Supergirl 4x15 : O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Be warned there will be *SPOILERS* involved in this review. With that being said let's get into it.

Lex Luthor. Superman's greatest enemy and possibly one of the greatest DC comic villains in history finally arrives on Supergirl. Played by Jon Cryer who in my opinion completely nails the character. I had my doubts when I heard the casting choice but after seeing him in action I am thoroughly impressed. The episode begins 4 years in the past in Metropolis. Where we see none other than Lex standing over a completely terrified Lena who is sitting in a chair. He mentions things like how Superman is a false god and how he is the man of tomorrow not him. Lena says he's a better man than Lex will ever be and re responds with he's not even a man. Not 5 minutes into this episode and I was already hooked. On the outside we can notice a red light beaming into the room where Luthor siblings are talking. Well it's this way because Lex has somehow created a Red Sun that as we know makes Superman human in the most basic way of explaining it and thus doing so he wants the world to see how much of a fraud he is. We eventually skip to present day and we see Lena standing as a helicopter touches down. Inside is Lex who at first looks like he's on death's door. He isn't but he is very much sick. After battling with Superman he has gotten poisoned from Kryptonite and has requested to see Lena before he dies. So the Luthor's interact as the episode goes on and it's all rather great to be honest. But more on it a bit later. 

At the end of last week's episode we saw James Olsen get shot inside of his office before collapsing onto the floor. Well he's still there with a pool of blood next to him. We see a hand open his watch and turn on the Supergirl / Superman signal and Kara who is in bed rushes to his location and is the one who finds him. She calls out to him but the next time we see him is in hospital. The doctor says he's in a bad way as they did remove the shrapnel from him but the bullet still could do even more damage unless they operate on him. Alex tries her best to see him but is denied as she isn't family. This is when his sister Kelly walks in and says that all present are family and tells the doctor to go ahead with the operation. Kara and J'onn have a big problem on their hands as Manchester Black who can now interact with J'onn thanks to him opening his mind to him gives them a location. Supergirl and J'onn go to the location which just so happens to be where J'onn's dad died. Manchester appears and he is wielding the White Martian weapon that was previously used way back at the beginning of season 3. J'onn says he doesn't know the kind of power he's playing with and attempts to get Manchester to come around. Obviously he doesn't and later at the city's Dam an intense battle breaks out between the two characters with Supergirl on the outside providing damage control. J'onn fueled by images of his 2 daughters takes the staff from Manchester and kills him with it. He disappears into thin air and drops the Legion ring while doing so. Honestly this was probably the worst part of the episode for me. Not because it was bad or anything but because Manchester Black is truly gone this time. It was obviously inevitable but it still caught me off guard a little. The character has been a joy to watch to be honest and with he episode he was in he only made it better. 

The episode comes to a close back at Lex's hidden mansion where after toying with the idea of giving James the experimental drug that she has been working on practically all season long Lena manages (with Lex's help) to minimize it to 99% zero threat. While working on the process of doing so Lex and Lena seem to grow just a little bit closer. But of course with Lex everything is pretty much a game and after Lena saves James at the hospital she goes back to see Lex who still seems very sick. And it's at this point where the episode just twists and turns in it's final moments. As Lena says that Lex knew what he was doing all along. She says he wanted to push her to make the cure and make it so that it can be used on people. She says that she will never let him use on himself to cure him of his sickness. He responds by saying it's too late before standing up and after revealing the cop with him to be Otis Graves who was using an image reducer he also calls out to Eve Tessmacher who all this time has been working with Lex in secret. So much happened in this one little scene it was proper intense and just bonkers but it worked so well in my opinion. Lex then has Otis knock out Lena with chloroform before leaving the mansion with him. Guards rush to stop them both but Lex has lasers appear from behind statues on the wall and with classical music playing over the scene kills them all before getting in the helicopter with Otis. The last thing we see before it cuts off is Supergirl who flys up close to the helicopter as Lex says it's nice to finally meet her. Phew! what an episode, and what an introduction to Lex Luthor played brilliantly by John Cryer. As a whole though how was the episode? it was great. Nothing really stops it from being one the best episodes this season besides Manchester's demise. But that being said the inclusion of J'onn struggling with his inner thoughts and actions to become a man of peace is interesting and now with Lex Luthor we have a true big bad heading into the final stretch of the season. 3 weeks in a row now Supergirl has knocked it out of the park. Long may it continue. 

★★★★