SUPERGIRL 6.12

RECAP - SUPERGIRL  6.12:  "Blind Spots"  

As the title of this episode of the Girl of Steel states:  blind spots.  We all have them.  Despite our best efforts to be the very best people we can be, we often have blind spots to more important issues that are going on---things we SHOULD be paying attention to, but often overlook because of what we might perceive as the "bigger picture".  This happens to EVERYONE...including superheroes.  And the Superfriends get a harsh lesson from one of their own because they didn't see a threat that was right in front of them....but Kelly Olsen DID.  Because it hit HER on a personal level.  And it was something that she couldn't control---and when she needed help...there wasn't any there.  So, this episode brings the subject of the people in places that are often ignored by those who're capable of helping them out, and giving them a helping hand, only to ignore them for what they perceive to be a "bigger problem".  And, sadly, those people suffer---and are in need of a voice to speak up for them.

Kelly Olson has taken on a new job as a social worker in The Heights...a part of National City that is one of the poorer neighborhoods.  Just recently, she, with the help of Supergirl, managed to secure low-cost housing for residents there---especially those that had been part of the prisoner work-release program like Orlando, who has abilities because of his alien physiology, but committed a crime to help his little brother, whom Kelly works as his social worker.  They were all set to go into this building...despite meeting resistance from Councilwoman Rankin, who wanted to level the building to bring in business interests, thus making HER look good in the eyes of the public by creating jobs...much to the dismissal of the people who live in her district with whom she can care less about because they're "criminals" and--even moreso---minorities.  But Joey, Orlando's brother, is happy showing his new friend where they're going to live, and is excited for his new home, and being with his brother again....when something bad happens---the building was blown up by Nyxly.  

Back in Newfoundland, Lena is learning about her new abilities with Margaret, and finds out that her friends are in trouble, and has to leave.  Margaret wants her to take the spellbook with her, but Lena bolts to head back home to help.  While the issue gets resolved without Lena's help....we DO see that when she returns home...Margaret has mailed the spellbook to her.

Now, Nyxly had been unable to find the next totem, and this is despite having Mxy inside the crystal.  Something is off, so she replays the last 24 hours, trying to figure out why she doesn't have much power.  And this is when she blew up the building just to get back at Supergirl.  

Going back those 24 hours is when the explosion happens, and Joey and his friend are caught in the aftermath of the blast.  Kelly and Orlando show up to help the kids, and get them out of there, but there are several other members of the neighborhood caught in the explosion, and now they're in the hospital, and the services are being overrun, as people need oxygen, and masks, and other things the hospital is simply out of, and can't supply, because there are more sick people than there are services to help them.  Kelly asks for help, and Alex says she'll send assistance from a friend, but right now, the team is dealing with another issue....that being Nyxly.  Councilwoman Rankin had been in near the building at the time of the explosion, so she got affected as well.  Kelly brings the issue to her, and she just thanks her, and then when she is trying to recover, demands that the hospital use a new untested vaccine on her, and if they don't give it to her, she'll pull any funding for them in the future.  So, she receives it, but it has an interesting effect on her.  Meanwhile, Kelly feels emotionally distraught an overwhelmed because of what's happening, and calls her brother James, breaking down, and asking for help....and just being ignored...and she feels like they don't care.  

Now, the Superfriends themselves?  They're busy trying to get a lock on Nyxly by trying to use Mxy's energy signature to track her, but they've had no luck.  Alex wants to check in with Kelly, but figures that whatever is going on, Kelly has it handled.  Kelly's plight doesn't go unheard by her brother, because he made a call to an old friend in John Diggle, who shows up at Kelly's door, totally understanding of her situation at hand.  John knows where Kelly is coming from, having been a soldier himself, and knowing the situation at hand.   He talks about how Oliver always saw the big picture, but was often times unaware of the smaller issues that occurred in Star City.  They go over the wreckage to find out what's causing the problem with the citizens getting sick.  Brainy shows up, as they found out about the Ormfell collapsing, and with Brainy's device, find out that the wreckage is littered with 5th Dimensional energy.  They figure that if they can extract it, they can use it to track Nyxly.  Brainy takes off, but that leaves Kelly and Diggle to wonder about the effects of this 5th Dimensional energy has on the people that got caught in the explosion.

Rankin is overjoyed that the building collapsed, as it now furthers HER agenda.  She feels empowered since getting the vaccine, and realizes just why as the wishes she made have now had a physical effect, as she wished for food, and actually killed her assistant with her.  She now realizes that she has superhuman capabilities, as she tests them by wishing for money to pay off the other councilmember by paying them off to switch their vote towards her business project.  Rankin realizes that now she can rebuild the Heights in her own image. 

Kelly meets up with the team afterwards, and Supergirl promises her that once they catch Nyxly, they'll have her reverse what she did.  Especially now that they're taking all the 5th Dimensional energy from all the wreckage to help them build a device to track Nyxly.  But Kelly reminds her that the building wasn't in that great a shape before.  Dreamer gives Kelly one of the devices that tracks 5th Dimensional energy.  Kelly notices that the Councilwoman is giving a press conference outside the hospital, and she's talking about how great she feels, and how she's back at work, ready to help the community. She also uses the device, and finds out Rankin is giving off massive amounts of 5th Dimensional energy.  Orlando confronts her about what happened, and she orders her security to remove him, but Kelly shows up in her Guardian mask and shield only to protect him, and she has her guards spirit her away, but Guardian chases after her, and they have a fight.  Rankin escapes by disappearing, but not before Guardian gets a lock of her hair.  

