This review contains spoilers.
5.5 Dangerous Liaisons
While it isn’t exactly a shocker that Obsidian Tech and Leviathan are connected—after finding out that even Lex Luthor was under the thumb of the mysterious organisation last season, almost nothing would surprise me—it’s nice to see Supergirl begin to explicitly put together the pieces, especially this early in the season. (The benefit of having a universe-changing crossover event waiting in the wings, I suppose.)
In last week’s episode, Kara discovered that William Dey is not a jerk; he just, somewhat nonsensically, thinks pretending to be a jerk will help him complete his investigative mission, which he is frankly very bad at. Throughout this week’s episode, he keeps telling Kara that he can’t let her get involved because it’s too dangerous, and she proceeds to not only get involved, but make more progress in a few days than he has in two years. Alien refugees: they get the job done.
Kara does have connections that William Dey does not: mainly, the DEO, who currently has two of the assassins connected to the alleged Rojas crime ring in their custody… Well, one and a half: the woman hired to take out Obsidian Worldwide accountant Elena Torres last week, and the alien living in those spider tattoos from episode three. Both assassins tell Kara, William, and Alex the same thing: they don’t know who hired them.
Meanwhile, a third assassin is on the scene: Rip Roar, whom William Dey (yes, you must always use his full name) tells us was responsible for the murder of his former bestie, Russell Rogers. It was Russell’s apparent murder (back to that in a second) that got William Dey into the crazy wall business two years ago. The last time they saw one another—for a drink at the pub, obviously—Russell told William Dey about this wonderful new woman he was seeing: Andrea Rojas. Not too long after, he was gone.
Guys. I have to pause here to talk, once again, about how bad an investigative journalistic William Dey is. Like, I know the plot necessitates it, but it was pretty obvious from the get-go that dead bestie Russell, whom William Dey first saw in Rus’ apartment, has been Rip Roar this whole time. They never found a body. They have exactly the same build and vibe. Like, it doesn’t take a Pulitzer Prize winner to put the pieces together. I don’t think William Dey’s incompetence is a plot hole; it’s actually kind of realistic. Bro’s got a chiselled jaw, a British accent, and the confidence of an Oxbridger. Of course he is a celebrated journalist.
Unlike the other assassins, Rip Roar isn’t messing around with his villainy. He breaks into Fort Summit (seriously, that place needs better security—this is a world of aliens and metas) to steal Lex Luthor’s fusion cannon and immediately books it to Antarctica where he has plans to, um, take out the Pacific coast with a giant tidal wave, flooding every coastal city within 12 minutes.
If this sounds like the stakes just went from 0 to 60 in the space of an episode act, then you are paying attention. Rip Roar actually gets a shot off into Lake Vostov before Kara and J’onn can stop him. They manage to quell the tsunami, but the seismic activity still sends a wave towards National City, etc. Dreamer is able to take that one out using her oneirokinetic power, but it’s unclear how Team Supergirl managed to keep the rest of the seaboard safe? Like, I am going to assume that San Francisco made it?
The potentially catastrophic event is treated like just another villain-of-the-week in a tonally discordant way, but it made for a very entertaining episode, so I’m not complaining. It also, hilariously, happened to coincide with the launch of Andrea Rojas’ fancy new VR lens, known as Collective Dream. While the tidal wave rushed toward the National City boardwalk, citizens (including Kelly) were hilariously oblivious to its coming, their eyes aglow with the drug that is social VR.
As we get closer to the inevitable reveal that Leviathan is behind all of this, and no doubt has some sinister use for the Collective Dream lenses in mind, for now, I wish Supergirl season five’s treatment of technology were a bit more nuanced. Kelly remains the sole voice of reason when it comes to the advent of new technology, seeing new technological inventions as a source of wonder with the potential for good as well as bad, but her commentary is not supported by the narrative itself.
Anyway, once Kara captures Rip Roar, it is only a matter of time before the truth comes out. She tells William Dey, who takes a much-needed break from staring at his crazy wall, the truth about his best friend. This shakes the foundation of everything William Dey thought he knew about the Rojas family and their diabolical plan. If Andrea Rojas isn’t behind this, then who is?
Enter the older woman we saw in the season four finale, dropping vague and ominous Leviathan teases like she lives in a teaser trailer. She’s totally got an The X-Files Syndicate vibe going on, and is just as scary. She seems unphased by the mostly failed attempt to take out the Pacific coastal cities (which would have wiped out Obsidian’s industrial hub, crippling the company) when she meets with Andrea. Rather, she is focused on her next goal: to make sure Rip Roar, who is now in DEO custody, doesn’t talk.
Andrea looks horrified by the news that she will have to find a way to take Rip Roar out. Presumably, Andrea got pulled into this business as a way to help her boyfriend. (Unless I am giving her too much credit.) Like Eve before her, Andrea appears to be another pawn in Leviathan’s global game of chess—albeit a pawn with a substantial amount of power. How good or evil is Andrea? One thing’s for sure: we definitely shouldn’t take William Dey’s word for it.
As Leviathan reveals itself to be behind so many of the villainous forces so far this season, it becomes more and more likely that Lena may end up being the lesser-of-two-evils solution to the Leviathan threat. Unless she decides to join forces with them. At this point, it could go either way—though the former would offer Lena a chance to seek absolution for some of the terrible things she has done since finding out Kara’a secret.
While Lena has crossed many ethical boundaries this season—most of which include experimenting on others against their will—she does still have one line she won’t cross: murder. For much of the episode, it seems she doesn’t care if she is complicit in J’onn’s death, as long as she gets what she wants from Malefic first. However, as we learn at the end of the episode, that is not the case…
Lena wants to create a world in which everyone is incapable of hurting anyone else. (Though, again, she continues to use others’ bodies without their consent.) Why would Malefic think she would be cool with helping him murder his brother? I love how she presents this as Malefic fault for not understanding her somewhat arbitrary code of ethics. In Malefic’s defense, she does has a secret, evil lab with its own cell. Like, it’s not that far a jump.
Read Kayti’s review of the previous episode, In Plain Sight, here.
Here’s a whole bunch of new sci-fi, horror and fantasy TV shows coming to the US this year and next.
