“Supergirl” Episode 512 Recap: Compulsory Heterosexuality

Gemma Cooper strolls into CatCo and tells Andrea that she let her personal feelings about Lena get in the way of a smart business move and tells her they’re partnering with LuthorCorp.

gemma approaches andrea in her computer

“Also, have you not been paying the electricity bills? Why is it so dark in here?”

And so Andrea calls Lena, who is delighted by this turn of events.

At the DEO, Winn and Supergirl find the server in question and Winn tries to delete it but the AI is too strong and he’s going to have to kill it from the inside like how Ray had to go inside Rasputin to explode him.

Upstairs, Alex thinks she’s disconnected all of the technology from the internet, until she finds herself face to face with Lexosuits that she forgot the DEO had in this timeline.

alex looks alarmed

Honestly I don’t blame Alex, she has two timelines’ worth of memories, but I think someone should be fired for FORGETTING about these.

The Lexosuits start to try to break out of the DEO’s lockdown, so Winn goes into the internet while the team fights them off; Brainy even does his best Catherine Zeta Jones impression and uses acrobatics to escape the Lexosuit lasers.

In the internet, Winn finds himself faced with the evil version of himself and his serial killer father. He doesn’t trust either of them, but in the end, when his dad says he’s nothing like his father, only the best parts, Winn gives in and listens to him, and his dad holds down the other Toyman while Winn successfully implants the kill code, getting rid of both versions of the Toyman.

Meanwhile upstairs, Alex and Kara are fighting off flying monkey drones in a shot that is not done justice by just this screenshot.

Supergirl and Alex fight back to back

THIS is what I’m here for. This is all that matters.

This was like the third scene this episode so far that I found myself loving the shot specifically so I looked up who directed it: her name is Alexis Korycinski and I love her.

Over at LuthorCorp, Lena is hard at work and seems to be having success with the Obsidian lenses.

Lena smiles

I don’t know that it’s safe to have your hair down in a lab but also I DON’T CARE. LOOK AT HER.

Then Lex calls. Lex realizes that Lena caused the biolink issue to make herself useful, and is proud. She says she did it for the good of humanity but he doesn’t care what her intention was, he enjoys her delicious manipulation.

Lena looks concerned

“The happier you are with my actions, the more concerned I get that I’m not on the right path after all.”

He tells her about their new deal with Gemma Cooper and that it will last for a long time. (At which point I wrote in my notes, “Get it? Because immortality?”)

But then we cut to Gemma Cooper, who is telling the Leviathan Lady to tell The Anointed One that they have the Luthors right where they want them. Which means the player is getting played. And while I don’t want Lena to get any more caught up in this than she already is, I’m excited to see Lex be outwitted and finally get what he deserves; hopefully this time not at Lena’s hand to save her the anguish and guilt. (Side note: the Anointed One is a woman. And I feel like 75% sure we don’t know who it is yet but I could definitely be forgetting; anything that happened before the CRISIS is kind of a blur.)

Alex, Supergirl, and Brainy bring the kryptonite and Lexosuits from the DEO to the Tower for J’onn to fling into the sun. And then Alex says she’s quitting the DEO. She just can’t fake being nice to Lex anymore, knowing what she knows.

So she’ll work in the Tower with J’onn. And presumably also at the PI agency? Because I don’t think The Tower is funded by anyone but J’onn. Maybe they can ask Lena to donate to them as like a social justice organization? Or maybe we are just waving our hands at the idea of income and not worrying about it.

Alex looks pleased to have quit

Yes, I’m aware how boring it is that she quit her job and all I could think about was how she was going to keep paying rent on her beautiful apartment.

Brainy respects Alex’s decision, but says he’s going to stay to keep an eye on Lex.

Winn says goodbye and says he’s changing his call sign from Computer Lad to Toyman to try to reclaim it. Before he goes, he tells Kara, in the same breath, to give Lena time and to take it slow with William. And while I agree that she doesn’t have to reveal her identity to everyone she’s considering dating, I also think if Kara said she’s not interested in William everyone should just take her at her word and let this play out and stop pushing her. Or maybe someone should point out, “Hey, I notice every time someone suggests you try dating William, you bring up Lena. Like literally every single time.” And if I’m being honest, it feels like compulsory heterosexualitiy/heteronormativity making everyone treat William like a potential love interest in a way they never considered Lena, despite all the signs. Even if they had one (1) conversation about it on screen, that would be nice. Even just having Alex if Kara thinks she might have more-than-friends feelings for Lena, or if she ever had.

