Supergirl, Episode 15 “Solitude” Broadcast on February 29, 2016
Teleplay by Anna Musky-Goldwyn & James DeWille
Story by Rachel Shukert
Directed by Dermott Downs
“Previously on Supergirl,” Cat hires another assistant, Siobhan Smythe, designating Kara as Assistant Number Two; James asks Kara if he can tell Lucy that she’s Supergirl; Hank takes the blame for killing evil Aunt Astra, though it was step-sister Alex who did the deed; Kara says she doesn’t know how to work alongside Hank any more; Non tells Supergirl, “Humanity is a disease. Myriad is the cure.”
“The Phantom Zone 13 years ago.” Kara’s voyage to Earth is interrupted by her ship passing too close to Fort Rozz. In the present, Kara awakens unhappily to her alarm clock. Going to her front door she finds Alex, who bears donuts. Kara knows she’s being buttered up and tells her sister she’s still not going back to the DEO because Hank killed Astra — she can’t forgive him. At work, Cat arrives and calls a meeting for all staff, save Kara. She’s again depressed and asks her staff to wow her. None do until she opens a package containing a thumb drive with a letter that states, “Make the liars pay for their lies. Make the cheaters feel the pain of their betrayal.” It has information on an unhackable Ashley Madison-like site that was hacked last night. Cat wants it destroyed, but Lucy says she’s wasting an opportunity to report the truth. Cat shoots her down and Siobhan takes the drive, but doesn’t look as if she’s going to destroy it. At the DEO, Alex and Hank are sparring. Alex is sloppy due to her focus on Kara’s continued absence. That night, James brings Kara dinner at work to ask again if he can tell Lucy her secret. Kara continues to say no. Suddenly all the monitors in the building come on, showing the face of a blonde woman. “Greetings, Catco employees. I’m disappointed in all of you.” She says she will make them all pay and the screens go black. Cat calls the woman Toyman, Jr. Every traffic light in the city turns green, collisions occur everywhere, and Kara slips away. Supergirl heads out to stop one accident, but it’s only one of too many. Cue first commercial break.
There’s some good moments in this, but villain Indigo doesn’t work. I don’t blame Laura Vandervoort who’s doing her best, but the way the character is written and the way she looks hurts any chances of her being memorable. First, she looks and fights like Mystique from the X-Men, and that wig is absolute horrendous. The effect used to show her moving to and from electronic devices looks like bad SyFy Channel effects, and that effect to cause a device to activate was cheesy as all get out. Worst of all was the Jack Nicholson moment when Indigo reveals something to Supergirl. Why would Kara care at all about this? It was thrown out, and then ignored for the remainder of the episode. The only light at the end of the tunnel is the final scene of the episode which could allow for a complete redesign of the character. Indigo aside, Chyler Leigh gets the big moments in this episode as Alex wrestles with telling her sister the truth about Astra’s demise. The final scene between the sisters, with another individual nearby, was the high point of the episode with Leigh selling it completely. Italia Ricci also gets two strong scenes to humanize Siobhan, but I still really dislike her. If she had fallen down the elevator in her final scene, I wouldn’t have cared two wits. Also not getting any sympathy is Lucy Lane. Again, the way the character comes off is not Jenna Dewan Tatum’s fault, she’s just written as completely unsympathetic. I can’t believe James didn’t say, “You know, the world was coming to an end and I helped to stop it.” That’s a fairly good reason for his absence. The location where James and Kara goes is awesome and I was jumping up and down like a madman when a piece of specific jewelry is shown, which happens to hail from my favorite DC comic of all time. Okay, producers, make that group appear!
The good: Chyler Leigh, “the” jewelry, the license plate on the truck (which hints at “the” jewelry), and the special effects involving Supergirl in the final aerial sequence.
Fun lines: “I don’t kill,” “I could throw her into space,” “Clever for an ape,” “Predators cannot live with prey,” “Good share,” “No one likes a back seat flier,” “I love fireworks,” “How nasty?”, “1-1-7-4-7,” and “Now are you ready to do things my way?”
The bad: Every scene involving Siobhan, Lucy, and Indigo, which was a good portion of this episode.
The final line: The relationship drama and the villain made this a weak episode. However, my hopes are high for a particular team to appear that’s been thoroughly teased enough. Overall grade: C-
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