In the view of this writer, Supergirl has yet to recapture the glory of its first two seasons. The show has had its ups and downs in the time since, but bright spots such as Jon Cryer’s incredible performances as Lex Luthor aren’t always enough to make up for the producers going full-on Lisa Simpson by using their prime time slot as a political soapbox.
If you don’t believe me, then take a gander at the comments section of pretty much any Supergirl discussion on social media, and you’ll see at least a few people expressing discontent with the heavily political direction. As I’ve said in the past, having a strong moral center isn’t necessarily mutually exclusive with whichever way you lean on the political spectrum, something Hollywood would care to take note of.
Fortunately, the show will go in a different direction this fall, with what executive producer Jessica Queller calls their “Black Mirror season.” Elaborating on this notion was fellow executive producer Robert Rovner at San Diego Comic-Con, saying:
“This season will be about how technology impacts us, and how people use it to escape from what happens in their lives. We’re seeing how our villains use technology against us, and our heroes try to bring us back.”
Based on what we saw from season 5’s first trailer, Lena Luthor is apparently among those using technology to their advantage. After all, her eyes are lighting up and she’s able to physically stand up to the Girl of Steel.
As Rovner elaborated, I really had to concede that he makes a good point:
“What we’re looking at is how technology is impacting the way people engage and giving them an escape not to engage. It seems like nowadays, everyone is kind of on their phones or not really present, and so we wanted to speak to that and kind of how it might be hard to live in the ugliness of what’s going on, and how a character like Kara can try and help us overcome that. It speaks to a lot of the stuff the characters will be going through.”
Supergirl returns with new episodes on Sunday, October 6th on The CW. And when it does, I suspect this shadowy Leviathan organization will use technology to their own sinister ends.
