Supergirl Breakdown S01 E11

Hello Reddit. I’m going to be breaking down this episode of Supergirl, because it has some good parts and some bad parts, and that makes it interesting to analyze.

I watched the leaked pilot during the summer when it made a viral splash, and have now been watching the series by streaming it when I have time. The show almost lost me in those first few episodes, but now it is undeniable that I’m caught up in Supergirl’s freeze breath of charm. It still has some problems, but the show’s improvement is exciting enough to write about now. I hope to give a fair critique, one man’s perspective on the show.

I focus mainly on Episode 11, but I also have some asides about specific characters as they’ve grown throughout the series. I’m going to assume that you’ve already watched the current and all previous episodes, because this breakdown will be **SPOILERIFIC**.

Some background on me, just to give you some insight on what sort of perspective these breakdowns are coming from. I’m an adult male. I did have a “comic book period” in my teens, but I was a Marvel Guy, not DC. The one exception was that I was a pretty big fan of the Martian Manhunter, but not so much that I know his whole history. I read a few years of his series and some Justice League where he was a member. I also read some Batman, but was never a fan of any of the Kryptonians.

I do not watch Arrow, Flash, Gotham, or the new Legends of DC series (or Agents of Shield, or Agent Carter). I DO watch the Netflix Marvel Series that have come out so far: Daredevil and Jessica Jones. I would give Daredevil a 9.5 / 10 and I’d give Jessica Jones a 6 / 10. Daredevil is my favorite comic book hero. I do go see the Marvel Movies, but usually post-theater viewings at home. I’m ‘meh’ on the upcoming Superman vs Batman movie.

In this break down I’m going to try using a simple, **completely arbritrary ** point system to sort of indicate how much I liked or hated something in the show. It’s lazy, I know. But it’s easy.

Pregame Analysis – I may be wrong about this, but I believe this is the first episode shot after a brief break in production. I have it in my mind somewhere that the first 10 episodes were shot back-to-back-to-back, and this is the first one from “Round 2”. Why this is significant is that the producers acknowledged in interviews some of the wobbly tone and storytelling in their early episodes (a big admission that kept me watching because of their honesty), and that once they *stopped* trying to be all things to all people, they were much more pleased with the product. I believe this is the first aired episode under that new mentality, so it is both important to note and ultimately exciting as this is the first glimpse of what the show now wants to be.

I can also be totally wrong about this and it was shot with the first group, but even if that is the case you can start to see major shifts in characterization and tone with Episode 11 consistent with the desired change in storytelling approach, so the analysis should stand even if my facts about the shooting schedule are wrong here. Let’s begin.

Sequence 1 – Supergirl rescues family from forest fire, with an intriguing Voice Over.

We know now of course that the Voice Over of Kara reciting the letter’s content was the one she wrote to Adam for Cat, but in the moment it was a very good hook to start the episode. I thought it was going to be some sort of diary that Kara was keeping to “talk to her mom”, but it quickly became apparent that that was not the case as she signed off with “Mom”. So of course it begs the viewer to watch more. Let’s start the arbitrary point give away: +2 points.

We then have a rescue sequence of Supergirl saving that family in the camper. I don’t think I’m alone in noticing the ongoing problem how this show relies on the audience not thinking too much about what is realistic, and how it plays fast and loose with the “rules” of this story world just to fit the narrative they need to in the moment.

In this example, how the heck does a fire erupt around that family camper to the point that they are trapped inside unaware until it is too late to do anything? You can see a forest fire at night from miles away. The only reasonable explanation is if they started the fire themselves, right? And why not freeze-breath the situation? There can’t be a better opportunity that this to use it – save the forest along with the family, and it keeps their camper near their other equipment and car, etc.

I know I’m being nitpicky here, so stay with me, I’m not usually such a nit, but there are so many aspects of this show that would do much better with just a little more attention to the realism and detail. This isn’t the best of examples of this I’ll admit, but eleven episodes of “that’s sort of dumb” inattention to details means I’m going to be picky here as payback, just to establish the fact that the show is lazy in details. I’ll be somewhat kind and say it’s just -1 point for this incident, but I’m going to be hard on the series for such fixable missteps.

Sequence 2 – Kara and Alex walk the streets, get lunch for Ms. Grant at Noonan’s , and run into an anonymous Adam.

I think the show really picked up on the fact that the Kara / Alex sister interactions when they are just being girls are some of the best in the show. There is no one else that Supergirl shares such an intimate and completely secret-free relationship with than Alex, and their ‘being sisters’ scenes are so relatable. This episode furthers this relationship, as they really play up the big sister aspect of Alex helping Kara with her social blind spots in romance. I have more to say about Alex coming up a few sequences from now. But for now, Alex and Kara are the Westbrook and Durant of this series, and when they play together, they score easy points. +3 points

We also meet Adam, Cat’s son, which we all know by now is Melissa Benoist’s real life husband. I have my problems with both the character and the choice of the actor to play him. Let’s look at both aspects.