Kelly and Diggle return to the Tower with the lock of Rankin's hair, and tells them that Rankin's got 5th Dimensional energy in her, and she's using it.  The team is extracting the rest of the 5th Dimensional energy from the Ormfell wreckage.  Supergirl promises that once they've stopped Nyxly, they'll fix what she did.  Kelly's frustration with the situation has her blowing up at the team for ignoring the problem:  people are getting sicker and could be dying because of this explosion, but NONE of them has paid attention to the problem, because they're more concerned with Nyxly.  And while saving the universe IS important, people like HER, and many others...are being left out in the cold because of who and what they are, because they have NO hope and NO ONE to GIVE them hope.  And she storms off.  Everyone has been put on notice because of their ignorance to the situation at hand.  Alex wants to talk to her, But Nia tells her that Kelly needs time alone.  Alex feels helpless, and J'onn tells Alex about how alone HE felt when he came to Earth...and how taking the form of a black man has still made him feel alone and ignored.  He grasps what Kelly is going through...as well as those in The Heights who don't have anyone to give them hope.  He just tells Alex to give Kelly time...she'll tell her what she needs when she's ready.  

Diggle talks to Kelly, who's venting her frustrations into a punching back, and puts it to her:  What does she want to do?  What is she going to do about it?  Kelly says she is going to be the voice of the voiceless, the hero that THEY need in that community.  Supergirl then talks to Kelly....and apologizes for not listening to her, for not paying better attention to what is going on.  She understands that she needs to do better.  Kelly says she wants to be heard, that she wants them to listen to her...and Supergirl agrees, and wants to know what she can do to help.  They find out that, because of the vaccine Rankin took, it's helped enhanced the 5th Dimensional energy she absorbed from the explosion, thus the powers she has comes from drawing off the energy of those also affected by the blast, thus making them weaker and more sick.  Brainy figures they can create a device using the energy drawn from the wreckage and from the piece of Rankin's own hair to stop her.  However, this will mean making Nyxly impossible to track.  Supergirl, however, says the people come first.  So, they get to work on how to stop Rankin before she starts draining the life from the people of the Heights.  Brainy talks to Kelly about improvements she wants to make to the Guardian suit, and he knew she'd want to fashion it to her specifications.  Before they get to work, she does ask him:  being from the 31st Century...are things better for people like her?  Did they solve the issues that still plague the world in this day and age?  Brainy confesses that, while things have gotten BETTER, there's still the issue with privilege, and that there is still work to be done. Generational scars are still apparent.

Rankin is finally ready to use her powers to reshape the city in her own image, but the Superfriends are ready to meet her head on.  As she battles the team, Guardian is placed atop the building in order to position herself to help transfer the energy Rankin as sucked out of them back TO them.  With Rankin distracted, they use the device created to draw her power out, and Guardian uses her shield to transfer the energy back to the people.  With those affected by the blast having their energy transferred back to them, Rankin is arrested, and the threat is over.  Everyone is happy that they now have a hero of their own in the Heights in Guardian.  

John gives kudos to Kelly on Guardian's success, and wishes her luck, knowing she'll do great in the role. He's heading back to Metropolis where "world's await" he says, as Brainy looks on...knowing what John's future entails quite possibly.  Later on, Kelly is at home, just trying to relax...take everything in....and still processing everything.  Alex returns home, and apologizes for not being there for Kelly when she needed to be.  She wants to be there for Kelly when she's upset and stressed, and wants to help.  Kelly says she isn't always going to unpack everything at once, but she just wants Alex to be there and hold her and she does. 

Nyxly finally gets an idea where the next totem is....and she and Rich are ready to plan.

This was one of the most powerful episodes of Supergirl there has been.  Now, I know some have felt that this show has gotten TOO political at times (or too woke, and so on), but this is truly and important issue, and it comes from a place of true passion and care about what's going on in the world.  Azie Tesafi, Kelly Olsen herself, wrote this amazing episode that addresses a huge issue still plaguing this country.  Her acting in this episode was powerful, emotional, and it was completely sincere.  It shines a light on a very huge problem that still permeates across the US these days:  privilege amongst those in power, and minorities who're still kept under thumb.  She wanted to ensure that we got attention drawn to this issue, while also allowing it to be a springboard to bring Kelly in as Guardian officially.  It hits the right emotional beats, and you see Kelly's struggle with this whole issue, and feeling the pain and suffering of those around her, while many---including the very heroes sworn to protect those who're in trouble---ignore the small details...issues that may be small to THEM, but MASSIVE for those going through them.  We learn that heroes are NOT perfect....even superheroes, and that minorities still don't get a fair shake in this country.  It also shows a person of privilege---Councilwoman Rankin---as someone who can care less about her constituents, and only sees dollar signs and a chance to increase her own stock and power.  Brainy was right...there is still much work to be done.

It was awesome seeing Diggle once again...providing sage advice and assistance when necessary.  David Ramsey has become the go-to guy to direct Arrowverse episodes, and he does a great job here as well.  Also, what he's done as Diggle is just nothing short of inspiring.  We love this character, and whenever he's on screen, we're happy.  And we've gotten SOOOO MANY teases about him being Green Lantern, this might've been the biggest easter egg yet.  As he leaves for Metropolis, he talks about "world's waiting", while also talking about giving up the hero life to raise his family.  But with Brainy's smile as John left....he knows of John's fate in the future.  So, we keep wondering....and hoping....that Diggle will indeed become Green Lantern someday.  We're not giving up hope.  

Not much more I can comment on for this episode.  What about YOU guys?  What did YOU feel about Azie Tesafi's job as writer on this episode?  Was it too much for you on a sociopolitical level?  Or did you feel it was a story that needed to be addressed?  Subscribe and drop me some comments below.

Until next time...Up, up, and away!