Leslie wrote in to share some thoughts on the Supergirl season four episode titled, “Suspicious Minds”!
Happy New Year, Rebecca and Morgan!!
I thoroughly enjoyed your podcast. I knew Supergirl Radio would be rather hard on “Suspicious Minds” and in many respects, rightly so.I know “Suspicious Minds” had a lot of hypocrisy. It was unreal that the government found the Morae as children (!!) and then essentially, enslaved them and then turned on and then killed them. That’s above and beyond just homeland security. It’s above and beyond the pale for Haley to blackmail Supergirl so that Supergirl’s loved ones would have a target on their backs. Really?? That’s not okay!! Those two facts stood out to me in this episode.I agree with your assessments of “Suspicious Minds”, except for the rating of this episode. I listen to a lot podcasts and a lot Supergirl podcasts. My commute is really long. Other podcasters and fans loved this episode while acknowledging its faults.Rebecca, I, too, didn’t want to rewatch this episode because of its ending with the mindwiping.When mindwiping was first suggested, I thought it was ridiculous, or to be nice, I’ll say untenable and logistically impossible. So I thought mindwiping wouldn’t happen, but then it did! And in a twist, Alex, over Kara’s vehement protestations, agreed to the mindwipe.Upon first viewing of this episode, I was very upset. But, I didn’t dislike the episode. I just wondered why in the world would the writers destroy the very backbone of Supergirl–the Danvers sisters relationship.Because other Supergirl fans were praising the episode, I decided to rewatch the episode four days later to see what I had initially missed in this episode.By rewatching “Suspicious Minds” on The CW app on my computer as opposed to on my TV, I could see what a phenomenal job Melissa Benoist did in the final sequence. The camera angle immediately focused in on her eyes as they teared up and showed the tears streaming down her face. That final scene to me was one of the best heartfelt emotional scenes between the sisters in the category of season one’s “Falling”, when Kara apologizes to Alex for the horrible things Kara said to Alex about killing Astra, Kara saying goodbye to Alex before Kara lifts Fort Rozz in season one’s “Better Angels”, Alex and Kara’s conversation about Alex coming out in season two’s “Changing”, adult Alex apologizing to Kara as they stood on their back porch in season three’s “Midvale”, etc. I could go on and on with other special moments between the sisters. My point is that the final sequence of “Suspicious Minds” fits into the category of those prior great Danvers sisters heartfelt moments.I would give the Suspicious Minds a B+. Here’s why.1. We got a lot of Kara and Supergirl in this episode.2. We got to see what Red Daughter Kara was up to.3. Supergirl was successful in saving at least one Navy seal, she saved an ungrateful Haley, and captured, but did not kill the last Morae.A couple of points on Haley. She did two unusual things regarding Alex. Haley would not let Alex take point to fight the Morae in the DEO. Also, after Brainy fell and Alex went to assist Haley in looking for the remaining Morae, Haley told Alex to go stay with the other agents.4. Alex and Kara had a couch scene and a telephone call.5. At Tan’s house, Supergirl, in a protective fashion, runs up to Alex and says “Alex stand next to me.” That statement was a defining moment of the episode. Then the Danvers sisters fight the Morae standing back to back.6. Final sequence between Kara and Alex was a tear jerker.Because of all of the above, “Suspicious Minds” deserves a rewatch.– Leslie
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