First, as a character, Adam comes off as one of the most unlikable of the series so far even though I’m sure the storytellers wanted the exact opposite. He’s a bigger douche than Max Lord, as his whiny and diva behavior grates throughout the episode.

To start with, Adam eavesdrops on the sisters’ private conversation, and decides to butt in because he’s handsome and pretty people can be rude. He then starts busting on Kara’s boss Cat Grant even though he knows Kara works for her directly. Oddly aggressive.

He also seems waaaaaay more interested in getting into Kara’s pants than getting to know his mother throughout the episode, so his later reactions to Cat’s “coldness” is hypocritical when he has done nothing but whine and flirt.

Second, as an actor, Blake Jenner was wooden in all but one of his scenes. He constantly needs to be carried by all his scene partners. I get that it is a tough acting job for a guest star parachuting in to a well established and comfortable ensemble group, and even weirder when your wife is the star of the show, but the talent gap is noticeable. In this first scene at Noonan’s, he really seems only engaged enough to say his lines and hit his marks – otherwise he’s as expressive as a sleeping Keanu Reeves. And if I wasn’t told that they were real life husband and wife, I would have never guessed it. I don’t see the “instant chemistry” I suppose they assumed would be there.

I also imagine the dynamic on set being changed, and not for the better. Kara has so many romantic issues going on with James and Winn, and now here real life husband shows up making it strange for everyone to play those emotions with a real life couple on set day in and day out . It shits all over the actors’ established dynamics.

It also reeks of nepotism. It’s not a good look for a show that relies so much on the likability of Benoist to have her husband come in and be the new number one guy for Supergirl out of nowhere. If only Jenner was talented enough to justify his hire, but I don’t think he is.

So this intro to Adam scores a -4 from me.

Sequence 3 – Inside the Catco office. Adam, Cat, and Kara meet for the first time, sans anonymity.

We get to see Winn for one of his two blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearances as Kara and Winn bump into each other at the elevator. It’s not much, but it allows us to take this opportunity to point out how much the actor Jeremy Jordan killed it in his spotlight episode last week. He’s been such a background character, but his acting range was phenomenal during the Toy Man stuff, and really upped the level of drama in what has been a very light-and-sunny show. It justifies him being a bigger part of the series based on his talent, especially compared to the weaker actors who he competes with for screen-time (Mechad Brooks, Jenna Tatum, and now Blake Jenner). +2 points.

Any time you get Cat and Kara together on the screen, it’s watchable and often scintillating. We get a lot of it in this episode, with the added importance of establishing a bolder dynamic between the two than we’ve seen before, and which has me feeling good about the future of the show.

This week was in many ways a spotlight for Calista Flockhart as much as last week’s episode was for Jeremy Jordan. We do get a heavy dose of Martian, so the parallel isn’t quite the same, but Flockhart gets to show a great deal of range here, and she surprised me with her talent.

I should not have been surprised. I lived through the “Ally McBeal” years (though I did not watch the show), and at its height, Calista Flockhart was as big a star and cultural phenomenon as anyone, dominating the cover of all the magazines. Ally McBeal was **the** water-cooler discussion show, especially among women. She was the Melissa Benoist of her era, but at a time when the Internet was still a child and the influence of regular TV was much bigger than it is today.

She’s always been great as Cat, but was in danger of becoming the one-note, “Devil Wears Prada” boss. Strangely, in this episode I think they played that one-note even stronger at times (she does it so well so why not?), but also gave her so much depth as the relationship between her and Kara gets flipped around, giving the two actresses more to play than just Mentor and slave. They both deliver.

A particular part of bitchiness I loved was her conference room meeting, where she rails against a top reporter of Catco defecting to Vanity Fair.

Cat: His ruin will be swift and merciless thanks to Lucy who will serve him a lawsuit by the end of today….

Lucy: Thats not how it works…

Cat (without even looking at Lucy): BY THE END OF TODAY.

Love it. Flockhart has the ability to be a lovable bitch, and that is not a given for any actress. +5 points, just for being Cat. And for it being the only Lucy we have to deal with the whole episode.

Then a short sequence of exposition masquerading as mentoring as Kara asks Cat why she is giving the Senator so much coverage. It’s exposition, and there is no way around that, but the two actresses are magic around each other so the mentoring fits. Another +2 points. (And it’s good to see Kara wearing a bit more appropriate dress giving her “virginal” approach to life. Early episodes had her dressing as a total tramp, with the shortest skirts and tightest clothes imaginable that would get her sent home normally. That always bugged me as a false note for that character).

They notice a strange mopey man in Cat’s office, and almost call security, but Cat’s motherly instincts kick in. The way Flockhart simply says “Adam?” with such worry and vulnerability in her very first words to him, well, Flockhart nails it. +2 points.

Unfortunately, this means Adam has to respond, which means we have to deal with Adam as a character and Blake Jenner as an actor. It’s like a black hole of writing and performance. He’s so dangerous to Supergirl as a show that he deserves to be named like a supervillan – I can’t decide between Woodenman or The Doucheinator.

