Fly Like a Girl: ‘Supergirl’ – Episode 2 ‘Stronger Together’

Supergirl is DC’s television adaptation of the comic book of the same name. It airs Monday nights at 8/7 Central on CBS. Our writer, Nicole Drum recaps the series each week updating you on the latest episode here in Fly Like a Girl.

Image Credit: CBS

Welcome back! With huge ratings of 12.96 million for its pilot episode, Supergirl moves into its proper time slot this week. Missed out? Spoilers below in the recap!

Tonight, after a pretty long recap of the pilot episode for an intro, we pick up a week later. Kara, still flying high on her defeat of Vartox, is hard at work. First, DEO is putting her through her paces. She needs training, or so thinks Henshaw, but our girl in blue disagrees. She stopped the big bad last week! So when Winn hits her up with a dangerous fire at the port, she’s got this.

Except she doesn’t. She can’t blow the fire out the way her cousin would so she decides to move the oil-filled tanker that, per the firemen, is in danger of exploding. Kara’s efforts work, too. Moving the ship works until her incredible strength tears the tanker apart just enough to cause a big oil spill.

Yeah. Kara/Supergirl is not having a good go of it. The public is starting to think she’s a menace (shout out to the first appearance of Maxwell Lord as played by Peter Facinelli.) Worse than that is that Cat Grant is pretty upset that the Daily Planet is giving Supergirl some serious coverage. Cat needs to wrest control back of the budding heroine’s image (especially after dubbing her “#Terriblegirl.”) How is she planning to do that? Oh, she wants James to get her an interview with Supergirl.

It is definite though times for Kara. She’s a bumbling mess. Alex tries to teach her to fight (after another alien threat emerges,) but Kara just isn’t buying it. Even though Alex kicks her butt (thanks to some kyrptonite emitters,) it isn’t until Kara gets an unexpected pep talk from Cat in the form of a “Supergirl needs to get her stuff together and start small” rant that things change. Kara calls James and Winn together (thus revealing to the guys that they both know her secret) to help her do just that. Kara takes on ordinary crisis for a bit and learns the ropes (including the fine subtleties of logic such as bullets and bystanders and how to properly let down a heavy ambulance.) These lessons are important and quickly put to use when Aunt Astra kidnaps Alex and Kara has to face her family, but more than that a foe that is physically her match but better.

Kara is able to put the new lessons to work and after a fairly epic fight she saves Alex. Astra gets away, but that is to be expected since we still need an overarching villain. Astra has underestimated humans and is irked that her niece has chosen the humans over family. Alex reveals the DEO version of Supergirl’s Fortress of Solitude: a holographic computer program version of her mother that is either a massive letdown to Kara or super helpful, I’m not sure. Henshaw seems to be softening to Supergirl a bit, but then we  briefly see him have creepy alien eyes!

But all our loose ends aren’t tied just yet. Kara and James have a sweet moment where Kara peptalks James and then? Kara decides to give Cat that interview. Our episode closes with Supergirl hefting Cat Grant’s car into the sky and to a secluded spot so they can talk. All’s well that ends well!

This episode is definitely better than the pilot, but it is clear the show is still finding it’s pace. This week what was an almost cloying bit of overacting on the part of Melissa Benoist comes across as more eager in a nuanced way. It’s definitely better. I’m still struggling with the bad Photoshop smoothing out of Calista Flockhart’s face in every scene she’s in, but who knows, maybe we’ll find out Cat Grant is an alien, too.

What did you think about this week? Let’s chat in the comments!