In the ‘Supergirl’ recap for the mid-season finale, Supergirl faces off with the World Killer who was sent to Earth to bring about the end of days…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
It’s not exactly clear when mid-season finales became such a big part of television but that’s exactly where we stand just a couple of weeks away from the holidays as most series prepare to go on hiatus for the next month or two.
‘Supergirl’s mid-season finale took place on Monday night and the episode paid off in a big way with a tremendous offering that gave gravity to both the personal relationships on the show — Kara, Mon-El, James, and Lena — as well as Supergirl facing off against her biggest threat yet as the long looming villain Reign finally arrived in National City.
The cliffhanger ending certainly helped as well because as much as we all know Supergirl isn’t going to die — that would kind of put an end to the show — just seeing her beaten is nearly as dramatic because much like her famous cousin, they just aren’t defeated very often if ever by any villain.
Add on the growing tease about the arrival of the Legion of Superheroes from the 31st century and the mid-season finale had a little bit of everything and it all added up to one of the best episodes of the year.
With that said, let’s recap the latest episode of ‘Supergirl’ titled ‘Reign’…
Mark of the Beast
It’s Christmas time in National City but Kara Danvers is finding it hard to be very jolly as she’s forced to watch the love of her life fawn all over his bride from the 31st century.
Mon-El explains this week how technology has adapted in the future yet evil still very much exists, but he used Supergirl as a shining example how truth and justice can still win the day. He used that inspiration to form a band of heroes known as ‘The Legion’ and that’s where he met his future wife Imra Ardeen. Together with the Legion, they’ve been able to battle back against the villains of the 31st century but unfortunately their ship was caught in some sort of wormhole that sent them 12,000 years into the past.
The ship crash landed at the shoreline outside National City and Mon-El along with the rest of the Legion decided to stay in their hyper-sleep cocoons for the next 12,000 years until they could wake up in their own time. Unfortunately, Morgan Edge firing torpedoes at the shoreline damaged the ship and woke them up. Now Mon-El is trying to repair the damage so he can return home with Imra to reunite with their people in the 31st century.
Meanwhile, Kara is preparing for her Christmas party where she really isn’t in the festive spirit but she tries to put on a happy face for all of her guests.
Lena and James are suddenly making puppy dog eyes at each other, J’onn loves him some Hall and Oates Christmas tunes and his father is in love with hot chocolate. Even Samantha and her daughter Ruby make an appearance at the party after a rather odd morning at home.
It seems Samantha woke up with no memory from her encounter at the Sanctuary in the desert where she was transformed into Reign, the World Killing machine that has been sent to cleanse the Earth of all transgressions. Instead of taking over the world, Samantha makes her daughter pancakes but clearly she’s busy at work with her split personality because the Christmas party is interrupted when the DEO gets a call, which means J’onn and Kara have to fly into action.
When they arrive at a L-Corp owned cornfield in town, Kara flies above the burned crops to see a symbol carved into the land. It looks Kryptonian but she has no clue what it means.
Sadly, Kara’s holo-mother doesn’t have the answers either outside of pointing towards an ancient religion with records that were eventually destroyed to wipe it all from Krypton’s history. That’s when Kara gets a call from Thomas Coville — the raving lunatic preacher who formed a religion based around Supergirl — because he has answers.
Coville explains to Kara that the symbol is something he learned about while on a two year journey exploring Krypton’s religion. It seems the symbol stands for a World Killer — a person who will bring about the end of days. The first stage is the mark of the beast, which is what Supergirl has now seen with this symbol. The second stage is the works of the beast where many people will die. The third and final stage is the reign of the beast where the world will meet the end of days.
Of course, Kara blows him off as a fanatic but she’ll soon find out that Coville was onto something when he tried to warn her about Reign.
The Works of the Beast
While Kara searches for the origins of the Kryptonian symbol, Lena Luthor believes this is another attempt to intimidate her by Morgan Edge. She pays him a visit alongside James Olsen and makes her accusation, which Edge denies rather smugly.
At the same time in National City, a group of gang members making a drug deal are cut down rather violently by heat vision — a signature weapon of Kryptonians, which means Coville’s prophecy might be coming true after all.
While Edge has nothing to do with the attack, he takes that opening and Lena’s accusation to strike back at his greatest rival by sending a gunman after her with a laser weapon. The idea is Lena will be killed but the authorities will think it was this Kryptonian who did it rather than an assassination.
Thankfully, James is there to save the day — courtesy of his well hidden Guardian shield — and they escape. Back at the office, Lena and James discover that the shooter was previously connected to Morgan Edge, which is all they need to know about who sent him on a killing mission. Samantha happens to arrive and hears this conversation before remarking that Edge is a person who just doesn’t deserve to live anymore.
That’s when she peaces out and reveals the Reign symbol beneath her clothes as she goes on the attack to look for Morgan Edge. When she arrives, Edge is quick witted enough to remember the lead lined panic room he built in his office so he’s able to avoid Reign and her x-ray vision but this attack only further fuels his agenda to gain support within the community. Edge then stages a press conference where he more or less infers that Supergirl was the one to blame for his attack because he still has an axe to grind with her as well.
As for Lena and James, they share a glass of whiskey before then sharing a couple of rather passionate kisses. This whole boss/employee thing just took on a whole new dynamic.
Finally back at the DEO, Kara is still faced with the reality of the love of her life moving on without her when Imra tries to offer her solace by explaining that Mon-El refused to give up on her for years but only moved on when he was truly convinced he’d never be able to reunite with her again. Of course, Kara isn’t interested in this explanation and seeing Mon-El and Imra in a flirty training session only further infuriates her.
To make matters even worse, Kara tells Mon-El how much it breaks her heart to look at him and not see the love in his eyes for her any longer.
Thankfully there’s business to handle when Kara is informed of the second attack with Morgan Edge being the target. Rather than sitting around waiting for another attack, Kara takes the fight to her newest enemy by going to the top of the CatCo. building and burning a symbol of her own — the mark of Supergirl.
The Reign of the Beast
Supergirl’s calling card works as she finally comes face to face with Reign, who arrives to challenge the girl of steel while explaining her motivations for justice and a reckoning on Earth. Think Old Testament type smiting and that’s exactly what Reign has planned for everybody in the world.
Of course, Supergirl can’t allow that so she engages in an epic, back and forth battle that sprawls all over National City.
The pair fight in the air, through the middle of a corporate Christmas party, on top of buildings, down on the street and pretty much everywhere.
The fight is so intense that eventually Reign opens up several cuts on Kara’s face, which shocks her because that’s very rarely ever happened before. Reign continued to pound on Kara and with each thudding punch, she fades further and further from consciousness. Finally, Reign holds Supergirl at the edge of a building before dropping her back down to the ground where she crashes with a lot of force.
Alex and the DEO team arrive and quickly take Supergirl in for treatment but she’s barely hanging on for life. With her pulse low and time running out, Supergirl is in bad shape but the world may be in store for even worse as Reign looks to carry out her apocalyptic prophecy with no one around to stop her.
Just before the episode ends, Ruby Arias wakes up on Christmas morning excited to open presents with her mother but when she comes downstairs, she spots Samantha standing and staring out a window. She calls to her mother but we don’t see what happens when Samantha turns. Has she completely transformed into Reign or is there some part of Samantha that still exists?
We’ll all find out when ‘Supergirl’ returns on Monday night, January 15 on the CW.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PquHC-1DGtI&feature=em-uploademail
