Wow. What an extremely emotional episode. I’ve said before on multiple occasions that this show is best when portraying emotions. No other episode so clearly illustrates and reinforces that declaration than this episode did. The opening scene of the episode very deliberately and poignantly evoked images of Mars, as foreshadowing what was to come with red skies and the feeling of searing heat.
The chemistry between Kara and Adam was smoldering. Which is understandable, since the actors are married, but still. Nice to have yet another side thrown onto our love pentagon. And how clueless can Kara be to people flirting with or having crushes on her? And the Adam and Cat scenes were extremely well done, especially the wonderfully touching second meal.
Speaking of crushes, what little, tiny bit of Winn we got this week broke my heart.
I do think that Cat was completely justified in her anger towards Kara this time. What Kara did was a complete and utter violation of personal boundaries and privacy. As someone who has written and not sent many letters as a way to just get out feelings that I was having, I’d be completely mortified if someone sent one of them for me.
Senator Crane sent shivers down my spine with her vitriol and hate speech. It seems all too real in todays’s political climate. But at the end, when she revised her views, it showed that love always triumphs over hate.
The Mars flashback scenes were some of the most powerful and emotional scenes I’ve seen in television. I never in a million years thought we would see the Martian death camps on screen, especially not in a show that is traditionally targeted at a younger audience than the majority of the DC TV shows. For the second week in a row, another member of the cast outshone Melissa. Last week it was Jeremy Jordan, and this week it was David Harewood. He put out an amazing performance this episode. His portrayal of someone with severe PTSD and survivor’s guilt was vivid and gut wrenching. It really drove home the tragedy that defines J’onn J’onnz and the connection it gives him to Kara Zor-El.
The end fight scene between the two Martians and Kara was incredibly choreographed and brutal.
Kara as a beacon of inspiration is still, and always will be, the best Supergirl. That was proven yet again in this episode with her inspiring J’onn. I can’t get over how amazingly perfectly this show captures the things I love so much about the character.
I have not had such a visceral emotional reaction to a single episode of television since “The Body” episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That says an awful lot about this show, and I crave more. The next two episodes are two that I’ve been excited for since they were announced, so I’ll see you all then.
Corinne McCreery has been a fan of comic books for over twenty years, and a fan of Supergirl in particular for just about that long. Other comic characters near and dear to her heart are the members of the New Teen Titans (Especially Nightwing), Kitty Pryde and Roy Harper. Other non-comic related interests include water skiing and tattoos, of which she has five, three of which are comic related. One of the best days of her life came when she met Dean Cain, and was able to recreate the famous Crisis on Infinite Earths cover with the Man of Steel that she grew up with. Currently she lives in Oakland, CA; a transplant from South Dakota. You can find her online on tumblr at effyeahsupergirl or Twitter at @corimarie21, where you will likely find her live-tweeting the west coast airing of Supergirl every week.
