‘Supergirl’ finally makes these crazy kids spill their dumb secrets

Season Two, Episodes Ten & Eleven — “We Can Be Heroes”, “The Martian Chronicles”

By Molly Jane Kremer. Well, that’s surprising. Last month’s Kevin Smith-directed (and thus grueling) Supergirl episode, “Supergirl Lives”, has ultimately provided a contrast to these two weeks’ worth of well-written, thoughtfully directed television. Even when we’re digesting half-baked episodic schlock, with Supergirl? We always remember to save room for the meatier installments.

In last week’s “We Can Be Heroes” and this week’s “The Martian Chronicles”, character development was abundant. Secrets were spilled left and right too, which made the subsequent emotions reliably dramatic. The dialogue? Snappy and sublime. Though there came some underwhelming realizations: Brit Morgan’s Livewire was sadly underused in “Heroes”, despite her appearances last season remaining some of the loftier highlights of the series. But the episode’s ending made a point of announcing that yes, we’ll be seeing more of her again soon. (Hopefully in a costume?)

The confining paranoia of “The Martian Chronicles” was a logical result of the previous week’s events. It ratcheted up the tension and emotion and… Barenaked Ladies references? Yeah, I dunno. But it was still rull good.

Man, does this show like to do the “I’m resolutely going to tell my friend this important thing!” and then when said character tries to tell them, they realize it’s the wrong time and they just can’t, which means… it comes back to bite ‘em in the butt when the friend finds out anyway in even less ideal circumstances. It happens a lot on Supergirl. It happens a lot in most CW superhero shows, if we’re being honest.

I get it, it’s an easy way to create conflict between the characters, and they all certainly act the hell out of their material, but can we maybe not telegraph it so obviously? Now that Kara has finally found out about James and Winn’s extracurricular vigilantism, you just know the Supergirl/Guardian team-up is coming soon… Probably after the inevitable pre-team-up superhero throw-down. (If we’re going to use some of the tropes, we must use all of the tropes, you see.)

BEST LINE(s):

“I hate having a nemesis. Clark always makes it look so much fun, like you have a deadly pen pal you see once a year, but having a nemesis is stressful.” – Kara

“I thought James was a professionally handsome desk person.” – Mon-El.

“You know what I love? Little boys who think they can do a better job than the woman who’s an actual superhero. It’s pathetic.” – Livewire.

“Forgiveness isn’t something you give to someone who’s hurt you, forgiveness is something you give to yourself.” – Alex, to J’onn.

“This did not used to happen at CatCo!” – Winn, flexing his short-term memory.

BEST MOMENT: The character interactions were my favorite moments in the episode, and there were quite a few in these past two weeks: Kara and Jimmy’s first attempt to hash out their Guardian feelings together was riveting; Kara, Alex, and J’onn’s scene by M’gann’s hospital bed was sweet and heartwarming; and Kara and Alex’s discussions (with increasing communication skills) felt very true.

EPISODES’ MVP: I was worried that in recapping two episodes at once, decisions like “Episode MVP” could get hairy, but lucky me – David Harewood as J’onn J’onzz made the choice perfect and obvious. Through both episodes, Harewood is given some of the meatiest material he’s had since Supergirl debuted, and he attacks it with passion and intensity.

HEAT VISIONS:

– The title “We Can Be Heroes” put a much better song in my head than the music in “The Martian Chronicles”, ugh.

– Also, an episode that is written by two ladies and directed by a lady always makes my ears perk up. I was not disappointed.

– Who makes these “innocent bystander” standees? Both here and on The Flash. Do the actors get to keep the standees of themselves once they’re done being filmed?

– Oh, and Chris Wood’s Mon-El? He’s unapologetically adorable. Dammit.

– Kara awkwardly telling Mon-El how incompatible they are: I have lived this conversation. Multiple times. I never got better at having it.

– It looks like CW’s wig-and-goth-makeup budget is decidedly lower than CBS’.

– That’s two episodes in a row where Kara has a logical reason to use her freeze breath. Good stuff.

– Why is the DEO building powered by a nuclear reactor that can level city blocks?

– Wait, so they’re implying a… romantic relationship between J’onn and M’gann? SHE IS HIS NIECE, YOU MONSTERS.

– And now, after The Big Sleep two weeks ago, Kara is watching Auntie Mame. Dang, that lady watches as much TCM as we do here at DoomRocket HQ. (And that, my friends, is a lot.)

– I adore Kara’s Power To The Girls shirt. I might be currently Googling where to buy it, in fact…

– I don’t believe for a minute that Kara’s only gonna eat a half a cupcake. While it doesn’t have the same visual punch as a cupcake with a candle, for consistency it shoulda been a box of ‘em.

8 out of 10