Supergirl 3x16 "Of Two Minds" Episode Review
Supergirl delivered tonight on the Worldkillers: Reign and Pestilence. After spending time with Winn's mom and J'onn's dad, the Superfriends are ready to tackle the main threat of the season. Lena is trying to save Sam's life, Kara is trying to save Pestilence's human side, and Imra (Yes she came back after a two episode absence) is gunning for Blight (the future version of Pestilence). Similar to a certain The Flash episode, Kara has to teach Saturn Girl the most important superhero rule: We don't kill!
Spoilers ahead:
The episode picks up where we left off last week with all the dying birds and the soon-infected people. Kara is insistent on trying to reach Pestilence's humanity like she did with Purity (second Worldkiller), but Imra is determined to put Blight down.
If Blight dies, then the future is saved. That sounds pretty logical to me, the lives of millions for the price of one. Usually that is given as a statistic, but Imra is living proof this will occur if Pestilence is allowed to live. Here I thought Reign was the main antagonist, but this Blight problem sounds a whole lot worse.
Once Pestilence makes her move and infects Alex and Winn, we eventually learn why Imra is driven to take down Blight. The future plague murdered her sister. I knew some personal motivation was involved. This explains why Imra got teary-eyed seeing Kara heartbroken over Alex getting infected.
The Legion has the cure to Blight encoded in their DNA (remember this is why they were reluctant to get involved in the first place) and extract it to cure Pestilence's victims including Winn and Alex. But their cure doesn't work because it only works for Blight and Pestilence has not evolved into that person yet.
Side note: I thought all the Legionnaires had parts of the cure in their DNA but not all of the them are awake. Or did the show forget they existed? I don't know anymore.
Brainiac 5 ("Brainy") also returns using a human disguise and sides with Imra over the matter. He uses math and statistics to convince Mon-El that killing Pestilence is the right move, but Mon-El tells his friend that it takes more than math to determine "the right move". I understand the sentiment behind this, but Mon-El must have witnessed Blight's terror firsthand. I'm surprised he isn't a little understanding about Imra's motives to save the future.
Winn's speech to James about living a great life, finally reuniting with his mother, and how he wanted to do so much more like "be the next Steve Jobs" stuck with all of us I'm sure. James broke down hearing it. Like I knew they weren't going to kill Winn off like that, but if those were his final words, they were pretty darn good ones to send him off with. Praise Jeremy Jordan for reminding us how wonderful he is!
After going through social media (something Mon-El calls "short-lived" and Brainy calls "delusional"), they discover Pestilence's human identity. She is Grace Parker, the doctor who interacted with both Alex and Winn earlier in the episode. I totally called that. She stood out on how she treated Winn.
Mon-El, Saturn Girl, and Supergirl go confront Grace Parker. Supergirl tries to appeal to her humanity, but the doctor has checked out. She calls her evil side a "gift" and now she can pick and choose who to save. I really enjoyed how that totally backfired on Kara in the worst way possible. Plus we got a Worldkiller who's human side is not a weakness.
The claws come out! Literal claws out of Pestilence's nails! The fight scene goes off, and Kara is infected. Saturn Girl traps Pestilence in a force field and takes the kill shot. Low key I really hoped Saturn Girl took down Pestilence and saved the future, but she survived because Purity arrived.
Purity uses her Canary Cry to take down the team and escapes with Pestilence. But Saturn Girl's attempt to kill Pestilence got them the DNA they needed to modify the cure and save everyone! Yay for screwed up morals that worked out in everyone's favor.
Winn, Alex, Kara, and all the other victims are cured. Imra, for some reason, apologizes to Supergirl about being in the wrong. I don't think she was in the wrong, but it's Kara's show, so we have to go with her being right about the "not killing" thing.
The Lena-Sam subplot is interesting as well. We get a better understanding on how Sam and Reign switch places. They are literally different people sharing a body to the point their DNA even changes. That's why Sam can't shoot heat out of her eyes or punch through walls.
When Sam loses control, she goes into a parallel dimension and that is where Reign primarily stays when Sam is conscious. Reign hates Sam for trapping her in the dimension and hates Ruby too for delaying her arrival. She warns Sam that "they are coming".
"They" turns out to be Pestilence and Purity coming for their sister Reign. Supergirl and her team arrive at Lena's lab before they do though and get caught up on Lena's secret research. Supergirl puts it together that Sam is Reign and looks betrayed when she questioned Lena about all this.
But before they can argue and discuss, the Worldkillers arrive and beat everyone. They break Sam out of her prison, and she transforms into Reign in front of everyone. Her clothes even change into the outfit. I'm surprised Pestilence and Purity have matching outfits, but Reign is just rocking her own thing.
The episode ends with them escaping. I thought this was a really good episode overall. I'm surprised Supergirl is bouncing back this well after their long hiatus. I'm excited to see what happens next! Comment below or message if you want to discuss the latest episode!
Also I appreciate that the topic of Mon-El did not get incorporated in Kara and Imra's feud about killing. They don't need to add boy drama into that... it's not necessary.