Previously: Super bad dialogue, super painful exposition, and super unhappy Snark Ladies.
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Stronger Together
Marines: I haven’t even pressed play to start rewatching this episode and I’m already rolling my eyes. So that’s how I feel about this, friends.
We start with an inspiring voice over as we get an extended sequence of Supergirl flying around. It’s been a week since she’s revealed herself and things are going pretty well. CUE A MISSILE COMING AT HER har har har. But it’s okay everyone because she’s going through some tests administered by the DEO. (S: Does that stand for Damn Egotistical Oafs?) Henshaw tells Supergirl that they need to test her stamina, strength and speed and she pushes herself to fly faster. Alex breathlessly announces that her sister just broke the sound barrier.
Supergirl lands and asks Henshaw if she passed. He just says that she shares HER COUSIN’s appetite for destruction. (I’m yelling because any mention of a cousin is now part of the Supergirl drinking game. Drink!) (C:Yay! *drinks*) (S: They sure mention him a lot for a show that’s “not about Superman.” *drinks*) Uh, bro, if you didn’t want to destroy anything MAYBE DON’T FIRE THE MISSILES. She literally just dodged the missiles YOU fired at her. Ass.
After Henshaw leaves, Supergirl asks if all of this is really necessary because she’s totes ready for hero-ing. And apparently she can’t just go be a hero because…? And she’s waiting for validation she apparently doesn’t need or want because…?
Catherine: Because reasons? IDK this makes no sense to me. Like you said, she doesn’t even like these DEO people, why is she waiting for them to sign off on her being a superhero?
Mari: Alex says she’s happy she doesn’t have to keep being an awful lying liar who lies to her sister. I guess we’re totally over that now and on to just making jokes about it.
Samantha: Ha ha ha ha nope. I see what the show is doing, trying to make #sisterlybonding happen. Problem is, they made her so unlikable and then there was no real resolution, they just about-faced. No thanks.
Mari: Winn calls Kara. He’s wearing a mic but we don’t see how Kara is responding to him…? Doesn’t matter. He tells her there is a fire at the National City Port. She on her way, but not before Alex warns her because she’s been dodging missiles and exerting herself for hours. Oh, hey, this gives Kara a chance to give us another, “for the last 12 years I hid who I was speech.” I don’t know if you heard, but for the last 12 years she hid who she was, so now she has no chill.
She says, “this sounds like a job for Supergirl” and flies off. (S: So much cringe. They want it to be charming and idk why it just isn’t.)
At the port, a fireman explains that the nearby ship is holding crude oil and if the fire reaches it, it’ll explode. The fireman rushes Kara by saying that Superman would’ve had the fire out by now. (C:Alright. Dick.) Kara tries to use her freezer breath to put out the fire but she can’t get it cold enough so it just feeds the fire super-oxygen. Instead, she tries to move the ship out of the way of the fire. My honest to goodness favorite thing so far about this show, besides 2 seconds of Dean Cain, is that Kara goes, “AHHH!” when she’s heroing.
Kara successfully moves the ship and everyone is clapping for her and really excited that they didn’t explode. But oops, Kara cracked open the ship and oil starts spilling into the water. And she just watches it happen…?
We get some establishing shots as we hear a news segment asking if Supergirl is hero or menace.
Samantha: I mean, I know she’s bad at this, but menace is kind of extreme. She did save people’s lives and it was obviously not intentional. An oil spill is hella bad but I still think dramatic news coverage is dramatic.
Mari: At the Trib, Kara freaks out to Winn about suddenly being an eco-terrorist. Winn tells her her it’s cool to make some mistakes during the first week on the job. On the news Peter Facinelli AKA Carlisle Cullen (and I guess it’d be nice to also note that he’s playing Maxwell Lord on this show. We’ll see if I call him that) (C: LOL. You won’t) is saying that Superman has brought super villains to Metropolis and their maintenance budget has quadrupled. Maxwell Cullen says that National City doesn’t need those problems.
