Previously: A literal shock jockey and family dramz.
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How Does She Do It?
Marines: If you want to know why this show is MEH to watch and painful to recap, let’s take today’s opening scene: Supergirl is flying around and all we see is her SHADOW. Her voice over says that she’s always felt like a SHADOW of a person. Are the writers even trying?
Samantha: Maybe this is the first ever attempt at letting a computer write a show and all it has to go on is bad metaphors and cliches?
Catherine: Shut up, you guys. IT’S DEEP.
Mari: Deeply upsetting.
Anyway, ever since Kara’s become Supergirl, she feels like she can have it all. And today, nothing is going to ruin her mood. CUE THING TO RUIN HER MOOD. Supergirl spots lights on her arm and sees they are coming from some kind of drone. She chases after it with a really stupid look on her face (C: We are such impartial reporters) and shoots it down with her heat vision. She grabs a piece of it, not caring that all the other pieces of it are probably crashing to the ground as we speak. Maybe nothing can ruin your mood, girl, but I’m pretty sure you may have just ruined someone’s life.
DEO. Supergirl shows Henshaw the piece of drone she has and asks why the DEO is spying on her still. Henshaw says it’s not him. Alex weirdly comes over and just snatches the thing from Henshaw. From the plastic covering and the two wires sticking out, Alex can tell that there is absolutely no tech like this out there. It’s definitely Earth tech, but just super advanced. (S: If there’s nothing like it out there, how do you know it’s from Earth?) (M: Maybe it says, “Made on Earth” somewhere.) Henshaw grabs the drone back and says he’ll look into it. Alex tells Supergirl they can trust him and I go, “huh?” and then remember that last episode hasn’t happened yet.
Cat Co. Winn is at Alex’s desk, being real flustered over a phone. A giant gust of wind no one else notices announces Kara’s entrance. She picks up the next call and receives some good news as Winn asks her to never ask him to cover phones again. After the call, Kara says that Cat’s won some kind of prize. Winn says Cat knew that already and she even smiled about it.
Kara superhears Cat’s phone conversation. Cat is arguing with her mom. Afterward, she yells for Kara to place her lunch order which is a salad with a burger on top. Kara congratulates Cat on her award, but she says she’s not going to the ceremony (even though this is the first time Cat has beat Lois Lane), because she doesn’t have a babysitter. Momma Cat won’t do it. Cat shoos Kara away to fetch her salad burger but Kara turns back to offer to babysit Carter. Cat is suspicious of her motivations.
Restaurant and a hip hop-ish version of Time After Time. Lucy is prattling on about her case when Kara walks in. Jimmy spots her, but then turns his attention back to Lucy, asking what exactly what she’s doing here. The episode where they are already together hasn’t happened yet, see? Lucy’s excuse for being here is something about a case she’s working on but Jimmy doesn’t buy iy. He says he has to go back to work. Lucy sighs and admits she came all this way for him. Jimmy forces a smile and says that he’ll call her if he isn’t too busy at work.
Kara has been staring and listening in and even comments on their conversation after Lucy leaves. She says she used her regular hearing to eavesdrop, as if that makes it any better. Jimmy says that all Lucy ever wants is to win everything, and now that means him. Kara assumes that Jimmy dumped Lucy, but the opposite is true. He moved away after Lucy dumped him in favor of her career. While Kara is being all awkward complimentary, they hear a loud boom that shakes the building they are in. Kara puts her glasses down to use her x-ray vision, a Superperson quirk I found both inexplicable and charming. (C: Yep, Superman does this too and it’s always adorable to me.) She sees that several buildings down, a bomb has gone off.
People are fleeing from the building when Supergirl arrives. She holds up the falling section of the building to allow them to escape but it’s crumbling around her. She uses her heat vision to reinforce the steel and then flies down to the people who are cheering for her to smile at them and bask the glory BEFORE flying up and putting out the fire with her freezer breath. Priorities, girl. (S: I actually had to close my eyes this was so painful.) (C: We Millennials need our adoration.)
Anyway, another drone is recording her as she does all this.
After the commercial break, Henshaw is complimenting Supergirl for holding that real heavy building. Supergirl wonders why someone would place a bomb there. Henshaw explains that it was a lab developing a non-lithium battery. Alex comes in with a lead: the bomb used some of the same technology as the drone. The tech was developed by none other than Carlisle Maxwell Cullen Lord (C:Esquire LLC). Henshaw wants to go pay Carlisle Maxwell a visit. Supergirl wants to know how they can, being super secret DEO agents and all.
I’d probably have my Internet license revoked if I didn’t make the appropriate comparison:
Catherine: This explains why last week Cat thought that Henshaw was an FBI agent. Timey Wimey.
Samantha: I’m mid-Jessica Jones right now and so seeing Tennant there gave me the wrong sort of feels, which I’m sad about.
Mari: Enough shop talk, though! Let’s talk about boys! Supergirl tells Alex all about how awesome Lucy Lane is and how she’s a lawyer for the military so she even is out “saving the world.” Supergirl says she wouldn’t even be surprised if Lucy could fly. Alex wonders why Jimmy would dump Lucy and move to National City, only to get back with her. Supergirl explains that Lucy dumped him.
Alex gives a big SKRRRT because talking to Jimmy about Lucy is apparently a one way ticket to the friend zone. Oh, yay, let’s talk about the friend zone. Actually, let’s not. (S: Thank god, this is why you are our fearless leader.) (C: Praise) I’ll skip to the next part which is a call from Cat asking about her son. Supergirl totally forgot about her boss’s kid so she (literally) flies out of there.
Supergirl lands in a bush and Kara comes running out fully clothed, nice and pressed looking too, so maybe she super steamed her clothes in the bush or something.
Samantha: I’m thinking this is probably a shout out to the Phone Booth Quick Change, right? But were the clothes in the bush?
Catherine: In the old Superman comics he used to keep his normal clothes in a pocket in his cape. Yeah. Really. IDK how that would change his g-force but I like to imagine he occasionally used it like a sap to smack people around with.
Mari: Kara runs up to a teacher, signs for Carter and then awkwardly introduces herself to him. She says a bunch of stuff but Carter just looks at her shyly.
Cullen Lord Labs. Alex and Henshaw present Carlisle Maxwell with a piece of the bomb and he’s like, “yep. Mine.” He smiles when he hears that it came from a bomb because that’s the kind of smarmadouche he is. He says that the lab that was bombed belongs to him. He’s trying to change the world so anyone who wants to maintain the status quo could’ve targeted him. Alex tells him to narrow that suspect pool to people who could modify the tech and have a personal grudge against him. Carlisle Maxwell continues to be a jerk when he calls Alex the brains of the operation with Henshaw RIGHT THERE. Henshaw says he’s leaving Alex behind to protect Carlisle Maxwell.
Cat Co. A story about Supergirl comes on the news and Carter jumps up to fanboy about it. Kara is enjoying this and prods about Carter’s crush on Supergirl. Which is a wee bit weird.
Catherine: Oh man, how’s he gonna feel when his mom and Supergirl start dating like in that fanfic I wrote? Jeez. I didn’t know I was tearing apart a family.
Mari: You should be ashamed.
Winn invites himself into this conversation to be like, “you too Carter?” He tries to say that he knows Supergirl and Kara tells him he totally does not, and Winn is forced to backtrack.
Catherine: Winn is such a dumbass.
Mari: In Cat’s office, Jimmy is fighting with a stapler. Kara goes in there to help him out and ends up nervously breaking the stapler herself. Jimmy asks how Cat handles all this office craziness and Kara says it’s ’cause she’s Cat MF Grant. (Something like that.) Jimmy adds that Cat has Kara, which helps. Kara says Jimmy has her too. They look at each other with hungry eyes. Sorry, I was just editing Sam’s last Supernatural post and she said that there and it’s in my head. How can it not be? S: Lol, I’m sorry and you’re welcome.) C: Nobody puts Mari in the corner.)
Jimmy’s phone rings and interrupts the moment and of course! It’s Lucy! Kara awkwardly looks at his phone and tells him it’s Lucy. Weird, girl. Jimmy ignores the call and says that there was a time (like last episode probably…) where he would’ve done anything to get a call from Lucy. He goes on a rant about how Lucy dumped him and Kara gets this real constipated look on her face, presumably remembering what Alex said about the friend zone. She interrupts Jimmy and tells him that they should probably focus on work. She leaves the office to go do work things and a kind of startled Jimmy says she’s right. Because Kara is fond of saying things under her breath in easy listening distance of others, she walks out with a “take that friend zone.”
Cullen Lord Labs. Alex is looking over plans for Carlisle Maxwell’s new train system, which I’m pretty sure they’ve mentioned once or twice this episode, and I’ve managed to never mention yet. I’m so good at recapping.
Samantha: For most of this episode I decided to pretend it was a really fancy toy train set and it made it better?
Catherine: It’s like a really boring fancy toy train set.
Mari: Anyhow, Alex is way smart and she can totally tell what’s going on in Carlisle Maxwell’s train plans. He’s impressed and asks why Alex is wasting her talents kicking down doors for the government. She asks why he mistrusts the government and Carlisle Maxwells calls her on answering a question with a question. They smile flirtily at each other. Alex says she works for the government because she believes there is no higher calling than helping people. Also, I think a little bit because she hates her sister. Hey, and talk turns to Supergirl. Carlisle Maxwell says she’s just a glorified fireman who isn’t doing anything to actually address the problems of the world. (S: Is it weird I think this is sort of a valid point?) (M: Nope. Superpeople are damage control.)
Catherine: It’s odd to me that they seemed kinda flirty since in Carlisle Maxwell’s first appearance he seemed to be flirting with Cat. Is he just gonna drag that vampire D all around National City or what?
Mari: A+.
More flirty smiles are interrupted by a call for Carlisle Lord to get down to level 3. We cut there and see that another bomb has been planted. Alex tells the staff to evacuate, but Carlisle Lord grabs the bomb. He wants to dismantle it so it won’t blow up all his work. He very cockily says that he knows which wire to cut. He does so, the bomb stops but then! Back-up bomb!
After a commercial break, we’re at Cat Co. Jimmy and Kara are still working and exchanging work chat I don’t care about. Alex calls Kara and says she’s at Cullen Lord Labs with a bomb that is about to go off in a minute. Kara asks Winn to watch Carter but he says he isn’t good with kids. Kara tells him he eats cereal for dinner and his desk is full of toys. He starts to explain about adult collectibles but she’s already gone. Also, not that relating to Winn is a thing I want to do, but cereal for dinner is delicious and all of my Doctor Who Pop Funkos are on my shelf at work. So. C: Yeah, but we’re BETTER nerds then Winn. He’s a fake nerd like those guys who pretend to be a nerd just to get girls attention. Fucking fake nerd guys.)
Supergirl arrives at the lab and Carlisle Maxwell tells her the bomb is super dangerous and has to be cleared far from the city. Supergirl takes it and flies, the DEO monitoring her progress. Henshaw says that she isn’t far enough away and tells her to fly up instead. She changes directions, refusing to throw the bomb until the very last second to make sure she’s got the most distance she can. The explosion sends Supergirl flying back down into the ocean.
Supergirl comes to on a table, with a ringing in her ears. She looks up and sees Henshaw near her. His eyes are glowing red. She passes out again.
Supergirl gasps awake again with 100% less ringing in her ears. Henshaw is there with 100% less glowing red eyes. They’ve got Supergirl in a tanning bed that mimics Earth’s sun to recharge her. Alex comes to give her sister hugs and Henshaw gives the camera shifty looks.
Out in the DEO pit, Henshaw says they got the bomber on camera. His name is Ethan Knox and he’s a disgruntled ex-employee. Supergirl asks how they find him and Alex says nope. “A fall from that high would’ve rattled your cousin. You are staying home.” She’s probably not staying home but we definitely get some cousin shots!
Samantha: 
Catherine: We’re getting less drinking opportunities this episode. It’s like a fucking church meeting in here.
Marines: Supergirl starts ranting about everything she needs to do and Alex tells her she’s spreading herself too thin. She’s trying to be Supergirl and Cat’s assistant and a DEO agent. She says that even she is liable to break.
Back at Cat Co, Carter and Winn are playing video games in Cat’s office.
Catherine: Ugh. Winn. More like Lose.
Samantha: I am so genuinely confused about time here. Is it a different day? I thought Cat was only supposed to be gone over night? Did Carter get out of school in the early hours of the morning?
Mari: We’re on TV Standard Time. Nothing makes sense.
Kara is waiting for her lunch at what’s turning out to be National City’s One Restaurant. Lucy’s there. She starts talking about Jimmy and Kara’s like, “yeah, NOPE.” and walks away. Lucy refuses to get the clue, or else she’s just kind of awful, and walks after Kara to continue pressing about whether Jimmy is seeing anyone. Say, Supergirl? Lucy saw the news where they were fighting Reactron side by side and is worried that Jimmy would find Supergirl irresistible. Okay, I’m convinced that Lucy can tell Kara likes Jimmy and is doing this to be awful.
Anyway, Lucy explains that the way Jimmy tells the story, she left him to prioritize her job. She only did that, though, because Jimmy was prioritizing Superman. He was at his beck and call, and how could Lucy complain since they were saving lives? And now Supergirl is a GIRL so how can Lucy compete with that? Kara falls for this and if she self-sarcrifices so that Jimmy and Lucy can get together, I’m going to be pissed.
Catherine: I’m already pissed that about Lucy’s logic here. So, she thinks he wants to be fucking Superman, I guess? Or he would be if only Superman were a girl? Or that any girl, even a superpowered alien would be powerless to resist Jimmy? What? What is this?
Mari: Stupidity.
Cullen Lord Labs. Carlisle Maxwell is getting ready for the train launch event. Alex wants him to cancel it because obviously it’s going to be targeted by Disgruntled Ex-Employee. Carlisle Maxwell refuses to cancel it because that’s the kind of smarmadouche he is. Alex says that she’s trying to protect him, but Carlisle Maxwell makes more disparaging comments about the government. Alex says she read “his file” and IDK what kind of file and where these files are, but she read it. His file said that Mama and Papa Cullen Lord worked for the government. Carlisle Maxwell is like YEAH, THEY ARE DEAD. As if we didn’t see that one coming.
Anyway, Carlisle Maxwell doesn’t want to be protected dammit, so he’s off to his event. And who cares about all the Jeffing people on the train with him? Not Carlisle Maxwell. C: Jeff those suckers!)
Cat Co. Jimmy’s monitoring the train launch event, and Kara comes in with lunch and to apologize for cutting him off about Lucy earlier. Jimmy says it’s fine. She’s just so easy to talk to. Kara says Lucy feels the same way because they met at National City’s One Restaurant and Lucy spilled her guts. Kara tells Jimmy that Lucy totes loves him and only broke up with him because of Superman. Jimmy is like, “I don’t want to date her anymore,” and Kara’s like, “but you have to.” I don’t even know what’s happening.
At the DEO, they are also monitoring the train launch event, but there is no sign of Disgruntled Ex-Employee. Supergirl shows up and says it sounds like they need some help. Henshaw asks if she’s up for it. She says she’s the only one who can keep up with the train once it gets going.
Samantha: Honestly, she hasn’t seemed injured or winded at all. I completely forgot that she was supposed to be at less than full capacity.
Catherine: Also, is it just me or is Henshaw acting super nice in this episode? All so that we find out he’s for sure a bad guy in the ‘Livewire’ episode and then they can be suspicious of him. Lame.
Mari: Super lame. (You can hire me, CBS.)
Cat Co. Jimmy is still working. Lucy comes in to announce that she’s going back to Metropolis. The argue a bit about why they broke up and Jimmy says that maybe they should just find other people. Real subtle, Jimbo. Lucy says that this new life looks good at Jimmy and he’s even got friends, like Kara. Even more subtle, Luce. They wish the best for each other, she kisses him and then she leaves.
In Cat’s office, Jimmy is brooding. Winn comes in with pizza and notices that Carter is missing. After seeing coverage of Carlisle Maxwell on TV, he figures out that Carter probably went down to the event to meet Supergirl.
And there he is, being pushed along with the crowd boarding the train.
At the DEO, they get a call about a bomb at Cullen Lord Airport. It might be a decoy, but Supergirl flies that way anyway.
At Cat Co, a rando tells Jimmy that they need to send all available reporters to Cullen Lord Airport because of the bomb. Jimmy calls Lucy and when she doesn’t pick up, heads off to the airport himself.
Train Launch. Someone asks Carter for a ticket. Carlisle Maxwell sees him and asks if his parents are already on board. He’s like, “sure” and no one finds this suspicious. Carlisle Maxwell ushers Carter on board himself.
Catherine: Makes perfect sense that this billionaire inventor/CEO would be hanging out around his train track talking to random children. Not creepy at all.
Mari: Winn arrives a second later but he doesn’t have a ticket to board so he can’t get on.
On the train, we see Disgruntled Ex-Employee and he’s got a bomb strapped to himself. He’s wearing his jacket a little open so we can see the bomb, but also, UM. DOES NO ONE ELSE SEE THIS BOMB?
Winn sees Disgruntled on the train just as it takes off.
After a commercial break, Winn calls Supergirl and tells her about the train bomb and missing Carter. Henshaw doesn’t even know if they can trust what Winn saw, but Supergirl trusts him. She tells the DEO to take the airport bomb. She’s going back to the train.
Jimmy speeds toward the airport.
Supergirl catches up to the train and gets into the train car where Carter and Carlisle Maxwell are. CM smarmadouches about how he’s starting to think that Supergirl has a thing for him. Kara tells him that Disgruntled Ex-Employee is on the plane and he’s all, “NOOOO.” Alex spent like 5 precious episode minutes explaining to you how there would absolutely be a bomb on this train.
Catherine: This is what happens when, instead of listening, you are thinking about your hair.
Mari: Or your vampire d.
Supergirl grabs Carter and tells him that he looks brave and strong. She needs his help to get all the passengers to the back of the train. It’s cute, but we’re kind of pressed for time here. Bomb, you know?
Airport. DEO and Jimmy arrive at the same time. He asks where Supergirl is and someone yells back that she isn’t coming. Just then, Jimmy sees Lucy helping a little old lady out of the airport, because of course.
Inside, Alex says she can’t disarm the bomb. Henshaw tells her to leave and insists upon it when she’s all, “Hank. NO.” Alex runs out and Henshaw looks shifty.
Supergirl finds Disgruntled on the train. She tells him there’s hope and he should think of his daughter. He looks distraught.
At the the airport, Henshaw’s got his red eyes on. He rips into the bomb and feels around inside. Outside, Alex and the rest of the DEO take cover. A second later, Henshaw walks out with the bomb in hand to much applause. Alex asks how he did that and Henshaw lies that the bomb was a dud. Alex looks unconvinced.
On the train, Disgruntled is saying that Supergirl doesn’t understand. She says she knows what it’s like to be ~*OVERWHELMED*~ (omg get it? It’s like the theme of the episode y’all) so she can help Disgruntled. He says that no one was ever supposed to know he was the bomber, but now that they do, he can’t face his daughter ever again. Supergirl begs him not to kill all those people. He says he won’t because she’s going to save them. He activates the bomb and tells her she has 30 seconds.
Supergirl back up into the other train car and uses her heat vision to separate the two cars. She hops out and users her super strength to stop the rest of the train. She then watches as Disgruntled’s single car keeps riding and then explodes.
Catherine: Literally just watches. I was expecting her to do something to save him since she had plenty of time but nope! Guess not everyone’s life is worth it.
Mari: Sweet moral of the story.
Back at the DEO, Alex is taking apart the “dud” bomb and I’m surprised Henshaw was dumb enough to let this happen. Alex finds a fail safe switch, which doesn’t make sense if it’s a dud. Supergirl doesn’t really get why Disgruntled said that the bombing were to help his sick daughter. This triggers Supergirl to remember that, oh yeah. Carter was on that train.
The next day at Cat Co, Cat is back. She hugs her son and says she was so worried about him. He’s just excited because he got to meet Supergirl and she’s even prettier in person.
Samantha: I have head cannoned that Carter figured out that Kara is Supergirl. I need this.
Catherine: Whatever helps you, dear.
Mari: Cat takes this moment to school her son and ask about Supergirl’s other attributes like her bravery and the fact that she saved everyone. She asks what he thinks makes Supergirl a hero and he answers, “her legs.” But then he says he’s joking because he knows it’s her heart. Cat is super excited her son made a joke. (S: I love Cat. I need this too.)
Kara runs in to say bye to Carter and gets a big hug from him. Carter gushes about the fun times they had and asks if Kara can watch him again. Cat tells him to hang on to the memories. Once Carter leaves for school, Kara starts the apologies. Cat says it was her mistake leaving Carter with her in the first place. Also, I’m loving Kara’s collared dress and booties right now. Seriously, love so much.
Kara follows Cat into her office and admits that it was super hard to be working and watching Carter, especially with all the crazy stuff happening around the city. Kara asks how she juggles it all and Cat groans and calls her Keira. Rude.
Cat says that Kara’s stumbled on the most annoying question of the century even if she is too young to realize it. How do you juggle it all? You learn. Cat says that she mastered being a brilliant business woman before becoming a brilliant mother. You start with two balls and add more. Kara asks if it’s possible to have it all, then, and Cat says of course. Just not all at once and not all right away. Cat ends this moral of the story with an insult to Kara’s hair.
Catherine: Spoken like the great icon, Liz Lemon.
Mari: Kara leaves and sees that Jimmy and Lucy are making out at the entrance to the office, like unprofessional idiots. Kara goes to her desk to brood for a sec, but then Carlisle Maxwell is being interviewed on the news. He says that Disgruntled was indeed his ex-employee but he didn’t know he would react the way he did. Carlisle Maxwell chokes up as he says that he takes full responsibility for that. Winn’s made his way over and asks why CM is getting all chocked up about someone who tried to kill him. Kara has a feeling they don’t have the full story. She asks Winn to break into the hospital records.
I can’t tell if these are the Cullen Lord Labs and if Carlisle Maxwell just lives her or… Whatever. Supergirl shows up and she’s got her SERIOUS BUSINESS stance with her. I’m trying to follow what she’s accusing Maxwell of. Here’s what I got: Disgruntled’s sick daughter is being treated by a doctor with a grant for Cullen Lord Co. Maxwell coerced Disgruntled into planting those bomb with fail safe switches so that Maxwell could disarm them if Supergirl didn’t get there in time. Supergirl can’t figure out why he did it though.
Smarmadouche says that this totally unprovable theory is really interesting. If it were him who did it (wink, wink) it would probably be to test Supergirl. Her strength and speed and at the end, whether she would choose to save 100 people on a train or thousands at the airport. The fact that she chose the train means that there was someone on there she cared about. Figuring that out would be the key to figuring out who she really is.
Catherine: I just…what? How does he know she didn’t just see the train first or something? Or that she didn’t just deal with that because she’s the only one who could move fast enough to get on it?
Mari: How does he know that she knew about the airport bomb? Does he know about the DEO or something? The world may never know.
Supergirl says that for the record she cares about all people. He may have the whole city fooled, but she’ll be watching him. This isn’t over. Carlisle Maxwell says that’s finally something they can agree on, but Supergirl is already gone.
SO. About halfway through this episode I was thinking about how much I didn’t hate it and then it kind of went astray at that point, specifically with all the Jimmy/Lucy/Kara crap. I wasn’t a big fan of any of that. However, I’m prepared to call this episode my least hated episode so far. I think the obvious reason why is that it was missing an alien of the week. I pretty much knew it was Maxwell testing Supergirl from the beginning, thanks to those super obvious drones, but it was still decent to watch play out. And while the theme of juggling a ton of crap was as heavy handed as ever, it was a nice message. I appreciated Cat’s sentiment that you can have it all if you work at it.
This would make me overall more optimistic if it weren’t originally supposed to be episode 4. We’ve technically seen episode 5 and I didn’t like that one as much. I’m gonna go ahead and keep thinking this show is mostly stupid.
Next time on Supergirl: Supergirl is getting very angry in S01 E06 – Red Faced.
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.