Here we get to see his doucheiness in full display – not only does Adam acknowledge that he showed up completely unexpectedly while Cat is working, but then gets immediately offended and hostile when Cat doesn’t drop everything *right now* and **start loving him immediately**. It comes off as petulant and whiny, and the expressionless delivery by Jenner doesn’t really help either.

He asks if she is free for dinner, and Cat’s extremely reasonable response of “I’ll make myself free” somehow offends him even more, like that wasn’t good enough. Then he decides to get even more obnoxious by calling out Kara as a “cheerleader” to her face before childishly storming out for… what reason? Because the CEO of a huge company didn’t drop her whole day of multi-million dollar decisions when he came to her office totally unannounced? It really is a poorly written sequence if we are meant to side with Adam over Cat, because he has done nothing to earn such deference, and she has done nothing but act like a normal human caught totally by surprise and who has job duties bigger than just herself. For both the writing and the acting (Jenner’s, as Flockhart carried him) a big -5 points.

But at least it leads to a very important scene for the whole series of the show. It’s more Kara and Cat magic, as they deal with the fallout of what just happened. Story-wise, it shows just how much Kara has evolved with her caring for Cat that she is now “comfortable” doing things far beyond the employer / employee relationship they’ve shown so far. It’s the first time Kara has ever sort of elevated herself as Cat’s equal in that she can do and say things to Cat that she had never had the guts to do before, literally snapping at Cat at one point.

It’s a pretty big jump in characterization from what we’ve seen before, and I’m not quite sure they’ve earned it yet, but I can see why they wanted to give more acting time between the two women. Both actresses are allowed to do what they do best – Melissa as unsure, but unashamed goodness and caring, Flockhart as her mean boss with a buried heart terrified that Adam is now here, and as cheesy and grating as that sounds on paper, the magic is always there as the charisma of these two together once again elevates the material. A seminal scene perhaps, worth +20 points.

I also love that Cat fires Kara (again!), but unlike the past, this “firing” rolls right off of Kara, as if their relationship has grown to the point where Kara knows it’s just a part of a working day to get fired by Cat. I think they can make this a running joke if they don’t abuse it too often, with Cat firing Kara and Kara just showing up at her desk anyway and moments later Cat is calling for her again as if nothing happened. I do have to point out how Cat’s willingness to “fire” Kara all the time directly opposes Cat telling Kara “you’ll always have a job with me” when the hacked email stuff happened, as that is some of the writing sloppiness I don’t like (consistency, please), but again the charm of these two actresses together makes you forgive it all.

Sequence 4 – The anti-Alien rally.

A few things of note. It’s hard to imagine National City has *that* many people holding anti-Supergirl signs given that her presence has already saved countless lives (and would be a hugely positive economic impact for all who live there), but it has been this show’s unfortunate habit to bend the world’s realism to suit whatever story they want to tell in the moment. I guess it suits a comic-book’s format of storytelling but I do wish they’d acknowledge that a real life Supergirl would be practically worshiped as a goddess, especially with her marketable looks.

Senator Miranda Crane is a bit of a stereotype in these superhero stories, the frothy government figure who is anti-non-human no matter what. It’s been done to death in the X-men movies, but the actress herself (Tawny Cypress) was fine. +3 points for her performance in this episode.

The special effects took a real step up this episode, with long looks at the White Martian and extended CGI sequences. This is partly why I believe this episode might have been a shot in the “second batch”, as not only have the characters made stronger and sharper relationships, but the CGI budget has gone up too. +2 points for the action sequence of the White Martian tearing through the crowd.

There is one subtle point that merits mentioning. James sees what is going on, and immediately uses his Super-watch to summon…. Supergirl! Great bit of showing without telling on how much their trust and relationship has grown. Subtlety isn’t this show’s great strength. I was expecting something more like:

Kara: Thanks for using your watch to summon me instead of my cousin from Krypton who wears blue and a big red “S” on his chest and dates Lois Lane. It shows that you believe in me now, because you used to use that watch to call Him, but now it calls me, Supergirl, and that is important between friends, right!?!

James: Well we all know that there is nothing that a man can do better than a woman. It took me a little time to realize that, but now I know there is absolutely no differences at all, in fact women do things better. My big strong buddy in Metropolis who can fly and and is synonymous with Awesomeman has nothing on you. If only I weren’t with Lucy though… (as they both look away awkwardly)…

Instead, they just let it happen without comment. Good touch. +2 points

But the only real meat is the interaction between Alex and Hank. The show had already gone a long way in establishing that Alex is Hank’s right-hand woman, but it’s awesome to see that, now that Alex knows about J’onn, the hierarchy of Boss / Lieutenant has sort of dissolved into more of a peer-to-peer relationship. Alex can question and call out J’onn, which she could never do towards Hank before without seeming insubordinate. I still have more to say about Alex, but the strong J’onn and Alex dynamic, where she puts the screws on him for freezing in fear, earns +2 points.

Sequence 5 – Inside the DEO with Senator Crane.

