Change is in the air as Supergirl rolls on with its second season. There are a lot of comings and goings in this episode, and neither Kara, nor Supergirl are taking them particularly well. But the more things change, the more they stay the same, and Supergirl reaffirms the importance of teamwork and being stronger together. Welcome to “The Last Children of Krypton.”
**THIS IS A RECAP – SPOILERS ARE PART OF THE TERRITORY.**
image via Robert Falconer/The CW
S2, EP. 2 – THE RECAP
A GUEST IN NATIONAL CITY
Superman has decided to stay in National City for a bit, and Kara couldn’t be more thrilled. They have #TooMuchFun as they team up on several missions. Meanwhile, it’s difficult for J’onn to be thrilled that Clark is in town when Clark is so adamant about the whole “keeping Kryptonite” thing. Alex tries to convince J’onn to be nice to Clark for Kara’s sake, but even she seems a bit perturbed by Clark’s presence, though she keeps her mouth shut, even when Kara invites him to Sister Night to watch Veep and eat Chinese food (but seriously, though, does this show have a deal with HBO and Showtime, because I think the Danvers girls exclusively watch premium cable). Kara asks J’onn to try a little harder to be nice to Clark, and he says he’ll try for her sake. Meanwhile, Winn is happy as a pig in shit that Superman is around and fawns over him several times.
ALEX AND KARA
Alex spends most of the episode being really polite to Clark and advocating for Kara, but when Kara, discouraged by her prospects as a reporter, decides she might move to Metropolis to be closer to Clark, Alex bursts, and we hear what’s really upsetting her. She feels cheated out of much of her life, because everything she’s chosen for herself she’s chosen to protect Kara, and now Kara wants to go live closer to the guy who “abandoned you with us.” Meanwhile, Kara wants her to understand how much it means to her to have someone around who so completely understands what it’s like to be her. Tensions rise between the sisters.
At the DEO, Winn counsels Alex to take it easy on Kara, because as someone who’s spent a lot of time in foster homes being told how lucky he is to even be taken care of, he’s learned that family isn’t about keeping score of who does what for whom. “It’s about showing up.”
Later, Kara saves Alex from Project Cadmus, and Alex saves Kara in the ultimate fight against Metallo. They make up, realizing that they’ve always done better together.
image via Diyah Pera/The CW
METALLO(S) ON A MISSION
Project Cadmus turned John Corbin, the assassin hired by Lex Luthor to kill his sister in the season premiere, into Metallo, saving him from death by genetically altering him and giving him the power to shoot kryptonite radiation from his chest. Project Cadmus’ mission is to protect the Earth by getting rid of aliens, including (especially?) Supergirl and Superman.
Metallo lures the heroes to a bridge, pretending to be a man about to jump. When they approach him and Kara tries to talk him down, Metallo attacks, hitting both of them with kryptonite. He weakens each of them in turn. At one point, he shoots Kara with kryptonite pretty badly. Thankfully, Superman regains enough strength to be able to knock Metallo off the bridge and send him flying.
He escorts Kara back to the DEO where he then proceeds to reprimand J’onn about keeping kryptonite, citing what just happened to them as plenty reason enough to destroy it. J’onn refuses, and the tension is such that Winn gets fanboyishly excited about the possibilities of a Superman/Martian Manhunter fight. J’onn and Alex reveal that yes, a shipment of kryptonite was stolen four months ago. Kara is shocked. It seems there is a mole at the DEO, and they have to figure out whom.
Suddenly, Cadmus announces themselves by hacking into all media. They announce their mission to keep Earth safe by getting rid of aliens as National City watches.
Winn is tasked with creating an anti-kryptonite suit for Superman, which thrills Winn. Meanwhile, Cadmus creates another Metallo for “Phase 2” of their plan, whatever that is.
image via Diyah Pera/The CW
Martian Manhunter and Superman fly to the Fortress of Solitude to have Kelex scan Superman’s hand for traces of other metals or minerals after he punched Metallo. Kelex discovers traces of prometheum. Meanwhile, Clark brings up the kryptonite issue again, but J’onn is adamant about keeping it. He knows what it’s like to be unprepared only to have “angry gods” destroy your entire world. He says: “I will not be caught unprepared again.” Clark is upset by this, saying he can’t trust J’onn, because J’onn doesn’t trust him.
The DEO scans National City for prometheum and traces Metallo’s current location. Winn’s suits aren’t ready for Superman and Supergirl, but they go anyway, not knowing if they’ll have another chance. When they arrive, they easily (too easily) dispatch with Metallo, but just when they think they’ve won, Metallo fills them in on just what they’ve allowed Cadmus to do. While they were distracted by Metallo, Metallo 2 was in Metropolis wreaking havoc.
Thanks to Winn reminding Alex that kryptonite, like any radioactive substance, gives off a unique signature, they take Geiger counters to the DEO locker room to see whose locker is giving off kryptonite to find their mole. It’s an Agent McGill. Alex approaches McGill with a fake mission of a kryptonite transport for the President, but she follows him as he steals the kryptonite and brings it to Cadmus. Alex tries to take him down, but the rest of Project Cadmus shows up and apprehends her. The female Cadmus scientist (Brenda Strong) that has been doing all of the ordering around tries to appeal to her sense of frustration and dissatisfaction with her life because of Kara in order to recruit her to Cadmus, freeing her from the DEO that “brainwashed” her.
