Supergirl S01 E16 – Damn that pencil skirt.

Previously: The Fortress of Solitude, an Internet alien and Lucy dumped Jimmy.
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Falling

Catherine: Hey guys! Yes, we are still doing Supergirl reviews even though it takes me a million years to get around to doing mine every time. BECAUSE LISTEN I HAVE A LIFE (I don’t. I’m just forgetful.) (S: We <3 you though.) (C: *heart eyes*)

Anyway, I’m giving you previouslies since it’s been a few weeks since we did the last episode.

Previouslies: We’re reminded that Astra got bummer stabbed and died and Alex finally told Kara that she was the one that did it, Siobhan kissed Winn against all logic and reason, and Lucy broke up with Jimmy.

We open on an episode of ‘The Talk’ (which I think is a real show?) (S: Yup.), a talk show where Cat is being interviewed. Sharon Osbourne (this must be a real show) tells Cat that she looks younger than she thought she would. Lololol. SO Sharon O. There’s some cringy acting (from Sara Gilbert? Who is an actress??) as they ask  Cat how it feels to be the most powerful woman in National City. Cat corrects them and says that no one is calling her the most powerful woman, they are calling her the most powerful person. OOOOOOOH. Cat continues to crush it. (S: YAY CAT.)

hey start asking about Supergirl and Cat starts getting all lovey-dovey about her girlfriend. Oh what’s that? They aren’t dating? Right. Yet.

As Cat is talking about how remarkable and wonderful and honest Supergirl is we’re taken to a shot of Supergirl flying over the city. She zeros in on me as a child. Sorry, I mean a little girl getting teased for being dressed as Supergirl and liking superheros. Admittedly she is wearing a cape. I never took it to cape levels.

Marines: Not until you hit your 20s, right?

Catherine: Just because I’m wearing a cape right now as I type this DOES NOT MEAN ANYTHING HOW DARE YOU.

Supergirl swoops in and pretends to be friends with the girl by x-raying her backpack to get her name. The other girls think this little girl is cool now and Supergirl flies off as Cat’s voiceover says that Supergirl is an idea and we can learn a lot from her and she’s really pretty and she makes good breakfast in bed, etc. (S: Oh, hot damn, breakfast in BED. Now I have a crush.) (M: Supergirl totally seems like a breakfast in bed kind of significant other.)

At CatCo, Kara is watching the talk show as Cat comes up behind her and comments on how fabulous she was and how great the interview was.

She asks where Winn is. Ugh. Why ruin it, Cat?

Kara goes looking for Winn and walks off. She hears some thumping coming from a storage closet and realizes that it is locked. She x-rays the door and we don’t see what she sees (thank god for CBS) but she gets super grossed out and looks like she’s trying to physically erase the image from her brain as she walks away. Behind her, Siobhan and Winn walk out of the closet straightening their clothes.

Mari: We are also recapping BrainDead, where the main character has the developing hots for Aaron Tveit. We are cursing CBS’s prudishness over there, but now… I’m sorry I ever said anything against it.

Catherine: Winn asks her if she just used her x-ray vision to see them and Kara answers that she is never using anything from that storage closet ever again without using surgical gloves. Winn tries to haltingly explain and Kara stops him because she’s so grossed out and tells him that he doesn’t need to and he should do what makes him happy.

For the most part she seems like she’s reacting how you would react to accidentally walking in on your brother hooking up with someone in a closet but then as she walks away she briefly gets a hurt look on her face. Ugh. Because of course. (S: UGHHHHHHHHHHH)

Kara gets called away by Cat and we don’t see that scene but in the next one she goes into Jimmy’s office and tells him that Cat told her that Lucy quit. Thank god! Lucy could be doing much better, tbh. She’s a Lane, for god’s sake.

Samantha: Go out there and get you some better life, girl.

Mari: Including a job where people actually know what you do.

Catherine: Kara asks if Jimmy told Lucy that she was Supergirl and Jimmy says that he didn’t get a chance to before she broke up with him. Kara continues to blame herself for their break up and Jimmy tells her that it didn’t have anything to do with her. Which is a lie. If you remember, Lucy broke up with him not because she felt that he was in love with Supergirl but that he was in love with Kara. Kara points out that Jimmy loved Lucy and he admits that he may not have loved her as much as he thought he did.

