'Supergirl' Review and Recap: "The Last Children of Krypton"

Megan Miller ’17 / Emertainment Monthly Staff TV Writer
Kara Zor-El faces the winds of change on this week’s episode of Supergirl. Just as Kara “Supergirl” Zor-El (Melissa Benoist) begins to realize how much fun a partner in crime—crime solving?—can be, Clark “Superman” Kent (Tyler Hoechlin) informs her that he’s going back to Metropolis. At the same time, her new boss, Snapper Carr (Ian Gomez), decides that she is “unhired;” Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart), her idol and mentor, announces that she is taking a leave of absence from CatCo; and John Corben (Frederick Schmidt), international assassin–turned–supervillain, returns from Cadmus having  transformed into a kryptonite-infused weapon named Metallo.

When Cadmus reveals itself to the world, Kent delays his departure, prompting the Doctor to create a second Metallo that wreaks havoc on Metropolis while Supergirl and Superman take on Corben in National City. When they arrive in Metropolis to a scene of devastation, Kent expresses guilt for not returning to the city sooner.
Amidst these simultaneous changes, Zor-El makes a few rash decisions. She considers leaving CatCo along with Grant, and moving to Metropolis with her cousin, a possibility Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh) takes as a personal affront. In turn, Danvers blows off steam by hunting down the mole in the Department of Extra-Normal Operations (D.E.O.). With the help of the newest D.E.O. employee Winn Schott (Jeremy Jordan), the mole in the agency leads her to the doctor who created Metallo (Brenda Strong), who makes several cryptic comments about Danvers’s father, telling her that she has been brainwashed into believing that there are good aliens.

Back at the D.E.O., Clark and J’onn J’onzz (David Harewood), the Martian D.E.O. director, argue over J’onzz’s insistence on keeping kryptonite for emergency purposes. They are forced to collaborate to figure out how to defeat Metallo, and so visit the Fortress of Solitude together. J’onzz explains to Kent that they need to work together because they are both the last of their kind, but Kent reminds the director that he doesn’t trust J’onzz because J’onzz doesn’t trust him.
When each Metallo attacks a city, Metropolis and National City, Zor-El and Kent tend to their respective cities with the help of each of their combative D.E.O. agents—Supergirl with Davers, Superman with J’onzz. In a heart-warming show of comraderie, they come together to destroy the Kryptonite-based villains. J’onzz allows Clark to dispose of Earth’s remaining kryptonite, while the idea that Zor-El might move to Metropolis is not at all addressed. Following another empowering speech from Grant as she leaves, and a heart-to-heart between her and Supergirl, Zor-El turns in an article to Snapper, and he begrudgingly allows her to return the next day. James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks), largely absent this episode following Zor-El’s rejection in episode one, takes over Grant’s job. Kent returns to Metropolis to be berated by his boss another day.

The episode wraps up neatly, but with little payoff. Though the relationships were charming, the stakes concerning the kryptonite were high, and Grant’s exit was bittersweet; considering the amount of buildup in ads and trailers over the past week, the follow-through was kind of disappointing. Though admittedly some tears were shed during Grant’s parting scenes, overall there did not seem to be any real intensity built around Metallo, who was made out to be the Kryptonians’ ultimate adversary. The few scenes within Cadmus with the Doctor were good, but few and far between. Conflict between the characters was wrapped up almost too quickly, with nearly no explanation on why relations were suddenly positive. The end result had viewers asking, “That was it?” as the credits rolled.
Overall Episode Grade: C+