Alex is like Nah, I’m good, and she becomes the most badass we’ve seen her since, like, ever. Reminding the scientist that she’s done what none of them have been able to do kill a Kryptonian she says “I want you to know what I’m capable of,” and swears that she’s going to find and free her father and come after the scientist. She then proceeds to fight off all the guys holding her, outclassing their untrained-in-physical-combat scientist asses with every punch. However, there comes a point when she’s overpowered. Thankfully, Supergirl shows up, having gotten it out of Winn where Alex went, and saves her.
Supergirl realizes that, after what happened with her and Clark’s getting distracted by one Metallo only to have another ruin Metropolis, that Cadmus would think that they would now retreat to their respective cities and be easier to pick off one at a time. So she says they should do just that … but with backup! Winn has made Clark and Kara kryptonite-proof S-shields to wear over their chests to protect them from the Metallos’ rays. Superman approves, and Winn sheds tears he’s so happy.
Alex and her bionic suit stay in National City to help Kara, while J’onn goes to Metropolis with Clark, and they each help to take down (out?) both Metallos by stabbing them right in the kryptonite hearts.
J’onn finally agrees to allow Superman to take the world’s supply of kryptonite and destroy it so something like this can’t happen again, which Superman does before Clark returns to Metropolis for more abuse from Perry White.
KARA, CAT … AND SNAPPER CARR
While all that’s going on, Kara is also attempting to start her career as a reporter with a reporter pad for taking reporter notes. It doesn’t exactly go well. Cat introduces Kara to her new boss. Snapper Carr, the most curmudgeonly of all curmudgeons. Cat says that Kara can learn from him, but when Kara shows up for her first day, it seems he’s uninterested in teaching her. And no, she doesn’t get to sit in a chair.
Later, when she arrives late for a staff meeting, Snapper dresses her down by calling her entitled and tells her she doesn’t have a job anymore. Shocked, Kara says nothing. However, when Cat reminds her that she’s capable of standing up for herself, Kara writes her first story about the Metallo situation, demanding that he read it. While he doesn’t seem thrilled about the story, he’s impressed by her taking that initiative. Begrudgingly, he gives her her job back, telling her he doesn’t like her and never will. She says, “I don’t need you to like me, you … jerk … man!” and he makes fun of her garbage insult game.
And why is Cat not Kara’s boss anymore? Because Cat is taking a leave of absence from CatCo. Having climbed every mountain and followed every stream at the company, she wants a new adventure (also, Calista Flockhart didn’t wanna move to Vancouver). Cat basically spends the episode preparing Kara to leave the nest and fly on her own, because despite the tough love, Cat seems to adore Kara. Kara adores Cat right back, and is not great with all the changes happening right now. They have a moment and hug. Awww.
Cat and Supergirl have a moment, too, and when Supergirl expresses the fact that she wishes she could go somewhere else and be someone else, Cat says, “Life is long, and you will be many different people before the end.” Deep stuff, yo. So, Cat says goodbye to Supergirl.
And the role of Interim Cat Grant Until Further Notice Goes To: James Olsen.
Oh, and Kryptonian Pod Guy finally woke up … and began to choke Kara just as she was telling him she wanted to be there for him as a fellow Kryptonian who understands being displaced.
image via Robert Falconer/The CW
S2, EP. 2 – THE REVIEW
The main thrust of the episode was all the changes happening in Kara’s life: she has a new career she’s not great at (yet!), her cousin is leaving town, her mentor is leaving town, and her new boss hates her. When she confessed to Cat that “I don’t do well with change,” it was heartbreaking. It makes sense that she would feel that way because of the circumstances of her arrival on Earth. She’s been through so much upheaval in her life that change has become less appealing.
One of my favorite parts of the episode was the way Cat helped her navigate those changes. In this episode, more than anywhere else, we see how much Cat respects Kara and how highly she thinks of her, trusting that Kara will always “rise to the occasion.” Meanwhile, Calista Flockhart’s performance was amazing. She struck a wonderful balance between wanting to get out of Dodge and sadness over leaving the familiar behind. I’m sorry she’s not going to be on the show as often, but I’m thrilled that there seems to be an open door waiting for her whenever she wants to come on back.
Speaking of comings and goings, I love Supergirl‘s take on Snapper Carr. Ian Gomez’s performance is hilarious and distinct, and I’m looking forward to watching Kara hone her nerve and her reporter skills with such a worthy “adversary.”
So here was my one big problem with the episode. There was a lot of talk about Team Supergirl’s strength being the fact that they can work together. At one point, Supergirl says to Metallo, “You might work better alone, but we don’t!” Thing is, they’re not working alone either. Project Cadmus is a group of people that have each other’s back for a common goal. Just because the opposing team’s views don’t jive with yours doesn’t mean you get to make fun of them like they have no friends, Kara. It seemed strange to me that Supergirl’s plan to “thwart” the Metallos’ plan to divide and conquer was to … also divide and conquer. The working together message was muddled this time out, and was frankly unnecessary.
Despite that plot falling a bit flat, “The Last Children of Krypton” was a great episode, because it was character-focused and hilarious. Everyone, including guest stars, had to dig really deep this week, because each of their characters had something major they were dealing with. I loved Chyler Leigh’s performance in this episode, and I love that the character was written with such nuance. And I also love that she brought up the fact that Superman basically dropped young Kara off and bounced. She had plenty of reason to get upset! Meanwhile, both Winn and Kara gave me plenty of reasons to LOL.
Supergirl continues to move forward more confidently than it ever has before. Here’s to the show staying that way!
Well, enough of me! What did you think of Supergirl this week? Let’s chat about it in the comments below!
As you may have noticed, I formatted the recap a bit differently this time out. Hopefully that makes it clearer and more enjoyable to read! See you next week!
Supergirl airs Mondays at 8PM ET/PT on The CW.
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