I called the major plot thread of this episode of Supergirl last week. The promo gave it all away long before I saw the synopsis. Strap in for some Red Kryptonite, baby.
For those not in the know, Red Kryptonite is the sort of thing that gets Batman’s batnipples hard, because he finally gets to use all of those worst-case-scenario plans he has lying around to beat Superman (protip: almost all of them involve Kryptonite to some degree. Yes, even in the future). When it was introduced, it was meant to affect any given Kryptonian differently, but not fatally like Green Kryptonite. Over time, it just wound up making them all act like extreme assholes. It’s also one of the leading causes of Superdickery.
Kara has her run in with Red Kryptonite while she’s helping with a building fire caused by a satellite crashing to Earth. You know the satellite’s Lord’s. He admits in the latter half of the episode. He had been pursuing multiple anti-Supergirl measures before the DEO locked him up, and this was his failed attempt to synthesize Kryptonite. He’d figured that Non would take the bait if he put it on his satellite. He was wrong. And he finally got what he wanted.
It sort of slays me how many hints it took them to figure out that something was wrong. I kept expecting the spark of recognition to hit Jimmy and for him to say something like “Oh, shit, that’s right, Red Kryptonite!” The Maxwell-Lord-inventing it thing put the kibosh on that, though. Still, I held out hope that they’d figure it out before then. Lucy also quit her job over the Fortress of Solitude thing, but that’s a revelation that really doesn’t have anything to do with the episode, it just makes more sad Jimmy.
The dickery on display is delightful… mostly. Aggressive Kara dresses differently, and is also enough of a go getter to make her way back to Cat’s good graces. Granted, she does it in a dickish way, but it’s probably the only plus. She does it by exposing Siobahn’s deception to Cat: Siobahn tried to convince Cat to run with the story that Supergirl let an alien get away, then went behind her back and tried to use it to buy her way into the Daily Planet with the video of the incident. Kara passes the betrayal on to Cat, and Cat fires Siobahn and makes sure she won’t just move on to the Planet, starting the villainization process.
Speaking of Cat, oh, man. She gets a hold of Supergirl by calling Winn while they’re at club (where Kara nearly wrenches Jimmy’s arm out of its socket when he was hesitant to dance with her). Supergirl shows up at Cat’s office, and goes on about how sick she is of having to be so good all the time. Cat tries her usual power play tactics on her when she sees that the discussion isn’t going her way. Big mistake; Kara had seen her appearance on The Talk where she referred to herself as the most powerful person in National City. Kara decides to show her that real power is being able to decide who lives and who dies by chucking her off the balcony. Sure, she catches her before she hits the pavement, but damn!
Kara spirals out of control pretty hard after that. Cat’s televised warning about her for National City doesn’t help things. She starts by changing her costume to something more like what the Fort Rozz Kryptonians are wearing. And then setting her old wardrobe on fire and making her sister cry. They have Maxwell Lord working on a laser that will reverse the effects of the Red Kryptonite during most of this, and he finishes it just as they head out to capture her.
The capture turns into a shitfest pretty quickly, forcing Hank to reveal himself to stop Kara. He distracts her long enough for Alex to hit her with the laser, but by then the damage has been done. There’s no way for him to return to life as Hank, and he refuses to run away despite Alex’s pleas. He lets himself get taken in. And Senator Kane had been flirting with him up until that point! Kara goes on her apology tour, and the episode ends.
Supergirl really knew what I wanted here. I both love and hate Cat, and watching her get pitched off a building was oddly satisfying. And it gave me more reason to reference Superdickery, so good job.
Wait, I just got it. “Falling”. Good job, episode title person. Funny.
Final Thoughts:
- I found it funny that Kara pulls a page out of her cousin’s book and uses her powers to get involved in something really petty on a schoolyard. Coincidence? I think not.
- I’m guessing Siobahn is going to be the next person to figure out Kara’s secret identity, a.k.a. that thing she’s really bad at concealing.
- Senator Kane really wanted Hank to give her the D… EO’s support. Yeah, I know that was crap, I’ll see myself out.
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