Apparently last night’s episode of Supergirl saw a 30% drop in viewership which, while not uncommon for a new show, is somewhat sad. Visual effects-wise, Supergirl is easily at, if not above, the quality of other shows by the same producers. And if it can keep up what it did with this episode, it might well turn out better.
One thing I didn’t really talk about last week was Hank Henshaw. He’s kind of an ass, but as far as I know, he’s not a villain in this show’s universe. This episode sort of knocks a few of those edges off, but it’s still too early to really tell with these sorts of things. One thing I do know; he has glowing red eyes. I don’t know if he’s a fucking Terminator or possessed by the devil or simply in desperate need of a bottle of Clear Eyes, but it ain’t natural!
The other thing I didn’t mention last week, I did so out of thinking it wouldn’t continually crop up. Namely, the constant “why, because she’s a girl?” thing, which most frequently tumbles out of Alex’s mouth. It’s bullshit for a number of reasons, but primarily because I can’t imagine anyone watching this show not having any idea about the powers Kryptonians have. Much like knowing that King Kong dies at the end, or that Darth Vader is Luke’s father, it’s one of those things that almost everyone gets through pop culture osmosis. Everyone knows that a Kryptonian under a yellow sun can best be spelled out as F-L-Y-I-N-N-G-B-R-I-C-K. She’s just as (over)powered as any other Kryptonian, including the dog and the chimp, and the show actually demonstrates that.
Any failures she has are generally related to inexperience rather than incapability. So no one watching the show is going to say “she can’t do that, she has a vagina!” If anything, it will be that she really only has a single montage of low-level superheroics under her belt, meaning that hitting this particular note is pointless. Second, even when Hank or Cat are critical of her, it’s not gender politics at work. Cat Grant is exactly the sort to recede up her own ass, and Hank is critical of all the super-aliens they’re dealing with, but chiefly Superman. As assholish as he can be (and often is), he’s not certain she’s ready for any of this, powers or no.
But back to the episode itself. Kara is really bad at the whole “keeping a secret identity” thing, because she pulls Wynn and Jimmy into helping her learn to not suck at superheroing. To be fair, she caused a real Exxon Valdez situation at the beginning of the episode. There’s also this thing where Cat Grant wants a sit down interview with Supergirl, and threatens to fire Jimmy if he can’t make it happen. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that sort of outside the purview of his job? I mean, shit, that’s a nice way to wind up with a wrongful termination suit.
They have a sort of red herring in the Hellgrimite in this one. You’d think, via the formula most of these shows lightly adhere to, that he’d be the big fight in this one. You’d be wrong; he’s little more than a plot device. Besides, it’s really hard to see the big deal with an alien that looks totally human anyway-
Yeah, this guy survives on DDT, and looks like your childhood Men in Black fueled nightmares. But he’s absolutely scared of General Astra, and her subordinates. So when they tell him that he’d best comply, he does. And the DEO’s op to catch him goes south when shoots a bunch of their agents with his spines and takes Alex hostage. Kara’s pissed they didn’t loop her in on this one, and goes off to find her sister herself.
Which brings her face to face with her Aunt. Who was her mother’s twin. And who clocks Kara so damn hard you forget why they’ve been making a big deal about the whole girl thing. This leads to an awesome fight; it’s not as crazy as the one from the end of Man of Steel, but it still looks good. Steel beams get warped when they throw each other into one, and the hits look like the sort of thing that would kill if they weren’t both super invincible. And while Kara gets a few hits in, it’s clear that she really doesn’t have the experience to beat someone whose entire life has been spent fighting.
Final Thoughts:
- Fuckin’ hell, the DEO has a lot of kryptonite. I’m guessing the Earth is like, 5% kryptonite at this point.
- Still don’t buy that Jimmy’s a nerd.
- I have no idea how the DEO knows shit about the Fortress of Solitude.
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