TV Review: Supergirl – Season 1 Episode 13 “For The Girl Who Has Everything”

EPISODE 13: "For The Girl Who Has Everything"

SYNOPSIS: When a parasitic alien attaches itself to Kara, leaving her in an idyllic, dream-like state where Krypton isn't destroyed and her family is still alive, it's up to her friends to save her. Meanwhile, Astra and Non come back into the picture to begin the first phase in their plan of world domination.

REVIEW:

Wow, what an incredible episode of SUPERGIRL, which was hands-down my favorite of the season. Especially after last week's lackluster episode, I wasn't expecting much tonight. However, "For The Girl Who Has Everything" seriously delivered. It featured everything that SUPERGIRL does best – sisterhood/friendship, action, and most of all, heart. I laughed, I cried, I screamed for someone to prevent the "facehugger" from running around on the floor… and most importantly, in Cat's words, I strapped myself in for what we have to look forward to the rest of the season.

Phew, I feel like we all went through a lot tonight, guys. From Kara reliving her time on Krypton and inevitably losing her family… again… to watching her aunt Astra die after a nasty battle with J'onn J'onzz and Alex, there are many things tonight that will have major repercussions throughout the final seven episodes.

Picking up from last week, the team is shocked to find Kara didn't come into work at CatCo, so they go over to her apartment to check on her. After all, a solar flare has disabled many communication platforms (i.e. satellite transmissions and cell phones). When they get to Kara's apartment, they are shocked to find her unconscious, with a facehugger looking organism attached to her torso. They rush her back to the DEO where they discover her bodily functions are normal, but she is cognitively in some sort of coma. Henshaw and Alex try to use a metal claw to pull the creature off of Kara, but it causes her to start convulsing and her vital signs to plummet. They realize if they pull the creature off forcibly, its symbiotic defense will kill Kara.

Meanwhile, it becomes clear that the sudden appearance of a solar flare and the creature (aka "the Black Mercy") were no coincidence. Non is behind everything. As part of the Kryptonians' plan for world domination, entitled "Myriad", Astra sanctioned the solar flare to disrupt military capabilities. However, although Kara is a nuisance, she did not want anything to happen to her niece and had no part in planning the parasitic alien attack. So, Astra sneaks away from her husband and reaches out to Alex to volunteer her assistance. At first, Alex is wary of Astra's true intentions. However, she knows Astra is her only hope and utilizes her valuable advice regarding how to rid Kara of the Black Mercy.

During this time, Kara has been living in a dream-like state, described as her ideal, fantasy world. But instead of being on Earth in a relationship with James, she is back on Krypton with her family – including her mom, dad, Astra, and nine-year-old Kal-El. At first, she knows something isn't right because she has memories of her time on Earth and Krypton's destruction. However, the longer she stays in this altered reality, the more she starts to forget her time on Earth and all of the people she loves.

Knowing they don't have much time to save Kara before she is stuck in this state forever, or even dead, Alex enlists Maxwell Lord's help to try to reach out to her sister. After all, it's clear the Kryptonians are using the solar flare and Supergirl's incapacitation as a distraction… and the only thing Lord hates more than Supergirl are the Kryptonians that broke into his lab. So, he agrees to connect Alex's brain to Kara through a virtual reality headset that somehow lets Alex see Kara's visions. According to Astra, she needs to help her sister reject the fake reality the Black Mercy is projecting; that is the only way Kara can come out of this.

Once inside Kara's mind, Alex finds that her sister no longer remembers her or anything about her life on Earth. After a fight with Kara, Kryptonian guards immediately seize Alex and take her to the court room, where Alura banishes her to the Phantom Zone. Knowing this sentence will mean her death, as well as Kara's, Alex makes one more plea for her sister to remember. Thanks to Alex's emotional speech, Kara finally starts to recognize her sister and the term "Supergirl", thus making "Krypton" crumble down around her. Both women awake from their dream-state, and the Black Mercy jumps to the floor, where it shrivels and dies. Kara, obviously shaken after losing her family and home again, wants to make Non pay for what he did.

Back at the DEO, Winn discovers that the reason the Kryptonians broke into Lord Technologies was to install a virus in the satellites. While they couldn't yet tell the purpose of the infiltration, the teams sets off to guard the remaining satellite farms around the city. It is at one of these locations that Kara faces off against her uncle. Kara uses her rage to give Non a good fight. After all, he made her relive losing her family all over again. She lets her uncle know she will protect Earth, her remaining family, until her dying breath. But even though Kara kicks major ass, Non is able to escape.

At the same time, Alex encounters Astra at alternate location. She is also attempting to put infiltrate the satellite to support "Myriad". Alex tells Astra it doesn't look like her heart is in the Kryptonian's world domination plan anymore, especially after she helped save Kara. But just as it looks like Alex is starting to get through, Henshaw (in J'onn J'onzz form) arrives on the scene and incites Astra. The two engage in a serious fight and just as Astra is about to kill him, Alex stabs her with a Kryptonite sword.

Kara arrives onsite with enough time to say goodbye to her aunt. In this incredibly emotional scene, Astra warns Kara about Non's ultimate goals; he will kill her and everyone she loves if he isn't stopped. Kara also tells her aunt that she was present in her Black Mercy-induced alternate reality, which means Astra is one of the people Kara loves most. Astra dies, yet Henshaw takes the blame for her death. He says he doesn't want Kara to see Alex as anything other than her hero. How noble.

Melissa Benoist and Chyler Leigh were the standouts of the episode, each delivering incredibly moving, powerful performances. Benoist's multi-layered performance showed the hurt, forlornness, and rage that is constantly bubbling under Kara's heroic surface. My favorite moments in the show have been when Supergirl finally gets angry and kicks major ass (first with Red Tornado, now with Non); this is what Benoist does best and is the character trait I find most interesting in Kara. There were quite a few times that I teared up in the episode. One such moment, the highlight of the episode, was Leigh's moving monologue about Kara's pain, loss, and sacrifice, which was used to bring Kara out of her dream-like state.

Both actresses have incredible chemistry. And it is their sisterly love that is the heart of the episode and what made it the best of the season. But with the overarching secret that Alex actually killed Astra, I see major problems in their future.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS:

• Because Kara was MIA at work, Cat threatened to fire her if she didn't appear in an hour. So, for all that Kara has done for the DEO (and National City), Henshaw did her a solid and shapeshifted into her likeness to work at CatCo for the day. It was hilarious to see Melissa Benoist play Henshaw pretending to be Kara. The fake tears, the mistaken purchase of coffee with whole milk, the sassiness from Cat… with such an emotional episode, this bit of comedic relief was a welcomed reprieve.
• Black Mercy appears in the JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED episode "For The Man Who Has Everything". Tonight's episode of SUPERGIRL is named "For The Girl Who Has Everything".
• The Black Mercy is used by the alien villain, Mongul. Should we expect to see him as a big bad soon?

FINAL VERDICT: