“Supergirl” Episode 517 Recap: Case of the Lex

Welcome back to Supergirl! I know it’s been weeks since this show about Kara Danvers has aired but hey didn’t you want an entire episode about Lex Luthor, a villain who was supposed to die and stay dead months ago? Didn’t you want everything you knew about the women you watch this show for to end up being a lie and find out they were being manipulated by a man this entire time? Great, then let’s get to it!

Spoiler alert, I only like two things about this episode: The fact that Melissa Benoist directed it (and beautifully), and one particular scene. The rest was frustrating as heck, but we’ll get through it together!

Previously on Supergirl, people with broken hearts who used Obsidian to escape started getting trapped in VR and kidnapped, and Alex almost became one of those victims in a reality where she was Supergirl; the post-CRISIS world thinks Lex is a hero, and Lex being back and highly involved in Lena’s life means her and Kara are at odds and they haven’t had a moment to themselves in eons.

We start this episode in the present day, 90 days post-CRISIS, with Lex standing over the body of the Leviathan woman, with everyone lauding him as a hero yet again. Supergirl arrives at the scene, confused, and William shows her that there was a video of the woman saying she was a follower of Amy Sapphire, the woman who wanted to break the VR servers. All signs are pointing to Lex actually doing something good for once, but that doesn’t sit right with Kara.

And we’ll learn that her instincts are correct before she will, because we’re flashing back and have the distinct pleasure of seeing what this season of Supergirl would have been like if it was called SuperVillain instead, starting with the day after CRISIS ended. Lex wakes up in his bed with a butler reminding him that he’s about to win a Nobel Peace Prize and Lex is delighted to learn that he made a whole new world that revolves around him.

We see Lex inject his sleeping sister with something to keep her out longer and have his butler get her back to her own apartment because who cares if his only sister has autonomy over her own body, right?

Lex goes to Lillian and tells his mother about CRISIS and how his allyship with Supergirl won’t last now that they both share a reality. Lillian doesn’t understand why Lex is still obsessed with Supergirl when he seems to have it all; power, fortune, fame. He claims it’s because Kryptonians can destroy the world without breaking a sweat, but Lillian points out it seems to be Kara’s closeness with Lena that really sent him over the edge. Is it because they have a connection unlike anything he could ever experience because he is always keeping things too close to the vest, always has an agenda?

Lillian tells him to keep his head on straight and to just support his sister in her scientific efforts and she’ll naturally gravitate towards him and away from Kara, who doesn’t understand her vision. Lillian basically dares him to stay focused and his ego can’t resist the challenge, so he agrees to make his sister his new closest ally.

When Lena wakes up, and Lex asks her what Leviathan is, she’s amused to know more about something than her brother for once. She’s especially amused that he got even more played by Eve than she did.

Lena tells him all she knows, while calling him out for his pride and ego, and Lex sets his mind to getting rid of Leviathan altogether.

We then learn that in the Toyman episode, when Lex learned about Gemma’s connection to Leviathan, he also learned that Eve was working with them, and when he goes to find her, she’s being a kickass yet somewhat reluctant assassin.

Lex knows that she’s only working for Leviathan because they killed her father and threatened her mother, and Eve admits that she hates being a spy and assassin. Lex offers to save her, and says he’ll do all her killing assignments for her if she acts as his eyes on the inside.

30 days post-CRISIS, Eve is stressed out because she hasn’t gotten close enough to Gemma to get on the Leviathan ship yet. Lex tells her to relax because he has men stationed outside Eve’s mother’s home to protect her, so she chills out a little and says she DID get put on the Platinum project at Obsidian North.

Since Lex’s plan is to reverse the Toyman code to de-immortalize Leviathan, he wants to use the Platinum glitch that’s trapping sad people to their advantage, so it’s Eve’s job to make sure that the glitch doesn’t get fixed so Gemma will have no choice but to let Lex help them cover it up before the launch.

Lex also finds Richard Bates, puts on a bad wig, and acts as a bartender to give him the idea for a virtual torture chamber for his wife’s paramour.

Two weeks later, Eve skips into Lex’s house and thanks him for her new apartment. He says she’s precious to him, which of course she mistakes for affection, something we know Lex is incapable of anymore.

Everything is working according to plan, and the next step is to make sure Amy Sapphire has gauntlets so she stands a chance against Supergirl. Because that’s right folks, everything is Lex Luthor’s fault. He’s what the girls of the Teen Creeps podcast would call a “Busy Villain.” Who knows how he has the time, but here we are.