Kara can hear Cat’s thoughts about being drunk at 9am after breakfast with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, meaning Cat’s here! Kara super heats Cat’s coffee because might as well use your super power for good.
We cut to a meeting in Cat’s office about Supergirl’s mess-up. Cat says it was the lead story on the Daily Planet’s website and that annoys Cat because I don’t think she understands how news works. Cat says that Supergirl is turning out to be more like “hashtag terrible girl” and Jimmy jumps in to 1- be beautiful and save me from the dullness and 2- say that Superman made mistakes when he first showed up too. At least she’s saving lives. Cat calls Supergirl sloppy and says that it’s up to them to control Supergirl’s narrative and scoop the Planet. Cat wants an interview. Kara snorts and then covers it up by being awkward.
Catherine: I wish she hadn’t said ‘hashtag’. No one is getting their wish today.
Samantha: I wish that this show was as good as The Flash. Shooting stars are in short supply.
Mari: Anyway, Cat wants her interview with Supergirl by the end of the week. Cat makes Kara stay back for a second and tells her to join a gym or see a shrink or do whatever to get her heads out of the clouds and I guess stop bringing up kitten videos at weird times.
Outside, Kara meets up with Jimmy and rants about how she can’t do the interview because Cat would recognize her in one second.
Okay, I know that part of the suspension of disbelief going into anything superman/girl related is the fact that no one recognizes their alter egos. Still, if you are just going to bring it up so blatantly, expect a side-eye. Especially when Jimmy’s all, “no, people don’t recognize Superman because the world can’t believe there is a superhero in their midst.” Cool story, bro.
Catherine: Of the multitude of reason that have been given to us over the past 80-something years about why no one recognizes Clark Kent as Superman, this has got to be the dumbest one I’ve heard. And one of them involved lasers.
Samantha: Katy sent me an article. This is the worst. And because they brought it up and made it stupid as hell, I reserve the right to be cranky about this for the rest of our recapping this show amen.
Mari: Kara says she knows there’s a good reason HER COUSIN keeps his job at the Daily Planet and the rest of this sentence is mostly useless but it doesn’t matter because DRINK! Kara keeps having her self-doubt, thinking maybe she put on the S too soon. I know I already complained about this while live-Tweeting but the inspirational score needs to calm the eff down. It is almost drowning Jimmy out as he tells Kara to look out the window at all the little people who need saving, or whatever. Maybe that’s what he says. I CAN BARELY HEAR HIM OVER THE SOARING STRINGS.
On a side note, my computer’s auto-correct wanted that to say “calm the Jeff down” and I like that so much, I might make it a thing.
Catherine: Shut the Jeff up, score.
Samantha: Done. This is now a SuperSnark thing. I can’t stop laughing.
Mari: We need to get our entertainment somewhere.
Chemical plant. Two security guards are doing rounds and casually chatting about Supergirl. Inside, one of them comes across a man in coveralls. The security guard asks to see the worker’s ID, but we can see that this guy has scars on his face, which can only mean evil of the highest kind. The security guard whips out his gun and calls in the security breach. Evil Scar Face’s face kind of morphs and his jaw widens and is generally gross. Goodbye, security guard. We never knew ye.
After the commercial break, Henshaw, Alex and Supergirl are all at the crime scene. Alex called Supergirl in but Henshaw doesn’t like that because remember that one time, five minutes ago, when Supergirl caused an oil spill? Alex tells her sister to just take a look around but not to touch anything. Henshaw tells Alex that the plant they are in has lots of ingredients for making bombs so they need to find these aliens within the next 30 episode minutes for sure.
A medical examiner pulls out a shard of something from dead security guard’s body and that sends Supergirl into a flashback. She’s on her bed when her mother, Alura, comes in and says Kara should be sleeping even though that’s a big ass sun shining in the background. Also, it’s a yellow sun so I don’t know what’s happening here. Maybes it’s like a really cool screen saver for her wall.
Catherine: Yeah, IDK. I guess the writers were too busy working with the inspirational score guys to get that sweet, sweet jam to worry about details like what color the sun is supposed to be?
