Episodes 20 Review
"Superman, Kara, Lois, and Jimmy team up to fight Brainiac; Superman has to choose between saving Earth and saving the people he loves; it's truth, justice, and a better way clashing with the might of Krypton." The tenth and final episode of season two "My Adventures With Supergirl" is a satisfying conclusion to the story that began in season one and drives home the themes of what makes a family, fate vs. choice, loneliness and fear, love conquers all, and the important connections people have with each other mixed in with lasers, explosions, robots, and super anime punches but still leaves a few questions and resolutions open-ended and sets the board for season three.
To no one's surprise, Earth is saved, Lois decides to stay in Metropolis and decline Vicki's offer, and the trio of best friends is now a quartet. It was a relief this episode wasn't just about punching robots real hard and the power of love. This show still had one big revelation left to drop on us. Krypton was not destroyed by the forces of another planet the Empire could not defeat. It was their own A.I. system Brainiac that destroyed the planet. All out of fear, selfishness, and self-preservation. He did not want to exist in an era of peace because he, a war machine, would become useless and cast aside. Just to stop himself from being hypothetically trashed, he committed genocide. Then heaped mental and verbal abuse on Kara for two decades while periodically erasing her memory and using temporary brainwashing to make her destroy more worlds. And near defeat with no chance of victory or survival, opts to kill Superman and Kara, too. Loses. Then tries to kill Kara again. Suffice to say, this Brainiac was the worst. Probably the most vile depiction of the villain in animation yet. Good riddance. Knock wood.
It was a great full circle moment, to see over the past episodes, for a lot of characters whose lives were touched by Superman, Lois, and Jimmy to come back and help them. Brain and Mallah with the heist and space rescue. Livewire and Heatwave for the heist. Perry, Steve, and Vicki with breaking Jimmy, Lois, and Kara out of military custody. This episode with Livewire and Heatwave again, John Henry Irons from earlier this season, General Sam Lane, and the return of Rough House, Silver Banshee, and Mist who haven't been seen since the penultimate episode last season. Sure, you could argue they were just fodder in the typical anime showdown to clear the way for the stars to fight the big bad but the spirit of why they helped - they're not just run of the mill criminals or self-serving individuals but they care about the planet they live on, too. Metropolis looks out for its own, too. It's not just Superman saving the day.
While the threat of Brainiac is 99.9% over, other aspects of the season, for better or worse, get breezed over as the episode and season winds up. What were Jimmy and Kara helping The Brain and Mallah with? Rebuilding the damage to the Cadmus building (the synopsis for Issue #5 of the tie-in comic that was released the week of this episode might have given that reason why away - oops)? Why is Slade Wilson now with Lex Luthor and Lexcorp? Why is Waller MIA? Why is there a Thanagarian in the voice actor credits? While it made sense the fight focused on Superman and Kara vs. Brainiac, it is at the cost of anything substantial for Waller and Sam other than them saving each other's bacon once each and giving each other a nod. But implicitly it's a lesson for Waller about how she should have trusted Sam all along instead of throwing in with others of a dubious nature. We don't get to see her fate or what Checkmate's next move will be. One unfortunate omission from the epilogue is a scene of reconciliation between Lois and Sam. All we get is that Sam showed up to the Kent's party in Smallville. Shrug. And that one thing. Kara, why didn't you just chuck Brainiac's CPU into the Sun. And when she passed out, why Clark, did you not chuck it into the Sun instead of taking it back to Earth?! So there is a slight chance now for Brainiac to return in a future season. Only thing missing from that last shot of it was a Freddy Krueger laugh.
Looking ahead to season three. The status of Task Force X and the Human Defense Corps are left vague in the season finale. As I touched on last week, we'll likely see both being reformed and/or merged to focus on general alien threats and perhaps Sam Lane will be reinstalled as the leader or we could get a new leader and new addition to the recurring cast like Sarge Steel or the animated debut of Team Seven who are the new baddies in the canon tie-in comic. The defeat of Brainiac could serve as the galactic equivalent of the shot heard around the world and draw even more alien threats to Earth to test the planet's mettle, to try to conquer it, or to try and kill those Kryptonians who stopped Brainiac. This could be a great way to bring in more name characters from the DC mythos like Mongul, Despero, Khunds, Psions, Gordanians, Starro, Maxima, Lobo to name a few. Just not Darkseid. Give stoneface a rest. Or there's still the issue of the rest of the universe not knowing Kara was under Brainiac's sway when she destroyed civilizations. We know one Green Lantern fell to them. Could we see the full force of the Green Lantern Corps show up on Earth to arrest Kara for multiple counts of genocide?
Stay tuned to Toonami because next week on the night of the 27th and 28th at midnight, the whole block will be a marathon of season two. Also on the 27th, the show will have a panel at San Diego Comic Con where they discuss season two and tease season three. Then the canon tie-in comic that takes place between season one and season two continues with four issues left coming out usually the first week from August to November. Knock wood sales are great and more canon mini-series get greenlit. Feels like there's still some odds and ends that Josie Campbell, Brendan Clogher, and Jake Wyatt could fill and address that they didn't have the time and real estate to during both seasons. Like they could do a whole mini-seroes of season two from Sam Lane's point of view and explore what he was up to when he left Lois's apartment up to his return in the season finale. Or what a missed opportunity they didn't do an actual weekly Flamebird podcast yet. Something like that would be easy on the budget especially if they keep it just audio and keep the show in the public consciousness during the long wait between seasons versus doing something like a direct-to-video movie. Not that I would decline that either. And here's hoping this show gets a Blu-ray release eventually rather than just DVD. Yeah, they still make DVDs. As for when season three comes out, who knows. Late 2025 at the earliest. 2026 probably since these shows take a good two years to make start to finish. Please Warner. More canon tie-in content from the creators.
DCAU Resource's rating: 9.8/10