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Supergirl Season 5 Finale Immortal Kombat Finishes Loose Ends: Review

Team Supergirl finally takes on Leviathan in an epic, season-ending battle as Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer) schemes and plays both sides. In all, it's about the best version of how we could expect this season to end. With Leviathan having seized the DEO's supply of kryptonite (and destroying the DEO, so good riddance?) the team is on its heels. As Kara (Melissa Benoist) and Lena (Katie McGrath) decide to put their betrayals of the past year behind them in favor of a temporary alliance, they forge a new plan. Lena can make Supergirl a version of the Destroyer suit in her lab, but since Leviathan can tell whenever Supergirl uses her powers, they will have to create some distractions.

Caught Up In a Sea of Supergirls

In what they even call out is an homage to the opening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, both J'onn (David Harewood — who also directed this episode) and M'Gann (Sharon Leal) disguise themselves as Supergirl and split the team across the city. This allows Lena and Kara to take the bus to Lexcorp incognito? Sure. Seems like they could've at least sprung for an Uber. Regardless, the scenes fighting Leviathan are fun, especially as Alex (Chyler Leigh) debuts some of her new abilities as she becomes more proficient using her Martian weapon.  Dreamer (Nicole Maines) is no slouch, either. But even more importantly, she keeps having visions of Brainy (Jesse Rath) in peril, which breaks her concentration at key moments.

But the key relationship of this show remains the link between Lena and Supergirl. As they work together, they have to confront some of the ugly truths of what has happened in the last year. Kara makes her most impassioned plea for why she feels she is the more aggrieved of the two, and she's not necessarily wrong, but it does maybe press her advantage to the edge. It's really hard to say if these two can ever mend things or go back to the way things were, and it's definitely going to take more than this single confrontation for the two of them to make up. If next season revolves around them trying to repair this trust, it will be a good starting place.

Whither Lex Luthor?

And what would unite them? Why, Lena's brother– the true villain, always– Lex. Jon Cryer has simply never been better. These last three episodes have been an acting tour de force as Cryer finds every nook and cranny in this dialogue and injects it with layers of emotion. I'm going to have to update my rankings of Lex Luthors after this.

In typical Lex fashion, he continues playing all sides, not letting anyone in on all of his plans, with contingencies upon contingencies. One of the best line-reads is when he considers/justifies to Querl Dox his plan to kill all of his friends by pointing out that they're heroes, and therefore would likely love to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. He's just so deliciously evil, while, of course, thinking he's the good guy. He, therefore, underestimates just how under his thumb Brainy is, which leads the Coluan to make a great physical sacrifice to try to capture Leviathan.

This, of course, foils Lex's plan to have Leviathan destroy half the world's population, including all of the alien superheroes, and then kill Leviathan. Yes, the day is saved, but Lex is able to grab the magic canister that holds the members of Leviathan's energies from an ailing, nearly dead Brainiac-5, and deliver it to his waiting mother. If the entire next season is Lex and Lillian Luthor working against Lena, who is trying to make her way back into Kara's graces, that could have great potential.

Supergirl Ties up Other Loose Ends

There are some other various subplots that also get resolved, some in better ways than others. Eve Tessmacher (Andrea Brooks) is able to take her turn back to the good side, but only after shooting William (Staz Nair). My only real complaint? William should've died. Sorry, Kara-William shippers. I am not one of you. And this would've been a great way to write him off the show. Regardless, it sounds like William will be back, and in truth, I'm fine with that as long as he's not trying to date Kara.

We also get some finality to Andrea Rojas (Angela Gonzalo) and her story as Acrata. After being interrupted from her coup de grace of the Unity Festival with orders from Leviathan to assassinate  Supergirl with a shard of kryptonite, she faces off against her onetime best friend Lena Luthor. It's a nice way to bring this all full circle. The Lena-Andrea relationship feels full of unresolved and unmet potential, and this seemed like an attempt to make it all better. It mostly works.

All in all, it seems like this season's screed against technology never really took off. And Leviathan and Lex Luthor and Andrea Rojas, you just had too many competing black hats, too many schemes. However, Supergirl's words that she spoke to everyone in the Unity Festival to try to get them to wake up and disconnect were good: we can't exist in these virtual worlds away from our pain. Our pain shapes us and defines us. Essentially, telling the world, "Eat your vegetables."

She's not wrong, it's just not a fun message. But in times like these, perhaps it's good to remember that all this pain and inconvenience can potentially add up to something, if we shape it that way. So put down your Animal Crossing every once in a while and write your Senator, or something? Let's hope next season feels a little more focused and sets up new challenges and new heights. As we find out more, we'll be sure to let you know what we hear.

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