"Girl of Steel" Supergirl Recaps: "Event Horizon"

Supergirl

"Supergirl" started back on CBS and moved to the CW with it's second season, which is probably where it should have been all along. Each season, the show has gotten better and better. "Supergirl" has always had the best ensemble of all the Arrowverse shows, but sometimes its earnestness was its greatest strength and its greatest weakness. Last season, the show really seemed to find its groove. The fantasy genre, from sci-fi, superhero, etc, likes to use it's fantastical storytelling to mirror real life issues and "Supergirl" did a great job of taking on Trump's America with its aliens as immigrants allegory. Ben Lockwood's fanaticism was meant to evoke Trump's followers.

When we left Kara and company, Lena had murdered her brother, Lex, but not before he revealed that Kara was Supergirl. Brainy, recovered from his reversion to a cold being of pure intelligence, began his relationship with Nia Nal. The Monitor brought Lex back to life and brought J'onn's brother to exact some sort of revenge. Eve Tessmacher was approached by a representative from a group calling themselves Leviathan.

Episode 1: "Event Horizon"

Brainy: "I am as serious as the pursed lips of Miranda Priestly."

Nia: "You'll have to just accept that I'm right."

Brainy: "Hmm. This Earth custom that the girlfriend is always right is illogical and frustrating but I can assimilate."

Lena is still smarting from finding out about Kara's secret and she is plotting a way to make Kara feel the way she does. It's not helping that Kara still hasn't told Lena the truth. Kara is getting ready to accept the Pulitzer for her reporting on the President last season. Her and James' journalistic careers may take a turn when Lena sells CatCo to a frenemy, Andrea Rojas, who wants to turn the paper into a tabloid. As if that wasn't enough to handle, Supergirl has to deal with a makeshift Phantom Zone projector and a criminal called, Midnight.

Guardian? Why?

The season premiere of most shows have a lot of things to do and a lot of balls in the air. It picks up and sometimes ties up loose ends from the past season and begins to set up new challenges for the season to come. "Supergirl" has a large ensemble so it has a lot of balls in the air and a lot of masters to serve. It does a good job of managing all of that in a premiere that is pretty tight all the way through. 

The most interesting conflict set up in this premiere is the one between Kara and Lena, even if Kara is blissfully ignorant of it right now. Ever since Lena was introduced the show has consistently played with where her loyalties lie. Is her last name the nail in the coffin for her? Can she be a good person? It feels like this season will answer that question definitively. And it should. This back and forth can't go on for much longer. I'm hoping that they come down on the side of Lena being good. The friendship between Kara and Lena is my favorite TV female friendship since Cristina Yang and Meredith Grey. Melissa Benoist and Katie McGrath knock it out of the park this episode. Benoist has always been "Supergirl's" secret weapon. And she proves again why in this episode. Her monologue to Lena and subsequent reveal of her identity is stellar. It made me tear up. Then, McGrath does the same in her speech giving Kara her award. It looked like maybe Lena was willing to forgive Kara but at the end of the episode we learn that Lena thinks that this will benefit her more than exposing Kara. So, this is just beginning.

Ever since the show started devoting more time to Kara's secret identity, it has really thrived. Julie Gonzalo's, Andrea Rojas, is set up to a foil for Kara. It's very of today that she would want to turn CatCo into a click bait trash tabloid and dangling non-compete clauses over her employees heads is pretty diabolical. I'm not a huge fan of Andrea's right now mainly because she is pretty two-dimensional. I'm hoping that the writers introduce some layers to her in the next few episodes. It is a nice set up for Mechad Brooks' exit from the show as James quits rather than follow Andrea's vision.

I'm loving Brainy and Nia's burgeoning relationship. Brainy continues to be the show's comic relief. Jesse Rath and Nicole Maines have amazing chemistry and Brainy's fears about getting close to Nia after his brief revert last season. Brainy's reveal about his devotion to Supergirl's cape is wonderful and leads him giving her a new costume made from nanotech that activates when Kara whips off her glasses.

 The show may be jam packed with character moments but it doesn't hold back on action. There are some stellar sequences starting with Kara punching a T-Rex in the National City Kryptonian museum. The show's climactic end of episode fight with escaped prisoner, Midnight is thrilling complete with Supergirl flying into a black hole to save J'onn. 

We don't get much movement around J'onn's brother except that he reveals himself to J'onn and as the one who released Midnight.

I was worried that "Supergirl" would lose the momentum that it had built in season four, but this episode shows that has retained the confidence that it gained. I expect good things as it moves towards "Crisis on Infinite Earths" and episode 100.

Grade: B+

I love "Supergirl" so I thought why not add recaps to my repertoire. In fact, the show is probably my favorite Arrowverse show. Who else loves "Supergirl?" Did you love this episode? Let me know in the comments.