Posted in: DC Universe, TV | Tagged: carl lumbly, cw, david harewood, entertainment, HRL, J'onn J'onzz, supergirl, television

Supergirl Season 3, Episode 3 Recap: Far From The Tree

This article contains spoilers for the Supergirl Season 3 episode 'Far From the Tree'.

The latest episode of Supergirl was really good. It pushed aside a lot of the side stories like Reign, Lena Luthor, Guardian, Winn, and Lyra (she's still around, right?), Morgan Edge — all to focus on two stories. J'onn J'onzz returns to Mars and the bridal show for Alex and Maggie.

Focusing first on the Martian chronicles, J'onn received a message from M'gann at the end of the previous episode telling him to come to Mars. He tells Kara and Alex, who insist that Kara go with him. They take his ship, that transformers into an awesome classic convertible, and discover that there is one Green Martian still alive who knows where a powerful artifact is — but the Green Martian is M'yrnn J'onzz, J'onn's father. He refuses to accept that J'onn is actually his son, believing him to be a White Martian trick.

M'gann's rebels are about to forcible try and get the information from M'yrnn when J'onn and Kara take him away to where J'onn used to live with his family. Kara convinces M'yrnn to at least open his mind a little and J'onn shows him his favorite memory, which convinces M'yrnn of who he is. Together with the rebels, they go and get the scepter, fighting off some bad White Martians. It's decided that the scepter is too powerful to be on Mars. So J'onn, Kara and M'yrnn head back to Earth, where J'onn now has a new roommate.

As for the other story with a lot fewer apostrophes in the names, we learn why Maggie is estranged from her family, but the bridal shower gives her an excuse to try and reach out. Her father, a former Sheriff named Oscar Rodas, had reacted to learning that a 14-year-old Maggie liked girls by driving her to an aunt's house and leaving her there. They hadn't talked since.

He comes out for the party and seems to be trying. He's been following Maggie's career as a cop. But while at the party, he see Maggie and Alex kiss and he storms out. Maggie gives chase and they have a discussion where he explains that all his life he had been an outcast because of his race and he didn't want his child to have to suffer that. He tells her she can live how she wants, but don't try and make him sit by and watch.

Later, as he's about to leave, Maggie gets her say. She tells him that she is happy, surrounded by people who love and respect her for who she is and that she no longer needs his approval or anything else from him. It's not a happy ending, but it is one of closure and a chance for Maggie to move forward in her life.

The episode was really strong. casting Carl Lumbly as M'yrnn was brilliant and he works so well with David Harewood. There is some great story potential with having him as part of the show now. I thought the Martian lore was well done, and I have a feeling that scepter may come back in the future. Emotionally, the Maggie story was extremely well written. Carlos Bernard did a really good job making us want her father to come around. And the fact he didn't made it even more compelling. Happy endings are rare in the real world as are people who change their beliefs after so many years.

After the season premiere, I noted that the issue of children wasn't a throwaway line. We see that here as Maggie makes it clear that she doesn't want any. Alex goes along, but you see that this is going to come up again. They will need to address that Floriana Lima is basically leaving the series; is this the groundwork being laid here?

We see in the trailer that next week is about a cult of people who worship Supergirl with Chad Lowe as their leader. This also may tie into the Reign storyline, as it could push Samantha closer to uncovering her true nature. We see her being handed literature with a Kryptonian symbol on it and the line about Ruby, her daughter, being special.

https://youtu.be/yL1Wnyw8t4g

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