The episode wastes no time, jumping right into the sister battle to the death that we ended on last week. It very much takes on the form of a reverse red Kryptonite fight. Alex is now the one under some brain altering influence, she hurts Kara with the sword, Kara begs her to stop, Alex comes very close to doing Kara serious harm, and then a parental figure steps in to stop Alex. If you were to watch this battle and the one from Falling side by side, you’d swear you were watching almost the exact same thing. Like Kara, Alex was also aware of what was happening the whole time. Talk about getting to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. I’d say she certainly gained some perspective from that. “You are not going to hurt me, you are not going to hurt Kara. We are a family. Stronger together. Alex, you are the strongest of us all. Your father always said that. I know he’s watching over you. I know he’d be so proud. Your father believed in you. I believe in you too. You are Alex Danvers and nothing on Earth can change that.” Eliza’s speech is fantastic for several reasons. Firstly, I love that she is the one who steps in to stop Alex. Whatever issues Alex and Eliza have had in the past, they have done an incredible job over these last couple of episodes of showing how much love there is in that mother/daughter relationship. When Alex finally comes out of Myriad’s spell, her first instinct is to go to her mother, who offers her comfort. I also like the notion that Alex is the strongest of them all. She is the one who has taken on the role of being Kara’s fearless protector, stopping at nothing to keep her sister safe. It’s a task that has proven to be no easy feat. This suggestion of her strength is a testament to who her character has grown into this season, especially being an original created for this show, i.e. not having a comic book origin like most of the other main characters. I think the most important takeaway from Eliza’s speech though is the part regarding Jeremiah. It is incredibly telling that all that it takes is the mere mention of Jeremiah to give Alex the hope she needs to be freed from Myriad. This further proves what a powerful connection she shares with her father. They need to explore this relationship in season two. Especially given that we know that he is still alive.
In the final episode of the season, Supergirl proves once and for all that she will do whatever it takes to save the world.
The episode wastes no time, jumping right into the sister battle to the death that we ended on last week. It very much takes on the form of a reverse red Kryptonite fight. Alex is now the one under some brain altering influence, she hurts Kara with the sword, Kara begs her to stop, Alex comes very close to doing Kara serious harm, and then a parental figure steps in to stop Alex. If you were to watch this battle and the one from Falling side by side, you’d swear you were watching almost the exact same thing. Like Kara, Alex was also aware of what was happening the whole time. Talk about getting to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. I’d say she certainly gained some perspective from that. “You are not going to hurt me, you are not going to hurt Kara. We are a family. Stronger together. Alex, you are the strongest of us all. Your father always said that. I know he’s watching over you. I know he’d be so proud. Your father believed in you. I believe in you too. You are Alex Danvers and nothing on Earth can change that.” Eliza’s speech is fantastic for several reasons. Firstly, I love that she is the one who steps in to stop Alex. Whatever issues Alex and Eliza have had in the past, they have done an incredible job over these last couple of episodes of showing how much love there is in that mother/daughter relationship. When Alex finally comes out of Myriad’s spell, her first instinct is to go to her mother, who offers her comfort. I also like the notion that Alex is the strongest of them all. She is the one who has taken on the role of being Kara’s fearless protector, stopping at nothing to keep her sister safe. It’s a task that has proven to be no easy feat. This suggestion of her strength is a testament to who her character has grown into this season, especially being an original created for this show, i.e. not having a comic book origin like most of the other main characters. I think the most important takeaway from Eliza’s speech though is the part regarding Jeremiah. It is incredibly telling that all that it takes is the mere mention of Jeremiah to give Alex the hope she needs to be freed from Myriad. This further proves what a powerful connection she shares with her father. They need to explore this relationship in season two. Especially given that we know that he is still alive.
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This week The Flash made a quick stop by National City, giving us an epic superhero crossover event.
