S01.E13: For The Girl Who Has Everything

[Tara Ariano]

A parasitic alien traps Kara in a dream world where her family is alive and her home planet was never destroyed. As her friends try to save her, it's unclear whether the native Kryptonian wants to be awoken. Meanwhile, with Supergirl out of commission, Alex, Hank and the DEO must fend off an attack on their own.

[Trini]

EW clip, and another:

 

https://youtu.be/kLbE7zANFvo

[secnarf]

Wow Hank as Kara is a disaster already. I hope its execution is better than the clip there.

[stealinghome]

What a waste of an Astra. She had way more potential as a conflicted bad guy/gray character than as dead.

Kara was way too chipper in the apartment scene after Astra's death. "Kara is taking it hard...next scene is her being super happy!"

I generally like the cast but there was some baaaaaad acting tonight, not helped by too-frantic pacing. This was two episodes' worth of plot they burned through.

I'm guessing the Alex-killed-Astra secret is going to come out, oh, just in time for the season finale.

[nksarmi]

This show just keeps getting better.  Alex is awesome.  Martian Manhunter in full on battle was great. And it seems like Winn and Kara have relaxed into friendship mode - thanks goodness.  Oh and Maxwell Lord is how you do a suedo villain that you sometimes have to work with - well done show.

[SimoneS]

OMG, jello was sucking the life out of Kara. Seriously, the creature was so fake, I couldn't take the episode seriously. What is the budget for this show? $10? 

[Lantern7]

That was a good episode. It pales to "For The Man Who Has Everything" from Justice League Unlimited (featuring Thomas Wayne beating the ever-loving crap out of Joe Chill and Batman widely smiling), and it doesn't measure up to the original Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons story (why weren't they credited?), but it was decent nonetheless. And we lost a major player . . . I kept expecting Astra's death to be written off as the Black Mercy dream of Kara or somebody else. Why else would we be left with Non as the new main villain? He's about as charismatic as Vandal Savage on Legends of Tomorrow.

 

And "K'ara" dealing with Cat was a little funny. Not laugh-out-loud, but it was an acceptable amount of cringeworthy.

 

Seriously . . . seek out the original story if you've never read it before. Nice take on Krypton and an embittered Jor-El, an epic fight between Superman and Mongul, and freakin' Jason Todd saves the day. Definitely one of the best Superman stories ever presented.

[nksarmi]

I have the JL cartoon one on DVD because my son loves it.  They did a reasonable homage to it.  I love Kara's ranting about "you made me lose them again." The actress really sold that for me.

[Big Mother]

How hard would it have been for Winn to tell Cat Grant that kara was bedridden with a nasty flu? Why did Hank have to pretend, horribly, to be Kara? (and it seemed a little bit that Cat realized that something Supergirl-related was afoot).

 

I understand why Alex had to kill Astra, but I'm still sad about it. I wish she could've neutralized her instead of killing her. I can't believe Astra never killed Alex, she had so many chances to. I'm really sad she's gone. Kara lost her family again, and now her last remaining family.

 

What's gonna happen to Max now? 

 

Winn was so amazing at the DEO, they should totally hire him.

 

I can't believe that so many people have now seen how the DEO works - Max, Jimmy, Winn. Winn and Jimmy even know that Hank shapeshifted!

 

Still in disbelief that Maxwell knows so much about the DEO now.

[thuganomics85]

I have to rewatch it, but I'm pretty sure the Black Mercy version of Astra totally quoted Chumbawamba to Kara by saying "But you got up again!  They will never ever keep you down!"  That had me laughing for a solid minute.  Never knew "Tubthumping" was part of Kara's perfect dream life!

 

Another episode that I really enjoyed that mainly focuses on Kara and Alex's relationship, a decent amount of Hank, and Winn and Jimmy in supporting roles.  Yep, I'm sensing a pattern here.  Sadly, the ending was underwhelming, with Astra's death (leaving the more one-dimensional Nan as the new big baddie, I guess), and especially this whole "Alex is hiding that she was the one who killed her" from Kara, which I'm sure will end up being exposed somewhere down the line, and will cause major friction between them.  Lame.  I expected better from both Alex and Hank on that front.

 

Surprisingly, I also was underwhelmed by the whole "Hank pretends to be Kara" bit with Cat.  Thought it would be funnier then it was.  Plus, while I usually think Melissa Benoist is the best, her performance as Hank was kind of lackluster compared to Peter Facinelli's episodes ago.  Hers felt more like a simple imitation, while I thought Peter actually had totally channeled David Harewood's speaking pattern and mannerisms.

 

I did like Jimmy and Winn going to the DEO and actually interacting with Hank.  In particular, it felt like they were setting up Winn to possibly start hanging out there more as a tech guy.  It's not like I can see him hanging around Catco for that long; especially since Cat seems to have a lower opinion of him then she does with Kara right now.

 

As fun as he is, it feels like they already Malcolm Merylined Maxwell Lord.  It's just weird seeing him already helping out this much and already getting so much dirt on the DEO and Kara.

[Perfect Xero]

GIven Lord's history in the comics, I feel like letting him work on a machine that poked around inside both Alex and Kara's heads is going to come back to bite everyone eventually.

[Artsda]

Winn fit in at the DEO, but really don't get Jimmy's position there or this insta-relationship with Kara. I feel like they're forcing this "Jimmy is family" so much because he's basically a stranger Kara and everyone just met. Winn and Kara had a longterm friendship prior to the show premiere, Kara and Alex are sisters. Jimmy we just met and they shove him in as family feels like it's just because he knows her secret. 

