SUPERGIRL - SEASON 5.16

REVIEW:  SUPERGIRL - SEASON 5.16:  "Alex in Wonderland"  


With this virus lockdown in full effect, production has halted on the CW shows, and there's a strong possibility that the seasons for the remaining shows in production will be reduced in order to get a proper ending---even if it means something's are going to be rushed in rewrites in order to get the season to a logical conclusion.  I honestly hope it DOESN'T happen, but if it IS inevitable...ESPECIALLY in the wake of the news of star Melissa Benoist's pregnancy, I'm hoping they are able to tie everything together into--at the very least--something that makes sense, and we can be satisfied with.  

That being said, we see that Lex and Jemma are still playing mind games with each other, Andrea is hell bent on getting Obsidian Platinum launched, and will do anything she can to get it out there---and she's also got new powers to play with.  We had a disgruntled man who was looking to destroy people via VR through the Platinum lenses, Leviathan capturing these people and keeping them in there.  The resurfacing of Margo...the main lackey of Leviathan.  Lena is making progress in her plan to use the Obsidian lenses to reprogram people's minds, and now Kara and Alex have to cope with the loss of Jeremiah Danvers. 


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This week...we focused on Alex, and how she has to handle the fallout from the news of her father's passing.  She had been upset the last time when he escaped ARGUS in order to warn her and Supergirl about them, but he ended up betraying them, and then disappearing again.  This has weighed on Alex A LOT, so to say the least that she's a mixed bag when this episode started is an understatement.  She's sad, we know that for sure, but we also see the anger in her.  And she isn't afraid to lash out.  We see her not getting ready for her father's funeral, we see Kelly TRY to console her, and Kara telling her she needs to go, but she's bitter, angry, frustrated, and she lashes out at the two people she loves the most:  Kelly and Kara.  She REALLY hits Kara with the fact that Jeremiah protected her, and it seemed like Kara took priority over Alex...at least, that's how she felt when she was younger, so it was some residual resentment from Alex about Kara.  And Kara, quite frankly, wasn't going to put up with it, and left with J'Onn, not being able to deal with Alex's anger issues.  We don't even see Kara again this entire episode except for one part in the VR world, and at the end of the episode. 

 Alex then lays into Kelly, who is doing her best to try and understand her pain, but Alex throws it in her face as well.  Had it not been for the fact that Kelly was needed at Obsidian, she would've tried to talk Alex into going to the funeral for her Dad, but she let's everyone know how pissed off she is that he's gone, and how he left her with the main task of taking care of not only herself, but her family...especially Kara.  Alex then discovers the pair of VR lenses Kelly had at home, and puts them on, wanting to escape into the VR world to get away.  When we see the options she has once she's in, we see her as a mother (something she's DESPERATELY wanted to be), and herself as Supergirl...and option she quickly chooses.

We then spend the majority of the episode living out Alex's fantasy in VR, but what happens is that she comes upon a young lady named Bonnie, who has escaped under the name Tilly.  Tilly looks like Indiana Jones, and says that she has a sister back in the real world with cancer, and can't do a thing about it...so she came into the VR to escape.  Alex then sees a dragon fly by, it wrecks the place, and she--as Supergirl--saves the singer, who'd been in there awhile, and had no idea that it wasn't real.  But that's how it feels in the VR world with all the new fancy upgrades.  Alex performs a few heroic deeds as Supergirl, and is feeling it.  But she also begins to see that everyone around her that's been in here awhile, and they're losing their grip on reality---that they actually feel the VR is real.  So much so, Alex herself falls for it.  She begins to lose her grip with reality, and believes herself to actually be Supergirl.  Meanwhile, in the real world, Kelly realizes that the glitch that happened last episode was NOT repaired, and when she confronted Andrea about it, she chalks it up to beaurocracy.  The funds were not released from the board of the company to get the problem fixed.  Andrea warns Kelly that all the good that it does for those in VR could be damaged if they try to fix it.  

