Supergirl season 5, episode 6 review: Confidence Women

Leviathan is here, and we get an inkling into the role they play in the main story of Supergirl season five. It’s all to do with a medallion and Lena’s friendship with Andrea.

On the previous episode of Supergirl, viewers discovered that Leviathan had transformed William Day’s friend Russell into the mindless supervillain Rip-Roar. In this week’s episode, a shadowy creature attempts to break Rip-Roar out of the DEO, and several pieces of this season’s puzzle finally begin to fall into place.

Lena and Andrea’s Past

Since the beginning of this season, we’ve sensed some tension between Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath) and Obsidian Tech head Andrea Rojas (Julie Gonzalo). So what’s the history between these two characters? It’s another story of betrayal, one that explains Lena’s extreme reaction to the revelation that Supergirl is actually Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist).

The episode begins with Andrea requesting Lena’s help, which gives us an insight into how simple these women’s lives once were. They were children when they met, and connected over silly, childish things like their favourite film. And then family got in the way. As did fear and love. Andrea makes a decision – which some would call selfish – and this drives a wedge between the two former friends.

It’s taken far too long to make Andrea relevant to the main storyline, but the wait was worth it. However, the writers could have emphasized the business relationship between Lena and Andrea, especially since Andrea’s vision for CatCo is dictated by Lena’s suggestion that media buys market interest. The writers also failed to address the pair’s original deal: revealing Supergirl’s true identity to the world. We still don’t know how much Andrea knows about Lena’s whistleblowing.

The Adventures of Acrata

Readers of DC Comics may have recognized Andrea Rojas’ name when she first appeared on the show. This is the first episode where her alter ego, Acrata, is mentioned. The show has changed her origin story and her personality a fair bit – some of it is to her detriment. Her arc is tied into Lena’s, which is a strange choice given that Lena – a white character – is laying claim to a macguffin that is found near Aztec grounds. As always, Lena’s intentions are good, but the writers should know better than to write a character who is effectively appropriating a cultural artifact of another country. At least Andrea Rojas is of Latino origins, which makes her interest in the Acrata medallion far less problematic.

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The other issue is that Andrea is relatively more heroic in her few comic book appearances but, on the show, however, she’s very much a villain, albeit a villain whose arm has been twisted by Leviathan. While Andrea isn’t defined by the men in her life, her actions are dictated by what happens to them. Everything she does is because of her father. And then there’s her boyfriend, Russell Rogers (Nick Sagar), who came across as disarmingly charming in the previous episode, but obnoxious in this one. Women characters can be multidimensional without the threat of their loved ones dying. Why is that still so hard to write, especially on Supergirl?

Leviathan Strikes

The intensity of the main story feels like it’s really ramping up now that Leviathan has properly surfaced and has begun playing its hand. We don’t know what their endgame is yet, but Supergirl and the Super-friends know of them. Also of importance, Lena has discovered them and, without a doubt, she’s going to use this knowledge to her advantage.

Leviathan are a mysterious organization and, in this episode, we see that they are not to be trifled with. Their treatment of Russell is peak evil organization. It’s downright disturbing how disposable the writers made Russell, even more so than Leviathan’s actual dealings with the character.

Considering that Leviathan is created by Talia Al Ghul in the comics and the character exists in the Arrowverse (played by Lexa Doig), one wonders if the twain shall meet on Supergirl. Talia has been underutilized on Arrow, but she’s shown to be resilient and morally ambiguous. She could very well be another character with good intentions and poor execution were she to be revealed as the head of Leviathan on this show.

Super Sentiments

• We loved the cameos in this episode. Rahul Kohli teased his return to the show, and it was great to see his Jack Spheer back, even though his scenes were short. Jack was a good person, and his love for Lena is evident even in this episode.
• Who didn’t squee at the sight of Jon Cryer’s Lex Luthor? It’s amazing what an impact Cryer has made on the character – he made it his own without stealing the other characters’ limelight. And he continued in the same vein in this episode.
• Lena’s become a full-on supervillain – she used tactics that only a villain would use. As hard as it is to imagine that Lena can be redeemed, she’s got her heart in the right place, and she makes it impossible to hate her. One supposes that’s a mark of good writing.
• That villain revelation at the beginning was a pleasant surprise. Even those who would be more familiar with canon lore may not have expected it.

For an episode titled “Confidence Women”, the women in question aren’t as confident as they are determined. Their characterization would have benefitted from being far more independent. That being said, five episodes in, and we began to worry that Supergirl had peaked in season four – the start of season five has been cohesive, but the focus on plot rather than character development gave the new season a tired feel. By paring back the cast and concentrating on the characterizations, viewers are once again invested in the characters, rather than being bombarded with plot points.