 

Winn was great at the DEO, actually helping and coming up with idea's at the DEO and Jimmy's sole contribution is to stand there and make sure Alex doesn't get pulled from the fake world?

 

I liked Max helping, he's so in the middle that I love him one second and think he's bad the next. 

[Perfect Xero]

In all honesty I was pretty disappointed with this one, I wanted a look at a life on Krypton and the world that Kara lost, but we barely got any of that. It was mostly focused on the other characters trying to save her.

[MDL]

I thought the episode was okay, with some of the strengths and weaknesses earlier posters had mentioned. I did like the extra edge to Supergirl's attitude after she was freed from the grip of that that thing on her chest. When the group went to do battle, she said "he's mine" and what into BAMF mode.
I wonder if she'll be showing that side of her personality more in the future?

[Xenith22]

Wow...that was awful.  The worst episode by far, mainly for the 2nd half of it.  I mean the first half with Kara on Krypton before Alex was sorta okay.  I also loved that they did bring in young Kal which was unexpected.  And sure the J'onn as Kara plot was incredibly stupid when either Winn or Jimmy could have just said she was sick without the elaborate moronic suspicious story....but it was at least sorta fun.  (Although again not sure I can buy J'onn being that socially inept..)

 

- Alex and Jimmy....when have they ever really interacted before?  I mean Jimmy's speech to her was like they were VERY close friends and yet I can not picture a single scene of them in the same room talking together before?

 

- Why exactly did they need Max?  Was that his device or was it a DEO device?  Was there no one else capable of putting something on Alex's head hitting a single button on it and taking it off when she was done?  Also he just tried to kill Kara while knowing that the other evil Kryptonians are out there.  What changed that he would really want to help?

 

- Alex tells Jimmy not to let Hank pull her out...but does not bother to first tell Hank not to pull her out?   Seriously?   I mean the only reason that Hank relents in not pulling Alex out is when Jimmy tells him that's what Alex told him to do.  And he was shocked by this...   *head-desk*  Would anyone here not logically first make Hank promise to not pull them out, and then tell Jimmy to follow thru?

 

- Everything from the moment that Alex arrived in Krypton just seemed so laughably bad.  I mean the apparent time jump to where a trial already took place with sentencing...and it takes place in Kara's home with her and Kal present.   Alex's shaking back and forth which I guess was supposed to represent her attempts to resist/escape while the two husky guards struggled to hold her back ?   The actors playing the guards who seemingly had no idea what expression they were supposed to be conveying while the speech was going on.  The over the top delivery of said speech by Chyler (whom I have loved as Alex otherwise) which seemed like a delivery out of a bad play?   I'm also a little annoyed that the only thing that seemed to reach Kara was the name Supergirl.  I would have much preferred that Alex has reached her sister on a personal level.  

For that matter I would have sworn Kara rejected this fake reality as such the moment she appeared in it...so why was she not released then compared to when she does at the end....besides plot contrivance.  Honestly would it not have made more sense if the black mercy had made her immediately accept and forget everything on Earth and be immersed in her old life (which meant we could have gotten an actual interesting Krypton life plot), and then maybe show some cracks of brief memories of Earth or the sensation of something being wrong with her sisterly bond with Alex then finally pulling her all the way through to fully remembering her real life/rejecting the false reality?

 

- Non doing absolutely nothing while Kara beat on him and screamed at him for seemingly forever...why?   I mean where is his character motivation to just take a beating for awhile and listen to her?  It took him forever to start to fight back...briefly.   Then he knocked over the satellite dish...which looked like it was just going to fall and crush some empty metal steps yet for some reason Kara had to catch it for some reason and let him go?   Yeah...sure that makes total sense.

 

- Alex being sent to take on Astra by herself.  I mean Hank does not even show up until after Astra has had held Alex by the throat when she could have crushed her in a millisecond.  It was also impressive that Alex somehow managed to survive falling at least 10 feet from the sky onto her back on the pavement without being injured in the slightest?  I mean she bounced right up as if she had landed on a pillow.  Is she actually from another planet too?  Aaaaargh.

 

- Hank lying to Kara...seriously so much hate for this.  Kara is not a freaking little kid.  Kara's Aunt was seconds away from killing Hank, so Alex did the only thing she could to save his life.   (Of course why he did not just phase out of her grasp when we saw he does indeed have those powers earlier in the fight...beats me) Do you really think Kara would not have accepted that?  Was she really going to hate her sister over that?   Now she's just going to eventually find out about the lying and feel betrayed...  TV cliche #632...could they get any more freaking predictable?

 

- Loved how the Kryptonian armor apparently has a built in LED nightlight that you can see from miles away.   Totally makes sense that the humans could see the Kryptonians approaching before the Kryptonians enhanced senses could see them and use superspeed to get there.

 

- Kara despite taking her Aunt's death hard is not shown taking it remotely hard nor her black mercy experience at the end of the episode, and instead being all bouncy and giggly.  Seriously...it makes NO sense.  Way to completely shrug off the emotional impact of the episode?   Have these writers ever heard of show don't tell?

Edited February 9, 2016 by Xenith22

[Perfect Xero]

This episode highlighted how ridiculous it is that they constantly mention Superman but never seem to make an attempt to bring him in while they're facing all sorts of alien threats.

 

Kara had a weird alien parasite on her that they had no knowledge of, hey, maybe ask the only alien guy we know who fights monsters and stuff, he might have run across one at some point.