Samantha: Maybe the Kryptonians are selectively color blind? Idk, we don’t know anything about them, it could be a thing.
Mari: Kara asks Alura why she got home from work so late. Laura kindly provide us with the information we need: she was busy locking up a thing called a hellgrammite. Kara smiles and says she wants to help people just like her mom and Alura says she will. Because she has… THE HEART OF A HERO. (S: My face is going to freeze in a permanent cringe.)
In the present, Supergirl tells Henshaw and Alex that they are looking for a hellgrammite, which is basically a giant insect that can take on any form it wants. Supergirl tells them to track it down and she’ll take it out. Henshaw is all HOKAY, they’ll do that just as soon as Supergirl proves she can not get killed.
We cut to Alex walking Supergirl into a room. I really don’t want to keep typing Supergirl but she’s wearing the suit so I think I have to. Supergirl is all, “OMG I’m so ready to do this,” even though one scene ago she was like, “I don’t know Jimmy. Am I ready?” These are the kinds of thrilling plot developments we can expect in this episode.
Alex punches Supergirl in the face because, hey, the DEO had some extra kryptonite around and decided to make this a kryptonite room. It’s only cranked up to 18% just to even the playing field. I… don’t think this should actually work this way. What’s diluting the kryptonite? Whenever Superman even comes near it, he doubles over like he’s about to birth kittens, right? I don’t know. Whatever.
Catherine: IT DOESN’T. IT DOESN’T WORK THIS WAY, MARI. YOU ARE CORRECT.
Samantha: And I’m still trying to figure out where they got the damn kryptonite to begin with.
Mari: Alex and Supergirl fight basically so that Alex can prove that her sister ain’t all that. After Supergirl has enough she’s all, “I think I know why MY COUSIN likes to work alone!” I know why I like to drink alone! Just kidding. I’m drinking with the Internet.
The next day Kara is walking funny because she’s sore which makes NO SENSE. Just as she soon as she was out of that room, she should’ve started healing… right?
Catherine: RIGHT.
Mari: Cool.
Cat gives Kara a layout for the noon posting, headline “Supergirl Failure to Launch.” Kara throws another little unprofessional fit, asking why Cat keeps criticizing Supergirl. She starts to say the thing about how Superman made mistakes too, but Cat doesn’t want to keep hearing about the man of steel. “Every woman worth her salt knows that we have to work twice as hard as a man to be thought of as half as good.” Damn. Throwing truth bombs in the middle of this mediocre crap. (S: Random A+ Cat. We did not expect this.)
Catherine: I brought this up on during the livetweet but this confused me a bit. Don’t get me wrong, I love that Cat worked her way up from the bottom and now she’s here. But the timeline of this show is wonky to me. So, Superman’s been around for about 10 years right? And over in Metropolis, Lois and Clark are reporters at the Planet. But Cat is about their age and in most of her incarnations, is about on the same level as them in their field. So how did she manage to work her way up from assistant to running a competing paper in 10 years? 30, sure. Maybe even 20. But 10?
Samantha: Sshhh, less thinking and more drinking.
Mari: Kara runs out into the office and tells Winn to meet her in the alley in five minutes. He gets out there and finds Jimmy out there too. They are both awkward with each other until Supergirl lands and both of the boys are shocked that the other knew. She tells them that she needs to practice being a hero and needs their help to do it.
Elsewhere, the hellgrammite is cornered by super-powered beings and one of them is Papa Fields from Pretty Little Liars. Weird. The hellgrammite doesn’t want to join up with these dudes but Astra lands and delivers this beautiful, work of art line, “Like I told you all when we first crashed here and escaped Fort Rozz, we are stronger together.”
Sigh.
Astra is going to use the hellgrammite as bait to capture her niece.
Montage to Hit Me With Your Best Shot time! Winn and Jimmy are at the Super Pad, monitoring police reports and giving Supergirl helpful hints like, “bulletproof means bullets bounce off of you!” and “gentle this time.” (C: SO helpful. Thanks guys.) We watch her stop an armed robbery and fly an ambulance that was stuck traffic to the hospital. Then we get a bunch of shots of positive media coverage. Finally she saves a pet snake from a tree.
