S01.E09: Blood Bonds

[Tara Ariano]

Supergirl finds herself in a tense standoff with Non as she tries to rescue Hank from his clutches; and Kara is confronted by Cat about being National City's very own caped crusader.

[AimingforYoko]

I don't know if I'd call it heroic to use Martian Manhunter to mindfuck your boss. And that scene with General Lane and Astra was a little intense for 8pm. I like it. The show is showing improvement, let's hope CBS lets them continue.

[secnarf]

I'm still disappointed that they used MM like that. Not surprised, but disappointed. Ruined an otherwise good episode. Though I'm still holding out hope that Cat was not convinced, and is just pretending. I thought her whole "prove you're SG or you're fired" bit was a tad extreme, and seemed more aimed at getting a specific reaction out of Kara than a genuine belief that Kara could not both be SG and work for CatCo.

 

I am not convinced that Astra isn't playing Kara, as soon as she saw Kara's reaction to Gen Lane's tactics. She could have lied to Kara about Alura's faith in her, she could have deliberately tempered her reaction and coddled Kara a bit in order to try to ultimately get Kara on her side.

[Trini]

Well, the show has directly acknowledged that Kara sucks at the secret keeping, so, this tricking Cat with Martian Manhunter is like a band-aid rather than a long-term solution... right?

 

On the other hand, they gave us another reason to keep the secret from Cat; Kara really does want to keep her job/civilian life, but Cat wouldn't allow that if she knows.

Edited January 5, 2016 by Trini

[bettername2come]

Didn't think we were getting a new episode tonight, so this was a nice surprise.

I'm so distracted from important plot points of this episode by wondering if Lois and Clark are married in this version. Kept waiting for Clark to apologize for his father in law being a jerk.

[sjohnson]

Nothing DEO worked for me, not even torture that led to the victim giving up a prearranged ruse instead of infallibly revealing the truth. The problem with insisting Astra is such an evil person is that far, far, far, far more people died because Jor-El and Lara, Zor-El and Alura failed so miserably. Hollywood insists the only alternative to upholding the justice of our wars is a pacifism that doesn't flinch at the annihilation of an entire planet full of people! Seriously?

 

I presume James was much too macho to give up Win as the guy who beat the art, so it seems evil Maxwell Lord isn't quite mean enough?

 

Supergirl playing Kara Danvers, assistant, only makes sense if she regards Danvers as being too much of her true self to give up. Fooling Grant doesn't seem to promise much except the long term prospect of Kara Danvers working part-time while drawing a full-time salary...from Cat Grant. Oh dear.

[Writing Wrongs]

So who was that girl at the end supposed to be?

[Chaos Theory]

I am incredibly disappointed that they are going with the "Lets desceive Kat and not tell her the truth because what could possibly go wrong?"

[Big Mother]

I actually liked that Hank appeared as Supergirl to help Kara continue fooling Cat (although she's probably not really fooled). At least it bought her some time and the storyline can continue.

 

Who was that girl at the end???

[thuganomics85]

Yeah, really disappointed that they decided to continue to keep Cat in the dark.  I would have found it more interesting if she was in the know.  Plus, the whole reason being "If you are truly Supergirl, then I can't have you work here since it would prevent you from solving crimes 24/7", really doesn't work for me.  Sure, we've seen that Cat has more layers now, but she is still someone who is about the story and her ambitions, and I can't see how she wouldn't want Supergirl working for her.  Ugh, whatever.  I'm sure this will only go so far before she finds out again.

 

At least they kind of countered it by having Kara find out Hank is really Martian Manhunter.  I'm guessing that and his ability to shape-shift, is going to be played up more in future episodes.  I have to think there will at least be one "surprising" moment, when we think one character is doing one thing, but it ends up being Hank in disguise.  But I hope this leads to more stuff with Kara/Alex/Hank.  Hank and Alex both agreeing that Kara is a horrible liar amused me.  It is nice seeing a lighter side to Hank now.

 

I swear, I can't think of any character that makes want go "Oh, fuck you!", more then General Samuel Lane.  Again, credit to Glenn Morshower, because for better or worse, that man can nail down this type of asshole.

 

The Jimmy/Winn stuff was lame.  And considering all the crazy, bad stuff numerous bad guys have down in various current comic book shows, it is going to take way more then Maxwell Lord punching Jimmy, to really make me think he is the worst of the worst.  What Lane did to Astra was ten times more intense (and better acted.)

 

Either Astra is playing Kara, or she is sincere in trying to slowly make peace, but Nan will end up turning on her.  Have a feeling he's suppose to be their version of General Lane.

 

Melissa Benoist continues to raise the bar.  She really sold Kara's brief slip into anger, and I totally do not want to be in her way, if the day ever comes were Kara just loses it.

[william0102]

I don't understand why they expect us to believe Cat would fall for MM shapeshifted as Supergirl. She was smart enough to figure out Kara was SG with less info, and now Kara has exactly what she needs to prove she's not after losing her job? Is this all so Kara will have one less person to turn to while trying to bring down Maxwell Lord? I'm sure the DEO won't be able to touch him without proof, just like nothing happened to General Lane, so Kara will be on her own with the boys and some help from Alex? Do they think Cat would be too powerful an ally and spin Maxwell's crap about SG? The reason why Lex Luthor worked on Lois and Clark was because he was powerful, but also because Lois and Clark could hurt him in the press. Kara literally cannot do that as Cat's assistant, so why not have Cat being a helper?

[Xenith22]

Well from an in universe standpoint I can certainly understand Kara not coming clean to Cat, even before the SG should not be working here instead of saving people speech, Cat referred to her as a story.  Ergo it did not seem like an issue of just letting Cat into her confidence, it's that she has reason to believe that Cat would write the story exposing her thus forcing her to give up her life as Kara Danvers.  Which, ugh...has really changed how I feel about the character of Cat and the bond she has with Kara if she was willing to essentially backstab Kara like that for the sake of a story.