 

Kara is out of commission and they think that team Astra is about to make their move, yet they don't ask Superman to help.

 

They sent 4 teams of agents up against Kryptonians, and apparently they all ended up dead.

 

Meanwhile mini-Kal is hanging out in Kara's head.

[statsgirl]

I thought it was a pretty good episode.  Everyone had a role to fill, although putting in Lord was rather a stretch.

 

I'm going to miss Astra. At least she h ad layers, unlike Non who is terribly two dimensional.  And I couldn't get what he wanted to do on Earth since he planned to kill all the humans.  Is his handful of Kryptonians going to inhabit the entire Earth?

 

Kyra's Krypton outfits were gorgeous. I wouldn't have wanted to leave either.

 

My daughter wants Winn to have a relationship with the DEO techie since he's over Kara now.  Even if not that, I liked how he fit into the DEO, much more naturally than he seems to fit into Catco.

[Lady Calypso]

I was kind of hoping that Non would die instead of Astra. I think having a female villain was cool, even if she was related to Kara. I was disappointed slightly that she had to be less evil than Non, because why can't we have more female villains willing to fight for their own cause and be evil? Plus, Non is as bland as dry toast. He's your typical villain with nothing to offer. Kara should have skipped the talking and just killed him. 

 

Ok, so I still am unimpressed by the way they are handling Max and having the DEO leave him alive, but I still enjoy his character and love that he's pretty much in the morally grey area. He's doing things for his own gain, but I don't think he really had to help. He'll still do the right thing for his own gain. 

 

Winn actually did something really useful. So, it seems like they don't know what to do with Jimmy, as he was assigned Kara/Alex watching duty. I can see Winn easily becoming a DEO agent for season 2, just because he doesn't fit at Catco and I predict something will happen to Catco at the end of the season, just because this show is mostly predictable.

 

Now, for Alex/Kara, which was fantastic as usual. I wish we saw more of Kara in her nightmare state, as I wanted to know more about her life on Krypton. We only got two scenes before Alex entered her nightmare/dream so it's disappointing we didn't get more. I did love dark Kara as she came out of it. Her fierce determination to get revenge is what surprised me but what made me really like her this episode. I wish she just killed Non and had Astra decide to dedicate to the plan to avenge his death. 

 

Kara's gonna have to explain a lot to Cat the next day. 

[Jediknight]

I kept expecting Astra's death to be written off as the Black Mercy dream of Kara or somebody else. Why else would we be left with Non as the new main villain? He's about as charismatic as Vandal Savage on Legends of Tomorrow.

So it can be revealed that Zod is giving Non orders in the finale, just before he kills him for failing.  I could be wrong, but I think they'll do a surprise reveal that Zod is the one giving the marching orders to the Kryptonians.

 

Still in disbelief that Maxwell knows so much about the DEO now.

His Batman Gambit is completely working.

 

I enjoyed this episode.  Winn's gotta join the DEO, he's gotta be a hero Toyman that helps design the DEO's tech and weapons.

[VCRTracking]

My jaw is still hurting from when it hit the floor after Alex killed Astra!

Edited February 9, 2016 by VCRTracking

[Chicago Redshirt]

How hard would it have been for Winn to tell Cat Grant that kara was bedridden with a nasty flu? Why did Hank have to pretend, horribly, to be Kara? (and it seemed a little bit that Cat realized that something Supergirl-related was afoot).

 

I understand why Alex had to kill Astra, but I'm still sad about it. I wish she could've neutralized her instead of killing her. I can't believe Astra never killed Alex, she had so many chances to. I'm really sad she's gone. Kara lost her family again, and now her last remaining family.

 

What's gonna happen to Max now? 

 

Winn was so amazing at the DEO, they should totally hire him.

 

I can't believe that so many people have now seen how the DEO works - Max, Jimmy, Winn. Winn and Jimmy even know that Hank shapeshifted!

 

Still in disbelief that Maxwell knows so much about the DEO now.

 

Pretending Kara was just extremely sick wouldn't have worked. Cat in her best of moods is a overly demanding and mercurial boss. Cat who is bitter that Kara broke up with Adam and drove him back out of her life was looking for extra payback. She explicitly issued an ultimatum that "Carla" show up in three hours or be fired.

 

Winn and Jimmy don't necessarily know that Hank shapeshifted. All they know is that someone at the DEO has the ability to dupe Kara. Who it was and how they did it isn't necessarily clear.

Kara still has Kal as part of her family, even if he only shows up on the occasional IM.

 

I could get behind Winn getting a DEO job.

 

Winn fit in at the DEO, but really don't get Jimmy's position there or this insta-relationship with Kara. I feel like they're forcing this "Jimmy is family" so much because he's basically a stranger Kara and everyone just met. Winn and Kara had a longterm friendship prior to the show premiere, Kara and Alex are sisters. Jimmy we just met and they shove him in as family feels like it's just because he knows her secret. 

 

Winn was great at the DEO, actually helping and coming up with idea's at the DEO and Jimmy's sole contribution is to stand there and make sure Alex doesn't get pulled from the fake world?

 

I liked Max helping, he's so in the middle that I love him one second and think he's bad the next. 

 

Jimmy and Kara have known each other for, let's say, 5 months or so now. They've been through a lot. Plus Jimmy has been best friends with her cousin. Plus she has feelings for him. I don't think that's so forced to think of him as family.

 

I wouldn't belittle Jimmy's contribution. Had he not been able to buy Alex more time, Supergirl might have never been able to break free.

