Supergirl Review: Strange Visitor from Another Planet (Season 1 Episode 11)
Aliens and strangers both descend upon national city in this week’s episode and Supergirl continues to show that it’s strongest storytelling elements are the relationships between its characters.
Kara goes above and beyond, and sometimes over the line in her work as Cat Grant’s assistant, and this week is no different. Without Cat’s knowledge Kara reaches out to Adam, the son she gave up for adoption, and tells him that Cat misses him and wants to make things right between them. Over all this episode is a set up to bring Adam in as Kara’s new love interest, as well as to bring in another dimension to Cat’s story as not only a media mogul but also a mother–and it works.
However, the relationship between Kara and Cat continues to be one of the strongest on the show. Cat doesn’t let anyone speak to her the way Kara does, nor does anyone get as many second chances at Catco than Kara. Additionally, Cat doesn’t allow herself to be vulnerable in front of people the way she opens up in front of Kara, when she isn’t angry with her. It’s clear that they care about each other very deeply, and Kara sees a good role model in Cat. As far as we can tell, aside from Alex, Cat and Kara are the closest thing each other has to a female best friend.
Cat allows Kara to help her repair her relationship with her son and it looks as though both of them will get something out of it. I hope that this allows them to grow even closer and trust and rely on each other even more.
Kara: Sometimes the past is easier to face with a little help.
Throughout the episode’s B story, we learn more about J’onn/Hank’s history as a Martian. We learn that his entire race was slaughtered by a vicious race of White Martians. The martian poses as an anti-alien senator in order to get inside the DEO and find the last remaining Green Martian, J’onn. Kara convinces him to maintain his humanity by capturing the White Martian and keep being Hank Henshaw, rather than to sacrifice himself in destroying his mortal enemy.
Supergirl gets a little too direct with the parallels between what happened to the Green Martians and the Holocaust. It was blatant and honestly it felt a little too far over the line. Genocide is a tricky thing to tell a story about, but the similarities to actual events throughout human history should be off limits if you ask me, at least on a sci-fi/fantasy show such as this.
Kara: I lost everything, everyone. It makes a hole in your heart, but you can’t fall into it. You have to fill it, you have to fight. Do not throw away who you are.
J’onn has become a sort of surrogate dad to Alex and Kara, and now with the addition of Cat’s son, the theme of familial bonds has become even more prominent on the show. I hope that they choose to lean into that and explore the overarching storyline of Kara vs. Astra more thoroughly. While the monster/alien of the week episodes are interesting and fun, I feel like the audience gets the most out of the episodes that connect to that continuing plotline.
Alex: Kara, you don’t need to save everyone, all the time.
Other thoughts:
- I didn’t miss Winn at all this episode, but I appreciate that they didn’t just drop the storyline entirely.
- I like the addition of Adam for Cat’s story, but I don’t think he’s completely necessary to Kara’s.
- I still want to know more about Astra and whoever Max Lord has locked up in his lab. The teaser for next week shows someone pretending to be Supergirl, and my money is on Max’s prisoner.
What did you think of this episode of Supergirl? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Supergirl airs Monday at 8/7c on CBS.
Samantha Coley
Samantha (she/her) is a social media specialist by day and a sci-fi junkie by night. As a freelance writer and podcaster, she also enjoys live-tweeting, blogging, good music, and better television. Her current favorite television shows include Star Trek (yes, all of them), Riverdale, and Stranger Things and there will always be a place in her heart for Battlestar Galactica, Leverage, and The West Wing.