Supergirl: Falling

March 15, 2016 6:45 AM - Season 1, Episode 16

After being exposed to red kryptonite, Kara turns malicious and becomes a danger to her friends and to the people of National City; Cat discusses Supergirl on "The Talk."
posted by oh yeah! (19 comments total)

Benoist was amazing in her scene with Alex, feeling the shame and self-recrimination for expressing her darkest thoughts. This is a not-uncommon genre trope, the external agent altering personality so that the inner asshole is revealed -- and part of the point is that it's so much worse that you have to own these things, they're not entirely false. And we all understand this quite well, it's an analogy to our experience with either alcohol or other mind-altering substances or, really, just those times during extreme emotional stress when we find ourselves being a terrible, hurtful person. This trope works because it's not claimed to be possession, but alteration or exageration, like in real-life. And like in real-life, it's terrible and heartbreaking and can't be undone, only survived and healed from.

But a big part of the emotional heft of this is how well an actor portrays the damage they've done to themselves, having released those demons. And I think that Benoist was completely, utterly believable. Also, how other characters react is extremely important and in the scene in her apartment when Kara is saying those awful things to Alex, Chyler Leigh's acting was also very good. Her expression combined everything that she was feeling -- that the words were hurting her, as they were meant to, that she was hurting for Kara, knowing how much these words would (eventually) hurt Kara, as well. I think that had Leigh made different choices, that scene would have lacked much of its power, too. The best part of this show for me -- truly -- is how well they've handled the sisterly relationship between Kara and Alex.

Overall, Benoist was strong for the entire episode. She played mean-Kara very convincingly -- I didn't feel like she'd become someone else, but a different version of herself. What I'd really like to see from this -- although I know it's contrary to the whole Supergirl aesthetic -- is for Kara to realize that her personality is slightly out-of-balance, that while she very much is the genuinely good and kind and noble person, she does have resentments and anger and she is more than a little dangerous and that pretending that this isn't true is, in a way, hurting her, she's overcompensating for something. I'd like to see her personality be a bit more integrated. But that would be a realist show, not this show.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 11:15 AM on March 15, 2016 [7 favorites]

Overall, Benoist was strong for the entire episode. She played mean-Kara very convincingly -- I didn't feel like she'd become someone else, but a different version of herself.

For a couple minutes my wife and I were really digging mean-Kara. The clothes, the attitude, it was all really fun. Then something happened and my wife just said "this isn't fun anymore" and, she was right, it wasn't. Benoist really nailed both halves of that experience. Just a phenomenal job.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 1:01 PM on March 15, 2016 [9 favorites]

for Kara to realize that her personality is slightly out-of-balance, that while she very much is the genuinely good and kind and noble person, she does have resentments and anger and she is more than a little dangerous and that pretending that this isn't true is, in a way, hurting her, she's overcompensating for something.

Hold the phone -- that's exactly what happened with Winn!

I don't think it's contrary to the _show_ aesthetic.

Also, you go, Melissa Benoist. Such a good job.

Also, costumes kind of rocked.
posted by amtho at 1:41 PM on March 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

that would be a realist show, not this show.

i know the show's been inconsistent on a lot of things, but i thought they'd been planting seeds for awhile. it wouldn't have made sense to the viewer if we didn't already know kara has a complicated emotional life. take alex/kara. the black mercy we saw her say "i don't have a sister." we got that again. when alex talks to AI!alura she admits to her childhood jealousy of kara. certainly in the thanksgiving episode we know kara knows that there's a double standard in how they're treated by foster/mom. kara said alex only got the DEO job because of her in the pilot (?) and that her entire job was taking care of kara, and this ep it became "without me you have no life." can't remember if there are any other callbacks to tension between the danvers sisters but i'm probably missing some.

