Supergirl: Triggers review S3 E2
While not as strong as the season premiere, Triggers was another solid episode for Supergirl’s season. It’s becoming clear that the series was being weighed down juggling too many relationships. With those streamlined, the season is already a big improvement over the first two. Let’s see if that trend continues.
Triggers saw Supergirl face off with Psi, a villain with an uninspiring alias, but an intriguing power. Psi could make her victims see/relive their greatest fear. In Kara’s case it was the destruction of Krypton, which triggers an outbreak of claustrophobia. That’s a great weakness for Kara and while it’s borrowed from Storm, it makes sense for her. Hopefully the writers make that a semi-regular problem and not a one-off nuisance. In fairness, the episode made Krypton’s destruction look more like an amusement park ride than a truly traumatic incident. I’m still struggling to buy Erica Durance as her mother though.
I hate when Kara and Barry get into secret keeping mode. It always plays out like an artificial way to extend the problem. Would Alex worrying about Kara really be such a terrible thing? At least this allowed the episode to feature its biggest strength — multiple scenes with Melissa Benoist and Chyler Leigh.
While Psi made for a good villain thanks to Yael Grobglas’ frosty portrayal, the writers didn’t do Supergirl many favors. After the first encounter, which triggered her fears, it didn’t make a lot of sense for Supergirl to have extended chatting sessions with Psi. The final confrontation was illogical too. Psi kept her robberies fairly low key yet this time she wanted to create a massive scene. Benoist was great in this scene as she revealed Kara’s real fear was Mon-El getting killed in the escape pod. Supergirl wrapped Psi up with a headbutt that would make Kevin Owens proud.
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The other big subplot continued the seemingly random focus on Samantha and her daughter, Ruby. The writers are really hoping viewers will get invested in a new character with little connection to the main cast. Making her the new head of L-Corp doesn’t feel as significant since Lena isn’t spending much time there now. Ruby is dumb as needed by being smart enough to not buy the adrenaline rush line, but stupid enough to think if mom has super powers she won’t have to work.
Lena breaks the news to James she’ll be working at CatCo full-time. Hopefully one less set means we’ll get a few more scenes of Martian Manhunter this year. James was understandably upset about being kept out of the loop while Lena has all the time in the world for Kara. After one brush off too many, Lena chews out Kara for being a lousy employee. It’s true since Kara typically treats any assignment at work like an inconvenience and a side hobby at best.
Honestly, Kara’s reporter gig at CatCo has never made much sense. Thanks to STAR, she doesn’t need to be plugged into crime outbreaks like Clark Kent and The Flash. And Kara being a freelancer would put less restraints on something she doesn’t make time for anyway.
Alex and Maggie were relatively low-key this week besides the goofy scene of them arguing about having a band or DJ. Based on their conversation about kids, they’ve got way more important matters. And J’onn has some of his own with M’gann asking him to come to Mars.
[irp]
Triggers had some head-scratching moments, but it was nice to see Supergirl tangle with a formidable opponent. And less focus on relationships. That’s proving to be the blueprint for success this season so hopefully it remains the case.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Photo Credit: The CW