Gina wrote in to share some thoughts about the Supergirl season four penultimate episode titled “Red Dawn”!

Hey, Supergirl Radio!

This was the penultimate episode!

I have to say, it wasn’t as bad as last season’s last couple of episodes where I thought they crammed WAY too much into it and sped through certain storylines that could have been stretched over an episode or two. But, there was still that feeling in “Red Dawn” to a certain extent.

What’s different this season was that all the pieces that went into this episode were phenomenal. And it’s been a while since this show has nearly put me into tears from a single scene. Also, a lot of the actors had their time to shine.

Breaking down the pieces:

1) Why not start with #1 and always will be #1 when it comes to this show: The Danvers Sisters? As always, Melissa and Chyler make things work no matter what. In this case, the mindwipe has finally reared its head in full force. What didn’t work here was I really, REALLY wished they dropped hints during this back half of the season that Alex and Kara were truly feeling the effects of the mindwipe.

What I mean by that is that Kara breaking down in front of J’onn did work and I still felt for Kara feeling lost and helpless at that moment. Because when Melissa cries, we all do. But, it would have been nice if she had mentioned the build up of her feelings in a sentence or two in earlier episodes.

As for Alex, what might have worked from her point-of-view were the flashbacks. Instead of one at the beginning of this episode, it would have been nice to have a few sprinkled throughout the back half of the season. I think it would help remind us about the mindwipe (even if they don’t remind us WHY) and that Alex was still struggling with the effects. Also, it would have given us more scenes with young Kara and Alex.

Like that scene between Kara and J’onn, Alex finding Supergirl in Red Daughter’s creepy Kara-like apartment and Alex starting to break down had more than enough emotional umph. It made me realize it had been a while since we saw a truly emotional scene between Melissa and Chyler, which is a true disservice to us! Because in the last few episodes, it was mostly focused on Alex and Supergirl, which meant it has been all business.

It doesn’t mean the way Alex’s memories returned didn’t have an impact. I mean, I may or may not have watched just that scene more than five times since it’s aired. Chyler kicked that scene in the gut and who didn’t love all the young Alex and Kara flashbacks leading into actual flashbacks in the show of The Danvers Sisters?

When Alex’s memories come flooding in just as Red Daughter basically kills Kara, you could see the utter guilt of Alex watching her sister falling to her death and realizing how much Kara had been going through this year by herself. That is probably the biggest fear Alex has in life: not being there for Kara. And after all this time and all that Kara has been dealing with, she wasn’t there for her, wasn’t there to fight by her side. I will always love Alex for having this fierce need to protect Kara even though she’s physically bulletproof and the strongest person on the planet.

That scene nearly killed me. It was so good. It is one of my top scenes of the series, I think, and you can bet my other top scenes all revolve around these two. They will and forever be the heart and soul of this series. And this season showed us how it feels when they’re not… and it doesn’t feel so great!

Okay, that took a lot more of my email than I thought, but I can go on and on about them so I’ll briefly touch on my other points:

2) Brainiac 5 – the turn of events was unexpected and I’m intrigued on where this will lead! Jesse Rath did an outstanding job with the shift from Brainy to a TRUE Brainiac. Just like above, I kind of wished there was more lead up to this change, though. I know he has mentioned his family here and there, but I think they were mentioned in the beginning of the season. I needed more build up for this radical direction of the character!

3) Lockwood’s storyline is still not my favorite part of the season, but at least it’s been a better tie in to everything. I just wanted to point out Sam Witwer’s on point impression of Brainy… that was a lot of fun to see!

4) Lena and Lillian are such a dynamic duo to watch so it was nice to see both Lillian AND Eliza in one episode. Lillian telling Lena she did love her was a nice touch and keeps that grey area of their relationship.

5) Red Daughter better not be really dead. They set her up for the entire season so I need MORE from her and her connection to Kara. I just don’t want it to be another Worldkiller situation where they built up this danger of three Worldkillers, only for two of them to die within an episode.

– Gina

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Rebecca Johnson