Supergirl Review: Dangerous Liaisons (Season 5 Episode 5)
Supergirl Season 5 Episode 5, “Dangerous Liaisons,” feels like the introduction to the crucible of which the rest of the season will do its very best to keep from exploding. There is a literal timer set within the episode’s first act that ticks beneath the surface of the hour, testing characters’ limits and pushing the boundaries of who can be trusted.
Somehow William is able to waltz into the D.E.O. after only being friendly to Kara for less than an episode, which is suspicious as it took Lena much longer to walk through those doors.
William is an interesting character because a few characters on Supergirl seem to believe he can be more than one thing at once. Kara tells J’onn that she was wrong to assume the worst about William, and J’onn essentially agrees with her, as if William cannot still turn out to be anything other than a passionate reporter after the truth about the Rojas family.
Kara, along with the viewers, do not know much about William and his motives. Team Super Friends only know what he’s told them, and they’re meant to take his word for things. For someone who treated Kara like dirt for the past four episodes, there should be more reluctance in accepting his word as truth.
Kara is quick to turn on Andrea Rojas from William’s word alone, even though there isn’t much proof that Andrea is truly involved. If anything, it is more plausible that Andrea is a pawn of her family or Leviathan.
If this is the case, will Kara be as forgiving to Andrea as she was to William’s hostility? William supposedly has to keep his research a secret to protect others against the Rojas family. Andrea could be doing the same, if she is aware of the corruption in her family at all.
It does make sense for Kara’s instincts about people to be turned on their head every once in a while. It would be more believable if there is a substantial amount of evidence to prove Kara’s intuition wrong, and Supergirl hasn’t given viewers that for William Day.
This is a conversation that can also extend to Lena Luthor, as she treads the line between good and bad. Optimistically, Kara and her friends will do everything they can to understand and see the truth in Lena’s decisions when the time comes. But should they?
Lena’s experiment advances every week, and every episode leads her down a darker path of stealing agency from humans and meta-humans alike, as she does with Malefic in “Dangerous Liaisons.”
Yes, Lena’s actions are fueled by a desire to help the human race from experiencing the pain and betrayal she has felt from those closest to her, but she is taking away the right for those people to choose the way they want to live.
The question of whether Lena is a villain or not is one Supergirl continues to grapple with as the season unfolds. Characters and viewers may continue to rationalize her actions up to the launch of her mind-controlling contacts, but the question will remain.
A good portion of villains start with motives they believe are good, subjective to them and their experiences. Lena is in a grey area, but that does not mean that her actions should go unchecked or be deemed anything other than villainous.
If her plan unfolds and her experiment reaches the lives of the citizens of National City and beyond, her contacts could be detrimental to those people. She is stripping them of their agency to feel and act on those feelings, which is a part of the human experience.
Lena may have stopped Malefic from killing J’onn, but she does so by submitting him to her mind control, which is a power she manipulated him into sharing with her. Lena’s actions are controlling and scary, especially if they are any sign of where she is headed.
Hopefully, Kara and the Super Friends can pull Lena back from the deep end before there is no way to get her back.
After all, a good portion of villains also reach the point of no return, leaving them alienated and impossible to forgive. Lena Luthor may be another exception if someone can prove to her that her experiment can cause harm, rather than all of the good she believes will come from it.
Stray Observations
- Alex has a Pinterest page, and it’s only fair that the Supergirl team shares it.
- Did anyone else notice all of the sugar Kara poured in her coffee, only to leave it behind?
- Is everyone going to call Malefic “Mal” now?
- Kara’s new and extremely practical suit shines when she high kicks Rip Roar in the face. The other seasons of Supergirl were seriously missing some epic high kicks.
- It is so nice to see Nia as Dreamer again. It has been a while.
- Speaking Nia, her friendship with Kelly is already one of the purest things to come from this season.
What did you think of this episode of Supergirl? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Supergirl airs Sundays at 9/8c on The CW.
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Shelby Elpers
Shelby is a TV enthusiast and pop culture writer. She's an avid podcast listener, green tea drinker, and soccer fan. Her brand can be summarized in rom-coms, superheroes, teen dramas, and workplace comedies.