Due to podcast time constraints, we weren’t able to share all of Leslie’s email. To make it up to her, we’re posting her full thoughts about the Season Four episode titled “Man of Steel”!
I had been so excited to see this episode to learn how Kara/Supergirl was going to be saved from the Kryptonite. Unfortunately, she was only in a couple of scenes. I did enjoy those scenes with Kara/Supergirl or Alex. I understand that the show had scheduling issues since Melissa Benoist was on Broadway in Beautiful from June through early August this year. Consequently, the Kryptonite cure will be dragged out, and I guess another actor can play Supergirl in the next episode since her face is obscured by the helmet.
Regarding the rest of this episode…a partial solution to Supergirl’s irradiation occurred in the last three minutes of the show. While watching the The CW’s original broadcast, I endured endless commercials and thirty-five minutes of Ben Lockwood devolving into an unabashed alien murderer. The episode seemed to short change us about thirty to sixty seconds from the usual length of Supergirl episodes. Anyway, Lockwood hooks up with the Graves siblings, who will kill anything, including humans. I thought Agent Liberty told the Graves siblings what to do, not the other way around.
Lockwood’s story was not interesting or compelling, especially in light of this weekend’s shootings fueled by racial and religious intolerance. Agent Liberty isn’t a sympathetic character. Most people don’t turn into murderers because they have suffered personal tragedies. Moreover, other villains have better back stories or compulsions and we secretly kind of like them as villains – Darth Vader in Star Wars or Lillian Luthor, Livewire, or Psi in Supergirl. Would Supergirl ever team up with Agent Liberty this season like Supergirl did with Lillian Luthor to rid the Earth of the Daxamites in Season Two?
Unfortunately, for me, this episode was my least favorite ever. I am the type of fan who likes seeing Supergirl be generally successful like she was in Season One’s episodes. This episode provided an explanation for all of the alien hatred, but the episode had no one providing a voice of reason. And, of course, Kara never wrote that story on the Daxamite invasion. The only tiny solution to the massive damage caused by the various alien invasions was Lena, who wanted to setup a trust fund for only Lockwood’s family and workers. Has no one else thought about providing any sort of economic relief?
On the bright side, however, Supergirl’s new suit looks good, but it looks so confining. How is she supposed to use her heat vision and freeze breath with that helmet on? Lena will have to save the day, again, and figure out a way to detoxify the atmosphere of Kryptonite. Since the entire earth has been irradiated with Kryptonite, doesn’t that mean that the second Kara in Siberia will be affected as well? And, if Siberian Kara isn’t affected by the Kryptonite because she was created by Harun-El, maybe Supergirl Kara could get a blood transfusion?
– Leslie
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