This Month On SUPERGIRL: The Children Of Liberty, Dreamer, Manchester Bad, & A Drunk Brainiac!

Recently, Two and a Half Men star Jon Cryer was cast as Lex Luthor on Supergirl, with executive producers Robert Rovner and Jessica Queller planning to officially introduce Cryer as Luthor to audiences on episode 15 of Season 4, which will air sometime in March of 2019. Cryer‘s casting as Luthor has received mixed reactions from fans and critics alike, but Rovner and Queller are thrilled to have him on board: “Jon is a super-talent, and the fact that he played Lenny Luthor in Superman IV brings an added layer of legacy to his casting. We’re beyond thrilled to welcome Jon to the Supergirl family.”

That’s right, fans may remember Cryer in the critically trashed Superman IV. Perhaps he can redeem himself with this new interpretation. In the meantime, the Supergirl show-runners Greg Berlanti, Ali Adler, and Andrew Kreisberg have to develop Agent Liberty (Sam Witwer), the Graves twins (Rhona Mitra, Robert Baker), Jensen (Anthony Konechny), Dreamer (Nicole Maines), and Lena’s (Katie McGrath) character arcs further before Lex makes his grand entrance in the Arrowverse.

The past five episodes leading up to the holiday break have centered heavily upon Agent Liberty and his followers, the Children of Liberty’s rise to power, Manchester Black’s (David Ajala) character arc to villain, Nia Nal, or Dreamer’s discovery of her powers, and Lena Luthor’s increasingly ambiguous motives. With the anti-alien sentiment in America increasing as Agent Liberty and the Children of Liberty terrorize National City, J’onn J’onzz (David Harewood) begins to question his decision to leave The Department of Extra-normal Operations, or The D.E.O., more and more. In Season 3 of Supergirl, J’onn took an oath to stop fighting and try and spread peace to those in pain as an alien empath after the passing of his father. Some notable directors over the past five episodes are Supergirl veterans Rob Lowe and Kevin Smith, who both do typically commendable jobs behind the camera.

Episode 4 – “Ahimsa”

With the particulates of kryptonite still in the air, Kara (Melissa Benoist) finds herself locked up in Lena’s super-Supergirl suit. She remains full of surprises; with the Luthor Corp. behind Lena, there are all kinds human and alien power enhancing and suppressing types of technology in her labs. Lena and Brainiac (Jesse Rath) work on clearing the air of kryptonite, J’onn feels guilty for not helping Supergirl against her enemies due to his vow of silence. Can J’onn remain on the sidelines for much longer as the Children of Liberty pave way for Lex Luthor’s arrival? His father was a fine spiritual leader, but J’onn isn’t necessarily his father’s son, so to speak.

The Mole & Manchester Black

As previously touched upon in the last Supergirl Monthly wrap-up, Raymond Jensen, a D.E.O. agent, has joined the Children of Liberty along with one other agent. The fight isn’t with any particular alien this season. At least as of yet. Rather, the villains, so far, are the very people and aliens who have generally supported Supergirl in the past. This means that the Children of Liberty will be one step ahead of the D.E.O. until they find out that Jenson is the mole who has compromised the organization. Now, Agent of Liberty has figured out a way to brainwash aliens to do his dirty work for him. It’s becoming harder and harder to decipher whom to trust anymore.

In the D.C. comics, Manchester Black an antihero-turned-supervillain with telekinetic and telepathic abilities. Not much else is known about Black other than he is of African descent, from the city Manchester, his parents abused him, and he hates people who think they are morally superior to him. At first, in Supergirl, Manchester Black presents himself as a rule-bending ally of J’onn’s. Fiona (Tiya Sircar), Manchester Black’s wife, has been captured by the Graves twins. Black uses J’onn to track Fiona down.

