Supergirl 2×12, “Luthors,” took a more in-depth look at the Luthor family.
Lena Luthor has had a rough go of it. Her beloved brother went insane and is now in prison. Her adopted mother doesn’t even love her — and isn’t shy about saying so — and is the leader of a criminal group. And no matter how hard she tries to shake the image of being a Luthor, the public continues to judge her by her family name. Things only get worse and more confusing for Lena in “Luthors.”
After Lena testifies against her mother in court, Lillian asks her daughter to visit her in prison. In this meeting, Lillian reveals that Lena is half-Luthor after all; she is the illegitimate daughter of Lionel Luthor and another woman. After Lena’s mother died when Lena was four, Lionel brought Lena into the Luthor family and Lillian resented the child for being a reminder of her husband’s affair.
The flashback also showed us a young Lex, and that was quite exciting. Lex welcomed Lena immediately when she was brought into the family, so it’s obvious why Lena loved him so much. Losing him the way she did to his vendetta against Superman and aliens must have crushed her. And then to have her adoptive mother be so hateful…
Speaking of Lillian, she does her best to convince Lena that she truly loves her, and despite herself, Lena wants to believe her mother. It’s only human, after all. But Lillian is not earning a World’s Best Mother mug any time soon. Lena’s visit is nothing more than a ruse to frame her, as Metallo gets a kryptonite heart back at the same time. Cadmus also fakes security footage to make it look like Lena was the one to give Metallo his weapon, and she is arrested. All according to plan.
I was a bit confused about how a kryptonite heart made its way to Metallo’s cell via the mail since mail to inmates is searched before being delivered. I could buy there being some cops in Cadmus’ pocket that made it happen, but some kind of hint to that effect would have been welcome.
The plan continues when Metallo breaks Lena out of prison, makes her look more guilty, and Lillian makes more overtures about the Luthor women joining forces. It turns out, however, that she simply needs Lena’s DNA to access one of Lex’s supply stashes. As Lena notes, Lillian only says she loves Lena when she needs something. Lena is forced to help Cadmus against her will, but as soon as she becomes a liability, Lillian abandons her.
Because she’s the worst.
Luckily for Lena, Kara believes in her in the face of overwhelming evidence. Snapper, James, Maggie, Alex, J’onn and even Winn believe that Lena has turned. But Kara refuses to accept that, and eventually Winn uncovers evidence that proves Lena was framed. Kara believing in the best in people luckily doesn’t backfire on her this time.
I still worry about Lena, though. It’s hard to shake the memory of the alien detection device she created all those episodes ago. I don’t think Lillian has the capability of turning Lena since she’s proven over and over that Lena is nothing to her. If the show were to ever bring Lex in, though, things could get quite interesting. As James tells Kara, Clark and Lex were best friends for a long time before Lex turned. That felt ominous to me.
Side note: Why bother getting Lena arrested in order to break her out from prison (a massively convoluted plan) when Lex was already in prison? Couldn’t Lillian put her energy into freeing the child she actually loves? For the leader of Cadmus, you’d think there wouldn’t be any challenge too great, even prison security.
This episode also saw Kara and James find a measure of equilibrium. Kara is clearly never going to approve of James being Guardian, but when James pulls his own protective move in trying to warn Kara against Lena, she realizes the impression she’s been making. The two agree to return to being friends.
The easy chemistry between the two remains absolutely lovely, and I remain forever bitter that Kara randomly broke up with him. Though the way she has treated him lately, it’s probably a good thing they aren’t currently together.
And James’ romantic replacement? My least favorite character on the show, Mon-El. Kara finally got around to telling Mon-El she likes him (heavy sigh) and the two were about to kiss (another heavy sigh) when they were interrupted by Mr. Mxyzptlk arriving and declaring his love for Kara.
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