More so than maybe any episode since the show moved to The CW, “Stand And Deliver” really reminded me of Supergirl’s first season. It’s earnest, optimistic, and incredibly unsubtle in ways that still felt really moving in the moment (I teared up when Kara joined the pro-alien protest). Yet it also relies on emotional shortcuts, confusing plot mechanics, and metaphorical connections that fall apart the longer you think about them. This episode hinges on the idea that the most uplifting thing in the world would be to see a white supremacist and a member of an oppressed minority group come together to help each other in a time of crisis. And while there’s no doubt that such an image probably would get a lot of positive play in the press, I’m not actually sure it does represent a radical step forward. People fighting for oppression and people fighting for equality aren’t actually two sides of the same coin, as this episode seems to suggest. Well, at least not in our world.
In other words, welcome to another edition of “your reviewer tries to figure out how to treat the allegorical nature of Supergirl’s fourth season!” This episode continues the season-long problem of the fact that powerful aliens don’t represent a one-to-one metaphor for real-world oppressed groups. It’s a problem Supergirl could at least try to mitigate by showing more of the “everyday” alien refugees Kara is always talking about, which this episode kind of tries to do with alien CatCo journalist Frank. For the most part, however, Supergirl only ever seems to briefly mention those everyday aliens in passing before zeroing in on the powerful alien heroes and villains who are constantly wreaking havoc around National City. The in-world situation is, uh, complicated to say the least, but I can’t decide if that makes the simplistic “Let’s put aside our differences and agree to disagree!” endpoint better or worse.
Thankfully, “Stand And Deliver” also features a much insightful moment where vitriolic anti-alien heckler Quentin (Mean Girls’ Jonathan Bennett) warmly greets Supergirl, confident in the fact that she’s not like the “other” aliens he’s complaining about. It’s the episode’s smartest allegorical moment, one that offers a direct parallel to the way successful individuals within an oppressed group can be used by oppressors as tokens of faux progressivism. And it fuels the episode’s most powerful image, which is Kara joining the protest march not as Supergirl, but as Kara Zor-El, refugee of Krypton and citizen of Earth. It’s a sequence where the show argues that leaders embracing the fullness of their identities is a radical, necessary act. On the other hand, the fact that that’s really all it takes to get Quentin to change his mind feels like it’s own kind of dangerous myth. I believe people can learn to leave behind their bigotry, I just don’t believe it can happen in the span of 30 minutes—especially not to a guy so bigoted he’s happy to publicly hurl verbal attacks at alien strangers.
Beyond its imperfect allegorical storytelling, “Stand And Deliver” is a bit messy on a structural level too. Though Supergirl’s decision to move away from largely episodic storytelling in favor of something more serialized has been a welcome one, the show is still experiencing some growing pains in that shift. The Quentin story unfolds way too quickly in order to give “Stand And Deliver” some kind of episodic closure. Yet the ongoing Elite storyline has a different kind of pacing problem. There’s a lot of confusing lead-up to the Elite’s attack on Ben Lockwood’s anti-alien rally/the peaceful pro-alien counter-protest (I could barely follow what was happening during Manchester Black’s fake death by glowing door). But then the attack itself kind of just peters out, with J’onn swearing to get revenge on Manchester another day. A lot happens in the sense that Menagerie, the Morai, and Hat are all captured and handed over to the DEO, leaving Manchester as the sole remaining member of the Elite. But that feels more like clunky plot mechanics than a satisfying episodic story.