Supergirl Episode 301:

The season premiere of Supergirl Season 3 aired earlier this week. It was incredible. It nailed it. I was floored. This was just the sort of strong start that you want a show to have.

The episode was aptly named 'Girl of Steel' as it dealt with Kara dealing with her grief over losing Mon-El by becoming hardened and denying herself any feeling at all. She forsakes her humanity. She embraces her 'alien' nature. But she seems to be protesting too much as every so often Kara shows she is hurting. I probably sound like a broken record but Melissa Benoist is incredible. From subtle intonations of lines to facial expressions to body language, you know just what her characters are feeling. Remember, Kara sent Mon-El to possible oblivion. This was her decision. And she is hurting.

We get to see most of the supporting cast interacting with Kara, trying to help her in any way they can, but mostly worrying about her. They see she is hurting. They are giving her space. But eventually, they have to intercede.

And while, for me, these character moments were the high points of 'Girl of Steel', the episode also does a great job of setting up the season. We hear about Cat and Snapper. We see Alex and Maggie together again. We get to see how James and Lena have grown in prominence. We meet one of the big bads in Morgan Edge. We get a hint of the bigger bad Reign. And, as usual, we get action sequences and great effects.

Overall, this was a brilliant episode, especially with showing just how Kara has to work her way through her feelings. Incredible.

The show opens with Kara walking through an idyllic field in flowing white robes. She sees Mon-El and the two embrace. It is clearly another world as a huge ringed planet towers in the sky. I guess it's Krypton? And then, in the distance, Kara sees Alura. This is all she longs for - love and family. But on seeing her mother, for a brief second, you see a look of disbelief on her face. She knows this is too good to be true. But she won't waste the chance to tell these two people that she loves them. In the background, we hear a song about daydreaming.

It is beautifully shot with all the feeling of paradise right down to the lens flare.

We as viewers know this isn't real. But I assumed this was Kara dreaming ...

But it turns out she is daydreaming.

We see reality, Kara floating above the world, taking in all the sounds of National City, trying to pick out any sounds of danger.

This is the night. She is alone. This is dark ...

She picks out sirens and joins in a chase where the NCPD and the DEO (with Maggie and Alex in the lead car) chasing down an 18 wheeler. Supergirl has to fly in to protect her family and the other officers, jumping in front of a turret gun.

It is a good sequence with Kara tossing the main baddie in the truck into the air to the side of the street and stopping the truck before it hits a family car. But Supergirl doesn't pause to say hello to the kids inside. She is off to the next emergency.

Back at the DEO we hear Supergirl talk about not finishing the job because the gunman escaped. This wasn't a win. She needs to do more. Everyone is worried about how she is burying herself in the job. But J'onn reminds them that grief has no deadline.

We cut to Morgan Edge, a real estate tycoon and general bigshot, talking about how capitalism has saved National City. (It is only Lena and James who remind people that Supergirl helped.) Edge is trying to woo these businessmen and the mayor to let him rebuild the waterfront to rid the city of homelessness and crime. Edge bemoans the biased press of CatCo and how Lena is trying to make up for all the ills Luthors have done (including herself for building the transporter that brought the Daxamites here).

It is clear that the boorish, narcissistic Edge is a stand-in for a Trump-like character. I doubt it is accidental that all the folks nodding yes to Edge are white males while James and Lena are the only dissenters. I guess, as a white male, I should be used to this representation. At least I have Winn.

We then learn that Cat has moved on to be the President's press secretary. (Maybe this means more Calista, albeit on screen and not interacting with characters?) Snapper is on sabbatical. James in in charge of CatCo. And he has a scene where he actually acts like he is in charge. He even has to nudge Kara, hoping she'll complete an assignment- an interview with Supergirl. He asks if she is okay but Kara snaps back that Supergirl is her real job. It is biting. But before he can prod further, he sees a news report that Edge is trying to buy CatCo.

In the first of many scenes where Kara's friends reach out to her, we see Lena talk to Kara. Kara is hoping Lena can stop Edge's plans. Lena will try. But then Lena apologizes for her role in sending Mon-El away. But we hear how the two friends haven't seen each other recently. There have been no brunches. Kara is very distant. 

And the rest of Kara's friends are still at the bar wondering how they can help.

But business interrupts. Winn has discovered the gunman is known as Bloodsport, a vicious and violent mercenary. And he was stationed in a nearby military installation before going AWOL. The base he was at suddenly goes dark leading Supergirl to investigate.

Inside she discovers the place has a cloaked Daxamite ship. A skirmish ensues. During it, Supergirl has to decide if she should pursue Bloodsport or help injured troops. There is a moment of what seems like indecision. We heard earlier how Kara just wants to finish the job. Thankfully she still helps the casualties.

Then Jimmy's signal watch goes off. Flying to CatCo, Kara finds James is fine.

James has decided it is time for an intervention. This is a fantastic scene, especially for James who was essentially missing for me last season. He tells Supergirl that Kara Danvers has gone off the radar. Her deadline came and went. Kara needs a life, needs to be a reporter.

Angrily, Kara quits.

This was just incredible!

I have to say I love Adrian Pasdar playing Morgan Edge. He is just oily and a makes me a bit squeamish. He is everything you imagine when you think of a narcissist. He is putting in his corner office. He pours his scotch. He makes some veiled innuendo comments at Lena. And he tells Lena despite her protests he'll buy CatCo and control the story.

"People love to believe what they read," he says. Perhaps a #fakenews callout?

And then we get the best scene in the show. This time it is Alex who confronts Kara. Remember, it was the sister scenes I loved in season one and we didn't get many last season. The chemistry is definitely there between Melissa Benoist and Chyler Leigh.

Alex says she can't wait anymore. She has tiptoed around Kara. Kara needs to open up and not bottle things in. She needs Kara to start healing. It is heated.

And Kara's response is just as heated. She tells Alex that if it were Maggie gone that Alex would be in the bar and broken (a casual reference at Alex's drinking problem?). Kara Danvers is a sad girl whose boyfriend is gone. Kara Danvers 'sucks right now'. Harsh.

But then, as she says that even Superman couldn't make the decision she made to send Mon-El away, we hear this little crack in Kara's voice. She isn't invulnerable. She isn't unfeeling. She is just hiding it away.

The scene ends with Alex saying that Kara Danvers was her favorite person who saved people.

What a tremendous scene. Just fab.

 At the unveiling of a Supergirl statue on the waterfront, it is time for J'onn to try and get through.

He reminds Kara that she is courting emptiness. It was Kara who saved J'onn, taught him about loss. She can't deny her humanity.

We see the anguish on Kara's face. Maybe the cracks are showing.

And then we see the statue. Pretty cool.

While here we meet the woman who will become Reign. We hear how Alex is hurting because she wishes Jeremiah could be at the wedding.

But the celebration is cut short by an explosion.

 During the episode we learn that Bloodsport has stolen a Daxamite cloaking device and a high pressure regulator meaning he can cloak an earth vessel.

Using her superhearing like at the beginning scene, Supergirl locates the ship. It turns out to be a submarine. He begins firing torpedos into the shore, shaking up the waterfront area like an earthquake.

Despite not being able to breathe underwater, Supergirl heads into the water. Despite being knocked around, she stops the sub and dead presses it out of the water. There are great underwater scenes and effects. Really a gorgeous end fight.

During the fight, when apparently knocked out, Kara is stirred to consciousness by an image of Mon-El yelling to her to 'wake up'.

 Not much left but a lot of wrap-up.

Lena buys CatCo and Edge confronts her saying that Luthor has his all of his attention. Supergirl flies and drops Edge of on a ship to nowhere. Supergirl knows Edge was the only one who would benefit from the waterfront attack. She is watching him. National City is her town and Edge has all of her attention. Nice!

 In a super touching scene, Alex asks J'onn to walk her down the aisle. Both almost cry. I loved it.

 In her apartment, Kara finds a photo booth strip of pics of her and Mon-El. Out loud she says wake up. Does she wish her grief was a nightmare and she would wake up? Is it that she needs to shake off the doldrums and wake up? Both?

Regardless, she tells Lena she'll head back to work. She heads to the bar and joins her friend. Maybe her period of distancing herself from her emotions is ending.

One last thing.

At the waterfront we meet a single mom Samantha with her teen daughter Ruby. During the attack, the daughter gets pinned under rubble and the mom frees her with sudden super-strength. Later we see the torpedo attack has shaken a Kryptonian pod from the bedrock below National City. And then this woman has a dream of Krypton but not so idyllic.

We know this is Reign. Nice introduction.

Whew ... long review and retelling. Sorry.

The main thing here was seeing all of Kara's friends stepping in and trying to help her. Those scenes are tense and intense. They are well-written and well-acted. But even between there a great one-liners throughout. Everyone is on the top of their game.

This was a great great opener.

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