Supergirl: The Complete Third Season

Review by KC Carlson

I unfortunately had a lot of issues with Supergirl: The Complete Third Season. Those of you who remember me from a previous life as an editor for DC Comics (hired specifically to edit The Legion of Super-Heroes, among other things) can probably guess where this is going. I wasn’t crazy about a lot of things regarding the Legion’s storyline. (Like how three characters can be a Legion of anything!?) But I do have to say that it was nice seeing them somewhere, since DC Comics themselves can’t seem to be bothered to actually publish any new LSH comic book series for the past few years. Can it really be possible that their last couple of appearances were shared with Bugs Bunny and Batman ’66? (And those probably just to keep the trademark alive.)

(ahem) Anyway…

(The studio, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, provided me with a free review copy of this Blu-ray set. My opinions below are mine.)

One of the better things that happened in Supergirl Season Three is that the great supporting cast got to do some really interesting things this season —- especially Supergirl’s adoptive sister Alex Danvers (played by Chyler Leigh) who went through a devastating break-up (and eventual split) with her partner (Maggie Sawyer, played by Floriana Lima), shortly before their wedding. Then Alex got injured, but that bad thing turned good, since we got to see more of Kara and Alex spending time together.

Meanwhile, Alex’s partner at the D.E.O., Hank Henshaw (a disguise of J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter), is played by David Harewood, who also plays the real Henshaw when he turns up as the Cyborg Superman. (Thank goodness that these shows aren’t confusing at all!) Anyway, this season J’onn has to take care of his ailing father M’yrnn, played by another wonderful character actor. You probably know Carl Lumbly from the Alias TV series or the ultra-quirky film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai. It’s amazing to watch these characters start as estranged strangers to each other and end up so close by learning from each other. Excellent acting and writing here!

As mentioned previously, the Legion of Super-Heroes feature throughout the season. Mon-El (played by Chris Wood) went away last season and now returns to Earth, apparently not by his choice. And — surprise! — he’s not alone. His new wife Imra (aka Saturn Girl, played by Amy Jackson) is with him. Supergirl is understandably confused by all this, but she ends up welcoming the 30th Century technology that helps heal her wounds.

Brainiac 5 (played by Jessie Rath) then arrives to help. (Old comic book fans realize that Kara and Brainy used to be an item!) Kara, frustrated about Mon-El and Imra, attempts a friendship with Brainiac 5. This storyline continues, on and off, for most of the rest of the season — as do a lot of episodes that frankly made my brain glaze over because they seemed to be more about fighting and less of the character interaction that I used to enjoy the show for.

I do have some hope for the future (ahem). Jesse Rath (Brainiac 5) will be a part of the principal cast in Season 4, which is scheduled to begin on The CW on October 14. Interestingly, there will be an additional LSH character added to the show as well: Dream Girl, played by Nicole Maines. Maines is a transgender actress, and this version of Dream Girl will be the first transgender superhero on television. When she’s not a superhero, her secret identity of Nia Nal will be a new reporter that Kara takes under her wing.

A non-LSH character, Agent Liberty, is also being added, played by Sam Witwer, who has appeared on Once Upon a Time, as well as doing voices (Ocean Master) for DC animation projects such as Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, as well as many Star Wars games and projects.

Special Features

There are quite a bunch of special features. This season Warner Bros. has wisely included all of the crossover episodes of the season’s four-part “Crisis on Earth-X” on a single disc, so that you can watch the whole thing in one sitting without having to change discs after every episode. The corresponding episodes of The Flash, Arrow, and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow are all here together. Plus, there’s a special “Inside The Crossover” discussion (42 minutes) with the executives from each show!

There are Deleted Scenes for 16 episodes! Don’t get too excited — many are only seconds long and don’t really include much reference to what’s actually going on. The exception to this are the outtakes for the final episode of the season, which include many lengthy takes.

The usual Gag Reel (7 1/2 minutes) is filled with flubs, funny faces, and bad dancing (although not too much, as several cast members are trained dancers!). Extended fight scenes are also here, but the best outtake is of Melissa Benoist actually falling asleep during a take! (Talk about overworked actors!) Featurettes include “She Will Reign!” (8 1/2 minutes) which is all about the new character appearing this season, Reign, played by Odette Annable. The hour-long “Best of DC’s TV’S Comic-Con Panels: San Diego 2017” also appears on the other DC TV show season sets, since the featurette talks about all four shows.