TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Supergirl Season 02 Episode 02: The Last Children of Krypton

After a strong premiere, it was important that Supergirl continue its new momentum as it continues to adjust to the CW. While not as good as the premiere, “Last Children of Krypton” was a solid entry in Season 02, and a nice cap on the “transition” arc the show is going through.

I will say to start that Hoelchin’s Superman/Clark Kent is still pretty awesome. If you thought his charm would fade after one episode, you would be wrong. In fact, the writers went out of their way to ensure that you still loved the Superman/Supergirl dynamic with a fun opening segment. But of course, you knew it wouldn’t last.

Enter Metallo. Or should I say…Metallos? As Cadmus sent not one, but two Kryptonite heart men to both National City and Metropolis to try and bring down the Supers. On the surface, thisn’t too bad. However, this made a key Superman villain feel really general. Metallo is one of Superman’s deadliest villains because of the Kryptonite heart, making it so Superman can’t get close to him at all. The first battle with Metallo showed this to a “T”, but then he became just another soldier in Cadmus’ game, and thus no real depth was given to the character.

It also didn’t help that Cadmus hasn’t been given a lot of spotlight. We have one “face” of the company and the rest are grunts. They’re anti-alien, but that’s all we know. Why are they only striking now? What’s changed? Are they really only focused on the Supers? A lot of things just don’t add up.

Which brings me to one of my biggest complaints, Supergirl’s “attachment” to Clark/Superman. On one hand, I understand entirely her desire to want to be with Superman as long as he is in National City. However, it grew to a near stalker level, including her wanting to move to Metropolis to be with him. That doesn’t sound like the Kara from Season 01 who wanted to be an individual, not a follower. Moreso, when she talked about family, and how he made her feel “normal” or what not, it’s like she forgot Alex existed…even though she was in the room! Which of course sent Alex on a rant (poor Wynn), and later on caused the obligatory “I’m sorry for earlier” chat. Supergirl often went too cheesy in its stories in Season 01, I was hoping they kicked the trend in Season 02, guess not.

A fun dynamic was the continuing “standoff” relationship between Superman and Jonn. As Superman doesn’t trust Jonn because he kept Kryptonite at the DEO, while Jonn was adamant that it was needed because he lost Mars due to such lack in preparedness. On one hand, you might think Superman is being in the right here. However, in the comics, Superman knew that Kryptonite was necessary, as he had been taken control of many times in the past. In fact, in one storyline, he gave Batman a piece of Kryptonite so that at least one of his allies would be ready just in case. The fact that Superman doesn’t think like this gives me pause.

A sad note this week was the “departure” of Cat, an unfortunate casualty of the switch from CBS to CW. She made the most of her time on screen in the episodes, including helping Kara with her new boss Snapper Carr. She’ll be back, but not in the frequency of Season 01. Hopefully she’ll grace us with her presence soon.

The less I talk about the reporter arc, the better. Snapper is basically the male version of Cat. And it shows. Which is sad, because his point about Kara was actually true, but it came off as early Season 01 Cat, which made it redundant. Hopefully it’ll improve as time goes on.

I know like it sounds like I’m bashing this episode a lot, and I am in some ways. But this gripes didn’t bring down the episode too much. The fight scenes, good dynamics, and the fun 2v1 battles at the end were pretty cool, and Season 02 is still going strong in my mind. Let’s just hope that with Superman gone, Supergirl can once again stand on her own.