The superhero crossover we’ve been waiting for is finally here! “Heroes Vs. Aliens” begins on The CW with “Medusa,” and it did not disappoint. This being the beginning of the crossover, most of what would tie it into The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow happened toward the end. However, the episode was a joy throughout as confessions were made, difficult situations were resolved … and smooches were had! Welcome to Season 2, Episode 8 of Supergirl.
**THIS IS A RECAP – SPOILERS ARE PART OF THE TERRITORY.**
image via Bettina Strauss/The CW
S2, EP. 8 – THE RECAP
- It’s Thanksgiving with the Danvers, and Eliza is spending the holiday with her daughters, Winn, James, and Mon-El. James and Alex fight over who gets to tell important news over dinner (James that he’s Guardian, Alex that she’s gay). Meanwhile, Mon-El shows up with flowers and the “stuffing” (A.K.A. actual stuffing from his pillows and mattress) Kara asked him to bring (Seriously, she’s the very worst at training him), and Eliza insists that he’s into Kara. Alex, feeling jitters about coming out to her mom, is drinking up a storm (Seriously, does she drink heavily every Thanksgiving?). As they go around the table talking about what they’re thankful for, a portal to another universe quickly opens over the table, then closes. Thaaat’s not normal. Even for this crowd.
- At the DEO the next day, J’onn is all-business after the holiday and what Supergirl needs to know is how much Lena knows about her mother and Cadmus. While she’s sure of her ability to be sneaky and go to Lena as Kara Danvers, Reporter and ask her about her mother under the guise of a story, Alex and Winn are skeptical. Winn taps Lena’s phone anyway.
- Kara goes to Lena’s office telling her she’s doing a puff piece on powerful women and their mothers. Lena is visibly troubled by having to talk about her mother. They clearly don’t have the best relationship. As Kara’s questions about how her mother feels about L Corp get more insistent, Lena tells her that she’s free to write whatever she’d like, and makes up a meeting she forgot about. She then calls her mother when Kara is gone and says they need to talk.
- At the alien dive bar, Mon-El is having a beer as a cute alien woman hits on him. He turns her down, then sees who he thinks is J’onn in a hoodie leaving the bar. What he didn’t see is that this man had just put a bomb-looking device under the lip of the bar. He follows. Once outside, he stops J’onn to say hello and sees that it’s in fact Hank Henshaw/Cyborg Superman. They fight, and Mon-El gets his ass handed to him. It’s then that he hears the screaming as the humans run out, and every single alien has been killed. Mon-El goes in and tries to help, but it’s too late.
image via Bettina Strauss/The CW
- Mon-El has been taken to quarantine at the DEO, having been exposed to the gas at the bar. Still, he’s fine, and it’s a mystery why the gas that only affected aliens in the bar isn’t affecting him. He explains that he saw Cyborg Superman there, and so now they know that Cadmus is behind this. Alex suggests that they bring Eliza in on the investigation, as she’s a doctor and scientist qualified to study the gas and its effects. They agree, and as Supergirl is about to do what she can to help, both J’onn and Alex tell her that she and J’onn need to sit this one out in quarrantine, too, until they figure out how whatever was dispersed affects only aliens and not humans.
- Meanwhile, over at L Corp, Lena has invited her mother Lillian to her office for what Lillian assumes is a chance for them to make amends. Instead, Lena asks her what she’s up to, telling her that a smart reporter is asking about her. Lillian refuses to answer and leaves, both of them tense and angry.
- Back at the DEO, Supergirl and Mon-El keep themselves entertained by playing Monopoly through the glass of Mon-El’s cell. Supergirl tries to cheer him up despite his predicament, then flat-out asks him if he’s interested in her, because Eliza seemed to think that he did. Mon-El (a bit too harshly IMO) laughs off the suggestion, asking if she’s seen the caliber of human and alien woman he’s been pulling lately. Before Supergirl can feel too insulted, Mon-El suddenly has an attack, the delayed reaction of the gas he ingested. He falls to the floor, losing consciousness, and Supergirl calls for help.
