In Review: Supergirl, Episode 4 “Livewire”

Supergirl, Episode 4 “Livewire” Broadcast November 16, 2015

Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa & Caitlin Parrish

Directed by Kevin Tancharoen

“Previously on Supergirl“, Kara reveals her abilities by stopping a plane crash, a flashback is shown with Kara’s stepmother Eliza: “You know I’m not your mom, sweetheart, but you know you’re safe here,” and her stepsister Alex says to Hank Henshaw, “You told me that together we were going to save the world, except saving the world means everyone.”

At D.E.O. Headquarters an alien prisoner gets loose and Supergirl is there to put him down, while speaking with Alex via an earpiece that she’ll get to her apartment soon. After speeding there, Kara finds Alex panicked at the impending arrival of their mother. She arrives, with Kara feeling happy and Alex flustered. Across town, shock jock Leslie Willis goes on a rant about her dislike for Supergirl, infuriating Winn and James who are listening. So is Cat Grant, who gets an idea. She summons Willis to her office and tells her to back off of Supergirl. Willis refuses to change her content, so Cat bumps her down to traffic reporter. Leslie storms out, just as it begins to storm outside. After work, Kara finds James at a local restaurant. She invites him over for “Friendsgiving”, but he’s made plans to visit family with Lucy who soon comes in. After they leave, Alex comes in, still fretting over mom. Kara suggests that she tell their mother that she works for the D.E.O., but her stepsister isn’t comfortable with that. High in the stormy skies, Leslie’s helicopter is buffeted by the winds. It’s hit by lightning, causing it to spiral downwards. Kara sees it plummet and zooms to the rescue as Supergirl. After saving the pilot, she goes back for Leslie, who takes Supergirl’s hand just as a bolt of lightning hits the hero. The blast goes through the Kryptonian and into Willis. Cue opening title sequence and first commercial break.

This was the best episode so far. Brit Morgan was great as Livewire and writers Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Caitlin Parrish did a great job making her a fantastic villain and giving her some great things to do with her abilities. Livewire was able to travel through any electrical outlet, move through the air as electricity before becoming solid, and the final battle with Supergirl had me cheering at her outdoing the villain from Iron Man II. Also great was Calista Flockhart as Cat Grant. The character was just too mean in the previous episode. In this outing she was more of a person, but still had plenty of bite. She’s still not a great person, but there’s enough of one peeking out in this episode for me to like her. Stealing my heart was Jeremy Jordan as Winn, who had two killer scenes that no one paid attention to — Awwww. The Danvers family was also great. Helen Slater was awesome as Eliza, who’s been riding Alex for too long, having the two come to a huge blow up over a meal. I knew there would be a reconciliation, and there was, but it still got me misty eyed. Melissa Benoist seemed completely comfortable as Kara and Supergirl, and her scenes with Chyler Leigh and Slater were perfect. Plus, a terrific tease with Daddy Danvers!

The good: The script, the actors, Brit Morgan, the effects team (that did everything you’d want to see with Livewire as the villain), Helen Slater (YES!), Dean Cain (YES!), Cat Grant becoming more of a human, Kara’s throwaway line that’s she been to 12 planets (WHAT?!?!), a terrific flashback with smooching doctors and a sisters’ night out, and the gaudy pink cat statue.

Fun lines: “Oh…respect,” “If I could legally adopt her, I would,” “It’s very Katy Perry,” “…or so I’m told,” “Nope,” “…This is gonna get ugly,” “Dr. Danvers, I’d like to speak with you and your husband,” “What fresh incompetence is this?”, “Here, kitty, kitty, kitty…”, “Agent…Mulder, is it?”, “What do you say? Partners?”, and “Cool! It’s like Ghostbusters!”

The bad: I’ve got nothing. This was perfect!

The final line: Outstanding episode that captured the spirit of the comic book, the love of a family, and created an awesome villain. This was a perfect Supergirl episode! Overall grade: A+