[Big Mother]

I feel cheated out of not seeing Kara's reaction to the reveal of Hank's identity.

[Trini]

In other news, I found that arm of Red Tornado I was looking for; but how did Max Lord get it?

 

 

So who was that girl at the end supposed to be?

Probably (pre-)Bizarro Supergirl; there were spoilers that announced that character would show up.

[KirkB]

I'm torn. A part of me thinks Astra is just a cold-hearted manipulator, who is lying to Kara about pretty much everything in order to get her on her side, or at least out of her way. That would make her particularly villainous. But there's also the possibility she's more of an extremist, one willing to kill to prove a point and genuinely doesn't understand why people don't listen to her since she clearly knows better. If she actually loves Kara then she will probably end up siding with her, in which Non will turn out to be the real bad guy.

 

Speaking if bad guys, what the hell is Lord up to? He's decrying aliens while apparently doing awful things to humans himself. Then again I guess egotists like him are certain they can do no wrong.

 

A lot of us were right about Kara and Henshaw working together to fool Cat. Personally, I think it would have been better, and maybe more amusing to watch, if Cat had figured it out (and let us know) without telling Kara. For someone like Cat it would be useful to hold on to that sort of information (since she didn't seem ready to out Kara publicly) until a more appropriate time. Still, I can't fault Kara. Her cousin has done the same trick plenty of times, often with MM's help. That doesn't make it right but it's not exactly unprecedented.

 

I did like Kara's frustrated "You're from Mars?" I wonder if Kryptonians and Martians have met?

 

That was Red Tornado's arm? I didn't make the connection. Anyway, Kara blew him up. Lane probably didn't bother to gather up the pieces so Lord could have swooped in once they were gone. That, or you'd be amazed what a pile of money can do in the right hands.

Edited January 5, 2016 by KirkB

[Perfect Xero]

I don't understand why they expect us to believe Cat would fall for MM shapeshifted as Supergirl.

 

Why wouldn't she? She literally saw Kara and Supergirl at the same place at the same time. Their cover story, that Jimmy Olsen, publicly known as being a friend of Superman and Supergirl, called Supergirl in to clear up Cat's theory that was about to cost his friend Kara her job is believable enough. J'onn is not a publicly known hero, so Cat has no way of knowing that Supergirl has a friend who can fly and shapeshift.

[Chris24601]

Why wouldn't she? She literally saw Kara and Supergirl at the same place at the same time. Their cover story, that Jimmy Olsen, publicly known as being a friend of Superman and Supergirl, called Supergirl in to clear up Cat's theory that was about to cost his friend Kara her job is believable enough. J'onn is not a publicly known hero, so Cat has no way of knowing that Supergirl has a friend who can fly and shapeshift.

Yeah... if you're a comic book reader I think you need to throw out quite a bit of what you think you know. We may know who the Martian Manhunter in, but he's the LAST of his kind (even most of the other aliens don't seem to recognize that he's a disguised Martian), is NOT operating as a public hero (indeed, one of the key points of the pilot was that Superman was literally the ONLY superhero on Earth until Supergirl started doing her thing), and has spent the last decade as the head of an organization devoted to containing and covering up the existence of extraterrestrials on Earth to the point where Winn's alien sightings blog is regarded as conspiracy theory/National Enquirer type nonsense even with Superman around.

 

There is simply no reason for Cat to think anything other than that Supergirl and Kara are two separate people who happen to look very much alike. They met, interacted, even shook hands... so its not some hologram or magic trick. Supergirl and Kara Danvers were both in her office at the same time and she saw it with her own eyes and heard them talking to each other with her own ears. At this stage her doubting that they're too different people would actually be evidence that Cat Grant is actually insane.

 

Now, should Martian Manhunter and his shapeshifting abilities become public knowledge that's a whole different ball of wax and Cat might then have reason to rethink what she's seen. But for now and until something changes Kara has basically killed Cat's theory stone cold dead.

 

The confirmation bias Cat engaged in right afterwards is a real thing. When told two things are different people will invent differences to tell themselves they saw what they thought they saw and that's exactly how Cat reacted ("well now that I've seen the two of you side by side I can see you don't look much like Supergirl at all"). Kara's secret should be reasonably safe from Cat until such time as shapeshifters become common knowledge.

[william0102]

I think that Cat would question the timing of it. I also think that there would be doubt because Cat doesn't know the extent of SG's powers, she could question that it's something SG projected in her head. Superman has been flying around years at this point, and she has to at least consider there's someway that he keeps people from telling his secret when they find out, so why couldn't Kara? She could question it because SG is an alien and could have alien friends that could help her out. She could question it because Kara has some kind of military help, and they might have aliens that could help Kara out. I could come up with more, but I think any of those are enough to question the setup. Cat was a reporter, she was trained to be critical and not accept the surface answer, but that's just my opinion.

[pennben]

I thought I would hate Cat ending up back out of the loop re: Kara/Supergirl, but I didn't.  I feel like they just put a pin it for now.  I do appreciate that in the last episode that they showed the Cat isn't an idiot and put two and two together.  I can't fault her for not seeing through shape-shifting tonight (or, maybe realizing she needed to drop it to keep Kara around for the time being).  Still charmed by the show.

[Kromm]

Sigh.

 

We all knew it was coming (and exactly how). Nevertheless... sigh.

Does it ruin the whole show? No. But I question why they had to do the whole "Cat finds out" plot in the first place. I'm assuming it's because they felt that if Cat NEVER noticed Kara looks like Supergirl it would make her look even worse. Not so sure she still doesn't look bad enough anyway.

