Supergirl – Childish Things Review
Kara does her best to support Winn when his father, the supervillain Toyman, breaks out of prison and seeks out his son for unknown reasons. Also, Cat offers Lucy a job at CatCo and Alex asks Hank to use his powers to help uncover Maxwell Lord’s plans, on SUPERGIRL, Monday, Jan. 18 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Henry Czerny guest stars as Winslow Schott, Sr., aka Toyman.
Supergirl may have returned two weeks ago, but we’re gonna count this as the official return since there won’t be a random break in a week. And what a return it was.
Tonight’s episode should have been titled “Sad Origins” as we learn a bit more about Wynn’s backstory (his dad is the villain of the week, Toyman) and learn a bit more about Hank/Martian Manhunter and why he is reluctant to embrace his alien identity on Earth. While the A and B-plot kept me engaged, the C-plot with James and Lucy Lane was less compelling. It’s something we’ve seen a 1000 times before, and more pressing it relegated Cat Grant to such a bit part of this episode.
That said, the plot involving Supergirl/Wynn/Toyman was some stellar stuff. A villain like the The Toyman is pretty one-note, and really not much of a threat to Supergirl (Especially since he is played much older in this version), but tying him into one of the core characters of the show gained a lot of emotional weight. You can see Wynn’s own struggles on the show reflected in his father’s backstory, something that the show is sure to point out to you by the end. The difference is that Wynn realizes this before it’s too late, but the result doesn’t go his way.
The action sequences take a backseat during the episode as well, but works better for the show. While I think it is improving, the fight choreographer hasn’t really caught up to the likes of Arrow nor The Flash yet. But the special effects are top-notch and we get plenty of usage out of Kara’s super breath!
Far away from Supergirl though, Alex and Hank try to look more into Max Lord’s doing. While Hank uses his powers to discover that Maxwell is working on something… sinister, it is Max who actually comes out ahead by the episode’s end. He still hasn’t fully formed yet, but finding Maxwell to be an intriguing villain/mastermind the more they reveal about him.
Review: Fun episode. Moves a lot of plots forward. Saddled by an unfortunate need to give all characters a story even when not related to the main plot.