A very cringe-worthy bit where the “Senator” evilly rants about how sneaky and untrustworthy all aliens are to Supergirl’s face (unrealistic), Hank tells a Senator she cannot leave no matter what (kidnapping and unrealistic), and which prompts Alex to violently jab her with a sedative out of nowhere (unforgivable). It’s shit like this that makes me question why the writing can’t be more attentive.

Yes, I get that the “Senator” is Whitey in disguise, but Hank, Alex, and Supergirl don’t know that in the moment. In what world do you treat a Senator like that, especially the jabbing with a needle out of nowhere part? It’s no wonder that the Senator and General Lane don’t trust Supergirl or the DEO, because they **do** act outside of any governance, completely lack any respect for elected and appointed officials like Senators and Generals, and have dead agents pile up wherever they go. It really does make the DEO (and Supergirl) seem like a rouge outfit without any accountability, and justifies why the “real government” is in fear of them both. The reality is that two aliens (three if you count the flying man from Metropolis) could easily overthrow elected government, or at least subvert it to a dangerous extent. They need to reconcile alien and DEO behavior with the idea of human accountability. -5 points.

J’onn then comes clean about the History of White Martians to Supergirl and Alex, and it’s a chance for David Harewood to expand his acting range. He does fine, and will do even better later in the episode, but here it’s the little side-glances between Alex and Supergirl as they talk to J’onn that sort of steals the acting show. I just liked that the Danvers Sisters were both in uniform and working and thus in professional mode in the foreground, but still shared those sisterly moments of trust between them when his back is turned, as a close couple would. In real life, whenever shocking or heart-breaking news is first told, it is a natural instinct to quickly glance at the person you trust the most in the room to gauge their reaction. I like that the actresses do that, even when they are both in “badass” mode. +2 points.

Sequence 6 – Back at Catco as Kara prepares Cat for her dinner with Woodenman.

Look, I’m sure I’ll get tired of it at some point – Kara’s cutesy prodding, Cat’s meanness towards her increasing proportionally to her feelings of vulnerability. But I’m not tired of it yet! What needs pointing out is that Kara DOES in fact try her best to prepare Cat for her dinner with The Doucheinator, which Cat unjustly berates her for not doing later in the episode.

It goes a long way in showing why Kara is “allowed” by Cat to step over the line with the letter to Adam, because Kara does have a hidden super power of being emotionally tuned to every situation, and able to look after those around her. Don’t get me wrong though, I like that Cat is blind to this fact and shits all over Kara when she tries to do it to her, because it’s fun to watch both actresses spin gold. At least for now, I’m still a sucker for it. +5 points.

Subtle observances – 1) As Cat is talking to Kara, she goes to her alcohol shelf, sniffs the red wine, and chooses water instead. There was an interview where Calista Flockhart commented that she was afraid that Cat was turning to alcohol too much in the show and that she wanted to steer away from that, for the sake of younger viewers. Nice that the show is accommodating that wish, as it makes Cat more likable overall too. 2) I may be seeing things, but I believe this is the first episode where they stopped shooting Flockhart in that super-soft-glow lighting effect to hide her aging, and shot her more naturally. There are a few more noticeable lines on her face, and you can actually SEE the expressive acting more clearly. Flockhart is still beautiful, even with the surgical work apparent, but the comical angelic lighting seems to be gone, thankfully. It also humanizes Cat a great deal, so I think it is the right choice.

Back to the scene, it’s hard to overlook that Kara is still in the same clothes, meaning that she chased Whitey, escorted the Senator to DEO HQ, and had her meeting with J’onn and Alex all within the same work day at Catco. I know they do this all the time, but at some point they need to define how exactly does Kara go missing for hours at work, and no one notices. I presume she handles all calls and most correspondence for Cat within and outside the office, which would seem to be a non-stop duty. I know – comic book logic – but its still -2 points.

Sequence 7 – Dinner with Cat and Entitlementman

Cat is in the middle of sharing the story of how she could have helped Bill Gates and Microsoft invent the smartphone, which is supposedly horrible of her. Yes, it is a bit self-centered, but anyone who says that Cat is being “fake” here while talking to her son is wrong – this is exactly who Cat is! She is actually *not* putting on some kind of act, she is just a self-involved person who deals with powerful people and has the ego needed to do so. He’s seeing the real Cat Grant. Just because it isn’t what he expected doesn’t allow him to be rude.

And talk about self-invovled and needy, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. If, for instance, dinner started out with The Doucheinator telling long, involved stories about his days at Cornell University, and then Cat behaved as he did and accused him of being self-centered and uncaring because he hasn’t asked anything about her, well we’d say that Cat is being a bitch and has no interest in learning anything about her son. So, in the reverse, why can’t we point out that Adam has no interest in learning anything “real” about his mother? It’s there god damn first dinner together since he was a baby, and he is critical that they didn’t start with him as the sole and only focus? It’s small talk, so what? Did he expect her to pour her heart out to him before appetizers?

