What I’m Watching: Supergirl

Supergirl: Season 4, Episode 5 “Parasite Lost” (B+)

This season is all about paralleling society and the direction it’s headed today, and I’m not sure I had mentioned previously how Kara describes herself as a refugee at the start of each episode. This episode was all about subtle hatred and how it can be pervasive even within those who are good, making the world far from a black-and-white place. James seeing Guardian being praised by hate groups got him thinking about what being unbiased really means, and maybe talking to Agent Liberty will give him some insight into stopping the incitement of anti-alien hate, even if his new friend is far more intricately involved in all this activity than he knows. The more surprising and disturbing display of discrimination came from Alex’s new boss, who earned her respect when she commended her for both her reorganization of the DEO and her actions under pressure but then revealed that her first priority is to get the DEO back to its core mission of protecting Earth from all aliens, not just those who seek to do harm. There’s still some hope since Alex was able to talk Jensen down when he was going to kill everyone at the vigil, and other humans can be similarly inspired by the writings of Kara and James to reconsider their own prejudices. On a lighter note, it was fun to see Brainy drunk because he thought he was drinking vegetable juice instead of a cocktail and then so proud of himself for having found rather than called Nia after she challenged him to do so when they first met.