Livewire seems to have escaped prison and now Supergirl with the help of Mon-El and the continued unwanted help of The Guardian are set to short circuit her destructive ways. But not is what it seems in “We Can Be Heroes”. Warning, spoilers ahead…
Let me say that as much as I like James Olsen the character, the Guardian otherwise I could do without. I understand being inspired by being around Superman in Metropolis and now Supergirl in National City, but his vigilante character slows everything down and is just not compelling enough to embrace. Kara finally finds out who the Guardian is and things did not go so well between Kara and James. She wants him to stop and he told her he won’t. When she stated that she would stop him, James said she could try. By the end, Kara was still not too supportive of both James and Winn but the subject for the time being was dropped. We’ll have to still where this leads. Personally, I would like to see a showdown between the two.
Then there is the villain Livewire. Meh. This is the characters third appearance and even though she better than her previous appearances, she wasn’t the true villain of the episode. Not sure if that’s good thing or a bad thing for the character. In the episode, Livewire was a pawn for an array of super-soldiers who needed her unlimited power source to feed their own power. Nice was for the most part a nice change of pace and the action certainly didn’t disappoint. But overall, much like the Guardian is a less than compelling hero, Livewire is a less than compelling villain.
The two most interesting aspects of Monday’s episode is the continuing relationship between Kara and Mon-El & J’onn and M’gann. The Kara/Mon-El dynamic is very interesting and in this episode, it got tested. It is quite clear that Mon-El has feelings for Kara and I believe vice-versa. But as much as he desires to be a superhero like her, his focus is more as her protector than someone willing to go out of his way to save others which is a huge problem for Kara. There is a sense of irony here. Whereas James and the Guardian is all about saving others and is willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good, he isn’t taken seriously by Kara because he’s human. With Mon-El being superhuman, she’s just disappointed by his motivations.
Finally, there’s J’onn and M’gann and the potential for a much bigger and more satisfying story arc in development. finding out that M’gann is a White Martian and a natural enemy of J’onn, it was powerful to see that hatred was set aside when M’gann’s life was in jeopardy. J’onn saved her and empathy for the pain she was going through herself. And now with the thought of other White Martian’s coming for her, this joining of two enemies could lead to some of the best storylines seen not only on Supergirl but the Arrow-verse as a whole.
May the Dork be with you,
JPB
The Dork Knight
