Supergirl Season 4 Episode 20 Review: Will the Real Miss Tessmacher Please Stand Up

This Supergirl review contains spoilers. 

Supergirl Season 4 Episode 20

James’s sister Kelly has fit into Supergirl seamlessly, bringing out another much-needed side in both James and Alex and knitting the group closer together. Everything about this episode felt like a natural extension of her relationship with Alex thus far, and the actors’ natural chemistry together has kept it from ever feeling rushed, even though realistically, they’ve gone from strangers to helping one another through major life choices in the blink of an eye. Smaller moments like their run together and talking in the hotel while waiting for the baby to be born allude to more time together off screen and make their relationship feel lived in.

Kelly confirmed her queerness in this episode, which many viewers have suspected since her first appearance. It’s a sign of both the television landscape and the kind of show that Supergirl is that this was not a declaration or A Coming Out Episode TM, but rather a piece of information that Kelly revealed in a moment of emotional openness with Alex. Realistically, the fact that she was engaged and couldn’t be with the sergeant was the secret – the fact that she was also a woman was relevant to the story insofar as it meant they couldn’t be out where they were serving, but it wasn’t inherently secretive or shameful information.

As for Alex’s eventual child, it was hard to see things not work out, but entirely realistic. If Kara couldn’t be there for Alex, it seems Kelly was the next best person for the job. Here’s hoping that starting out with Alex’s cards on the table, at least, will set this possible future relationship up for a better ending than the last one.

There were a few cruel reminders that Alex still doesn’t know that Supergirl is her sister. While it helps for her to have someone else to be close to, it’s got to be incredibly isolating for Kara to have lost her greatest confidante. It’s hard to watch the sisters be emotionally separated like this for so long, since the Danvers sisters have long been the true love story of Supergirl. With just a few episodes left, it’s getting harder to imagine how all of these loose ends will be tied up. Perhaps Alex will end the season not knowing her sister’s secret identity after all.

Speaking of secret identities, Kara not telling Lena the truth is wearing thin. This episode framed it as though Kara was about to tell the truth, but it doesn’t feel like she’s doing Lena any favors by keeping her in the dark. That move feels selfish, and continuing to write this plot feels incredibly played out. It’s hard to watch Kara actively put Lena in more danger by withholding the truth from her. Making matters worse, Lex knows the truth but Lena doesn’t.

It was good to see Kara confiding in James and using him as a resource, but the fact that she plans to tell Lena after Lex is caught all but guarantees that Lena will find out through some other means before that. It’s been four seasons – this didn’t feel fresh in the first, and now it feels like a manipulative slog. Surely the writers of Supergirl can do better than this.

Ben Lockwood accelerates his agenda in the aftermath of his wife’s death, breaking into Lena’s lab and stealing the Harun-El so he can become powered. Hearing him call James a blood traitor was spot-on for the Nazi allegory, but still disturbing. Brainy had yet another moment of heroism, stepping in between Lockwood and Dreamer/James to convince a DEO strike team to back down and listen to their own ethics rather than Lockwood’s ravings.

James seems reluctant about his powers. I hope we’ll dive more into where that comes from in the future since it’s an interesting path. Lockwood, on the other hand, injected himself even after being told that it would probably kill him. How long will the government back him up if he keeps behaving like that? Will he still be considered a human, even with those powers? Given that the episode ended with the president burying the evidence Kara found and putting a black bag over her head, I have a feeling they’ll be all too accepting of Lockwood’s mania.

Other notes

“Humans make mistakes and technology doesn’t.” Wow sometimes Lena really is just a dangerous mad scientist from Silicon Valley who thinks she’s going to save the world.

I love Kara’s boundless optimism, and that even now she thinks there must be some good in Red Daughter.

Lena has a point: Lex created what he feared most, a Kryptionian trained as a weapon

“I am the law.” “For now. But regimes change.” The Martian Manhunter is back!