Honestly, all the stuff Jimmy is doing is kinda shitty but it helps that Mehcad Brooks has this really quiet, honest vibe. I can’t hate him as much as I want to. (S: I know what you mean, but I’m fighting through it.) (M: I think it also helps that he’s hot…? I’d take breakfast in bed from him too.)

At the DEO, Kara tells Alex that Lucy and Jimmy broke up and Alex isn’t surprised. Alex tells Kara not to feel guilty and that she should get with Jimmy now. Damn, Alex. Wait until dinner has cooled off at least.

Kara tells her that she doesn’t want to be the rebound girl and asks her to name one rebound relationship that has ever worked out. Alex says Kim and Kanye. You know, the true spirit guides to us all.

Samantha: Holy shit, is this CBS trying to be hip? Cause, seriously, nope.

Catherine: Gross, CBS. Stop.

Alex tells her that she needs to embrace what she’s feeling and tell Jimmy and Kara half-ass agrees before walking away and meeting with Senator Crane.

Senator Crane, you may remember (S: I don’t.) (M: NOPE.) was in an episode a few months ago where Supergirl saved her from being body snatcher or whatever. A White Martian kidnapped her and pretended to be her and told Hank he was not trill and stuff. At least that’s how I remember it. Apparently Senator Crane, has been working to get the DEO more money which they need to fight Non. This is why superheros usually try not to affiliate themselves with the government.

Crane praises Hank for doing such a good job. He tells her it was mostly his team and she says that it starts at the top. Then she expounds on his virtues and touches his hand while Kara and Alex look kinda uncomfortable.

One of the other agents manning the Big Screen of Crimes speaks up and tells them that there is a fire going on in the city and a fireman is trapped the roof of the burning building. There’s a cool shot where they all turn to the screen with Supergirl in the background and Crane turns back to ask if she can get there in time and by the time they turn around she’s already gone. It’s pretty cute.

Of course, Supergirl saves the fireman. The other firemen pull him out from under a beam as she lifts it and then… they just sit there? Instead of getting him off the roof. Also how did a beam fall on him if they’re on a roof?

Mari: Oh, that was the beam that was holding up, you guessed it, contrivance.

Catherine: Whatever! It’s all a device to get Supergirl onto this roof so that she can be infected by Red Kryptonite. Which is also on the roof. For some reason?

I’m really trying here, guys.

She basically walks near it and then she’s infected. Eh. Okay. Fine. I mean… okay, fine. This seems as good a place as any to talk a little about the history of Red Kryptonite and bore everyone. (S: WTF there’s different forms of kryptonite?!?!) (C: OMG you’re precious. There are 800.)

So, Red K is old school comics stuff. Next to Green K, it is the most popular form of Kryptonite for Superman to accidentally stumble across like a dumbass. However, even though Red K has been around so long, it’s effects have never been set in stone (geddit?). Over the years, Red K has made Superman do everything from lose his invulnerability to rapidly aging to transforming into a goddamn dragon. No, I’m not making that last one up. It also once caused him to grow a bunch of hair. It was basically Silver Age comics go-to choice for wacky storylines when Lois and Lana had exhausted all of their ways of forcing Superman to marry them that month.

In more recent times, it caused Superman on Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman to either become apathetic and stop being a hero or transfer his powers to another person. In Smallville it turned Clark into a leather-wearing bad boy that set my teenage heart a flutter like nothing else.

And Supergirl seems to be taking on that same idea. But more on that later.

The next morning Kara’s alarm goes off and she crushes it. An upbeat, sorta saucy song starts playing so WE KNOW something’s going down, guys. Kara looks through her clothes and picks out a yellow sweater and red skirt before looking like she’s having second thoughts.

Cut to her in the CatCo elevator wearing… a black, green and pink skirt and top? I’m confused. I thought for sure that face was ‘I can dress sexier. I’m a vixen. This show is clearly written by dudes’. But then she went from short, red cheerleader skirt to long black pencil skirt? The outfit is tight but not tight tight. Is her rebellion as a bad girl on Red K that she’s not wearing primary colors? Because if so that’s hilarious. (S: Hahahahaha, I guess at least they didn’t go with leather?)

