TV Talk

Supergirl 2.04: Sanvers Recap

November 17, 2016

If you missed my Alex/Maggie recap from 2.03, you can read it here.

hey, baby, wanna see a dead body?

Maggie Sawyer calls Alex Danvers up in the middle of the day and invites her over for a romantic homicide investigation, courtesy of a dead alien found inside a car trunk. Nothing says True Love like decomposing extraterrestrial corpses, am I right, ladies?

So, naturally, Alex rushes right on over. They are joined almost immediately by Supergirl, whose arrival Maggie Sawyer greets with all the enthusiasm of someone who’d just invited someone out on a date, only to find that they brought their best friend with them.

Maggie: Oh. Right. I forgot you two were running buddies.

Let’s pause here for a second because Maggie’s attitude towards Supergirl is kind of … confusing. Last time we saw the three of them together, Supergirl was saving Maggie’s life, and Maggie was all, “You guys are fun.” And now her words are saying, “running buddy,” but her eyes are saying, “What is she doing here? Guess they’re closer than I thought.”

Why does that bother you, Maggie? Huh?

Are you … jealous?

I’m going to go with yes.

Alex is completely oblivious to any of this, and Maggie’s just like, “Welp. Thought this was a date, but nope. Let’s just talk about this totally non-romantic dead body right here, then, I guess.”

Alex and Maggie then go on to brainstorm the possible scenarios that may have led to the alien’s untimely death. They go about this by finishing each other’s sentences and basically reading each other’s minds, and all the while, Kara glances back and forth between them like, “Whu…”

At this point, Supergirl is considering changing her name to Superfluous.

Kara: Well! Seems like you two’ve got it handled.

They’ve got it something, that’s for sure.

hey, baby, wanna kick some butt?

Back at the DEO, Winn gives Alex a lead on a possible suspect, and then asks if she wants him to get a strike team together. But who needs an army, when you’ve got a sassy police detective?

Alex: Sawyer, it’s Danvers…

Alex is practically giddy, because the only thing better than catching bad guys, is catching bad guys alongside the girl you ~~love~~ have very confusing feelings about.

Our fearless duo go on to confront the suspect, and this goes about as well as one might expect on a television drama.

Alex and Maggie work together to kick his ass, which is all matter of glorious. But just as they subdue him, Maggie gets tasered by some men who popped out of a van. They capture the suspect and take him away, leaving Alex and Maggie alone on the street.

So, that went well.

hey, baby, wanna do something mysterious?

I’m convinced that Alex and Maggie spend all day sitting around calling and texting each other. This time, it’s Maggie’s turn to call Alex.

Alex: Sawyer.

Maggie: Danvers. Got a tip. You in?

Alex: That was fast.

Maggie: Texting you the location. Oh, oh, and I almost forgot: Wear something nice.

We then cut to some dark, mysterious location, where Maggie greets Alex dressed like this:

Maggie: You clean up nice.

Which is lesbian for, “Holy crap, you’re hot, but I need to be cool.”

And here’s the thing, Maggie doesn’t look away from Alex the entire time Alex is moving towards her.

Which leads me to conclude that the inside of Maggie’s brain in that moment looks a little like this:

Meanwhile, Alex is being adorkably awkward in her attempts to be cool because, unlike Maggie, she hasn’t yet mastered the Art of Seeming Disinterested When You Are Totally Interested.

Alex: I do? Well, you do too, with the shoes and the hair and all the … *waves hand in the general direction of Maggie’s everything*

Which leads me to conclude that the inside of Alex’s brain right then is just a continuous stream of caps-locked letters.

Maggie seems to be trying not to read into anything, even though Alex could not possibly be more obvious, so she tells her that she’s not “all business” to which Alex replies, “But this is, right?” Because what else would it be? I mean, Alex got all dressed up and did her hair all nice just because the pretty lady detective asked her to, but she’s still not entirely sure why she’s there, or where there is, and it’s probably very strange not to be minding the uncertainty all that much.

Alex: I mean, what are we doing here?

Maggie: Wait for it. Here.

And then.

