The Covid-shortened season of Supergirl comes to an end with episode 19 out of what was supposed to be 22. Like Flash and Batwoman, they were forced to end production early (although unlike those shows, the whole cast is coming back as far as we know), and improvise a finale out of what they had. I’m sure that’s just what David Harewood, who plays J’Onn, wanted for an episode he directed. Echoing an earlier Legends of Tomorrow episode, the title pays homage to a classic video game with “Immortal Kombat.”

The end begins with Lex finally getting what he wanted, being brought to Leviathan’s hidden ship by Gemma Cooper/Gamemnae. His visit gets a bit less pleasant for him when Rama Khan shows up and has taken steps to make Lex feel less than welcome. Gemma isn’t amused, and they bicker a bit before she manages to shield Lex from the negative effects of the ship’s defenses. Lex tries to salvage some dignity, and Rama basically tells him to sit down and shut up. Rama and two other fighters move to an alcove, charging up their powers with something that would probably upset Luke Fox over on Batwoman. At Kara’s apartment, things are tense between her and her former friend, then enemy, now all, Lena. Alex, J’Onn, M’gann, and Dreamer burst in, having misunderstood Kara’s summons, but she defuses the situation and manages to get everyone comparing notes. Lena is cooperative and contrite, Alex is bitter and sarcastic, and M’gann comes up with a plan to divert Rama and his immortal fighters. J’Onn is less than thrilled to do something he’s done in the past. Alex debuts her new costume which is… unique, and seems to have borrowed an important element from the Arrow costume of season one. After some amusing misunderstandings, they get their plan moving.

Gemma apologizes to Lex for his nearly being killed, and Lex manages to pump her for more information. It really must gall him when he learns something he deduced was wrong. She makes some ominous statements about the future. Outside, Lex joins Brainy in the limo, where they continue to disagree about Lex’s plans. Brainy is really unhappy to hear about the sequence of events as envisioned by the mad genius. Elsewhere in the city, Super-Decoys go into action, clashing with Rama and some of his not-so-merry men. While Kara and Lena take some more conventional transport, the fights rage on. Dreamer gets distracted by visions of her ex, and J’Onn gets hurt badly saving her. M’gann and Alex flee their attacker, with M’gann doing about as well with her powers as Steel usually does on Legends of Tomorrow.

Lena works to recreate something from the pre-Crisis world as the others straggle in from their fights. Alex gets a call from Kelly with some dire tidings about William. One of the best small beats of the episode is Alex scolding Kara for super-eavesdropping. Alex talks Kara out of doing something rash while Lena is stunned to hear Eve Tessmacher is floating around in the background again. While the sisters share a hug, Lena looks sad and very alone. Lex continues his plans with Gemma as Andrea gets drawn into their web, while Brainy goes to the alien bar (apparently called Al’s Dive Bar) to drink and talk to himself. He’s not happy, and has come to an important decision.

In an interesting scene I think they should have done differently, Lex addresses Obsidian users all over the world to hype up the big Unity Festival, while Andrea and Gemma look on. You know, Andrea, whose company this actually is? Why is she taking a back seat to Lex on something this big? Alex does a weird and sorta pointless Mission Impossible-style scene to get Kelly in to the database room so they can track down Eve. Lena becomes tech support to help them track down the strange blonde, and Alex talks about how helpless she felt in the earlier battle. Lena tries to talk with Kara and gets a lecture about Kara’s worries and her reasoning (again) for not sharing her big secret with Lena, some of which made sense. After some more talk, Supergirl and Lena both go after Eve. Speaking of, Eve has William held prisoner, and she ignores his heart-felt attempts to get her back on the light side. Supergirl technically arrives a moment too late for her usual rescue, and things get kind of ugly in terms of both wounds and treatment. In a series of quick events, William worries about Kara, Lena actually helps out the Girl of Steel, and the three big bads return for round two. There’s another big clash with Iron Supergirl and her Amazing Friends before everyone ends up retreating.

Rama and company return to revitalize themselves, and Brainy makes progress breaking in to their base. Supergirl and the others talk with Eve and try and figure out what to do next. They have been outmaneuvered and overpowered at every turn. Supergirl gives another moralizing talk to Eve, who finally throws in with the good guys and spills the news about the Unity Festival and Gemma’s plans. Dreamer and Miss Martian share a comic book joke about snack food before Dreamer talks about her relationship with Brainy and how torn up she is about what happened. M’gann gives her some advice she’s not ready to hear while Lena and Alex both give simultaneous encouragement to Supergirl about her next big task. Supergirl goes to give an important speech, Brainiac 5 enacts the next part of his plan, and J’Onn taunts the bad guys to get their attention. While that fight rages on, Lex does his best to keep control of Gemma. He manipulates her into taking steps with Andrea, and we get to see Acrata in action again. Andrea is shocked by what Gemma tells her, but the tech-goddess has leverage on the businesswoman to get her to cooperate. Supergirl gets some help from Lena while the others battle Rama and his sidekicks.

When Acrata comes to carry out her mission, Lena really steps up and earns herself a lot of points back towards the good side in my opinion. With some great timing, Supergirl’s speech finally starts reaching people as Brainy gets his plan to work, although at great cost. Most of the heroes celebrate their win while, unknown to them, Brainiac is in serious trouble. Lex gets another smug scene that really makes me want to punch him, a tribute to Jon Cryer’s performance. Dreamer finally starts to realize what’s happening with her dream-flashes (although I note she’s not falling asleep for these anymore), but it might be too late. Supergirl and Lena manage to finally start mending fences, while something unexpected happens with Gemma. The final scene is Lex bringing something important and powerful to an ally that will have no qualms at all about helping him in his evil schemes. The season ends, like Flash’s did, with the dreaded TO BE CONTINUED.

 

What I liked: They managed to cram a lot into this hour, and it more or less worked as a finale. I’m glad Brainy finally saw that working with Lex was a bad plan, and am glad he was back to his heroic self. Brainy’s choice of who to confide in near the end was an interesting one. It was great seeing the high-power team together of Dreamer, J’Onn, and M’gann. I’m glad we’re finally, maybe, hopefully, seeing the end of the Kara/Lena drama. Jon Cryer is really impressive as Lex.

 

What I didn’t: There were a few odd scenes involving the big fights. I don’t like Alex’s new costume and am not sure about some of her choices, especially given her stated reasons for putting it on. Dreamer’s power is getting very inconsistent.

 

They did a decent job trying to salvage what they could from what they got dealt. I’ll give this a 3.5 out of 5, and a 3 out of 5 for the season. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when they come back.