REVIEW: Supergirl, S4E22 – The Quest For Peace

Supergirl brings Lex’s diabolical plan to its climax and resolution in “The Quest for Peace,” which ends Linda’s (Melissa Benoist) and Ben’s (Sam Witwer) while setting up a whole new one for Lena (Katie McGrath). Kara ties up loose ends with one Luthor, but how will she work things out with the other when the truth is revealed?

Can’t keep a psychic alien down.

Picking up what last week put down, “The Quest For Peace” commenced with Lex acting as a one-man army to stop the Kaznian invasion – one he himself planned, of course – with a simple toss of his missile. He instantly became a hero to the people, pinned his own crimes on poor dead Otis, and was appointed Secretary of Alien Affairs by his puppet President Baker. And what of Linda, the Kaznian Supergirl with whom he conspired? He had her trapped in a pod because there were still “bigger plans” in store for her.

Clearly things started off rather bleak, and with Supergirl still considered a national threat, Kara was forced to rely on her journalistic side to save the day. Brainy (Jesse Rath), who was still operating at factory settings, restored all the secret files she needed to get to work on a chilling exposé before dropping the fact that Nia (Nicole Maines) and J’onn (David Harewood) had been kidnapped into the conversation. But it didn’t seem that they were in much need of rescue, for they managed to rally their fellow aliens to create a distraction while Nia hologrammed the necessary information to Brainy. In the meantime, Kara has published her article on how Lex divided America in record time, proving she really is Supergirl.

Lena was having poisoned tea with her mother and brother (well, only her brother’s tea was poisoned – pity he caught on) at the White House all this time, where she learned Lex’s next goal. He plotted to use the alien energy he’d gathered to charge his satellite and destroy Argo City, and Superman right along with it. It was an idea so horrible that not even Eve appeared to be on board with it, but thankfully J’onn and Nia were on hand to overload the core reactor with their psychic blasts despite Brainy’s belief that it was impossible. Witnessing them engage in such a dangerous task unlocked the human spectrum of emotions in Brainy once more, and he soon went from calling it quits to cheerleading them to victory – complete with an “I love you” to Nia in the process.

Luthors never lose. Not even against each other.

When it comes to more Earthly matters, Alex (Chyler Leigh) and James (Mehcad Brooks) fought Lockwood and his cronies. This may have been the most confusing part of “The Quest For Peace,” since Lockwood seemed to be floundering without a clear goal. He wanted to get back at Lex for being used as a pawn, but he also still wanted to duke it out with Supergirl and her friends. But Supergirl, at least, was busy with yet another Lex face-off that nearly took the wind out of her sails until her other half came to save her. That’s right, whatever Lex’s plans were for Linda, they came to naught because she escaped from his pod just in time to take a blast meant for Kara and then die from it. Or rather, get reabsorbed into Kara, who then began battling Lex with renewed vigor.

At the last second, he chose every villain’s favorite route of falling to certain death instead of taking Supergirl’s hand. But he was only down and not out, as he portal-ed himself back to his lab and found Lena right where he wanted her. Or so he thought, because Lena was done playing games and found herself more than willing to shoot her brother in the chest. Too bad he waited to die until after revealing the ugly truth that Kara was Supergirl and all of Lena’s friends and family members already knew. For me, personally, it was more disconcerting that Lena was so coldly able to pull the trigger on her own family – but I guess there’s a reason she’s a Luthor and not a superhero.

And so another season of Supergirl came to an end, but this one had more strings attached than ever before. Baker was removed from office, Lockwood was re-jailed and forced to listen to his son’s words of wisdom on the television, Haley (April Parker Jones) became a far superior Secretary of AA, and Kelly (Azie Tesfai) got to kiss Alex. All’s well that ends well, it seems, except that Lena was now in possession of a secret that made her very resentful. Not only that, but Eve was shown to be working for a power higher than the now supposedly dead Lex, a group called Leviathan (that you can read about in the current run of Action Comics). And a mysterious Green Martian got dropped in by everyone’s favorite Monitor, signaling trouble incoming for J’onn and new developments for Crisis on Infinite Earths. Oh, and he did something to Lex’s body too, so perhaps the Evilest Luthor wasn’t done after all…

Supergirl will return in the Fall for its fifth season on the CW.