Kelly is also assisting William Dey on his case against Lex, who had just recently gotten government approval to launch satellites into space.  He thinks there's a connection, but it's proven differently by Kelly.  However, she DOES find out that one of the board members of Obsidian IS Lex, so his case just bled into hers.  They work together to find out that anyone with the VR lenses that have had them on for about a 48 hour period continuously, can suffer brain damage.  They get a list of names, and start to make calls on it.  After getting nowhere, Kelly needs to check up on Alex, and when she does, she finds out that Alex is trapped in the VR, and can't get out.  She tries the booster shot, but it has no effect.  She then tries to go into the VR herself to get her out, but she can't.  The other parts of the program try to actually kill her.  She calls Andrea, and informs her what's going on about the hack, and that without the patch, people are getting stranded, and have no escape app.  Andrea informs her that she needs to find something to shock Alex into waking up and ending the simulation.  Kelly creates a younger version of Alex to get her out.  The younger version of Alex manages to persuade her current self to get out of the simulation by making her realize that none of what she's experiencing his real.  The other avatars of the VR - Brainy, Eliza, Dreamer, and J'Onn...all look to destroy her, because of the "corruption" in the system - her younger self.  But she snaps to her senses, and escapes the VR realm.  

William, meanwhile, uses his NSA contact to locate the rest of the bodies where they manage to pinpoint them in a single place.  William goes to investigate, but sees a big empty wherehouse.  Beind a false wall, however, is Margo with the bodies.  Observing William snoop around, she's satisfied when he turns to leave.  However, what she DOESN'T see is that William spots a hospital patient tag on the ground, and picks it up.  He's found a clue to what's going on.

Alex and Kelly discuss her issues with not being able to save her dad, and how angry she was she couldn't do anything about it.  Alex has been dealing with feeling helpless lately, and this compounded it.  Kelly says she's there for her no matter what, as well as her family.  They end up getting Alex to the memorial service for her dad, just as her mother Eliza is giving the eulogy.  She sits next to Kara, and apologizes for her behavior.  Kara forgives her.  Alex and Kelly KNOW something is rotten at Obsidian, and as much as they wanted to look into it, Alex needed to mourn her father.  

What catches our eye at the end of the episode, is Andrea going to one of her techs, and instructing them to start fixing the glitch with the new patch, and she has released the funds to do so.  What we get, however, is a little bit of a shock:  her techie is noneother than Eve Tessmacher.  

I did enjoy this episode, because it allowed us to see the things Alex has been dealing with since she not only left the DEO, but now finding out about the death of her father.  She had a hard time coping this episode, so the VR was a way to vent some steam.  Had to admit, the long haired wig looked cheesy, but DID like her Supergirl outfit.  THAT was pretty badass.  We get to delve into her fantasy a little bit, vent some frustration, and come to grips with her reality...that no matter WHAT she did, she couldn't save her father, no matter what.  He lived and died by the choices HE made, and that was all there was to it.  But she also was able to help advance the plot about the other VR users being trapped in the VR, and totally losing themselves in it.  So, along with Kelly and William (with Kara in tow, no doubt), the investigation will possibly lead to uncovering Lex's grand scheme...and that of Leviathan's, for that matter.  If they're cutting the season short by an episode or two, they're going to have to do some serious rewriting, and picking up the pace of the plot for it to not only have a good flow to it, and not feel forced or rushed, but for it to ALSO make sense.  Mind you---this is just ONE plot going on right now---there's STILL the issue with Lena and HER plan.  Going to have to tie THAT up, as well.  So, there's A LOT of story to tell, and I just hope that in their gung-ho to get the season filmed, that they don't sacrifice the story because of it.  I can live with a cliffhanger if necessary.

We got William, Kelly, Kara, and Alex (J'Onn too), now going to be working as a team.  No doubt Nia will have an input, and...somewhere in the background...Brainy is going to have his input as well.  But for THIS week...while they all made appearances (especially David Harewood for pulling double duty as J'Onn and Hank Henshaw), this was the Alex Show.  And I was cool with that.  Chyler Leigh did a great job eminating her distate at first of her father's death, and the eventual resolution through the problem.  Plus...I'm sure she was BEYOND stoked to wear her own Supergirl outfit.  But this was a much needed story for Alex...to help propel her forward in feeling more useful to the team.  

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Alrighty, that does it for us from The Tower.  What did YOU think of this episode?  Leave a comment below, and don't forget to subscribe to the page, and tell all your friends within earshot!  

Until next time....Up, Up and Away!