And I’m not saying they should suggest she date her at this point; they have to mend fences before they could consider that even if I did believe the writers would go there. More realistically, at the very least, I think someone should realize that her relationship with Lena still being strained is really weighing on her and getting in the way of her forming new connections with people who don’t know she’s Supergirl, so maybe she should focus on fixing that bond before trying to form new ones.

But noooooooooooo, for some reason everyone wants Supergirl, who has been perfectly happy for quite some time with just her sister, her Space Dad, her friends, and her jobs to date someone she has shown barely a platonic interest in so far. As someone who has been single for a very long time and is perfectly content staying that way, I can assure you that you can lead a fulfilling life without a significant other, especially one you feel hesitant about in the first place, so I’m not sure why they don’t let Kara keep being single and happy while giving viewers the romance storylines they crave by way of Alex and Kelly/Nia and Brainy/etc etc.

Anyway, Kara goes to work to talk to William and it seems her intention was going to be giving a first date a try, but then William gives her a puzzle for her sick Gran Gran (which is really fucking sweet, and was the first thing he’s done that really endeared me to him; still don’t think he’s right for Kara but I at least like him a bit more now) and Kara realized that she’s already off knee-deep in a lie, and can’t go through with a date.

kara looks upset

Hey, Kara? Your reasons for not wanting to date anyone new right now are valid and you don’t have to listen to anyone else.

Instead she tells him she’s not interested in him like that, and he very respectfully apologizes for misreading the signs and moves on. Like a gentleman. A gentleman who should just be friends with Kara.

Brainy goes to see Lex and gives him Toyman’s immortality code, which earns him a promotion; now that Alex is gone, Brainy is the new DEO director.

Back in Kara’s loft, Kara is telling Alex about how she couldn’t go through with going on a date with William.

Kara and Alex talk on the couch

“Have you heard of and/or considered the term ‘bisexuality’? Just something to noodle on.”

And then Kara brings up Lena ONCE AGAIN.

Kara looks thoughtful

How pensive, how sad you seem to be.

This is neither here nor there but I do love when Kara is in her apartment with just Alex and can dress like Kara but also not have her glasses on. It’s a nice touch, showing that Alex is someone she can be her truest self with. Because she even puts her glasses on before she goes to answer the door, and she thinks it’s J’onn.

But anyway, before Alex can dig into the subtext, they hear a knock. They both bound to the door, hoping it’s J’onn with pizza, but instead they see a man they’ve never seen before, but who uses a familiar name: Mr. Mxylplskfjasdklf Mr. Myxlplyx.

alex and kara look annoyed

“Seriously? You again? Last time you were here, so was Mon—oh HELL no!”

Last time he was here, he caused a lot of heterosexual shenanigans, so I’m not really thrilled to see him, if I’m being honest. But we’ll see how this goes. Fingers crossed that in the back half of this season, we see Alex and Kelly in the same room again. And maybe Nia could come back? I’d love to see more of the characters we’re invested in instead of shoehorning ones who don’t know or don’t care about. But maybe that’s just me.

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Valerie Anne

Just a TV-loving, Twitter-addicted nerd who loves reading, watching, and writing about stories. One part Kara Danvers, two parts Waverly Earp, a dash of Cosima and an extra helping of my own brand of weirdo.

Valerie has written 602 articles for us.

9 Comments

  1. – Eh. That William/Kara Karaoke was trying so hard to manufacture chemistry and just felt so cringe.
    – And now “Supergirl” is doing one of the romance tropes that I hate the most. The one where the friends try to push the people together despite protestations from the people.
    – Kara is comparing her possibly romantic relationship with William to her relationship with Lena.
    – Alex isn’t using her alien gun. She’s using a regular gun. That’s a small detail that I wouldn’t have thought that they would have remembered.
    – I have to admit, Lex can be both bold and subtle.
    – Has Brainy not told anybody that he absorbed the other Brainys?
    – “LEROY JENKINS!”
    – Do you think that’s air that you’re breathing, Winn?
    – So now the question is, “Is Leviathan manipulating the Luthors or vice versa?”
    – Kara couldn’t go through with the date. I’ll withhold judgement on this because they left it open for her to revisit it. Let’s see if they do.

