This was somehow worse than Flash's premiere this season. Even in Supergirl's best season, my thoughts on the episodes overall vary wildly! If there's one thing we can all agree on with this episode though, it's that Lex deserved better than this!
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Jon Cryer as Lex, but even in this show he's never been so overconfident before. He doesn't act like this! Lex, especially this version of Lex is a methodical planner that's prone to violent outbursts. Even in "The Quest For Peace", which was a terrible episode, Lex still acted like he was supposed to be acting. Now though, it's almost like he's a completely different character, and it all appeared to happen off screen. This is Lex Luthor! How do you manage to screw things up this bad!
And then there's this ancient Martian ritual that will allow J'onn and M'gann to connect their minds to technology and destroy them simultaneously, which is stupid. Although, there's a conversation between J'onn and Alex that's very interesting. J'onn is afraid of doing the ritual because M'gann will see all of his darkest secrets. Not only is this not mentioned again for the rest of the episode, but it was actually J'onn suggesting that him and M'gann share the same type of bond in season 2. Why does he suddenly not want them to share that kind of bond? Who knows? It's never explained! All we know for sure is that he suddenly doesn't want to anymore, and that it happened off screen.
Then there's the stuff with Lena, whose character was butchered beyond belief last season, and I genuinely don't think she's worth saving anymore because of it. Kara's really letting Lena back into her life after she...
1. Made and Used Kryptonite on her (which I guess only works when it's convenient for the writers now, since Kara's been shown to be immune to the effects of Kryptonite in season 4's "Red Dawn")
2. Sold the company Kara works for for less than she bought it for out of nothing but spite (as confirmed by the season 5 premiere)
3. Burned and manipulated her in such a way that makes Kara want to completely start fresh, as talking about their past is just too painful (as shown in the season 5 finale, but I guess they got on good terms again off screen)
4. Murdered her own brother (it doesn't matter that her brother is Lex Luthor, as murder is still murder)
and 5. Attempted to mind control everyone on earth (albeit for non-nefarious purposes, but mind control is still mind control)
The writers really tried to make Lena the new Slade, but we all knew Slade was an irredeemable villain. The writers are trying to bend over backwards to redeem Lena, but I'm just not buying into it. Lena's like Phin in Spider-Man Miles Morales. Hundreds of thousands of counts of attempted murder is still attempted murder, even if it means defaming the guy that killed your brother. Lena, like Phin, is irredeemable. I'm sorry, writers. I just can't forgive her, especially since she uses Myriad AGAIN at the end of the episode. Was it for a good cause in protecting Kara and the team's identities? Yes. Is it still mind control? Also yes.
Okay, my rant about Lena is over. Let's talk about something I liked about the episode. Kara being sent to the Phantom Zone. Now, I have no doubt this won't last more than an episode, but the moment in itself was nice! I, for one, am hyped to see where the writers take this. I've never seen the Phantom Zone explored before, so there's a lot of different ways they could take this, and it could be really great!
There's also the stuff with Nia and Brainy, but I couldn't really care less about all that. Nia's character was butchered beyond all recognition last season, and Brainy really needs to get a new plotline anyway. In season 4, I was really excited for these two to get together, but at this point I'm so over their "will they, won't they".
That's really all I have to say about this episode. Between Lena being treated like she did nothing wrong, J'onn not acting like himself, and the writers hamming up Lex beyond belief, I think this episode could've used some MASSIVE improvements. Take a page out of Superman and Lois's book and make sure your characters are acting like themselves before going into the more fantastical plot elements. This one definitely could've used a bit more time in the oven.
3 / 10.