'Supergirl' Season 5 Episode 6 Review: 'Confidence Women' shifts the focus from Team Supergirl to explain the origin of Acrata
This review contains spoilers for 'Supergirl' Season 5 Episode 6 'Confidence Women'
'Confidence Women' takes the spotlight away from Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist). It has been the sort of a season where the ensemble cast has their storylines explained and there's less of 'Supergirl— Which does make sense if the writers are going to focus on the titular character as the 'Crisis' looms large.
For now, it has all been about Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath) and sharing ample screentime with her is Julie Gonzalo's Andrea Rojas, or should we say the deadly Acrata?
The episode takes us on a trip back in time to explain Lena and Andrea's friendship and its heartening to see how they bond. There's enough pop culture reference to 'Titanic' and that reference adds a lot to explain their friendship.
The introductory scene before the flashback reveals Andrea as Acrata and then becomes the journey back in time. Lena's dream is to find the Medallion of Acrata, an obsession passed on from mother to daughter, forward it to five years later, where the duo meet again with both in dire straits.
For Lena, it was about refusing Lex Luthor to kill Superman, and for her best friend, it was about her father's health and the distraught state of the company.
Lena explains the need to find the medallion and the duo set off on a trip to Costa Rica in search of the entity and Andrea is the one to find the medallion. Her ecstasy though is short-lived as an old man from the Leviathan shows up and instructs her to hold on to it, for her family's sake.
Four years further, Lena learns about the secret and feels betrayed (we all know how she feels with betrayals) while Andrea carries on with life, unperturbed by the Leviathan. Her relationship with Russell is explained and just when it looks like smooth sailing, the Leviathan shows up again.
In short, the episode serves as an origin tale for Acrata and by adding the bit about her friendship with Lena, it just strengthens the backstory making it a lot more believable.
The twist, however, comes in when it is revealed that Andrea has always possessed the powers and that the medallion was connected to the Leviathan in some way. Does this mean the Luthors had something to do with the organization?
Even if they did, why would it not be given to Lena since she had the plans to dig it up in the first place? The episode ends with a lot of questions and it most rightly should.
There is a lot of effort taken in the storyline to humanize Andrea and Lena, which works well with the plot. However, despite all this rush of information, it is still hard to connect the dots as to who and what the Leviathan really is.
For now, look at this as a Leviathan-centric episode. It does seem like this is an issue that needs to be sorted ahead of the imminent 'Crisis'.