Lex takes Eve to his lab where he…disappears a mouse? Using q-waves? I don’t know and I don’t care because Lex is pure, uncomplicated evil which is the least interesting kind of villain.

One month ago, aka 60 days post-CRISIS, around the time Amy Sapphire and Kara had it out in the Obsidian server room, Eve takes Lex to the human burrito warehouse to show him how they’ve started collecting the people Obsidian Platinum trapped with the glitch. She tells him the old lady, Margo, will be watching over them.

As a reward, Lex gives Eve a vial of poison and the information of the man who killed her father. But when he shows her the picture, she might not recognize him, but we sure do.

Lex goes on his world tour with Obsidian, and we follow the timeline with clips from the episodes; Alex fighting Richard Bates, Jeremiah dying, Alex going into the VR, William almost finding the human burrito warehouse.

At the end of the tour, Andrea makes an announcement about how quickly Obsidian is spreading to over 100 countries in one month. Kara leaves the conference in a huff and Lena notices and follows her up to her Catco office.

Lena approaches her ex-friend cautiously, almost timidly, and offers her condolences about Kara’s father’s passing. She immediately chides herself for giving such a rote response, but Kara’s body relaxes and she looks at her sadly. “You look like someone afraid to confront the person who called you a villain.” Lena understands the pain of losing a parent, and even though Kara already knows that pain too, Lena wanted to apologize.

Kara thanks her and says it means a lot, and Lena gives her a book that helped her with her grief. Kara takes the book and you can feel the strain between them, the unstoppable force of wanting to hug each other pushing against the immovable object of the pain they’ve inflicted on each other.

Kara keeps the desk between them, like Lena has done to her so many times, and Lena leaves quietly.

I loved this scene because it proved what we already knew: Lena is better than her brother. In every way. Lena was hurt by what Kara last said to her, what she’s done, but she didn’t let her pride get in the way when something bigger than this space between us happened. Try as she might, she can’t forget the bond they had, even if it’s cracked now. It’s not easy for anyone.

Two days ago, 88 days post-CRISIS, Lex and Lillian are playing chess and Lex tells his mother that he saw Lena reaching out to Kara. That he thought his plan to quietly murder Jeremiah Danvers was brilliant, but it had the opposite effect and drove Lena right toward Kara again. Because empathy and sympathy and frankly even the loss of a loved one aren’t things he can relate to or predict. That’s where he gets tripped up every time. He always thinks he can predict how people will act or react but he can never predict kindness.

And to Lillian’s earlier point, it does seem to be this relationship that infuriates him the most. Whether it’s because he doesn’t understand it or because it’s something he can’t have OR control – things that don’t sit well with a supergenius megalomaniac – is anyone’s guess, but he starts ranting about how one thing could lead to another then suddenly Lena is actually invited to Game Night again.

Lillian insists he stay focused on the plot but Lex, playing the part of the writers’ room, says he has to abandon every other thread to focus on keeping Lena and Kara apart. She calls him weak but he’s not listening as he storms out.

Back at Kara’s loft, Alex, Kelly and Kara are talking about how weird it feels to do something as normal as eat dumplings when Jeremiah is dead.

Kelly explains that this weird feeling is normal in a time of grief. That feeling joy in a time of distress isn’t bad. That feeling pain and comfort at the same time can be confusing and uncomfortable, but it’s not wrong. Kara agrees, since she read it in the book Lena gave her, which she presumably hasn’t put down since she received it.

And Kara thinks maybe Lena is finally coming around, that maybe this was her olive branch, that she’ll soon realize that Lex is evil. William comes over with baked goods and he and Kelly tell the Danvers sisters what they learned about Leviathan’s plots.

The bracelet William found when he almost discovered the hospital bracelet belongs to Richard Bates, and when they look at a list of people still stuck in VR, Alex recognizes the name of someone she met on the inside.

Eve has been spying on them, and tries to use the fact that the Superfriends are getting close to the truth against her (when in reality Lex has been puppeteering everything) but Gemma doesn’t take the bait. Lex pivots her to a new plan nonetheless, and asks for her stealthiest operative.

Brainy tries to confront Lex but Lex also turns that conversation to his advantage, telling him to have Supergirl use Myriad to find the missing people. He takes this information to the Tower, and I’m just going to let you know that Alex and Kelly are there, because look at them.

