Written by Federica Bocco
In every superhero’s story there comes a point where something terrible has happened and they can’t keep living a double life anymore. They chose to abandon the vigilante life to live exclusively as their civilian identity. But in Supergirl’s case, it’s the opposite. Kara Danvers is the made-up persona, and the Girl of Steel is who she really is at her core. After sacrificing Mon-El to save earth, she has closed herself up to only being Supergirl.
“I am not human, I am more than that” is the recurring phrase Kara utters every time her human friends and family confront her about her behaviour. She should grieve and share her emotions, not build a wall around herself. Instead, she is focusing everything on fighting crime and finding refuge in her almighty superhero self. She thinks if she can out-fly her humanity to some place where feelings won’t reach her, she’ll be able to cope.
Alex misses her sister, Lena misses her best friend, and they both tell her as much. Winn complains Kara never shows up for game night, James tries to be her boss and tells her she needs to respect her deadlines… everyone is concerned, but J’onn reminds them grief doesn’t have a deadline.
With a coldness that doesn’t belong to the sunny Kara Danvers we know and love, she tells her sister that she is not broken over Mon-El’s loss, because a human woman would be broken; Alex would be broken if it happened to Maggie, but she is better than that. Supergirl would make that decision a million times over, no matter how much it may hurt. This was one of the most beautiful scenes in the series so far, proving once more that the relationship Supergirl is built upon is that of the Danvers’ sisters.
Kara Danvers was a mistake.
Kara Danvers is my favorite person. She saved me more times than Supergirl ever could, so think about that while you’re trying to get rid of her.
The episode opened up with a dream-like sequence like the one we saw in the Season 2 finale, and sees Kara and Mon-El happy together with Kara’s mother there as well. But it is just a vision, and Supergirl is off fighting crime.
Things have changed in National City with Cat Grant off to DC to be the President’s press secretary, the city is peaceful in terms of aliens, but the big corporations are fighting for control. Morgan Edge has plans to destroy people’s homes so he can rebuild them as he desires and profit. He hired the criminal Bloodsport to perform a terrorist attack during the unveiling of Supergirl’s statue ceremony. However, Kara stopped the attack and almost drowned in the process—her superpowers don’t include breathing underwater—but she had a vision of Mon-El telling her to wake up and she saved herself.
Lena and James try to support each other against Edge’s selfish plans, and when Edge announces he is going to buy CatCo so he can control the press and the opinion the public has of him, Lena takes the crazy decision to buy CatCo herself. This, plus Mon-El’s wake up call, shakes Kara enough that she decides she will go back to working as a reporter.
Meanwhile, Alex is not so sure about what she wants for her and Maggie’s wedding. She suddenly gets cold feet, in the sense that she doesn’t want it to be a huge ceremony if Kara is a wreck and if her father can’t be there with her. But after talking to her fiancé about this, she believes she can do it. She asks J’onn to walk her down the aisle, in a beautiful and emotional scene, that culminates to the both of them in tears. We choose our own family, in the end and J’onn is so proud and honoured of considering Alex is own daughter.
Do I have to wear a tux?
I’m wearing Kevlar and boots, so…
During the attack on National City, we also met Odette Annable’s character. She is presented to us as a single mother to her pre-teenager daughter Ruby. Unaware of her Kryptonian origin, she only discovers she has superhuman strength as she lifts a heavy metal rod to save Ruby. Watching her realise who she is and where she really came from is going to be interesting, and I’m glad the writers chose to go with such a different take on a villain’s story. Will this transformation happen all at once or during the course of the season? When will Mon-El be back, and how? Will we see more Guardian? Will Kara and Lena finally go to brunch now that Lena is Kara’s boss? When will Maggie step out of the scene, since Floriana Lima quit?
The episode ended with Kara finally joining her friends at the bar, giving a spark of hope that everything will be okay. The premiere looks promising, and if the season can keep this pace, it will not disappoint.
Tune in Mondays at 8/7c on The CW!
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