written by Cara Russell

SPOILER WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT

It’s the mid-season finale this week on Supergirl, and wow, what a send-off! We manage to have a very packed episode while still dedicating a large portion of screentime to the obligatory Very Special Christmas Episode (which is indeed, very special, and full of Martian Dad and Martian Granddad being adorable and nerdy in equal measure).

We start with a creepy “Sam finds herself home in her own bed after blacking out in the desert” reveal, and straight into some backstory for the Legion Of Super-Heroes, the organization Mon-El formed in memory of his ideal version of Kara in order to help bring stability in the 31st century. As it turns out, after being flung 12,000 years into the past, Mon-El and his crew intended to hypersleep until they reached their own time. Instead, they got a rude awakening a thousand years early, just after he originally left. Way to twist the knife, my good dude. Almost as good as marrying the girl who is more into your ex than even you were!

From there, the Danvers sisters Christmas party is rudely interrupted by the discovery of ancient Kryptonian markings burnt around National City. Kara’s holographic mom turns out to be useless, as Krypton was as great at rewriting and erasing their ancient history just like every other society on Earth. This gives Thomas Coville (the imprisoned Cult Of Supergirl leader) a chance to reappear and reveal that he’d learned all we needed to know from a “disgraced Kryptonian priestess” (WHO) who had landed on Earth with the rest of the Fort Rozz prisoners (WHERE IS SHE, WHY IS SHE NOT GIVING US THIS VITAL EXPOSITION, I FEEL ROBBED) sometime in the previous two years (SHE MUST STILL BE OUT THERE). To put it succinctly, Reign the World-Killer is the antichrist of a coming apocalypse, who will destroy the world after a series of murders and catastrophes straight out of the “End Of Days” (which shouldn’t exist in Kryptonian religious texts). Coville still believes Supergirl to be some kind of Jesus figure who is meant to defeat Reign. Little weird, guy.

Of course, none of this helps Our Lady Of Steel when she finally confronts Reign (who is fully bereft of Sam’s personality and influence). One truly epic fight in the new old-fashioned way later, Supergirl is left in a coma and clinging to life on Christmas Eve while her gang of superpowered friends (INCLUDING A VERY STURDY AND STRONG DAXAMITE WHO NEVER HELPS CLEAN UP THE TRASH, MON-EL) just hung back until she was unconscious and defeated. I’d be madder, but I realize it was set up for a mid-season cliffhanger to haunt our nightmares through the New Year (what a wonderful present).

On the lighter side, I can’t express how much I love seeing J’onn teach his dad about Earth, and seeing J’onn going over what he loves as well in the process. He may have become all business since taking Hank Henshaw’s place a decade ago, but it’s obvious he’s gone and done a lot otherwise, and even enjoyed himself in the past. I also enjoy seeing Lena and James turn their hostile tensions into romantic ones, even if it gets in the way of Supercorp shipping – hopefully it’ll mean some more screentime for James, and continue to help Lena on her journey towards being a well-adjusted fuzzy kitten who just wants love and attention (and gets it, without being paranoid and stabby). I just want a healthy romance that works out; is that really too much to ask for in the New Year? We haven’t even seen Kara with her beloved potstickers in so, so long, it almost feels like she’s cheating on them with alcohol.

-Cara

Supergirl airs Monday nights at 8 Eastern/7 Central on the CW. Cara can be reached on Twitter @virtualcara.

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