Supergirl is slowly finding its footing and continues its third season with girl power galore. While this episode starts very strong, and offers some much-needed Kara development, the ending falls flat. One of Supergirl‘s biggest problems in Season 2 was the fact that Kara’s story revolved solely around Mon El. It’s disappointing to see that’s still the case, even though he isn’t around anymore.
The episode opens with a montage of morning routines, all with varying levels of happiness. Alex and Maggie wake up together, and seem to be in a state of domestic bliss. Samantha wakes up next to Ruby, and the two of them eat and rush out the door. Kara wakes up completely alone, and finds a copy of Romeo and Juliet under the bed that Mon El has previously scribbled in. Samantha drops Ruby off at school, reminding her that her first day at her new job is today.
Speaking of jobs, Lena shows up for her first day at CatCo. While she’s the complete opposite of Cat Grant in attitude, she brings an energy that’s been missing since Cat left. Lena continues to be one of the best presences on the show, and Katie McGrath owns every scene she’s in. Still, we know it won’t all be smooth sailing, especially when she still doesn’t know that why Kara is constantly leaving without explanation.
The villain-of-the-week is Psi, a metahuman who can manipulate people’s minds using their greatest fears. She’s been robbing banks and when Kara goes in to stop her, she’s paralysed with a vision, allowing Psi to escape. The second time she appears, J’onn tries to shield Kara’s mind but fails. Psi’s vision shows a pod leaving Krypton and the planet being destroyed around her. We assume that it’s Kara, seeing as that’s what happened to her all those years ago.
Lena confronts Kara, who has been rushing in and out of the office all day. Kara tries to brush her off, but Lena puts her foot down. She tells Kara she didn’t spend $750 million on a favour to a friend. As much as I love their positive dynamic, it’s one of the best moments of the episode, and Kara finally listens to her and leaves to actually do her job. Let’s just say that CatCo boss Lena is something I could get used to very easily.
Kara doesn’t tell anyone about her vision except Winn, who can’t keep it a secret for long when Alex confronts him about it. This prompts an adorable Danvers sisters scene, reminiscent of Season 1, and something we’ve been sorely missing for the past season. It’s nice to see that Kara finally remembers that she does have a (really great) sister, and that she isn’t alone through any of her grief.
Ruby seems to be a typical disobedient child, especially when Samantha receives a call that she’s punched some other kid in the face at school. Ruby tells her it’s because she thinks she has superpowers (after what happened last episode) but the other kids didn’t believe her. Once it’s dinnertime, Samantha finds that Ruby is missing from her room. Apparently she has some sort of death wish, because she decides to put herself in danger with Psi so that her mother can ‘come save her’ with her powers. Before Samantha is able to show any power, Supergirl saves them.
The final confrontation with Psi is where things start to turn. Kara shows up with a device that’s supposed to stop her. When it fails, she’s thrown back into her vision in the pod until Alex is able to pull her out of it. Kara reveals that her vision is actually about Mon El in his pod and not her. And the episode was going so well! She’s worried that by sending him away she killed him, but Alex reassures her that he’s still alive. It was very close to being a perfect moment, but Supergirl missed the mark with this one. Kara is eventually able to stop Psi with a ‘mind over matter’ approach and she’s taken away.
Alex has a cute moment with Ruby, which prompts her to mention kids to Maggie. Meanwhile, Maggie says that she’s never seen herself being a mother. Honestly, it’s unrealistic that they’ve been together for over a year, gotten engaged and have never had this conversation. This, along with a seemingly out-of-character spat over wedding music earlier in the episode, makes it feel as though the writers have stopped caring about their relationship since Maggie is leaving. It’s a shame, because they were one of the best parts of Season 2 and I had been looking forward to more Maggie development.
Lena and Kara make up and Kara uses the Mon El excuse to get away with her running out of the office all day. Lena then introduces her to the person who will be taking over for her at L-Corp and, lo and behold, it’s Samantha! This is going to make things complicated when she eventually begins her Reign transformation. Also, there seems to be some weird tension between Lena and James. We know James is supposed to be getting a love interest this season, so who knows what’s happening?
The episode ends with Kara and Alex curled up on the couch watching The Wizard of Oz, and J’onn drinking alone at the bar. That is, until M’gann shows up and tells him that he needs to come back to Mars immediately. While this episode had a shaky finish, villains like Psi are ones we need to see more often for great character development. Now, on to Mars!
THE REEL SCORE: 8/10
Next week…