We cut to a little bit later with Kara out of her suit and Alex being huffy because she told her friends her secret. Kara asks if having friends is against DEO rules. Alex backs down. She didn’t come here to fight. She’s just fulfilling her 2/2 episode requirement of doing something crappy and then coming back to be all, “soooo-rrry.” Alex says she was just looking out her when she was punching her in the face. Kara knows that Alex has always looked out for her. “Since the day MY COUSIN dropped me off at your house.” This episode gets better every time she mentions her cousin. Drink! (C: Fuck. I clearly should not have pre-gamed this recap.) (S: Adding my comments in the AM and so throwing some rum in my smoothie obviously.)
They finish up their sister chat and Kara says she needs her sister’s faith more than anyone else’s. Before she can say anything nice or reassuring, Alex is called back into the DEO office.
There, Henshaw tells Alex that the hellgrammite has hit up other chemical plants across the nation. Another agent tells them that the hellgrammite’s blood is chlorine based, so they figure out that this thing is just hitting up plants to eat chemicals. Henshaw looks slightly to the side for maximum dramatic effect as he says, “well if this thing is hungry…………………… let’s find him some dinner.”
Cat Co. Cat calls Jimmy in to ask why he hasn’t used his connection to Superman to get that interview with Supergirl yet. Jimmy says he’s not going to exploit his friends and Cat’s like, “lol. Don’t care. Do it or you are fired.” Kara overhears all this and is distressed.
Alex, Henshaw and other DEO agents are moving a bunch of chemicals to lure the hellgrammite. Just as they are wondering where the thing is, he lands on the truck carrying the chemicals in front of them. Alex and Henshaw shoot at it and miss 100% of all of their shots. The hellgrammite starts throwing out those stingers he’s got and lands 100% of all his shots. One gets Henshaw in the shoulder and one gets Alex in the leg. The hellgrammite then breaks through the roof of their car, grabs Alex, and bounds away.
The hellgrammite drags Alex into some kind of warehouse where Alura is waiting. (S: And then she dies?) (M: As if. It’s episode 2.)
Cat Co. Kara finds Jimmy and tells him that she’s heading back to the Super Pad to listen to the scanners. Jimmy takes a pass. Kara sighs and says she’ll do the interview because she doesn’t want Jimmy to get fired. He goes on for a bit about how he’s always been the friend of the guy making a difference. He thought maybe he could escape all that and be his own man. Kara tells him that on Krypton, no one was their own man. Accepting help was considered an honor, not a shame. Jimmy looks thoughtful and then says, “your COUSIN never talks about Krypton.” Damn, guys. I should’ve picked a more liver-friendly drinking game. (C:We’re gonna die here.) (S: A mimosa it is.)
Kara says that Clark was a baby when he left Krypton, but she remembers it. She asks if Jimmy knows what the S means. It’s not just a symbol for the House of El. It’s a krptonian phrase, their family motto: stronger together.
Sigh.
Catherine: I’ve never heard this before, btw. I think that was invented for the show. What if the episode had been called ‘Muffin Top’? Would she have said that the crest meant ‘Muffin Top’? Thank Jeff it wasn’t, I guess.
Mari: Kara says that she doesn’t want to be a hero like Superman. “My COUSIN, he’s so used to going it alone. He doesn’t know any other way, but I do.”
If the inspirational music were dialed back and if this weren’t covered in a layer of cheese, I would appreciate the sentiment of Kara trying to be a different hero than Clark. I also like the idea that her having grown up on Krypton and retaining those memories are part of what makes her different.
Catherine: Seconded.
Samantha: Yeah, I mentioned this on Twitter but I would love to see more of Kara dealing with the fact that she remembers. She remembers her home world and everything they lost. That’s a cool layer that I’m starting to think they ruin with Cheese Whiz all over.
