Spoilers might need some time to re-energize.

(Source: CBS)
(Source: CBS)

In this week’s Supergirl 1×07: Human For A Day, Kara realizes her Kryptonian battery has been depleted after the fight with Red Tornado. Here’s where there was a chance to humanize Kara. I dare say, she’s sometimes more human than most of the people around her. What it seems to happen is this forced sentimental moments where we’re trying to create drama but, I’m sorry to say, quite don’t hit their mark. There are a few amazing moments this week. They might not be the ones that the episode was aiming for. There’s also a few very lousy ones.

I didn’t quite enjoy the episode. I can suspend my sense of disbelief when the illusion is well constructed. After all, it’s TV show. We know it’s not real. We get into the frame of mind and let the world of Supergirl surround us. But sometimes things are just put together a bit roughly. There are two main storylines in this episode. Kara, without powers, has to face a city under the grip of a catastrophe as an earthquake has shaken up National City really badly. Back in DEO, Alex must face a showdown with a loose alien capable of mind control and the fact that Hank Henshaw might be involved in the death of her father.

First, Kara and Jimmy join Maxwell Lord while he tries to plaster his name all over town as he helps out while putting down Supergirl on TV. The media moment is interrupted by a woman whose father has been hurt and needs help. To his credit, Maxwell does try to help but he’s unable to properly assist the man, casually mentioning he doesn’t have an X-Ray machine. Then he conveniently consoles the woman aside just so that Kara tries to force her X-Ray vision to work. Which she can’t. It’s supposed to be a moment of frustration and weakness for Kara, but it’s so poorly setup that I couldn’t buy it.

Then there’s a moment when Kara decides to put on the super suit to stop a robbery by talking to the armed assailant and getting him to lower his gun. I want to believe that could work, but it doesn’t help when Jimmy is obviously taking a picture of the moment. I honestly thought for a second that the clicking sound of the shutter in the camera was going to make the robber twitch and shoot the gun by mistake. Yes, it’s a nice picture, but again the setup to the scene is a bit cheap with Jimmy standing in front of the two with a camera. You could’ve kept Jimmy off the frame and later on revealed he had taken the shot. And yes, I’m calling him Jimmy instead of James because to take a picture in the moment that Supergirl gets the gun from the very nervous would-be thief was bad timing at its worst.

For the climatic moment, James has to help a bunch of people trapped in the floor above climb down the elevator shaft. Of course, there has to be another shake so that James ends up in danger. This one is setup a bit better. In a previous scene, actually the scene where Jimmy shows Kara the picture that he so obviously took, Winn has managed to analyze the recovery times from Kara’s cousin (I’m trying not to say his name for a few reviews, ok?) and deduced that Supergirl might make a faster comeback with the Kryptonian equivalent of an adrenaline rush. This is exactly what happens later when James falls, causing Kara to have such a scare that her recharging level is rushed to 100% in an instant.

Meanwhile, in the DEA, Alex is playing Call of Duty skulking in the corridors as an extraterrestrial named Jemm attempts to take control of the base. Disobeying a direct command from Henshaw to stay put, she goes after the big bad herself. Reunited with her boss, Alex decides not to trust him and reveals she knows that her father died in an incident that involved him. Then she chains him up and goes after the mind-control alien by herself. I did like Alex here, albeit if Hank wanted to set her up to be killed he would have done it YEARS ago. But she does manage to kickass to the point of even knocking the gem (guess that’s why he’s called Jemm?) off his head.

That’s the point in which Hank Henshaw appears from nowhere and kicks the alien’s ass while we’re certain he’s an alien himself. So after all is said and done, “Hank” reveals himself to be J’onn J’onzz aka the Martian Manhunter. It appears that the original Hank Henshaw was determined to kill him and Jeremiah Danvers put his life on the line to save him. How exactly did both of them end up dead, that’s a level of detail to be revealed. Why are we rushing to reveal Hank Henshaw’s secret? Shouldn’t we save that for later? Nope, it’s out. And now we play a game of secrets to keep from the people we trust that we’ll pay dearly for not sharing later. See Arrow and The Flash for consequences of this game.

Kara has a good moment with Cat Grant in which she tells her she inspired both the city and Supergirl today. Good moment. Then she leaves to be attacked by two of Astra’s cronies and Astra herself. Cheap moment. Despite a couple of great moments, I was not too impressed with this week’s episode. For further explanation, let’s go to the Highs/Lows.

Highs/Lows/Shakes:

  • I had a hard time getting into the dramatic moments during the earthquake crisis. Most of these were cheapened by the setup leading up to them or the circumstances.
  • Winn made me so angry in this episode. Half of it was as if he was owed an explanation to the moment that Kara was having with James. Nope! He was owed nothing. He has no right to feel offended. Kara does not need to explain herself to Winn. The other half that bothered me is the show basically catering to the whims of a guy who decides the girl he’s crushing on has no right to choose her own life. So I hope on the next episode Winn gets put in his place because this is not the correct message to send at all. This soured most of the episode for me.
  • The cheesy moment in which Supergirl saves a schoolbus from falling gets a pass just because it’s a little reminder when Cristopher Reeve’s Kal-El does the same in the first Superman movie.
  • Did the show rushed into revealing Hank Henshaw was J’onn J’onzz? It did feel rushed there. YES, it is amazing to see another classic alien superhero involved. The Martian Manhunter is hardly a mainstream name, but comic book aficionados will recognize the look. Still, I think this would’ve been a more proper reveal for the season finale. Time will tell.
  • Cat’s moment as she addressed National City. I’m kind of on the fence because although it was a bit more heartfelt that Maxwell Lord’s almost campaign-like speech, it felt a bit patronizing.
  • Astra. Again. I’m still getting used to the name. I really hope her appearance is going to an improvement from the first one. We’ll have to wait for the mid-season finale.

That will do for now.