Supergirl season 5, episode 10 review: The Bottle Episode

Crisis is over and the age of heroes has begun. But Supergirl is faced with a new challenge – how does she defeat an enemy that everyone worships?

Now that the ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ has been averted and all the Arrowverse heroes have banded together on Earth-Prime, Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) and her Super-friends resume their duties in National City.

Unfortunately, Supergirl is faced with living in a world where Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer) is a hero, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, and her boss at the DEO.

In the midseason return of Supergirl, the main cast of characters come face-to-face with the aftermath of the dissolution of the multiverse as Brainiac-5 (Jesse Rath) has his own crisis to deal with.

Welcome to the Planet of Hell

The downside of the main cast of characters being the only ones who recall that Lex is evil, is that now they have to actually put up with him in their daily life without killing him. Worse, they will have to work with him, as well. Lex knows this too and attempts to make peace with Supergirl and Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh). They either take that offer, or he kills them. Alex turns to the only person with a cool head on his shoulders for help with this situation – Martian Manhunter (David Harewood).

Since everyone’s suggestion to the characters is to work with Lex in an attempt to keep him in line, how much more will we see of this character in the rest of the season? Lex remains evil but with the added layer of being publicly deceptive. Jon Cryer looks like he’s having the time of his life playing Lex. Despite many people’s hesitations about Cryer’s casting, he’s found a way to capture Lex’s larger than life personality. It helps that Cryer occasionally uses his resurgence to fame to post about injustice in society, and Lex continues to be a compelling character, but there’s the worry that he’ll begin stealing the limelight from the rest of the characters. The showrunners need to ensure he doesn’t.

New Collaborations

Interestingly, Lex made a pact with the Monitor to bring back Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath) with her original memories completely restored. Lena is none too pleased with having to collaborate with the brother she killed, but her step-mother (who is also alive) gives her some valuable advice that feeds into Lena’s newfound distrust of people. Lex is conniving, and by the end of the episode we understand the depth of his lies to his mother, as well as his apparent desperation for his sister’s love. Can Lena come out on top once again in the battle against her brother? It feels like Lena really needs a break and successfully completing her misguided mission may be the only way for her to find peace. But working with Lex on a project that fundamentally changes human beings can never end well.

The merging of Earths has thrown everything into a tizzy. Leviathan seemingly doesn’t exist, but its people do. We see Gemma Cooper (Earth-38’s Gamemnae, the leader of Leviathan, played by Cara Buono) being welcomed with open arms by Andrea Rojas (Julie Gonzalo). Gemma has already begun planting the seeds for Leviathan’s plan into Andrea’s head, a plan that veers towards Riddler’s one in Batman Forever. We know that Leviathan’s endgame is to subjugate humanity; it seems that transforming Andrea’s VR technology into an actual virtual world may be how they intend to trap humanity forever.

A Handful of Brainys

As if the DEO doesn’t have enough problems, Brainy stumbles across another version of himself. And another, and another, and one more female doppelganger (played by Rath’s real-life sister, Meaghan). When the Brainys start being attacked by the anti-life equation, the Super-friends investigate their mysterious appearances.

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Oliver Queen created Earth-Prime to save his friends, but in the bargain many other people lost their worlds. This episode of Supergirl attempts to confront the epic losses that others may have faced, such as the ones faced by the other Brainys. Granted, the conclusions are neatly tied up, but not without consequences or sacrifices.

Jesse Rath has occasionally needed to ham up his performance as Brainy, but here we see him stretch his abilities as his doppelgangers have multiple personalities. His penultimate scene with Nia Nal (Nicole Maines) was outstanding – with Brainy’s inhibitors gone, perhaps Rath can be more natural in his acting. He seems strongest when his character is emotional, and now we could see him flex those acting muscles. Brainy being duplicitous seems to be hard to imagine, and one wonders if his collaboration with Lex at the end of the episode is going to lead to more harm than good.

Super Sentiments

• From the looks of it, the entire storyline for this season has been rebooted following ‘Crisis’. William Day is back to investigating the death of his friend Roger, and Andrea is once again a pawn for Leviathan. Surely the showrunners aren’t planning on retreading old plots?
• The Nia/Brainy romance doesn’t seem to be going anywhere – every time they reach a comfortable point in their relationship, the writers tear them apart. It’s time for Nia to shine as a superhero and a reporter. She’s a fascinating character who deserves to be more than just a love interest.
• It had been announced that Jeremy Jordan’s Winn Schott would be reappearing on the show once again. This episode teases the reason why, but there’s an aura of doom surrounding his return. I have a bad feeling about this.

There is so much ground to cover on Supergirl, it’s almost worrying that the showrunners won’t get through it all. With so many myriad plotlines, and with Lex thrown in the mix, how will the characters cope? Leviathan needs to have a stronger presence, but there isn’t enough time. The showrunners have their work cut out for them to at least make this season exciting and entertaining.