Mari: Thankfully, the score fades out when Kara gets a call from Henshaw with the news that Alex has been abducted. Supergirl arrives at the DEO lickety-split and she’s yelling about how she should’ve been there for her sister. She asks Henshaw if he even has a family so we can get that classic moment of a tortured character being all, “…I used to.” And then our hero can feel like a DICK.
Supergirl takes off to search for Alex and this involves flying while closing her eyes, which doesn’t seem entirely safe.
Samantha: She’s a Super, she’s got all the powers. She can probably see through her own eyelids or something and is showing off.
Mari: Fair.
Warehouse. Astra comes over to taunt Alex a little bit. Alex calls her Alura, and this shocks Astra. She wants to know how Alex knows that name. Alex tells her about the message from Krypton. Astra tells her that twins in Krypton were rare and Alex realizes that this is Alura’s sister. Alex tells her there is no reason to kill her or anyone in National City. Astra says her goal isn’t to kill humans, but to save them all. Alex says that Supergirl will find her, and Supergirl wakes up from her flying nap and heads to the warehouse. Henshaw prepares a strike team to move in as well. I apologize for all the A names in this paragraph, even though it isn’t really my fault.
Supergirl finds Alex. Astra sneaks up behind Supergirl and punches her IN THE FACE.
After a commercial break, Supergirl recognizes her aunt, probably because of that sweet-ass streak of white dress-up Barbie hair Astra wears. (C: She’s Rogue from X-Men, apparently.) (M: With so much less cool.) Supergirl is shocked because she thought Astra died like everyone* else on Krypton. Astra tells her that she wasn’t on Krptyon. She was a prisoner in Fort Rozz, sent away by her own sister for “speaking the truth.” I’m 100% sure that’s not the entire truth but OKAY Astra.
(*90% of Krypton’s population is probably still alive, hiding until they are needed for this subplot or that.) (C: That’s so unfair, Mari. It’s not 90%. It’s just Superman, his cousin, his aunt’s sister, everyone in the Phantom Zone including General Zod, Superman’s teenage clone, some robots, the entirety of the Bottle City of Kandor and the dog. But THAT’S IT. Almost.) (S: There’s the possibility of a dog????)
Astra tells Supergirl that her alliance with the humans is misplaced.
Astra: Do not stand against me. I let one planet die. I will not do so again.
Kara: Funny, I was going to say the same thing.
Astra and Kara fight, complete with eye-laser showdown. Alex, meanwhile, tries using her walkie to call into the DEO. The hellgrammite comes back because of REASONS, even though he didn’t even want to be part of this whole thing and basically left all, “call me never.” So, he comes back and starts throwing Alex around, but thankfully, balls.
Catherine: Yay! Here’s an unnecessary and ham-fisted flashback to remind you of basic fighting shit you and the audience already know!
Mari: Storytelling win!
Alex limps over and they hug and then hey! Astra gets up and attacks again, this time with freezer breath. (S: Save the hug for later, what the actual Jeff???) Astra taunts Supergirl because she hasn’t mastered that trick yet. Henshaw arrives and tells Astra to stay where she is. She laughs condescendingly and super-speeds over to him, grabbing him by the throat. Henshaw stabs her with a Kryptonite knife and she goes, “AAAH!” but that’s it. WHAT ARE THEY DOING WITH KRYPTONITE? Whatever. I’m almost done.
Astra flies away with the MF Kryptonite still in her arm, and I haven’t been so annoyed by the losing of a weapon since Samwell Tarly left behind some dragonglass. (S: 1430) Alex and Supergirl watch Astra leave, heaving after that wicked freezer burn. Henshaw asks, “any more family I should know about?” I’m telling you: approximately 90% of Krypton. Probably. (C: So much definitely.)
Back at the DEO, we start wrapping this crap up.
Alex wants to show Supergirl something. They know that Supergirl’s COUSIN (you know what time it is) has a fortress in the Arctic where he can commune with his Kryptonian ancestors. (C: But it’s No Girls Allowed, apparently.) See, the message that came with Kara was part of an artificial intelligence program culled from living memories. Alex has set a room up with a programmed version of Alura. Alex leaves Supergirl alone to talk to her AI Mom. Supergirl doesn’t know what to ask because she’d first ask her real mom for a hug. The AI is all, “nope.” so Kara moves onto her second question: tell me about my aunt Astra.