The New Administration

In keeping in line with the political overtone this season, writers Eric Carrasco, Daniel Beaty, Aadrita Mukerji, Katie Rose Rogers, and Jessica Kardos include a sharp uptick in anti-alien sentiment with the new presidential administration led by President Baker (Bruce Boxleitner). President Baker’s administration is very much in line, ideologically, to that of Trump’s. In Supergirl, aliens have always been seen as illegal immigrants, and the overwhelming fear percolating this season parallels the fear of immigrants that Trump’s administration instills in certain impressionable groups of people.

The D.E.O. is a government organization, funded by the federal government. As such, there is a clear hierarchical management structure and subsequent chain of command. With Supergirl still somewhat held back from the contaminated air full of kryptonite, she feels she needs to do more than that from the bench. Interestingly, Alex (Chyler Leigh) is Supergirl’s superior, and gives her strict orders to lay low until the air is cleared. Supergirl doesn’t obey, and causes an alien commotion when she joins one of Manchester Black and J’onn’s “missions.” This upsets President Baker, creating a tension and a temporary rift in Alex and Kara’s relationship.

Conclusion: An Underrated Episode

On IMDb, “Ahimsa” only got an underwhelming 6.8 rating out of a possible 10, which is low for Supergirl. However, it’s an episode that introduces a major character in Manchester Black and really explores J’onn’s philosophical, existential struggle. “Pacifism doesn’t mean inaction, it just means that you have to learn to fight without raising a sword,” Alex tells J’onn at one point during the episode. Not only does it reassure J’onn that he’s chosen the right spiritual path, but it reaffirms his belief that he made the right choice in putting her in charge of the D.E.O. Eventually, Alex is left with no choice but to use Supergirl’s assistance to squash Agent of Liberty, the Children of Liberty, and the Graves twins’ latest terrorist attack at a local National City fairground. Guardian (Mehcad Brooks), or James Olsen in hero disguise, even makes an appearance, which is rather soon after he was almost put on trial for vigilantism. Since Alex broke the rules, D.C. sends Colonel Lauren Haley (April Parker Jones) to keep an extra eye on her and Supergirl.

Episode 5 – “Parasite Lost”

Two words. Drunk. Braniac. When Kara and company decide to throw a rather cushy rooftop brunch party, Braniac mistakes the mojitos for “ginger juice,” drinks 12, gets absolutely hammered, and passes out. It’s a hilarious sequence in a rather tense time in Supergirl. It’s also a great opportunity for Kara’s friends to meet the new character, Nia. The show-runners are slowly developing a love story between Nia and Brainiac. Although Brainiac is temporarily out of commission at the brunch soiree, he recovers a bit quicker than his human counterparts and attempts to flirt with Nia, only to slightly embarrass himself again. However, there is plenty of season of Supergirl left for Brainy and Nia to socialize and get along sober. Seventeen more episodes, to be exact.

Agent Liberty & Jenson

Haley, Alex, and D.E.O. have successfully identified Agent Jensen as the traitor. Unfortunately for Jensen, he is under the influence of Agent Liberty, who gave him a parasite that he obtained from the Graves twins, both with which Agent Liberty controls him, and which gives Jensen increased abilities. This parasitic control is how Agent Liberty is commanding the Children of Liberty. However, the parasite and Jensen haven’t reached symbiosis yet, and, subsequently, Jensen is experiencing some considerably painful side-effects.

If he does achieve symbiosis, he will supposedly be powerful enough to help Agent Liberty wipe out all of the “roaches,” a derogatory term used to describe aliens in the Arrowverse, on Earth 38. Meanwhile, Agent Liberty continues to spread his far-right, anti-alien propaganda on sketchy news sites a la Alex Jones in plain sight as Ben Lockwood. Olsen even confronts Lockwood in a battle of ideologies with an intense battle of words. Might we see an Agent Liberty versus Guardian fight?

