Supergirl Review: Bizarro (Season 1 Episode 12)
We’re seeing double this week as Supergirl takes on her experimental superhuman look-alike. In “Bizarro” we finally find out what Maxwell Lord was doing with the blonde woman he had locked up in his lab, and it’s even more sinister than we imagined.
Max is the kind of villain that I find particularly unsettling, because he’s real. He doesn’t have super powers, he’s not an alien, he’s just a man with a lot of resources and a god complex. It turns out he’s been taking comatose blonde women an experimenting on them to create a Supergirl look-alike with powers that are proportional to hers. He doesn’t have a successful experiment until the 7th girl, whom Cat quickly names Bizarro the girl goes public. Once he’s gotten her to look exactly like Kara, he then uses electroshock therapy to train her into thinking that Supergirl is bad and that she must be killed.
Hank: Maxwell Lord does have a god complex, but he’s not an actual god.
The language Max uses with Bizarro is very manipulative, he doesn’t see this girl as a person–she’s his creation and he talks to her like she’s a possession. From my perspective it even sounds like he speaks to her in a way that an abuser would speak to their victim. Kara seems to feel the same way I do about Max and tells Alex that he has to be stopped. Alex takes action using her position at the DEO to arrest and detain him before he can hurt anyone else.
In a polar opposite of Max, Jimmy shows that he is easily the most upstanding guy on the show. After a failed battle of Bizarro vs. Supergirl, Max convinces Bizarro to take someone that Kara loves–so she takes Jimmy. While held captive, Jimmy uses his excellent communication skills to talk Bizarro down a little, and in doing so he reveals his true feelings for Kara.
Jimmy: I love her because of who she is, because she’s brave, because she’s kind, and she always tries to do the right thing.
It’s so good to see Jimmy finally admit to his feelings out loud, but knowing he and Kara both have feelings for each other but are too stubborn to say anything is an aching slow burn that I hate to say I enjoy immensely. Meanwhile, Kara seems to be developing very real feelings for Adam, Cat’s son–but when their dates keep interrupting she makes the age old superhero decision that it’s better to be alone than to take the risk of losing someone she cares about.
Adam: Not everyone’s gonna leave you, not if you let them stick around.
As we know that choice rarely works out, and Kara is still going to have feelings for the people close to her. The question is, is Adam out of the picture for good–was this all a setup for Kara to develop a relationship with Jimmy–or will he come back into her life later? If Kara pushing everyone away wasn’t enough of a blow, Cat tells Kara that their relationship should also go back to being strictly professional. Personally, I hope this attempt at professionalism doesn’t last that long because I love their weird little relationship.
Other thoughts:
- Cat knows Kara’s preferred latte, she’s gotta know how to say her name. I don’t know why this makes me really happy.
- Max threatened Kara and Alex’s mother even though he’s locked up. Was it an empty threat or is she actually in danger?
- Next week: Astra is back and apparently helpful when Kara is attacked by a Kryptonian parasite that traps her inside her perfect fantasy! Who put it in Kara’s apartment? How will national city fare without her?
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.