MOS 96 - S5E7 - Tremors

"Tremors" brings us a lot of relationships that have very shaky foundations get shaken - not stirred - up to find out what's really at the heart of the matter. We had everything from shrieking hysteria to submission and forgiveness. If you weren't emotionally ready, this episode might have earthquaked you right off of your couch!

Lena Shoots, She Scores!!!!!!

The uber creepy Leviathan lady, that we find out is "Margot," arrives in Lena's penthouse to collect the medallion that was so hotly contested in last week's episode. Lena has a force field, duhhhhhhh, and so Margot retreats. Hope is there, duhhhhhhhhh, and inquires of Lena why she continues to provoke Leviathan over something that has no inherit value anymore. Lena replies that not only does it have sentimental value it will work toward her plan to find what she needs to put Project Non Nocere (Do No Harm) into place. She will keep putting herself in danger and Supergirl will save her! At a ceremony in a local park, sure enough, Rama Kahn introduces himself in broad daylight and demands the medallion. Lena activates her Supergirl call-signal watch and leaps off the cliffs. Supergirl grabs her in the nick of time and heat visions Rama Kahn into retreat. Later at the DEO Brainy puts together that Rama Kahn is an ancient alien that has enormous power to inflict world destroying events. The team needs someone who's fought powerful aliens and has the right tech to do it - which is really funny because that's exactly what Lena needs to. Huh! This sounds like a job for Lex Luthor! Lena knows that Lex's toys are all at Fort Summit but his big time stuff was destroyed for sure. I mean, right?! Supergirl pipes in that no, actually, Lex's stuff along with everything that can hurt the Super-Cuzzes are held at the Fortress of Solitude. Lena offers to make a shopping list but Supergirl just invites her to come with! Girl time!!! Lena is awestruck at the Fortress and is dumbstruck at the quantum processor that runs the whole thing - except hold on the awe and dumb. After the "L-protocol" nearly starts trying to take Lena out she turns around and manipulates the processor to do what she wants. The two start Kryptonian Assault Weapon Amazon shopping through the inventory and come across a tiny gun that Lex keeps under his wigs. Okay, HAAAAAAA! Lena also comes across the Myriad weapon. Remember that from Season 1? (Seriously, why are all of these things kept on cold storage?) Because Lena was still in Metropolis during all of those Astrid-Non shenanigans, Supergirl explains that the weapon made all of National City into human zombies. Lena drools. And she also finds an alien cannon disruptor thingamajig. Rama Kahn shows up and he and Supergirl come to mutual dissatisfaction of each other and Supergirl ends up getting the best of him along with aforementioned Lena and the thingamajig. Lena runs off hoping she can grab Myriad and get away with her other Lex toy, the transportal watch, but Supergirl finds her and asks what she's doing with Myriad. Lena says, "Well, you've found me out. I've been using you, like you've been using me." And here come the histrionics. They start slow but crank up quickly. Lena unloads everything that she's been knowing, feeling, planning. All of it. She tells Supergirl that she knew because Lex told her - on the day that she killed her own brother. Supergirl thinks she killed Lex, but actually finds out that he landed in the cabin from his and Lena's very disturbed childhood and that Lena was there with the loaded gun. She knew he had to be stopped and that she needed to protect her friends. Those friends who, as it turns out, Lex revealed to her, knew about Kara and Supergirl being one and the same. Supergirl asks why she didn't come to her. Betrayal!! Lena says she told Kara she didn't want to trust anyone but Kara wouldn't let up and so she let her in, Kara saying "ad nauseum" that she would never lie or betray Lena. Lena shrieks "I killed my brother for you!" and then turns the L-protocol on to trap Supergirl and subject her to low-level Kryptonite. She says she won't kill Supergirl, that "she's not a villain. You shouldn't have treated me like one." and walks through the portal back to National City. Supergirl is trapped with tears streaking down her face.

