Holy crap, ladies! I can’t even with this episode. This isn’t the most eloquent way to start an email, but I honestly haven’t been this excited about the show in quite some time, sad to say. Not that I have ever loved this show less, but I could not wait to see this particular episode.

And I was NOT disappointed.

Rebecca, I definitely want to echo things you’ve said in the past in that Kara is your favorite character (same!) and that any episode with her in the center tends to be your favorite (same!). I guess my complaint about not having enough Kara last week (or really, not enough Melissa) was greatly rewarded this week.

It amazes me how Melissa took this character that she has been playing for four seasons now and somehow, create a whole new version in just one episode. Okay, I shouldn’t be THAT amazed considering we have seen various versions of Supergirl.

Someone on Twitter pointed out one small scene that stuck out to me as well. It was when they broke into Kara’s apartment and Red Daughter/Linda stayed behind. The way she puts on Kara’s glasses (does Kara have a few pair laying around or something?) as she stares at herself in the mirror was actually amazing. Why? Because we’ve seen Melissa put on those glasses a thousand times in the show so how in the heck did she make this scene still look like she put them on for the first time?

The best thing about this episode was not making Red Daughter evil, just “raised”/manipulated with different ideals. I know this was the concept of the Superman: Red Son comic book, so it’s not surprising. Remember how I said I wished Manchester and J’onn’s storyline was made for Manchester and Kara? Well, I think I got a taste of what that could have looked like through Red Daughter’s story.

Poor thing was pushed to and fro by Lex and the Kaznians and when she thought the little boy was killed, that was the edge I wanted to see through Kara. Of course, I don’t think Kara would’ve necessarily attacked and killed those Navy men, but maybe she might have been pushed very, very close to it if someone close to her was killed or perceived to have been killed.

The episode had minimal sightings of the regular cast, including Alex. And when the episode first started, I was like, “Okay, so this is going to focus on Red Daughter and everyone else is kinda pushed to the background, even Danvers sisters stuff, which is fine.” But NOPE. The first thing out of fuzzy capped Red Daughter was “Alex.” UGH. That killed me.

It hearkens back to the crossover in ways, where Red Daughter doesn’t know Alex but somehow, she has a connection to this person. Even when Lex claims to be the Alex she’s looking for, she knows it not to be entirely true, especially when she actually meets Alex.

You can see that light in Red Daughter that always shines in Supergirl, the compassion and need to help others. That’s what makes her a very likable, even lovable, antagonist, one that you want to root for in that you want her to break away from Lex, not that you want her to defeat Supergirl.

A few thoughts:

– So… Lex knows who Supergirl’s secret identity is, huh? The more they just casually throw out who knows who she is, the less the mindwipe is making ANY SENSE anymore. And again, I was a fan of it happening.

– Otis saved the little boy!

– I liked being reminded that Supergirl can EASILY take down and kill numerous humans in a blink of an eye. It’s why being Supergirl isn’t an abilities thing; it’s an internal thing, the person Kara is makes Supergirl who SHE is, a hero to look up to, not an alien to fear.

Cheers!

– Gina