after "hank" killed astra we saw her bitterness and we knew, once alex told the truth, that that wasn't resolved even though her first instinct was to take care of alex. red tornado we saw her lose her cool at the school crosswalk road rage driver, and when she killed red tornado that was the first time i think we really saw her pain from losing krypton. car-punching stress relief with james. when max is in detention and he threatens her foster mom she does the red eye warmup thing that she does at alex at the end of this episode. re: siobhan "I could throw her into space. I dream about doing that."

basically there's been a lot of little things where kara is definitely not a harmless sweetheart and i love the idea that deep down she's known for a long time she could be a god. she had to learn somehow not to accidentally break people's arms (maybe this was not the first time she broke alex's?). how hard she could hug. when it was not ok to use her superhearing and xray vision so as to respect people's privacy. maybe she's a walking lie detector and she's learned to ignore a million lies from people's hearts beating faster, so she knows all the little resentments and half-truths that the people around her live with, and that she in turn is forced to live with. holding back is second nature to her by necessity and unbottled there is a lot of shit buried inside.

Then something happened and my wife just said "this isn't fun anymore" and, she was right, it wasn't.

was it siobhan? that was the only scene i couldn't watch again because even though the firing makes sense, i still felt really bad for her. not just for kara's glee about it but the way cat went all salt the earth with calling the other newspaper. and kara knows what cat is capable of so this was no surprise.

my favorite episode hands down. i love the good guy turns bad trope if the actor and writers can pull it off. i love my faves hurting each other. acting was great from everyone, but goddamn benoist. goddamn!
posted by twist my arm at 2:34 PM on March 15, 2016 [5 favorites]

I've never liked the idea of James and Kara as a couple. They seem like they're in entirely different places in their lives (job-wise, relationship-experience-wise, etc.) so I'm glad to see that this episode didn't result in them getting together. But boy was I ticked off about the way James handled it. What is wrong with him? He can't cope with a full human being, one who has a range of thoughts and feelings and emotions? It seems he can only appreciate Kara in her golden retriever puppy mode when she's all happy and fawning all over him. So she admitted that she experienced feelings of jealousy. Well sure, that's not a 100 per cent positive emotion, but it is tied in with the fact that she has strong feelings for him. Surely that must be worth something, but apparently it isn't.

Alex and Kara had to face some hard truths but they resolved to deal with them like mature adults. Even Winn who seems to be involved in a relationship that he doesn't really want (except for the physical part), was adult enough to try to check in with Siobhan after she got fired because he was concerned for her well being. Everybody on this show seems to be behaving more maturely than Mr. Perfect James Olsen. It's time for him to shape up.
posted by sardonyx at 7:01 PM on March 15, 2016 [3 favorites]

Review of the episode that likens red Kryptonite to depression, or something like that. Not sure on the analogy, but it was interesting.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:56 PM on March 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

man, now the DEO is gonna be run by a paranoid xenophobic politician. why you gotta reflect real life, show?
posted by numaner at 7:45 PM on March 16, 2016 [2 favorites]

i saw hank wink at alex when he's already in secret alien prison, but i did not catch him winking when he was red martian and she's begging him to run.

I've never liked the idea of James and Kara as a couple.

"I love 'em, but they’re not good enough for her." - @chy_leigh talking about James & Winn as love interests for Kara

same
posted by twist my arm at 9:59 PM on March 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yeah, the scenes like the last scene with Alex and Kara are what make this show, and lift it up amongst the bits that don't work (the awful girl power bits that just don't seem to work - for me, the soap aspects that are a little thin and the logic leaps).

And the takedown of Siobhan was pretty amazing (if totally lame for what is basically part of a villain origin)
(Although, until the second outfit change I didn't really realise that Kara dresses 'dowdy' - well, Hollywood dowdy).

I did love the Superman III callback too.
posted by Mezentian at 4:36 AM on March 17, 2016

This was much better than earlier episodes. I really liked how they slowly increased how Red Kryptonite affected Kara rather than have than have it all happen at once.

I take it if the show stays true to the comics (I'm not familiar with them) then Hank isn't really trapped by the prison?
posted by plastic_animals at 7:54 AM on March 17, 2016

basically there's been a lot of little things where kara is definitely not a harmless sweetheart and i love the idea that deep down she's known for a long time she could be a god.

I know that Superman got the "World of Cardboard" speech, but Supergirl actually shows it. In speech, mannerisms, dress- all throughout this season, Kara shows how she's emotionally limiting herself, not just because of society's expectations, but because actually cutting loose scares her. Her own power and potential scares her, so she keeps herself "safe".
posted by happyroach at 8:33 AM on March 17, 2016 [4 favorites]

In speech, mannerisms, dress- all throughout this season, Kara shows how she's emotionally limiting herself, not just because of society's expectations, but because actually cutting loose scares her. Her own power and potential scares her, so she keeps herself "safe".

yes. i read this meta on tumblr inspired by the clothes/walk and that comment where kara accuses alex of dressing her like shit to make her less hot. whether alex did that on purpose or not (there are accurate parts of the conversation and more deluded parts), when she dresses up and does a model stomp runway walk-- basically a cat grant walk BUT EVEN CRAZIER-- she is way too noticeable. which is a problem given her lifestyle choice.
posted by twist my arm at 11:24 AM on March 17, 2016

I was still pretty much on evil Kara's side up through tossing Cat off the building.

I'm probably a terrible person.
posted by Zed at 8:27 PM on March 17, 2016

If the comics (especially the earlier ones) are used as canon, then Red Kryptonite has different effects, where you see a Supes get irradiated and wait around to see what happens next.

Also there is a white, gold and rainbow kryptonite, as far as my fading memories tell me.
posted by arzakh at 4:16 AM on March 18, 2016

Also there is a white, gold and rainbow kryptonite, as far as my fading memories tell me.

You know, I thought there were about eight or nine kinds. I was wrong..

Best:
Periwinkle - Exposure causes Kryptonians to lose all inhibitions.

I am astounded that they have kept increasing the numbers of kryptonite. It's like Crisis never happened!

(You won't believe what pink kryptonite does! No, wait. Maybe you will).
posted by Mezentian at 4:21 AM on March 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

Cat's vocalisations while falling, and her reactions after the fall, were really spot on. Good job, Flockhart.

Not sure what was going on with her during the talk show segment. Wouldn't she know better than to stare straight forward? Wouldn't she look at the other participants and talk _to_ them? What was up with that?
posted by amtho at 10:46 AM on March 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

I noticed the same thing! There was some discontinuity evident in the editing, too, which made me wonder about how that scene was shot and if maybe there were problems with it in post.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 3:14 PM on March 18, 2016

However unlikely, I would love a tiny moment between Kara and Barry Allen of bonding over "that time red Kryptonite / Rainbow Raider made me an asshole." Fortunately for Barry, his allies knew what was going on, so he had less opportunity for "lightning psychosis" to totally wreck his life.

Melissa/Kara crying made me cry. She really is the perfect Supergirl. The fraught/loving relationship between the Danvers sisters makes the show for me, the way they know exactly how to most hurt each other because they love each other so much. I flinched in recognition of that awful mid-fight feeling when you realize you were angry enough to say something horrible and petty that is both true and something you think, but not what you meant, dammit.

I felt actual physical relief when Winn made it through the episode without Mean Kara paying him much attention. Because there are so many 100% true and vicious things about Winn that Mean Kara could say to him, and it would be excruciating to watch, and their friendship would not survive it. Winn can be a frustrating character, but I don't want him emotionally flayed.

I wonder if/how much Max was being honest with Alex about his intentions with the Kryptonite. Is the show building toward Max being kinda sorta helpful out of genuine affection for Alex? Or will he end up kidnapping her to his secret undersea supervillain lair to be his unholy bride? Because Max definitely has a crush on her.
posted by nicebookrack at 1:44 PM on March 21, 2016 [2 favorites]

I felt that beating up James and the Bizarro-creation program revealed Max as a straight-up villain and that disappointed me. I was enjoying him as a not-quite-villainous foil.
posted by Zed at 7:47 PM on March 23, 2016