Alex's Blown Up Day

After Brainy figures out that Rama Khan ("Think God for this selfie generation.) is on the scene the two Fortress field-trippers go off to get weapons while Alex and Brainy will keep looking for RK and Rip Roar as well. They get a confirmation signal on Rip Roar and go to the spot, only for it to be a trap and a bomb. Brainy gets a nasty gash on one of his receptors and Alex comes away with a dizzying concussion. Alex is rather perturbed that Leviathan would put Rip Roar out there for no good reason but Brainy says they can use the armor to put clues together. Back at the DEO, Alex is recuperating and Kelly shows up. Alex should have called her to let her know that she was OK, but she didn't so Kelly started going down worst case scenario territory since her fiancée died before. Kelly is ready to break things off with Alex to protect herself but Brainy interrupts because the gash in his head has made him come to the answer even quicker. He and Alex rush off to the building that is close to the National City tar pits that also has the signal that Brainy has identified as Leviathan's logo. It's also close by to his favorite coffee shop and his Tuesday morning Pilates. Anywho, the two go into the building but Gemamnae (see notes below) disguises where Leviathan actually is and the two leave. Later that evening Alex goes to find Kelly and tells her that she was in a hurting place when Kelly came on the scene and helped her heal. She wants to offer the same to Kelly. Kelly asks what if they can't fix what's wrong and Alex answers that they will because "you feel like home. You feel like home too." They kiss and start on their healing journey.

Leviathan Took Out The Dinosaurs - What The Heck?!

Margot goes to report in that she could not get the medallion from Lena Luthor. Rama Khan is irritated, it was a simple task; but, alas, Lena is not a simple target. We're also introduced to Gemamnae (although never named in the episode, only from the end credits) and we are not introduced to their direct relationship. We do learn from Mitch Pileggi's excellent expository tone that their ship, as big as an asteroid, crashed on Earth, wiping out the dinosaurs. Dude, I already really don't like these aliens! Everything was peachy until these pesky human beings started mucking about and screwing everything up. "The Elder" left Rama Khan and Gemamnae as caretakers of the Earth and so today we have Leviathan. Also it would seem that Rama Khan is an earth-bender and that he has the ability to sense-find anyone anywhere on the planet because, as he claims in the Fortress of Solitude, "I Am The Earth!"

J'onn's Brother Really Sux, Except Now He's A Superfriend

J'onn suffers another psychic attack that feels like Malefic except it can't be him because they sent him back to the Phantom Zone, and he feels guilty about that because that's now the third time he has locked him away somewhere. J'onn tries to conjure up M'yrnn and succeeds. M'yrnn tells J'onn he is sensing Malefic because he's still here. J'onn's like "in my mind," and M'yrnn's like, "no, across town." Martian humor, amirite?! M'yrnn takes on the burden of the decisions that have led to where Malefic is now and tries to alleviate J'onn's guilt over helping his father who was suffering with this horrible choice of what to do with Malefic. He tells J'onn that he must decide to either open himself up to Malefic and take what's coming or banish him away to the Phantom Zone for good. Either way he will lose no love or support from M'yrnn. J'onn goes to Malefic with the Phantom Zone projector but turns it off. He says that he will open his mind to Malefic so he can see that J'onn had the right motives, even if they ended up hurting his brother. J'onn kneels and begs for forgiveness knowing that Malefic can now reach in and destroy his mind. Malefic says he will go in and see and then kill J'onn. He sees the flood of memories from J'onn's point of view and is left stunned by the hatred and revenge that was driving him for so long. Malefic extends his hand and the brothers embrace.

Closing Thoughts

Words matter, kids. When you start throwing out phrases like "you used me," "you betrayed me," "you shouldn't have treated me like a villain," you better have really good justification for it. Lena throws out that Supergirl is such a great actress, all those times that Lena was saving who she thought was her fragile friend. In fact, Lena is the one who is fact acting. We can parse the words and the phrases and find evidence for and against all of them. This Season is about the fight for Lena's soul. Supergirl begs her not to take Myriad and use it because Lena is a "good person." Lena's response of "No, you don't get to tell me what I am anymore!" comes from a place of hurt and sheer emotion that is altogether without reason and logic. Can Supergirl and we hold this tirade against Lena in the end? I don't know, how far is she willing to go to prove her independence and superiority in a different way than how Lex did it, but from the same motivations? It's hard to get the Luthor out of the girl, folks. I will always want Lena to be the non-Luthor but the powers-that-be seem to be pressing other buttons. Otherwise, I'm happy to be gaining more understanding of Leviathan and am thrilled for the Mitch Pileggi and Cara Buono duo of Rama Khan and Gemamnae. I'm also thrilled that the story line of the Martian bros turned out for the good. Was this the Monitor's plan all along because we're going to need Malefic on the heroes' side for the upcoming Crisis? Hmmmmmmmm… Finally, I'm not rooting for the Alex/Kelly ship because of Kelly's past damage plus Alex's distracted DEO decision making. If they start turning this into a healthy dynamic with appropriate work/life boundaries then of course I'll get in the boat. Right now though, not so much. One more episode to wrap up the 2019 Supergirl year and then "Crisis!"