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Supergirl "S1E16 Falling" - Review: Kara's seeing red


Supergirl "S1E16 Falling" - Review: Kara's seeing red
8 out of 10

You’ve seen it mentioned in the trailers and chances are, you’ve probably had the conversation with at least one of your less geeky friends to explain just why Batman and Superman are fighting each other in their upcoming movie. Bat-fleck’s stance comes down to one simple fact. When you have someone as powerful as Superman around, all it takes is for them to have one bad day and they could destroy everything no matter how good they seems. It what’s unlikely to be coincidental timing, Supergirl reminds us why Gotham’s finest has a point this week as she has one very bad day.... and so does National City.

Falling – After encountering some synthetic red kryptonite, all of Kara’s worst thoughts and feelings are brought to the surface sending her on a path of physical and emotional destruction with consequences for those around her. This leaves Hank, Alex and the DEO faced with having to take Kara down.

Melissa Benoist’s out-of-character in the Bizarro episode was troubled due to the material she had to work with. In this episode, it’s the polar opposite as she reveals and excels in getting to be the not-so-nice girl of the week. While her “bored now” moments as Supergirl are fun, it’s the new look Kara at CatCo that really makes the episode. Even with merely her walk, she exudes confidence in a way that seems as far from her normal self as Earth and Krypton. Her new office outlook plays perfectly into the established contrast of Siobhan’s character as her rival is now completely outclassed in the ways of office backstabbing and manipulation. Siobhan’s “Winn fling” creates just right enough sympathy for her to make this effective. In fact, when Kara lands a firm KO, you can’t help but feel for Siobhan as she’s sent packing with her tail between her legs (likely the motivation for her return as Silver Banshee). We also get some great comparisons with Cat Grant as, in many ways; Kara’s new persona is embodying the influence of the ruthless side to Cat’s personality. There are one or two great moments where Cat seems to question whether or not she’s created the monster in front of her. The final act Supergirl gone wild scenes have some good moments to them. The bar scene is great nod to Christopher Reeves in Superman 3 as she starts smashing bottles by flicking peanuts out of boredom, the confrontation with Cat has no shortage of shock value and in general, she comes across well as more of a bully than an outright villain. She has no real agenda, she’s just suddenly realized that she’s the strongest kid on the playground.

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There is one big problem though throughout the first half, and that is the plot required dumb down of the entire supporting cast as Kara starts acting differently without anyone stating the obvious. This is especially true with Hank and Alex as they’re made to completely ignore an indifferent Kara without so much as a thought to the involvement of suspicious alien activities, which form most of their working week. It’s building up one character at a detrimental cost to others which is sloppy writing from Robert Rovner’s & Jessica Queller’s otherwise well put together script. The Kara/James antics are also a fall down area for the episode. The early exchange of Alex getting Kara to jump on him for before the next Lucy does has its merit but even with awareness of bad Kara in the driving seat, the club scene just feels awkward more than anything else and an excuse to ultimately distance the pair again. However, a more surprising point in its favour is the opening 5 minutes: a couple of scenes designed to over-pledge Supergirl as a force of good before the later switch up. It could easily have been a complete cheesefest but instead, director Larry Teng nails it with a good mixture of message and audience fun. What’s not to love about seeing Cat Grant in a room with Sharon Osborne? Then Kara’s fan girl visit is a wonderfully sweet little moment as she defuses the situation without a drop of intimidation.

The episode’s conclusion is particularly enjoyable. Not just for the very tender and heartfelt moment of reconciliation between Supergirl and Cat Grant, but the way it leaves, the city turned against our hero rather than a more typical restoration of order in the final scenes. There’s no mass address of “Sorry guys my brain was all screwed, you can love me again now”. Instead, it leaves the damage done and creates a new arc for Cat and Supergirl to restore the latter’s reputation. For what could have been a typical throwaway out-of-character episode, there’s a real feeling of consequences here. Having to take down “Emo-Kara” forces Hank into revealing himself as an undercover alien to defeat her. This was always going to happen eventually but the card is played well with clear necessity and significant ramifications as Hank finds himself on the other side of the holding cell. There are some curious signs that this will resort in big changes to the DEO courtesy of the reappearing Senator Crane. Her re-introduction comes a bit to suddenly to carry the intended personal impact (she clearly had some Hank-y panky in mind) but the events do successfully trigger a heal turn and place her back into an anti-alien antagonist role. We could even see her taking some form of DEO command while Hank remains a captive, most likely with a new “kill over capture” policy.

All heroes fall and despite some slip-ups, Supergirl does so with grace this week. Benoist relishes being unchained like a liberated Hannibal Lecter. It has a lot of fun and enjoyable out-of-character charms and stays funny despite going to darker places. With 4 episodes to go, the other S-word is starting to get real in the season and while not officially confirmed yet, the inside word is that Kara will be flying again next season.

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