Mari: This is the sweetest, nicest bad girl styling I’ve ever seen. 

Catherine: Kara walks through the office getting shocked looks over her outfit, especially from Jimmy.

Am I a nun? This outfit isn’t that sexy! It’s not, ‘whoa, that girl needs to cover up’ sexy. It’s a bit tight. It’s a fucking knee-length skirt. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills here. (S: She’s like, not even showing cleavage? Idk either.)

Cat comes in and comments that Kara is ‘dressed like an adult’. So the outfit is supposed to be grown up? But then why was everyone looking at her? I’M SO CONFUSED. Cat reminds her assistants that she asked for a list of magazine lawyers to replace Lucy like, 2 days ago and no such list has materialized.

Siobhan starts to hand her a list but Kara shoots up and says that she already did it and it’s all organized and everything. Siobhan looks upset and Winn sorta does, too.

Cat gifts Kara with two tickets to Club Apocalypse. I’m assuming this is a comic reference to the planet, Apokolips, which is not a fun night spot unless you like fire and death. Cat gives Siobhan a scolding look as she leaves and Siobhan asks Kara if she even knows how to dance.

Kara tells her not to be jealous and then says ‘or do, I don’t really care’. Siobhan looks contemplative.

So, so far this shows version of Red K makes Kara:

• a better dresser
• better at her job

I mean, granted some Red K origin stories start out with ‘Superman is finally standing up for himself! Yay!’ before they descend into madness but so far I like this Kara better. (S: SAME.)

DEO. Hank tells his crew that in the last few hours, two armored vehicles carrying a jillion dollars in gold were attacked. Two guys using an alien as their muscle managed to take out the trucks. A picture is put on screen of a Arnold Schwarzenegger-looking alien called a K’Hund.

Khunds (as it’s spelled in the comics) are an alien species that’s know for being very volatile and war crazy. They had some dealing with Doomsday in the past. This particular K’Hund is a Fort Rozz escapee, of course.

Hank says that they have intel on these dudes next heist but they have to move fast and luckily they have Supergirl for that.

Cut to Supergirl who is sitting at a table a few feet away and looking at her fingernails.

    Kara sasses him about there being another alien agent at the DEO. Hank quickly ushers his crew out of the room as Kara spins around in her chair. He asks her if he needs to brief her again and Kara gets up to leave and sasses that she just has to kick alien ass.

Over at the robbery, the armored car gets picked up by the K’Hund and he rips the doors off. The DEO agents show up and he escapes. Alex tells Supergirl that she’s up. Supergirl stops the K’Hund and when he sees her he starts to tell her that her mother sentenced him to Fort Rozz but Kara blah, blahs over him and asks him if he wants to fight.

So…can we keep her like this, or…? (S: Pretty please?) (M: This is the Supergirl Cat would be dating…)

They fight and Kara gets all cocky and soundly kicks his ass. Then she lets him go, telling him to get out of her sight. I guess they needed to give us a reason to not think she’s awesomer like this. Whatever, you guys.

Alex and the agents (new band name I called it) show up and see that the K’Hund is gone. Alex asks Kara if she’s alright and Kara non-nonchalantly says that the guy got away. EVEN THOUGH HE DIDN’T. OOOOOH, BAD GIRL. (S: Bad Girl in a Knee Length Pencil Skirt is my new band name.)

DEO. A random agent who we’ve seen a few times but who has not been given a name that I remember tells Hank that Senator Crane is in his office to update him. Supergirl sarcastically says that sounds fun and both Alex and Hank look at her like WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU WHY ARE YOU DIFFERENT. Ignoring the fact that Kara is actually pretty sarcastic and sassy normally.

Hank asks to speak with Supergirl privately and reminds her that they are supposed to be an alien prison here and not an alien… tea party. (M: Okay, Alien Tea Party is my band name.) She wasn’t supposed to let the K’Hund escape. Supergirl snaps at him to get off her back and brings up some good points about how uppity Alex and Hank get the second she makes a mistake. Also how Hank, aka Martian Manhunter could really be doing this shit himself if he wanted.

