Supergirl’s 15th episode, “Solitude,” is full of Easter Eggs and gifts for comic book fans, but still clings incessantly to the love triangle it created. This deviation from the source material distracts from the most exciting and entertaining portion of the show, those involving Supergirl as a super hero and not Kara as a 20-something who must quench her unrequited love for James Olson.
With Astra dead and Non still in mourning, this week’s special guest villain is Indigo (Laura Vandervoort). Indigo first appeared in 2003’s 3-part limited series Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day written by Judd Winick and illustrated by Ale Garza and Trevor Scott. Indigo traveled from the future badly damaged and seeking someone capable of repairing her. She was attacked by the combined forces of Young Justice and the Titans which caused even more damage. Before she shut down for repairs, she was able to reactivate a dormant Superman robot. Arsenal later reactivated her to stop the Superman robot. When Arsenal reorganized the Outsiders, he added Indigo as part of the team. It was revealed in Teen Titans Volume 3, #24 that Indigo is actually Brainiac 8, whose memory had been badly damaged. Indigo was actually a subprogram, designed by Brainiac 6 in order to get her close to the superheroes.
This version of Indigo appears as a strange and mysterious cyber woman that hacks into CatCo and the traffic lights of National City when Cat Grant ignores a thumb drive that is delivered to her that contains a list of names of people who used a website to cheat on their mates, including no one other than Siobhan’s father! Even though Cat Grant uses and stomps on people for her own personal gain, she considers tabloid-esque reporting beneath her.
The rest of the episode is spent showcasing Winn as he joins forces with the DEO to stop Indigo, who can teleport from computer to computer, even climbing out of the computer in 3D form. Supergirl’s version of Indigo is a generic looking, less impressive Mystique. While Winn tries to foil Indigo as a computer program, Supergirl has to battle a missile Indigo has launched towards National City. The tension between Hank and Kara is still thick as she still believes he killed Astra. Kara has yet to return to the DEO even though she still must rely on Hank to help her disarm the missile. Even though Kara’s super powers are integral to protecting National City, this episode reminds us and Kara that she is not a one-woman-army and relies on the help and knowledge of others in order to keep the city safe.
Although there is plenty of action in this episode, there is also a large amount of drama! In a bizarre twist, Siobhan and Winn are caught making out in a storage closet by Kara who cannot help but use her X-Ray vision to peer into the closet! Winn pulled the oldest trick in the book, the ol’ “my dad is a super villain and killed a bunch of people” trick when Siobhan needed comforting after discovering her father was listed on the cheater’s website.
James leads Kara to Superman’s Fortress of Solitude where she could learn more about Indigo. Superman just happens to leave the key laying around because only those with superhuman strength can lift it. While in the Fortress of Solitude, the computer, Kelex, informs Kara that Indigo was yet another prisoner at Fort Rozz albeit it’s deadliest. Right before Winn’s virus destroys Indigo, she reveals that she is linked to Kara in yet another way. Indigo was aboard the computer system of the pod and helped guide it out of the Phantom Zone to Earth. By the end of the episode, however, it seems that we have not heard the last of Indigo when we see Non with some sort of spinning ball placed upon a computer that begins piecing together a new version of Indigo.
Kara finally decides to give James permission to out her as Supergirl to Lucy. Kara knows that she relies on the help, friendship, and support of Winn, James, Alex, and Hank to be able to fight evil doers. For James and Lucy to be able to support each other in a similar way, they need to remove the barriers between them. Kara decides to give her friend a real chance at love. Before James can tell Lucy, she breaks up with him as she finally realizes that he and Kara are in love with each other, even though they may not be able to face it yet. Which means, for us the poor viewers, this lackluster, non-chemistry fueled mismatch with continue to be drawn out.
Even though James misses out on his big reveal, Alex finally tells Kara the truth. After several botched attempts at trying to build up the courage to tell Kara that Hank did not kill Astra, Alex tells Kara that it was actually her. It seemed to be hard for her, but Kara eventually and reluctantly hugged Alex and reached out to Hank. As hard as she had been on Hank, Kara seemed to be pretty easy on Alex. True, she is her sister and they have a strong relationship and connection, if Kara left the DEO because she thought Hank killed Astra, I expected some type of struggle that was maybe at least one episode long.
Overall, Supergirl reminds me a lot of The Secret World of Alex Mack (1994), but despite the advances in technology, with less impressive special effects. It is a guilty pleasure that I still enjoy, though, mainly for comic book references and villains hidden in each episode.