There WAS one good result from all of this. It forced Kara to have a conversation (okay, questionably secure online chat) where we learned she's actually spent time with Kal-El rather than just being passed off totally to the Danvers.

I mean that's not the kind of lesson that's taught ONLY in online chat sessions. He'd only know the phrase if they'd spent considerable time together in person, IMO.

As for the ending, I'm already thinking about what DC character that's likely to be.

[Kromm]

Ack. Okay, no need to speculate which DC character that is. It's literally right on CBS.com (go to the Supergirl page and scroll down and it's there clear as day).

[AudienceofOne]

Wow Kara can be a tedious character.

At this stage I'm just watching for the hair

[Perfect Xero]

I think that Cat would question the timing of it. I also think that there would be doubt because Cat doesn't know the extent of SG's powers, she could question that it's something SG projected in her head. Superman has been flying around years at this point, and she has to at least consider there's someway that he keeps people from telling his secret when they find out, so why couldn't Kara? She could question it because SG is an alien and could have alien friends that could help her out. She could question it because Kara has some kind of military help, and they might have aliens that could help Kara out. I could come up with more, but I think any of those are enough to question the setup. Cat was a reporter, she was trained to be critical and not accept the surface answer, but that's just my opinion.

 

What about the timing would she question? Cat was demanding proof that Kara wasn't Supergirl, so Kara provided proof that she isn't Supergirl using a resource (James) that Cat obviously knows Kara has access to. You can't demand that someone provides you with an alibi and then call it suspicious that the person provided an alibi in a timely manner.

 

Based on the information that Cat currently has, continuing to believe that Kara is Supergirl would require huge leaps in reasoning based on broad speculation about things that she has no way of knowing. There's a huge difference between being critical and not believing the things that you're seeing with your own eyes because you had a hunch based on circumstantial evidence.

[VCRTracking]

I thought it was a really good episode. Lots of intense stuff and I liked Kara feeling angry at being powerless.  Even though I was disappointed that Cat was fooled(for now) that Kara isn't Supergirl, I liked Martian Manhunter helping out. I liked that Kat didn't want Kara being her assistant when she could be out helping people and also learning why Kara does want to work there.

 

Loved the flashback to Krypton.

 

Man, Max is a bit of a brute.

[cambridgeguy]

Max needs to take some supervillain lessons from Lex.  If you catch a guy trespassing you have him arrested for breaking and entering.  You don't smack him around and then send him off so he can chat with his buddies Supergirl and Superman to confirm that you really are an evil bastard rather than a misguided jerk.

 

It's nice to see Clark take an interest in his cousin but if he knows that Supergirl has to deal with about a dozen Kryptonians his refusal to drop by and help is inexplicable.  This isn't tossing a newbie into the deep end and hoping they can swim, this is tossing them into a whirlpool and expecting them to get out.

[marketdoctor]

I liked that they gave service to the question "why does Cat care?" (because time Kara spends being Kara is time she's not helping people with real problems.)  Related to that, I thought at the end her statement about how Supergirl is a different person was her showing awareness that Kara *needs* time to be a normal person.  I've known IRL successful people who crave normality, so maybe it just took time for Kat to get that (and Kara's speech helped.)

 

 

I'm torn. A part of me thinks Astra is just a cold-hearted manipulator, who is lying to Kara about pretty much everything in order to get her on her side, or at least out of her way. That would make her particularly villainous. But there's also the possibility she's more of an extremist, one willing to kill to prove a point and genuinely doesn't understand why people don't listen to her since she clearly knows better. If she actually loves Kara then she will probably end up siding with her, in which Non will turn out to be the real bad guy.

 

I think they're trying to present her as an extremist, and possibly Non is using her.  Or she's super-evil but really good at it.  What makes this show better than it could be is we're not sure.  (That MM would help hold her disguise was pretty clear, but easier to see since the audience knows he can shapeshift,)

[Primetimer]

While Cat Grant tries to prove who Kara really is, Kara struggles with that question herself.

Read the story

[queenanne]

I thought I would hate Cat ending up back out of the loop re: Kara/Supergirl, but I didn't.  I feel like they just put a pin it for now.  I do appreciate that in the last episode that they showed the Cat isn't an idiot and put two and two together.  I can't fault her for not seeing through shape-shifting tonight (or, maybe realizing she needed to drop it to keep Kara around for the time being).  Still charmed by the show.

 

But, we are left to infer that Cat started being suspicious when Kara was standing right next to that big huge cutout of Supergirl, simpering away.  (At least, it's what I inferred).  Plus, props to those who inferred the last time around that Cat was being skeptical when she said "OK, fine, you're Supergirl"; I still don't see it from CF's delivery, which strikes me as a potential flaw in the storytelling.  (Or, maybe I just mean it's irritating, but I'm calling it a flaw, lol.) 

 

Primary problem with the above is, it's a "Gotcha!"  It's not a scenario where we were presented with dastardly consequences by Cat to Kara if she is Supergirl.  It's a paper tiger (at least, I don't care if Kara loses her job at Catco on any type of emotional storytelling level).  Sophisticated audience members all know that Kara will not in fact get fired from Catco without, at minimum, some big scandal where someone else on the "Supergirl Team" gets tossed out the door, because it's pointless to have an arc with any teeth or time, where Kara does not work at Catco.  So it's an empty threat from the off.

[Chicago Redshirt]

When last we left off, there was Non, at least 3-4 hench-Kryptonians and 1-2 aliens from a few other species laying waste to Lord's company. Henshaw shows up and Non beats Supergirl down and...flies off with Henshaw. What happened to all the others on Team Astra? They also flee? Are they killed? Captured? More importantly, why does capturing Henshaw mean that anyone should flee? Why not continue to achieve whatever objective they had in going after Lord in the first place when they were in no apparent danger of losing?

