TELEVISION EPISODE REVIEW: Supergirl S3 Ep23 (Battles Lost and Won)

The final confrontation with the Worldkiller Reign brings about many shocking surprises for Supergirl.

Supergirl – “Battles Lost and Won”, Season 3, Episode 23
Airdate: June 18, 2018
Writers: Robert L. Rovner and Jessica Queller
Production Company: Berlanti Productions / Warner Bros. Television

What You Should Know:

The dark Kryptonian witches were able to revive the Worldkiller Reign. Entering the Earth’s core, Reign uses the Worldkiller sword to initiate a global terraforming event that will destroy the current Earth and transform it into a new Krypton.

What You’ll Find Out (Spoilers):

Due to Reign triggering the terraforming event, massive earthquakes erupt around the world. Various superheroes take to the streets to help civilians to safety. Television reports share that Superman is in Madagascar helping to save the people there. When a fire erupts in a National City skyscraper, a woman is about to rush into it before James Olsen (dressed as his Guardian persona) stops her from entering certain death. The woman pleads with him that her child is inside and that she must get to him. Seeing that the woman is hysterical, James takes off his mask to show his true face to her. She quiets down as he tells her that he will save him. A few moments after James rushes in, he comes back out carrying the woman’s son. This is the first time that he’s revealed his secret identity to the public.

Supergirl, Mon-El, and Alura are surprised to see that Saturn Girl and Brainiac 5 have returned from the future and are helping to stop some of the cataclysms happening around them. Showing a stunning display of power, Saturn Girl is able to telekinetically hold a huge tidal wave in place. Supergirl and Alura use their super breath to freeze the wave solid before they then destroy the now frozen mound of ice into the sea.

J’onn’s father has him take him to the desert where a large opening has appeared, displaying the molten earth below. M’yrnn plans to use his shapeshifting powers to become one with the earth and stop the planetary changes from happening. The effect should stop Reign and the terraforming from continuing. Unfortunately, it would also mean M’yrnn’s life will end in the process. Before he does this, he shares one last memory he held within him that he was not able to transfer to his son during their prior Reach ritual. It is the moment the very first Martian priestess came into contact with their gods and formed the religion of peace.

The transferred memory brings J’onn to tears. M’yrnn tells J’onn that he will always live on in his memories. He then transforms himself into molten earth and disappears into the ground as J’onn watches in sadness.

Within moments, the earth stops moving and the Kryptonian witches are livid that they now sense that their plans to taking over Earth have now ended.

Before the others can rejoice in their victory, Brainiac 5 pulls Mon-El and Winn aside to have a private discussion with them. Brainiac 5 explains that their going into the past to kill the Worldkiller Pestilence has resulted in millions of lives being saved in the future. He also explains that one of the lives that was saved was his distant relative, the evil supervillain Brainiac. He further explains that Brainiac has released a deadly virus that is meant to kill all Artificial Intelligence beings, like himself, and that if he were to return to the future that he would be killed. Brainiac 5 shares that both Mon-El and Winn are needed in the future to help stop Brainiac and to discover a cure for the virus that he’s created.

Winn is initially shocked that Brainiac 5 has so much faith in his intelligence, but Brainiac 5 pulls out an ancient drawing on parchment, encased in protective plastic. Winn immediately recognizes it as a drawing he made recently. Mon-El sees it and says that Brainiac 5 must’ve taken it from the National Archives. He says he did and that Winn’s drawing helps millions of people in the future, and that it’s that wisdom that’s needed to stop Brainiac.

On the dark Kryptonian plane, Sam’s astral self-wanders the land in search of a well or fountain. She eventually finds it. The basin has clear water on one side, and dark dirty water on the other side. She reaches for the clear water, thinking that it must be the source she needs to strengthen herself and to defeat Reign.

Before she can drink, a woman calls out to her, telling her that she’s drinking from the wrong source. Looking up, Sam sees that it’s her dead human adoptive mother Patricia Arias. At first, Sam thinks that she is merely a magical conjuration of the dark Kryptonian witches, but Patricia convinces Sam that it’s really her. She explains that even in death, her spirit watches over her in love. She sings a song to Sam that she used to sing to her when she was little. Realizing that it is her mother, Sam takes a drink from the dirty water and wakens in her physical body, which is now hovering in the air and filled with Kryptonian might.

Tracking the dark witches back to their lair, Supergirl, Mon-El, Alura, and J’onn begin battling the witches, who’ve just been reunited with Reign. During the brawl, Supergirl is saved from being killed by Reign by the sudden arrival of Sam Arias. Sam uses the Worldkiller sword to stab Reign in the back, as Supergirl then tosses her into a blazing fire. Not yet dead, Reign stands in the fire, screaming in agony. She lashes out with her eye beams, managing to kill Alura and Mon-El in the process.

Reign finally dies, but Supergirl is devastated by the loss she’s left behind. Looking at Mon-El’s dead body, she sees his ring. Taking it off, she reminds herself that he and the other Legion members are time travelers.

