Supergirl Review: Both Sides Now (Season 3 Episode 13)

On Supergirl Season 3 Episode 13, “Both Sides Now,” we finally get some answers to some burning questions that we’ve had all season long. New information is revealed both to the audience and to our favorite super team.

In the quest to prevent Reign from gathering the other two world killers, Supergirl and her team from the DEO descend on Julia/Purity in full tactical gear.

While going in already in attack mode is really rather foolish in my opinion, it does lead Kara to an important discovery.

The world killers and the people whose bodies they inhabit are not the same people.

The moral quandary of “Both Sides Now” falls primarily on Alex, as well as partly on Kara in their differing opinions of how to deal with Julia/Purity. For the majority of the episode, Alex believes that the world killers are just pure evil.

Meanwhile, Kara sees the humanity in Julia from the start. Alex’s cynicism is strange to both the audience and Kara, so I’m not sure if it was an on the nose choice to have her act uncharacteristically cold or not.

Alex gets several badass moments on “Both Sides Now” but her best moment is when she’s the one who’s able to talk Julia into being stronger than Purity. This moment of gentleness and her moments of vulnerability briefly with Winn and then later with Kara are some of the best moments of the episode.

Kara: Maybe we’re not supposed to beat them.

Winn: Well, then how are we supposed to win?

Kara: We save them.

Kara’s revelation works in tandem with Sam’s storyline on “Both Sides Now,” her blackouts coming more frequently, putting her family and her friends at risk.

When Sam disappears and becomes Reign, this time Ruby calls Lena, which leads to a very important conversation. Lena is a brilliant boss, and a kind friend so she quickly puts the pieces together after talking to Ruby and then later with Sam.

Lena knows that Sam is Reign, she knows she cannot control it, and she’s determined to save her friend.

Lena: Sam, honey, I know what’s wrong with you, I’m going to make you better.

I am so excited for this storyline, I can’t wait to see Lena (and hopefully Kara and the rest of the team) work to save their friend from the darkness. That is the kind of hope and love that drew me to Supergirl in the first place.  

As for the storyline with Mon-El and Imra, all I can say is that love triangles are the most useless and played out romance trope in the book. Imra deserves better than that, Kara deserves better than that, the audience deserves a better story than this.

Mon-El: I was this completely self-absorbed misogynist.

Having Mon-El say that he’s aware that the character we met in Season 2 was all the terrible things we know to be true about him, doesn’t actually show that he’s changed or grown.

J’onn’s advice to share everything with Imra and let her in is really nice and its good to see Mon-El follow through with it by the end of the episode. I want this storyline to surprise me, I hope that this isn’t like every other love triangle I’ve seen before. But I’m not keeping my hopes that high.

OTHER THOUGHTS:

• What do you think Imra’s hiding about their mission?
• Do you think that Lena will go to Supergirl for help? If Lena figured out that Sam is Reign, how long do you think it will be before she figures out that Kara is Supergirl?
• I still miss Cat Grant, if anyone was wondering.
• Winn and his quest to eat an unreasonable amount of chicken wings is highly relatable.
• Alex still isn’t over Maggie. I’m glad this storyline is continuing. Do you think there’s hope for Sanvers after all?

What did you think of this episode of Supergirl? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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Supergirl airs Mondays at 8/7c on The CW.

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