 

With the number of hench-Kryptonians, it should be easy to find the DEO's base. They could a) use flight and X-ray/telescopic vision to scout out possibilities b) have someone get caught with a tracking device c) follow Supergirl and/or any one of the DEO agents there d) use tech to find it e) superspeed to Washington, break into government records showing exactly where the base is, or for that matter hack into computer records f) use mind-reading guy on a kidnapped DEO agent who is not secretly an alien g) follow whatever means you are using to broadcast to the DEO to track the DEO's hideout.

 

So for them to not know where it is strikes me as pathetic. Also, for them to not arrange a breakout of Astra, exceedingly pathetic.

 

Non did a pretty subpar job while in charge. He failed to complete whatever objective Team Astra had at Lord's place. He snapped mindreading guy's neck for basically no reason. Failing to get any intel out of Henshaw. Failing to rescue Astra without giving Henshaw up. I'm thinking he gets the couch tonight.

 

Cat's not wrong about how every second Kara spends heating up Cat's coffee is a second that someone is getting mugged, that there are victims of a natural disaster, that a half-dozen Kryptonians bent on ruling the world aren't being sought. I would have liked more than "well, it helps me fit in." Because it really shouldn't. Being yelled at and called Keira isn't worth multiple lives. As much as I love Cat as a character, I sometimes wish that Supergirl did decide to work for the DEO full-time.

 

I liked Max when he hadn't made the descent into straight-up villainy and alien hatred. Also, if you are going to complain about the media not recognizing the threat that Supergirl and her kind pose, maybe you shouldn't cover up the notion that a half-dozen aliens attacked your facility. Also, it seems hard to cover up the notion that there were no casualties when we saw Team Astra kill a bunch of folks last time.

 

No moment of mourning for all the people who got killed in the obvious trap?

 

The thing about MM appearing as Supergirl, it doesn't change the clues that got Cat suspicious originally. Another pro-tip: you probably don't want to discuss your ruse literally on top of the building of the person you duped.

 

The other problem with this whole crisis is that Henshaw, assuming he has the full suite of traditional Martian Manhunter abilities, could easily escape on his own.  He could turn invisible, intangible, mind-screw Non, etc etc.

 

Cat's questioning of Kara made little sense. Unless you know, as we do, that Kara arrived on Earth at 12 and didn't attend any 1st grade, trying to trip her up with her 1st grade teacher doesn't work. Also, Cat claimed to have a 1st grade report card from a given teacher. But Kara said that wasn't her teacher. So was that just a lie on Cat's part? And the insane position that only liars can answer any question put to them...I can't even.

 

"Nothing DEO worked for me, not even torture that led to the victim giving up a prearranged ruse instead of infallibly revealing the truth. The problem with insisting Astra is such an evil person is that far, far, far, far more people died because Jor-El and Lara, Zor-El and Alura failed so miserably. Hollywood insists the only alternative to upholding the justice of our wars is a pacifism that doesn't flinch at the annihilation of an entire planet full of people! Seriously?"

I don't think that they are having Astra be full-on evil.

 

The bit at the end stated that Allura attempted to carry on the fight to get Kryptonians to stop destroying their planet, but through peaceful means. I don't think you can hold them responsible. It sounded like Astra and Non not only were killing people but had some sort of mind-control plot pending when they were captured?

 

At least there was a reference to robbing Kryptonians of their free will.

 

"Yeah, really disappointed that they decided to continue to keep Cat in the dark.  I would have found it more interesting if she was in the know.  Plus, the whole reason being "If you are truly Supergirl, then I can't have you work here since it would prevent you from solving crimes 24/7", really doesn't work for me.  Sure, we've seen that Cat has more layers now, but she is still someone who is about the story and her ambitions, and I can't see how she wouldn't want Supergirl working for her.  Ugh, whatever.  I'm sure this will only go so far before she finds out again."

As self-centered as Cat is, she does strike me as a moral person. And it seems immoral (at least to me) to have someone fetching you cheeseburgers when they could literally be saving people, if not the entire planet.

 

"Well from an in universe standpoint I can certainly understand Kara not coming clean to Cat, even before the SG should not be working here instead of saving people speech, Cat referred to her as a story.  Ergo it did not seem like an issue of just letting Cat into her confidence, it's that she has reason to believe that Cat would write the story exposing her thus forcing her to give up her life as Kara Danvers.  Which, ugh...has really changed how I feel about the character of Cat and the bond she has with Kara if she was willing to essentially backstab Kara like that for the sake of a story."

 

And for the sake of the numerous lives Kara would save by not wasting time being mild-mannered.

 

"Speaking if bad guys, what the hell is Lord up to? He's decrying aliens while apparently doing awful things to humans himself. Then again I guess egotists like him are certain they can do no wrong.
...
I did like Kara's frustrated "You're from Mars?" I wonder if Kryptonians and Martians have met?

 

That was Red Tornado's arm? I didn't make the connection. Anyway, Kara blew him up. Lane probably didn't bother to gather up the pieces so Lord could have swooped in once they were gone. That, or you'd be amazed what a pile of money can do in the right hands."

 

At a guess, Lord is doing bio-stuff using alien DNA to get his own superhuman. The person he selected is brain-dead, so I guess in Lord's mind and arguably from a non-sociopath's viewpoint, he's doing her a favor.

 

J'onn has said Superman finds it funny that he can't read Kryptonian minds. So they know each other. It's unclear if Kryptonians were familiar with Earth or our solar system prior to sending Kal and Kara in the Supergirlverse.

