While Supergirl lies in a Kryptonite-induced coma, the story flashes back to Ben Lockwood’s transformation into Agent Liberty. Here is a review of the Supergirl episode “Man of Steel.”
REVIEW:
“When innocent people are being attacked, it’s not about balance. It’s about justice.” A mere one episode after Nia uttered these powerful words, Supergirl opted to take the side of balance instead of justice as it explored the big bad’s villain origin story in a divisive episode not among the series’ best. Not only did it give credibility to a genocidal agenda, but it failed to utilize characters long overdue for an impactful storyline. This season started off so strong, but this episode represents the antithesis of the message they set out to send.
Given how closely this season’s threat parallels the current state of America, it feels unnecessary and dangerous to flesh out the rationale behind this air of hate. Many of us, if not most of us, have contact with individuals, whether family, friends, or coworkers, who possess this attitude against immigrants because of the job market, fear of attacks, or nothing at all. We, as a country, already know what excuses people use to justify their skepticism and dislike of outsiders, of aliens. Ben Lockwood’s story wasn’t surprising enough or unique enough to offer a new perspective on the topic. It didn’t teach us more about this mindset than we already knew. It attempted to make us understand him. But to create understanding is to create justification and justification means it’s reasonable, it’s okay. I feel like I shouldn’t have to say this, but murder is not an acceptable solution to your problems. The fact that no one pointed that out in this episode is troubling.
I’m all for balanced reporting, for exploring all sides of an issue… when appropriate. When innocent people of a minority are being judged and targeted simply for being who they are then balance is not worth the price of anyone’s life. To give hatred the spotlight is to give these people power and fuel. It’s only beneficial to explore the oppressor’s position in order to stop it or to solve it.
My biggest issue with this episode is that it didn’t do a clear enough job of deconstructing and condemning Ben’s prejudice. It presented the descent into hatred without ending the episode in a way that provides insight into how to use this knowledge of his backstory in order to defeat his mindset and without showing the cracks in his logic. There was no one countering the fact that just because some aliens made his life difficult, not all aliens were to blame, especially in this instance when they come from a variety of planets, some having lost just as much as he has and are just looking for a fresh start. There was no one countering the fact that just because Agent Liberty is attacking who he perceives as a threat, that doesn’t mean he’s actually helping humans who have been impacted like he claims he wants to do. There was no one showing him and us that this hatred is learned and chosen, not innate.
Sure, we know Agent Liberty is the antagonist of this season, but by placing him as the protagonist of this episode, the episode blamed aliens for turning Ben into Agent Liberty rather than his own decisions. A rough life or a life filled with loss does not have to make you a villain, nor does your family’s mindset need to be your own. Look at Kara, Winn, and Lena. They all have relatives who’ve tried to destroy the world or gone on a murder spree and look how great they turned out. They became their own heroes and heroes to other people, often times without expecting anything in return.
It would have helped to re-solidify Ben as the antagonist to see someone go through the same things that he did and turn out differently. Someone, like his coworker or his son, whose life was also impacted negatively by aliens, but instead of resorting to genocide, they took an approach that would actually benefit the human population, such as working to include alien attacks in insurance policies or creating jobs to rebuild lost homes and businesses. It needed a scene to clearly state that this path was the wrong one.
I understand that the show needed to create a storyline with minimal Kara/Supergirl to accommodate Melissa Benoist’s Broadway run, but focusing on a character whose real face we’ve never seen before is not a surefire way to grab and maintain the audience’s attention. To be fair, Sam Witwer did some solid acting this episode and convincingly portrayed both mundane family-man Ben and impassioned, slightly unhinged Agent Liberty. However, there are plenty of stories to explore with the series regulars that could have filled an hour, especially with a storyline about Kara’s loved ones trying to save her.
It seemed unbelievable that Alex, a doctor of bioengineering and expert in alien physiology, did no tests and had no ideas on how to save her favorite person. Even if she wouldn’t have had enough time to succeed, she still would have spitballed any and every Hail Mary she could think of to buy her sister more time. Alternately, Alex has stepped into a new position since last season, but we’ve barely seen a storyline with her as the director of the DEO. What challenges to protecting the city is she facing with Supergirl in a coma? What security measures is she putting into place since there still seems to be an issue with people stealing from a top secret government organization? Is she continuing with J’onn’s plan to phase out deadly weapons? Or is that no longer the goal?
If the writers were dead set on exploring Agent Liberty’s origin, it could have been done from the perspective of Mercy and Otis Graves since we’re at least familiar with them and this angle could have also involved more of the Luthors. Plus, I feel like the Graves would stage a demonstration or orchestrate an attack after setting off the Kryptonite dispersal device to make sure Supergirl is really down for the count rather than sitting back and waiting around.
This episode was an opportunity to highlight the supporting characters in ways they were not utilized last season and follow up on storylines that haven’t been touched upon since June. There’s still a story to be told with Lena and the black rock, with James and whatever is happening with Guardian, and with J’onn following his father’s wishes. Speaking of J’onn, he still hasn’t found his missing friend. Who was Fiona? And why was she targeted? What was her history with Agent Liberty? That’s a storyline I’m interested in seeing along with more of what J’onn is doing amongst the people, although it sounds like that may be coming next episode.
ODDS AND ENDS:
– R.I.P. Russian Kara? Or is she like Bizarro Supergirl and not weakened by the green rock?
– How long has Lena been working on that suit? Did she intend to develop it for Superman when Lex started his reign of terror? Did she whip it up once she learned her mother was a member of Cadmus? Or when she started making Kryptonite to use against Reign to protect Supergirl in case things got out of hand? Whatever the case, I’m really glad she didn’t follow Lex’s suggestion and make it pink.
– I realize they were trying to be clever with the title of this episode because Ben is a man of the steel industry, but Ben stands for everything that the Man and the Girl of Steel stand against. Both the Supers would be appalled at the comparison.
– Lena (to Ben): Blaming other people for your problems, you will just end up like my brother.
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Was wondering if people would take this issue with the political subtext. On one hand, I’d like to keep an open mind since this episode sets up the villain, for later episodes to surely deal with taking him down a peg. On the other hand, as I’m reminded when they try talking about computers, this show is & always has been written by old neoliberals pretending to be down with the kids, & the “reach out to middle America” argument is their bread & butter. So, I’m frankly expecting to hear a lot more about Liberty’s middle class white man pain, even though there’s really no evidence this is the source of radicalization or the pattern it follows.
Heck, if it wants to be an allegory, the villains should be a disorganized & bumbling group with a lot of infighting that get what they want because law enforcement is at best too lazy to deal with them & at worst sympathetic, & Liberty should be some teenage loner who watched pro-Cadmus vloggers on YouTube before being recruited.
But on the other other hand, sympathizing with the villain was set up as a major plot point last season, & look at all the nowhere that went. Still, on the penultimate hand, I did enjoy the show actually reaching through its recent history for a story, for a change. So often, it just completely disregards plot points it sets up in prior seasons to pull some new contrivance out of its S. On the final hand, it did plenty of that too.