Supergirl 3x20 "Dark Side of the Moon" Review
WARNING! Major spoilers are inside this episode review. Read with Caution!
Supergirl introduced a major element to Kara's origin story: ARGO CITY! On the quest to find the black rock that can create Worldkillers, Mon-El and Kara discover a part of Krypton survived. They stroll the inner city, no one bats an eye when they steal, and they continue on their way to the rock. Once Kara sees the symbols, she realizes this is her former home.
The biggest shocker of all? Her mother is ALIVE! This isn't all that surprising if you watched the trailer for the latest episode, but here it is. The emotional hug is there, but the emotional aftermath falls short. All we get is an exposition catch-up on season one concepts like Astra and Non.
Erica Durance plays Alura Zor-El wonderfully and low-key I hoped for a Smallville reference somewhere when Kara mentioned Superman. I love Erica for playing the best Lois Lane to grace television, and seeing her get to play Kara's mother is such a gift when they recasted the role.
I think the mother-daughter reunion fell short only because it was meshed in with a whole lot of other things going on in this episode. We had an Alex-centric villain, a Ruby-Winn story, and even a Reign-Lena thing happening.
The reunion on Argo City also went hand in hand with a secret identity crisis. Kara confides in Mon-El about how tired she is of keeping a secret identity. This brings up how Mon-El doesn't even have one in the future... none of the Legionnaires do, they're all simply themselves.
I found this interesting because lately we've seen mostly Supergirl and none of Kara Danvers this season. This goes along with her statement about not being human at the start of the season and how "Kara Danvers was a mistake". Like James Olsen made a good point about keeping his identity a secret but what about Kara? Does she really need to stay hidden?
Kara ends up getting some of the black rock (the life source of the city) from the Argo Council. One of the members is another surprise even I didn't expect: the hologram from the Fortress of Sanctuary. The one who is controlling the Worldkillers. I wonder why she would vote FOR Kara to get the rock.
Kara will return to Argo City in next week's episode so we'll see how far this mystery woman will go for her unknown plan involving Reign.
Alex is tracking down someone who is trying to kill her. She suspects the former sheriff of Midvale, the man who killed Kara's childhood friend Kenny. What a good throwback to one of the best episodes in the season. This situation brings up a typical problem for superheroes: how can I balance being a hero and a parent?
She wonders how she can be a good mom if she keeps doing dangerous stuff like this. She loves her job but wonders what would happen if the job got her one day and who would take care of her children. I believe Ruby will go to Alex's care by season's end because I can't see Sam/Reign surviving past this season.
Winn and Ruby had a good moment of bonding when they talked about supervillain parents. It felt off seeing Winn being a jerk to Ruby. He claimed it was because he couldn't sleep or eat, but it just didn't fit his character to get all mean like that.
Lena struggled with a moral dilemma, and Reign's taunts did not help. To kill or not to kill? Reign was getting immune to the kryptonite and if Supergirl didn't come back soon, she'd break out of her prison. In the end, she didn't go through with the kill, and Reign broke free just in time for Supergirl and Mon-El's return from space.
The episode ends on that cliffhanger. There are only three episodes left in the season, and I'm excited to see how the rest of the story will go. It looks like Supergirl will try to go home and leave her adoptive home behind. This is weird, but let's see what it means before I jump to conclusions.