SUPERGIRL Recap: “Make it Reign”

Supergirl — “Make it Reign” — Pictured: Erica Durance as Alura Zor-El — Photo: Diyah Pera/The CW

SUPERGIRL RECAP: “MAKE IT REIGN”

BY CYNTHIA VINNEY

When we last left Supergirl, Dark Kryptonian and Worldkiller Champion, Selena had absconded to Earth by stealing Mon-El and Supergirl’s spaceship in Argo City. Once she arrived, she used a crystal to grow a brand new fortress. Meanwhile, our heroes think Reign is gone, but at home with Ruby, Sam suddenly goes rigid.

The title of this week’s episode, “Make it Reign,” indicates we haven’t seen the last of our favorite Worldkiller. It ends up being mostly set up for next week’s finale, which will center on Supergirl’s final battle with Reign.

The episode begins in Selena’s newly-made fortress. Selena and two Kryptonian pals are patting themselves on the back for a rip-roaring start to whatever they have planned. They’re pumped about how powerful they are on Earth, but then they realize the Black Rock that saved their lives on Argo City is toxic to them on Earth. Luckily, Thomas Coville, their human lackey is on hand to help.

He arranges everything for the ritual they need to perform to bring Reign back. He holds the Black Rock as the Kryptonians chant and invoke Reign. The ritual doesn’t work. The blood of Purity and Pestilence needs to be found to make Reign whole. Fortunately, Coville knows where it is.

In Argo City, Kara, Mon-El, Alura, and Thara break into Selena’s house to figure out what she was up to. They find instructions on how to make Worldkillers. They also find a message Selena left for Alura. In it Selena lays out her dastardly plan: She will use Reign to set off a spark that will kill everyone on Earth and terraform the planet for Kryptonians. She gave Supergirl the Black Rock because it would separate Sam and Reign, ensuring only one would survive. Supergirl thought it was Reign that was gone, but according to Selena, she’s wrong. After Selena explains everything, a bomb goes off, injuring Thara.

On Earth, Sam is sick. Alex and Lena examine her. Lena tells Sam that her cells are mutating back to their Kryptonian form and her blood cells are going dormant.

Ruby points out that they can use the Earth’s yellow sun to heal Sam, since Kryptonians gain power from it. Sam and Lena give it a try, but it doesn’t work. Lena suggests using the Black Rock to rejuvenate Sam’s cells.

In Argo City, Kara and Mon-El need a way back to Earth since they no longer have their space ship. Alura shows Kara and Mon-El a portal Kara’s father was working on when Krypton was destroyed. If they can link it with the portal at the DEO, they can get back to Earth. But they need to contact the DEO first and communication from Argo City is blocked.

Kara uses a crystal to bypass the issue. She appears as a hologram to Winn (in the form of Alura for some reason) and warns him and Alex about what’s going on. Just as Winn is about to open up the DEO’s portal for Kara and Mon-El, the Dark Kryptonians arrive.

The Dark Kryptonians are looking for the blood of Pestilence and Purity. Alex, Sam, Ruby, Winn, and the crystal hologram beaming in from Argo City manage to keep them from getting it. And Kara, Mon-El, and Alura — who decides to come too — safely portal themselves to the DEO.

As soon as he sees her, Demos — the agent who’s protecting the DEO’s vials of Worldkiller blood — throws them to Supergirl. The Kryptonians turn on him. Demos uses a shield Winn invented as part of J’onn’s new non-lethal weapons agenda to protect himself, but it’s no match for the eye lasers of three Kryptonians. Winn is devastated by Demos’s death.

To destroy the blood, Supergirl throws the vials towards the Kryptonians. As Selena reaches for them, Supergirl uses her laser eyes to incinerate them. The Kryptonians disappear.

Back in the fortress, Selena assures her compatriots that she still has the blood they need. Somehow, she absorbed some of it when Supergirl tossed the vials towards her. Selena cuts open her hand over the ritual pyre and the symbol of Reign ignites. Reign appears and begins the ritual to turn the planet into a new Krypton.

The three Dark Kryptonians are feeling good about the way things are going. And that means Coville isn’t useful to them anymore. He protests that he and his followers worshipped Reign too. But the Kryptonians clarify that Reign’s only righteous for them, not for humans, and then kill him.

Meanwhile, Lena’s had an epiphany about what’s going on with Sam. Reign’s cells get stronger as Sam’s cells get weaker. The team reasons that if they can make Sam’s cells stronger, Reign should get weaker but nothing they’ve tried has made that happen. Alura has a solution: there’s a fountain in the Dark Valley that bestows infinite strength. But Sam could only reach the Valley when Reign took over her body—or when Lena shocked Sam, which Lena doesn’t think is safe in Sam’s weakened condition. Sam insists. So, Lena shocks Sam into the Valley just as Reign flies into the Earth’s core to destroy it.

Reign’s worldkilling sets off environmental disasters all over the planet. As the Earth collapses around them, J’onn and M’yrnn show up at the DEO. The two had been engaged in the Martian ritual that allows M’yrnn to share his memories and knowledge with J’onn in preparation for M’yrnn’s death. Reign’s activities interrupted them. M’yrnn wants to shape-shift into the Earth which he says will stop the terraforming. It would tear him apart, but M’yrnn is determined to save his son’s home from destruction.

As Reign speeds towards the Earth’s core the episode ends…. to be continued in the season finale next week.

This was an oddly paced episode — kind of slow setting things up, and then in the last few minutes going from plot point to plot point so quickly that it was hard to keep up. At least there was still time amidst the mayhem for Kara to introduce her mom to Alex. The episode was mostly set up for the finale, and the big cliffhanger ending left the coming showdown in little doubt.

This season has become a very drawn out fight over Sam’s life, with a lot of filler thrown in to keep everyone else busy. Hopefully all the characters will come together for the final battle with Reign next week. See you then, Superfans!