Parasite & J’onn’s Support Group

It’s no surprise that episode writers Maria Maggenti, Mukerji, Carrasco, Beaty, Rogers, and Kardos made the decision for Jensen to achieve symbiosis with the villain that has now been coined “Parasite.” It’s the inciting incident that prompts Supergirl and Alex to action. Parasite is, initially, too powerful for Supergirl. With the ability to shape-shift, it is nearly impossible to track it.

Meanwhile the folks in the writers room pepper in a miniature noir with Kara and J’onn, who search for a missing support group member, Amadei Derros (Adam Levy) who was attacked. When they find his estranged daughter, Natalie (Michelle Krusiec), she’s supposedly a dead lead, as she’s never met Derros. Eventually, Kara and J’onn discover that Natalie joined the Children of Liberty and is the one who took her father’s amulet and gave it to Jensen so that he could maintain his parasitic power in his current vessel. This is the first mention of the Children of Liberty to Kara, J’onn, or any “good character,” for that matter.

Conclusion: The D.E.O. In Flux

With Haley as the temporary leader of the D.E.O., there is a decidedly lower overt use of alien powers in the public eye. With the new administration’s far-right, anti-alien sentiment, the D.E.O. is “adjusting” their public image. Supergirl isn’t involved as much in conflicts, but rather, the D.E.O. uses its technology to take down the big bads that come and go. Haley has a lot of distaste for J’onn’s prior leadership of the D.E.O. as an alien, echoing an ever-growing sentiment throughout the country. Finally, J’onn has fully embraced his new role as badass detective in Supergirl, tracker of aliens, solver of alien cases. He’s even got the gumshoe attire and all. It’s glorious. After all, his character is deeply rooted in detective work in the comics.

Episode 6 – “Call To Action”

Manchester Black remains morally ambiguous. “Call To Action” begins with Supergirl and Manchester Black meeting for the first time on the tail end of Black dishing out some sweet revenge against the Children of Liberty for killing Fiona. This prompts Supergirl to investigate Agent Liberty’s following upon finding an anti-alien manifesto, which Haley refuses to investigate. Jones‘s cold, deadpan delivery of her lines as Haley brings a welcome layer of humor to Supergirl as well as an escalating tension between her and Alex.

Olsen Meets The Children Of Liberty

We’re getting closer to a Guardian versus Agent Liberty showdown. After Kara decides to release the Children of Liberty manifesto, Olsen sets up a meeting with, what Lena refers to as, essentially, a domestic terror group. Lena has been fighting to control Olsen’s public image as guardian, utilizing her power to pull strings in keeping him out of legal trouble. Ironically, his work as Guardian has inspired the Children of Liberty. It’s typical of hate groups to pick and choose what information they want to use to influence others a la dated passages of the bible; they see Guardian’s work as fighting other aliens as progress because it fits into their ideology that all aliens are evil.

It’s a tense meeting. Olsen demands that the man with whom he meets keeps the word “roaches” out of his mouth, effectively making his stance on aliens clear. As a result of Olsen meeting the Children of Liberty, Kara has to fill in on a television appearance that Lena intended Olsen to attend. Consequently, Kara debates Lockwood on national television, and loses, with audiences cheering at his anti-alien rhetoric. Surprisingly, the man, whom we come to know as Tom (Steve Byers), ideologically changes his mind and gives Olsen some information on Agent Liberty’s whereabouts.

Nia: Narcolepsy Or Dual Pathology?

Is Nia’s narcolepsy just a regular human sleep disorder, or is it a side effect of her powers, which she has not yet fully realized? Nia Nal, or Dreamer, is the descendent of the Legion of Superheroes member Nura Nal, or Dream Girl. Since, in the D.C. comics created by Edmond Hamilton, Dream Girl has precognitive abilities through dreams in which she can envision the future, one can infer that Dreamer inherited the same “super” gene as her ancestor. So, perhaps, during these daytimes snoozes, Nia is dreaming of future events before they happen.