- As the team discusses Mon-El’s current condition, they talk about the fact that they’ve discovered that the aliens ingested a Kryptonian virus that doesn’t seem to harm Kryptonians, and as Daxamites have similar DNA to Kryptonians, that’s why there was a delayed reaction for Mon-El. Supergirl figures out why Cadmus wanted her blood: to get into the Fortress of Solitude.
image via Bettina Strauss/The CW
- Supergirl arrives at the Fortress of Solitude to see if there’s any clue as to what Cadmus was looking for there. First, however, she has to shoot down a reprogrammed Kelex who tries to kill her, believing Kara Zor-El to be an intruder. Supergirl discovers what Cyborg Superman was looking for through a hologram of her father. He explains that Medusa is a weaponized virus that he led the Science and Military Guilds on Krypton in creating to protect them against alien attacks. Kara is saddened and disappointed to learn that her father could create such a weapon.
- At the DEO, Mon-El fights to stay alive as Eliza attempts to reverse-engineer a cure. However, when she’s alone with Alex, she asks her to tell her what she was about to say at Thanksgiving before the random portal opening distracted them all. After much hemming and hawing, Alex comes out to her mom, who asks Alex why she thought she ever couldn’t tell her this about herself. Alex says that she worried that Eliza would be disappointed, because she wanted Alex to have a normal life. Eliza, however, insists that she’s never thought Alex would have a normal life, because she’s always been exceptional. She loves her daughter no matter what, and accepts her exactly as she is.
- Out on the DEO balcony, Kara and J’onn look out over the city as Kara expresses her disappointment and disillusionment in both her parents, whom she always thought were the “good guys,” but the more she learns, the more she realizes how complicated they were. She wonders if their legacy will be death and destruction across the universe, and J’onn says, “Your parents’ legacy isn’t death and destruction. It’s you.” Suddenly, J’onn transforms into something that Kara’s never seen, and J’onn confesses the effects of M’gann’s blood transfusion. Kara insists that Eliza can help engineer a cure for him, too, but J’onn tells her not to tell anyone. He doesn’t want to distract from their priority, which is figuring out a cure for Medusa.
- Back inside, Eliza says that they’ve figured out what Cadmus would need to actually disperse the virus. An isotope called Isotope 454 … a bunch of which happens to be at L Corp.
image via Bettina Strauss/The CW
- Supergirl heads to L Corp to protect the Isotope 454 supply just in time to try and stop Cyborg Superman, who’s already there. They fight, and when Lena turns up in the lobby, shocked to see Cyborg there, Cyborg tries to attack her, but Supergirl saves her, telling her to get out of there. Another strange portal opens and closes. Then the DEO and the NCPD, including Maggie, show up to back up Supergirl and take down Hank Henshaw. Hank escapes after shooting Maggie with his eye weapon.
- At the DEO, Supergirl tells Eliza that while she didn’t get the isotope, she did prevent Cadmus from getting it for now. Eliza brings up the possibility that Lena may be working with her mother, which Supergirl shuts down immediately. She believes Lena to be ignorant of her mother’s wrongdoings, citing the fact that Lena was hugely surprised to see Hank tearing up her lobby.
- However, to see for herself, Supergirl goes to see Lena, asking for her mother’s whereabouts. When Lena asks why, Supergirl tells her that she knows that her mother is behind Cadmus, and that she’s planning on killing all the aliens in National City. Lena, however, gets hostile and refuses to believe. For a moment, Supergirl seems to be getting through to Lena, telling her that she’s better than her mother and that she needs to be her own hero, but Lena just can’t think this about her mom. She asks Supergirl to leave.
- Alex patches up a wounded Maggie back at the DEO, and Alex tells her that while she came out for Maggie, she’s glad that she’s out, and that now she’s more willing to embrace her “new normal” for herself. She thanks Maggie for helping her come out to her family and get in touch with this side of herself. Maggie looks touched. She also looks like she’s way into Alex for the first time.
image via Bettina Strauss/The CW
- Mon-El is awake and talking, and Kara sits with him. Mon-El thinks he’s dying, but Kara tries to help him stay positive. Mon-El blames himself for not stopping what happened at the alien dive bar, but Kara tells him it’s her own father’s fault for creating Medusa in the first place. As she gets teary with guilt, Mon-El calls her beautiful, then kisses her in a moment that’s surprisingly hot … just before he passes out again. Awkward …
- Lena has called Lillian to her office again, this time to claim her Luthorness. She gives Lillian the Isotope she needs!
- At the DEO, Winn has set an alarm to indicate when the isotope is moving from L Corp and it goes off. They track the isotope to the Port of National City, which would be a perfect place from which to disperse an airborne virus.
