It’s almost hard to remember now, but
back in Supergirl’s first season
we used to spend almost as much time with Kara Danvers as we did with Supergirl. Hell, I
used to spend these reviews bemoaning the fact that the DEO half of the show
wasn’t anywhere near as interesting as the CatCo stuff. Now it feels like we
hardly ever see Kara out of her Supergirl costume and when we do she’s
usually hanging out with her DEO friends who already know about her secret identity. The degree to which Supergirl has dropped Kara’s double life is a frustration I’ve talked about a lot in these reviews and one that
“The Fanatical” exacerbates, even as it tackles the idea of superhero secret
identities head on.
“The Fanatical” has a bunch of intriguing storytelling
ideas, all of which suffer from being needlessly crammed into one episode. Still, I tend to prefer an episode that’s overstuffed to one
that’s underdeveloped and “The Fanatical” is nothing if not overstuffed.
The episode gets its title from the return of Thomas
Coville’s cult, which is now being run by former devotee Olivia (Sofia Vassilieva). Olivia is
determined to bring forth another Worldkiller with the help of a magical space
rock and a book of instructions left behind by Coville himself. But though
Coville’s cult is by far the most intriguing idea to emerge from Supergirl’s third season, this episode
just doesn’t have enough time to dig into the themes of misplaced faith and corrupt
devotion that the cult inspires. Instead they’re more of a villain-of-the-week
threat to inspire some introspection from both Kara and James.
There’s a whole essay to be written about all the ways Supergirl has attempted to
reboot James Olsen over the past three years. And while I originally thought this season
was going to do away with the Guardian concept all together, it’s back with a vengeance
tonight as James grapples with the idea of what it would mean for his secret
identity to be revealed—either by choice or by force.
I consider it pretty much a universal good that mainstream
TV shows are becoming more and more open about discussing the realities of race
and racism. And James’
monologue about being handcuffed as a seven-year-old is both well written and
very well delivered by Mehcad Brooks. Elsewhere, however, Supergirl winds up mixing its metaphors in a really messy way. James worries that if
he’s unmasked, National City won’t take kindly to a black superhero; he’ll
be judged by the color of his skin, not the heroism of his actions. But that
idea takes it as a given that Guardian is a universally beloved figure in National
City, even among the authorities. And if there’s one big tenant of comic book
storytelling, it’s that masked vigilantes are pretty much always treated with
skepticism and distrust. In other words, it’s hard to feel shocked by the scene
where the police hold Guardian at gunpoint when we’ve seen similar scenes in
pretty much every Batman movie ever
made.
Now, I wouldn’t be opposed to Supergirl making a more nuanced point about the ways in which black
vigilantes would be treated even more suspiciously
than their white counterparts. But this episode simplifies its own
world-building in order to make a social point that doesn’t necessarily build on Supergirl’s previous Guardian storytelling. Plus the storyline ends with a weird button in which James explains
that he would like to one day reveal his identity in order to serve as an
example of black heroism in action, but also quickly shuts down the idea of
Kara revealing hers because she’s using her secret identity to protect the people
she loves. Which, what? Won’t James’ friends and family also be in danger once
he reveals himself as Guardian? In trying to justify Supergirl’s status quo
while simultaneously moving James’ story forward, Supergirl writes itself into a narrative corner it has to
inelegantly handwave away.
“Inelegant” is also the word I’d use to describe the ongoing
Supergirl/Lena tension, which has escalated far too quickly and only really makes
sense if you’re willing to fill in some big motivational gaps yourself. “The Fanatical” somewhat
retcons Kara’s harsh anti-Kryptonite stance from the past few episodes by
explaining that she was letting Kara’s friendship with Lena leak into
Supergirl’s relationship with her. But while the idea of watching Kara struggle
to keep her two lives separate is a great one, Supergirl doesn’t explore it to its full potential because we so
seldom get to see Kara as Kara. This
episode seems tailor made to juxtapose Kara/Lena scenes with Supergirl/Lena
ones, but it never takes that opportunity, instead relying on the previous
episode’s brief elevator scene to do all the heavy lifting.
“The Fanatical” even proves the
value of secret identities (at least from a storytelling point of view) when
Mon-El briefly goes undercover as bumbling Mike—which is easily the best thing
Chris Wood has done all season. Supergirl has
a great central premise and actors who are more than capable of pulling off
dueling personas, so why does it so aggressively avoid that storytelling well? Why is it so insistent on being a far more generic show
about a taskforce of full-time superheroes?
Still, sometimes it’s better to be frustrated by the imperfect execution of interesting ideas than to be bored by the solid execution of lackluster ones. For better or for worse, “The Fanatical” did give me a lot to think about. And there were moments in
this episode that definitely felt like old school Supergirl. Supergirl reaching out to Olivia with an emotional plea and
then comforting her after blasting the rock out of her hand felt very much like
the show returning to its empathetic core. Now if only it could get back to the core of Kara Danvers too.
Stray observations
- I definitely thought Supergirl was going to blast Olivia’s entire
hand off. - The C-plot about Alex, Ruby, J’onn, and M’yrnn going to the
arcade started out pretty rough, but eventually grew into something
unexpectedly moving. I really liked the Ruby/M’yrnn scene as well as Alex’s
attempts to help Ruby work through her fears that she might one day turn evil
like her mom. Still, the whole thing felt weirdly tangential to the main
storyline and only slightly thematically linked through the idea of faith. - I don’t know if the repeated use of “Banarang” in this
episode was Melissa Benoist’s idea, but the opening of her Twitter profile
reads: “BANGARANG RUFIO.” - I like the detail that James stores his Guardian suit in CatCo’s
private elevator. - Supergirl has saved Lena’s life enough times that I’m not sure I
buy Lena’s complete hostility towards her, but I appreciated Lena calling out
Supergirl’s weird obsession with being friends with her. - I can’t make heads or tails of J’onn warning Mon-El that
confessing his love for Kara would be purely selfish. Didn’t Imra
basically agree to dissolve their marriage if Mon-El wants to be with Kara?
Next week: Kara
and Mon-El take a road trip to space.