Oh my god, there was so much going on in this episode! There’s enough here to cover at least ten thoughts and then some. This is maybe one of the most packed episodes of Supergirl we’ve seen yet and shows why the show is hot on the heels of The Flash as the best superhero show on television.
With this being an incredibly packed episode (you could even say it was… double stuffed?), let’s skip the preample and dive into our Five Thoughts on “Manhunter. I seriously have no idea how I’m going to cover even half of this is five thoughts…
Oh, yeah, heavy spoiler warning in place too.
1. Secret Origins
This was an episode of origin stories in a lot of ways. The main plot of J’onn J’onnz having finally revealed himself last episode to stop Kara’s Red Kryptonite-fueled rage has been juxtaposed with a handful of flashbacks showing how J’onn first encountered Jeremiah Danvers and how he assumed the identity of Hank Henshaw, how J’onn recruited Alex to the DEO and one exploring how Kara dealt with the alienation she felt growing up on Earth.
The first two are going to get their own sections in a bit, but that third one really interested me because it wasn’t a flashback connected to the main plot through the story instead it was connected through theming. It showed the kind of struggles Kara had in dealing with her powers (her supersenses being shown akin to the sensory overload that autistic people experience really struck a chord with me) and her alienation and how that experience is why she feels connected to J’onn. At first it may seem out of place compared to the others, but it actually fleshed out her side of their relationship a lot.
2. Martian Cookiehunter
In an episode where the stakes where high and character drama was rampant and everyone was tense and on edge the entire time, I loved the fact that the show took the time to show J’onn stress eating cookies. This is a joke I’ve been waiting and hoping that the show would use and finally hearing David Harewood say the word “Chocos” just rocketed this episode into the upper echelons of Best Live Action Superhero Adaptation Ever territory.
Seriously, this was a fantastic fanservice moment that showed that you can have a dire, emotional episode and still have levity in it.
3. The Death Of Jeremiah Danvers
Hey, Dean Cain’s back in the show! You know, I was expecting Cain and Helen Slater to be in the show more than they have when they announced their casting, but I have really enjoyed their inclusion. This was a really cool flashback for a number of reasons 1) we got to see Dean Cain again 2) we got to see David Harewood play the real Hank Henshaw in all his alien-hating glory and 3) we got to see a new-to-Earth J’onn slowly open up and connect with Jeremiah.
Sure, the “point” of this flashback was to show the circumstances around the deaths of Jeremiah and Hank Henshaw, but what really interested me the most was seeing how these events developed the characters from what we knew about them, especially of the real Hank Henshaw.
4. Party Girl Danvers
This was the other flashback we saw, showing Alex as an adult before being recruited by the DEO and she was in a very different place. Again, much like the Jeremiah flashback, the flashback’s purpose is much different than why I enjoyed it, I feel. I didn’t particularly need to know the specifics of Alex’s recruitment, but showing Alex as the party girl with no direction in life enriched the character for me because it showed us a really different side to the character than we’ve seen before and that’s the kind of thing I like to see with flashbacks.
Flashbacks don’t need to show us in every detail information that we already knew, but they can develop characters by showing the journey they’ve taken to be the characters we know them as.
5. Project: CADMUS
So… Jeremiah Danvers is still alive? And is being experimented on at Project: CADMUS? Dare I say it… are we finally going to see Cyborg Superman?
Continued belowHonestly, the revelation that CADMUS exists in this universe should be no surprise as it’s been a mainstay of Superman lore for ages now, but it was a great inclusion for this episode. What was surprising, though, was how the episode ended with J’onn and Alex essentially riding off into the sunset to find CADMUS. Is this the last we’ll see of them until the end of season? I certainly hope not and not just because I will sorely miss them, but because I really want the show to follow the plotline.
I want to see CADMUS, dammit!
Bonus Thoughts
- I can’t wait to see Silver Banshee.
- Lucy Lane as the new director of the DEO is aces and I’m glad she’s still in the show.
- Whatever happened to Non’s plans?
