Falling (Supergirl)

"Falling"
Supergirl episode
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 16
Directed by Larry Teng
Story by Robert Rovner & Jessica Queller
Production code 4X7616
Original air date March 14, 2016 (2016-03-14)
Guest actors

"Falling" is the sixteenth episode in the first season of the CBS television series Supergirl, which aired on March 14, 2016. The episode's teleplay was written by Robert Rovner & Jessica Queller, and directed by Larry Teng.

Plot

Cat is interviewed on an episode of The Talk, during which she speaks very highly of Supergirl. As Cat returns to the office, she asks Kara to find Winn, whom Kara sees making out with Siobhan in a storage closet using her X-ray vision. Kara also speaks to James, who confirms to her that he and Lucy have broken up. Later at the DEO, Senator Crane is impressed with Hank's leadership and offers to provide additional funding to the agency. When Kara hears of a fire caused by a crashed satellite, she races off to assist in the rescue efforts. Suddenly, Kara staggers, and red glowing veins briefly appear on her face. She ignores it and flies off, not noticing the glowing red object underneath the debris of the satellite.

Kara develops a more confident and abrasive attitude, leading her to wear new, more stylish outfits and upstage Siobhan when Cat asks for a list of replacements for Lucy at work. The behavior also affects the DEO's mission to capture a K'Hund, who has been staging a series of armed robberies. As a result, when Kara fights the K'Hund, she ultimately lets him go, believing him not worth her time, and tells Alex as she arrives that the K'Hund escaped on his own. Alex and Hank are upset, unable to believe how different Kara is acting, but Kara angrily criticizes Hank for hiding his true identity as the Martian Manhunter.

At CatCo, Kara and Cat, who is growing tired of Kara's new behavior, are interrupted by Siobhan. She presents footage of Supergirl letting the K'Hund go, but Cat refuses to run the story. Distracting her, Kara discovers Siobhan is planning to give the story to the Daily Planet, hoping Perry White would give her a job. She prints off the e-mail and presents it to Cat, who fires Siobhan for her self-centered disloyalty, pleasing Kara. Alex eventually captures the K'Hund, who tells both Alex and Hank what really happened. That night at a party, Winn is worried about Siobhan while Kara starts to making advances towards James, insulting Lucy in the process and making James uncomfortable. They are interrupted by a call from Cat, who asks James to get in touch with Supergirl for her. When Kara arrives at CatCo, she rudely dresses down Cat before throwing her off the balcony and saving her at the last second to instill fear. James and Winn head to the DEO to inform Hank and Alex about Kara's strange behavior. Hank suspects that she was affected by something and runs a scan that detects some form of kryptonite at the location of the fire. Maxwell Lord arrives and admits that the substance was a synthetic kryptonite originally meant to be used against Non and his Kryptonian army. He explains that Kara's infection was an accident, and offers to help create a antidote. When Alex confronts Kara, who is now clad in a Kryptonian military uniform, Kara pours out years of resentment on Alex before flying off.

Cat issues a public announcement denouncing Supergirl's behavior and warning the people of National City to stay away from her. As Maxwell finishes the antidote, which he gives to Alex, Senator Crane orders a reluctant Hank to turn Supergirl in. A DEO team contronts Kara while she is wreaking havoc in National City, but she takes everyone out including Alex. Seeing Kara about to kill Alex with her heat vision, Hank decides to reveal himself as the Martian Manhunter and fights Kara into submission, allowing Alex to administer the antidote. J'onn is surrounded by the DEO and Alex tells him to escape, but he chooses to revert to Hank and surrenders to the DEO's custody. At DEO headquarters, Kara regains consciousness and apologizes to Alex, hoping to repair their relationship. J'onn, now imprisoned, is asked by Senator Crane for the truth about what happened to the real Hank Henshaw, but J'onn gives no answer, leaving Crane to wonder if she can trust aliens. Alex later arrives and asks why he didn't escape, but he replies that he is willing to stay locked up to protect her and Kara. Kara later apologizes to James, admitting to having been jealous of Lucy, but James tells Kara he needs time to think. Supergirl later appears to Cat, expressing remorse for her actions and for failing National City. Cat replies that winning back the trust of National City will be difficult, but expresses confidence that Supergirl will be able to do so.

Reception

The episode received very positive reviews with some critics calling it the best episode of the show so far. Cliff Wheatley of IGN gave the episode an 8.9/10: What could have been a gimmicky one-off episode is instead one of the series’ best. The red Kryptonite brought out the wickedness in Supergirl and the acting chops in Melissa Benoist, allowing for a few humorous moments that gave way to some huge dramatic scenes that will have a profound impact on the show going forward. Yes, there were a couple things that didn’t work that well -- Maxwell Lord’s exposition dump, not using green Kryptonite on Supergirl -- but they can be forgiven thanks to the excellent emotional impact caused by that red rock."[1] Stacy Glanzman of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 5.0 out of 5 stars.[2] Caroline Siede of the AV Club gave the episode an A-, "But “Falling” trims the fat with remarkable confidence, leaving behind Supergirl’s most effortless episode yet."[3]

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, April 23, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.