    • I saw somebody on Twitter say, “William was invited to karaoke night. Not Kelly or Nia, just William. Think on that.”

  2. There is a part of me that is hoping that the writers have finally caught on and are pulling a KorAsami. There is a ridiculous amount of crossover between KarLena and KorAsami not even considering the baiting the writers are doing.

    Kora and Kara are both Superheroes. They both have trouble stepping out of the shadow of the other famous hero they get compared to. (Aang/Superman)

    Lena and Asami are both business women who inherited a company from a corrupt male family member who hated everything Kara/Kira stand for. They both just want to make the world better.

    Kora and Asami both dated Mako before getting storylines that thrust the two women closer and closer together.

    Kara and Lena both dated James before getting storylines that heavily featured their relationship.

    Etc…

    As has been said many times though, these writers are never likely to do that. They can’t even consistently have the canon lesbians together… Or have Nia on screen…

  3. I’m just over here to say, with a heavy sigh and the biggest eye roll that I called William from episode one.That’s how cliché that whole deal is.
    Also, the other day a German Newspaper writer I follow on Twitter tweeted that a lot more people congratulate her on her new boyfriend than on her first book.
    I keep thinking back to that quote because it is SUCH a mood and so relatable.
    Leave Kara be to figure out her own shit before pairing her with anyone. It’s such an opportunity to get Ms.Goodytwoshoes’ fallout from causing someone she cared deeply for major pain. Kara emotionally annihilated her best friend and she knows it.
    And also, Kara is canonically pan. She is a Kryptonian who has dated at least two different SPECIES from her own. That compulsory heteronormativity thing is getting really old really fast and quite ridiculous, tbh.
    “Oh, but they were human and Daxamite MEN!” is maybe not the message we want to be sending here?
    No matter if it’s a green and a white Martian as long as they’re straight? Come on, writers and network. You can do better.

    • The total head-in-the-sand refusal to acknowledge Lena even as a *potential* romantic interest is just excruciating.

  4. So… the DEO’s on lockdown. Must be Tuesday.

    ——–

    Compulsory Heteronormativity sounds like one of the awful distribution courses you have to take when getting your Castorology degree.

    ——–

    Once again, Kara compares her “friendship” with Lena to a romantic relationship. The only thing separating canon from a slow burn, meandering fanfic is that the fanfic would have an “angst, but with a happy ending” tag to encourage you to get through the two hundred thousand words leading up to the first time they hold hands.

    ——–

    A Harry Chapin reference? I was not expecting that. Kudos.

    This episode felt like filler to me; moving pieces around the board. We’ve still got ten episodes left, and the double whammy of the mid-season finale and the Crisis took a lot of the momentum out of the plot. It’s been said before and I’ll say it again; 23 episodes is too much. Or, to put it another way, from one of Mr. Chapin’s many cheerful songs with happy endings:

    “It’s got to be the going, not the getting there, that’s good.”

  5. Favourite screenshots: Second page 1 LOL, 8, 10.

    I’d like to paged to a waiting Lena Luthor in my office please.

  6. It hurts my heart, but I can’t watch this show regularly anymore. Which is so sad because I love Katie, Chyler, and Nicole. I watch Abnormally Adams reactions, because he is hilarious, but I just can’t support the insane SwanQueen level of queerbaiting.

    I wish it was a Korrasami event, but unfortunately I think they will never allow that to happen especially since currently the Arrowverse has three female led shows and two of them have LGBT leads.

    That’s okay because Batwoman is comic cannon lesbian, and Legends is always a little off the rails and not a mainstream comic, but I don’t think they will let Supergirl be anything other than “normal.” All of the characters have so much potential for deeper stories and the writers, or producers, just keep rehashing the same standard bs over and over.

  7. Not much to say about this strange episode, really, but hard same. Hope it doesn’t take the better half of the season to get rid of Lex.

    Compulsory heteronormativity be damned! Well, speaking of toast, Mon-El is back for the 100th episode. Ugh!

    Thought you might like this, Valerie Anne:

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