- Title: Supergirl – Man of Steel
- wiki: link
With Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) knocked-out and barely hanging on due to the Earth’s atmosphere being saturated with Kryptonite, “Man of Steel” offers a flashback episode delving into the past of Professor Ben Lockwood (Sam Witwer) who from humble beginnings grew to be the face of the anti-alien movement as Agent Liberty. The educated son of a bigoted steel factory owner (Xander Berkeley), the episode showcases the last two years of Lockwood’s life from arguing against his father’s rants to having his life destroyed by aliens and slowly accepting his father’s “wisdom.” There’s an old saying about how hatred and bigotry aren’t born but nurtured, and “Man of Steel” does a terrific job of presenting an entire episode from Lockwood’s point of view which will turn spiteful and hateful against those he believes are responsible for the ruination of his life.
With only limited scenes in the present, the core cast isn’t given much to do (although several of them show up in Lockwood’s flashbacks as their words and actions only bolster a malignancy growing inside of him). Continuing the halt on Lena‘s (Katie McGrath) slide toward villany, Ms. Luthor shows up as the one person on the planet who can save Supergirl’s life with a suit to isolate our heroine from the atmosphere that is slowly killing her. With Supergirl still down, and the rationale for Agent Liberty’s war on aliens explained, where does his revolution go from here?