 

In all honesty I was pretty disappointed with this one, I wanted a look at a life on Krypton and the world that Kara lost, but we barely got any of that. It was mostly focused on the other characters trying to save her.

 

I definitely felt a little cheated, even though I understand budgetwise they couldn't do a lot of replicating of what Kryptonian life would be.  But budget isn't even an excuse. They didn't need a single additional dime to have Kara's Kryptonian life fleshed out more. All I think we found out was she was dating a guy, I think.

 

They could have talked about her profession, her hobbies, any number of things that wouldn't have cost additional cash.

 

 

- Alex and Jimmy....when have they ever really interacted before?  I mean Jimmy's speech to her was like they were VERY close friends and yet I can not picture a single scene of them in the same room talking together before?

 

- Why exactly did they need Max?  Was that his device or was it a DEO device?  Was there no one else capable of putting something on Alex's head hitting a single button on it and taking it off when she was done?  Also he just tried to kill Kara while knowing that the other evil Kryptonians are out there.  What changed that he would really want to help?

 

- Alex tells Jimmy not to let Hank pull her out...but does not bother to first tell Hank not to pull her out?   Seriously?   I mean the only reason that Hank relents in not pulling Alex out is when Jimmy tells him that's what Alex told him to do.  And he was shocked by this...   *head-desk*  Would anyone here not logically first make Hank promise to not pull them out, and then tell Jimmy to follow thru?

 

- Everything from the moment that Alex arrived in Krypton just seemed so laughably bad.  I mean the apparent time jump to where a trial already took place with sentencing...and it takes place in Kara's home with her and Kal present.   Alex's shaking back and forth which I guess was supposed to represent her attempts to resist/escape while the two husky guards struggled to hold her back ?   The actors playing the guards who seemingly had no idea what expression they were supposed to be conveying while the speech was going on.  The over the top delivery of said speech by Chyler (whom I have loved as Alex otherwise) which seemed like a delivery out of a bad play?   I'm also a little annoyed that the only thing that seemed to reach Kara was the name Supergirl.  I would have much preferred that Alex has reached her sister on a personal level.  

For that matter I would have sworn Kara rejected this fake reality as such the moment she appeared in it...so why was she not released then compared to when she does at the end....besides plot contrivance.  Honestly would it not have made more sense if the black mercy had made her immediately accept and forget everything on Earth and be immersed in her old life (which meant we could have gotten an actual interesting Krypton life plot), and then maybe show some cracks of brief memories of Earth or the sensation of something being wrong with her sisterly bond with Alex then finally pulling her all the way through to fully remembering her real life/rejecting the false reality?

 

- Non doing absolutely nothing while Kara beat on him and screamed at him for seemingly forever...why?   I mean where is his character motivation to just take a beating for awhile and listen to her?  It took him forever to start to fight back...briefly.   Then he knocked over the satellite dish...which looked like it was just going to fall and crush some empty metal steps yet for some reason Kara had to catch it for some reason and let him go?   Yeah...sure that makes total sense.

 

- Alex being sent to take on Astra by herself.  I mean Hank does not even show up until after Astra has had held Alex by the throat when she could have crushed her in a millisecond.  It was also impressive that Alex somehow managed to survive falling at least 10 feet from the sky onto her back on the pavement without being injured in the slightest?  I mean she bounced right up as if she had landed on a pillow.  Is she actually from another planet too?  Aaaaargh.

 

- Hank lying to Kara...seriously so much hate for this.  Kara is not a freaking little kid.  Kara's Aunt was seconds away from killing Hank, so Alex did the only thing she could to save his life.   (Of course why he did not just phase out of her grasp when we saw he does indeed have those powers earlier in the fight...beats me) Do you really think Kara would not have accepted that?  Was she really going to hate her sister over that?   Now she's just going to eventually find out about the lying and feel betrayed...  TV cliche #632...could they get any more freaking predictable?

 

- Loved how the Kryptonian armor apparently has a built in LED nightlight that you can see from miles away.   Totally makes sense that the humans could see the Kryptonians approaching before the Kryptonians enhanced senses could see them and use superspeed to get there.

 

- Kara despite taking her Aunt's death hard is not shown taking it remotely hard nor her black mercy experience at the end of the episode, and instead being all bouncy and giggly.  Seriously...it makes NO sense.  Way to completely shrug off the emotional impact of the episode?   Have these writers ever heard of show don't tell?

 

I remember Alex calling Kara on having feelings for Jimmy and saying she's never seen anyone make Kara smile more. So I think they interacted in at least passing, and I can fanwank that they'd crossed paths at Game Nights and Catco and such.

 

Max is a genius at everything. My understanding was that the tech was DEO's but modifying it for the particular purpose would take time for non-geniuses. So they decided to take a shot to see if Genius Max could do it faster and of course, he did. What changed was that he's found himself incarcerated without any legal recourse and without access to his billions or his tech. Also what's changed is that he thought he could fend off the Kryptonians from their plan on his own. He knows that the Kryptonians' plan somehow hinges on his facilities.  With him behind bars and with Supergirl out of commission, he didn't have many other options if he wanted to save his company.

 

Had Alex just told Hank to not bring her back until she saved Kara, Hank likely would have disregarded it. It's sort of contrivance that he listened to Jimmy. But what he said made some sense that Hank would not have put together on his own.

