written by Dayna Abel
SPOILER WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT
Episode 6×02 of Supergirl is about trying and failing and feeling beaten down. “We have to keep fighting” is the refrain, repeated by damn near every single character in case we didn’t get it the first twenty million times.
Aside from the Super Friends trying and failing to retrieve Kara from the Phantom Zone, the other important plotline is the trial of Lex Luthor. Initially, Eve Tessmacher’s testimony was supposed to be what brought him to justice for his crimes against humanity, but it’s stricken from the record after Lex gets her to admit she was in love with him and paints her as a jilted lover out for revenge.
Lena decides to tell the truth about her brother’s plan, even if it means tarnishing her own reputation. Knowing Lex’s penchant for getting under her skin with boasts of his own superiority, she manipulates him into a rage, just shy of actually admitting his guilt but definitely showing his true character to the jury. He claims that anyone with power and the guts to use it would have done the exact same things he “allegedly” did.
Everyone is sure that Lex has hung himself with his own rope, but shockingly, the jury returns a verdict of not guilty on all counts. Lex further pushes the matter in an interview where he paints himself as a victim of two vindictive women and further suggests that charges be pressed against Lena for her own role in Non Nocere. Later, he is seen playing chess with his mother Lillian, and discusses how truly surprised he was by the verdict.
LEX: “I wasted so much time trying to buy, threaten, or brainwash people into doing what I wanted. But apparently, people love a guy who tells it like it is. The key is, if you can get them to buy it long enough, they stop being able to discern whether you’re telling it like it really is, or how you want them to believe it is.”
I just held my face in my hands for a minute. I am so sick of this. I am so sick of these parallels. I am so sick of being reminded of how beaten down we all are when we do everything right and still fail.
It hasn’t even been three full months since the death of the Trump administration. I’m tired of this metaphor. They already did this metaphor in Season Four. Hell, Black Lightning is currently doing this metaphor with Tobias Whale. More than anything, I want to move on and heal from all the damage done by the previous administration, but the shows keep on picking at that scab.
I don’t like where the show’s going with this. If we’re lucky, we lived through the past four years. We shouldn’t have to do it all over again in our escapism.
Supergirl airs Tuesday nights at 9 Eastern/8 Central on the CW. Dayna can be found on Twitter @queenanthai.