Supergirl season 5, episode 14 review: The Bodyguard

Lena Luthor and Kara Danvers’ friendship is officially over. Now it’s time for the characters on Supergirl to battle some real villains.

After celebrating its 100th episode, Supergirl goes back to business in ‘The Bodyguard’. Andrea Rojas (Julie Gonzalo) is ready to launch the latest update to her Obsidian lenses, but someone has a grudge that may put an end to her big day. With Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh) now a free agent, she and J’onn J’onzz (David Harewood) investigate the threat to Andrea’s life, while Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) is tasked with keeping Andrea safe.

Obsidian’s Big Launch

Andrea Rojas’ tech takes VR to a whole new level – people can taste, feel and practically live inside a virtual world. The episode opens with the obvious benefit of such tech as we see an elderly woman escape into a fantastical world. Supergirl and her Super-friends are equally excited about this new tech, especially since Kelly Olsen (Azie Tesfai) had a hand in creating it. Good to see Kelly get some credit.

The trouble with technology is there’s always a flipside to its benefits. That’s what this episode highlights. Through Obsidian’s VR lenses, the show writers channel our real-world addiction to social media and its impact on our mental health. The villain is in the wrong for their actions, but not necessarily their motivation. The show has dumbed down it’s more overt political messaging and yet we can read between the lines in episodes like “The Bodyguard” about how technology can prey on the unsuspecting and those pre-disposed to its effects.

In the end though, it looks like Andrea is unwilling to hold back on subjecting all of National City to her VR lenses, leading to another well-intentioned person going straight down a dark path.

Alex and J’onn’s Investigation

Since Supergirl is on bodyguard duty, Alex and J’onn take on the investigation of the possible assassin. These two characters have been given short shrift for most of this season and teaming up together in J’onn’s new tower seems a fitting way to give them more screen time and showcase the talents that lead Supergirl to the actual killer. Not to mention, their scenes give them some more time for Alex and J’onn to bond over their mutual leaving of the DEO.

Their investigation is almost hampered by Brainy (Jesse Rath) giving them misinformation, but better sense prevails. It is unspecified how long the Super-friends are going to be blind to Brainy’s duplicitousness, but there’s a risk that the team will start looking foolish soon if they don’t catch on.

More from Arrowverse

• The 9 best (and 8 worst) Arrowverse characters
• 27 best fighters in the Arrowverse, ranked
• All 8 Black Canary actresses ranked from worst to best
• 11 things nobody wants to admit about the Arrowverse
• The 7 best (and 6 worst) Arrowverse villains

Alex and J’onn’s mission is more of a ruse that allows Alex to work through her decision to abandon her job. Why did the writers choose to focus on Alex’s reliance on her sidearm? One of the bolder moves the show has made was to make the DEO use only non-lethal weapons. In which case, Alex losing her official weapon shouldn’t have been such a big deal. J’onn eventually gives her a weapon, but wouldn’t the Super-friends have some tech that Alex could have used instead? Seems a backward move for a show that actually took a stand on gun violence.

Lena’s Experiments

Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath) finally trials her Non Nocere program on human beings in this episode. Her test subjects are provided courtesy of her dear brother, Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer). He is excellent at stoking Lena’s ego, playing on her altruistic need to be better than Lex and prove Supergirl wrong. The hope is that Lena will eventually see that Lex is a fraud, but if she doesn’t, it will be a great disservice to the character.

We see two sides of the program once Lena activates it – the program definitely negates human beings’ baser instincts, but while that’s an effective weapon against evil bullies, Lena finds that powerless people with a strong sense of injustice are negatively impacted by Non Nocere. She and Lex fix that issue for one inmate, but can it be replicated on a grand scale? This could be a factor that plays out in future episodes. Can Lena’s plan backfire on her when she uses it on the wrong people?

Lena has been oscillating over whether she is good or bad, and she’s not the only one. It’s beginning to get a bit old that both Lena and Andrea believe they’re heroes, when their actions are villainous.

Super Sentiments

• Seeing the Super-friends interact over normal things, like looking forward to new tech, or how Alex is an attentive partner, is always enjoyable. We are never going to tire of seeing this incredible group of female characters grow with each episode.
• Alex and Kelly are such a fun and loving couple – they need more time together on the show. We need more upbeat LGBTQ+ representation and these two characters are definitely high on the list of getting that right.
• One of these days, we are going to get a show where a female character tells a male one that she is not interested in his romantic advances, and then she sticks by that. Because that’s what often happens in real life. Kara admitting to making ‘a mistake’ over rejecting William Dey (Staz Nair) is such a tired trope.
• Lex Luthor is so full of himself that he can’t see how he’s playing right into Leviathan’s hands. It feels like Leviathan’s endgame deserves a full season of its own, since this season has been more of a build up and then a reboot. Let’s see how the showrunners are going to give them their due.

The plot really picked up in this episode of Supergirl and there is a large cast of characters playing a significant role in the main plotline. In the bargain, Leviathan have taken a backseat, to the point that they seem more like an excuse to give Lex more credence than to actually advance the plot. This version of Leviathan has been incredibly uninspiring, and one wonders if the few episodes left this season can actually give this group any credibility.