Kara and Alex’s mother, Eliza (Helen Slater, who also played Supergirl in the 1984 eponymous film), offers to help Nia at Thanksgiving by referring her to a sleep specialist. Speaking of Thanksgiving, It’s a rather tense situation, with Lena and Olsen arguing after Olsen forewent the television appearance. Even Manchester Black is breaking bread with the gang. As of now, he remains somewhat on the “good” side. Whether or not he goes full super-villain like he does in the comic books remains to be seen.

The Everyman Project

Lena kept some of the Harun-El, or black kryptonite, from Season 3, responsible for creating the Red Daughter, who we will undoubtedly confront later (but the storyline is, almost comically, getting such little screen time, that one has to wonder if the show-runners are ever going to bring the conflict to the forefront this season). Why, is key to her character arc. She has been performing experiments on human hearts riddled with malignant tumors with the Harun-El, essentially trying to cure cancer. It’s a noble experiment for the MIT graduate, initially. However, one cancerous organ fails to burn when she attempts to disintegrate it, giving her the idea that human beings can be invincible like Superman and Supergirl, giving them a fighting chance in the grand scheme of the evolutionary gene pool. Lena is thinking like a Luthor. Lex, to be exact. This is taken straight from the comics. Only, it was called the “Everyman Project,” and it was conceived of by Lex, not Lena. In Supergirl, Lena has coined her project the “Harun-El Protocol.”

“We’re gonna need a human subject.” – Lena Luthor

Not only can the Harun-El enhance human abilities, but it also allows the person conducting the experiment to strip anyone of their powers. So, it will be interesting to see if Lena, or Lex, for that matter, tries to control Superman or Supergirl or enhance their abilities to level the playing field. Regardless of what Lena decides to do further with the Harun-El, her friends, especially Kara, did not like the idea of humans being enhanced for the advancement of the human race’s sake.

Conclusion: Lena & Olsen – An Allegory For Lena’s Downfall?

The show-runners have been teasing an evil Lena since she was first introduced in Supergirl. After Thanksgiving, she finally admits to Olsen that she gave information on Bruno Mannheim, an old accomplice of Lex’s and Intergang leader, to the D.A. in exchange for her dropping Guardian’s indictment. Of course, this causes Olsen to question Lena’s morality, for that matter, concept of love, as she’s acting with the blind, cold will of a Luthor. Lillian Luthor (Brenda Strong) would be proud. It’s only a matter of time before Lena, or perhaps Lex, gets her out of jail, and its the Luthors versus the D.E.A. and Co. As always, the pop culture references are thoroughly entertaining; at one point, Alex compares Haley to Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter, threatening to go “full Weasley twin” if she gets more strict.

Episode 7 – “Rather The Fallen Angel”

It has finally arrived: Guardian versus Agent Liberty. Rather, James Olsen versus Agent Liberty. Initially, it’s a battle of words. Ideologies. The same, repetitive back-and-forth that’s been occurring throughout Supergirl in Season 4. With Olsen out of commission and, essentially, kidnapped and bound by Agent Liberty, Lena doesn’t exactly have a “north” on her moral compass. She proceeds with full force on her human experiments with the Harun-El Protocol. A male subject, Adam (Michael Johnston), whom she dehumanizes by referring to him by “Subject 0331.” Cold. Calculating.

Supergirl & The Roaches: The Fall Of The Human Race?

That’s what Ben Lockwood, or Agent Liberty, has, largely, successfully brainwashed citizens of National City and beyond with by infiltrating the mass media with his conspiracy theories and vitriol. It’s an ideology that Lex Luthor has always pushed onto his followers and potential future disciples. Manchester Black using violence in front of Supergirl to investigate the Children of Liberty only adds credibility to Lockwood’s rhetoric and theories about aliens, powers, and human safety and survival.

