The second to last episode of Supergirl season 2 brought the spectacle that it should while also flawlessly set up next week’s finale. I think this awesome episode doesn’t need a lot of introduction, so here is Supergirl season 2 episode 21 recap.
Warning, spoilers ahead!
Baddie of the week
This week’s Supergirl episode was truly focused on Rhea and her Daxamite invasion. At the end of episode 20, we saw Rhea beam herself, Mon-El and Lena up to her space ship, while hundreds of Daxamite ships invaded National City. And Supergirl season 2 episode 21 was the direct aftermath of that.
The episode started with everyone fighting Daxamites. We saw bad-ass shotgun moves from Maggie and a leap of faith from Alex. But the real epicenter of the invasion was Rhea’s ship, where Mon-El was trying to reason with his mother. Only to be shot down by Rhea’s announcement that he is to marry Lena, to unite Earth and Daxam. On course, neither Mon-El nor Lena took this announcement lying down. But after some good old threats from Rhea, the agreed to tie the knot.
However, as Rhea was about to proclaim Mon-El and Lena husband and wife, she was interrupted by none other than Cat Grant. The queen of all media was working with Supergirl and the DEO and broadcasted a speech to all National City’s citizens in order to distract Rhea so Supergirl and Alex could enact their part of the plan and stop Rhea once and for all. But, in order for this plan to be possible in the first place, Supergirl had to team up with some very unlikely allies. Who? Well, Lilian Luthor, of course. Talk about a surprise.
Unlikely allies
At first, Lilian surprised our team by crashing their meeting in the alien dive bar and offering her help in defeating Rhea but was turned away. And for good reason, because the history between the two parties isn’t all that rosy. Yet, once it was clear that there is no way to get Mon-El and Lena back but to go after them in person, Supergirl sought out Lilian’s help. So they formed a plan.
Lilian and Cyborg Superman will get them onto Rhea’s super ship so they could rescue Lena and Mon-El. Meanwhile, Alex and Maggie will infiltrate DEO, which got overrun by Daxmites, to regain control of the only weapon that could destroy Rhea’s ship. Then once Supergirl is safe on Earth with Lena and Mon-El, Alex is going to blow up Rhea’s spaceship. And all was going according to the plan until it wasn’t.
Lilian did help Supergirl and they managed to meet up with Mon-El and Lena on Rhea’s ship. But once Lena was safe Lilian being Lilian double crossed Kara by beaming only Lena, herself and Cyborg Superman back to Earth, leaving Kara and Mon-El on Rhea’s ship to die. Luckily, our team foresaw it, which is why Winn bugged Cyborg Superman, so they could take control of him and teleport Kara and Mon-El back to Earth as well. However, Kara decided to stay back to try and talk Rhea into surrendering.
But that didn’t go so well for Kara, as Rhea brought out Superman, whom she was somehow controlling. On top of that, back on Earth the canon that Alex was about to use to blow up Rhea’s ship got destroyed. So it seems that now it is up to Supergirl to beat her cousin and Rhea or Earth will become the new Daxam.
Cat’s back
Like I mentioned before, Supergirl season 2 episode 21 also brought a familiar face back to National City. That’s right, Cat Grant was back and better than ever, talking back to Rhea like nobody’s business.
I really missed Cat Grant as a character on the show because Kara’s new boss Snapper Carr doesn’t measure up. So it was great to have Cat back. And it was also great to see her have such a pivotal role in this episode. Because, Cat not only helped to distract Rhea so Kara could save Mon-El and Lena, but she also helped Supergirl realize, that she needs to go after her boyfriend and best friend in the first place.
And from the looks of Supergirl season 2 finale promos, it looks like in the next episode we will also be getting Cat and Kara one-on-one since this episode Cat was talking to Supergirl, which is a completely different dynamic. And I am so looking forward to that!
The president twist
A minor plot line of Supergirl season 2 episode 21, that, nevertheless had weaved through most of this season is that of President Olivia Marsdin and whether she is or isn’t an alien.
When we first met Madam President, she seemed like a regular human. But then we saw her glowing red eyes, which made me think that she might be an alien. And after that, there were multiple occasions that had us wondering, if she, in fact, is an alien. But now we finally know. Madam President indeed is an alien, Durlan to be exact, however, a good alien for a change. One who wants to be a great Earth leader while also protect all aliens who has taken refuge on Earth.
I really liked, that they decided to resolve this ongoing story like in this episode and explain why and how it is possible that the president is an alien. It closed this story as well as left room to explore this interesting situation in more detail on the third season of the show.
Last thoughts on Supergirl season 2 episode 21
It was very interesting to see our characters handling Rhea’s invasion without J’onn. Since J’onn was still hurt from what Rhea did to him, Alex, Kara, Winn and the rest of the team had to go without J’onn’s wise leadership. And, even though they did do pretty good job, I still hope that next episode J’onn will wake up to help our heroes save the Earth from Rhea.
And finally, I just wanted to mention Lena’s sass game on this episode. Usually, Lena is more reserved, but on this episode, she didn’t hide her displeasure to the fact that Rhea was forcing her to marry Mon-El. On top of that, we also got that moment where she helped Mon-El beat the guard, making her more bad-ass than ever. And making me glad that next season we will be seeing more of Lena Luthor.
Episode highlights:
• Lena opposing to Rhea
• Maggie’s shot-gun moves
• Alex trusting Kara enough to know that her sister will catch her mid-air
• Mon-El trying to reason with his mother
• the alien dive bar being our team’s headquarters
• Lilian Luthor offering her help
• Cat Grant’s return scene
• learning that Madam President is an alien and how she came to Earth
• Lena and Mon-El refusing to marry each other
• Supergirl and Cat’s conversation
• Kara teaming up with Cadmus
• Cat’s reaction to seeing what James has done with her office
• Alex and Maggie being a bad-ass team
• Cat interrupting Mon-El and Lena’s wedding ceremony just in time with a great speech
• Mon-El and Lena working together to beat up the guard
• the moment Kara and Mon-El sees each other again
• Guardian saving Cat and Winn
• Cat knowing that James is Guardian
• Kara staying back to try and get Rhea to surrender gracefully
• Superman being back
Episode low points:
• Rhea making Lena and Mon-El marry each other by threatening to blow up hospitals
• Lilian double-crossing Kara
• the positron cannon getting destroyed
• Rhea somehow controlling Superman
Quote of the episode:
Guardian: “You’re safe now, Miss Grant.”
Cat Grant: “Thanks, James!”
Guardian: “I’m Guardian.”
Cat Grant: “Oh, honey, I can see your eyes right through the slit.”