Review: Supergirl 5×08-“The Wrath of Rama Khan“
[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers]
Director: Marcus Stokes
Writers: Lindsay Sturman & Jessica Kardos
Starring: Melissa Benoist, Chyler Leigh, Katie McGrath, Jesse Rath, Andrea Brooks, Julie Gonzalo & David Harewood
Reviewed by: Sean Blumenshine
Summary
Supergirl’s struggle against Leviathan reaches a boiling point as she faces off against Rama Khan. Meanwhile, as Lena and Hope work to launch Project Non Nocere, Hope proves to be an invaluable asset to Lena.
Positives
Alex is the mvp of the episode because she is the only one with a reasonable point of view about Lena. She points out everything I’ve been saying this whole season. Kara had valid reasons for her secret identity and Lena is a giant hypocrite who is massively overreacting. I wish she had been able to say it to Lena’s face because someone desperately needs to.
I enjoyed the end of Malefic’s story. It feels like a fitting conclusion and is sweet. I also like the Monitor’s explanation of why he released Malefic. I suppose it was the obvious answer but it definitely looks like J’onn might have a bigger part in Crisis than he’s had in previous crossovers. That would be nice.
I like Rama Khan’s plan. A second Pompeii is an intense and fun concept. His motivations are still fairly generic but it was a fun villain plot. Between this and the flood they caused earlier in the season, I love how extravagant Leviathan’s end of the world plots are. For such a secret society, they are the least subtle of any villains that we’ve seen on this show so far.
Negatives
I’ve been trying not talk about Lena is the last couple of reviews because I feel like a broken record but she is so obnoxious in this. Her insistence that she’s the good guy in all of this is comical. She gets legitimately offended when Supergirl assumes that Lena is going to use the mind control technology to mind control the Earth. But that is exactly what Lena plans to do. Not to mention trapping Kara in kryptonite which is torture and replacing Eve’s mind with an A.I. essentially killing her. I understand that the writers are trying to parallel her with Rama Khan and Lex who refers to himself as a hero in dialogue. But because I don’t buy her motivation, it’s hard to do anything except roll my eyes.
Verdict
This episode is fine. It certainly has its moments. Rama Khan’s plan and the fight against him are both over the top in all of the best ways. But the Lena stuff is dragging this entire season down. I was hoping some of it would be resolved because we know Lena is going to be helping the team in the crossover but Team Supergirl is only able to stop the mind control plot. I don’t want to put up with this version of Lena for an entire season. But there’s still enough good stuff that I do think the episode is fun.