We’re all rooting for Manchester Black. Obviously. However, his violent urges will inevitably lead him down a darker path than neither Supergirl nor J’onn, with whom Manchester Black confides, are prepared for. There is hope for the human race. No, I’m not talking about their safety as it pertains to aliens, but rather, I’m speaking in ideological terms; Tom has completely changed his viewpoints on aliens, and he realizes how reactive and violent human beings can operate when they do so out of fear. If Tom can change his mind, others can, too.

Has Lena Gone Too Far? Meanwhile On Shelly Island

That’s a rhetorical question. Obviously, in using the Harun-El on a human, effectively mimicking the Everyman Project comic book arc, Lena has gone too far. Her Harun-El Protocol displays a sharp lack of ethics. Interestingly, Lena creates a unique bond with Subject 0331. Through that bond, the audience can see Lena’s side of the equation. Should a few people die in the Harun-El Protocol experiments, it is nothing in the grand scheme of things when compared to the 100,000,000+ lives that it would potentially save. Lena is now playing “god.” Yet, she doesn’t want a hero. She didn’t choose a volunteer who was morally stable. She chose somebody who was morally aligned with her, built for survival at all costs.

Manchester Black makes Kara believe that the Children of Liberty’s are keeping Olsen captive on Shelly Island, Supergirl‘s equivalent of Ellis Island, where, historically, immigrants have arrived to the east in the United States. It’s no coincidence that, though this is the former place where aliens were welcomed into National City, it is also where the government keeps power dampening devices that curb Supergirl and other alien and metahuman powers. However, it’s just a rouse to capture a vulnerable Supergirl. In exchange, Manchester Black is led to believe that he gets a face-to-face meeting with Agent Liberty. Obviously, it doesn’t go as planned.

Conclusion: The Nail In The Coffin

“My name is James Olsen, and I believe in the Children of Liberty. Only Humans belong on Earth.” Proclaims Olson in full Guardian get-up, streaming live on national television on Shelly Island, about to destroy a national monument dedicated to aliens. However, somehow, Supergirl is able to overcome the power dampening devices and escape Agent of Liberty’s captivity on Shelly Island and fly the bomb above in the sky, out of harm’s way. After much discussion with Subject 0331, and encouragement from the subject himself, a man with nothing to lose, Lena crosses a line that that she can never return from.

Speaking of crossing lines that you can never return from, it was Manchester Black who killed those five Children of Liberty members. The path to super-villain begins. Olsen decides to forgive Lena for giving information on Bruno Mannheim to the DA to get her to drop his indictment. However, is Lena ready? Harewood gives another heartbreaking, fantastic performance in the final moments of “Rather the Fallen Angel.” It’s the cherry on top of an enjoyable episode by director Chad Lowe, actor Rob Lowe‘s younger brother, who also plays Thomas Coville, the character who founded the Cult of Rao in Season 3 of Supergirl.

Episode 8 – “Bunker Hill”

Brace yourselves, for this is a Kevin Smith episode. The iconic director is at the helm, making “Bunker Hill” particularly special. Smith wouldn’t even be alive ten months ago if it hadn’t been for superb healthcare. The Clerks creator suffered a heart attack on February 25, 2018. Since then, Smith has lost over 30 pounds. The show-runners have teased Dreamer long enough. After seven episodes, Nia finally acknowledges her very realistic dreams as precognitive visions. Prophetic. This is where the cheesy phrase, “the time has come for Nia to fulfill her destiny” applies. So, Nia’s visions of Agent Liberty are key to Supergirl and the D.E.O. remaining one step ahead of him.