Samantha: I….have a hard time with this. I haven’t seen the movie but I know they do something similar in Man of Steel. It just might take me awhile to be okay with this weird super contrivance. And did her big sister really keep something like this from Kara-Who-Lost-Her-Whole-World-And-Could-Have-Used-This-Comfort until now?
Mari: Alex thanks Henshaw for helping her set-up AI Mom. Henshaw says it’s the least he can do for Supergirl and he called her the thing! As he walks away, though, his eyes flash red which is never a good sign.
Catherine: Spoiler alert: It’s not.
Mari: Astra gets the Kryptonite removed from her arm by someone who analyzes it. It seems that the humans have a weapon that can hurt her. Astra says she might have to change her timetable for taking National City. Plus, her niece is stronger than she thought.
Cat leaves the office and climbs in her car as she’s one a phone call with Jimmy, threatening his job again. Her car shakes and Jimmy tells her that her interview with Supergirl has already started. Supergirl is flying her car to a cliff. Cat gets out and Supergirl calls down down, “Mrs. Grant? James Olson said you wanted to talk. Let’s talk.”
And that was probably the best moment of the whole episode and not only because it was the end.
Okay, a little bit because it was the end.
Samantha: Man, I actually kind of wanted to see the interview? Like. I was interested a little bit? But no dice?
Mari: NOPE. BYE.
Wait, first, #supersnark Tweets:
I did not notice #Supergirl’s muscles in the pilot. Are they new? #SuperSnark
— GFM (@girlfrmmars) November 3, 2015
“Get your head outta the clouds”. Har har har. #supersnark
— Catherine McGinnes (@CatherineJane91) November 3, 2015
Oh wow, look at that the alien knew shit about other aliens GO FUCKING FIGURE, HANK. #supersnark
— Catherine McGinnes (@CatherineJane91) November 3, 2015
She just found out last week that kryptonite hurts her? Really?! SUPERMAN’S A DICK #supersnark
— Daria Marshall (@idoubledogdaria) November 3, 2015
Is that Carlisle Cullen weaned off a bleach bottle? #Supergirl. #supersnark
— Mari (@mynameismarines) November 3, 2015
Girl. You’d really fire the obnoxiously prestigious award winning photographer? No way. #supersnark
— Samantha Ania (@SamanthaSpice91) November 3, 2015
The dialogue. The CGI. EVERYTHING IS SO BAD AND CHEESY. #supersnark
— Daria Marshall (@idoubledogdaria) November 3, 2015
So. Is Dean Cain not actually in this show you guys? 🙁 #supersnark
— Samantha Ania (@SamanthaSpice91) November 3, 2015
If you ignore the bad acting, meh storyline and false feminism, #Supergirl would be tolerable if it weren’t for the crap CGI. #SuperSnark
— GFM (@girlfrmmars) November 3, 2015
If you are watching along, don’t forget to Tweet your thoughts with the hashtag #supersnark! See you next week.
Next time on Supergirl: Reactron arrives in National City and Supergirl’s powers are tested (again) in S01 E03 – Fight or Flight.
I'm a 30-something south Floridan who loves the beach but cannot swim. Such is my life, full of small contradictions and little trivialities. My main life goals are never to take life too seriously, but to do everything I attempt seriously well. After that, my life goals devolve into things like not wearing pants and eating all of the Zebra Cakes in the world. THE WORLD.
I am a 30-something year-old human woman who lives in Maine. I'm a freelance writer who mostly spends time that I should be doing that, watching T.V. I also love reading and comic books way too much.
I'm a 28 year old graduated English major and almost librarian. I can often be found singing too loudly (poorly) in the car or spending some time (hours) on Tumblr. I am a lover of Harry Potter, the Spice Girls, and too many other things.