Taking his ring, Supergirl flies into space and uses the ring to be able to breathe within the void. Winn manages to find a time ripple for her to use, similar to the process the Legions members have. Supergirl stays in the distortion until she arrives back to the time just before Reign is stabbed by Sam.

Returning to her body, Supergirl stops Sam from stabbing Reign and flips Reign onto her stomach instead. Supergirl then tells the now reliving Mon-El to throw a Kryptonian rock to her. It’s the same rock that revived Reign from death. Its touch is poisonous, but Kara holds onto it and asks Sam to hold it with her as dark plumes erupt from the stone.

Sam holds onto it as well as Supergirl, Sam, and Reign disappear from view.

When they reappear, they are on the dark Kryptonian plane. While Supergirl holds her down, Sam takes some of the clear water and forces Reign to drink from it. Reign screams out and is surrounded by dark Kryptonian demons who drag her off into the darkness ala the movie Ghost. Supergirl and Sam reappear in the real world and tell the others that Reign is finally dead.

Back at the DEO, Mon-El and Saturn Girl have a talk in which Mon-El tells her that he cares for her, but that she loves Supergirl. Saturn Girl says she understands, but that they still make a great team.

Mon-El then goes to Supergirl to tell her that although he loves her, that he and Winn must go back to the future to stop Brainiac from destroying the universe. She’s sad but tells him that she understands. Before he goes, he gives her a Legion ring of her own and tells her to use it if she ever needs him.

Everyone at the DEO sees Winn off and wishes him all the best with his new job in the future as a member of the Legion.

Supergirl then tells her mother Alura that she’s not going back to Argo City with her, that she’s realized that her home is now National City. Alura sends her her best and promises that the three Kryptonian witches will be held accountable for their actions on Argo.

Alex also goes to J’onn telling him that she plans to resign from her post as DEO agent. She explains that she plans to be a mother and wife someday and that the risks involved with being an agent is counterproductive to her goals. J’onn surprises her by saying that she doesn’t need to quit and that she’s been promoted instead. After his experience with his father and knowing the history of his people, he plans to go back into the world and live among the citizens again. He says that with his absence, he needs a reliable person who can take care of the DEO in his place. As DEO Director, Alex will no longer need to be in the field and can direct the DEO’s actions from a safe place. Alex happily accepts.

The scene turns foreboding as we then see Lena Luthor in her lab experimenting on the Kryptonian stone that helped to create the Worldkillers.

We also see on the wintery outskirts of Siberia a lone figure walking toward a military outpost in only a blanket. The figure was created by the same dark plumes coming off of the Kryptonian stone that Supergirl held just before destroying Reign. When the figure gets closer to the military base’s lights, we see that it is an exact duplicate of Supergirl.

What Does This Mean for the Future?

Reign and the other Worldkillers are now dead and the dark Kryptonian witches are on Argo facing their actions by their courts. Though that nightmare is over, so many changes have occurred for Supergirl and her ragtag group of friends. The new season brings about more questions than it does answers.

Rating: 9/10
Final Thought: There were some things I really loved about this episode and some things that I really don’t care for. Let’s start with the good, shall we?

First of all, I loved the ending that shows a duplicate Supergirl appearing with a potential dark side. Fans of the Justice League cartoon that ran on Cartoon Network might be familiar with a storyline there where Supergirl was cloned and the clone, named Galatea, became a major thorn in Supergirl’s side. Galatea was a multiverse version of the DC Comics character Power Girl. If this new dark Supergirl ends up being Galatea or Power Girl, I’m sure fans will be geeking out for some time.

I also loved that neither Mon-El or Alura were killed after all. I really love both characters, and having both of them live shows that, although Supergirl doesn’t have her blood family or her true love with her anymore, they’re still out there and are a short visit away should she need them. No more mopey, sad Supergirl from the beginning of the season.

Having THE Brainiac be a big bad for season 4 sounds fun too. We’ve seen lower copies of him in the female Brainiac from past seasons, but now we get to see the evil version possibly shown in the SyFy cable series Krypton. Having Supergirl battle HIM would be epic.

Now for the part, I didn’t care for: namely, the exit of Winn and the entrance of Brainiac 5. I make no hiding for my dislike of Brainiac 5. He’s silly looking in his normal blue-skinned form to the point that cosplayers pull off a better visage of him than the official television production team does.

The television version, whom I dub Dr. Emmett Brown from Back to the Future

Cosplay version, who shows that a lower budget doesn’t mean lower quality interpretation of a beloved comic book character.

Added to that, Brainiac 5 doesn’t have any likable qualities to his personality. He’s as cold as a robot with the same sense of humor, which is way too on the nose for my tastes. Why not just write in Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation? At least more people like him. Also, as comic book fans or fans of the Justice League cartoon know, Supergirl has had a past with Brainiac 5. Romantically. If this happens next season, that would be horrible and a total slap in the face to the die-hard fan lead up to Supergirl and Mon-El season 2 through 3. Please, people, just don’t do it.

I also really came to love Winn. Taking him out for the fun as a rock Brainiac 5 just seems so wrong.