Then.

Maggie takes Alex’s hand.

And intertwines their fingers.

And then proudly leads Alex into the Warehouse Du Jour.

I will also point out that Maggie continues to have a problem keeping her eyes off Alex, even while trying to play it cool.

Alex, for her part, seems more focused on not tripping and falling flat on her face, and who can blame her, really?

Now, I’m not entirely sure why Maggie felt the need to take Alex’s hand, so I can only assume that she did it because she wanted to. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that she only takes her hand while both of them are wearing masks. Maybe that extra barrier gives her a surge of confidence, and I may be reading into things, but I can’t help but feel that there’s a lot of insecurity behind Maggie’s bravado.

Whatever her reasons, Maggie does take Alex’s hand, and only lets go to grab the two of them some champagne.

Alex: Who are all these people?

Maggie: National City’s wealthiest. I see the head of a bank, a couple of hedge-fund managers, and a city councilman.

Alex: What are they all doing here?

Maggie: We’re about to find out.

Enter Anya! I mean, Roulette.

A heavily tattooed Dichen Lachman in a red dress is always welcome, but her alien fight club is not. Alex and Maggie quickly figure out that the dead alien they’d found in the trunk had been killed during one of these underground alien fight club matches.

Alex: Somebody’s going to get killed.

Maggie: Maybe us. Three o’clock.

Maggie wishes they’d called backup, but Alex has already taken care of that. Supergirl bursts in right on cue to the delight of ~~Anya~~ Roulette, who announces her as a new competitor. Alex and Maggie use the opportunity to steal some guns from the armed man conveniently passing by, shoot some bullets into the air, and yell, “Police!” The crowd runs for the exits, while Alex runs toward the caged arena to help Supergirl, who’s currently getting her ass kicked.

Now, the first time I watched this, I was caught up in the action, but after the episode was over, I kept wondering, Where is Maggie during that scene? And, well, there she is:

Watching Alex runs towards danger in order to help Supergirl.

And not to read too much into things again, but Maggie already expressed some level of — I won’t say jealousy, but something, over Alex’s “running buddy” relationship with Supergirl, whom she doesn’t know is Alex’s sister. And I’m not saying Maggie thinks there’s something romantic going on with Alex and Supergirl, but there might be some subconscious concern over the level of competition she might face when falling for someone like Alex. So maybe, just maybe, this is around the time when Maggie decides that she shouldn’t be calling Alex eighty times a day, or taking her hand just because she wants to. And that maybe, just maybe, she should instead be focusing on the woman she’s actually dating.

(Okay, I lied about not reading too much into things).

hey, baby, wanna take down an alien fight club?

The rest of the episode flies by in a whirlwind of plot-related activity. Let’s just say, they get their chance to take down Roulette. And here are some pretty pictures to prove it.

Supergirl then tells everyone to stand down, and gives a speech calling for her fellow aliens to be better aliens, and during this speech, Maggie looks at Alex like this:

Supergirl’s speech works because this is her show and Kara Danvers is made of sunshine, so Maggie rushes over to arrest Roulette.

Supergirl approaches and is all, “I’m sure you figured it out by now but it’s not a good idea to bet against me,” and Maggie’s like:

And listen, I’m not saying Maggie is jealous of Supergirl, but I am kind of saying that.

hey, baby, wanna go out for drinks, food, kisses and gay love?

Alex decides to drop by the police department, probably because it’s been at least half an hour since Maggie texted back. Turns out Roulette is getting released. Friends in high places, and all that jazz.

Maggie isn’t happy about it. Alex is equally unhappy about it.

Maggie: I should’ve planted something on her. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t a good cop.

Alex: I think you’re a great cop.

No, you are.

No, you.

Maggie: You getting soft on me?

Alex: No.

And her “no” sounds a lot like her, “Yeah, well, pffff,” and is just as convincing.

Maggie’s smiley head-tilt gives Alex enough confidence to suggest they go out for drinks, which I’m pretty sure is as close as Alex has come in a long time to asking someone out. Alas, the course of true love never did run smooth, and this is a television show, so…