Alex and Hank continue to look at her like a misbehaving teenage daughter.

Supergirl gets in Hanks face about how he’s refusing to live up to his alien side and then tells them that she has to go because she has work in the morning. Then she slow-mo punches a wall as she walks away and dents it so we know she’s HULK SMASH angry.

CatCo. Kara shows up the next morning dressed basically like Cat and she looks GREAT guys. She should dress like this all the time? What’s wrong with this? (S: She is ROCKING those sunglasses, yo.) (C: Those are some dope shades)

Winn freaks out when he realizes that Kara used Cat’s elevator and Kara sasses about her having a private elevator being bad for the environment? I guess because of the electricity it takes to use it? Cat asks Kara what the hell she thinks shes doing and Kara hands her a latte and tells her that walking from the main elevator takes a full 90 seconds longer which means that Cat’s morning latte is 90 seconds colder.

Of course Cat is impressed/turned on by Kara’s new brazen attitude because Kara is now basically acting like Cat. Again, I ask. Can she just stay this way? Mean girlfriends? Y/N?

Siobhan, who has now taken Kara’s former role of a eager to please, puppy dog, tells Cat that she has a scoop for her and shows her security footage of Supergirl letting the K’Hund go the night before.

Of course, Cat tells her to keep it to herself until they figure out what the full story is. Because lol like Cat is just gonna throw her girlfriend under the bus like that? Siobhan clearly doesn’t know Cat, the only consistent character on this show. Siobhan tries to argue but Cat shuts her up and tells her to go away. Kara listens in with her super hearing and gives Siobhan a cocky look when she leaves.

DEO. Alex brings the K’Hund in and he’s so mad that he admits that Supergirl let him go the night before.

CatCo. Siobhan, being tacky af, talks to someone on the phone about how she is emailing them a scoop. Kara listens in and then approaches her, lying about how she is needed downstairs to sign off on a delivery of flowers. Siobhan complains and Kara smarms about how Cat may give her more editorial work someday if she’s lucky.

Kara goes onto Siobhan’s computer once she leaves and finds that she was emailing none other than Perry White about the Supergirl story. It’s weird when Perry White is more willing to print an objectionable Super story than Cat Grant…

Anyway, Kara prints out the email and gives it to Cat to snitch on Siobhan. Hey guys? I LIKE HER SO MUCH BETTER THIS WAY. She’s so Mad Men it hurts. She’s better at her job and a snappy dresser and she’s finally standing up for herself. Sue me. I like mean Supergirl.

Samantha: You are not alone. Standing up for yourself is not always a bad thing show. And yes, Joan would rock these outfits.

Catherine: Siobhan gets dragged in to Cat’s office and Cat guts her like a fish, obviously. She outlines Siobhan’s entire plan to sell the story to Cat’s biggest competitor, make a name for herself and then Cat would beg her to come back and respect her for outdoing her. Siobhan admits that this was her plan and Cat tells her that it was stupid because she wouldn’t hire someone who was dishonest to her. She hires people who are loyal and respect her. Fair.

Then she tells Siobhan to pack her shit and get to steppin. Everyone in the office overhears her being fired and Kara looks pleased while Winn looks upset. Sorry, are we supposed to care this his girlfriend of 3 minutes was fired for her own mistake? Because I don’t.

Samantha: Yeah, no, again Kara didn’t really do anything wrong here? 

Mari: And to be totally mature, Siobhan started it.

Catherine: SHE DID.

Siobhan is shocked and near tears as she leaves and Kara stops her to sass. Bad Kara is my new favorite character.

Kara then offers Jimmy and Winn her other tickets to Club Apocalypse and they go although they clearly think something is off about her.

Club Apocalypse. The scene opens with Winn complaining about how the music is too loud and Siobhan hasn’t texted him back and his dick is so small he can’t feel the sides of her vagina anyway. Wait… maybe he didn’t say that last part. Maybe I just heard that.

