Supergirl The Martian Chronicles review S2, Ep. 11
‘It’s so exhausting pretending to care about your silly little feelings.’ The Martian Chronicles was an odd episode in that it delivered some pretty solid action, but it overcompensated on the emotional drama.
Of all the superhero TV shows, Supergirl is probably the most in touch with its feelings. Occasionally that means going too heavy on the melodrama, which to an extent took away from an exciting premise.
The White Martians are coming! M’gann and J’onn were on high alert even before her mate, Armek (Terrell Tilford), arrives. The WMs are not happy that M’gann has gone team green and Armek wants first crack at bringing her in. M’gann’s got some explaining to do to the White Martian council.
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This led to a fun who’s the White Martian inside the DEO sequence. Suspicions ran high and in a nice twist, two White Martians infiltrated the DEO in search of M’gann. Initially it seemed like we weren’t actually going to get martian vs martian battle royals on screen — half the fight saw the martians battling in their human forms. Eventually, the show did pay off that big bash.
Supergirl’s fight scenes suffered as she appeared stuck in a harness, which gave her motions a stiff sense of movement. But while the budget forced some restraint the martian battles largely looked solid.
I hated that after the big martian conflict, M’gann decided to go on a suicide mission trying to convert fellow White Martians on Mars. That was the weakest possible way to write Sharon Leal off the show. Have M’gann take a road trip to find herself or something, but that made no sense.
Kara, meanwhile, battled her ‘it’s complicated’ feelings for Mon-El and Alex and Maggie’s relationship. The writers didn’t do Kara a lot of favors here, making her look more jealous than feeling abandoned. Especially since she made such a fuss to push James and Winn away for wanting to be heroes.
Thankfully, Mon-El didn’t wait around and immediately picked up Eve Tessmacher (Andrea Brooks) on the rebound. It’s clear where this all is headed with Mon-El and Kara, but it’s not compelling at this point. Mon-El hasn’t been fully fleshed out enough as a character to sell Kara being interested.
The Martian Chronicles was somewhat worrisome as the emotional drama overshadowed a more interesting story. Delving into the characters’ emotional state is hardly a bad idea, but striking a better balance is essential for Supergirl.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Photo Credit: The CW