As the atmosphere of the planet is irradiated, Kara blacks out and is only saved by a very timely intervention from J’onn. Meanwhile, we learn the tragic back story of Agent Liberty and discover the price Kara is going to have to pay for surviving on a newly irradiated Earth.

This is the season Supergirl comes out swinging. In three episodes we’ve had the rise of anti-alien sentiment, Citizen Liberty, the President resigning and the atmosphere being laced with Kryptonite. This leads to the nano-tech suit that Kara is gifted with at the end of the episode and that much was made of in the trailers. This seems likely to be the show’s equivalent to Doctor Who’s Doctor-lite episodes, as Melissa Benoist was on Broadway this year. Regardless it’s a fun conceit and a fun suit too. It also raises the stakes even further.

Not to mention giving the episode a chance to focus elsewhere. Sam Witwer is a serial genre player and an effortlessly good one at that. Here that’s both an asset and a problem as we see him over the four years of the show’s life, slowly becoming radicalized against aliens. First it’s his father (Xander Berkeley! fresh from being hung on The Walking Dead!) losing business at the steel plant. Then it’s being injured in a fight with the Nth Metal planet alien workers nearby. By the end of the episode he’s petrol bombing factories, handing out hate speech fliers and delivering every line with the charm, drive and fury that every alt-right moron with a YouTube channel thinks they have. It’s a staggeringly good performance in an innovative episode.

The last time a CW show went into this territory, it was The Flash with the Thinker. That was, clearly, a Jordan B. Peterson analogue and it was treated with the contempt his idiocy richly deserves. Here, Supergirl is in subtler, more insidious territory and operating with a compassion and empathy that none of the real versions of this man could even spell. We understand why Liberty is like he is. We can see what’s radicalized him. We can see the mistakes he’s made and we can see why. There’s no comfortable distance here just a straight up engagement with a major issue done with open eyes and an empathy that is never once sympathy. It’s troubling because it’s recognizable. It’s troubling because it’s so well done. It’s essential watching for all those reasons.

There’s an argument that fiction shouldn’t be politicized. That argument isn’t just wrong, it assumes it’s possible to create anything in a cultural vacuum. It just isn’t, it just can’t be done. You either engage with this stuff allegorically, background it or you face it head on. This is a show that never backed down from a single fight and, as we see the consequences of that for Liberty’s family, we also see the rewards the show reaps.

Verdict: Brave, smart viewing that places it among the top of the CW shows this season. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart