Most of us here at Team Epicstream are rocking full time jobs as well as our efforts in the world of Fantasy and Science Fiction media. Sometimes, our friends ask us how we do it all. For me at least it’s simple: loving what we do.... and a smeg load of caffeine! This week, Supergirl is feeling the pressure of a double life and she’ll need more than a four pack of Monster to get through it all.
How Does She Do It? – While a bomber is threatening Maxwell Lord’s operations in National City, Kara is stuck babysitting Cat Grant’s son, Carter, giving her a lot on her plate. Meanwhile, Lucy Lance tells James she wants him back but he’s reluctant to resume their relationship.
To recap for anyone that’s just flown in, we’re going up the down slide for the conclusion of Supergirl’s wibbly wobbly fortnight; this was meant to be episode 4 but was rescheduled due to the Paris attacks. The biggest catch up is with the James/Lucy relationship as we finally get to see how their love train got back on the tracks. Lucy comes in with guns of intent blazing, and the episode shows James' journey of deciding to take her back. We get a lot more insight into Jenna Dewan/Mrs’s Tatum’s Lucy Lane than last week, and despite being an obvious rival to Kara, she seems likeable enough. It certainly looks like the show wants to leave the protagonist door open for her (in the comics, she does become Superwoman). The brief details on their relationship past provide believable grounds a second round as it’s implied merely work came between them (Lucy’s job and James’ time with Superman). Lucy’s conversation with Kara about worrying James has fallen for Supergirl and knowing she could never compete is actually the episode’s most enjoyable moment. It’s a great turn around on the traditional setup of a lover’s rivalry that ultimately sees Kara going into bat for the other team and pitching her to James.
The other blank to be filled concerns Hank Henshaw’s character. Last week’s flashback story implied a darker connection to his character in relation to the disappearance of Jeremiah Danvers. This prequel confirms some suspicions about his recurring red-glowing eyes. It turns out they’re not just funky contacts. He has some powers at the very least, super strength, implying a possible alien (or maybe even Kryptonian origin). That would actually be a great twist if the head of Earth’s “Department of Extra-Normal Operations” turned out to be an alien. Or it could be in keeping with his comic villain persona of “The Cyborg” but despite his secrecy, his actions do not imply villainy as he risks exposure by using his powers to save thousands by defusing a bomb. It all creates a fascinating uncertainty over his character: we could see him becoming Supergirl’s Harrison Wells equivalent.
The main bombing plot has several good elements to it. Like last week’s metahuman, Livewire, it’s another break form alien foes as the bomber is a human of ultimately surprising presence. The main focus is over Maxwell Lord’s involvement to bring his character forward in significance. Sadly, the plot does struggle to make Lord seem an innocent party. We already know from episode 2 that he’s involved with Astra so despite any benevolent or heroic actions we can’t help see him as a suspect. However, the final act conclusions of how Kara reaches these conclusions are much more satisfying as the scattered clues are pieced together. The result evens goes a good way to portraying Maxwell Lord as Supergirl’s own Lex Luthor as his motives become clear. The bombings themselves provide some good action moments with Kara’s early building brace being the highlight. A surprising development is the hint of chemistry between Lord and Alex. We see Lord appreciating Alex’s scientific mind and even opening up to her about the death of his parents (establish his distrust of the Government). Similarly, Alex shows more concern for his life than she would normally as tries to talk him out of attending the train launch.
The other main theme of the episode is Kara over-stretching herself with the commitments of her double life. The irony is that one it’s bigger causes feels rather surplus to requirements. That is the babysitting of Cat’s son Carter. The kid is sweet enough and his story arc has some fun to it but just making him a shy Supergirl fanboy feels a bit dull. They could have at least made him a brat and shown him contributing stress as well as work to Kara. Carter’s sole purpose appears to be in setup of the episode’s Cat Grant lesson of the week. In fairness, it is a very good one as Cat explains how she does it all, “How do you juggle it all? You learn, that’s all”. It’s another gem of a moment from the show’s most interesting character, and arguably it’s her absence this episode that sees it crumble in places. Having Cat give Kara crazy workloads while she’s stuck looking after her son would have worked much better. It also sees Winn’s character get having wasted with just one good friend zone line to show for his efforts.
Even with time factors aside, this episode doesn’t quite come together like its recent peers and sees the girl of steel veering slightly off course for hopefully just a lone week. As any other superhero show with lot of different themes and elements to juggle, Supergirl is clearly still learning, but there’s no reason why time won’t change that.