Jeremiah Danvers has returned on Supergirl. After his brief appearance in “The Darkest Place,” Jeremiah finally reunites with his entire family in this episode, titled “Homecoming”. It’s an emotional and happy reunion for the entire family. Too bad Jeremiah’s true intentions and mysterious reappearance cast a dark pall over it all and maybe even “Homecoming” as an episode. It’s impossible to get wrapped up in the emotions when you are fully anticipating a knife in the back.
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Mon-El: The World’s Douchiest Detective
When Winn gets an alert about Cadmus activity, Kara and J’onn respond. The two find a vehicle convoy. Inside a truck, just waiting for them, is Jeremiah Danvers. He is beaten and bruised, but all he is missing is a giant bow on his head. It’s super shady.
The criticism that Mon-El and his relationship to Kara have taken over Supergirl is not unfounded. As much as I love Mon-El, he is getting a lot more screen time and importance than several other characters. (James Olsen, who?) Yet in “Homecoming,” the amount of focus Mon-El gets here actually works. Mon-El, having no previous relationship to Jeremiah — like Kara, Alex and even J’onn — is immediately suspicious about the return of the formerly missing patriarch.
Mon-El’s worries are completely reasonable, but no one listens to him, which makes the “happy reunion” with Jeremiah frustrating. It’s hard to care about the characters’ happiness when it is so obvious that Mon-El is right and Jeremiah is working with Cadmus. Mon-El, probably because everyone ignores him, goes on about his suspicions in the most brash and disrespectful way possible too. Mon-El not only offends Jeremiah but also Kara herself.
Supergirl has never pretended that Mon-El is a perfect character, though, so his immaturity actually fits here, but it does make him unlikable. If Mon-El was a bit more measured, maybe everyone wouldn’t dismiss him so easily and the reunion would be a little less frustrating to watch. Luckily for Mon-El, and the audience, it doesn’t take long for Jeremiah to end up looking as evil as possible.
When Winn spots Jeremiah accessing the DEO mainframe, he falls in line with Mon-El’s way of thinking. Kara confronts Jeremiah about this, but he somehow manages to cover his bases, making Kara look like a horrible daughter. This causes Alex to go into a bit of an irrational rage. Alex lashes out at Kara, basically saying she’s either with or against the family, which is incredibly harsh. It is a credit to how amazing Alex has been up to this point that I don’t immediately hate her after this exchange, but even for an emotional Alex, the outburst seems out of character.
Danvers Family Heartbreak
Thankfully, once Alex lashes out at Kara, “Homecoming” becomes much more about Alex and everyone else’s suspicions about Jeremiah than it is about Mon-El. Things reach a breaking point when Jeremiah sends Kara, Alex and Mon-El off on a wild goose chase for some bomb. While those three are busy, Jeremiah breaks back into the DEO mainframe and reveals his true Cadmus-leaning intentions. J’onn tries to stop him, and there is a particularly brutal fight scene between them. Jeremiah has not only gotten an attitude adjustment from working for Cadmus but he also has a bionic super-powered arm a la Cyborg Superman. (Why Jeremiah wasn’t just made Cyborg Superman to begin with is anyone’s guess.)
Jeremiah fights his way out of the DEO, and it is down to Kara and Alex to track him. They find Jeremiah meeting up with Lillian Luthor and the actual Cyborg Superman. There isn’t much of a fight scene because the sinister trio has exploded some train tracks, forcing Kara to save innocent lives rather than hunt down her adoptive father and his cohorts. Alex is given the chance to hold Jeremiah at gunpoint, however. It’s a heartbreaking scene for Alex that more than makes up for her earlier viciousness to Kara.
The Jeremiah side of the confrontation is severely lacking. Jeremiah says that he is working with Cadmus to protect Alex. This is all for her. It’s so cliched and not at all interesting. There is no obvious reason that Jeremiah would work with Cadmus and their anti-human agenda when he was so pro-alien before his capture. Yet this is the explanation Supergirl is going with for the moment. Hopefully, there is more to come from Jeremiah’s betrayal because while this is an interesting idea, Supergirl really needs to logically explain how it happened.
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Jeremiah Has Some Explainin’ to Do
“Homecoming” does manage to hit the emotional nail on the head with Jeremiah’s betrayal in the closing moments. Kara and Alex do not have a scene together at the end, which is a huge missed opportunity. They are comforted by their significant others. Maggie comforting Alex is head and shoulders above Mon-El comforting Kara in the tear-jerking department. The Mon-El scene does have its merits. Mainly, it is worth it because Mon-El shows some maturity by just being there for Kara and not nervously talking over her.
The comforting is cut short when Winn realizes what Jeremiah took from the DEO mainframe. Jeremiah — and now, by consequence, Cadmus — has the DEO’s registry of every alien on planet Earth. On top of it all, it looks like Cadmus is preparing some kind of doomsday weapon to kill every alien. Now there is even more reason to worry. Jeremiah working with racist Cadmus for unexplained reasons would be one thing. Jeremiah actively participating in their genocide plot is a whole other (much bigger) problem. Supergirl is really going to have some explaining to do in the next few episodes.
What do you think? Were you actually shocked by Jeremiah’s betrayal? How could he really be protecting Alex? Was there too much Mon-El in the episode for your liking? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Supergirl season 2 airs Mondays at 8/7c on The CW. Want more news? Like our Facebook page.
(Image courtesy of The CW)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Derek is a Philadelphia based writer and unabashed TV and comic book junkie. The time he doesn’t spend over analyzing all things nerdy he is working on his resume to be the liaison to the Justice League.
