Supergirl season 3, episode 2 review: Triggers
Reviewing season 3, episode 2 of Supergirl.
Episode 2 of Supergirl starts off as a cheery montage of everyone waking up in the morning. Alex and Maggie are so cute and in love, and Sam wakes up her daughter, Ruby, for school. Everyone seems to be having a great morning except for Kara. We notice the contrast in mood between Kara and everyone else echoed by the contrast in warm tones versus cool tones in these morning scenes. As Kara is looking for shoes under her bed, she comes across Romeo and Juliet. Mon-El’s notes in the book are too sweet but also drives it home how much Kara misses him, and how she’s literally tossing her pain under her bed.
Sam drops off Ruby to school and is excited for a new job she’s starting today. Ruby is still fixated by the incredible super strength that her mom displayed on the waterfront. Sam tries to play it off as an adrenaline rush a mother gets when her child is in danger. However, Ruby’s not buying it.
Meanwhile, it’s Lena’s first day at CatCo. James greets Lena and expresses his gratitude for her recent purchase, but is soon more somber as he realizes where the “loop” is and his current location of “way out of it”. She informs James that she will be in the office every day as a “satellite boss”, walking around and interacting with employees as she learns and becomes familiar with CatCo. Kara, who had been informed of Lena’s arrival unlike James, greeted her with a planner as a welcome gift. It isn’t long until Kara gets an alert on her phone and leaves for the DEO.
At the DEO, Maggie and Alex are circling around the headquarters in mid-argument about live band versus DJ. J’onn gives a compelling argument for DJ, even I agree with him. Supergirl shows up ready for business, and everyone is surprised that she added herself to the distribution list for early alerts. A bank robbery sends Supergirl flying to meet with the mysterious robber who renders Supergirl helpless, whimpering in the bank’s vault.
Supergirl gets scanned and we find out that this mysterious robber has some serious psychic abilities. With everyone in the examining room concern about her, Supergirl is still stubborn as ever and won’t let down her walls. Talk about an emotional fortress of solitude. At least Supergirl isn’t the only one having a bad morning.
Before she can step off the elevator of her new job, Sam receives a phone call from Ruby’s school. Ruby punched another student in the face for calling her a liar when she described her mom as having superpowers. It’s interesting to see the how something like having superpowers can be exciting for a child, but frightening for an adult.
Our mysterious robber strikes, again! Supergirl flies into a showdown inside a parking garage confidently opposing the psychic bank robber but isn’t strong enough to beat her psychic abilities. We find out that she’s using fear to overcome Supergirl and we get a first person’s view into her memory in the pod as Krypton was on the brink of exploding. By the way, this was an amazing ride and I would watch this again in 3D.
Winn for the win! Winn finds out all about the psychic robber, Psi, and how she is using her powers to plant fear into Supergirl’s mind. Supergirl pulls Winn aside and confesses to how Psi is overpowering her with terrifying memories of being in the pod. Supergirl is falling apart and it’s becoming Kara’s worst nightmare.
Kara’s life is still in a shambles and isn’t doing so well at work. She’s giving Lena horrible first impressions and Lena is honestly concerned about her friend. Kara, still pushing everyone out, forces Lena to put on her boss face and becomes stern with her. Seriously Kara, wake up! Psi hits another bank, but Kara has another episode in the elevator. When Supergirl finally shakes off her panic attack, it’s too late. Psi got away.
Afterwards, Supergirl talks to Winn reminding him that she’s not human and should not be having panic attacks. As Supergirl storms off, Alex becomes suspicious and corners Winn for answers just with her “Danvers Stare”. Meanwhile, Ruby runs away from home to a pizzeria.
Kara is meditating when Alex comes to visit. Kara still feels broken and has been using Supergirl as emotional solace to hide from dealing with her “human” problems. Another touching sister moment as Alex reminds Kara that she is never alone.
Ruby sees an opportunity as Psi appears, causing chaos outside of the pizzeria. This is her chance to prove that she’s not a liar. She texts her mom “come save me” as she walks out into danger. Maybe I’m from a different generation, but if that were me, my mom would probably reply “now you’ll learn not to leave the house”. Fortunately, for Ruby, Sam runs to rescue her daughter.
Supergirl flies into action equipped with a psionic inhibitor ray which ends up being useless against PSI. Visions in outer space lead Supergirl to believe that she may have killed Mon-El when she sent him away from Earth. I’m glad Alex was there to bring Kara back to Earth, so to speak. Once she had conquered her fear, Supergirl was finally able to defeat Psi. Ruby and Sam mend their mother-daughter relationship, and Alex brings up the topic of children to Maggie. This one makes picking the music for their wedding look like a cake walk.
At the end of the episode, Sam goes into the garage to test her “powers”. I guess it was a fluke and I’m sure she felt the same when she failed to bend a crowbar. Kara apologizes to Lena for her behavior and admits that there is more to this Mon-El thing than she thought. James and Lena seem to be on better ground than when they first started. Sam appears at CatCo and meets Kara, as she is the replacement to Lena at L-Corp. Movie night for the Danvers sisters. J’onn gets a message from M’gann that she needs his help on Mars.
The highlight of episode 2, Triggers, was the theme of fear. We see all around us how fear is used to dominate over people. Supergirl is broadcasting a clear message to not let those bullies use fear to keep you down. Once we realize that they can’t scare us, they lose their only source of power over us.
Kara is still exhibiting pain for forcing Mon-El out of her life. I think we received that message loud and clear in the first episode of the season that this episode is bordering on overkill. We are ready for Kara to move on and make steps into rebuilding her life and the relationships she’s damaged while in mourning. I get it, Mon-El was her first love, but seeing how Kara has spiraled out of control after losing him devalues the other relationships and accomplishments in her life.
At the end of Triggers, J’onn receives a message from M’gann. Is this a trap? Can Kara afford a to be absent from work to go to Mars after her poor work performance on Lena first day as the new boss? Now that Lena is going to be at CatCo 24/7, I’m not so sure that she will catch on as quickly as Cat that Kara is Supergirl. In season 2, Lena didn’t know that Rhea wasn’t human until she slipped up and thanked one too many gods at dinner. Maybe Kara’s secret is safe, for now, but Lena might be concerned about her best friend constantly disappearing.
Must Read: 100 greatest superhero stories
This episode of Supergirl did a great job at further developing Sam’s character, however, I felt that we were still on the same topic as the first episode: Kara heartbroken. For these reasons, I’ve grading Triggers 3/5. Let’s see if our trip to Mars next week can help our girl move on.