SUPERGIRL Season 4 Episode 3 Review: Man of Steel


Picking up right behind the previous episode, Supergirl is falling after being hit with a blast of Kryptonite. Hank saves her right before she hits the ground and brings her back to the DEO. Since the Kryptonite has infected the atmosphere, Alex tries to use sun lamps and a anti-Kryptonite kind of shield that Winn created for Supergirl. She’s not out of danger yet. 

While Alex struggles to save her sister, we get a look into the man behind Agent Liberty. We see two years ago, Ben Lockwood with his wife and kid and his father. His father is obviously anti-alien way before it became prominent but Ben doesn’t seem to as against them. 

He even gets between a fight between his father’s steel workers and a couple of aliens working for a rival company that produced nth metal. The alien accidentally stabs him with one of his spikes on his body which incites more anger and brings the DEO and Supergirl to calm it down. After being taken care of by Alex, Ben goes to visit Lena to ask for his job to keep working with L-Corp but she is unhelpful as she is using Nth metal to his father refuses to adapt. Strike one. 

Ben seems to be getting more against aliens as time goes on and his lecture wavers on anger towards the “progress” that has happened. This is especially true when the Daxamites invade and they try to think of a plan to avoid them. Ben’s father wants to fight while Ben wants to leave. They get out of the house right as Han fighting a Daxamite crashes through their home and it gets set on fire. It’s a bit traumatizing for sure. Strike two. 

This sets Ben off and his lectures in his university class turn more and more xenophobic to the point where the Dean makes him take a leave of absence. Strike three. Instead of taking responsibility for his own actions, Ben, believing it was a student who he insulted in class, he follows her there where he confronts her but Kara steps in and makes him leave. Ben has definitely slipped past reasonably upset. 

During another alien fight, Ben’s father is caught under a beam in his own steel factory. He refuses to be saved by Ben and wants to instead die. At his funeral, Lena comes by to offer her condolences and to set up a foundation in his name but Ben refuses. That night he and old steel workers of his family set fire to the Nth metal factory and brutally kill alien who works there. Months of spreading his anti-alien propaganda and attacking alien immigrants leads him to be approached by Mercy and Otis Graves who give him his body armor and set up the plan to expose the President as an alien. The original of Agent Liberty is complete with the addition of a steel mask he gets from his father’s factory. 

Alex, Hank and Brainy are still working hard to keep Kara alive after the radiation blast. However, they are running out of options and time. They are left with no choice but to call Lena who is their saving grace. She brings a type of shield that will protect Supergirl until they can get the Kryptonite out of the atmosphere. 

Mercy is fully prepared to kill Jensen now that he’s helped them but Ben stops her so they can use him to get back into the DEO. You’d think Ben would realize that Mercy and Otis want to kill anyone and not just aliens but he’s blinded by his own hatred. 

It is clear to see how Ben got to be as angry at aliens as he was but instead of trying to improve his situation, he just stewed in it. Instead of encouraging his dad to improve his factory, he let it go. Instead of preaching acceptance, he preached hatred in class clearly full of alien students. 

With Kryptonite in the atmosphere and Supergirl being the only one to have a funky cool protective suit, it’s safe to say Superman won’t be coming around to help out anytime soon. It’s a wonder if the Kryptonite affected her Russian clone in any way? 

By the looks of the next episode, Supergirl won't be down for long and will use the new armor to her advantage.

Written by Carly B., SUPERGIRL Beat Writer


Related Posts:
SUPERGIRL Season 4 Episode 2 Review: Fallout

SUEPRGIRL Season 4 Episode 1 Review: American Alien

Comments