If you’re from Mars, why are you white?
Supergirl episode 10, Strange Visitor from Another Planet, has Kara, Alex, and Henshaw attempting to stop a rogue White Martian all the while defending a bigot who hates aliens. To protect Senator Miranda Crane, whose dialogue is taken out of Trump’s speeches, the team take her back to the DEO headquarters only to learn that the White Martian has adopted her form. The attempt to rescue the real Crane leads to Alex being kidnapped, and J’onn, with Kara, battling it out with the White Martian. Behind the action at Cat Co, Winn is distancing himself from Kara while Adam foster is closing the distance with his mother, Cat Grant.
It’s such an exciting adventure to learn more about J’onn J’onz and his home planet. David Harewood’s performance as J’onn outshines anything else he has brought to Supergirl to date with his retelling of the genocide on Mars. His story is full of pain and visually reminiscent of the Nazi concentration camps, the gas chambers replaced with fire. His pronunciation of the Mar’s language was amazing, especially how his English started to resemble the Mar’s tongue the angrier he got. His character’s yo-yo ‘lone wolf’ act was too much this episode, but it was outshone by everything else to the point that this negative barely matters.
Tawny Cypress, as Senator Crane, is equally amazing. The clicks and growls of the Mar’s language almost seemed second nature to her as she conversed with Henshaw and, hopefully (please!), she will be one of the best recurring villains of the show. Her greatest scene was when she leapt around the DEO headquarters, killing agents and breathing fire. In my opinion, there is nothing creepier than modifying the human face. Like the Hellgrammite, the VFX team have created another dream torturing face with part Crane, part Martian. During two different battles, Crane’s eyes turn black and her jaw drops to reveal her inhuman teeth. The effect is brief, but lasting. Not something I’ll forget soon.
To create the White Martian, the VFX team has created a large humanoid creature that looks skinless but with a white exoskeleton. The White Martian contrasts greatly to the blue armoured J’onn which made me wonder if he softened his appearance (like Miss Martian, Young Justice) for humans. However, the flashbacks to mars reveal that his race is indeed different from the White Martians. The comics have the White Martians intentionally making their physiology to reflect their war-like nature and separate themselves from the Green Martians. As opposed to Supergirl, the comics have the White Martians vulnerable to fire as well.
Within the final scenes of this episode, Crane/ Martian threatens Supergirl by saying there are plenty more White Martians to come. This certainly opens up the possibility of Miss Martian joining the Supergirl cast, but after the atrocities her people committed, Miss Martian would not be readily accepted.
Adam Foster has finally joined the Supergirl cast and within one episode has stolen my vote for a Kara/ Adam relationship. Kadam? Adra? Someone needs to make a ship name. Kara definitely meddled with things she shouldn’t have when sending a letter on Cat’s behalf to her long lost son, but the reconnection between Cat and Adam was fantastic. It’s so much fun to see Cat completely at a lost as what to do. Especially to the point where it’s Kara giving the advice and not Cat. The speech Cat give Adam about never being able to put his drawings on her fridge, about teaching him not to fear, and the regret that she ‘never got to be (his) mum’… I’m still recovering.
In addition to last week’s brilliant episode, Supergirl has once again hit the nail on the head. From Winn’s pain being delivered in one line to Cat’s longing speech to be Adam’s mother, the characters have started to run away with my emotions. I’m also very excited to see what other aliens Supergirl can bring to the table.
Quote of the Episode: I hate time… and space. (Kara)
