Supergirl Review: “Wake Up”

Mon-El returns, but nothing will be the same for Supergirl.

Supergirl – “Wake Up”, Season 3, Episode 7
Airdate: November 20, 2017
Writers: Gabriel Llanas and Anna Musky-Goldwyn
Production Company: Berlanti Productions / Warner Bros. Television

What You Should Know:

Due to a Daxamite alien invasion, Supergirl was forced to release a high level of iron into the Earth’s atmosphere 7 months ago. While the iron was shown to be safe for humans, it proved lethal to Daxamite DNA. Now seeing Earth as tainted, the Daxamites fled the planet looking for new worlds to conquer. Unfortunately for Supergirl’s boyfriend Mon-El, who is also a Daxamite, this meant that he too would have to leave Earth as well. Before he goes, Supergirl gives him a necklace and asks him to never forget her. Completely heartbroken, Supergirl has struggled with her feelings of loneliness over losing her first love, and guilt for being the cause of him never being able to return to her.

Discovering his father is still alive on Mars after hundreds of years, J’onn J’onzz the Martian Manhunter, brings the only other known Green Martian to Earth to begin a new life.

What You’ll Find Out:

An underwater city maintenance crew checks the earth below National City for seismic damage, but discover an alien ship lodged in the bedrock beneath the city instead. Winn at the DEO scans the ship and is surprised to learn that the ship is 12,000 years old. Supergirl, Winn and J’onn board the spacecraft. Inside there are several life pods containing humanoid beings inside. When they are attacked by a stranger on-board, they discover that it is Mon-El and that he’s barely alive. Taking him back to the DEO, they are confused as to why Mon-El is now immune to the city’s lead filled atmosphere. When he comes to, he speaks in a strange tongue. When they ask him what language he is speaking, he says Saturnian. He explains that he was in hyper-sleep for a very long time and that the other persons in the pods aboard the ship are “like him”. Mon-El passes out again, showing that he is not yet at full strength despite the DEO’s best efforts. Watching over him, Supergirl confides to James that something is different. She feels that Mon-El is more distant than before. James tells her to give him time, and that he’ll eventually come around.

When no one is looking, Mon-El sneaks out of his hospital bed and makes his way over the DEO artifact room. After bypassing several objects, he finds a circular coil on the wall and attempts to remove it. Two DEO agents come in an attempt to stop him, but he easily knocks them unconscious. Going back for the coil, he is finally stopped by Supergirl who punches him hard, across the face. When Mon-El comes to, he is in a DEO meta-human containment cell. Supergirl explains to him how hard it was for her to lose him and that the past 7 months have been torture for her. She asks for Mon-El to explain what is happening so that she can understand. He refuses and remains silent.

Later when Winn tries to attempt to question Mon-El, he uses guilt as a tool, telling Mon-El that his actions are hurting Supergirl. His plan works as he’s finally able to get through to him. Mon-El says that things are different now, but that he needs to get out of the cell and back onto the alien ship before people get hurt, including Supergirl. Against his better judgment, Winn helps him escape. Supergirl finds them both on the alien ship. Mon-El uses the coil to activate the ship again. He explains that if he doesn’t get the ship to remain active that the persons in the pods could die. He also explains that though only 7 months passed for Supergirl since he left Earth, that he traveled through a wormhole in space that sent him into the Earth’s future. He was in that future for 7 years. Before he can explain more, the ship’s lights begin to flicker and one of the pods becomes critical. Mon-El explains that if he doesn’t get her out of the broken pod that the woman inside could die. Supergirl breaks the pod open and a beautiful unconscious young woman is revealed.

Back at the DEO, Mon-El explains that the woman’s name is Imra Ardeen and that she’s from the Saturn moon called Titan. Mon-El apologizes to Supergirl for his actions, telling her that he never thought he’d see her again. He shows her that he still wears the necklace she gave him and that he never forgot about her and what they had together. The woman from the pod then interrupts their conversation, and Supergirl is shocked to see Mon-El happily go to her and kiss her. Looking at Supergirl, Mon-El reveals that Imra is his wife.