 

The scene post-trial was supposed to be in a different room than Kara's home, although the sets were relatively close. The shaking was presumably supposed to be the Black Mercy losing its grasp on SG. Alex's reaching Kara wasn't just about her being SG but also about her remembering Jimmy and Winn and Hank. Kara said it wasn't real at the beginning, but she wasn't fully convinced it wasn't real. And she clearly wanted to stay. So she did.

 

There's a chance that SG would have accepted what Alex did. There's a chance she wouldn't. J'onn decided it wasn't worth taking the chance. It seems like a dumbass lie, because clearly Astra died of a big-ass sword wound. Who was the only one with a big-ass sword on the scene? Why, Alex. Also, how could you count on Astra not blowing up this notion by telling the truth?

[stealinghome]

I remember Alex calling Kara on having feelings for Jimmy and saying she's never seen anyone make Kara smile more. So I think they interacted in at least passing, and I can fanwank that they'd crossed paths at Game Nights and Catco and such.

They at least had that one scene in the coffee shop, which is what led Alex to say that Kara smiles a lot around him.

[Trini]

Way to kill off your best villain, show! And have Alex be the one to do it, too? (Especially when she knew that Astra wasn't willing to kill her.) Ugh. Astra was a much more interesting antagonist.

 

Nitpick: So the anti-kryptonite suit (or whatever) didn't help at all??

 

I too wanted to see more of Kara's life on Krypton. Missed opportunity there.

 

Winn helping out the DEO definitely seemed like a tryout. Moving him over there could possibly work out good.

 

I like the actor and character, but yeah, Jimmy's role on this show is still iffy. He felt out of place at the DEO and arguing with Henshaw.

[Kromm]

There was both a lot of good and a lot of bad in this one. I see the extremes in the comments about this episode and somehow I can't disagree with either.  In some ways this was both one of the worst and one of the best episodes at the same time, in various parts and decisions they made in/for it.

Way to kill off your best villain, show! And have Alex be the one to do it, too? (Especially when she knew that Astra wasn't willing to kill her.) Ugh. Astra was a much more interesting antagonist.

It makes an odd kind of sense though. Because I think the 13th episode was their original pre-back 9 exit point for the season, they treated this like a season ender in some ways. 

[cambridgeguy]

They really needed a scene of Kara and Hank interacting after Astra died if they're trying to sell the idea that Kara wouldn't be able to get past it.  Instead she seemed totally over it within a day.  Besides, Kara got over Alex lying to her job with the DEO and generally being a killjoy back in the first couple of episodes.  This episode outright stated that Alex resented Kara for various reasons growing up (and didn't bring up Dean Cain having to work for the DEO to protect Kara) but Kara has never been shown to have anything but unconditional affection for Alex.  Unlike certain other heroes (Batman, for example) I can't imagine her holding this against Alex. 

 

That being said, I'm not sure why they just left her body there when Kara or J'onn could have carried it off with them.  Stick her in that tanning booth they have and see what happens at least.

 

Say what you will about the Flash but that show has fantastic big bads.  A superhero show needs a good villain and Non is too dull to do the job.

[Big Mother]

I was really surprised that they didn't try to save Astra. They just killed her? period? Isnt there something they couldve done to save her? They were able to summon Supergirl to say goodbye to her (she was sstill alive after that stabbing?) but they couldnt summon her instead to save Hank? (I guess there wasnt enough time?) Why don't they invent some kind of kryptonite neck shield already, for the agents to wear, since Astra/Non's favorite killing method is chokehold?

[StaceyNotStacie]

I was surprised by Astra's death.  I was more surprised that the other villains didn't revive her unless that will be one of those plot twists where they want us to think she is really dead and she shows up unexpectedly in the future.

[miracole]

I'm not feeling Alex traipsing anyone she wants into the DEO. That being said Winn should totally leave Catco and work for the DEO. I know many people like the "relationship" between Cat and Kara but I never have.  Cat treats Kara like Crap and Kara's suppose to be grateful yeah...no.  I'm also over her threatening to fire her every episode because it's not done in a throwaway "you know I'll never do it"  way,  it's done in a "don't you know how expendable you are" way.

[Primetimer]

Worlds collide as Kara dreams herself back on Krypton, Winn and Lord help out the DEO, Kal-El shows his face, and 'Henshaw' is in a skirt again.

Read the story

[JapMo]

Loved this episode.  There was something going on all the time.  But especially loved how Winn was written.  Would love for him to tell Ms. Grant to f-off and go work for the DEO.  He could interact with Kara more.  I'm still holding out hope on those two, but for now I'd just like to see him involved more in the storyline like he was last night. 

 

Speaking of Ms. Grant, Calista Flockhart is fabulous.  I can't imagine any of the actors wanting to be on screen with her as she steals every scene she's in.  Also thought Melissa's interpretation of Hank pretending to be her was hilarious.  When "Hank" finally resorts to crying to get out of dealing with Ms. Grant, even she called BS on him, LOL.

Loved this episode.  There was something going on all the time.  But especially loved how Winn was written.  Would love for him to tell Ms. Grant to f-off and go work for the DEO.  He could interact with Kara more.  I'm still holding out hope on those two, but for now I'd just like to see him involved more in the storyline like he was last night. 

 

Speaking of Ms. Grant, Calista Flockhart is fabulous.  I can't imagine any of the actors wanting to be on screen with her as she steals every scene she's in.  Also thought Melissa's interpretation of Hank pretending to be her was hilarious.  When "Hank" finally resorts to crying to get out of dealing with Ms. Grant, even she called BS on him, LOL.

