The third Worldkiller makes herself known as she infects Supergirl’s friends with a deadly virus.
Supergirl – “Of Two Minds”, Season 3, Episode 16
Airdate: April 30, 2018
Writers: Gabriel Llanas and Anna Musky-Goldwyn
Production Company: Berlanti Productions / Warner Bros. Television
What You Should Know:
Lena Luthor has discovered that Samantha Arias is really the Worldkiller villain Reign. She’s devoted all of her time and resources to try to separate the alien parasite from Sam, but at the expense of keeping her actions and motives secret from those she loves. Keeping Sam in an isolated medical bay, Lena runs various tests on Sam in a race to save her before Reign and her Worldkiller sisters can take any more lives.
Mon-El also informs Supergirl that he just learned that he was tricked into arriving back to her time by Saturn Girl and Brainiac 5. The two Legion members, knowing that the Supergirl era Worldkillers will eventually transform into Blight beings in their future, planned to go into the past to kill the Worldkillers before they could kill millions of lives.
What You’ll Find Out (Spoilers):
The DEO team discover many pigeons falling to the ground throughout the city, dead. After various tests, they determine that they died from a powerful virus. Further research shows that the virus isn’t contagious, but rather directly infected by an individual. Supergirl deduces that the person infecting them is the third unknown Worldkiller, Pestilence. Seeing the majority of the DEO staff pow-wowing, a stranger walks up to the group and joins in. His appearance surprises everyone, but he explains that he is really Brainiac 5 in disguise. He explains that after going out into the city and seeing normal human’s reactions to his appearance, he thought it best to begin using an image inducer to hide his appearance to look more human. Supergirl and team are then surprised when Winn walks in and immediately recognizes “Brainy”, and surmises that he’s probably using an image inducer.
Mon-El and Saturn Girl then tell the DEO members that in their time, the arrival of Blight initially brought sickness, then the destruction of lower animal species, then mass planet-wide death. An alarm then goes off, informing the DEO team that there is a mass virus breakout at a corporate building in the city. Medical assistance has been issued for quarantine and patient examination.
When they arrive, they notice that each victim has a scratch on their hands. They deduce that the scratches are what infected them and that they must isolate who’s been in contact with the patients. A lead off-site doctor begins questioning the DEO agents on what they know. They inform her that the virus isn’t contagious and that they are working on a remedy for the virus. The doctor leaves to call off the quarantine, while J’onn and Supergirl say they are grateful that the situation is contained and that there is no unnecessary additional panic. Just then, Supergirl hears a commotion outside of the building. Going to investigate, she’s shocked to see that Saturn Girl has created a telekinetic force shield around the building, which stops anyone from going in or out of the building. The TK wall causes cars to be wrecked and people to be injured. Supergirl tells her to take down the wall, but Saturn Girl refuses telling Supergirl that it’s important for them to capture Pestilence. Supergirl says that they will, but only if they work together. After telling her that more medics need to see the infected patients, Saturn Girl finally takes down her force field.
At the L-Corp building, Lena Luthor continues to run tests on Sam. She tells Sam that when Reign takes over her body, that her genetic make-up changes. She deduces that if she’s able to examine what is biologically causing the initial change, that she may be able to stop the change from happening altogether. Unfortunately, the only way to examine the chemical change is to have Sam repeatedly change back and forth to Reign. In order to do this, Sam must endure painful electric shocks. Instead of changing into Reign, however, Sam experiences visits to an alternate plane of existence. While there, she sees Reign and begins a conversation with her. Reign tries to convince Sam to give in to her dark desires. When she sees that Sam is too strong to give in, Reign instead threatens to kill her daughter Ruby.
Back at the DEO, Supergirl confides in her sister Alex that Saturn Girl isn’t listening to her. She feels frustrated that Saturn Girl may be willing to take a life, which is something Supergirl will never do. Alex encourages her to keep up the good fight and that eventually, she will get through to Saturn Girl. When they see Winn, he tells them that he’s deduced that the only person not dead whose been in contact with every victim is the lead doctor. Just then they notice that Winn’s nose is bleeding, a sign of the earlier virus. Winn then begins to feel weak and collapses.
Elsewhere, Mon-El and Saturn Girl are talking about the Worldkillers. Mon-El says that Saturn Girl is taking the task too personally. Saturn Girl objects, saying that she is there to save millions of lives. Mon-El then reminds her that Supergirl is trying to save lives too, but that she doesn’t kill.
In the DEO sickbay, Supergirl and team are initially hopeful that their virus remedy may work. Things turn sour though when Winn takes a turn for the worse and Alex becomes sick as well.
