Well, that was your Supergirl mid-season finale, people, and… well, we’ll get into the full review down below, but it was always going to be hard for this to live up to last week’s episode. Still, it was a pretty enjoyable episode with some moments that will really change the status quo of the season when it comes back.
As always, there’s going to be spoilers down below as we get into our Five Thoughts on this episode.
1. Cat Grant Just Got Hillary Clinton’d
Supergirl has actually been really great thus far at balancing storylines around Kara’s lives and this episode had Kara dealing with Cat Grant’s emails being leaked to the press. This storyline lead to a pretty interesting corporate espionage plot that once again brought together Kara, Wynn, James and Lucy (who all have great chemistry together – except maybe Lucy who never gets much to do, honestly) that’s all held together by a once again masterclass performance by Calista Flockhart.
Seriously, this show could just be about Cat Grant and I’d still be watching.
2. When Your Aunt Is Your Arch Nemesis
So… mind how I originally thought Astra was some kind of gender-changed General Zod? Well… kind of? This episode really went out of its way to explore the motivations behind Astra’s plans… without actually detailing the plan? In any way? Basically, Astra was prevented from saving Krypton (because Jor-who?) by Kara’s mother and locked in Fort Roz where she know has to live with the knowledge that she was forced to let Krypton die. And now she… wants to save Earth… but needs Kara to do it because humans won’t like her methods?
Lady, if your method is to plant a terraforming engine in the middle of a city, it’s been done. Get your own gimmick.
It was also really strange, but also kind of cool to see Laura Benanti acting for two as she played Astra and Kara’s mother interacting with each other. Sure, we never saw both of their faces in the same shot, but it was still interesting.
3. Melissa Benoist Is Better Than You
Speaking of Kara’s mother, she lead to maybe the greatest moment of the episode as Kara learns that her mother used her to draw Astra out of hiding in order to imprison her and thus sealing Krypton’s fate. It was a beautifully poignant moment where Melissa Benoist allowed all of Kara’s rage and guilt and grief over Krypton’s destruction boil over to the surface.
This is something we’ve never seen Superman do. Clark has always been really passive about Krypton’s destruction because he wasn’t old enough to still have memories of it. Kara, however, still remembers her friends and family and life there and has to live with the knowledge that not only will she never experience that life again, but it might have been her mother’s fault.
That’s a pretty powerful moment right there.
4. Non-Plussed, Or Man Of Steel This Ain’t
Speaking of powerful, this show doesn’t know how to make Kryptoninans seem like they are.
While I don’t keep up with Arrow, I still check up on his Five Thoughts every once in a while and saw him talking about how a change in directing style really neutered the action scenes. This show needs a change in directing style to make the action scenes interesting. Currently they’re a wire-fu mess that’s boring, unfocused and makes the Richard Donner Superman movies look like Man Of Steel in terms of action.
The big brawl at the end of this episode where Non lead the Fort Roz prisoners in a siege on Lord Technologies could have been cool if it didn’t feel so tacked on and lazily put together. I really hope this show does better when it comes back.
5. The Game-Changer
This was honestly a reveal to rival Hank Henshaw being J’onn J’onnz in terms of importance. Cat Grant figuring out that Kara is Supergirl not only solidifies her as the greatest character to ever exist ever, but also continue to show the amazing development Cat has had over the season thus far. She started out as the very stereotypical hard woman boss who would take no shit and would seen detached and mean all the time. Since then, we’ve seen her shell open up more and more and seen her act like a real human being and here we see her come face to face with the woman who has saved her life countless times… and she also happens to be Supergirl.
This was a genuinely jaw-dropping moment for me and I can’t wait to see where the show goes with this.