[Lady Calypso]

Yeah, it's weird but this is the first time Winn 100% worked for me. He was being there for Kara as a friend, felt guilty that he didn't get to mend his relationship with her, and then got to help the stupid DEO who didn't realize anything about the satellites. I've tried so hard to like Winn the last 13 episodes and although he's had his moments scattered, this one is the first time where I was like 'oh...I like you. You have a purpose to stay for me now'. Still not rooting for him and Kara in any romantic sense, but hey, they still make good friends. 

 

I also think that Cat's character is starting to tire me. She has nothing to do now except for getting mad at Kara and calling her by the wrong name. That's why I hate that they had Hank become Supergirl a few episodes ago. If she had known, we could have had less scenes of Cat and Hank trying to be Kara, and we could have had more of Kara in her dream-state. Sure, it means less Cat, but it also means more of what we wanted to see, or at least what I wanted to see. 

[iMonrey]

I just commented over in the Magicians forum that the premise for this episode was the same. In fact it seems like every show that has some sort of sci fi or supernatural basis eventually does this very episode, where the lead character is stuck in some kind of dream state and hallucinating that everything that's happened to them in the show has all been a dream or mental illness. Buffy did it, Charmed did it, Supernatural did it and now Supergirl has done it. Thing is - usually this happens around the fifth or sixth season, not so early in the first season. So they're already running out of ideas? Or have the writers never seen any other TV show, ever, and actually thought this was an original idea?

[legaleagle53]

I just commented over in the Magicians forum that the premise for this episode was the same. In fact it seems like every show that has some sort of sci fi or supernatural basis eventually does this very episode, where the lead character is stuck in some kind of dream state and hallucinating that everything that's happened to them in the show has all been a dream or mental illness. Buffy did it, Charmed did it, Supernatural did it and now Supergirl has done it. Thing is - usually this happens around the fifth or sixth season, not so early in the first season. So they're already running out of ideas? Or have the writers never seen any other TV show, ever, and actually thought this was an original idea?

 

Neither.  This episode was taken from a classic Superman comic story of about 35 years or so ago, "For the Man Who Has Everything."  It was meant solely as an homage to that story and has nothing to do with Buffy, Charmed, or Supernatural..

[Big Mother]

Ok I realize now why they used the plot device of Hank = kara - bc this empathized him to what Kara's 'other' life is like, and showed him how much Winn/Jimmy mean to her.

[statsgirl]

Am I remembering wrong that Astra was trying to develop an immunity to green Kryptonite after Hank let her take the dagger?  I was surprised when the sword killed her.

 

Winn helping out the DEO definitely seemed like a tryout. Moving him over there could possibly work out good.

 

I like the actor and character, but yeah, Jimmy's role on this show is still iffy. He felt out of place at the DEO and arguing with Henshaw.

I get the feeling that when the show started, it was supposed to be based primarily at Catco, but as it went on it become more organic to be mostly at the DEO, and Winn being so helpful there gives me the impression that it's going to continue and soon they'll move Winn there too.

 

That leaves the problem of Jimmy and Cat.  I imagine they're going to want to keep Callista Flockhart and Cat's relationship with Kara so that means they would need Jimmy there too for Kara to bounce things off of, but there's little for him to do right now.  And Lucy is completely superfluous..

 

It's kind of like the Arrow situation.  When the show moved from the original plan of Oliver/Laurel/Tommy to Oliver/Felicity/Diggle and they killed Tommy, there wasn't really anything left for Laurel to do and they ended up writing the most awkward story beats in order to fit her in.  That seems to be happening with James on Supergirl now.

[Dobian]

I liked the episode overall.  The only negative for me was a missed opportunity when Hank impersonated Kara at her office.  I thought the fake crying was out of character for him.  I wanted to see Hankara really come off as the dominant male and start addressing Cat like she was a subordinate, then watching the sparks fly.  Instead we get Cat scolding Hankara pretty the same as she does with real Kara.  So it was a bit of a snore.  The one other down spot for me was watching J'onn lose his second fight in a row and have to get rescued again, this time by Alex.  Time for him to win one of those!  I'm also sure the truth about who killed Astra will come out eventually, that sort of thing always does.  Oh, and I agree, the alien creature was totally fake looking like something out of a 1970s Doctor Who episode.  The face hugger from the first Alien 35 years ago looked a hundred times better.

 

The main plot though was great, and I also really like Alex and the emotional depth that is brought to this character.  I also liked how Kara's Scooby Gang really coalesced in this episode.  Now they even have access to the secret base.  The uneasy alliance with Lord and his presence at the DEO is turning that facility into one nutty house of fun for future episodes.

 

 

Winn and Jimmy don't necessarily know that Hank shapeshifted. All they know is that someone at the DEO has the ability to dupe Kara. Who it was and how they did it isn't necessarily clear.

Kara still has Kal as part of her family, even if he only shows up on the occasional IM.

 

Except Hank made a one-line comment about how he can handle being the director of the DEO, so he can handle Cat.  So he kind of gave himself away.  For a top-secret organizaiton, the DEO sure has some gaping security leaks, lol.

Edited February 9, 2016 by Dobian

[pete]

Oh my the fight scene between Hank Maritain and Astra was laughable.

 

I  can't see why anyone would want to be a Krypton the people and environment are bland af.

 

Why don't they have ready made up excuses at hand for when Kara has to be on the move?

