Kyle’s Thoughts

“Distant Sun” spent another week focusing on Mon-El, his family, and his relationship with Kara. It’s a step up from last week’s “Star-Crossed” because it gave Supergirl agency, but that’s not saying much. Mon-Kara has taken too much airtime in the middle of the season. I may be in the minority but Supergirl has pushed too hard for this relationship. There were other forces at play this week—specifically Linda Carter (the President) confirmed as an alien with some plan for Supergirl—but these other forces were background noise. Romance drenches most CW shows and “Distant Sun” was a typical CW episode.

While Mon-Kara doesn’t interest me, Sanvers (Alex and Maggie) continues to excel. Supergirl has done a good job of exploring these characters. This week’s episode took another angle of how deep Maggie’s family trauma has affected her prior relationships. “Distant Sun” wrapped up things a little too neat—I would’ve preferred Maggie spending more time parsing through her emotions—but it’s a side story and a good one. Too bad Mon-Kara doesn’t know it’s a side story.

The guest stars on “Distant Sun” would make a fantastic comic book convention guest list. Linda Carter (Wonder Woman), Kevin Sorbo (Hercules), and Teri Hatcher (Lois and Clark) could make any fanboy or fangirl drool. And Kevin Smith (Clerks and Dogma) directed. Again, I’m not the biggest Kevin Smith fan, but “Distant Sun” has some serious geek cred. Still, I wished less of an emphasis was given to Mon-Kara.

Even though there was a lot of attention given to one of the least interesting story threads (Jimmy Olsen as Guardian would be another story thread vying for the top spot), what happens at the episode’s end between Mon-El’s parents could redeem the Mon-Kara saga. Mon-El rebelling against his parents was manufactured tension; Rhea (Hatcher) doubling down to reclaim her son is still manufactured tension but it could be interesting.

There’s not a lot more to say about “Distant Sun.” It wasn’t the big sendoff I was looking for in an episode prior to an extended break (Supergirl won’t return until late April), but it did a nice job of reintroducing Linda Carter’s character and adding a twist to Mon-El’s mother Rhea.

Thanks for reading.