The episode picks up right where Manhunter left off, with Winn having brought Siobhan to the DEO to try and sort out her new screaming power situation. I’m noticing that Winn has gotten very comfortable in the DEO environment, acting like he’s been there forever, and coming and going as he pleases. It does make sense that he would think to bring Siobhan there, recognizing that whatever happened when she fell off of that roof was less than normal. It was amusing to me that when Winn and Kara are discussing who/what Siobhan could possibly be, Winn just assumes that if she’s Kryptonian, then Kara must know her. Just like you know every person on Earth, Winn. Even Kara was like “It was a big place. We didn’t all know each other.” Given that most of the Kryptonians that Winn knows are Kara’s family, his worldview of the planet is rather small. I think that’s also somewhat reflective of an audience perspective of Krypton as well, given that we get most of our knowledge about the planet through the same lens. Siobhan isn’t Kryptonian though, or even alien. Dr. Hamilton determines that as far as she can tell, Siobhan is human. Is the doctor’s name possibly a reference to Dr. Emil Hamilton from the Superman mythos? He’s an ally and scientific advisor to the Metropolis based hero. Unfortunately, National City’s Dr. Hamilton is unable to figure out how Siobhan has powers, chalking it up to a miracle. Siobhan does not see the situation as miraculous in the least. Having Siobhan around for the last five episodes has given us a fair amount of time as an audience to get to know her as a person before we actually see her as a villain. This episode gives us even more insight about her when she goes to visit her aunt after learning about her new powers. What a family she comes from. It turns out that Siobhan’s cheating father wasn’t the only bad apple in the bunch. Her aunt refers to her as the least hated niece and upon revealing the family curse that gives them the Banshee powers, she also talks about the other women in their family being highly unpleasant. It’s no wonder Siobhan has so many issues. I enjoyed getting that backstory, as it made her a much more interesting villain. Pasts are revealed and future villains are exposed on this week’s Supergirl.
“This too shall pass.” National City is dealing with the fallout of Supergirl’s red Kryptonite debacle, and they aren’t up to forgiving her any time soon. While they briefly acknowledged the lasting effects, they didn’t do as much with this story as I would have hoped. We get the opening shot of Kara, lying on the couch, staring sadly at the TV while eating donuts. She has attempted to return to her hero duties, but everyone is afraid of her, so they don’t want her help. Cat is still rooting for her return, upset that it is taking so long for faith to be restored. However, that’s pretty much the end of any red K discussion in regards to National City. Kara spends the rest of her time at the DEO. All of the focus this week went to J’onn’s identity outing, and all of the character backstories and origins. “Humans can be ignorant. Especially when they’re scared.” Now that J’onn J’onzz is a known alien, Colonel Jim Harper and Lucy Lane are in town to figure out how the Martian managed to take control of the DEO. They’re on a witch-hunt to find and prosecute anyone who knew anything about J’onn’s real identity. Colonel Harper reminds me of another anti-alien character that we have seen on this show. I can’t tell if I dislike him more or less than General Lane. Both men are exceptionally arrogant, acting out of fear rather than logic, and both leave me with a bad taste in my mouth despite brief appearances. I guess the one thing that might make Harper worse than Lane is the fact that he is willing to put humans in danger in order to serve his bottom line. He is aware of Jeremiah’s presence at Cadmus Labs, and is a little bit too satisfied about the idea of bringing Alex there as well. We also get some more insight into the real Hank Henshaw, who shared similar views to Harper and Lane. It doesn’t surprise me that Harper and Henshaw were best friends. They’re two of a kind. Given Harper’s vested interest and personal vendetta where Henshaw’s death is concerned, realistically it seems like he would be the last person who should be in charge of this witch-hunt investigation. That seems like a conflict of interest to me, but then again, maybe that’s why he was selected to be in charge in the first place. While Kara’s exposure to red Kryptonite may have caused Supergirl to fall, it gave us one of the most emotionally resonant episodes of the season.
