Superhero Weekly: Supergirl, interrupted – this week’s Falling

Spoilers… duh.

Yes, Kara’s back and still flying solo this week. However, the episode just about made up for any cheesiness this series has been trying to purge.

It starts simple enough. We get Supergirl saving some firemen trapped on top of a building. However, something underneath the rubble glows… red? It’s time we meet the dark side of Kara as Kryptonite’s red variety makes its appearance on the show.

The result is a Kara we’ve never seen before. Vindictive, unrestrained, jealous and overall very manipulative and controlling. This episode took the biggest gun, the awesome Melissa Benoist, and showed us what it would be like to have a negative version of Supergirl. The interesting part, is that that red-kryptonite-influenced-Kara is not completely alien to the real one. It’s her persona giving in to every single bad thought she’s ever had.

Of course it’s Maxwell Lord’s fault. He’s been trying to recreate something that he doesn’t know exactly what it does. The answer is another of those nifty lets-invert-the-polarity rifles that can only be used up close.

There’s a fallout. Before she returns to her benevolent self, Supergirl will first let a criminal escape, she will out Siobhan as a backstabber, drop Cat Grant from the top of her own building and try to get busy with James Olsen. Incidentally, now sans Lucy Lane, James is being a little more open about his feelings about Kara although he still does the right thing.

No brilliant insights from Cat Grant this week. I thought we’d get some degrees of separation after Cat’s life was threatened and she put out that warning. But it’s just strange sometimes how it seems to take an announcement from Cat to get the city in a particular frame of mind.

Best episode yet and best reason to keep watching the show.

Highs/Lows/FlyingPeanuts

Melissa Benoist has proven she has no equal as goofy Kara, as dashing Supergirl and now as Dark Supergirl.
I would’ve have loved to see the dark version of the Supergirl costume as it appears in the comics when Supergirl joins Darkseid. Instead we get a jumpsuit, unavoidable reference to the Kryptonians led by Astra, and now by Non.
Kara has proved to be far more of an interesting character than before. She now has to fight her own dark side. Not literally, like Superman in Superman 3 but she nonetheless will have to face everyone she’s hurt. I did liked that all of Dark Kara’s convictions were tempting bad thoughts that Kara has managed to fight off.
Supergirl flinging peanuts, a direct homage (or a steal, if you prefer) to the scene from Superman 3.
I don’t want the next episode to be everyone loving on Supergirl as if nothing had happened. There needs to be a fallout and a recovery period.
Didn’t care for Siobhan one bit, glad she’s gone. I know she was being groomed to become an arch-enemy, but the interaction in the office was just awkward.
Melissa Benoist has just upped the bar with her performance. Even Callista Flockhart’s Cat Grant had nothing really interesting to say this week. Everyone now needs to up their game to catch up, which is the only negative thing I can say about this week’s episode.

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