Supergirl goes to Mars this week, and further cements its case as a show for any and all outsiders. That is, it delves into stories about people aren't a part of mainstream society. Given that's how the show started out, with Earth being Kara and her cousin Clark's adopted planet, it's operating in its wheelhouse once again. While it's clunky and not necessarily perfect every time, the show has the advantage of being somewhat unique with its storytelling and many of its ideas.

Using a minor plot point from the previous episode, "Far from The Tree" at least commits to the notion that there is something significant that happens when J'onn acts on M'gann's message that he's needed back on his home planet. What's there is initially a mystery, and since he was basically acknowledged last episode to be the Danvers sisters' surrogate father (giving away Alex in her wedding to Maggie), he could use some support for whatever is to come. Thus, the show once again makes Supergirl a supporting character, even though her name is the title of the series. Alex would have gone too, but she would not be able to survive in the harsh Mars atmosphere.

What J'onn and Supergirl find on Mars (after flying to the planet in a stylish, old 1950's Chevy Bel Air convertible that's actually shape-shifting Martian technology) actually looks interesting. M'gann has apparently joined a politically rebellious group that opposes the ruling White Martian class. She found another Green Martian who's been held and tortured by the White Martians for centuries: M'yrnn J'onzz (Carl Lumbly of Alias fame), a Green Martian priest who also happens to be J'onn's long lost father. Apparently, the White Martian resistance cell also needs to acquire a psychic stick called the Staff of Kolar in order to turn the tide of victory against the other White Martian oppressors, but that takes a backseat to exploring the father-son dynamic along with a little bit of illumination on Green Martian religion. It's not quite what I accidentally asked for last week, when I said that the show should explore Kryptonian religion more, but it's pretty close.

To add parallels to with the episode's dual subplots, Maggie's backstory gets highlighted here with the cruel and heartbreaking explanation that once she outed herself as gay to her parents, her father kicked her out of their familial home and stopped speaking to her. All I could actually think about as this background was being revealed was the scene in X2: X-Men United, where Bobby reveals himself to be a mutant to his parents. Where that film went with the allegorical route (The X-Men comics have always been allegories for civil rights and gay rights, among other cultural movements), this show goes directly to the overt, adding to the impression that it's very unsubtle most times with its storytelling. At least the writers commit here: Maggie and her father reconcile to a point, but while he carries around a picture of young Maggie to remind himself that a part of him still loves her, he can't quite let go of his own prejudices, even as they're being projected onto his daughter.

This actually feels very real, and not quite as outlandish as Supergirl tends to be sometimes. While the world may have changed in some respects, prejudice and intolerance still remain (often coming from those in power positions, as Maggie's father invokes Donald Trump's proposed "wall" and his line from 2015 about Mexicans being "rapists and murderers"), and that's the big wedge that prevents them from reconciling. For a brief time, I thought this would be the point where Alex and Maggie drift apart enough to break up. Alex has her own daddy issues that have been explored on this show before so their union is not exactly on the most stable ground as of now. But that seems to be coming later.

Where Maggie and her father decide to keep their distance, the same ends up not being the case for J'onn and his father. But before they can get to that point, the episode has to wring some chunk of drama out of the current situation. M'yrnn has been tortured and kept in isolation by the White Martians for so long that he immediately thinks that J'onn is another trick used to break him. There are lots of avenues the show chooses to go down with this storyline. J'onn immediately asks if his wife and daughters are somehow still alive. M'gann and the other rebels sadly tell him that his father is the only Green Martian they were able to find, yet another reminder of J'onn's dark backstory from season one. It takes the "intervention" of Supergirl (who has her own hefty issues with parental abandonment) to get through to M'yrnn, convincing him that his son is still alive, and has come to rescue him.

That reunion leads to the episode's most beautiful scene: J'onn and M'yrnn sharing J'onn's "favorite memory” of his daughters and father surprising him at home. They then do some battle with evil White Martians, defeating them with a big assist from Supergirl, then win the day before returning to Earth. It's not perfect; Once M'yrnn figures out that J'onn is real, M'gann doesn't have much to do, and the dick-ish White Martian has a personality change on a dime, but then, it's not supposed to be perfect. It's storytelling that is, at times, economical and overstuffed. It's also very corny and old-fashioned, but at least the show knows where it works and doesn't work. Some shows never figure that out. The possibility of growth and change is always present with Supergirl.