Supergirl season 1, episode 19, “Myriad,” saw Kara scrambling for allies as Non activated Myriad.
In “Myriad,” Non has activated the mysterious Myriad, which turns out to be mind control technology so dangerous to the galaxy that even mentioning it was forbidden by the powers that be on Krypton. Kara, as we saw at the end of the previous episode, is unaffected. But she’s one of the few. Maxwell Lord created technology that protected his mind and sent it to Cat Grant in the form of earrings, thus protecting her. But this trio is alone in National City; even Superman, who arrives on scene to help, is overtaken by Myriad.
The opening moments of this episode are intense, as Non visits CatCo, where the unlikely trio of Supergirl, Cat and Max has convened. He declares that the mind control has put all the minds in National City working to fix the problems facing Earth. And in an attempt to break Kara’s desire to fight him, Non has James, Winn and Kelly, another CatCo employee, jump off the balcony. Kara is only able to rescue James and Winn, so Kelly dies.
Yeah, things got real serious, real fast.
Thematically, the characters in “Myriad” are motivated by fear, but it is their reactions to fear that gives us insight into just who they are.
Max remains afraid of the Kryptonians, and for good reason. But it is his fear of not being able to help despite foreseeing the issue — which happened in his parents’ deaths — that pushes him to volunteer a violent solution: detonating a Kryptonite bomb over National City to kill Non and his forces. Supergirl and Superman, as long as they flee, will have to stay away for decades. And hundreds of thousands of people will be collateral damage.
To his credit, however, when Supergirl offers an alternate solution that does not involve mass death, Max goes along with it. He might be snarky about it, but he helps. Alongside his concern for Cat, there seem to be hints that Max has a heart after all. He’d gone full-on Lex Luthor with the Bizzaro story, but he willingly reins himself in; there might be hope for him yet.
Alex, for her part, is also motivated by a fear of helplessness. She and J’onn, still on the run, have gone to her mother’s house, only to learn about Myriad. J’onn intends to go back to the city on his own, but Alex is determined to join him. She remembers watching her father leave for the last time and refuses to let that happen now that she can do something about it.
This seems admirable, but it ends up being a bad move. In trying to shield Alex’s mind from Myriad, J’onn is distracted and Indigo gets the better of him in a fight. Alex ends up being kidnapped by Indigo, and Non uses mind control to send her to fight Kara. Woops.
Kara, meanwhile, is terrified of watching her adopted world end the way Krypton did. Alura promised to save the planet after sending Astra away, but she failed. And now Kara feels like she’s following in her mother’s footsteps. She considers Max’s bomb plan because she doesn’t know what else to do, especially when even Superman has fallen prey to Myriad.
But it’s Cat Grant who inspires her to be her best self again. Cat admits that Supergirl has taught her to believe in hope and to open herself up to others — a seemingly impossible task. Cat also tells her just to be Supergirl; that’s all anyone has ever needed from her. This inspires Kara to rally the troops and broadcast her own message of hope, piggybacking off Myriad’s signal with Max and Cat’s help.
Kara’s arc through this episode is heartbreaking but fascinating. As Max says, they’re beyond monsters of the week and saving kittens from trees. Kara has to make a difficult decision to save lives; she has no good choice for most of the episode, and she feels alone without her usual team at her side. But, like a true hero, Kara finds another way than bombing a city. Of course, this plan is interrupted by the entrance of the Myriad-controlled Alex.
With one episode left, there is a lot of ground to cover. Between the Myriad-controlled Alex, Indigo and Non, there are plenty of threats left for our heroine to face. And her allies remain limited while Myriad is in effect. Oh, and there is the small feat of breaking the mind control on the city. No pressure, Supergirl!
Watch a promo for the season finale