J’onn has a hard time connecting emotionally with his father, M’yrnn J’onzz. Alex and Winn notice that M’yrnn has been cooped up too long at the DEO and that J’onn should spend some time with him outside of the DEO walls. When J’onn does this, he is very distant to M’yrnn. When the extent of their conversation is coffee and chess, M’yrnn tells his son that he’s overly involved with is work. He tells him that this “social assignment” is now complete and that J’onn can now continue with what he really cares about: his work. Hurt, J’onn arranges for M’yrnn to see an empty apartment. J’onn tells his father that he was right and that when he thought he lost his family he used work to fill an emotional void. J’onn tells him that now that he has his father back that he plans to make him a part of his life again. He asks his father if he’d like to share the apartment with him. This makes M’yrnn very happy and he says yes.

Placing her hand into boiling water only to find that she is unhurt, Sam begins to reconsider if she is indeed a meta-human. She visits her adoptive mother and after an awkward hello manages to ask her to tell her the truth about her past. Her mother, Patricia, tells her that she didn’t want to kick her out of the house once she became pregnant with Ruby, but that if she was adult enough to have a child that she was adult enough to take care of it on her own. When Sam tells Patricia about her meta-human experiences, Patricia shows her a Kryptonian space pod hidden in a backyard shed. Patricia explains that she didn’t just adopt her, but that she found her in the ship when she was just a baby. When Sam touches the ship, it becomes active and a Kryptonian data crystal ejects from it. Taking the crystal, Sam uses it to lead her to a location in the middle of the desert. In the desert, the crystal begins to shape the dry earth into a desert version of the Fortress of Solitude. Inside, she activates the data crystal and it tells her that she a Kryptonian world killer whose powers were delayed from manifesting due to her becoming a mother to Ruby. The crystal figure then fully activates Sam’s powers, calling her Reign. The effect causes Sam to have lit red eyes and speak in Kryptonian for the first time.

What Does This Mean for the Future?

The CW has hinted at possibly bringing the Legion of Superheroes, a team of good meta-humans from the future, into the present DC Comics TV universe. With this episode, it is proving more and more likely as not only is Mon-El a character from that mythos, but so is the newly arrived Imra Ardeen aka Saturn Girl. The pods aboard the alien ship may have more members of that team waiting to appear in future episodes.

Now a global threat, Sam will most likely try to fulfill her Kryptonian programming as Reign in destroying the Earth. As an enhanced Kryptonian, Sam probably will be more powerful than Supergirl, but having her daughter Ruby as leverage just might be the linchpin in stopping Reign from fully committing to her dark side.

Rating: 7/10

Final Thought: Fans of Mon-El will most definitely love that he’s returned to the series. It is a bit messed up having him now married to Saturn Girl. This makes for great TV drama, but poor Kara. She just can’t get a break. I also don’t really get why Mon-El had to keep silent at the DEO and try to steal items like some kind of weirdo. He’s worked with these people for a year and fought at their side. Telling Supergirl and the others what happened and what he needs seems like a simple thing to do instead of what he ended up doing. Even if he didn’t want to tell Supergirl about Imra, explaining everything else just seems obvious. That part of the episode just didn’t make any sense.

There’s a consensus from online site murmurings from fans that they not happy that the Supergirl production team has hired a brunette Bollywood actress (Amy Jackson) to play Saturn Girl. This is because the comic book version of the character they grew up with is a blonde haired, blue-eyed girl.

Similar murmurings were made about Gal Gadot being cast as Wonder Woman. People weren’t too happy with her height, build, dark eyes and Israeli background. Fortunately, the actress’ talent and charisma were able to win over audiences, so I’m hoping the same will happen with Ms. Jackson as Saturn Girl. Yeah, it’s fun to see the characters you grew up reading translated to the big and small screens exactly as you imagine them, but if the actor has the chops to make the character great despite not matching physical appearance, I’m willing to let them have it.

Sam as Reign looks interesting. I’m still not a fan of her whiny daughter Ruby, but this new Kryptonian villain storyline looks promising. Seeing a desert version Fortress of Solitude was pretty sweet to see form too.