Either way, Jimmy tells him to give her some space. Kara shows up and they do this big reveal of her outfit like she’s wearing something really sexy but again… no. It’s a black dress with a halter top.

I’ve worn sluttier outfits to church. I don’t understand why this is happening. They had the opportunity to really put her in something skanky here for the male gaze and they didn’t take it and I’m confused but… pleased? I guess.

Samantha: I guess? I dunno because I feel like they’re still trying to do it, just failing? It’s so weird.

Mari: Yeah, I don’t really like the trope that says that once inhibitions are gone, girls will always turn to dressing sexy. Like repressed sexiness is just something we deal with, day to day. Like we all have a back-up closet of extra-sexy clothes, just in case. I’m not hating that they didn’t go the route of stripping her of cloth and material. However, it’s real weird that they are still framing all these shots like Kara is walking around naked. Whatcha doing there? 

Catherine: That’s what it is! The camera keeps taking these peepshow level shots of her… in knee-length black skirts. It’s really weird, guys. I’m glad we solved it, though.

Kara brazenly asks Jimmy if he wants to dance and then dances all up on him. He’s into it at first but then she whispers in his ear that “the poor man’s Lois Lane” was too idiotic to keep him. I wanna be mad. But the phrase “poor man’s Lois Lane” is so accurate I’m dying. Only because we are all the poor man’s Lois Lane. All of us are sub-par in comparison.

Jimmy gets upset by this and backs away from her. She laughingly grabs his arm and pulls it back forcefully and of course she’s much stronger than him so something snaps. Crap. I don’t like Bad Kara anymore.

Mari: Bone breaking is where I definitely draw the line.

Catherine: Jimmy keeps trying to ask her WTF she’s doing and Kara takes off her glasses. But they’re on a dance floor surrounded by people so he grabs them and puts them back on her because secret identity.

Samantha: No. This is stupid. Stop rubbing the “glasses as crux to secret identity” in my face, show. Because it is stupid and I will always hate it. 

Catherine: At least let her forget, show. Cat calls Jimmy on his phone and he steps away. She tells him that she needs to talk to Supergirl and he needs to use his silly watch to call her. By the time Jimmy turns around Kara is gone.

CatCo. Supergirl flies in and Cat asks her why she released the alien. I pray to lesbian Jesus that they are gonna make out.

Cat asks if she’s being P’unked and Supergirl mimics her stance and calls her Cat. This throws Cat, since Supergirl usually calls her Miss Grant. Supergirl tells her that she’s not a girl scout like Cat has been telling everyone and she has a dark side. Cat tells her that she doesn’t get to have a dark side and she needs to represent the best of humanity. (S: Okay, this is interesting.) Kara tells her she’s sick of it and sick of enabling the city in their victim-hood. She tells Cat that she’s quitting being a superhero.

Cat says that she thinks Supergirl is having a mental breakdown and not to worry, it happens to the best of us. She says she’ll take her to her therapist and get her some anti-depressants if her alien brain will respond to them but in the mean time she needs to lay low.

Cat tells Supergirl that her haughty attitude is not attractive. Kara counters that she learned it from the best and Cat looks complimented for a minute before Kara adds that she is the most arrogant, self-serving, mean-spirited person she knows. Cat tells her that she made her and she’s not gonna let her down. Kara does the “or what?” thing.

PLEASE make out. PLLLEEASSEEE. This is evolving into a slash fic so quickly please!

Kara gets close to Cat and reminds her that she’s not the most powerful person in the city. She asks if she wants to see what powerful really looks like.

Then she throws her off the balcony.

So…not hot.

Supergirl catches her before she hits the ground of course. This is why the important people in comics get those big ass skyscrapers. Plenty of time to be caught after being thrown from them. Supergirl sets her down in front of a crowd of onlookers and tells her that true power is deciding who will live and who will die. She tells Cat never to call her again and flies off. Poor Cat looks horrified and shocked.

DEO. Winn and Jimmy show up to tell Hank and Alex that Kara is acting mean and hurting their boy feelings as well as their arms.

