After a one-week break that felt like an eternity, Supergirl came back with one of its most emotional episodes yet and this time for the CatCo-geeky Winn Schott when he has to deal with his father, the Toyman, breaking out of jail.
Jeremy Jordan’s character has gone in different directions since Supergirl started and showing multiple sides than just his geeky and soft side which has given me mix feelings on him. It’s clear that Supergirl wants the character to be something of a Cisco Ramon from The Flash, while at the same time being something else which isn’t quite clear just yet. Though the writers probably know where they are going for him, it’s just not clear yet to me as a viewer. “Childish Things” however took several steps forward for Winn while also taking two steps back at the same time. It gave Winn the chance to step away from being in the mixture and showing a vulnerable side due to his father (played by Henry Czerny) breaking out of prison and we learn this bigger history in his family.
Being someone who has seen different takes on the Toyman character, Czerny’s version was perhaps the most complex one as well as the most intimidating version of the character. Jordan’s heartbreaking performance this week made me appreciate Winn a lot more, while also having an issue with the writing, due to the way things ended between him and Kara towards the final minutes. Though he was emotionally charged throughout “Childish Things” and ended up reading a signal wrong, which lead to him kissing Kara, it still caused an issue that possibly might make their friendship “awkward” for a while. The lesson that is learned here was noted: he doesn’t want to end up like his father who bottled up all his anger and feelings until then one day snapped.
It’s rare these days to see characters on any TV show actually being aware of dangerous something like that can be for yourself, mentally. Therefore he was upfront with Kara about his feelings and how it pains him on the inside, but it still hints that their friendship is going into that awkward territory that I prefer not to see. Hopefully they will come to a resolution and who knows: this could be the end of one of several romances Supergirl has been trying to set up for Kara. The best thing that the episode did with Winn’s arc was that Toyman didn’t end up being a one-off as the door was left open for him to return one day. Whether this results in Winn going down that dark path of becoming the next Toyman, remains to be seen, but let’s hope that our beloved Schott Jr. manages to avoid the dark side.
The B-story deals a lot with Alex and J’onn as they try to investigate what the Kryptonains wanted at Lords’ and it also deals with J’onn’s struggle of revealing who he is and not hide as Hank Henshaw. The scene with him and Supergirl flying, revealing the full look of the Martian Manhunter (thank lord he has a cape!) which was a sweet and warm geek-moment. As Alex distracts Lord on a date — where the guy honestly thinks there is something appealing about serving Snail Eggs -, J’onn discovers the Jane Doe (Bizarro) which gets them one step closer to finding out what Lord is up to. Unfortunately, Lord tags Alex’s bag with a spy-cam and he discovers her relation to Supergirl which means that trouble is coming from Lord in one way or another.
Lastly, “Childish Things” features Cat hiring Lucy in what was definitely the most hilarious job interview I have ever seen. I’m really starting to enjoy Lucy more and more as she is getting something else to do than just be Jimmy’s boyfriend, but their constant arguments is starting to get old. More importantly, it’s almost becoming funny how they always seem to get everything solved within the same episode. But hopefully Lucy working at CatCo will start to show a bond form between her and Kara because it would be neat for Kara to have a female friend at that workplace.
Overall, this was a strong return, but with a few weak points. The great Emma Caulfield’s introduction as DC Comics’ Cameron Chase didn’t really impress me too much and came off as a typical FBI agent that we see on TV all the time. But hopefully Chase will get to be used more and make a huger impact, depending on what the show wants to do with her or if she was just a one-time character.
Supergirl airs on Monday nights, 8/7c on CBS.
[Photo Credit: Robert Voets/CBS ©2015 CBS Broadcasting, Inc.]
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