Supergirl 5x4 : In Plain Sight review

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

After last week's episode of Supergirl things seem to be on the up again for this show and that trend continues once again here. Beginning with Kelly we see her walking around. Her mind thinks that people are watching her as she tries to find out if Ma'fael'ak is following her. He is but Kelly is also not who she seems. It's J'onn in disguise and he along with Supergirl, Alex and Brainy attempt to stop the Martian and send him back to the Phantom Zone. They are unsuccessful however as Ma'fael'ak retreats. Back at the DEO Supergirl gets everyone to agree to bring Lena in on the process as she can help with the ongoing situation as Brainy's mind is focused mainly on his ongoing problems with Nia. Lena agrees to help and for the first time this season we see Lena properly working with everyone on the team. Alex has a big idea and it's one that J'onn and Supergirl are against. She mentions that Hank Henshaw had a blaster made to destroy Green Martians. He made it while hunting J'onn way back before those season 1 flashback's of Martian Manhunter's origin. Supergirl is strictly against this like I mentioned as she says that if the weapon falls into Ma'fael'ak's hands he will surely kill his brother. Alex doesn't go through with her plan for now as Supergirl gets a call from Nia. She has learned of William Day's next target and it is for someone named Elena Torres. William is travelling to Mexico City which is where Supergirl jets off to without a second thought. While there she sees William getting into a car with another man. The two drive off leaving a car crash scene behind them. Supergirl ends up  in Elena Torres's apartment but is greeted by an alien who makes her stop breathing for a moment. Supergirl regains her composure and takes the alien back to the DEO.

After leaving National City at the end of last week's episode James and Kelly return to the place where they grew up. Calvin Town. It's a small town with a prison recently built. James and Kelly drive up to their aunt's old house and find 2 guys inside who have been living there for a while. The entire place is full of food and homework. The 2 guys escape into the woods before they can do anything but a little later at a food store Kelly saves one of the guys from being arrested due to robbery. Named Simon Kirby and he is alone. He tells James and Kelly that he hasn't seen his dad since he was around 5 years old and that his mom was wrongly jailed for 10 years for something that really wasn't all that serious. This sparks a fire under James who says that why hasn't anyone stood up to the authorities?? Simon responds with that they are all paid for it be it the judges, cops and whoever else. Basically the entire town is corrupt and after going to see an old friend of his for help James learns that the entire town is entirely being mismanaged and like Simon put it entirely corrupt. Forced to later return to National City James's heart just isn't in it anymore but more on this later. Back at the DEO and Alex gets caught and put under Ma'fael'ak's spell. On the outside she meets J'onn and after learning of his deceit thanks to his brother scolds him and tells J'onn that he is the monster not Ma'fael'ak. Of course all these words mean nothing later but in the moment this scene was really powerful and made J'onn out to be the bad guy in such a passionate way. Soon after J'onn attempts to access Alex's mind with his telepathic powers. He fails but does get a message from Ma'fael'ak come and meet him..alone. 

The episode draws to a close as we see J'onn walk into an Obsidian North showing room. Inside a screening of the Martian war is being shown. It tells of one man's deceit and that man is none other than the Martian Manhunter himself. Walking further into the room Alex shows up and branding the blaster that she mentioned earlier shoots J'onn. J'onn attempts to get through to his brother who reveals himself to be someone in the crowd. Supergirl shows and with everyone else's help uses the Phantom Zone projector to send Ma'fael'ak back into the space prison or has it?? more on James now and as everyone is out celebrating a victory he tells everyone that he is going to buy the newspaper the Calvin Town Gazette. He sees it as a way to tell stories of people who have been done wrong with the law system and after arriving back in the town we're shown his new office. He even gives Simon the kid from earlier a job and hands him his own father's camera. This was certainly a feel good moment. But this episode doesn't end there. There's two more things to talk about. First off is Kara's further investigation of William Day. And finally she learns from the man himself that he is an undercover agent. He says he's been sent to investigate Andrea Rojas. Kara doesn't believe him however but soon seems to come around as William says that his whole 'jerk' persona has been a front and how it has been hard to be mean to Kara and everyone else but it's necessary. I find this a bit too good to be true still but an interesting plot development for sure. And the final thing we see is Ma'fael'ak inside a fazing protection barrier. Turns out Lena modified the Phantom Zone projector so that it would send the Martian to her and not the Phantom Zone itself. She has plans for him and his powers it seems and the two revelations at the ending of this episode just blew everything open. As for the episode? I did enjoy this quite a lot. Seeing James get passionate about something for the first time in a while was inspiring and J'onn vs Ma'fael'ak continues to be completely captivating. Sure it's not perfect but it's really enjoyable to watch. William Day revealing himself to be undercover was something I didn't expect as last week I was sure he was a member of Leviathan. Infact I still think he is in a way. As for Kara her detective skills were certainly put to work here and it was great to watch. I once more look forward to next week!

★★★