Alex tells them that they already know. Hank asks the magic Big Screen of Crimes to display what Supergirl has done in the last 48 hours and they’re all reminded of the fire. Hank tells Alex to run a thermodynamic scan on the building and they discover the Red K.

Somehow Winn realizes from the screen that the Kryptonite is man made and Alex surmises that someone made it but didn’t get it quite right. Instead of hurting her it made her a Bad Girl.

The team wonders who would make Kryptonite and Maxwell Carlisle strolls in all whoops! My bad, guys.

   Maxwell Carlisle is ushered back into the plastic cell with no toilet (S: But Netflix.) that he spent weeks in earlier.

Mari: Dammit, Maxwell Carlisle. Don’t you like toilets?

Catherine: Maybe he just can’t get Netflix in his house?

He tells them that this is unnecessary since he came there to help. He tells them that he created the Kryptonite to stop Non and his army. It ended up on the roof because Carlisle Maxwell fucked up one of the satellite that Non was using and left it there as a booby trap. But he didn’t mean to endanger anyone else. So I guess he lit the building on fire in the hopes that Non would stop it to protect the satellite? I guess?

Carlisle Maxwell says that he started tracking Supergirl after she was infected by the Red K to see how it would affect her and he saw her throw Cat off of the Cat Co building. Winn freaks out but Carlise Maxwell assures him that Cat has nine lives and she’s fine.

Alex points out that Supergirl very much isn’t fine and Carlisle Maxwell genuinely apologizes to her and says that he may be able to create an antidote since he still wants to hit that big sister ass. Alex lets him out of the cage and tells him that he better hope he can fucking make an antidote because he just turned Supergirl into the monster he always feared she’d be.

The idea of Carlisle Maxwell creating the Red K artificially is more along the lines of the absolutely terrible suck fest that was 1983’s Superman III, the movie where Richard Pryor accidentally invents a new, synthetic kind of Kryptonite that turns Superman into an alcoholic. If you don’t believe me, you can watch it but it was also turn you into an alcoholic, as it is terrible. (S: Snarkathon?) (M: IDK if I can afford being an alcoholic.)

CatCo. Jimmy and Winn walk into Cat’s office where she’s having her bruises made up. I guess she hit the concrete hard or something? She has black eye and I’m not gonna be all victim-blamey and question it. Cat seems upset and tells them that Supergirl has gone off the rails and she has to publicly denounce her as a villain. Instead of point blank telling her what is going on, the boys try to carefully talk her out of it.

Cat says that she’s sure that Supergirl will be cured soon, which makes me think maybe a line was taken out here to the detriment of the scene and asks if they can assure her, right this second that the public is safe from Supergirl. Of course they can’t. But telling the public may not be the best idea, Cat? I mean, there’s literally nothing they can do to avoid her and it will probably just cause a panic but okay.

Cat stages a press conference from her desk to announce to the public that Supergirl is a Bad Girl now. She obviously has a hard time admitting this and her voice breaks a few times.

We’re shown a montage of people around the city watching the press conference and reacting to it. The little girl from earlier, Lauren, throws her Supergirl outfit in the trash. The firemen from earlier take down a banner that said ‘Station 47 loves Supergirl’. Which is cute but also weird.

At the end of the press conference Cat quickly wipes away a tear.

Super pad. Alex sees that Kara’s door is open, which is the classic sign of a TV break in. She walks in with her gun drawn (great idea, Alex. Real effective.) and sees Kara standing in the window. Only now Kara is wearing a black Kryptonian outfit and her eyeliner game is on point.

New plan: Kara gets her old personality back but keeps this wardrobe.

Mari: Best plan: Kara retains about 50% of this personality and keeps this wardrobe.

Catherine: Sold.

Kara says that she picked this outfit out herself and that Alex spent their whole lives putting her in dowdy sweaters so that she would look less pretty next to her. She then lights her own wardrobe on fire.

OH NO. TOO FAR. NOT THE CLOTHES. Why is it that clothes always get damaged during a sister fight? Answer me that. They always go for the clothes.

Kara tells Alex that she never wanted her to own her powers and that it made her feel insecure. And now she has to work for her so that Alex can still control her.

