'Supergirl' Recap: 'Welcome to Earth'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

As the second season of Supergirl continues to unfold before our eyes, one thing is becoming inherently clear; this year is going to be a year of firsts for the show. After all, last week was the first time we saw the series introduce a truly vicious and powerful villain and this week, the series went to a place that it had never gone before, the world of social commentary. 

Granted we've seen this series look at the human condition on a fairly regular basis, analyzing our hopes and our fears and the greater challenges we often face within and quite frankly, it's worked well for the show, allowing for messages of empowerment and teamwork and unity to stand out and keep the series rolling in positive fashion. But last night, the series delved into some darker territory, taking the time to analyze one of the hottest topics in America right now; immigration, and when all was said and done, the show did quite a fantastic job of taking this topic head on without delivering it to us in heavy handed fashion. 

In fact, the show was able to handle this topic by way of its characters and its story because 'Welcome to Earth' revolved around a ceremonious event; the arrival of the President of the United States in National City. The purpose of her visit was simple, to sign into effect an Alien Amnesty Law, giving the many interplanetary citizens now roaming the world the same rights as the humans they live amongst and well, that set the stage for the discussion. After all on one end, you had J'onn J'ozz upset with potentially giving criminal aliens more access to just about everything on this planet and on the other hand you had Supergirl who thought this was an outright wonderful idea, or so we thought. Because the mysterious alien that fell to earth a couple of weeks ago finally awoke and after a touch of hostility, he escaped into the night and was immediately seen as a criminal. 

That mattered because from the moment the President arrived, she was under fire from an alien with heat vision and well, the visitor, later revealed to be named Mon-El, was the prime suspect. Why exactly, well that came more from Kara, because Mon hailed from another planet in the same system as Krypton, Daxam and well...on Krypton the inhabitants of that planet were viewed as intergalactic thugs. It was a jarring experience to see Kara suddenly resort to slang and fury when speaking of his kind, but therein lie the lesson. That kind of disdain for others is taught, and despite the fact that Supergirl stands for more on this world, she was raised to see Daxamites as...less than ideal beings. Of course in the end Mon-El turned out to be another refugee on earth and in reality a different alien that saw the Amnesty Act as an opportunity to have her every move tracked on this planet was discovered to be the failed assassin before being defeated and the story ended in the only way it can on television, in the happiest of fashion.

Either way, kudos to the show for taking such a topic head on, and even more kudos to the fact that they didn't slam an answer down our throats, they simply reminded all of us of the fact the real answer to such matters is to put our differences aside and treat people with respect and understanding and the rest will follow. It's another beautiful message from another beautiful episode and if the show is starting to embolden itself to tackle our world, one has to wonder what else they have in store for us as the season progresses. But before we go, we do need to take a moment and geek out because the show did feature some pretty awesome moments as well. Case in point, Lynda Carter as the President was an outright amazing decision and please tell me everyone caught that awesome Wonder Woman reference at the end, and despite the beautiful lessons learned here, the final moment of the show, that featured a little surprise about the President is a big deal and we will have to wait and see as to what will come out of the fact that we now know that she just so happens to also be an alien. Until next time.

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