After Doucheboy’s whine, Cat does as he wants and asks about his Masters work at Cornell, which he gives a curt “I dropped out” without any elaborations. Hey Adam, now is **your** chance to open up, but you don’t, so Cat tries to carry the conversation for you – which seems to offend you even more. Grow the hell up already.

He berates her abruptly and rudely for talking about herself (he needs to just accept his mother for who she is, even if it’s just to learn his mother isn’t a caring person), asks her about the letter (Cat should not have lied about writing it, but it’s understandable that she did to to have a chance with Adam), and then flat out says that he came to hear her say she’s “sorry”, which she immediately does! And it’s still not enough for him! He has no right to demand any kind of reaction from her in the first place, at least not as the lead topic in their first conversation ever. Does he want the truth, or only what he wants to hear? It’s all maddeningly immature.

Add to the fact that Flockhart out-acts the hell out of Jenner, and it is hard to be sympathetic to anyone other than Cat. She shows the Cat that we know, but also tries to be supportive of his decision to drop out of Cornell, shows confusion and vulnerability when she detects his displeasure, and follows that up with her reasons she gave him up, and all he can do to respond (woodenly) is that “It’s all about YOU!” before walking out once again. My immediate reaction: “Fuck that kid.” 0 points, it would have been hugely negative, but Flockhart saves the scene.

Sequence 8 – James and Kara look at photos from the Anti-Alien rally.

Ugh. Not only is Mechad Brooks a weak actor who seems very aware he is in a comic book show, but they really need to kill the whole James / Kara / Lucy thing, because Kara by far is in the wrong here. When your boss is constantly commenting on how your “whatever” with James is apparent to EVERYONE in the work place, and Lucy is now on staff, and Lucy and James have both agreed to move in together and give it another shot, then what the hell is goody-two-shoes Kara doing here, constantly getting James alone and having awkward, flirty moments? Especially when her long time best friend Winn is absolutely crushed over the very same issues. It just all seems so heartless and inappropriate, and one of the few unlikable traits of Kara that the show doesn’t seem to want to end. It’s very selfish of her. -5 Story points, it’s the triangle no one wants and is false to all the other characterization of extreme caring we’ve seen for Kara.

Sequence 9 – Back at the DEO with the Senator / Whitey

As Hank and the Senator, the two Martians get to have a very comic-booky, on-the-nose discussion about aliens and such, while Kara informs Alex that the Senator is Whitey. A really good directorial sequence happens here where Alex gets into Hank’s sightline from a distance on the walkway, draws her gun, and indicates towards the Senator, and Hank instantly picks up on Alex’s plan to take Whitey down at that moment. Whenever Hank and Alex show their silent teamwork, I like it, because their history is that he’s trained her for many years now, and things like this reinforce that backstory. Oh yeah, and he can read minds too, but still… +2 points.

But then we get a bad moment where, instead of following Alex’s lead, Hank decides to blow all the surprise by **telling Whitey he knows she is Whitey** and giving her time to kick their asses. “I never said you were attacked by a White Martian” Come on J’onn. Are you a Bond villain? Don’t be that guy who gives away the whole plan *before* acting on it, you’re smarter than that. Not to mention that this rookie mistake ends up costing a bunch of agents their lives.

That’s another point that needs to be made. The number of DEO deaths has to be toned down, because it makes Alex and Hank look incompetent and reckless. Has Supergirl saved more lives than the Alex and Hank have lost by poor leadership at the DEO? It’s brutal arithmetic, but maybe the Senator does have a point that the net is negative when it comes to aliens and human lives. DEO LIVES MATTER! -5 points.

We do get a great action sequence afterwards, as they try to catch Whitey. My favorite part is when Whitey loses a finger, and J’onn sees it and freezes, having flashbacks of his past, and while frozen and about the be killed, Alex steps in front of him with gun drawn, followed a moment later with Supergirl blasting Whitey with her Heat Vision.

I just like that Alex was there for J’onn first, and, without super powers, did not hesitate to stand in front of him, probably to die . It’s Alex’s instinct to be a hero too. Nice touch. +3 points

Flopping back to the ridiculous, Supergirl goes after Whitey, but then gets a call from Cat literally in mid-flight, which causes her to drop everything she’s doing to go service her. I guess it’s insight into how Kara manages going back and forth from being Supergirl to Catco, but its absurdly executed. Whitey just killed a dozen DEO agents, tried to kill your boss and your sister at the DEO, but, hey, Cat needs tea so go do that first instead of continuing the chase.

It’s happened a few times, and I know they tried to address this when Cat called out Kara for being Supergirl and tried to fire her so as not to occupy Supergirl’s time, but seeing exactly how dumb it is to put Cat first and waste time doing “regular” things makes it seem like Cat was right all along, and Kara should quit Catco. I don’t know how they fix this, and it’s only going to get more absurd unless Cat is brought in on Kara’s secret once and for all. -5 points.

Back at DEO HQ, Alex and J’onn are kicking themselves for losing the drop on Whitey and letting him escape. J’onn acknowledges that this is his war, not earth’s, and many of his men just died because of him, while Alex is bummed she made J’onn use his powers to infiltrate the Lord building, setting this whole chain in motion. They have a powerful heart to heart, where we learn the history of the Last Son of Mars.

Here David Harewood gets his biggest acting challenge to date, and he does a good job playing wounded, but in a distinctly manly (martianly?) way – not weepy, but more like dread leading to melancholy about even existing anymore. I’m glad he played it a bit less devastated than might be expected, as he is 317 years old and has had a long time to deal with it. I don’t think big emotions is Harewood’s particular strong suit, but he’s fine here. +2 points

I actually think the CGI Green Martians in the flashback carry a lot of the emotions of the scene. It’s rare when TV CGI is anything other than passable, but we’ve got some heart-tugging renditions of martian children being torn from their parents and everyone being terrified, and it’s effective. +2 points.

But the heart of the scene is the interaction between Alex and J’onn, which lets me segue into a side-bar on the character of Alex Danvers.

I think the character of Alex is the hidden gem in the series, and perhaps the secret heart of the part of the show that is just about being a hero. First off, if you asked Supergirl and Martian Manhunter who in the world they trust the most, they would both answer the same – it is the human Alex Danvers. She is the most trusted person in each of the two most powerful alien superheroes’ lives. That is quite a position to be in, and makes her the most important human in National City as the one person who can single-handedly keep these aliens on our side.

Second, she is the emotional rock of the team. She is the only one who doesn’t doubt herself all the time (or at least hasn’t done so yet) and has had to be the one who picks up the other two emotionally when they have doubts. Early on she had to be there when Supergirl was launching herself into her new public role and beyond, and now this episode she has to pick up and cover J’onn when he has his staring-into-the-abyss moment. She’s tough and can handle the things it takes to be a hero, while the superpowers can’t seem to yet without crumbling when shit goes down hill.

Third, she has no powers, but is always right in the action and holding here own, like Black Widow in the Avengers. She also is the only one of them with the balls to kill if she has to, like she did with the Red Tornado scientist guy. So she can make the tough choices that Supergirl and MM might hesitate to do. I like that edge.

So Alex has been the best example of the unflappable “traditional hero” so far in the show, and she is the glue of the DEO team. I think she gives off the best feminist message too – competence and caring without making a big deal that she is a woman all the time. I fear now that Martian Manhunter has been added to the show, he might squeeze out Alex from the action, as it makes more sense for the two more durable heroes who can fly to team up more often.

I hope that doesn’t happen, and I don’t think it will because the Danvers Sisters act is so strong, but I do think the character of Alex Danvers is still underrated and under-emphasized, and is a realistic role model the show should build up more for human girls to look up to. She’s the most reachable hero in the series. +10 Points for the character.

Sequence 10 – On the balcony at Catco, Cat lashes out

Hey, if I learned that my son was that much of a self-centered asshole, I’d be lashing out at everyone too. But all kidding aside (sorta), we get more KareCat magic. Flockhart plays the scene so well, where her face does not even try to hide how hurt she is because this time she just can’t handle it – it’s so personal. Her lashing out at Kara over tea just screams her pain and it’s a real moment in a show that can be too goofy at times. She even yells at Kara for not preparing her for the dinner, when we saw for ourselves that Kara tried to do exactly that, but of course Cat doesn’t listen much to underlings. This sets up not just the future scene with Cat, Adam, and Kara at Noonan’s, but also future sequences where now Cat has justification to start to listen and value Kara’s advice.

We all knew it was going there, and is such a trope we’ve seen dozens of times before that it can be dangerously predictable and grating, but it’s genuine acting talent from Flockhart that we don’t get to see a lot of given the nature of Cat. And of course that sets up what Benoist does so well – overwhelming concern when someone is hurt while still being awkwardly respectful to her boss. It’s not the most original take on love-hate, but the two best developed characters handled by two talented actors means the material only has to be OK for the scene to shine. +4 Points.

Well, mostly. There is the one clunker of a line where Cat has to justify Adam’s forthcoming lecherous nature toward Kara by flat out stating that Adam came “here because of the letter. He may as well have come to see you” which is pretty hollow and weakly written. We are pretty much getting Adam force-fed to us as the new love interest, and it’s hard to be excited for the guy who just showed up this episode and has been nothing but rude to everyone to win Kara’s heart while her best friend of 11 episodes who just got brutally friendzoned is still an open wound. It is just too much too soon if we are to still care about Winn as a character. -3 Points.

And there is some buzz about Cat pronouncing Kara’s name correctly under her breath… “Oh, Kara…” as the scene finishes, which some take as tacit acknowledgment that Cat knew Kara’s name all along and only calls her KEEERa as a power move. I think that might be over-analyzing things (this coming from someone posting a dozen pages on a quaint show like Supergirl).

