Martin Carr reviews the sixteenth episode of Supergirl season 4…
This is the episode we have been waiting for. Backstory, character arcs and Jon Cryer dominating everything. Taking a leaf from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and giving it a Kryptonian spin season four takes a next level leap as Luthor’s scheme gets fully revealed. Flashback court trials, Eastern bloc interactions and conjugal incarceration conversations are just a few of the elements which make The House of L shine.
For the most part this is Melissa Benoist and Jon Cryer on screen interchanging dialects, exchanging hero and villain for mentor and pupil whilst plot points are uncovered carefully. If anything this an examination of two different moral codes each with their own flaws. Luthor has an inherent disdain for wealth and its accumulation yet realises that this is the only way to operate. Hypocrisy fails to come any larger than this apparent juxtaposition of personal values. A point which is made thematically on more than one occasion.
Where Benoist shines is in her ability to not only converse in Russian but also play the pupil, slighted student and wide eyed innocent of National City. She is able to clearly differentiate between characters and switch personas within the space of single scenes. Working opposite Cryer has raised her game further as he embodies Luthor and clearly has fun within the role. By personifying Lex to such a degree Jon Cryer brings a menace, emotion and tangible threat which cleverly ties in with the expanded narrative.
By jumping back and forth between timelines The House of L begins bringing relevance to extraneous story threads whilst building a world beyond National City. Rather than heading towards resolution season four looks to be establishing foundations for an already agreed season five. There is a richness which the arrival of Lex Luthor has ushered in and after only two episodes the results are self-evident. If as it has been rumoured Supergirl gets axed after a fifth year, then this reviewer for one will miss a show which has challenged and questioned some real world problems without settling for safe or sensible answers.
Martin Carr
