In Supergirl season 2, episode 2, “The Last Children of Krypton,” Kara learned to own her power, both as Kara and as Supergirl.
As Bob Dylan sang, the times they are a-changin’. Kara has a new boss who doesn’t want her to work for him. Cat Grant is taking a leave of absence from CatCo and James is taking her place. There is a mole in the DEO. Cadmus has announced itself to the public as an anti-alien group. Oh, Clark needs to head back to Metropolis.
Needless to say, Kara has a lot on her plate.
In her professional life, Kara is introduced to Snapper Carr, her new boss at CatCo’s investigative branch. However, he doesn’t take kindly to Cat appointing him a new reporter, especially one without any experience in journalism. And when Cat refuses to order Snapper to accept Kara, Kara must figure out another way to get her new boss to, well, let her work.
Cat gives Kara one of her famous pep talks, but during this talk she reveals that she’s leaving for a time. On the show, Cat needs a new adventure to dive into. In real life, Calista Flockhart was not willing to relocate with the show from Los Angeles to Canada.
She won’t be gone from the show entirely, though; as a recurring guest star, she’ll be making trips to Vancouver every few weeks to film a bunch of scenes at a time, likely scenes for multiple episodes at once. So never fear; we’ll still see Cat Grant this season!
In terms of the show, it’s interesting to consider what Cat Grant might be pursuing during her leave of absence. I initially thought she might be taking more time to spend with her sons — and she still could — though it sounds like she’s looking for a new professional challenge. What else might Cat Grant look to master?
Anyway, Cat tells Kara to own her power, and this is something Kara does both in confronting Snapper Carr with a story that proves that she has what it takes to work for him and as Supergirl when she and Clark need to take on the challenge of two Metallos.
Let’s rewind a bit, first. Cadmus turned episode 1’s failed assassin, John Corben, into Metallo, a man with a metal skeleton and a Kryptonite power source that he can use as a weapon. He attacks once and gets the upper hand over the super cousins, but they eventually get the better of him and both sides retreat to lick their wounds.
Cadmus then turns another one of its agents into a second Metallo and sets Corben to National City and the second Metallo to Metropolis. The goal is to divide Superman and Supergirl to their respective cities.
But because so much of Kara’s power comes from her ability to love — and by extension her loved ones — she embraces her power by bringing everyone together. Superman and J’onn team up to fight the Metallo in Metropolis while Kara and Alex (in the Kryptonite suit from Non’s attack) team up to fight Corben in National City. The fights are brutal, but with the help of Winn’s Kryptonite shields the good guys come out on top.
There was a moment that Superman had Metallo by the throat with a furious look on his face, and I couldn’t help but think of Man of Steel and its murderous Superman. On Supergirl, though, J’onn is the one to remove the Metallo’s power source while Superman makes a sassy quip about putting him in timeout. And once again I’m reminded that the Supergirl writers get the character of Superman.
So, the Metallos were defeated but the fight against Cadmus has only just begun. And since Cadmus is anti-alien in general, I imagine they will be a threat to both Supergirl and Superman, so I hope we’ll see Tyler Hoechlin as Superman again.
Speaking of Cadmus, where did they get Kryptonite when the only people who have it should be the DEO? It turns out there is a mole in the DEO working for Cadmus who stole a shipment. When Winn reveals that Kryptonite leaves behind a trace, they use a Geiger counter to sniff out the mole.
Alex sets up an operation to catch him, but she’s ambushed by The Doctor (Cadmus’ leader) and several of her agents. The Doctor taunts Alex with information about her father, saying Alex should remember him as he was, but Alex isn’t intimidated. Alex swears she will come for The Doctor and with Kara’s help, stops the Cadmus agents left to kill her. But this is confirmation that Cadmus has Jeremiah and that he is alive.
So, here’s my theory (which has been swirling in my mind since we learned Jeremiah is alive): Jeremiah will become Cyborg Superman. Hank Henshaw, in the comics, is Cyborg Superman but he’s J’onn J’onzz in the show. However, there is a second Cyborg Superman in the comics; in the New 52 relaunch, Zor-El is Cyborg Superman. That’s right, Kara’s father.
I’m theorizing that Supergirl will pay homage to Dean Cain’s role as Superman as well as the New 52 version of Cyborg Superman by having Cadmus modify Jeremiah, Kara’s adoptive father, into Cyborg Superman and set him against the Kryptonians and their allies.
Anyway, after everything goes down, Clark heads back to Metropolis, sends Kara a cute text message about missing her and then promptly is reamed out by Perry White for being on vacation for so long. Come back soon, Clark. You are adorable.
Oh, and Kara and Alex had a bit of a fight when Kara thought about running away from their problems, but as usual, the two came together in the end because they are stronger together.
Watch a promo for the next episode