  Alex argues that she’s proud of her. Kara ignores her and goes to the window. She gets this creepy, Broadway musical vibe while looking out at the city and saying that the people worship her and those who don’t, will. Kara tells Alex that they have never been real sisters and that without her, Alex has no life. She says that deep down Alex hates her and that’s why she killed Astra. Alex cries over this as Kara flies off. Kara is flying away a lot in this episode.

DEO. Carlisle Maxwell is working on the antidote. Alex tells Hank that Kara is being super mean. Senator Crane butts in to advocate crazy murdering Supergirl asap to stop the threat to the city. Hank doesn’t want to kill her. Crane tells him that it is his job to protect the world from alien threats. Hank reluctantly tells his troops to assemble and Supergirl is the target right in front of Alex who… does nothing. I guess because she was so beaten down by a few bitchy words. (S: Damn. I hope my sister wouldn’t throw me to the wolves after 1 fight.)

Carlisle Maxy comes out with another miraculous invention from his evil lab. This time it’s a gun with a thing that will cure Supergirl. Sure. He hands it to Alex and wishes her luck.

National City’s One Restaurant. Supergirl, dressed in her black jumpsuit, sits at the bar alone watching Cat’s press conference. She dumps out a bowl of peanuts and throws the bowl down while onlookers comment on what a no-good whippersnapper she’s being and probably some stuff about the kids today. Then she starts flicking the peanuts hard enough to shatter the bottles behind the bar and people start running out. Honestly, little late, citizens of National City. I would’ve run out when any superhero came in. Best case scenario, a super fight will break out and you’ll be caught in the middle of it.

This peanut flicking thing is a direct homage to the aforementioned, Superman III, the worst movie of all time (besides Superman IV).

     Outside, a big screen plays the conference and Supergirl suddenly flies through it, demolishing it. Cops start shooting at her but she blows up their cars and generally destroys stuff. The DEO agents pull up and open fire on her. She doesn’t really notice.

Alex starts to fire her miraculous gun but of course it takes a second to warm up and Supergirl moves out of the way. He can invent the damn thing in a few hours but he can’t make it fire automatically. Okay. Supergirl knocks the gun out of her hand. Hank shows up and rushes Supergirl but she deflects him with one hand. Alex begs her to stop and Kara says that nothing on earth can stop her. Of course, Hank hearing this, transforms into Martian Manhunter.

He begins to fight Kara and they fly up into the sky while people film it on their phones. GET OUT OF THE WAY, PEOPLE. God damn. Why are the bystanders so dumb in this city? Do none of them value their lives? ((S: TWITTER IS THE MOST IMPORTANT, CATHERINE.) (M: Live-streaming is life!) (C: I have to Vine this shit as I die!)

A few punches later, Martian Manhunter slams Kara into the ground and it creates one of those sick ass craters that superheros are always getting slammed into. Awesome. Oh, then Alex comes up behind her and shoots her with the miracle gun.

Of course, it works. Carlisle Maxwell didn’t get his degree in vampire doctoring and mad science for having a chiseled jaw. (S: Lol.)

After the Red K is leeched from her system, Kara lies in the crater recovering and Alex runs over to her.

But now that the fight is over, the DEO agents take aim at Martian Manhunter, not realizing that it is Hank. Alex begs him to run. Hank transforms back into regular Hank in front of the DEO agents and A BUNCH of bystanders with, again, cell phone cameras.

He puts his hands on his head and kneels down so the DEO can arrest him. Not sure why they would without orders. But okay. We’re close to the end here. So whatever.

Supergirl wakes up in the DEO some time later and immediately asks Alex if she killed anyone. Alex tells her that she didn’t. (M: Just some innocent clothes in primary colors, RIP.) Kara notices Alex’s broken arm and Alex assures her that it will heal. Kara, obviously not placated, starts sobbing and we get to see more of Benoist’s emotional acting which, again, is unsarcastically actually great. (S: More, please.) (M: #MakeSupergirlCry2k16)

Kara sobs that every bad thought she’s ever had came to surface and she couldn’t stop it. She says that she didn’t mean anything that she said. Of course, Alex forgives her. She literally looks like a sad little bunny, how could you not. But Alex tells her that there is some truth to what she said and they’re gonna have to work on that. Kara asks about J’onn.