 

It seemed to be a scan/schematic of RT's arm. Alex gave it to him hoping to enlist his help. I don't remember that he just gave it back to her or what, but then he ultimately told her to look for Frankenstein rather than Frankenstein's monster.

[Big Mother]

In other news, I found that arm of Red Tornado I was looking for; but how did Max Lord get it?

 

 

Probably (pre-)Bizarro Supergirl; there were spoilers that announced that character would show up.

OK I don't understand what you wrote at all - how can there be 2 iterations of the same person in one show, I'm confused.

[BooBear]

I'm still disappointed that they used MM like that. Not surprised, but disappointed. Ruined an otherwise good episode. Though I'm still holding out hope that Cat was not convinced, and is just pretending. I thought her whole "prove you're SG or you're fired" bit was a tad extreme, and seemed more aimed at getting a specific reaction out of Kara than a genuine belief that Kara could not both be SG and work for CatCo.

 

I wasn't particularly happy with this episode because it seemed like a lot of filler.  I also hope that Cat does know but realized that she couldn't keep "supergirl" running around for her coffee and possibly missing saving someone.  So she decided she needed plusable deny ability for her guilt and also for others who might blame her if it ever came out. In a weird way I think it does work because it would be hard to swallow Cat ordering her around like a three year old. That said, I do think the creators should have cat back on board team super girl for the finale.   The problem for me with Cat buying the Marian Manhunter twin is that Kara and Supergirl then are twins. What is the chance of that?  Also, Cat apologized too quickly. Doesn't seem like the type.

 

Max needs to take some supervillain lessons from Lex.  If you catch a guy trespassing you have him arrested for breaking and entering.

Max is losing me as a character. If he isn't going to be a love interest I don't see the point of him. He is a crap bad guy and we already have some nice super-powered bad guys. Supergirl should just fly him up to Antarctica and drop him there -- he would take a few weeks just to get home. Then do it again.

Edited January 5, 2016 by BooBear

[Big Mother]

I'm also quite befuddled why SUperman never shows up to help Supergirl. I wonder if there'll ever be a crossover.

 

I'm also wondering how Hank Henshaw was able to get away for a whole decade not needing to use his alien powers to get out of jams. How was he able to hide his powers from Kara and the DEO for a decade? how did he resist using them to get out of jams?

[Lokiberry]

I actually liked that Hank appeared as Supergirl to help Kara continue fooling Cat (although she's probably not really fooled). At least it bought her some time and the storyline can continue.

 

Who was that girl at the end???

Could it be Powergirl? If so, hello boob window.

[Gregg247]

I feel like such an idiot, but when Kara and Supergirl were in the same room with Cat, I was completely shocked.  I had no idea how she was doing that until Hank showed up at the end.  I must be losing it! LOL

 

I don't like how they've decided to make Maxwell a mustache-twirling villain.  I liked how they built him up as a brilliant but tricky guy who mistrusts the government and is suspicious of aliens, no matter how good their intentions my be.  I also liked how he was intent on saving humans/citizens from these menaces.  In a show with plenty of "bad guys", I think there's room for a guy with good intentions who simply can't stand the hero of the show and is a constant thorn in her side, without turning "eeeevvviillll!!!!".

[mtlchick]

Well at least they didn't use the "Superman shows up as the same time as Clark but he's a hologram being projected by Ma Kent" like they did on Lois and Clark.  But I see this as simply buying time.  I refuse to believe that Cat would be willing to fall for it so quickly given how smart she's supposed to be in breaking stories.  Even with MM not being publicly known, it is fair to say that there have been some freaky stuff happening in town since SG hit town.  A shape shifter isn't out of the question if Cat starts digging around more.

[KirkB]

If MM has the full range of comic powers, as Chicago Redshirt said, then he could have easily escaped. Turning intangible and flying away for one. But since he's spent years hiding the fact his is a Martian, and certainly doesn't want Non or the other bad guys in particular to know, plus the fact none of them were any real threat to him if it came down to it (unless of course they know the Martians one big weakness), there was no real reason for him not to sit back and wait for the others to find a way to free him. I'm sure he would have used his powers to escape if he really needed to. As for how he's managed to hide them all these years, considering that as far as we know only three people (Superman, Alex and now Kara) are aware of his real identity, the one power he probably uses most often is telepathy and there are no obvious physical indications he's doing anything at all.

 

I don't have any problem with Car being fooled. She's a brilliant woman but it's hard to deny what is right in front of her eyes. Kara and Supergirl were in the same room together, shaking hands and talking. From her perspective they CAN'T be the same person. This does nothing to her character or intelligence. 

 

After the whole Reactron incident, Clark told Kara he wouldn't come to National City unless she asked him to. He specifically asked her here if she wanted him to swing by and she said no. I imagine if the situation were serious enough he might show up in spite of her wishes, but if it got that bad she probably wouldn't have the chance to ask him for help anyway.

[Chris24601]

If MM has the full range of comic powers, as Chicago Redshirt said, then he could have easily escaped. Turning intangible and flying away for one. But since he's spent years hiding the fact his is a Martian, and certainly doesn't want Non or the other bad guys in particular to know, plus the fact none of them were any real threat to him if it came down to it (unless of course they know the Martians one big weakness), there was no real reason for him not to sit back and wait for the others to find a way to free him.

Exactly... its also an excellent opportunity to learn more about his opponents and what they intend. They think they're dealing with a mere mortal so they overlook all the things he could learn. For a simple example... humans might not know a given piece of alien tech can do, but a Martian might know exactly what it is and that's information the DEO didn't have before. Similarly, just because J'onn can't read Kryptonian minds doesn't mean that also applies to one of the other aliens who might be around. J'onn hanging out as Non's "prisoner" didn't put him in much danger, but offered huge opportunities so I'm not surprised he didn't just immediately escape.

