Lillian (Brenda Strong, Desperate Housewives) goes to trial for her crimes and pulls Lena (Katie McGrath, Merlin) further under her wing when she stages a daring escape.  Kara is the only one who believes Lena is innocent and sets about trying to exonerate her friend.  Mon El and Kara grow closer and Kara stops fighting her feelings and comes clean with him.

*Insert heavy sigh here*

I have to be transparent with you-this was a difficult review to write.

I did not like large segments of this episode.  The portions with the Luthors and the advancement of the storyline worked.  The portions with Kara attempting to exonerate Lena were passable.  The melodrama around Mon El and Kara was juvenile and painful to watch.

This is from someone who once rooted for that couple.  Now I hope they kill it with fire.

What Worked:

• We learn that Lena was adopted-but that she is biologically Lionel's child.  Lillian spins a yarn in an attempt to convince Lena that Lionel was the source of their rift.  Lillian adored Lena, but Lionel didn't like how close they got, or how much of a reminder of his unfaithfulness Lena was, so he separated them.  I'm not sure I buy this revisionist version of events-it later becomes clear that Lillian needs Lena's DNA to open Lex's go vault of fantastic anti-alien weapons, and is real quick to drop her when Supergirl shows up.  The better reveal comes after Lena is exonerated.  She continues to play a solo chess game.  Lena is shown to be a chess master at a young age, best Lex during a game shortly after her arrival.  The question is presented-is Lena playing at a long, darker game that we are unaware of?
• Kara's unwavering optimism and belief in Lena is par for the course for her character.  It made absolute sense that she was determined to prove her friend innocent, although as indicated above, she may not be as innocent as she appear.  I appreciate the crew giving her the gas face when she insisted on her innocence in spite of all the evidence pointing to her guilt.
• The appearance of Metallo, Hank Henshaw, and Lillian as a trio of evil worked this episode. I am glad we are coming back around to the Cadmus arc and setting the stage for the remainder of the season

What Did Not Work:

• We have discussed how Kara is consistently the least interesting person on the show and how that is becoming problematic.  This was a very Kara-centric episode, which in and of itself shouldn't be a problem.  The show is called Supergirl after all.  However, the fact that they insist on writing Kara in the most juvenile way possible, and undoing the growth we've seen in her this season is showing that they are not paying attention to the continuity of the series.  During the battle with Metallo, she makes the choice to save a group of innocent civilians.  That's wonderful.  She pauses after this save to smile and bask in the adulation of the crowd.  That's problematic and regressive.  Additionally, her approach to Mon El is textbook high school.  I thought we had moved beyond those types of storylines. Once again, we spent a good 30 minutes of this episode with them dancing around each other awkwardly.  This culminates in the longest, most painful 2 minutes of her giving a speech on how she's ready to give it a try.

I need the show to get back on track with some level of balance and focus, but most importantly, continuity and progression with their lead character.  The appearance of Mr. Mxyzptlk (Peter Gadiot, Queen of the South) promises a funny and entertaining episode next week.

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