The episode begins with Cat making an appearance on The Talk to discuss the hopeful and courageous hero that is Supergirl. While I appreciated the sentiment of the scene there was some unnecessary CBS synergy happening. It didn’t add anything to the episode, didn’t fit the tone of the show, and was kind of cheesy. The only good that did come from it was allowing Cat to set up the image of the perfect hero, which would inevitably come crashing down as the episode progressed. That set up could easily have been accomplished by means other than a talk show appearance though. Fortunately, because it takes place in the beginning, it doesn’t detract from the rest of the episode. I did like that they pair up the interview with the scene of Supergirl defending the little girl from being bullied for wearing a Supergirl costume. She uses her x-ray vision to learn the girl’s name from her school papers, Laura, and tells the other kids that she’s a friend of hers. It was very sweet. It becomes somewhat of a tragic moment when we later watch the same girl throw away her costume after watching her hero fall from grace. That being said, it was a nice way to illustrate what Supergirl has come to mean to the people of National City, and the way in which they look up to her. Back at Catco, poor Kara learns that occasionally, the ability to use superpowers can be a curse. She goes looking for Winn, who is mysteriously missing from his desk. After hearing noises coming from the storage room, she uses her x-ray vision to see what’s going on, and she gets way more than she bargained for. “I am never using anything out of that closet again without using surgical gloves.” Siobhan and Winn’s office fling is still running hot, and it’s definitely not a secret anymore. I still find them more compelling than Kara and James. Siobhan and Kara’s rivalry is also still ever present in the office. When Kara finds herself under the influence of red Kryptonite, that tension boils over. Siobhan finds a video of Supergirl letting a bad guy go. Thinking she’s got a big scoop on her hands, she brings it to Cat who tells her to hold onto it until they know more. Instead of listening, Siobhan goes behind Cat’s back and attempts to sell the scoop to Perry White at the Daily Planet. Red K Kara intervenes, printing the email off of Siobhan’s computer and ratting her out to Cat. Siobhan gets fired. Even if the means by which she ends up getting fired were distasteful, with Kara essentially invading her personal space to get the information necessary to snitch on her, Siobhan’s disloyalty to Cat did rightfully earn her that pink slip. Siobhan’s biggest problem, which we have seen before, is that she seems to be incapable of taking advice from anyone. Her arrogance, and the belief that she has everything all figured out, gets her into trouble because she thinks she knows more than those around her. She doesn’t. Cat admires confidence, but not underhandedness and lack of integrity. Honestly though, any smart person should realize that if you’re selling information to the competition, you can expect that you’ll end up fired. No employer wants to keep an employee around who’s giving away trade secrets. Even if Kara’s red-K tactics did seal the deal, Siobhan brought her downfall on herself. Is this the event that will trigger the rise of the Silver Banshee? Now that Siobhan is no longer at Catco, I’m curious as to whether or not her relationship with Winn will continue, or if she will end it. She hates Kara now more than ever, since Kara cost her her job, which puts Winn in an awkward position. Torn between two lovers…or rather between a friend and a lover, but you get my point. A test of his loyalty may be upon us. Truths are revealed and Kara takes on a cyber-supervillain in another strong and exciting episode of Supergirl.
I was happy to see that this episode was able to improve on some of the issues I had with the last episode. Siobhan got some character development, and those Devil Wears Prada vibes I feared might control her story were not nearly as present as before. Her front of brash confidence starts to crack when she begins making mistakes. Her insistence on one-upping Kara leads her to ignore Kara’s tip about opening Cat’s mail, resulting in an embarrassing moment for her during the content meeting. Later, Kara has to step in when Siobhan’s inexperience and rattled confidence prevent her from being able to assist Cat in the way that she requires. It was interesting to see that more vulnerable side of Siobhan. Some of this vulnerability is the result of the cheaters’ website story stirring up old feelings about her own father. I’m beginning to notice that there are a lot of characters on this show with daddy issues. What I did not expect, but also kind of loved was the bond Siobhan ends up forming with Winn. After he helps her out with a jammed copier, he calls her on her brashness, and she, without really meaning to, starts telling him all about her cheating father. The two connect over their mutual feelings of disappointment and mistrust in their respective parental figures, and by the end of the episode, they’re making out in the elevator. Winn gets the girl. “You threaten to kill me a lot.” Even though I know that this probably won’t end well, what with her being Silver Banshee and all, for the moment, I can’t help but like them together. It makes me happy to see Winn moving on from Kara. In all of his adorkableness, he is able to tap into Siobhan’s softer side, and it’s a side of her that is much more pleasant and likable than what we have seen from her thus far. Already this relationship is more compelling than pretty much any other romance we have seen on the show this season, which is kind of