc is happier than Supergirl‘s last major romance, because Maggie deserves to be fleshed out as a character both as Alex’s partner and a cop rather than shipped offscreen like James has been.

The second season of Supergirl has been full of heart and humor, and this week’s episode is no different. From Kara learning the ropes as a journalist to Supergirl championing alien rights, the show has been finding new ways to challenge their main character further each week. All that’s missing now is to bring back the overarching mystery of Jeremiah Danvers’ whereabouts, and to better utilize supporting characters like James Olsen.