[jmonique]

I also think that Cat's character is starting to tire me. She has nothing to do now except for getting mad at Kara and calling her by the wrong name. That's why I hate that they had Hank become Supergirl a few episodes ago. If she had known, we could have had less scenes of Cat and Hank trying to be Kara, and we could have had more of Kara in her dream-state. Sure, it means less Cat, but it also means more of what we wanted to see, or at least what I wanted to see. 

 

This was my biggest problem with the episode. Cat being a full-on bitch has grown tiresome. I think Calista Flockhart is fabulous with what she's doing, but she's being painted into a bitter, overbearing corner. For a character who's constantly going on on and about professionalism and power, the self-centered lack of professionalism on display toward everyone at Catco, especially Kara, is causing me to lose a lot of interest in the shenanigans at the office.

 

Calista deserves better.

[Bosman]

Why did they need to use Lord and his whatever machine? Did they forget that the Martian Manhunter is a telepath?

[secnarf]

Pretending Kara was just extremely sick wouldn't have worked. Cat in her best of moods is a overly demanding and mercurial boss. Cat who is bitter that Kara broke up with Adam and drove him back out of her life was looking for extra payback. She explicitly issued an ultimatum that "Carla" show up in three hours or be fired.

 

Winn and Jimmy don't necessarily know that Hank shapeshifted. All they know is that someone at the DEO has the ability to dupe Kara. Who it was and how they did it isn't necessarily clear.

Kara still has Kal as part of her family, even if he only shows up on the occasional IM.

 

I could get behind Winn getting a DEO job.

Well, they could have had Hank come in as a very very sick Kara, coughing and sneezing everywhere. Cat has shown in the past that she has some germophobe tendencies. She would have wanted to send Kara straight home, regardless of her personal feelings towards Kara.

 

Winn and James do eventually find out it was Hank who shapeshifted into Kara, although he didn't tell them at the time. There is a scene later on where one of them (Winn, I think) exclaims "That is who was pretending to be Kara?!" or something along those lines.

I don't think Winn fits in at all at the DEO. Those scenes felt contrived and awkward to me, but it could just be my dislike for the character.

 

I am sad Astra died, and unsure of how I feel about Hank and Alex lying to Kara about it. I think there's a lot more there that could be exploited. I love the Kara/Alex relationship and I'd like to explore that further. I think her having been honest from the get-go would have done a lot for that.

 

I am growing tired of Cat's behaviour as well. I love the character, but this petulant bitchiness is incredibly annoying. I preferred Cat knowing that Kara is Supergirl (minus the lame idea of firing her).

Edited February 9, 2016 by secnarf

[Kromm]

Neither.  This episode was taken from a classic Superman comic story of about 35 years or so ago, "For the Man Who Has Everything."  It was meant solely as an homage to that story and has nothing to do with Buffy, Charmed, or Supernatural..

Right. Those other shows arguably took the idea from Superman (which was already a famous story), not the other way around (I'm asserting that a Supergirl story is the equivalent to a Superman one in this specific case).

It's funny, over the years I've often noticed people calling out stuff as copycatting when it was the original (or in this case directly related to the original). I remember when they rebooted Wonder Woman a few years ago (the comic book) in a more fantasy based direction and the Internet was filled with screams about how it was copying Xena Warrior Princess. Now stop for a second and THINK about that for a bit...

Or the pure number of people who have labeled various nerd-girl characters out there as "Felicity Smoak copies". Again.. think about that for a bit...

[Kendra]

I thought the episode was great! Much needed character development for Alex, who up until now I thought had been very underdeveloped.

Melissa and Chyler knocked it out of the park with their performances. Definitely the MVPs and they always come across so believable as sisters. Their chemistry in that regard is fantastic! The scene where Kara wakes up and you just read Melissa's face to grasp her emotions...wow! That was excellent.

James and Winn continue to be the weak links on this show for me. I understand this was written with the intention that it might be a series finale if a back order didn't happen. So I could tell they were trying to throw characters into the plot that really didn't have any business being involved. James and Winn at the DEO felt weird to me. I still don't understand why this show needs BOTH characters. I wouldn't mind if one of them was written out at season's end. I don't even really care which one.

Edited February 9, 2016 by Kendra

[Chicago Redshirt]

I totally don't remember anything about Hank outing himself blatantly as the one who impersonated Kara, so apologies if it happened.

 

Am I remembering wrong that Astra was trying to develop an immunity to green Kryptonite after Hank let her take the dagger?  I was surprised when the sword killed her.

 

 

Team Astra created some anti-Kryptonite tech: the blue glowy thing they wear on their suits. I will fanwank that when J'onn slammed Astra against the side of the building, it was enough to destroy/dislodge/damage the anti-Kryptonite tech, and thus allow Alex to deliver the Mortal Kombat Fatality!

 

I  can't see why anyone would want to be a Krypton the people and environment are bland af.

 

Why don't they have ready made up excuses at hand for when Kara has to be on the move?

 

We only got to see a sliver of Krypton based on the memories that 12-year-old Kara had of the place, and filtered through whatever the Black Mercy "thought" would make Kara happy and peaceful. (And based on the limited budget that the show has). I'm sure real Krypton had been more exciting.

 

It doesn't seem like Team Supergirl is very good at lying. But Cat had noted that Winn had already tried covering for Kara a number of times, so maybe they've already run through a lot of the excuses? Also most times, Kara can directly make excuses herself. 

 

Why did they need to use Lord and his whatever machine? Did they forget that the Martian Manhunter is a telepath?

IIRC, the machine's the DEO's and Lord just souped it up.