sad. Going forward, that is definitely an area that they could stand to improve on. Cat was also much better in this episode than she has been, and she’s finally returning to her old self. She actually treats Kara fairly well, with minimal mean remarks. It was a little bit cruel when she calls Winn “Toyman, Jr.”, but hey. Baby steps. I like that when Cat receives the hard drive from the hacker, she refuses to publish it on the grounds of private business deserving to be private, and also not wanting to give credence to people who thrive off of tearing down others by having access to such information. This, to me, shows growth in Cat. Prior to this, we haven’t really seen Cat back away from a story on the grounds of protecting privacy. Apparently being hacked herself, she learned a thing or two about the value of privacy, and isn’t so quick to feed off of the private lives of others without good reason. Good for her. Catco, initially, is the central hub of the Indigo conflict. I love that Cat steps up and wants to save the day, and to protect her hometown. Again, we see that Kara is not the only Supergirl on this show. There are many of them. Obviously Cat doesn’t know the full extent of the hacker’s alien capabilities, but the very fact that she tries to round up a team to get to the bottom of the situation shows her trying to be the woman who said that she got into the business of journalism because she wanted to be a good person. She wants to do her part to protect her city. When all is said and done, and the city is safe again, she has Kara cancel her dinner plans so that she can go home and hug her son. It’s nice to have the old Cat back. In another strong episode, Supergirl faces off against Master Jailer, learning something about the ethics of justice.
“No thinking, just hugging.” This episode, instead of ending on a sister scene, begins with Alex and Kara hanging out in Kara’s apartment. It felt very much like a button on the final scene from the last episode, with Kara worrying about having to face Cat for the first time since breaking up with Adam and missing work because of the Black Mercy. The peaceful moment doesn’t last long, as Non shows up uninvited. After last episode, Alex is quick to react, stepping between him and Kara. I kind of love that Alex is always carrying, and can just whip a gun out on a moments notice. Also, for those arguing that it’s strange that Alex, who should know better than anyone that bullets don’t hurt Kryptonians, thinks that a gun will stop Non, I remind you that she did pull out a clip of Kryptonite rounds when she confronted Astra in the last episode. It stands to reason that she’s using the same thing in this case. Non hasn’t come to fight though. He is there on Astra’s behalf, requesting Kara’s presence at her aunt’s funeral. It was interesting, from a cultural standpoint, to see what a Kryptonian funeral looks like. One would get the impression that Krypton was a much more matriarchal society than Earth, with the way that Allura and Astra both held such high positions, as a judge and a General. In this case we also see that Non requires a surviving female family member to give Astra a proper eulogy. Kara obliges, leading the ceremony in prayer. Both during this scene and later at the DEO, they talk about how the Kryptonians also observe a two week mourning period to support their deceased loved one on the journey home to Rao. This cultural insight adds so much in shaping the world of Krypton to feel more like it was a real place. Poor Kara though. Enemies or not, Astra was still her family. She confesses to Alex how much she misses Astra, and to see how emotional she gets reciting the prayer of the dead, it’s just so sad. Like I’ve mentioned before, Kara is an exceptionally tragic character. Adding to that is the fact that Non ends the funeral with a warning that as soon as the mourning period is over, he’s coming to kill Kara. It’s understandable why Kara has so little love for her uncle. This week, the DEO found themselves going up against an alien serial killer named Master Jailer. What I liked about this story is that we got to see the DEO acting as an independent agency outside of their work with Supergirl, and showing that even with these outside threats they deal with week to week, they are still continuing their mission to round up escaped Fort Rozz prisoners. We see Alex leading a raid to capture one of them. Unfortunately, the raid is interrupted by Master Jailer, who abducts their target. In order to figure out the identity of the masked kidnapper, Alex and J’onn seek assistance from National City Police. I loved Alex in this scene. The cops they talk to, Warren and Draper, start giving Alex and J’onn a hard time about the FBI needing the help of a lesser agency. Without pause, Alex gives it right back to them, reminding them of how much help they’ve been getting from Supergirl over the past few months. It was perfection. It’s hard to believe that 13 episodes of Supergirl have already come and gone. What makes this milestone all the more noteworthy is the fact that, had CBS not given the series its 7-episode extension, For the Girl Who Has Everything would have been the finale for Supergirl’s freshman season. As such, it is interesting to look at the episode with that thought in mind. In doing so, I began to notice some interesting, and seemingly intentional, connections between this episode and the pilot. Here’s what I found:
Mention/Appearance of Kal-El
I knew going in that this episode would be noteworthy given the nature of the story it was to be based off of. As a result, I had high expectations from the start. These expectations were far exceeded, as we got one of the best character stories yet.
