Kyle’s Thoughts

“Luthors” had plenty of rough spots but it did a lot to progress this season’s main antagonists Lillian Luthor and Cyborg Superman.

Dialogue for most CW shows isn’t a highlight but it must’ve looked like I had a tic with all this week’s cringe-worthy moments. Jimmy waxing poetic about his shield was particularly awful; I’m sure Cap has never expressed that much love for his shield, at least not in public. “Luthors” shoved as much background info it could multiple monologues. Winn had to tell us exactly what he was doing and how, and Lillian spoon fed us Lena’s history. It wasn’t a stellar week for dialogue.

I also didn’t care for how Metallo was handled. He’s Lillian’s stooge and I fear Cyborg Superman could go down a similar path. “Luthors” also felt like a way to stick a pin in Metallo for the near future. That’s not a bad thing but I don’t want Cyborg Superman as a stand-in for Metallo. It’s okay for Lillian to take center stage but both of those classic Superman villains need more development.

Lena’s relationship with her mother worked, despite Supergirl’s crutch of dialogue to convey their history. “Luthors” could’ve used more flashbacks to show us but there’s a danger of using too many flashbacks and the ones “Luthors” had were effective. I liked the note “Luthors” hit during Lena’s final scene.

And I hope Supergirl continues to play with Lena and Lillian’s mother-daughter relationship. “Luthors” may have been rough around the edges but I’m okay suffering a weaker episode so long as we got a dynamic that twisted. I could see—and expect to see—Lena hopscotch with her loyalties. It shouldn’t be a weekly occurrence. I’m concerned that Supergirl will abuse Lena going full Luthor and back to Kara’s friend.

I’m not hopeful for Kara and Mon-El’s romance. Supergirl has done an adequate job of keeping these two apart, but the events in “Luthors” were ridiculous and I don’t see them getting any better soon. I’ll go back to the dialogue in regards to this romance; it was manipulative and horrendous. If you’re going to couple these two, just do it. Other barriers made sense. It’s getting absurd and that’s before “Luthors” ended with Mr. Mxyzptlk.

Mxyzptlk declares his love for Kara before she can tell Mon-El how she feels about him. First, next week reeks of a filler episode. Second, it’s too convenient Mxyzptlk drops in at the exact moment Kara’s about to tell Mon-El her feelings. There is a precedent for Mxyzptlk being Superman’s fan but Supergirl had to play the romance card again. Not everything and everyone has to be drenched in romance.

Supergirl has had fewer filler episodes than Arrow and Flash—I guess it’s due one or two this season—but I’m not optimistic for next week’s episode. At least “Luthors” was a solid, if rocky, episode. I am optimistic about where Supergirl is headed.

Thanks for reading.