Originally published October 22, 2018. Updated January 8, 2019.
Martin Carr reviews the second episode of Supergirl season 4…
From the outside without digging any deeper episode two of this fourth season seems lacklustre, uninspired and devoid of a tangible threat. There are apparent enemies for our girl in Spandex to battle against but they feel insubstantial. For all the revelations concerning alien rights, alien discrimination and alien citizenship, at best ‘Fallout’ represents some lightweight tub thumping. Interrogations seem truncated, arguments to illustrate human unrest feel forced and there seems a distinct lack of cohesion in attacking the topic at full force.
Mercy and Otis Graves feel like pawns who hang around the edge of proceedings looking shifty but ineffective. Jonn pops in and out of scenes looking concerned but keeping a safe distance, while all the flag waving patriotism in the world does little to make Supergirl look committed. Now I know there was fuss made about this programme introducing the first transgender character and that’s to be commended, yet the introduction and impact almost gets lost. Now I get that equal rights for off world aliens is supposed to correlate with the transgender debate, but nonetheless this feels like preaching from a pulpit, rather natural storytelling.
Equal rights, tolerance and acceptance of others is a basic human tenet but this episode had issues balancing its topical elements and entertainment. Set pieces seemed tacked on with little build up while allegiances, character revelations and confrontations got lost amongst the more contentious issues. Trying to say something relevant, hard hitting and memorable under the guise of popular entertainment is difficult, while veiled allusions to the current administration is neither subtle nor evasive. In dialogue terms we get nuggets like ‘if the President lies who can we rely on’ while slogans include the chant of ‘Earth First’, which is a direct throwback to Trump’s ‘America First’ soundbite.
For the time being at least it is best to look at season four as a mouthpiece for attacking American political processes. Character development, plot line and structure seem secondary to saying something topical about how the country is being run. Anyone looking to be entertained by large explosions, carefully defined criminals plotting elaborate world dominating ideas best look elsewhere. Supergirl has larger fish to fry, bigger causes to rally against which leaves little room for conventional comic book structure. However for anyone else stay tuned because I sense things have only just started warming up.
Martin Carr