 

I don't have any problem with Cat being fooled. She's a brilliant woman but it's hard to deny what is right in front of her eyes. Kara and Supergirl were in the same room together, shaking hands and talking. From her perspective they CAN'T be the same person. This does nothing to her character or intelligence.

Agreed. Cat did not look stupid in that scene at all. Remember that just eight episodes ago Winn discussing aliens being on Earth was considered fringe conspiracy thinking (I guess Superman doesn't count) and likewise the specific line "Earth doesn't just have ONE hero anymore." Supergirl is NOT taking place in the Arrow/Flash-verse, but in a world where Superman is literally the only superhero known to exist on Earth.

 

There's no Wonder Woman or Green Lantern or Aquaman... certainly no Green Arrow or Flash or any of the Legends of Tomorrow heroes. Martian Manhunter exists, but he's NOT a public superhero in this world but an alien operating in the shadows to help mankind and aliens co-exist. Reactron and Livewire are the only supervillains so far that have been fought and defeated publicly... Red Tornado was a military prototype that was observed, but probably not much about it leaked to the media.

 

So really there is NOTHING shown to exist that Cat Grant would be aware of to make her doubt what her own two eyes were telling her. Regardless of how similar they might look, they can't be the same person because she saw both of them present at the same time... not on video or something that could be faked, but with her own eyeballs not ten feet away from her. Even Supergirl's stated reason for showing up (that James Olsen had contacted her about her "theory" and came by to shoot it down so James' friend wouldn't lose her job) fits with what Cat knows... James can contact Superman/girl and Supergirl certainly wouldn't want someone fired because of someone's mistaken belief that they were Supergirl.

 

Yeah, Kara and Supergirl look virtually identical, but this is one case where the human mind actually works to Kara's decided favor because Confirmation Bias is a thing and once someone has been told by a credible source that two apparently identical things are not actually the same (and your own two eyes telling you that both Kara and Supergirl are in front of you at the same time would certainly qualify as credible) then the brain will start inventing things to convince itself that this true.

 

Cat's immediate reaction of saying that clearly they looked nothing alike after seeing them standing side-by-side fits right into that psychological phenomena and until she has reason to specifically believe that a shapechanger was involved in fooling her, Confirmation bias will continue to be Kara's ally in not letting Cat see that they're the same person because her mind will keep noticing what little differences there are (such as her glasses, hair style and any height difference due to boots/shoes) and magnify them.

 

It's sort of a "best of both worlds" as Cat does look properly observant for actually figuring out Kara's true identity, but at the same time she doesn't look stupid or foolish for believing she was incorrect about her conclusion in light of the counter-evidence presented.

 

Indeed, the only problem anyone I watched with had with the episode was that one of my friends (who is ex-military) had with the entire episode is that he stated point blank there's no way General Lane wouldn't have ordered them all shot when they continued to try to take Astra to trade and would have either pulled his own gun on the officer who who started to back down or at the very least had him immediately arrested and court martialed for disobeying a direct order. He said it took him right out of the episode how badly they portrayed military protocols there.

[FurryFury]

I'm sure that Astra is playing an Irina Derevko gambit and was lying to Kara all the way through. Although I think they had good chemistry and I wouldn't be against Astra being a less clear-cut bad guy. The only problem is that would mean Lord would be the seasonal Big Bad and I still dig the hell out of him and Peter Facinelli way too much for that (yeah, hitting Jimmy was not a good thing, and I'm pretty sure he's going to use the girl at the end to ruin Supergirl's reputation because she looks very similar to Kara). But he has good motives, and I think he's grey enough for me to like him still.

 

Both Winn and Jimmy Olsen are the weak links of the show. Arrow had soon formed the likable trio of Team Arrow, and The Flash had funny Cisco even despite Caitlyn's weak casting and characterization. I think Supergirl should have created a stronger character for James and found a different actor for Winn. They both could have worked with some tweaks, but don't.

Edited January 5, 2016 by FurryFury

[Trini]

...

There's no Wonder Woman or Green Lantern or Aquaman... certainly no Green Arrow or Flash or any of the Legends of Tomorrow heroes. Martian Manhunter exists, but he's NOT a public superhero in this world but an alien operating in the shadows to help mankind and aliens co-exist. Reactron and Livewire are the only supervillains so far that have been fought and defeated publicly... Red Tornado was a military prototype that was observed, but probably not much about it leaked to the media.  ...

 

True; this isn't the Flash/Arrow-verse (yet?), but I wouldn't go so far. They are other DC characters that exist I'm sure, but the show cannot or does not want to mention them. Since Superman has been around for a while in this universe, he probably has fought/is fighting his share of supervillains. I don't expect to hear a lot about that though, since this is the Supergirl show.

[Perfect Xero]

Kara somehow has better chemistry with text messages on a computer screen that she does with either Winn or James.

[KirkB]

Indeed, the only problem anyone I watched with had with the episode was that one of my friends (who is ex-military) had with the entire episode is that he stated point blank there's no way General Lane wouldn't have ordered them all shot when they continued to try to take Astra to trade and would have either pulled his own gun on the officer who who started to back down or at the very least had him immediately arrested and court martialed for disobeying a direct order. He said it took him right out of the episode how badly they portrayed military protocols there.

 

 

I don't have any military personnel I watch with, but I don't doubt there were plenty of things wrong with that scene from a protocol perspective. And in point of fact it's entirely possible the guy who refused Lane's orders will be drummed out of the service for his insubordination. However, I'm not sure opening fire was actually a viable action considering two of their three targets were implicitly bulletproof. Even if Lane and his troops had opened fire Alex is the only one that would have actually suffered.

