Home is where the heart is.
What They Say:
For The Girl Who Has Everything – A parasitic alien traps Kara in a dream where her home planet is intact and her family is alive. Alex, Hank, and the DEO have to fend off a Kryptonian attack without Kara.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While Bizarro Supergirl wasn’t exactly the Bizarro I had hoped for, it worked within the context of the show and the fact that they can’t really give us a proper version of Bizarro’s world outside of animation or a really big budget film. The episode worked well to dig into some good stuff with both Kara and Bizarro Supergirl and it delighted with some great action sequences that involve actual flight, something that has been lacking in most superhero shows (and many films). With it ending with the arrival of Black Mercy, I’ll admit I had completely forgotten about the story from 1984 with it involving Superman, which is what this episode reinterprets through the Supergirl prism. The original tale, one I had picked up as a teenager back in the early 80’s, certainly caught a lot of attention and still holds up very well today. So giving Kara the chance to see something else entirely – even more so considering her own time on Krypton before its end compared to what Kal-El had, is definitely something that offers up immense potential.
With Kara suffering from the effects of the Black Mercy, she’s in this disturbingly wonderful dream world where Krypton didn’t end. She ends up waking up to her mother in the room telling her that she was out of commission for a bit due to Argo Fever. Kara’s fear is understandable here as she thinks that she’s just being taken advantage of by something and wanting to figure it all out. But at the same time, she’s fascinated by what she’s seeing there as well since she gets to interact with her mother and pieces of her past that she can remember. Thankfully, she does reinforce quickly early on that she’s intent on getting out of this as she knows it’s not right, but part of the fun is in seeing how she’s further and further drawn into that world and all that it represents.
Particularly as the Black Mercy starts to rework her memories a bit in this dreamscape so that she starts to forget what she’s been through all these years. Even more so because the regular nods towards her fever and how it would impact her. Watching her confusion grow amid it, from her father arriving alongside her mother to Astra as well, it’s great to see how it unfolds. Particularly when we get Kal-El showing up at roughly the same age she was when she was sent to Earth. It’s an amusing way of bringing Clark into the show without having to deal with the bigger aspects of it, though I keep hoping that these small nods will help them to step forward and draw him in more as a potential guest character within the present day continuity. I’m a fan of the whole multiverse way of bringing all of these things together legitimately and this would definitely allow Superman to exist in-world here in a clearer fashion. Perhaps season two?
Comic book science does enter into the picture here as the way to try and help Kara is for Alex to connect with Kara through VR technology and see what she’s seeing and interact with it directly. This is a great moment for Alex as she gets to really see Krypton, but as she finally finds her Kara has been completely taken by the Black Mercy and is fully living her life with her family and Kal. It turns quickly violent, but I love that when things do progress in typical dream fashion we get Alex able to really give a solidly emotional plea to Kara to fight for what she truly has, not what’s in the dream. Alex has struggled as a character at times but the best moments have been her and Kara hanging out together, so there’s a really good aspect to this here as Alex reaches out hard to try and get back what she’s losing. It’s got the right emotional aspect to it, even if Kara’s own realization is understated. And rightly so, since it’s about losing what she thought would make her truly happy.
While all of this is going on for Kara, things in the real world are less than good. Cat’s decidedly not pleased about what happened between Kara and her son and the city (and likely much of the country) is facing a problem of communication problems amid a massive solar flare that’s messing everything up. There’re a few things at play beyond that as we get the DEO trying to figure out what’s going on with Kara while Non is getting things moving for their bigger plan. Non’s the one behind the Black Mercy as a way to put her out of commission while their plan moves forward. Astra’s obviously not keen on this but she has to admit that Non really did stick to her orders to not harm her. With the way the cast has been built up decent enough over the first dozen issues, giving them a chance to work stories on their own while Kara is out of commission works pretty well.
The fun subplot aspect of it all is that we get Hank stepping in to take on Kara’s life for a bit while she’s out of commission. Suffice to say, J’onn isn’t exactly the best at this as he screws up a lot of things but he does it in a way as Kara with more of a backbone, which definitely makes for a challenge with Cat. Amusingly, he starts off by thinking he can handle everything considering his own past and what he works with, but the two are definitely really fun to watch as they butt heads with each other. J’onn’s attempts at trying to manipulate Cat so he can get Kara out of the office long enough to deal with everything definitely works well, particularly since after all the softer moments we’ve had from Cat lately she’s been on a rampage in her own controlled way. We’ve seen her harsh before, but Kara’s breaking up with Adam so early into things has pained her in a way that I don’t think even she realized.
When the various plotlines connect as Kara finally comes back to the world, rightly pissed and angry because of what Non put her through, she’s intent on getting a little payback for it. Everyone is rightly pissed in their own way and it’s good to see that they’re going to actually deal with the problem, particularly as it’s aligned with the nefarious plan that Non and Astra are putting into motion to avoid what happened on Krypton. It’s still unusual to get the female lead character to be as aggressive as we get Supergirl here, but it’s something that’s very welcome because she’s able to fully express what she’s feeling and is intent on taking action on her own rather than relying on someone else. She’s had some rage issues earlier in the season but this is a tightly controlled anger. Her fight with Non definitely pleases with the power behind it and it’s definitely the stronger fight – even as it runs in parallel to a fight between J’onn in his Martian mode and Astra.
In Summary:
Supergirl hits a lot of good emotional beats throughout, though there’s not enough time on Krypton for my tastes considering the original story. I know they can do only so much on their budget but I had hoped for a bit more. There’s a lot to like in what we get here with the Kara and Alex storyline and the emotional bond that’s forged between them, but one that will be even more problematic now that Alex has done such a dark deed that will haunt her, even if J’onn is trying to cover for it. The fight that’s going on with Non and the Kryptonians is definitely stepping up a few notches here and things are starting to feel more serious, which is welcome considering the way that Astra’s storyline had been minimized during the first half of the season for the most part. There’s a lot to like here, especially with what Kara gets to experience, but it’s surprisingly well-rounded with what it tackles for pretty much all of the cast, even with Winn and James in how they finally get inside the DEO for some brief quality time.
Grade: B+
