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Jeremiah Danvers is back on Supergirl in this week’s “Homecoming.” The episode had some good family bonding, tense conflict, and action. However, amid the chaos of Jeremiah’s return and immediate betrayal, Alex and Kara’s opposing ideas about Jeremiah’s connections to Cadmus didn’t get enough attention and shortchanged some of the emotion that came along with the whole ordeal.
The last time we saw Jeremiah, he was helping Kara and Mon-El escape from Cadmus. He hasn’t been heard of or really mentioned since. “Homecoming” begins immediately with Kara and J’onn stopping a group of Cadmus vehicles after an alert goes off at the DEO. The rest of the Cadmus employees get away and Jeremiah is found locked up inside a truck. He’s rescued and immediately taken back to the DEO. Everyone is happy to have him back after fourteen years of being a Cadmus hostage, but Mon-El is suspicious of his sudden return just as it’s reported that there is a nuclear fusion weapon that has been created from Kara’s heat vision.
Once again, Kara and Mon-El spend most of the episode in disagreement. Although Mon-El’s suspicions turned out to be true, the fact that he distinctly chose to disrupt a family reunion (and earlier went against Kara’s wishes to keep their relationship on the down low) with said suspicions was not the best decision. Kara ends up believing that there’s something going on with Jeremiah and this causes conflict between her and Alex. To be honest, the episode would have resonated better and felt more emotionally grounded had it focused more on the Danver sisters from the start. By putting Mon-El in the middle of the entire situation, it slightly thwarted Alex and Kara’s emotional journeys and depth.
Jeremiah’s happy reunion didn’t last for very long and, maybe it’s because he was gone for too long without mention, that his return didn’t come with as much of an emotional high despite the nice scenes it garnered. I did appreciate the conversation he had with Eliza though. She tells him that she’s happy to have him back, but that things aren’t what they used to be; they no longer know each other after so many years apart. It felt so honest and real. Jeremiah has been gone for too long, and as this episode so clearly illustrates, he isn’t the same person anymore and his relationships with those he loves most have changed and so have they.
While we’re on the topic of change, Mon-El got a bit of advice regarding his relationship with Kara from Winn.
“Kara’s a badass. She doesn’t need a protector or someone to show her off. She does that all by herself,” says Winn.
As a friend who cares about Kara, Winn seems to know and understand her far more than Mon-El, whose response to this statement is, “Then what’s left for me?” This is telling because, even though he seems to have taken the advice to just listen to what Kara needs by episode’s end, he was still only thinking of himself throughout the entire situation. I didn’t appreciate that a lot of the focus was spent more on Mon-El’s suspicions and unhappiness with the situation instead of on Kara and Alex’s feelings. We got to see some of it, like the scene between Alex and Maggie at the end, which was simply heartbreaking and very beautifully done. Alex is one of the best characters on the show and we know how she feels about her father, so Supergirl could have had her interact with him more throughout the episode.
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Ultimately, Jeremiah’s betrayal is a turning point in the show’s second season and also turns its attention back to Cadmus and their plans–Jeremiah stole the national alien registry and passed it over, which doesn’t bode well. The reunion didn’t hit all of the emotional beats it could have and Kara and Alex were a little sidelined in their conflict. The situation could have resonated more emotionally had the conflict started off between the sisters instead of having the suspicions raised elsewhere; the final impact of the betrayal would have been more rewarding that way. However, regardless of the criticisms, “Homecoming” was at least superior to last week’s episode. I liked that the plot was central to Kara and Alex and moved the plot and characters forward.
Rating: 7/10
Supergirl airs Mondays at 8/7c on The CW.
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