Edited January 5, 2016 by KirkB

[statsgirl]

I expected Supergirl to stand in front of Alex in case they shot, and then rush around the room knocking out all of Lane's people.  There was no way he could win.  It was a stupid threat.

 

And that's the big problem with General Lane -- he's stupid in addition to being two dimensional. He's like a cartoon character except the actual comic cartoon characters on this show are more nuanced and interesting.  He's so predictable, he's boring. Both the Lanes are (Lucy's sole function seems to be to get between Kara and James) and I wish the show would move beyond them.

 

Maxwell Lord, on the other hand, is becoming a really good villain.  He's complex, he's got motivation even if it's wrong, and beating up a guy whose is tied up in a chair in front of you is eeeevil.

 

I expected J'onn Jones would be the Kara part, not the Supergirl because Kara just needs to be human. Does this mean he can fly too?  Why didn't he use that to get away from the real Hank Henshaw?

 

The flashbacks on the show have Alura completely against everything Astra is doing, yet the story Astra told Kara was that Alura came around to her way of thinking. Does that mean Astra is lying to her niece?

 

Since Cat knows that Kara's real name is Kara (she said it in her last scene), why does she insist on calling her Ciara?  I'm more disappointed in them making Cat stupid (talking about Kara being Supergirl in public and insisting that Kara tell her) than them keeping her in the dark.  If Cat were smart, she would have gone nudge, nudge, wink, wink, okay then instead of insisting that she was right.  Then she would have had an "in" with Supergirl instead of the nothing she has now.  I guess this is their idea of making the character nuanced.

 

On the other hand, I loved Cat's shoes in the start of the episode (black high heels with Mary Jane straps) which you could actually walk in. Me wantey.

Edited January 5, 2016 by statsgirl

[legaleagle53]

The flashbacks on the show have Astra completely against everything Alura is doing, yet the story Alura told Kara was that Astra came around to her way of thinking. Does that mean Alura is lying to her niece?

 

You have them backwards.  Alura is Kara's mother.  Astra is her aunt.

 

Since Cat knows that Kara's real name is Kara (she said it in her last scene), why does she insist on calling her Ciara?

 

Because that's what Cat does.  She doesn't bother associating with "the little people," so she simply gets it "close enough" with their names.  Remember, this is the same woman who had no idea who Winn was until Kara pointed out that he had the desk right next to Kara's "which you walk by every day."

Edited January 5, 2016 by legaleagle53

[statsgirl]

Thanks, I corrected the names.   I think Astra is prettier than Alura as a name so I guess I gave it to the nicer person.

Because that's what Cat does.  She doesn't bother associating with "the little people," so she simply gets it "close enough" with their names.  Remember, this is the same woman who had no idea who Winn was until Kara pointed out that he had the desk right next to Kara's "which you walk by every day."

She didn't know who Winn was so it makes sense that she didn't associate him with anything.  But she knows that Kara is Kara and not Ciara (or Kira) so to deliberately keep calling her Ciara means she does know her real name and chooses not to use it.  I find it a weird decision on the part of the writers.

[Chicago Redshirt]

The problem for me with Cat buying the Marian Manhunter twin is that Kara and Supergirl then are twins. What is the chance of that?  Also, Cat apologized too quickly. Doesn't seem like the type.

 

I have certainly been mistaken for someone else a whole bunch of times. It wouldn't surprise me if for just about any given person, there's at least one or two people who look similar but aren't related.

 

If you make a mistake of thinking random mousy assistant is Supergirl and even threaten her job, it does seem like something you should apologize for and something to be embarrassed over.

 

 

I'm also quite befuddled why SUperman never shows up to help Supergirl. I wonder if there'll ever be a crossover.

 

I'm also wondering how Hank Henshaw was able to get away for a whole decade not needing to use his alien powers to get out of jams. How was he able to hide his powers from Kara and the DEO for a decade? how did he resist using them to get out of jams?

 

Re: Superman, yeah, at this point he should be, "I'm helping." rather than "Do you need help?" 

 

There are, at a minimum, 7 Kryptonians and other aliens free up to Rao knows what. Supergirl is all of, let's generously say, 4 months into the use of her powers. Non solo kicked her ass. Supergirl recently beat Allura, but there's a strong suggestion that Allura let her win as a distraction. Also, each of the Fort Rozz aliens has been developing their skills for 12 years, plus potentially has access to some level of Kryptonian/other tech. Plus have some years of experience prior to being Phantom Zoned in the military and elsewhere. And plus they have not been using their time on earth fetching bagels and such for Cat or going to school.

 

There's no shame in admitting she can't handle this solo.

 

As to J'onn, it's very possible he has been using his powers to get out of jams, and then leaving no witnesses (see J'emm from a few episodes back), or using his telepathy to blank their memories of his use of powers. Or that he has not had to get out of many jams because he's after all the director of the agency and should only rarely be out in the field. Kara has only been knowing J'onn for four months, so she hasn't seen him in action all that much.

 

The main giveaway was that his eyes glowed red periodically. I don't know if they have or will ever give a good explanation in-universe for why that happened, or why no one at the DEO noticed (or whether he mind-whammied anyone who did).

 

If MM has the full range of comic powers, as Chicago Redshirt said, then he could have easily escaped. Turning intangible and flying away for one. But since he's spent years hiding the fact his is a Martian, and certainly doesn't want Non or the other bad guys in particular to know, plus the fact none of them were any real threat to him if it came down to it (unless of course they know the Martians one big weakness), there was no real reason for him not to sit back and wait for the others to find a way to free him. I'm sure he would have used his powers to escape if he really needed to. As for how he's managed to hide them all these years, considering that as far as we know only three people (Superman, Alex and now Kara) are aware of his real identity, the one power he probably uses most often is telepathy and there are no obvious physical indications he's doing anything at all.