Brainiac 5 deduces that in order for their remedy to take effect, they must first get a genetic sample from Pestilence. Now worried for her sister, Supergirl becomes panicked and desperate to find the doctor responsible. The DEO systems manage to track her presence to an insurance company in the city. Supergirl and Mon-El arrive just in time to stop Pestilence from killing the board members. When Supergirl tries to rationalize with the human side of Pestilence, she laughs. She willingly reverts to her human self and explains that she is happy that Pestilence is a part of her. Relishing in her newfound power, the doctor allows Pestilence to take over again and begins attacking Supergirl and Mon-El. A savage battle occurs where both sides seem evenly matched. Pestilence gains the upper hand though, revealing that she’s now infected Supergirl with the virus.
Suddenly Saturn Girl appears and captures Pestilence in a telekinetic force field, which she is unable to escape from.
Saturn Girl takes advantage of the opportunity and stabs Pestilence with a syringe filled with a deadly substance. Pestilence falls to the ground weak. Supergirl is devastated at the possibility that Saturn Girl fulfilled her goal of killing the super-being. Suddenly, Pestilence looks up and announces, “She’s coming.” The Worldkiller, Purity, then crashes into the room.
Purity uses her sonic cry to knock everyone down. This causes Saturn Girl to lose her concentration, thus releasing Pestilence from her force bubble. Purity’s presence strengthens Pestilence, causing the effects of Saturn Girl’s poison to dissipate. Before the others can attack, Purity takes Pestilence by the shoulders and flies her out of the building. Defeated, Supergirl says that their escape means the death of Alex and Winn. Saturn Girl then picks up the syringe she used on Pestilence and sees that her blood is still on it. She then tells the others that there is enough genetic material on the syringe to create an antidote for the others.
Back at the DEO, Alex comes to after being given the antidote. Seeing Supergirl on the infirmary bed next to her, she asks if she is okay. Supergirl says yes, and that Winn is even back at work trying to find the Worldkillers. Supergirl then goes to Saturn Girl to discuss what happened. Saturn Girl admits to her that in the future, the Blight ends up killing her sister. She admits that part of her need to destroy the Worldkillers is to have her sister back again. Supergirl says she understands, but that they can not put who they are aside for revenge.
Winn gets a break and is able to track Purity and Pestilence. They are on a trajectory headed directly for L-Corp. Arriving just before them, Supergirl, Mon-El, Saturn Girl and J’onn are shocked to discover that Lena has Sam connected to wires in an infirmary bed of her own. Lena tells them that she’s sorry, but that she wasn’t ready to tell them the truth. When Supergirl asks, “What truth”, Sam smiles and says that they’re here. Suddenly, Purity and Pestilence enter and begin attacking Supergirl and her team. They then reach out to Sam, who takes their hand and becomes Reign. The three of them rise into the air and somehow are able to invisibly hold back the others. They fly away, leaving Supergirl and her friends dazed.
What Does This Mean for the Future?
The three Worldkillers are now united, and their powers are greatly augmented by that union. Supergirl and her team now may not be powerful enough to stop them. It just may take ingenuity and not brute strength to finally rid the world of the Worldkillers and their evil AI system fortress. Otherwise, the future is doomed to witness the evolution of the Worldkillers becoming the dreaded Blight.
Rating: 8/10
Final Thought: There were a few inconsistencies with the initial appearance of Pestilence that I can’t quite figure out. First of all, when she first appeared, Pestilence was shown to be able to jump really high, but not able to fly without the later assistance of fellow Worldkiller Purity. She also infects creatures with her poison via scratches from her nails. That said, it doesn’t explain how she was able to infect every single flying pigeon in the city at the beginning of the episode. Was she jumping up to skyscraper heights to scratch each pigeon she saw? Seems a bit implausible. Also, the building full of people that became infected with Pestilence’s virus was a business building. The doctor that was eventually revealed to be Pestilence only saw the people in that building AFTER they became infected and medical aid was requested to deal with the outbreak. It was never explained how she got to every single person in the building before the outbreak took place. A bit of a ball drop me thinks.
That said, it was really cool being able to see the three Worldkillers united. Alone, they all seem kind of hokey. Their dialogue at times borderlined on bad comic book villain clique monologue. Seeing them together though, it gave them each a unified presence of evil.
The chemistry between Mon-El and Saturn Girl is also beginning to become rocky. Every scene with Mon-El shows him warming up to Supergirl again, and him becoming more and more distant to his wife. With the revelation of hers and Brainiac 5’s betrayal, there is a stepping stone for the rift to happen. It seems as if that rift is something Mon-El is using to reconnect with Supergirl, and to possibly say goodbye to the years he spent in the future.
With seven episodes left this season, the battle with the Worldkillers may become dragged out, but I’m really looking forward to the personal interaction Supergirl has with Mon-El and to see what decisions he makes regarding his future with the Legion.
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