Fort Rozz just managed to set a very clear throughline for Supergirl‘s third season: the fight for Samantha Arias’ soul.
This season has done a stellar job of introducing the Worldkiller known as Reign, but it’s also done an even better job of making us love her human counterpart Sam. Of course major props go to Odette Annable who is so severely lovable in the role, but Fort Rozz finally confirmed what we’d all been thinking: her body has basically been hijacked by this otherworldly entity and she has no idea what happens to her during these blackouts. The moment in which Sam confides this to Alex is extremely heartbreaking, and it singlehandedly managed to make me completely invested in her plight for the rest of the season. I’m seriously hoping Sam can be saved, but you never know what tragic ending this show has in store for us. Also, how great is it that Alex is the only one who knows? It’s always good when Chyler Leigh has more to do.
The meatiest part of Fort Rozz is Supergirl recruiting both Livewire and Psi in her mission to find Jindah, the Kryptonian priestess on Fort Rozz. Since Kara won’t have any powers near the blue star, it makes perfect sense that she would need some metahuman allies. I loved everything about this team-up; not only is it a very empowering episode in an already female-centric show, but it allowed a bunch of characters to butt heads in amusing ways. Although I wish Imara got more to do, seeing Livewire snarkily comment on everything in sight was a joy to behold. Naturally the writers decided to kill her off by episode’s end, and that to me is the episode’s only misstep. I get that we needed to up the danger, but why not kill Psi instead? Livewire had a lot more to give to the show and this hour proved that. A pity!
Finally, this episode also reveals the existence of other Worldkillers who will surely join Reign’s army: Purity, Pestilence and Power. The ending introduces us to one of them: Purity, played by Krys Marshall. Her introduction is actually pretty badass as she saves her friend and gets brutally rammed by a car. Shockingly, she throws it off as her eyes flicker (much like Sam when she first transformed). I am majorly intrigued.
Super Bits
– Alex babysitting Ruby wasn’t as horrendous as I thought it would be. In fact, I loved how she scared off that bully. The Maggie text was a bit unnecessary though.
– I could watch a spinoff with Livewire as a waitress in a seedy diner.
– Brainiac is still hilarious. His dynamic with Winn (who actually bests him here) has tons of potential.
– More reasons to love Livewire: she calls Mon-El “cosplay”, and doesn’t even remember Winn from CatCo.
– Of course the show gave us a slow-mo shot of our ladies strutting towards the screen.
– I hope we get more scenes of Lena and Sam because that’s a duo filled with possibilities. Maybe the aftermath of Lena being pissed at Sam for missing her meetings? Or is that too much continuity to ask for?
– Badass moment: Sam hearing the voices and smashing her desk.
– Loved Imara telekinetically opening the door when Kara couldn’t budge it.
– Who was that savage warrior who fought our ladies? Not only was the fight scene super cool, her whole look is super mysterious. More please.
– Funny how all the men were the Felicities of this episode.
– I don’t know if it’s the editing or the lighting but there’s a really bizarre moment in the fog when Livewire is attacked by weird creatures and they all kind of fly out of the spaceship only for her to zap back in. I had to rewatch it twice to kind of comprehend what happened.
– Why does Psi say that weird poem when Reign arrives?
– Even more collateral damage: Reign kills Jinah whom I would have liked to see more of.
– When Psi uses her powers on Reign, the villain sees Ruby screaming and becomes Sam again for a moment. It’s very haunting and cool.
– Kara asks for a better room for Psi. Can you say awww?
– Beautiful moment as Mon-El tells Kara that her power as Supergirl is getting through to people and helping them change for the better. He really is more mature now isn’t he?
Kara Quips
Diner: Do you have a gluten-free toast option?
Livewire: It’s called, “Eat somewhere else”.
Livewire: I saw you get body-slammed by that GLOW reject on Christmas. It was all over the news. You think I’m up for a beatdown like that just because you said, “Pretty please”? Honey, you haven’t been reading my psych evals correctly.
Brainiac: Incredible. You actually rely on this to keep people safe? This is the technology that backs up Supergirl when she goes into battle?
Winn: It is… Yes.
Brainiac: She is so much braver than I ever knew. I’ve seen espresso machines with more processing power.
Psi: Do you have a problem?
Livewire: Ninety-nine, but you ain’t one.
Livewire: Nice tiara.
Psi: Why don’t you zap it off me and I’ll show you what I can do. It would be such a delicious pleasure to bring you to your knees and watch you writhe in pain.
Livewire: Do you always talk like that?
Psi: At least I don’t sound like an illiterate mean girl.
Livewire: Okay, Regina George.
Livewire: (after Kara can’t open the door) Promising start.
Ruby: (after Alex scares her bully) So, there’s a girl who lives three houses down. She shoved me in kindergarten.
Alex: Don’t push it.
Jindah: (to Kara) Uncertainty will be your doom. Not green stone.
Conclusion
A wildly enjoyable and empowering hour from Supergirl. Excellent!
Nad Rating
A
So weird that I didn’t love this one as much as you did. I loved the female empowering bits for sure (no Y chromosone allowed on the star is epic!) but I just hate Psi. I thought her scenes were so forced (even more so than the first time we saw her). Maybe I’m just not as fond of the actress as I thought I was because I felt she was miscast.
But the Sam/Alex scene made up for EVERYTHING in my opinion. Man oh man I got goosebumps. The music, the look on Alex’s face then the haunting realization on Sam… I rewatched that scene twice. Just brilliant.
And loved the ending!