I know that Flockhart has said in interviews that she does not ad-lib much and sticks mainly to the script, but that she will throw in ad-lib only at the very end of the scene so that it is very easy for the show editors to edit it out if they don’t like it (a very clever and respectful way for the actor to ad-lib and not be presumptuous). Since reading that, I always look out for that kind of ad-lib from Flockhart, just as a sort of game. I believe she did so last episode with the “honestly she should be paying ME” comment as Kara was scampering out of her office, and I think this is another one of her throw-away lines to end the scene where she ad-libbed but forgot to do the KEEERa bit as she was so in the moment as an actor, and it was a good acting moment so the editors kept it in anyway.

In other words (and in story terms), my theory is that the writers did not prompt that (it was not deliberately written in the script), and that is important to note if we are using this moment to judge whether or not Cat knows how to pronounce Kara’s name and the power play involved if she does or doesn’t. I’m on the side that she genuinely thinks it is KEEERa because can’t doesn’t care about minor players in her life, and she always thought KEEERa would be a bit player, and the canon is she only accidentally pronounced her name correctly because she was choked up. That’s my take.

Sequence 11 – Kara meets MopeyDopey Adam at his hotel to fix things

Here is another scene to judge whether Adam and Kara have natural chemistry and, well, I’d say it’s proof that they don’t. I’m probably being too hard on Jenner when all the writing for his character is stilted and abrasive, but he is in the unfortunate situation where all his scene partners are capable of elevating weak material into gold – Benoist and Flockhart. By comparison, he is just flat, like a sound board with a mouth that just hits his lines so the actresses around him can dunk the ball. It’s like watching Dancing with the Stars where the pro is doing everything in their power to make the non-pro look decent, but the contrast in talent between the two is too apparent on the screen.

Adam rails more on how much he dislikes his mother, and wonders aloud if this is the part where he gets paid off by Cat. He’s old enough to know that being financially supported by her ever since he was a baby and without strings is a pretty loving act. We also have never heard of him ever reaching out to Cat and being denied, so why is he acting so childish?

I wish I could feel differently, because Adam might stick around. But I don’t. I still think he is the biggest danger for Supergirl as a show, if they make him a series regular. It would affect the characterization of Winn, James, Cat, and Kara so much that the character of Adam better be worth it. So far he isn’t, and it’s not even close. 0 Points, would be negative but it is short and Benoist saves the scene.

We also get another clunker of a line where Adam agrees to go to dinner with Cat again, “but only if you [Kara] come with me.” Like I said, as written, he seems more interested in getting laid than getting to know his mom. And it would have been infinitely more compelling if Cat was the one who asked Kara to come to dinner, as it reinforces the new trust Cat has in Kara’s emotional judgment while also keeping Adam from seeming like a lecher. -2 points

Sequence 12 – Cat, Adam, and Kara at Noonans

This is actually the one scene where I thought Blake Jenner did an acceptable job in acting, and it’s mainly because he only has to react to the powerful acting from Flockhart and Benoist. He took some time to absorb their words and showed a bit of emotional range in his responses for once instead of just spitting out the next line on cue. So, uh, good job?

But honestly, who wouldn’t prefer Cat and Kara having this conversation between just themselves, like they did when Adam’s name first came up in this show? If this was a one-off appearance, and this was Jenner’s final scene, that would be great as he ended on a high. But it looks like Woodenman’s reign of terror on National City is going to continue for a while longer, so brace yourselves, citizens. +5 Benoist, +5 Flockhart, +1 Jenner, so he made the box score and can say he participated on a winning team.

Sequence 13 – Back at DEO HQ and into the sewers, and Martian Manhunter is PISSED OFF

Harewood gets to play furious anger and I think he does that much more naturally than he does playing sad. We also get Alex acting as the Manhunter’s big sister like she does for Kara all the time, as she is the *rock of this team*, dammit. It’s also nice that Alex gets the chance to remind MM of his need to remain honorable because later Alex is relegated to being the victim and the big end speech goes to Supergirl. I guess that is to be expected since the show is called “Supergirl”, but I’m still on Team Alex too. +2 points

We get a nice action scene where fake Senator’s face goes all alien for a moment, and, of course, kills two more DEO agents. MM agrees to meet Whitey in the desert, where he wants to die and join his people. It is now Alex’s sister’s (aka Supergirl) chance to convince MM that he has to continue living for a higher purpose, but his road “is done”, and he really seems to mean it. +2 points

In the desert, and it’s time for the big showdown between Whitey and MM. We are subjected to the two speaking Martian (with subtitles), and, hey, it sounds a lot like Klingon! It could be goofy, but the actors play it straight so it works reasonably well.

The most interesting part to me was when J’onn kneels and offers his neck to Whitey so he can strike him down and kill the last Green Martian. When we last left off, J’onn wanted to die, and he confirmed that to Supergirl, but here, at the last moment, she saves him. Was it planned all along or not? Because immediately J’onn assumes his real form and he and Supergirl team up to take on Whitey in an aerial battle that all fanboys have been waiting for ever since Hank was revealed as MM. +5 points

The CGI is good, and the battle is a bit short but gives enough of what the audience has been waiting for to satiate for now. But I’m more interested in knowing if J’onn offering his life up was real or a ploy with Supergirl. It seems like he really wanted to die and was saved against his will, which I think would be an interesting character choice for both MM and Supergirl.

