Supergirl’s eighth episode (“Crisis on Earth-X, Part 1”) was wonderful. I love how the show brought all the characters together in a way that felt organic. I mean, we had Oliver snarking, “If you were here, you might have a little more respect for ninjas.” Alex and Kara booze-bonding over breakups. And Mick gruffly being Mick in the best way possible.
Of course, there were also Nazis. Which, to quote every hero on the show, “Nazis? Man, I hate Nazis.” So say we all, my (super) friends. See, here’s the thing about Supergirl: the show doesn’t pull any thematic punches. It tackles social issues head-on, without a heavy masquerade. Given the social climate of NOPE that has emerged from the shadowy cesspools of this past year, it almost isn’t surprising to find an earth in which the Nazis won, all the heroes appear to be dead or evil, and the music from The Omen is blasting non-stop. While not even close to subtle (Nazis busting in and causing havoc during even the simplest of good times, aka a wedding), this wedding ceremony disruption was a good reminder of some things. One: Nazis are bad. (What? It appears that some folks did not get the memo. Call Indy, please, too.) Two: heroes don’t try and reason with Nazis. No one tried to talk Evil Supergirl down. Sara Lance grabbed a thurible and started swinging. Why? They’re genocidal monsters. You wouldn’t take Jeffrey Dahmer to a cooking class, right? Right.
On a less scum-off-the-earth note, this episode has as many cringeworthy moments (Felicity shouting about how she doesn’t want to marry Oliver) as it did sweet ones (Kara singing the song Barry sang when he proposed to Iris). There were also a lot of great one-liners (“I think it’s time you introduced these guys to your mean roommate.”) and humor (Harry and Cisco bantering like an old married couple? THE BEST.). I find myself a little annoyed with the Stein/Jackson storyline. I am having a hard time believing that Stein would be so utterly oblivious about Jackson’s despair. I mean, they’re supposed to be linked, and yet. Yes, he went so far as to try and fix it, making a spider serum that would make him…sticky. But in the superhero spectrum, that’s basically Zan turning into a bucket of water. While I know this will be dealt with later, I desperately wanted these two to have an actual conversation with each other.
Speaking of conversations, Barry and Kara catching up was sweet and lovely. Alex and Sara drinking too much and then ending up in bed together (“Kara, it’s horrible. It’s terrible. It’s such a guy thing to do.”) was a lovely twist. I mean, Alex deserves some fun and so does Sara. Side-note: I loved that Kara talked Alex out of feeling any shame. Instead, she was delightfully supportive of her sister, and that’s where the show always shines. More of that, forever and always, please.
Obviously, the Nazi-laden adventure continues during the two-night event (y’all watched Arrow, right?). And I, for one, am excited to see them all get glitterbombed and then punched in the face. Make it so! If it isn’t painfully clear, I’m on team Not Nazis. I think I’m in pretty damn fine company.
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