“That was one messed up daffodil.” Picking up from where the last episode left off, Kara finds herself under the effects of a parasitic alien plant called the Black Mercy. She wakes up back at home on Krypton, having supposedly been suffering the effects of Argo fever. In this world, her planet never exploded, and she’s living with her parents, who are still alive. They take an interesting approach to this part of the story with Kara knowing from the beginning that something isn’t right and that she isn’t supposed to be there, rather than having her be fully immersed in the fantasy from the start. She fights to get back to her life on Earth, even trying to use her powers, which of course don’t work without Earth’s yellow sun. The more time Kara spends in the fantasy, the more things she begins to see that make her believe it might in fact be real. As a result, watching her slowly lose her memories of Earth, and get sucked back into a life on Krypton actually makes the end result of being ripped away from it again all the more tragic. The process gives us a glimpse of just how much Kara still holds on to from her childhood. It’s always little things that pull her in, like seeing a sculpture she made for her father and remembering how proud he was of her, or seeing a scratched table and remembering causing the scratch while playing with Astra. The fantasy also feeds on struggles Kara has been dealing with on Earth. She sees an Astra who never became her enemy, and Non is gone, and no longer a part of her life at all. She also seems to be having much better luck in the romance department, as she talks to her mother and father about a cute guy that she has been spending time with. The part that really hit me though was when she sees young Kal-El. This highlights how badly Kara wishes that she had been able to fulfill her mission to protect her little cousin when they came to Earth. In this fantasy, she gets to do just that, even protecting him from Alex when she comes in later to bring Kara home. Seeing Kal seems to be the catalyst that propels Kara into being fully immersed in the Krypton fantasy. This goes to show just how strong the link between the cousins is. Things get bizarre this week when National City starts seeing double.
It would seem that Maxwell Lord has been much busier over the last few months than anyone realized. Somewhere around the time that Supergirl first came on the scene, he decided to pull a Frankenstein and has created his own version of Supergirl. Winn discovers that Max has been collecting comatose patients and using them as guinea pigs for this little project. Max, with his enormous god complex, believes that he is helping these girls, and furthermore changing the meaning of life. Seeing as only one of the girls seems to have given him a successful transformation, how does he justify the assumed deaths of the others? He brainwashes his creation into believing that Supergirl is evil and needs to be killed. If the poor girl only knew. The DEO can’t figure out who or what this doppelganger is, or why she looks like Kara. Alex determines she’s not a shapeshifter, which J’onn confirms, saying that while he found Supergirl’s skirt very comfortable, he hasn’t posed as her since he helped Kara out with her Cat problem back in Blood Bonds. Whoever or whatever this girl is, she’s giving Supergirl a bad name. “Bizarro.” Cat takes control of the story, keeping Supergirl’s double within the Catco trademark by naming her herself. It’s only fitting. Kara’s relationship with Bizarro is actually quite interesting in that when everyone else is viewing Bizarro as a threat that needs to be stopped, Kara sees her as a victim that needs to be saved. Even during their first meeting at the cable car, she’s not accusatory towards Bizarro at all. She asks her who is making her do what she’s doing. Kara recognizes that whatever Bizarro is, some part of her is a person with a soul. “Except for the fact that she talks like Cookie Monster, she’s exactly like me.” If that’s the case, then she must have the same weakness, right? Wrong. After Bizarro grabs Kara and their second fight ensues, it is revealed that Bizarro is actually a mirror of Kara. I loved the effects in that sequence. Bizarro’s fire breath and freeze vision look just as sharp as Kara’s powers. They even add in details like frost around her eyes. It’s seriously impressive to watch. Alex comes in armed with tanks filled with Kryptonite artillery, hoping to use it to stop Bizarro. Of course, being mirrors means that while green Kryptonite may weaken Kara, it has the opposite effect on Bizarro. It also deteriorates the façade that Max has treated Bizarro with, deforming her appearance. I have to wonder if the the fact that Bizarro displays mirrored powers has something to do with the fact that she is technically part human and not fully Kryptonian, despite what her altered DNA might imply. J’onn and Alex figure out how to reverse engineer green kryptonite, changing its ionic charge, and creating a synthetic blue Kryptonite to stop Bizarro with. Supergirl knocks another episode out of the park.