Smith’s Hilarious Directorial Approach

In Smith‘s standup special, Silent But Deadly, filmed right before he suffered his heart attack, he provided unprecedented insight into how some of the CW D.C. television shows work, behind-the-scenes, and they’re a well-oiled machine. These shows run quite smoothly and, for lack of a better word, automatically, so that, when directors come and go, they are able to maintain a level of production consistency:

“…they don’t really need a director in episodic TV. Cast and crew make that show every week. If you ever look at the credits of your favorite shows, the director’s the only name that really changes and stuff. That’s how f*cking replaceable the director really is. So the cast and crew makes your favorite show every week. The director shows up and is nominally in charge. But you can’t really change shit about it, man…I couldn’t walk into Flash and be like, “We’re changing the look of Flash this week. It’s all one shot, black and white. Clerks.”…It’s not like when I direct a movie, I’m involved in every aspect. But on TV, I’m not really. I’m kind of a bystander who gets to say “action” and “cut.” But as a fan of the show, it’s fun ’cause you get to watch that shit get made. And I sit in on all the big meetings and stuff like that. And I watch very talented people who do this every f*cking week sit around, talk to each other, how they’re gonna plan this shit. ‘How are we gonna make her fly? How are we gonna do this shit and whatnot?’ And then periodically, they remember I’m there and they look over at me and they go, ‘What do you think, Kev?’ I’m like, ‘I think that sounds awesome!’ You know. And they’re like, ‘Okay, big guy.’ You know. And they go back to making the f*cking show and stuff like that. So it’s been nice, it’s been a nice thing to do, to go up there.”

Of course, Smith is leaning on the humble side and likely downplaying his on-set impact, but he is making a larger statement about network television, in general. The cast and crew of these shows are their bread and butter. Smith also likened himself to the on-set caterer, essentially. He proceeded to leave the set during a wide shot on Supergirl to get 20 burgers for the crew at A&W, take a selfie with the cashier to speed up the order, only to realize that he didn’t get nearly enough food. So, he returned the next day. And the following day. It’s a great story, but it speaks to Smith‘s generous spirit and, well, hands off directorial style for certain, standard shots that could be handled by an AD on network television.

This is Smith‘s fourth Supergirl episode. And he’s just happy to be here: “The fifth act of those shows, The CW shows, that’s generally where the big thing happens, aka where they spend the most money. And so, in act five of this episode we have a sequence where they spent a lot of money that I’ve never seen in anything before and I can’t take credit for it, I’m not like ‘I f*cking did it’ because the visual effects company, they’re going to accomplish it. We shot little pieces of it and stuff, but it’s a kind of cool concept that I never thought of. As the guy who was like I want to make a movie, my first movie, I guess I’ll set it here at a convenience store cause this is easy and I work here and shit like, never imagined they’d hand me a script with like ‘make her do this’ and I was like holy shit.” If you’re ever bored, look up behind-the-scenes photos of Kevin Smith on the set of Supergirl Season 4. Everyone is at ease, smiling, laughing, and enjoying their time together, from the crew to the cast. And, really, that’s what filmmaking should be about, right?

Brainy & Nia’s Excavation

Brainiac and Kara dive into Nia’s dreams at her apartment to try and make some semblance of meaning out of them. Interestingly, Brainiac accidentally refers to Nia as Nura, her ancestor, implying that he might have known her at some point in time. Brainy helps Nia discover that Agent Liberty is at the heart of her dreams, prompting them on his path, ultimately heading to his neighborhood in Collinwood, a neighborhood rife with anti-alien sentiment, so much so that Nia refers to it as “Purge-y,” to which Brainy replies by proclaiming, “James DeMonaco. 2013.” Did episode writers Rob Wright, Carrasco, Beaty, Mukerji, Rogers, and Kardos just reference The Purge? Indeed they did. The Arrowverse is at the height of its pop culture references, now. “I thought you were just watching the classics.” Replies Nia. The flirtation between the two continues.

When Kara, Nia, and Brainy get captured by a few members of the Children of Liberty, Nia uses her powers to help escape the seemingly insurmountable situation. It won’t be long before we see her in full superhero mode. Nia is able to realize her visions and stop Black from making a huge mistake, just in time for Brainy to reference Steven Spielberg‘s Hook. Yup. Definitely at the height of its pop culture references.