 

1) J'onn is trying to keep the fact that he's an alien hidden from the DEO. So he can't feasibly use his telepathy to rescue Kara without raising some questions among others in the DEO that he'd rather not answer.

2) J'onn 's telepathy in this show may not be as all-encompassing here as it is in the comics. We know that he can read minds and wipe memories and communicate with white Martians. We don't know if he can link minds, which is what is called for here. He also wasn't particularly good at wiping the one guard's memories, so he might have been scared of using his abilities on Kara.

3) Most importantly, he actually had a line in an earlier episode to the effect of "I can't read Kryptonian minds, which Superman finds amusing." So his telepathic abilities might specifically be useless in trying to help Supergirl out as she is obviously Kryptonian (as opposed to if, say, the Black Mercy affected Alex or another human)

4) Even assuming he could unassisted by technology link Alex and Supergirl's mind without drawing attention to himself from others inside the DEO, he might be a little daunted by the possibility that his using telepathy could be detected by free White Martians out there.

[Dobian]

 

I  can't see why anyone would want to be a Krypton the people and environment are bland af.

 

The Krypton scenes kind of reminded me of Logan's Run (original 70s version).  Sort of a disco utopia of the future.

[xaxat]

I really like Alex.

 

It's one thing to fight super villains when you are a super hero, but she just jumps into the action with a big sidearm and a bad ass sword. Totally fearless.

 

(And Chyler Leigh looks great in her tactical gear.)

[AudienceofOne]

Since my interest in this show is waning rapidly, it is entirely possible I fell asleep in the middle. But in case I didn't, was there a giant chunk of the episode missing? One minute Astra was telling Alex about the Madonna-cone lifeform and the next they were at CatCo revealing Jh'onn to James and Winn? I swear half this episode was missing. Or maybe I did fall asleep and didn't notice.

 

Neither.  This episode was taken from a classic Superman comic story of about 35 years or so ago, "For the Man Who Has Everything."  It was meant solely as an homage to that story and has nothing to do with Buffy, Charmed, or Supernatural..

 

Doesn't make it any less derivative or any less boring. Like the "Supergirl has lost her powers" episode that happened, like, three episodes in. Did. Not. Care. So as much fun as bagging this show out each week has become and as much as I'm just "watching for the hair", I think I might have to tap out. It's just a really poor quality rip off of much better superhero shows. There is nothing interesting or original about it. And a lot of the plotlines so far have been downright tiresome. I think the lead actor is great and she definitely deserves her own vehicle. This just isn't it.

[pennben]

I'm relieved that just because a woman says 'no' to a man who wants to date her (even if she likes him as a friend), it doesn't mean that the inevitable future of that man is to become a villain. I'm happy that this didn't become the message of that past episode and or this show.

Edited February 10, 2016 by pennben

[Xenith22]

Right. Those other shows arguably took the idea from Superman (which was already a famous story), not the other way around (I'm asserting that a Supergirl story is the equivalent to a Superman one in this specific case).

While it's true that TMWHE came first, I would still argue this episode seemingly had more in common with the likes of Brain Drain/Normal Again than it did the original comic.

 

The Superman Comic/JLA episode:

- Superman is fully immersed in the fake world.  There is no initial questioning of which reality is real or any memory of his actual life on Earth.

- However Superman is subconsciously fighting the entire time.  Everything is not perfect.  There is still unrest in his dream life.

- Batman yells at Superman to wake up.  His words subtly bleed into the dream as part of a protestor's rally.

- Superman comes to his own slow painful realization that something is not right and that this world and his family are not real.

- This weakens the black mercy's grip just enough for Batman to pull it off allowing Superman to wake up.

 

Buffy/Charmed:

- Buffy/Piper are aware of their actual lives.  They are told those lives were just part of a dream/delusion.  They struggle to figure out what is real evenutally succumbing into accepting the fake world as the real one.

- There is a promise that everything can be perfect if they just give in and accept the false world.  There are no signs that something is off here.

- Charmed: Piper's sisters and later her husband enter her dream world and plead with her that it is not real convincing her.

- After coming to final realization Piper/Buffy are able to simply wake up back in the real world.

 

Supergirl

- Kara is aware of her actual life.  She does not initially believe this false Krypton life is real, she is told her Earth life was a dream while she was sick.  She eventually embraces the Krypton life as real.  (the only twist added is the slowly disappearing memory which again is almost the inverse of the comic.)

- Everything can be perfect if she accepts.   There is no sign that anything is off in this life (until the planet shaking near the end of Alex's speech.  Which sadly seemed pointless as the shakings meaning changed from representing the constant subconscious struggle to the moment of full doubt *ignoring Kara's initial rejection because reasons*)

- Alex enters her dream world and convinces Kara of the truth.

- Kara simple wakes up after the final realization.  The black mercy crawls off her on its own.  (Shame they missed the opportunity to have it crawl onto one of the others briefly)

Edited February 10, 2016 by Xenith22

[secnarf]

With Buffy, there was also the added potential for the dream-world to actually be real, and for the whole show to be a hallucination.

 

Also, I just wanted to add how much I loved Alex's anger when she thinks Hank pulled her out too soon.

[nksarmi]

Eh, I didn't think of anything but the homage to Superman's plot (the Justice League cartoon at any rate). The Buffy and Charmed episodes didn't even come to mind.  Either way, her reaction at the end (the anger over having lost her parents and her world again) was perfectly aligned with the Superman story and I think the actress really sold it.  I really, really loved this episode.