Opening with a voiceover of a letter was a great way to start off. We find out that the recipient of said letter was none other than Cat’s son, Adam Foster, the one we heard about during the email hack. After reading the letter his mother sent him, he wants to reconnect, so he makes his way to National City. The only problem is, it wasn’t Cat that wrote the letter, and she is not prepared for his arrival. The shift in Cat’s demeanor was incredible to watch. She’s talking to Kara in her usual business voice with that tough exterior, and then she sees Adam standing in her office. There is a moment of recognition, and almost instantaneously, she completely softens. The last time we saw her anywhere near this personality was when she was with Carter, but this time it feels amplified, likely because she hasn’t seen Adam in twenty some years. When Adam mentions the letter, Cat immediately realizes that Kara had something to do with the unfolding events. “You need boundaries.” Alex’s statement is far truer than I think either she or Cat realize. There is no separation between Kara’s work life, her personal life, and her role as Supergirl. Kara’s intrusion on Cat’s personal life is only a small example of a much larger issue that she definitely needs to work on. I’m not going to pretend that it was appropriate for her to write and send the letter, especially without mentioning it to Cat. I can’t argue with Cat’s reaction, or her decision to fire Kara, because it honestly is completely valid. All of that being said, I’m also not going to deny that the end result of Kara’s infraction was absolutely beautiful. Kara stands up to Cat regarding the writing of the letter, believing that, even if her methods were questionable, she ultimately did a good thing. This scene reminded me a little bit of Winn stepping in front of Kara when she got upset about the Max Lord incident. Kara and Winn, respectively, know they have no real power over these given situations. What they do have is a conviction that what they are fighting for is worth the personal risk they are making by taking a stand. They also have the ability to see the situations from a less emotional perspective than the parties directly involved. They can see the bigger picture. In the case of Kara and Cat, Kara also has some personal experience with the issue at hand. She wishes every day that she had the opportunity to talk to her mother again, but knows that she won’t get that chance. It’s too late for her. She wants to save Cat from ending up with the same fate. She apologizes to Cat for the breach of trust, but reminds her that regardless of how Adam ended up in National City, he is here, and that she shouldn’t throw away this opportunity to reconnect with her son. Again, with this scene, we’re seeing how much Kara’s confidence has grown, and how far the relationship between these two has come. Kara is not afraid of Cat. She knows Cat better than Cat would like to believe she does, and is thusly able to be brutally honest with her. Despite having just been fired, she gets right in Cat’s face, walking behind the desk and snapping her fingers at Cat to emphasize her point. She doesn’t do so in a menacing way, but she’s making sure that Cat hears the importance of what she’s saying. Cat is a little bit taken aback by this, but it does succeed in making her look at the situation with Adam more logically. She reads what Kara actually wrote in the letter, and deciding that it’s “not awful” she changes her mind about firing Kara, instead having her schedule a dinner with Adam. “Kira, I am going to make your life hell.” “It’s worth it. Family always is.” |
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March 2017
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