Over in the plastic cell, Hank is being questioned by Senator Crane, of all people. She asks what she’s supposed to call him and he tells her that his name is J’onn ‘Jonzz. She asks if Hank Henshaw is dead. Hank says yes. She asks if he killed him and Hank doesn’t answer. Crane says that she was always afraid of aliens but then Hank changed her mind and now she realizes that was a lie. Okay. I don’t know enough about her as a character to care about this so whatever.

Crane leaves and Alex comes in. She asks Hank why he didn’t run. He says that he would spend a thousand years in that cell if it meant keeping her and Kara safe. He says that but he hasn’t yet realized that he has nowhere to pee. (M: Enjoy Netflix, though!)

CatCo. Kara returns to work and realizes that she has to talk to everyone and apologize. She goes to Jimmy first. He tells her he knows it wasn’t her fault but that they are not okay because, again, there had to be some truth to what she said. She tells him that she doesn’t hate Lucy but that she was jealous of her for dating Jimmy. She starts to tell him that she loves him but he interrupts her and tells her not to finish that sentence. He tells her that he needs time to think and she looks hurt but agrees.

That night, Cat comes out to her balcony and sees Supergirl there, looking glum. Instead of running and screaming, like the rest of us would, she strolls out onto her balcony like she owns the place because she does. Supergirl starts up the conversation by telling Cat that she loves this city and the people in it. She says that she feels like everyone in the city is a light and every time she’s helped one of them a little of their light has gone into her. That’s actually really sweet and a nice way of putting it. I could easily see that sentiment being expressed in a less-gritty, pre-New 52 Superman comic.

Supergirl says that she knows what happened wasn’t totally her fault but that it brought something inside of her out that she isn’t comfortable with. She gets up and starts apologizing to Cat but Cat stops her.

She tells her that she has base jumped Mt. Kilimanjaro and that little dive off the building wasn’t nothing. Although she admits that it scared her, which is big for Cat. Supergirl tells her that she scared the whole city and she’s afraid she can’t win them back.

Cat tells her that it’s not gonna be easy but that it’s not impossible.

  Supergirl asks if she can sit on Cat’s balcony for a little while and Cat agrees. The camera pans out as they sit quietly together and everyone’s acting is super on point.

So, as final thoughts, I want to point out something that bothered me about this episode. I mean, generally it was pretty blah and alright but this is particular bothered me. As I said up top, this show seems to have decided to take the idea up from Smallville and have Supergirl be affected by the Red K by turning into a Bad Girl. During this time, she says and does things that she would never do normally but that have secretly been in her mind or her heart for a while. For instance, when she sexy dances with Jimmy and tells Alex that she feels like she’s never loved her. All of this stuff was portrayed as being stuff that Kara feels deep down and the Red K just makes her more open to saying it.

Then at the end of the episode she faces the consequences for her actions. I have always HATED this version of Red K. These secret, evil, life-shattering thoughts are the kind of things that everyone has inside themselves and them being dragged out of Kara against her will isn’t something she should be punished for? She shouldn’t have to face up to the consequences of her actions because she didn’t actually bring them on. This situation in Super shows always makes it seem like Superman/Supergirl is SO PURE that they aren’t allowed to have bad thoughts or mean impulses. Which is bullshit. I mean, destroying cop cars, okay, fine, that’s something she needs to face up to. But telling off Cat? Admitting to Alex that she doesn’t feel loved? Feels more like Kara’s being punished for being honest. And, remember, because this is important— being forced to be honest completely against her will through no fault her of her own.

At the end of the episode, Kara tells Cat that she knows it wasn’t totally her fault because her ‘brain was altered’ and that phrasing made me especially uncomfortable for the obvious reasons. This version of Red K is treated basically like a drug that’s being slipped to Kara and causing her to do things that she’s being punished for later. And I hate, hate, hate it.

Samantha: I hadn’t thought of it this way. Valid. Damn. Cosign.

 

Next time on Supergirl: Lucy gets like 27 more new jobs in S01 E17 – Manhunter.