 

The trouble is that J'onn knows that Non is threatening to trade him for Astra. Even if he knows that he could play dead or escape later, there's the real possibility that the DEO would try to do the trade, which would mean that Astra is free to wreak havoc again, or that something else bad could happen in an attempt to rescue him, as it actually did when the bomb went off.

 

Time for a mini-rant: how is it that no one says, huh, there just so happens to be a lead-lined container. Maybe this is a trap? Or Supergirl doesn't use her super-hearing to determine that in fact no person is inside the container but there's some piece of machinery?

 

Or even assuming that she has no choice but to break in the container, why is it that SG doesn't cover the bomb itself or fly it away? Instead, she seemingly just protects Alex and leaves potentially the rest of Echo Squadron to die. (Which it seemed like from the special effects pretty much everyone else was killed.)

 

I expected J'onn Jones would be the Kara part, not the Supergirl because Kara just needs to be human. Does this mean he can fly too?  Why didn't he use that to get away from the real Hank Henshaw?

 

The flashbacks on the show have Astra completely against everything Alura is doing, yet the story Alura told Kara was that Astra came around to her way of thinking. Does that mean Alura is lying to her niece?

 

Since Cat knows that Kara's real name is Kara (she said it in her last scene), why does she insist on calling her Ciara?  I'm more disappointed in them making Cat stupid (talking about Kara being Supergirl in public and insisting that Kara tell her) than them keeping her in the dark.  If Cat were smart, she would have gone nudge, nudge, wink, wink, okay then instead of insisting that she was right.  Then she would have had an "in" with Supergirl instead of the nothing she has now.  I guess this is their idea of making the character nuanced.

 

On the other hand, I loved Cat's shoes in the start of the episode (black high heels with Mary Jane straps) which you could actually walk in. Me wantey.

 

The Kara part is actually the harder of the two to play, because there's a shared history and a bunch of expectations that Cat might have as to how Kara might react or what she might know. By contrast, the only thing required to act as SG is to show some of her powers and to just say, "Hey, I hear you wanted to see me. Good to meet you, Kara."

 

J'onn's traditional power set includes flight, telepathy (specifically, the ability to read minds, to block mind-reading, and the ability to communicate mentally at a distance), shape-shifting, super-strength, invulnerability to everything but fire, Martian vision (which is pretty analogous to Kryptonian heat vision IIRC), the ability to turn invisible, and the ability to turn intangible. Supergirlverse J'onn has now shown the first four abilities to a certain extent. 

[iMonrey]

 

Max needs to take some supervillain lessons from Lex.  If you catch a guy trespassing you have him arrested for breaking and entering.  You don't smack him around and then send him off so he can chat with his buddies Supergirl and Superman to confirm that you really are an evil bastard rather than a misguided jerk.

 

I thought I must have missed something because one minute James is being held hostage and getting the snot kicked out of him and the next minute he's back at CatCo headquarters.??? I thought maybe they cut a scene where he escaped or something.

 

I was also interested to learn that Hank could shapeshift and fly because otherwise it made more sense for him to impersonate Kara rather than Supergirl. Can all aliens fly? And what is this "Martian Manhunter" name I keep seeing thrown around? Is that something they've established on the show or something from the comic books? I remember him telling Alex his real name I just don't remember what it was and didn't think he said "Martian Manhunter."

[tennisgurl]

Funny how Maxwell said he wasn't a Bond villain when thats pretty much exactly how he`s acting. I mean, that scene with him and Jimmy had him practically cackling and stroking a white cat. 

 

Kara`s "Mars?!?!" reaction was hilarious. 

 

"Its like a color wheel threw up" I wish they had had Cat stay in the know. I think it would have been interesting. 

[KirkB]

I was also interested to learn that Hank could shapeshift and fly because otherwise it made more sense for him to impersonate Kara rather than Supergirl. Can all aliens fly? And what is this "Martian Manhunter" name I keep seeing thrown around? Is that something they've established on the show or something from the comic books? I remember him telling Alex his real name I just don't remember what it was and didn't think he said "Martian Manhunter."

 

 

His real name is J'onn J'onnz. In the comics Martian Manhunter is his superhero name, like Kara's is Supergirl. You're right that Martian Manhunter hasn't been established on the show. That's just the name that most people who are familiar with the character know him by so that's the one we tend to use.

 

Not ALL aliens, on the show, can fly, just MOST of them. Kara's very first fight, for example, the guy with the axe whose name I can't remember, just jumped around.

 

Lord strikes me as one of those villains (usually the best ones) who doesn't consider himself a villain. He's one hundred percent certain he is the smartest and most capable person and that any means is justified to achieve his goals.

Edited January 5, 2016 by KirkB

[FurryFury]

Funny how Maxwell said he wasn't a Bond villain when thats pretty much exactly how he`s acting. I mean, that scene with him and Jimmy had him practically cackling and stroking a white cat.

 

Well, he didn't tell him his evil plan.

Also, really, he hasn't done anything THAT evil. He gave a few punches to a trespasser and broke his camera. He threatened him, sure, but until he intentionally kills somebody innocent I'm not on the "Maxwell Lord is a 100% irredeemable villain" train.

[Big Mother]

You know what hit me??? Hank could've gotten out of this jam by quietly shapeshifting into Astra when Non's back was turned. Non would've been shocked, he'd have asked her how she got there and where Hank had gone. Hank/Astra could've run out to 'find' Astra, then shot up and flown away to the DEO, and Non would never realize what hit him.