Supergirl season 5, episode 8 review: The Wrath of Rama Khan

Supergirl has found out the truth about Lena! As she struggles with this blow, she must also face-off against Leviathan’s Rama Khan.

The ancient Leviathan leader Rama Khan has arisen, but he’s only one of the problems that Supergirl must face in episode eight of the show.

After Kara caught Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath) attempting to steal Myriad, Lena trapped her in the Fortress of Solitude. Kara still believes she can save her friend, but she and her Super-friends have plenty of catastrophes to stop in the lead up to Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Lena Unleashes Myriad

Lena’s impassioned monologue in the previous episode really shed light on how hurt she was by Kara’s deception. And it didn’t fall on deaf ears. Supergirl spends this entire episode intent on saving her friend because she is adamant that Lena’s action come from a place of pain, not necessarily from evil like the rest of the Luthors. Kara even tries to work around her sister Alex’s (Chyler Leigh) plan to attack Lena. The bond of friendship between these two characters has always been strong, and it’s easy for the viewer to side with both of them.

Lena continues to prove that she isn’t a ruthless maniac, just misguided in her efforts to save humanity from itself. But she makes so many supervillain moves that it seems Supergirl may be foolhardy in her hope that Lena can still be saved. Lena almost succeeded in using Myriad to eradicate ill-will among human beings! Lena hasn’t yet done anything that irredeemable yet, but she’s fast pushing the boundaries of what makes her a ‘good guy’.

Malefic Makes Amends

J’onn J’onzz (David Harewood) and his brother Malefic (Phil LaMarr) were able to make amends with each other after J’onn came clean about his role in Malefic’s imprisonment. But that doesn’t absolve Mal of his actions either. He terrorized Alex and especially Kelly (Azie Tesfai), but in this episode he is a vital weapon in Alex’s arsenal. If she can agree to let him help, that is.

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Phil LaMarr hasn’t had much screen time since his introduction this season, but he brings such pathos and credibility to Mal’s character. He inhabits the character brilliantly, especially when he’s allowed to flex his acting muscles a little more.

One can feel his earnest wish to atone, as well as his acknowledgement of his crimes. LaMarr is especially arresting in his final scene when Mal is happier, calmer and a hero. He and Harewood riff off each other excellently, and it’s a shame that we won’t be seeing much more of that. Perhaps Mal will have reason to return closer to the end of the season; for now, Mal’s optimistic character arc will need to tide us over.

A Cleansing Fire

Leviathan is convinced that humanity is destroying the Earth, yet their agenda is no different – they mean to cleanse the Earth of human beings, and unleash an Earth-bender to do it. How are unnatural seismic and volcanic catastrophes better ideas?

Despite coming across as an imposing organization, it seems that the showrunners have decided instead to focus on the internal company politics of Leviathan. Rama Khan is the egotistical old white guy who thinks no end of himself, and then there’s Cara Buono’s Gamemnae, who seems to have the ear of the people in power and plans to topple the old guard. Suffice to say, neither character is compelling enough to keep audiences interested.

Honestly, the weakest parts of this episode were the ones that focused on Leviathan. We’d rather watch the tragic unfurling of Lena and Kara’s friendship, or the rejuvenated fraternal love between J’onn and Mal. So far Leviathan have been painfully disappointing. Where is the terror that they’re supposed to bring? Right now, they come across as petty, with a narrow agenda of killing people’s boyfriends and taking down Supergirl. The showrunners need to do so much better for this organization.

Super Sentiments

• This was such a quotable episode! Every other line of dialogue should be preserved. There are inspirational lines, emotional lines and impactful ones.
• Where is Nia Nal? It’s been ages since she was on our screens. This character is too amazing to spend so much time off screen.
• Has Andrea Rojas (Julie Gonzalo) finally shed the shadow of Leviathan? She is an anti-hero, but another tragic one. We could really feel her sorrow at the end of this episode. But where does the character go from here?
• Lena’s erroneous belief that Hope meant something more to her than a program was a crushing moment. She seems so completely alone now.
• Speaking of Hope, the final scenes show that she and Lena are far too clever for good health. As we mentioned above, Lena is very close to going over the edge of being a true supervillain.

This is the first Supergirl season five episode that directly connects with the Arrowverse crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths. The Monitor’s choice of characters to recruit was a real surprise. How will that impact the team next week? Also, what do we think about that resurrection? I think many of us saw it coming, but it was still surprising. Let’s see how Kara and the others fare in the crossover. Considering Supergirl usually gets short shrift in them, one can hope the Earth-23 characters are given some credence in the five episodes.