Kara is hesitant to use Myriad but Brainy promises they can use it safely, so she heads to the Fortress.

In her Luthor Lair, Lena is doing more Non Nocere tests on Richard Bates when she notices her q-waves being interrupted.

Lena recognizes the pattern as Myriad, and thinks it’s Supergirl being hypocritical and trying to specifically stop Lena’s experiments. Of course, Lex is right there agreeing with her and telling her they should go to the Fortress of Solitude to stop her. Lena won’t let Lex anywhere near the place – she’s too trusting, but she’s no fool – so she goes alone, but little does she know an invisible Morai sneaks in with her.

Lena confronts Supergirl and Kara tries to explain about the missing people and how Lex is involved somehow. Lena accuses her of being too quick to blame a Luthor and regrets their sincere moment from the other day.

Lena leaves, but the Morai stays and opens a door to let a SunEater out.

Back at The Tower, Alex is panicking because there’s a SunEater who probably knocked her sister out but M’gann shows up just in time to help.

While the SunEater slowly starts to swallow the sun, everyone just immediately goes into their VR. Obsidian of course is pushing out ads to encourage this. I want to say it’s wild, to see people literally being in traffic and seeing danger and deciding to just nope out of the situation. But if there was a VR world I could go into until this pandemic either passes or obliterates the planet, I’d go there.

The Martian duo flies up to stop the SunEater, but it ends up being Supergirl in a Lexosuit that saves the day.

Alex and Kara go back to the Fortress to tuck the SunEater back in, and M’gann uses her telepathy to learn that the Morai works for Leviathan.

And then we’re back to the present day, the scene we saw in the beginning. Lex tries to gaslight Supergirl into believing the missing people, Margo’s death, it was all somehow HER fault for not trusting him.

Lex goes back to Gemma, who is pissed that Margo is dead, but he brushes her off and says it was necessary. Gammamae reminds him who exactly holds the power here and honestly I’ve never been more attracted to her.

Lex admits that he underestimated Supergirl and her team, but that he pointed blame away from Leviathan and onto Amy Sapphire. BUT he insists Supergirl will continue to be a problem unless they kill Supergirl. But that many mortals have tried and failed. Gemma says she will not fail and leaves without taking a sip of the drink he offered.

Lex goes home, feeling overconfident as ever, basking in the glow of having rewritten the whole show to be about him. Eve fawns over him, says she loves him, even tries to kiss him, but he doesn’t need her anymore, so he shatters the pedestal she had put him on. He calls her sad and silly, tells her he only saved her because she was useful. That the guards outside his mother’s house are actually ready to kill her if she became difficult, and that he doesn’t know who killed her father; the man he sent her to murder was Jeremiah Danvers.

Eve is horrified; fooled and manipulated by this man in yet another universe. “You are worse than Leviathan,” she says. He smiles proudly; this is a compliment to him. “Not worse. Better.”

He hops on his high horse and gallops around singing “I Did It My Way” as he uses *69 on his transport watch to stroll right into the Fortress of Solitude.

The end. Now, I am so, so proud of Melissa Benoist for her directorial debut. I’ve been following her career for almost a decade, and she continues to surprise and delight me. I wish she had been given a better script; I think she would have been better suited to shoot Alex scenes, or even more Lena scenes, but that’s just me. I’m sure this won’t be the last we see (or don’t see) of her behind the scenes, especially if Hollywood gets back up and running before Melissa has her baby.

But this episode highlighted a lot of why I’m increasingly frustrated with this show. Why is Lex Luthor still here? Why are we now rewriting history to make him MORE involved than he already was? Or even if this had been planned all along…why? Lex Luthor is part of Superman’s story. A story that’s been told a hundred times, and will be told a hundred more. Supergirl’s story isn’t told nearly as often, and this show was doing it brilliantly for so long. Lex belongs in Clark’s story. Lena is Kara’s Luthor. And they were subverting the Super vs Luthor stereotypes, they were bucking against the system of rivalry they were born into. But then Lex had to come in to blot out the sun.

I want to trust that the writers know that Kara and Lena are stronger and smarter than their male counterparts, that they’ll overcome this manipulation and find their way back to each other, better together than they were before. That the show will get back to its feministy, girl powery-roots. But it’s getting harder and harder to pull the sunlight.