- At the Port, Lillian and Lena are about to disperse Medusa over the city when Supergirl and J’onn arrive to try and stop them. Supergirl tries to appeal to Lena’s better angels, but Lena is determined to stick by her mother, saying “I’m a Luthor.” She turns the key that launches the rocket with Medusa into the sky. As Supergirl flies off to try and stop the rocket, J’onn stays with the women.
image via Bettina Strauss/The CW
- J’onn gets attacked by Cyborg Superman and is taken down at first. However, J’onn decides to embrace his full “monster” and fully white Martians out. He dispatches with Cyborg Superman pretty easily after that. Meanwhile, Supergirl catches up to the rocket and gets her hands on it, but the rocket was rigged to blow Supergirl off it if that happened. She’s knocked to the ground and the rocket explodes, spreading Medusa everywhere …
- … and nothing happens! Orange flakes fall from the sky, but they’re not affecting any aliens. That’s because Lena rendered the isotope inert before supplying the info to Lillian. Lena confronts her mother, telling her that not only did she render the isotope inert, but that she also called the police.
- Back at the DEO, it starts feeling like the end of a Shakespearean comedy where all is resolved: Eliza has figured out a cure, not only for Mon-El, but for J’onn. He is a green Martian again! As Kara talks to a recovering Mon-El, she tries to subtly bring up the fact that they kissed, but when he seems to have zero memory of what happened between them, she decides to keep this bit of info to herself.
- At Alex’s place, Maggie shows up with pizza and beer, clearly wanting more than pizza and beer. Maggie explains that almost dying made her realize that life is too short to not kiss the girls you like, and so she kisses Alex, who totally welcomes it. YAY! THEY’RE TOGETHER!
- And later, at Kara’s place, a portal opens in exactly the right spot, and Barry Allen and Cisco Ramon come through. When Kara gets home, she’s thrilled to see Barry, and when he tells her that he’s calling in his favor, she asks, “What are we up against?”
- Oh yeah, there’s aliens after Mon-El, too.
image via Bettina Strauss /The CW
S2, EP. 8 – THE REVIEW
“Medusa” is the episode that sets Supergirl back on track. After a couple of episodes that were often boring, everything about this episode was engaging. Not only the large moments like the two big fights with Cyborg Superman, but in smaller ones like Lena dealing with her feelings about her mother.
In fact, I need to give a special shout-out to Katie McGrath, whose performance as Lena in this episode was impeccable. She has a face that expresses a thousand emotions at once, which sometimes makes Lena a difficult character to read, but one that’s always fascinating. And I’m so thrilled that Lena was, indeed, better than her mother, and proved Supergirl right for believing in her.
One of the great things about this week’s episode is that, while there was only one big reveal for the audience (Lena’s double-cross of her mom!), there were several reveals that characters made to each other, deepening those relationships. I continue to love how Alex is written, and her continued evolution as a queer person is developing beautifully. The scene between her and Eliza was so touching …
… and then there was THAT KISS WITH MAGGIE! So well-earned. So beautifully executed. So freaking hot. And they are adorable together.
There were actually two hot kisses in the episode between people who are adorable together. I’ve been on board the Mon-El/Kara ship since the beginning, but wasn’t entirely sure if the writers would be going in that direction. I’m so glad that storyline has evolved in so complex a way. And their kiss was amazing!
Generally, “Medusa” was well-written and well-plotted. I loved that the thing that was killing aliens was something created by Kara’s father connecting the events of the story to Kara’s own journey. I love that Kara and Lena are each struggling with their opinions of their parents even as they attempt to do good. I loved the way all the storylines seamlessly wove together.
However, there were a couple of things that weren’t my favorite. Namely, that J’onn was just “cured” all of a sudden and he doesn’t have to be a white Martian anymore. I was looking forward to a complex story, watching J’onn gradually accept his new self as he learns to accept M’gann. Sadly, this likely isn’t going to happen.
Also, while I’m not Guardian’s biggest fan, they just kinda dropped the fact that he was planning on “coming out” as Guardian at Thanksgiving … and we never saw James Olsen again …
Still, “Medusa” was not only an entertaining episode in its own right, but a great beginning to the crossover this week. Will you be digging into the entire line-up of superhero shows at The CW this week?
What did you think of Supergirl this week? Let’s chat about it in the comments below!
Supergirl airs Mondays at 8PM ET/PT on The CW.
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