The final season of Supergirl has been uneven, and that might be kind. There have been some truly abysmal episodes, and a few decent, but not great ones. We’re back to the “decent” side of things, which is at least better than horrible. I will say they managed a shocking ending I hadn’t heard even a whisper about, so points for that. There’s a lot going on in “Truth or Consequences” which I’d argue has the wrong preposition in it, but that’s another story.

In the Tower, we learn that Lex is building an army of those armored suits of his to help Nyxly in her plans for conquest and domination, which understandably worries the heroes. William is bringing them this news courtesy of his unexpected meeting with Otis, which they rightfully doubt. In a case of what I’d argue might be misplaced priorities, while Lena tries to track the Lex-suits, the others make arrangements for Alex’s bachelorette party, which is even weirder since Kelly’s going to be there. That’s not how those things work. I get seizing what fun you can in life, but this seems like really odd timing to me. Troubles stack up as the news reports some embarrassing material from Lex’s private journals has been published under William’s byline, Esme had some kind of trouble at school, and William dashes out the door looking extremely displeased.

In other news, Mitch points out the news coverage about the journals, Nyxly is mildly annoyed, and Lex is simmering with wrath. Nyxly, psycho that she is, liked some of what Lex wrote, but turns down an offer to see the army he’s building because she wants the Truth totem and the crystal ball isn’t working. At CatCo, Andrea is chattering away on the phone in Spanish because the writers suddenly remembered she’s a Latina, I guess, when William comes storming in. We learn exactly what the story is behind the piece on Lex’s journals, and it really is reprehensible. William gives Andrea a lecture that I’m surprised didn’t get him fired, and he stalks off. While Andrea glares at William’s back, Brainy gets disturbing news from the future, shares some of it, and Lena finally finds the missing battle suits. The team runs headlong into an ambush, Brainy pulls off some spectacular movies, Nyxly almost ends the team, but Dreamer saves them, while Supergirl and J’Onn, the two most powerful and probably experienced heroes (I’m not sure how long Brainy was with the Legion before he came here), don’t really do much.

Back at the Tower, Brainy explains how the Totems reform, J’Onn offers some decent advice that troubles Brainy, and Nyxly rails at her boyfriend from the future for not seeing the most recent battle coming. Lex gives her some good advice she doesn’t want to hear, and then they get a lead. Alex and Kelly clean Esme up after her incident at school, and both prove remarkably dense on several levels about what’s going on. Brainy, back on the Legion cruiser, has a long conversation with himself in which we learn what fate awaits him in the future, and it’s not at all good news. Nyxly and Lex get to the next Totem unopposed, and Nyxly proves to be getting better at these tests. We still don’t know why Supergirl failed the first test when it appeared she did everything right, Either they’re saving that for the finale or they forgot about it. Even money at this point.

Alex and Kelly bring Esme to the Tower for a test that seems really unnecessary, and Alex and Supergirl have an argument about what to do for/about Esme. Supergirl offers some insight and Alex blows up at her, which seems out of character and like a big overreaction. Trying to dream up the location of their enemies, Dreamer instead sees some flashes about what’s happening with Brainy, and goes to confront him. He tells her some of what’s happening, and reminds her that he has to go back to his time and she has to stay here. It’s not a happy scene. Lex offers Nyxly some baked goods and talks about the future. Provoked, she uses the newest Totem on him and finds out something surprising. I’m a bit surprised myself. She even makes a joke at the end of the scene. Andrea, apparently mulling over what William said, decides to video call Lena and look for some reassurance. Lena offers pleasantly phrased truth and some advice, which isn’t quite what Andrea wanted.

Supergirl comes back to the Tower between patrols, because coms and J’Onn’s powers aren’t working or something? I guess? She reports a lack of success and is about to take off again when J’Onn steps into his wise elder role and gets her to talk about what’s bothering her, and then suggest she clears things up with Alex before the party. Because that’s still happening. William returns to the Tower, having done more stress baking, and has another adorable scene with Esme. We learn something about his background that I, at least, didn’t know, and he offers her some good advice. There’s a lot of advice in this episode. Supergirl goes to Alex, following J’Onn’s advice, and Alex reveals in detail just how stupid she’s being about Esme’s latest incident.

The team gets another lead about where Mitch’s constantly moving ship is this time, and they go, walking into, you guessed it, another ambush. I’m not clear on why Kara is wearing her armor, as powered Kryptonians do just fine in space, but she is, and gets a cool scene when she busts her way out of it later. I guess that’s why? There’s a lot of fighting, a lot of the heroes not doing so well, a surprising act from Lex, and what appears to be a fatality of a supporting character. William asks J’Onn some questions, Supergirl flies in and tells him things she doesn’t want him to report, which seems like an odd choice, and there’s good news from Esme’s school. A minor wrinkle about the party gets sorted out by William being the nice guy he is, and Supergirl gets a chance to talk to Alex. Alex’s earlier overreaction is explained, at least a bit, and they make up. We learn the seeming fatality didn’t happen after all, because two of the worst villains we’ve ever seen were more concerned about saving a life than the heroes were. Nyxly and Lex get another annoyingly cute scene together, and they have a way to find another Totem. Seriously, what is the point of this love story? To bring Lex back? To show that even monsters can love someone? It’s a weird ongoing choice and radically out of character for both of them.

At the party, there are questionable drinks, and much dancing. Brainy slips away to mope and Nia goes to make him feel better. J’Onn sits in a corner because he’s busy doing psychic things and letting the kids have fun. While Dreamer and Brainy show a love story that works, unlike the Lex/ Nyxly mess, Esme and William spend more time baking (seriously, are they training the kid to be a caterer or something?). William sees something bad and tells Esme to hide and grabs a weapon that will do no good. Hey, let’s not alert the folks with powers that include superspeed there’s a problem. Nyxly goes to find Esme, and Lex torments William. William decides the best thing to do with his phone is record all this while Lex isn’t looking. Sure. Ok. That’s a thing you can do. Finally, the villains leave with their quarry and Lex gets the final word in his argument with William after an old Columbo style exit (look it up). During all this, William gets in a speech that sounded a lot like a certain old man standing up to a God of Mischief in another heroic universe. Lex gets in a lot of boasting about always being a step ahead, and he seems to be right. William sends a hurried video message off, still not calling for help.

The party breaks up when Alex gets a delayed email, also courtesy of Lex. Except Lex shouldn’t have known to delay this, because he didn’t know something important until later in the episode. At any rate, the team rushes back to the Tower and finds some shocking things. Andrea gets an email that’s going to haunt her for the rest of her life if she has anything approaching a conscience. And the show ends on a very sorrowful note.

What I liked: The ending shocker made sense but seemed to come out of nowhere. It actually worked. Andrea reaching out to Lena made sense, as, so far as we know, Lena’s the only one that can stand her. Or is her only friend. Or both. Brainy got some cool moves in one of the fights, although I’m not quite sure how some of that worked. William telling off Andrea was great and long overdue.

What I didn’t: The villains saved a life the heroes didn’t get to or forgot about. That’s just deeply, deeply flawed. The save also seemed like a last minute retcon or the writers going, “Oh, hey, we forgot this, let’s just toss in a line.” I’m not sure when that save supposedly happened. What’s being asked of Brainy in the future is very odd and seems wrong. Why didn’t William call for help? How did Alex and Kelly manage to miss what was happening with Esme? The Lex/ Nyxly love story just isn’t working for me.

This was better than some of the recent episodes, but that’s a low bar. I’ll give this a low 3 out of 5. I really hope the two part finale picks up  little.