One of the many subplots featured in Supergirl this year has been Kara Danvers’ struggle to establish herself as an investigative journalist under the watchful, disapproving eye of Snapper Carr. When last we saw Kara, her career had pretty much taken a nosedive. But inevitably, she was due to bounce back in her professional life. “Ace Reporter” accomplished that, while also suggesting that maybe there is still room in the show for a little CatCo drama. It was nice to see Kara’s journalistic renaissance coincide with the resurgence of Lena Luthor. Lena has proven a solid addition to the cast this season, albeit one who tends to show up pretty sporadically. There’s a lot of uncertainty still surrounding the endgame of Season 2 and how prominently Lena will play into the final conflict. Now is definitely the time to be making Lena a more prominent part of Kara’s life.
“Ace Reporter” succeeded in adding a little depth to both Lena’s past and enriching her friendship with Kara. In the case of the former, this episode introduced her ex-boyfriend and former business partner Jack Spheer (iZombie’s Rahul Kohli). Spheer’s character arc followed a fairly predictable route this week, but it was effective nonetheless. Kohli and McGrath shared strong chemistry here. They truly felt like old lovers reconnecting after a long absence, which really helped sell the emotion when Spheer met his ultimate, tragic end. This is a show that still struggles when it comes to crafting compelling, three-dimensional villains. Spheer was a welcome step in the right direction, though the same can’t be said for his assistant/puppet master Beth (Timeless’ Claudia Doumit).
Spheer (or Biomax, as he’s known in the comics) also worked as as a purely physical foe for Supergirl. The concept of a man transformed into a living nanite swarm allowed for all sorts of cool imagery. I especially enjoyed the shot of Kara freezing Spheer into a beautiful crystalline sculpture. In general, he made for a much more unusual, unpredictable foe than your typical strongmen villains.
Several months ago, the show hinted that Lena, not her mother, may be the Luthor Kara really needs to watch out for. There’s a cloud of ambiguity surrounding this character, and “Ace Reporter” built on that nicely. This week’s conflict has the irony of strengthening the Kara/Lebna friendship while at the same time turning Lena against Supergirl. Lena made the only choice she could have by killing Spheer to save Supergirl, but that sacrifice is clearly taking its toll on her. Those final couple scenes with Lena very much hint that she’s headed down the same path her brother did in terms of despising the House of El. The Lena/Kara dynamic works for the same reason the Slade Wilson/Oliver Queen dynamic was such a crucial part of the first two seasons of Arrow. We knew from the beginning that Slade and Ollie were almost certainly fated to become enemies, and the more we saw them as brothers in the past, the more that knowledge hurt. It’s a testament that, despite her sporadic screen time this season, Supergirl is achieving something similar with Lena. Lena seems headed down a dark road, and it’s one that promises equal parts depression and excitement.
As usual, the show attempted to balance out the character drama with a fair amount of levity, though to mixed results. I was happy with Kara’s storyline this week as she redeemed herself over the course of the Spheer investigation. It’s always fun to watch Kara and Snapper bicker with one another, especially when there’s a sense that the two are actually growing closer (however much Snapper would prefer to deny it). Seeing Kara and Mon-El team-up as civilian detectives was also a hoot. Their romance remains the most charming element on a generally charming series.
Sadly, the show doesn’t seem to be improving much when it comes to the Guardian subplots. There was little entertainment to be had from watching Lyra play third wheel in James and Winn’s vigilante crusade. Not that I expect James and Winn would have been any better off without her. There’s just nothing compelling about James’ character arc this season.
That subplot aside, tonight’s episode was a very enjoyable one. I am, however, pretty concerned about the overall state of the season. We’re only about a month from the season finale, and it’s less clear than ever what final conflict the writers are actually buildings towards. The prospect of a Lena/Rhea alliance is intriguing, but what about all the other plot points that have been seeded over the last seven months? How do Cadmus and Lena Luthor and Jeremiah Danvers and President Marsdin fit into all of this? Is there any real hope that all of these loose ends will be wrapped up in the next four weeks, or should we expect a lot of unfinished business to carry over into Season 3?
I worry that, of the four Arrow-verse shows this year, Supergirl will fare the worst when it comes time to look back on the season as a whole. For all the memorable moments and great episodes, there’s not really a cohesive sense of direction. Maybe the next few weeks can address that concern, but I’m beginning to doubt it.
