So far, this season of Supergirl has been (somehow) stronger than the last, and ‘The Darkest Place’ continues on this trend.
With James (Mehcad Brooks) having carved out his place as the Guardian and with Winn (Jeremy Jordan) as his sidekick – you’re a sidekick, Winn, get over it – he’s going around the city, annoying Kara (Melissa Benoist) by stepping on her hero turf. Of course, things never go that smoothly, and after the Guardian stops a bad guy (who it transpires was in possession of drugs – while we understand that’s a crime, surely heroes are better suited to saving lives?) somebody else, similarly dressed, comes along and machine-guns them down. Bit extreme, don’t you think?
As the plotline progresses, we discover that Winn is the weakest of the weak, and terrified of what Alex (Chyler Leigh) could do to him with just her index finger that he buckles in all of three seconds and tells her who the Guardian is. You’re weak, Winn, weak! She therefore has to convince Maggie (Floriana Lima) that he isn’t the bad guy. Winn then figures out who the person is (it’s all a bit easy, really, they could have stretched it out for a bit longer, or had them at least be wrong once or twice) and they catch him.
Elsewhere, and Mon-El (Chris Wood) – who was take by Cadmus at the end of the last episode – is being moderately adorable with his ‘understanding’ of Earth while locked away in a cell. He manages to escape only for them to use Martian Manhunter/Hank Henshaw (David Harewood) against him and he willingly goes back to the cells for he is ‘protected’. Cadmus then convince Supergirl that she should come along or he’ll die so she comes crashing through a window, gets smashed into the ground by the not-Hank, who is actually calling himself Cyborg Superman (we legitimately laughed out loud), and locked away next to Mon-El.
Seeing the evolution of the friendship between Kara and Mon-El has so far been enjoyable, they are two very different people, and Mon-El is learning to live in a world that isn’t his own. Kara grew up on Earth, it’s much easier to learn to change your actions when you’re younger. Mon-El, though seemingly a womaniser, and a heavy drinker, is trying to learn. We saw him opt to be a hero last week (and okay, it didn’t end that well…) and now he’s learning other, much more human things too.
Kara opts to let Cadmas take her powers so she can save Mon-El, they take her blood and, of course, it’s a trap. It was always going to be a trap. It was never going to go that smoothly, it’s Lillian Luthor after all, she’s embittered about how Superman treated Lex, she wants aliens to be ridded from Earth. Kara gets thrown back into the cell, weakened, and finally realising that they weren’t going to keep to their word (maybe she’ll learn now?) they consign themselves to the cell.
Only for the best plot twist to save them. Jeremiah! Dean Cain returns finally as the Danvers sisters’ dad, just when he had totally forgotten about the plotline to find him in the first place… he frees them and stays behind because he’s already survived many years, what’s a bit more time?
When Kara and Mon-El return to the DEO, she informs her sister of the situation, but by the time Alex gets to the base, it’s all been cleared out. It couldn’t be that easy, obviously, and we’re glad it wasn’t. While also being kind of sad that Cain’s appearance was so fleeting (maybe we just need to go and rewatch The New Adventures Of Superman).
The episode closes out with Cyborg Superman (like, actually?) using Kara’s blood to enter the Fortress of Solitude to gather information about Medusa. The title of next week’s episode, and the first part of the four-way crossover, so we’re guessing it might have something to do with that…
It was a strong episode, though following last weeks’ tearjerker was always going to be a bit of a challenge, somehow Supergirl has only gotten better for it’s stripped back budget and lack of Cat Grant.
