'Supergirl' Season 5 Episode 3 review: Kara breaks the rules for Lena as J'Onn uncovers his darkest secret
This episode contains spoilers for 'Supergirl' Episode 3: 'Blurred Lines'
Season 5 of 'Supergirl' has had interesting titles and each of them in some way relates to the character arcs of the key personalities. 'Event Horizon' was about Malefic's return from the point of no return, while 'Stranger Beside Me' referenced to a bit of Alex-Kelly's relationship. 'Blurred Lines' follows the same pattern.
The Malefic threat continues in the episode while there is also a storyline of Kara (Melissa Benoist) repairing her relationship with Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath). The mystery surrounding Staz Nair's Willam Dey also gets highlighted.
Recap
The episode picks up at a club where William confronts a man called Dr. Jarrid. The latter walks out on William and goes on to make out with a spider-tattooed woman in the restroom when a spider from her tattoo comes to life and crawls into Jarrid's chest killing him. At the other end, Kara, Alex (Chyler Leigh), Kelly (Azie Tesfai ) and James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks) are still discussing the threat Malefic poses.
Lena (Katie McGrath) is still figuring out a way to get the Q waves to rewrite brain waves in addition to reading them. Eve/Hope reveals that Lex Luthor was working on the project and has journals that were securely locked up in a vault in a military facility. Meanwhile, the editors meeting at CatCo sees someone throw in an idea to investigate Dr. Jarrid's murder, however, it is shot down by William.
Nia (Nicole Maines) visits J'Onn (David Harewood) hoping that her dream powers may help in getting back the Martian Manhunter's lost memories. Malefic isn't far behind when he shapeshifts into Pete Andrews (Sean Astin), a friend of Kelly and claims he needs help. Elsewhere, Kara is also prepping for her lunch with Lena and confides in her about how things have taken a drastic turn at work. Lena confesses about the tumultuous time since Lex's death and expresses the need to get his journals, which Kara agrees to do so. James is investigating Dr. Jarrid's murder and Kara discovers a spider tattoo in the doctor's heart.
J'Onn realizes that Malefic has a different skillset from the green Martians and was cut off from them. This resulted in their father abandoning the son in an unknown place. When J'Onn tries to come back and rescue him at a later point in time, he sees that Malefic was already corrupted by the White Martians. The pain Malefic suffered ended with his and J'onn's minds being wiped of this memory, an act equivalent to murder in Martian culture.
At the DEO, Alex explains the tattoos are an alien life form that uses people as hosts. The new host is a woman named Caroline O'Connor, a former sniper who was hired to kill Dr. Jarrid. Kara goes to investigate and ends up in a scrimmage with Caroline who is eventually subdued by James with a power dampener. However, she gets away after attacking him. Alex alerts Kara about Caroline's next target, but the former is murdered by a shadowy force before she reveals who she works for.
Nia, in her attempt to help J'Onn, shows him the rest of the memories and it is seen that J'Onn was the one who mind-wiped Malefix so as to ease his pain. Meanwhile, Kara goes to Fort Summit and retrieves Lex's journals for Lena. Trouble brews at Obsidian when Kelly realizes Pete is Malefic and attacks her. J'Onn shows up to save her and soon after it is shown that Kelly can see Malefic due to a link created with the Obsidian treatment. James decides to get Kelly out of the picture for a brief period.
Review
Another strong episode as 'Supergirl' tells a story with a tightly-woven plotline. The episode ensures that Lena and Kara's friendship still stays as an integral part of this season's storyline. That Kara bends the rules for Lena is an attempt to showcase how desperate the Girl of Steel is to make amends. The 'Crisis' is yet to be built up, and we can expect more of Leviathan over the course of the series.
'Supergirl' airs Sundays 9 pm on The CW.