SUPERGIRL Season 5 Episode 13 Review: It's a Super Life


The Supergirl 100th episode was filled with nostalgia and callbacks as many previous cast members came back to celebrate a special What a Wonderful Lifesque episode where Kara wonders what would happen if she told Lena she was Supergirl. 

The episode starts where we left off; with Mr. Mxyzptlk at Kara and Alex’s doorstep. He claims that after she vanished him to Fifth Dimension, he can only use his magic to help people that he’s wronged and he wants to help her change the past and tell Lena the truth before Lex does. Rightfully skeptical, Kara sends him back to the Fifth Dimension. 

Kara talks this out with Alex and J’onn who are unsure of Mxy’s true reasonings but Kara wants to attempt to fix her friendship with Lena. Mxy comes back and sends the other two away. He brings up her past in a theatrical setting so she can see it play out and decide what moment she wants to tell Lena. Many people would kill for that. 

Mxy stops at right before Mercy attacks Lena and Kara as they’re having lunch. Kara is transported back to that day and when she tells Lena, she disappears. This creates a domino effect of Lena going to see Sam in Metropolis and Supergirl dying after the Kryptonite hits town and Lena isn’t able to get there to save her. So that’s maybe not the best time to change history. 

Kara realizes she has to go further back. Lena brought up to Sam how she felt like the villain because Supergirl was angry about how she made Kryptonite and that if she got upset about that then Kara must think she’s a villain too. Cry me a river. This, however, gives Kara the idea to go further back to before the fight about Lena creating Kryptonite. When she tells Lena the truth, Lena is still upset and tells her that she can’t be trusted. Kara forgets that this is when the world-killers attack and since Lena isn’t there to help, Mon-El stays behind. They protect Sam’s mom and Mon-El tells Kara that Lena will get over her anger when she realizes that what Kara did was to protect her. Lena does eventually show up to help them defeat Reign but it ends with Sam, Lena, and Mon-El all dying. 

Kara is shaken up by this and decides the best way to save her friendship is to go back to the very beginning. She tells Lena before they’re really good friends and they become partners. Together, they take down many villains and are popular in the press. However, in this timeline, the Cult of Rao is very prominent and Ben Lockwood’s family dies because they jumped off a roof believing Supergirl would save them. He kidnaps Lena after she refuses to tell him Supergirl’s real identity. This is exactly what Kara wanted to prevent in the first place. After Ben threatens to kill them if Supergirl doesn’t realize her identity, Kara tells the world who she is on camera and saves Lena. However, this ends up making things worse being Agents of Liberty go after everyone in her life. 

Kara realizes that no timeline where she tells Lena is going to have a great outcome. She wants to see a timeline where she and Lena are never friends. Mxy takes her there but when she sees the wreckage of her loft, they try to leave but are unable to. They escape one of the Luthor robots with help from Dreamer. 

Dreamer takes them to J’onn where Winn, Mon-El, Kelly, and Alex are. They explain that Lex tried to kill Lena soon after she arrived in national city. She survived but was injured and she disappeared. When she came back, she killed Lex and in the process destroyed half the city. She now rules as a tyrant with Reign and Brainy (controlled by her) as her minions. So she went extremely dark without Kara. I think that says a lot. Apparently the only way they can use Fifth Dimension energy is by getting to a hat that Lena confiscated from a man that took it from Mxyzptlk. 

Right as they form a plan, Lena sends Reign and Brainy to take Mxy. Mon-El and Winn go with Mxyzptlk to get the hat while the others hold them back. Supergirl goes to Catco to try and talk to Lena but Lena only blames her for not saving her from Lex’s assassination attempt and from her mother experimenting on her broken body. Lena has some type of Kryptonite implanted in her chest and tries to kill Supergirl. Luckily, Kara is pulled out of there by Mxy at the right time. 

Kara realizes that no matter what she does to change the past, there will always be a domino effect and she needs to move on. Her final act is to see Lena who she tells that she won’t be responsible for her choices that Lena makes and especially when it comes to Lex. Kara makes it clear that she’ll stop Lena just like any other villain. 

It’s good to finally put Kara’s guilt, that she’s been wrestling with for most of the season, to rest. Lena has always had an issue with being seen as the villain because of her name and she has chosen to blame that on Kara. It’s pretty clear throughout the many timelines that Lena is using Kara as an excuse for being seen like a villain when she continues to act like one. It’s childish and it’s finally time that Kara realizes it’s not up to her to fix Lena’s insecurities, especially when she’s chosen to work with the ultimate villain. 

Kara, now free to move on, should be concerned with Lex more than Leviathan. It’s true that Lex is threatened by Leviathan as well but his concerns have always been to hold the most power and Leviathan is a threat to that power now and when he’s handled them, Supergirl and her friends will be next.

Written by Carly B., SUPERGIRL Beat Writer

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