This week on Supergirl, Kara rushes to defend her friend Lena, who is accused of a crime and who everyone believes is guilty.
Recently season two of Supergirl has talked about what it means to be a hero, who decides who is a hero and why someone wants to be a hero. This episode hints at those themes, while also touching on the themes for villains with the Luthor family.
“Luthors” begins by introducing the audience to the villainous Luthor family in a flashback. Lionel Luthor introduces Lena to her new brother Lex and her new mother Lillian in their home. Lillian is cold and not happy about Lena’s arrival.
At the alien bar, Kara and Mon-El chat awkwardly about his dating life with Eve for a minute before going their separate ways. J’onn, Winn, and James are also at the bar and they ask Kara about Alex’s new boyfriend. The younger men are surprised when they find out Alex is dating Maggie, but supportive. J’onn can read minds, so he knew about the relationship. The others go play pool while Kara and James talk about Lena. News on the television is providing updates on the Lillian Luthor trial and the lawyers are trying to paint Lena in a negative light.
Wanting to see how she is doing, Kara heads to Lena’s office with donuts to share. Lena expresses the disappointment she feels about her mother and says she asked her to come visit her in jail. Kara encourages her to visit her mom despite their issues and Lena listens. At the jail, Lillian berates her daughter when she visits, then tells her she wants to be better. Lillian tells Lena that Lionel had an affair and that she is the result of that affair. Her mother died when she was young so they adopted her and Lillian claims Lionel did not like her around Lena. Lena is surprised to find out she is a Luthor by blood and agrees to give Lillian a second chance.
A man named Corben gets a glowing green package in jail. His villain name is Metallo and he received his powers from Lillian and Project Cadmus. In court at Lillian’s trial, he testifies and spouts anti-alen rhetoric on the stand. He is violent in his speech and then attacks the court using the kryptonite. Lillian is freed and Kara turns into Supergirl and fights him. She is forced between letting Lillian go and saving a group of people.
At the DEO, Kara wonders where Corben got the kryptonite and they discover Lena was the only visitor to the jail the night before. Going to Lena’s office, Kara lets her know what they have found out, but Maggie arrives to question Lena about some footage that seems to show her with kryptonite. Kara tells Maggie to let Lena explain, but Lena is handcuffed and taken away.
CatCo is busy when Kara arrives and she finds out it is because of Lena's arrest. Kara tells her boss Snapper Carr she will prove Lena's innocence. James disagrees and tells Kara he will prove Lena is guilty. Eve and Kara run into each other and talk about Mon-El. Eve says they are not together and Mon-El talked about Kara throughout their date.
Meanwhile, Corben shows up at the jail where Lena is being held and attacks the guards, then Guardian arrives. Guardian loses the fight and Corben takes Lena away.
Back at the DEO, Alex fixes James’s wounds. James and Kara fight over Lena again, and J’onn takes James side, believing Lena is guilty. Kara asks Winn to help her clear Lena’s name and tells them all she believes in Lena. James reminds her Superman and Lex used to be friends. Mon-El finds Kara destroying the training room on her frustration. She apologizes to Mon-El for being cold and trips up on her words when she talks about his dating life. She makes an excuse and leaves when Mon-El asks why she cares.
On route to a Lex Luthor compound, Lillian tells Lena it does not matter if she is innocent because no one will believe her. Lillian tries to make Lena believe she has no choice but to join her, offering to love her as a mother should. When they arrive, Lillian tries to make Lena open a vault that needs Luthor DNA to open. She says no but her hand is forced.
Using DEO resources, Winn hacks and proves the video evidence is edited and Lena is innocent of stealing the kryptonite. An alert tells the team where they can find kryptonite and discover what Corben has must be synthetic and unstable. Desperate to save her friend, Kara leaves even though she does not have any anti-kryptonite armor and she could die.
Keeping her updated, Alex and Winn tell Kara the kryptonite is going to explode soon. Supergirl arrives and is taken down by some kind of weapon. Lena struggles and is knocked out while trying to get them to leave Supergirl alone. The team tells Kara to leave because the kryptonite is going to explode, but Lena is still knocked out and she is still fighting Corben. After a few moments, J’onn arrives to help and it gives Kara the chance to get Lena. The three get out of the base just in time.
After arriving at CatCo, Snapper Carr asks Kara to write an exclusive on Lena. Then James apologizes for judging Lena, Kara accepts and the two seem to be back on track to being close friends again. Lena and Kara chat about her article and giggle about Lena sending her a ton of flowers to say thanks. She thanks Kara for standing up for her and says she is her hero. When Kara leaves, we see Lena playing chess. In a flashback, we see her playing chess with Lex.
The episode ends at Kara’s apartment, with Kara admitting to Mon-El that she has feelings for him. They lean in to kiss, but are interrupted by a weird alien named Mr. Mxyzptlk.
This was a good episode in terms of relationships for many of the characters, and in terms of giving us more background on the Luthor family. I appreciated that we got some solid moments for three popular Supergirl ships, karamel (Kara and Mon-El), sanvers (Alex and Maggie) and supercorp (Kara and Lena).
I found all the karamel moments in this episode and the last episode, awkward and not very believable even though the actors normally have good chemistry. Hopefully that changes over the next couple of episodes. The sanvers scene was short, but a nice coming out moment for Alex. There were great moments in the episode for supercorp fans, especially Kara believing in Lena no matter what anyone said. We have seen Lena dispel the idea that just because she is a Luthor does not mean she is evil, but now she knows she is a Luthor by blood as well. I worry about where the writers are going with Lena because of the final shot of her and the chess board and hope they are not predictable and make Lena a villain. Overall this is one of my favorite episodes so far this season.
Next week’s episode of Supergirl,“Mr. & Mrs. Mxyzptlk” airs Monday at 8 p.m. on The CW.