In season four, Supergirl faces a bigger threat than she’s ever faced before – a new wave of anti-alien sentiment, spreading across National City that’s fomented by Agent Liberty. As Kara mentors a new reporter at CatCo, Nia Nal, and tries to use the power of the press to shine a light on the issues threatening to tear the city apart, Supergirl takes to the skies to battle the many villains who rise up in this era of divisiveness. But how does Supergirl battle a movement when she, herself an alien, represents one of the main things people are fearful of?
The first three seasons of “Supergirl” did a good job of building the character of Kara Danvers a/k/a Supergirl. The first season aired on CBS but they seemed to lose faith in the show and it was then picked up by The CW, which was a good thing because The CW is home to some of DC’s best television shows, “Arrow,” “The Flash,” “Legends of Tomorrow,” and the upcoming “Batwoman,” starring Ruby Rose. “Supergirl” fits right in and has already done some crossover episodes in “The Flash” and a big 4-night crossover event that included The Flash, Arrow, and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Melissa Benoist seems more relaxed as Supergirl and her supporting cast members are praiseworthy too.
In Season Four, much like her cousin Kal-El/Superman, Kara Danvers hides her Kryptonian persona by working as a journalist at CatCo Worldwide Media. She helps people in danger and also reports on the state of the country and of the world. When brother and sister, Otis and Mercy Graves (Robert Baker and Rhona Mitra), who used to work for Lex Luthor, attack an alien who goes by the name Dr. Vose (Vincent Gale) and steal an EMP from his lab. They end up using it against President Marsdin (Lynda Carter) just as she is about to mark the anniversary of her alien amnesty act at Camp David and during the attack, Otis and Mercy and their men attack the president but while she escapes relatively unscathed, journalists who were there to cover the event, capture her would-be assassination on camera and upon closer inspection, exposes the president as an alien.
With tensions around the country against aliens at an all-time high, President Marsdin steps down in the hopes of alleviating some of the hostility but things only get worse. Anti-alien sentiment rises and innocent aliens are attacked on a daily basis. Ben Lockwood (Sam Witwer) is a professor at a nearby university but when he and his family suffer a series of personal misfortunes and lose their home as a result of aliens taking jobs away from the men and women in his town, he snaps and his alter-ego, Agent Liberty, takes over. He takes it upon himself to start a civil war between the humans and the aliens and riles up the humans every chance he gets at a number of rallies. As Kara and her allies try to deal with the hatred building up around the country, Kara’s editor, James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks), also known as Guardian, a human superhero, decides to meet with the Children of Liberty, in the hopes that he will get the chance to talk with their leader, Agent Liberty but when he is taken hostage and forced to blow up a monument on Shelley Island, an immigration center for processing aliens, much like Ellis Island, and he discovers that Supergirl is trapped inside, he must make a decision that will have dire consequences, one way or the other.
Season Four is filled with non-stop action and twists galore. Just when you think you have one subplot figured out, another one comes along and takes you down a windy, twisty road, far away from where you thought the original story arc was going. This season represents a lot of what America is currently going through, with hateful anti-immigrant rhetoric and Trump wanting to build a wall to keep immigrants out, the show mirrors these exact sentiments and not just of Trump but those of many of his supporters as well. There will always be people for and against this argument and the show does a good job of putting forth both sides of the debate. We are also introduced to Nia Nal (Nicole Maines), or her code name, Dreamer, who has the ability to see into the future and who just happens to be the very first transgender superhero on TV. She makes an appearance early on but slowly and surely, she works her way into the series as she is going to have a much bigger part in the show as it progresses.
This is the first DC show I sat down to watch and I have to admit, I am thoroughly enjoying it. The advantage of watching these shows on Blu-ray is that you can bypass all the commercials and cliffhangers and watch them all at once. I actually enjoyed the 1984 film “Supergirl,” which starred a very young Helen Slater, who happens to make the occasional appearance here. The CW has done a great job in representing equality across the board with a diverse cast of characters and real-life actors and I genuinely can’t wait for Season Five.
Available on Blu-ray & DVD September 17th
