Supergirl 3x18 "Shelter from the Storm" Episode Review
Tonight's episode surprised me. I enjoyed a lot of what went down tonight. The dynamic between Lena and Supergirl has changed, Mon-El makes his decision about the future, and Reign continues to terrorize the city for her daughter. Alex continues to bond with Ruby too.
There are a lot of relationship feels and development in this episode whether its Friendship (Supergirl/Lena), Romantic (Kara/Mon-El, James/Lena), or Parental (Sam/Ruby, J'onn/M'yrnn, Sam/Patricia, Alex/Ruby).
Spoilers ahead:
The Legion of Superheroes have decided to return home. They reveal the other members in stasis were infected by Blight, and that is the reason they didn't wake up at all. But with Pestilence dead, all their vitals appear stable and the infection is not in their system anymore. The future is saved!
Makes sense to me! Time Travel is weird on this Earth!
Winn and Brainy almost kiss, Imra and Kara part on good terms, and Kara and Mon-El have an official goodbye. Imra sees the exchange and wonders like the rest of us where his heart belongs.
James and Lena had a good time with each other, helping each other get dressed, and then they are attacked by Reign. She is looking for Ruby and knocks James away. Lena whips out a kryptonite-bottled spray, which drives the WorldKiller away.
Lena informs Supergirl about the attack and assures everyone Ruby is perfectly safe. Alex insists on going over to protect her, and Lena discloses she has Ruby hidden inside Lex's invisible mansion. For some reason, I wanted to see the Smallville edition.
Supergirl and J'onn go to protect Samantha's mother, Patricia. She has not been seen in a couple episodes, and her turnaround for redemption appeared flat. This is most likely because we only saw her one time and have not invested enough attention for her, even if we even invested at all. And suddenly she remembers Ruby's name too. Last time we saw her, she didn't know it.
Reign shows up at the house, displaying all the WorldKiller powers, and takes down both Supergirl and J'onn with ease. Patricia tries to appeal to Sam's humanity, but it doesn't work and she is killed. But Patricia tells Sam she forgives her for killing her.
Supergirl tries to save her, but it is too late. Patricia makes Supergirl promise her that she'll tell Ruby how much she loves her. This would've been a touching moment had we invested in this character, but with only one appearance under our belt, it doesn't pay off like it should.
James wants Lena to confide in Supergirl about her ability to create kryptonite. He believes Supergirl will be grateful for it. Lena doesn't want to get treated like a Luthor again because she disclosed it once before, and Supergirl snapped. Their entire friendship disappeared and the trust with it. She's starting to go dark because Supergirl can't see the bigger picture.
Shocking! James is wrong about the gratitude. Supergirl is furious again about the kryptonite and starts barking orders about how she needs to be the only one who can control it. This is unrealistic expectation in my opinion and I sided with Lena on this issue. Humans are fragile everyday: guns, fires, bombs, etc. are all kryptonite and Supergirl has no right to control it.
Nonetheless, Supergirl accepts the kryptonite because it is the only effective weapon against Reign. But J'onn is too weak from the previous fight to handle the weapon. This is where a certain caped hero steps in to save the day.
Mon-El decided to stay in the present until he figures out his feelings and Reign is defeated. Brainy tells his leader that Supergirl may need assistance in defeating Reign and her enhanced powers. This further clouds his thoughts about returning to the future.
Imra stands up for herself and tells him that he needs to return to the present. She deserves someone who is one-hundred with her but insists that Mon-El did nothing wrong. They part on good terms. I think she is way too understanding about this, but whatever gets Mon-El to stick around until the end of the season.
Mon-El and Supergirl go fight Reign together.
Alex is trying to hide the truth about Sam from Ruby. This does not go well because Ruby steals Alex's phone and calls her house. Reign picks it up using her super hearing and finds the invisible mansion. The alarms go off, and Alex does everything she can to protect Ruby.
Supergirl and Mon-El arrive to stop Reign. They use the kryptonite to subdue her and her own ethical code, courtesy of J'onn's father. But it is too late. Ruby sees the truth about her mother, but Alex promises her that she will save her mom.
Before confronting Reign, Supergirl has a talk with M'yrnn about using the ethical code of the White Martians against them.
A potent scene because the problems M'yrnn experiences is heartbreaking and realistic (it hurt when he kept telling J'onn about the brown water). It also helped M'yrnn feel more useful, and I hope this is not the end for him as his memories continue to decay. J'onn confides in Kara about how his father felt useless since they had to put the power damper on him.
Reign/Sam is taken back to the DEO, where Lena will continue to study her for a cure. They use kryptonite cuffs to keep her contained. Suddenly, Supergirl is okay with using kryptonite and assures Lena she does indeed trust her. She is just super paranoid about kryptonite because she does not like feeling incredibly weak.
The episode ends with Kara and Lena running into each other at the elevator to visit Ruby. This is why I kept using "Supergirl" throughout the review. She appeared as Kara Danvers, glasses and all, in this one scene.
I had forgotten it's been awhile since Lena and Kara have spoke to each other. Damn it Lena! Kara is Supergirl. How have you not figured this out yet?
Lena confides in her friend about her mistrust of Supergirl and how James never looked inside the vault for kryptonite. Kara is torn up about this but has to pretend to not feel anything personal because she has to preserve the secret. When Lena finds out Supergirl and Kara are the same person, I'm sensing a Smallville Season Seven finale type-scene.
Comment below and let's talk about how this episode was pretty interesting. It kept my attention and the ending scene nailed the new dynamic Supergirl, Lena, and Kara will have in the future.