But then we get the part where MM puts Kryptonite handcuffs on Supergirl so he can kill Whitey, showing that it probably was planned all along, because why would he bring handcuffs if he thought he was going to die? And so the more interesting choice of wanting to die and being saved against his will instead becomes the more standard choice of the two superheroes had a plan all along while deceiving the audience with Supergirl’s and MM’s last discussion leading into this fight. You can probably tell which choice I wished they had made, but it’s the storyteller’s prerogative and they went with the other one instead. It is also possible that MM really did want to die, and the handcuff thing was just writing sloppiness – this show can be that sloppy at times.

We then get the big denouement where a handcuffed Supergirl has to use her words instead of her powers to save J’onn from murdering his enemy and doing the right thing. So it is in fact Kara Danvers who has to rise to the moment and make the heroic save instead of Supergirl, and it is a nice call back to the Adam / Cat / Kara reconciliation scene where Kara also had to use only her words to guide them both and save the day there too. It’s a well constructed parallel that also caters to the need for Supergirl to distinguish herself from her cousin-who-works-for-Perry-White-and-who’s-secret-identity-rhymes-with-Mark-Bent who would have probably found a more muscle-ly solution to this problem. Supergirl’s hidden power over her cousin has always been emotional perception, and that is something feminist should be proud of. +5 points

I just wished that Alex, who was laying right there, could have spoken up in this situation too. She’s known Hank longer and is always by J’onn’s side, and just having it be a chorus of reasoning and pleading from the Danvers Sisters would have both been impossible for MM to resist and resonated so much better in the next scene where J’onn compares the two to his own daughters. A perfect example where they could have boosted Alex’s character a little bit to be more of an equal member, and she needs these little boosts to compensate for her character’s lack of superpowers. -2 points for missed opportunity.

Regarding the scene where MM recalls his daughters and all but declares the Danvers as his new ones, I really enjoyed how all three characters stuck to their established natures – Kara immediately goes in for the hug, J’onn accepts it for a while before gently saying “enough of that” to the hugging, while Alex maintains her professionalism while also not fearing showing the emotions on her face for both aliens she loves. They also do that sisterly looking at each other thing as soon as J’onn walks away. It’s cheese, but I like extra cheese on my Supergirl pizza so +5 points.

Sequence 13 – Epilogue

The Senator has a YYYYUGE change of heart and gives a speech where she does a complete 180 on her stance on aliens. It’s a bit eye-rolling and comic-booky, but Senators in this world are just like that I guess. I’m willing to roll with it just to move on. 0 points

Adam wanders into Cat’s office – unexpectedly of course. He noticed Catco’s ultra modern design and decided he needed to add some wood to the environment with his acting. Hey Adam, now that you and Cat have a genuine relationship, she won’t need to buy your love anymore so you’re going to ask her to stop sending those checks, right? Yeah, thought so.

Actually Adam quickly dismisses Cat because he’s feeling horny and that’s more important than time with your birth mother that you’ve been dreaming about reaching all your life. But, but, but… Kara has nice hair! Me like! Ugh. And I thought Winn had a desk right next to Kara, what happened to that? Oh, that’s right, it’s inconvenient to the story, so now Winn works on another floor. -5 points.

On a semi-serious note, Adam asks Kara what the correct pronunciation is of her name, and here we see how shoe-horning Adam into this show disrupts established rhythms. How can Cat continue her KEEERa bit since her son is in both their lives now? Do Cat and Adam just stop talking to each other so he never corrects her off-screen? Do they not use her name when the three of them are together? Or do we just lose that bit so Adam can exist in this story? Having Kara date Cat’s son is going to force a lot of changes to the characters’ dynamics or else it’s all going to seem too far fetched. This is a minor example, but I wish this bit of stunt-casting never happened.

The episode ends on another Danvers Sisters night at Kara’s affordable penthouse suite. Couldn’t they just have Alex move in so the ridiculous rent situation would at least make some sense? Otherwise it’s a sweet scene of older sister giving younger sister dating advice, and the two actresses really seem to like each other because there is always believable familial chemistry. They do get a point off for faking the eating of ice cream poorly. My guess is that is like a fifth take of this scene and they can’t stand eating the stuff anymore because they have spoonfuls of mostly air. It’s noticeable. +4 points overall though.

Next Week… It looks like Bizzarogirl. These doppelganger episodes are always a hire-wire act, as Benoist will get to play her own evil clone and gets to ham it up that way. It could be goofy fun.

I’m also looking forward to the return of Winn. Or is he banished to Catco’s mail room for being a murderer’s son?

I’m willing to Jenner another chance if he is going to be featured again. His material was just poorly formed and written, but it might be the result of shoehorning him in and trying to get him into the romantic spot ASAP rather than his acting. Maybe.

I’m also fine with James and Lucy deciding to move back to Metropolis. Make it happen in Episode 12. Please.

Total score for Episode 11: + 65 Arbitrary Points!