Exodus (''Supergirl'')

"Exodus" is the fifteenth episode of the second season from The CW television series Supergirl, which aired on March 6, 2017.

Plot

In the wake of Jeremiah's betrayal of the DEO by aligning himself with Cadmus, there has been a series of disappearances of aliens. When the latest involving a family is reported, Winn believes Jeremiah is giving Lillian the tools to evade detection, leading J'onn to declare Jeremiah an enemy combatant. Kara takes action to alert National City about Cadmus by writing a story, only to have Snapper nix the idea because of a lack of sources, leading Kara to suggest that Snapper talk to Supergirl personally. Later on at the bar Alex is still upset over her father's betrayal and questions why he did it even with Maggie believing that she'll be there for him. As Winn and Lyra share a romantic moment, it is interrupted by Cadmus minions raiding the bar to take all the aliens, and succeeded with Lyra being among the captured. Although they're too late to stop them, Guardian does manage to capture one of the minions. Back at the DEO, the attack has made Winn furious as he now sees Jeremiah as an enemy, but Mon-El stops him from being enraged, although for Alex she has already reached that boiling point by interrogating the prisoner in a violent manner, prompting J'onn to intervene, and now is becoming worried about Alex's mental state.

As Supergirl shows up to see Snapper for the interview, Snapper demands that she reveal sources, but when Supergirl refuses to give information about the DEO, Snapper ends the interview. At Alex's apartment, Alex gets a surprise visit from Jeremiah, who came to warn her that Cadmus has plans for the aliens and suggests that she use force field disruptors from the DEO, but when she agrees to trust him, it was all a setup, as Jeremiah was actually J'onn, who decides that she is not ready and suspends her. At the same time over at Cadmus, Jeremiah informs Lillian that the spacecraft was ready. Hours later, Kara sees Alex, who asks her to help get reinstated back, but Kara has sided with J'onn on this one for fears that Alex might compromise the mission. After Kara leaves, Maggie arrives to see Alex, who convinces Maggie to help her. They get a break when they come across a Cadmus vehicle and ambush the crew, but Alex tells Maggie that she'll track down Cadmus personally after she commandeers the vehicle. During lunchtime, Kara and Lena have a conversation. When Kara tells her about Snapper, Lena suggests that she write a blog about the alien crisis in National City, while Kara asks Lena to help track down Lillian or the missing aliens. Using the L-Corp mainframe, Lena comes across a former naval facility that somehow is still active, unaware that Lillian has a mole working alongside Lena as her secretary.

When Alex finds the facility, she ends up getting captured. She then confronts Jeremiah, who told her about the spacecraft and Lillian's plans to send the aliens away from Earth, adding that Lillian would kill Kara and Alex if he doesn't cooperate. Meanwhile, with encouragement from Mon-El, Kara starts to blog about the alien crisis, but just as Lena calls her that she pinpointed the location, the Cadmus minions arrive to shut her up, and she accidentally falls off the building, but Supergirl arrives just in time to save Lena and fights them off. The blog also tips Lillian off to her whereabouts, forcing her to move up the ship's departure. Alex threatens Lillian by revealing that she has planted explosives around the facility and will detonate them if Lillian does not stop the ship from launching, but Lillian says she can't do anything to stop it from outside the spaceship. Alex then sets off all of her planted explosives, uses the ensuing chaos as a distraction, and boards the craft to stop it. But as she attempts to get the aliens off the doors close, prepared for liftoff, leaving Alex to try to control the craft, as Kara arrives to stop the out of control spaceship with Winn's guidance, and succeeds. At the same time, Hank faces off against Jeremiah, and defeats him using his laser vision.

Later on at the bar, Winn and Lyra share their romantic moments, while Alex receives an apology from J'onn and is reinstated back into the DEO. Unfortunately for Kara, her decision to run the blog doesn't sit well with a rather regretful Snapper, and she is fired from CatCo. Mon-El stops by her apartment to give her encouragement. Despite losing a job that she loved, Kara tells Mon-El that dating him and being Supergirl is enough for her. Meanwhile, a mysterious ship has arrived and a couple in the vessel sees the planet Earth, making clear they were looking for Mon-El.

Reception

This episode received positive reviews. Cliff Wheatley of IGN gave the episode a 9.2/10, stating "Supergirl is in a really strong place lately. This episode thrived as it dealt with both the fallout of Jeremiah Danvers' betrayal and the alien immigration conflict that's been at the heart of Season 2. Chyler Leigh in particular was at the top of her game this week, resulting in several sequences that rank among the series' best when it comes to emotional impact."^[1]

Caroline Siede of The A.V. Club gave the episode an A, especially when it came to tackling the subject of immigration and the media, but the hour's best performance came Chyler Leigh in this outing: "One of the best things about Supergirl’s second season is that the writers have finally realized what a gift they have in Chyler Leigh. Though Alex has always been one of the most important women in Kara’s life, she shared that role with Cat Grant back in season one. But Cat’s departure has left more room for Alex storylines this season (at least when Mon-El isn’t stealing the spotlight), and Leigh has elevated just about all of the dramatic material the writers have thrown at her, from her coming out arc at the beginning of the season to her confrontation with her father in the woods last week. “Exodus” is basically a spy thriller starring Alex Danvers and her sidekick Supergirl, and it serves as the perfect culmination of Leigh’s work this season. And her excellent performance, coupled with some politically relevant subject matter, elevates “Exodus” into one of the best episodes of the season, if not the series as a whole."^[2]

References