Supergirl season 3, episode 5 review: Damage

Reviewing Monday’s episode of Supergirl.

In this Lena-centric episode of Supergirl, we begin with our sister tag team of Alex and Supergirl saving the day. After stopping what looks to be a hostage takeover inside a prison bus, Supergirl consoles a somber Alex. Yes, the breakup that Supergirl fans have been dreading all season is here. Meanwhile, Edge is back and hits Lena with a huge blow accusing L-Corp of poisoning children after several kids are hospitalized for lead poisoning associated with Lena’s lead bomb for the Daxamites.

Edge is definitely someone worth loathing, and Lena was right to call him a “bottom feeder”. Kara isn’t going to give up on Lena, even though Lena is already starting to doubt herself. In order for CatCo to remain a trusted media source and report the truth, Lena decides to temporarily step down as CEO, but the news that Lena may be the reason why these children are sick has already angered the parents of these children and the public. One parent made it so far as to force his way into CatCo to threaten Lena to her face.

Lena holds a press conference to discuss their plans to do all they can to get to the bottom of this, but the crowd isn’t willing to listen and has already decided she’s guilty as they chant “Lock her up!”. This sounds familiar (thinking face emoji). Things take a quick turn for the worse as a gun is aimed at the stage and James is hit taking a bullet for Lena. Not to worry, James is just fine, but Lena’s strong demeanor starts to wilt.

For her safety, Sam takes Lena to stay the night at her place. Meanwhile, Kara continues to investigate the lead bomb with a little help from Winn; and the results of some testing aren’t looking good, but still, she’s hopeful. Kara visits Lena at Sam’s place and finds a broken Lena Luthor. Seeing this vulnerable side of Lena and hearing how she’s been fighting all her life against the public’s perception of her is heartbreaking.

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As Lena sleeps on the couch, Kara and Sam team up to research some bank accounts to find a link between the hospitalized children. Turns out they all attend the same swimming class, and that’s enough for Kara and Sam to head over to the pool facility to dive further. With a little x-ray vision, Kara is able to see traces of lead in the swimming pool. Thanks to a magic sampling wand, courtesy of Winn, Kara sends over pool water samples to Winn. We find out that a chlorine substitute has been dumped into the pool and when it comes into contact with water it mimics the effects of lead poisoning.

Take a wild guess who is the owner of the company providing this harmful chemical to the pool facility. Yup, our one, and only Edge. When Kara informs Lena, she takes matters into her own hands, shows up to Edge’s office, and pulls out a gun on him. Edge has the upper hand on Lena as one of his goons knocks her unconscious from behind. When Lena wakes up, she finds herself inside a carrier plane with barrels of the chemical and no pilot. Little does she know that Edge and an ex-marine are remotely controlling the plane from a secret hideout.

Thanks to Lena’s quick thinking, she sends out a mayday call over the plane’s radio that reaches the DEO before Edge can cut the signal. Supergirl flies to save her friend and the day, but it’s a nail-biter. Displeased with the results and needing to remove any evidence of his involvement, Edge kills his pilot and drives away from the hideout. Supergirl pays Edge a visit to let him know she’s on to him, but tensions rise as he taunts her inability to take lethal action against her enemy. Don’t take the bait to kill, Supergirl!

While all is back to normal and L-Corp has delivered a cure to the affected children, Lena and James stand on more casual terms with one another. This does look like the beginning of a romantic relationship as another, Alex and Maggie, has ended. After a long day of fighting, packing, love-making, and tears, Alex goes to the bar where Kara finds her downing shots. Kara makes a quick call to J’onn at the DEO letting him know that they will need a couple of days off. Alex and Kara will be going home.
At the end of the episode, we find out that Sam’s powers are beginning to kick in. When Ruby notices a hole in Sam’s blouse. Sam waits until after she tucks Ruby to sleep to investigate further. When she finds a smashed bullet in her jacket pocket, it’s becoming much clearer to her that these scary dreams are more than they seem.

Even though this episode wasn’t Supergirl centric, it still felt to be Supergirl-themed. I enjoyed seeing Lena be vulnerable and relatable, while we were reminded of Supergirl’s big heart and her emotional strength. Edge as a villain, compared to Maxwell Lord, is definitely more evil as he demonstrates that his personal gain is more important than the lives of innocents. Maxwell didn’t trust Supergirl, but he made innovations with the intention of propelling his city and his people. Thus, the temptation to exterminate Edge grows stronger.

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It will most likely be a tear-jerking episode next week as Kara and Alex return home to heal. However, Damages was a good return to the classic Supergirl-esque theme fans are familiar with. Overall, I’m grading this episode a 4/5.

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