
Supergirl, Episode 64 “Of Two Minds” Broadcast on April 30, 2018
Written by Gabriel Llanas & Anna Musky-Goldwyn
Directed by Alexandra La Roche
Previously on Supergirl: Supergirl learns that the Worldkillers will unite under the banner of Reign. Flying through Capital City, Supergirl and Mon-El discover hundreds of dead pigeons falling from the sky: a sign of the Worldkiller Pestilence.
Now: A woman hands out cookies at her place of work to all her co-workers. She gives one to her boss and leaves the room. He suddenly has a slight nose bleed which blossoms into a downpour. At DEO Headquarters, a dead pigeon is tested by Alex who can’t find any sickness in it. Mon-El and Imra believe it to be the Blight, which is preceded by the death of wildlife. It’s one hundred percent fatal and contagious. Alex has learned that the bird’s disease was not communicative, not even bird to bird. It must have come into contact with Pestilence herself. The cure to this disease is in the Legionnaires’ DNA which they’ll extract, get Brainiac-5 to make into a weapon, and “kill Pestilence.” Supergirl is not okay with killing anyone, arguing there’s a human side to Pestilence. “We’re going to save her.” Before their argument can heighten, Brainy comes in to show off some new tech, and then Winn enters to say several people in the city government have suddenly become sick. At Lena Luthor’s secret laboratory, she tells Samantha she believes she can stop Reign from overwriting her genome. However, Lena can’t find the enzyme necessary unless she triggers Sam into changing so she can be studied. Sam agrees and electricity shoots through her body. She mysteriously awakens in a misty wooded area. Reign appears saying, “They’re coming for us.” Cue opening title card.
The A story focuses on the heroes finding Pestilence as members of their group begin to fall victim to the illness. Jeremy Jordan gets a good confessional scene with Mehcad Brooks, whose character gets just as emotional as Jeremy’s. The highlight of this story is the friction between Supergirl and Imra. This episode finally has Imra showing she can be quite the tough, with it seeming she’ll come to blows with the Maid of Might. They are completely opposites in how they want to handle this threat, with Imra revealing why she feels the way she does. Her reveal isn’t that big a surprise, but it does explain why the Legionnaire has got so much attitude. And did you see the smile on Mon-El’s face when both women walked past him on either side of him? There’s also a good scene between David Harewood and Chyler Leigh toward the end of the episode. Pestilence is an okay villain, but her outfit in the final battle was just too over the top. The B story, from which this episode gets its title, focuses on Samantha confronting Reign in her head. It was okay, but came across as very 1960’s storytelling — dated. It communicated the conflict to the reader, but it’s been done to death. Thankfully, the conclusion of this story looks to be setting things up for the climax of the season. It can’t happen soon enough, because Reign isn’t doing much for me.
The good: Melissa Benoist and Amy Jackson sharing a scene, Chris Wood’s looks, Jeremy Jordan and Mehcad Brooks, Jordan and Jesse Rath sharing scenes, the special effects, and the origin of the Legion of Super-Heroes revealed!Fun lines: “I nearly caused a riot in the Piggly Wiggly,” “The last thing we need is panic,” “We based the philosophy of the Legion on Supergirl,” “I don’t kill,” “There is bliss in surrender,” “‘Do or do not.’ He was wrong about that one,” “Just because something is hard doesn’t mean it’s impossible,” “Some decisions can’t be made with a math equation,” “…imperative,” and “Everyone deserves saving.”