Supergirl's Greatest Battle is Fought in Cyberspace in Fifth Season (Now on Blu-ray)

In the fifth season of the Maid of Might's adventures, Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) and her super friends find themselves going up against Leviathin, an organization bent on putting Earth through its next extinction event, ushered in at the hands of seemingly immortal gods like Rama Khan (Mitch Pileggi) and Gamemnae (Cara Buono).

But it's not as simple as that, as Supergirl's civilian life as Kara Danvers is complicated by new relationships. A new fellow reporter at CATCO, William Dey (Staz Nair), gets nosy about Kara's personal life, and has some pretty shady interactions that arouse Kara's suspicions. But his true motives become revealed later on, when Kara learns he's been undercover investigating a very bad person.

Also distracting the Girl of Steel is her estrangement from her former friend, Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath). At the end of the prior season, Lena's villainous brother, Lex (Jon Cryer), let his sister know that Kara was hiding something from her: her identity as Supergirl. This creates a deep rift between Lena and the Danvers sisters, Kara and Alex (Chyler Leigh), and threatens to send Lena on her own villainous path.

Interrupting all of that drama, however, is the annual CW crossover event -- and this year it was the much-hyped CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS. Of all the CW shows impacted by the events, SUPERGIRL possibly was the most changed. The series had always been set apart from the other Arrowverse shows by existing on a parallel Earth, and the events of COIE merged those Earths so that they all coexist on a single Earth now. What's more, on this new Earth, Lex Luthor is -- and always has been -- a revered hero, and Supergirl's boss at the DEO!

Post-Crisis, the season focuses more on the introduction of the Obsidian technology -- a virtual reality entered through special contact lenses. The technology has attracted the attention of Leviathin, and they plan to use it to trap the bulk of humanity so they can wipe them out in one fell swoop. This sets up the challenge for Supergirl to win a fight where her physical super powers are of no asset to her.

Overall, the season was watchable, but not without it's annoyances. J'onn J'onzz (David Harewood) learns he has a brother, Malefic (Phil Lamarr), whose unique Martian abilities become a turning point in the development of the Obsidian technology. What bothers me here is his name, "Malefic." It's so on the nose. But then, in a universe where nobody thought twice about giving a Green Lantern ring to a guy named 'Sinestro," I shouldn't be surprised. Also, the behavior of our visitor from the future, Brainiac 5 (Jesse Rath) continues to be erratic, particularly after he encounters a handful of various doppelgangers left over from the Crisis, and then siding with Lex Luthor for his own secretive purposes, purposes that drive a wedge between him and his girlfriend, Dreamer (Nicole Maines).

Not quite as preachy as its prior seasons, SUPERGIRL has the advantage now of becoming a more integrated series with the rest of the CW DC universe, which may allow for more "superhero" adventures and fewer "shipping / talking" storylines.