(Spoiler alert: Please do not read on if you haven’t watched Monday’s episode of “Supergirl”)
While “The Flash” crossed over to “Supergirl” to help her out with a major villain-of-the-week situation, it was only after Barry Allen went back to his own world that the real story on the CBS superhero drama got underway.
Throughout the entire episode, James (Mehcad Brooks) shot jealous looks at Kara’s (Melissa Benoist) instantaneous bond with Barry (Grant Gustin), while various supporting characters commented on the pair’s season-long will-they-won’t-they dance.
After some good advice and a parting hug from Barry, Kara finally made the first move, inviting James into her apartment and kissing him — only for him to turn into a mind-controlled robot as Myriad was finally unleashed.
The kiss was filled with Kara’s signature adorkable personality, as she tried to guess why James wasn’t responding.
“She’s the one who got the advice this week, Barry’s advice about when to go slowly and when to move fast really resonated with her,” executive producer Andrew Kreisberg told reporters after a screening of the episode. “She finally realized that they’ve had so many fits and starts throughout the year and so much of it was due because one or the other of them didn’t stop talking and just act.
“I forgot who pitched it in the [writers’] room, but just as they kiss, Myriad takes over, doing the gag of ‘Was it good? Not good? Too good?’ With Kara’s horrible reaction after finally making the first move, and he’s turned into a zombie, just felt like it had this Whedonesque pathos.”
The true nature of Myriad — a mind control of the masses — was the other big reveal of the episode, as James joined every other National City citizen (the alien Kara excluded) marching down the streets in unison, destination unknown.
“We always love it when the bad guys have a point,” Kreisberg said. “Next week Non actually gives a speech, where he says, ‘What has your free will gotten you? It’s gotten you reality TV and politicians who hate each other, and all of you are standing by while global warming is coming by to destroy your planet.’ What if everbody was working in lock-step? What if everybody was working in the same direction, working together? Wouldn’t that be better? Obviously, we can talk about how that’s horrible and we’ll be losing our free will and we’ll miss our reality shows, but he has a point of view that you could argue. That always makes the most compelling villains.”
Kara’s aunt Astra (Laura Benanti), who tried to implement Myriad on her home planet, has even more reason to believe her way is the right way.
“Astra tried to do Myriad on Krypton, and was arrested and thrown in jail,” Kreisberg explained. “She got out of jail and Krypton was destroyed. As far as Astra’s concerned, she was right. They didn’t listen to me and now they’re all dead. So she has proof-positive, at least from her perspective, that her plan might have saved Krypton, and her plan can save Earth.”
And Astra is not working alone.
“She has a couple of surprising players you wouldn’t expect, to be completely unaffected by Myriad, to help her,” Kreisberg teased.
“Supergirl” airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.