I was in a bar the other week with a few other guys (it felt weird being so social), and the question came up of “Would you fight Ronda Rousey?”. Most were naturally against it, being respectful of her abilities but one guy would, under one interesting condition: only if she didn’t hold back and went full “beast mode”/all out on him. After the jokes about submissive and pain fetishes subsided, he explained that even if it's meant he’d be crawling out the ring trying to find the rest of his teeth with a shattered arm, at least people would know that he did it right. The last thing he’d want would be to step into that octagon with her only have people saying “well, she wasn’t really trying” or “she probably went easy on you”. Without the risk, there can be no achievement in victory or defeat. Supergirl makes the same argument this week while being persuaded to call in her cousin for assistance. If people will insist on him being her “safety net” how will they ever see her as a real hero?
Fight or Flight – After letting slip her Superman family connection, Kara suddenly finds herself more than ever in his shadow and the DEO not thrilled about her doing interviews. The resulting press coverage draws former Superman foe Reactron into her path, wanting vengeance on the Man of Steel.
After the last episode setup, the bigger picture of General Astra (Kara’s Kryptonian Aunt) as the show’s big bad this week, the focus shifts back to Kara’s personal journey and her search for an identity. This takes a major stumble this week. After Cat’s tricky interview tactics connect the family tree dots Kara goes from being Supergirl to just “his cousin”. It’s one of several ways that Kara’s cape wearing transition is comparable to a form of superhero puberty; she feels like she’s ready for bigger and better things when really she’s still developing. This of course includes an identity crisis as Kara becomes frustrated her portrayal in Cat’s article like any teen believing no one understands “the real them”. In fact, for the second week running, Cat even nicely spells it out for Kara in the way she’s trying to force everything to be about her rather doing what she should do, to earn her identity as a hero rather than having it handed to her. As Cisco will show you, it only takes seconds to get a nickname but a lot longer to live up to it. It’s also surprising to see further on screen presence of Superman on the show as it seemed he would just be confined to the pilot. Like before, the show does a great job of keeping him recognisable yet out of focus enough to allow Kara to stay in the spotlight. It still shouldn’t be overused though. However, the instant messaging between Kara and Clark Kent is a very neat little trick that allows their relationship to be functional without the need for an on-screen presence.
This episode also gives us our first non-alien villain of the week in Reactron. Visually, he’s a mixed bag. His abilities like the nuclear fireball blasts along with his powered punches and kicks look really good in the fight sequences but in close ups his costume is a bit wanting; his mask in particular looks like a kid's Halloween costume. However, his scared facial features from his reactor disaster origin look great. They immediately make him feel emotionally damaged as well as physically. There’s also a good notion to the idea of Reactron being a long time Superman foe (we even learn that Superman was unintentionally responsible for his creation) in the same way that the last episode showed that Kara’s late entrance into the red cape professional meant inheriting the expectations of Superman’s more experienced reputation. Here, we see her also having to deal with the consequences of her cousin’s actions. It’s like starting a new job only to find predecessor left you 3 months of incomplete paperwork shoved in a draw; through no fault of your own, it becomes your problem. Just how Kara deals with this gets a good examination. As many around her encourage her to call in Superman for cavalry, it makes her feel like they don’t believe in her and that doing so makes her seem like a consolation prize hero, “My Cousin didn’t have a get out of jam free card when he started and neither should I!”. Yet this is played more cleverly by both sides being right.
While Kara needs people to believe in her, just like anyone else she has to accept that she’ll need help sometimes. After last week’s glimpse, we spent a lot more time with our main human villain in waiting, Maxwell Lord. The episode does well to flesh out his character more. His quick science cockiness in the lab establishes him as a tech genius himself rather just the company CEO. He also comes across as charming in his witty and confident mannerisms. Finally, his interactions with Cat Grant makes us wonder if there’s a more interesting history between the pair.
It doesn’t quite pack the shine or impact of the opening two episodes but like an early show episode, it does the crucial job of expanding its world while being fun and entertaining. Arrowverse fans will love Winn’s new “Supergirl Cave” in the abandoned office. It takes some affirming steps towards a Kara/James romantic arc, now more complicated by the arrival of a familiar surnamed ex. The Man of Steel’s appearance feels a little bit deus ex machina but mostly gets away with it for being relevant to the bigger story. There are a few nice little comics Easter Eggs like James’s Superman panic alarm and the expose launch allows for a nice glamorous change or scenery. Stay tuned next week for more Keeping up with the Kryptonians.