Manchester Black & Agent Liberty

This meeting is particularly interesting. Taut. Well-acted. A tad heavy-handed with the Battle of Bunker Hill reference. Manchester Black visits Lockwood in his own home, putting him in a vulnerable position. Lockwood mentions that a souvenir that Black picks up on display in his living room is from Bunker Hill, the bloodiest battle in the American Revolutionary War and the one that ultimately cost the British the war. After a lengthy chat, Black outs Lockwood as Agent Liberty in front of his wife, and the two begin to fight, much to J’onn’s attempt to telepathically persuade Black otherwise.

Conclusion: Far-Right Versus Far-Left

Now that Agent Liberty and Manchester Black are both incarcerated, both extreme sides of the political spectrum are justly detained. However, the Children of Liberty and their followers release Agent of Liberty, deemed a “human rights activist” by certain fringe publications, while President Baker and his administration release Supergirl from the D.E.O. after she refuses to give up her secret identity. Much like the real world in 2018, the world on Earth 38 in 2018 seems morally backwards in Supergirl. Supergirl is villainized and Agent Liberty victimized, the very thing Agent Liberty wanted to happen. Don’t miss a striking visual sequence crafted by Smith and visual effects team in the fifth act. As Smith so eloquently words it in only a way that he can, “There’s some cool shit in it.”

Supergirl, Season 4, Month 2: Wrap-Up

Right now, things are looking substantially dim for Supergirl. Her spirits are low after being kicked out of the D.E.O. by President Baker. Agent Liberty is effectively martyred without having to die. It isn’t the best time to be an American alien, reflecting the harsh immigration climate of the current administration in the real world. Think of the Children of Liberty as the rise of alt-right hate groups, posing as patriots (i.e. Patriot Prayer), representing the values embraced by the Ku Klux Klan. Some people refer to them as good old boys, which, stripped of all its flair, is a polite way of calling a racist white man an uneducated bigot. Again, Supergirl has never shied away from staying topical and overtly political, and Season 4 is no different.

Among the many storylines percolating in month 2 of Supergirl are Manchester Black’s slow transformation into villain, Lena’s Harun-El Protocol, an arc based off of Lex Luthor’s Everyman Project in the comics, Nia, or Dreamer’s realization of her powers, Agent Liberty and the Children of Liberty’s continued rise to prominence, Supergirl’s exclusion from the D.E.O. and Alex’s diminishing leash as the D.E.O. director, Jensen’s betrayal, and J’onn’s transformation into Martian Manhunter “Noir.” Certain viewers may remember that the Martian Manhunter, J’onn’s superhero alias in the comics, was a detective, in certain storylines, on Earth. It appears the show-runners of Supergirl have decided to take the character back to his roots.

There has been very little advancement of The Red Daughter storyline, which is somewhat peculiar. Consider the season ahead: Supergirl still has to curb Agent of Liberty and the Children of Liberty’s rise to power, introduce Lex Luthor, figure out which direction they want to take Lena in, and bring The Red Daughter plot line to the forefront of the show. Those are all major storylines to address. Realistically, at least two of these storylines will be drawn out for two seasons as opposed to them wrapping up this season in Supergirl.

**Note: Episode 9 of Supergirl, titled, “Elseworlds, Part 3,” is the conclusion of the Arrowverse‘s annual crossover television event. Part one aired on The Flash and part two aired on Arrow. As with most crossover events, the plot of the episode is largely unrelated to the larger arcs developed in Supergirl this season.**

Are you excited to see Nia go full Dreamer? What do you make of Manchester Black’s path to darkness? Do you enjoy the political references in Supergirl? Your thoughts on Jon Cryer’s casting as Lex Luthor? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

Supergirl has an all new air slot this season on Sundays at 8 PM. Episode 10 will air on January 20, 2019. For more information on Season 4’s episode air dates, click here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcsOph_nqm0