That was a return back to the fairly bland and mediocre unfortunately as I'm just really not into the preachy type of episodes that a few US shows, superheroes included, seem to like to knock out every now and then.
I think the idea behind it was good but the execution wasn't. Kara's never been shown before to be struggling with her moral compass as such so I didn't really buy into the big dilemma of the DEO/Guantanamo Bay narrative when it came to Max Lord. He is a danger and just because the DEO normally houses aliens, does it mean it can't extend its services to remove a dangerous human?
Obviously they were contrasting with the Master Jailer aka Judge Dredd crossed with John Diggle's Spartan and a bit of Magneto thrown in when it came to that costuming, taking matters into his own hands to off the dangerous Fort Rozz escapees - shame he's not gone after Non and his team yet eh?!
And that was a whole other level of out of place as well. Non stops being super psycho long enough to mourn his wife, yeah I can buy that because they've always shown him as being not only commanded by Astra as his General and superior officer but also deferring to her as his beloved wife. But the whole "come and do her funeral cos you're the only girl left" just seemed to be thrown in to make Kara go on and hate Hank all over again and we just know where that's going when she finds out it was Alex.
Cat's scene with James did work though and rang true, certainly for me as someone with an almost 20 year journalism career! Sometimes the pressure to bury a story can be immense and it's having the guts to do what you know is right in publishing something you know is going to have epic repercussions. It went a long way, even if it was a story narrative circumstance exposition to give James the push about why he needed to speak to Kara, to explaining why Cat is often the centre of the show while things mirror off around her.
In fact this comment on the AVClub review summed it up for me in terms of the "exposition-ness" of it, they could have made the same point i.e. he hospitalised the wife, without having it reach fatality levels:
Quote:
“I like that Cat and James get a bonding moment about ethics in journalism, but her monologue about failing to expose an abusive celebrity just didn’t work for me. Calista Flockhart delivered it well, but I think the reveal that the actor went on to murder his wife just felt like too much of an escalation.”
But one of the things we did make me laugh and gives this week's episode an extra point, was the shout out to Call the Midwife, which had me giggling so it's a 6.5 this week.
Oh, and our introduction to Siobahan Smythe and where that character's going was amusing.