Supergirl Season 1 Episode 6 Review: ”Red Faced”

This week’s Supergirl featured Kara going up against another famous DC Comics character, as Red Tornado made his way from the comic book pages into the world of live-action, while the Girl of Steel had to deal with a very specific emotion: anger.

As someone who has been a huge fan of the Red Tornado character since his role in the Young Justice animated series, it’s been one of the most anticipated characters for me when it comes with this show as this marked as his live-action debut. While the costume is still something I’m mixed with as well as the creative decision to have him portrayed as an antagonist, the visual aspect of his appearance was very solid. Even though we know this show has a big budget behind it, the line must go somewhere and yet we got movie quality to him.

We also met his creator Dr. T.O. Morrow and Iddo Goldberg did a very solid job in bringing that character to life as well, although the issue with both him and Red Tornado was that they weren’t in the episode enough. Then there is the whole thing with both of them being killed off (or in Red Tornado’s case: destroyed) and that was shocking because you figured they would be characters that the show would try to have as recurring characters. Although with this being a comic book TV show, it’s possible that we haven’t seen the last of them.

The thing that Supergirl keeps doing so well with each week is that despite all the super-powers, action sequences we get, it’s the emotional impact that it has on Kara that I’m most intrigued with. This episode explored the theme of expressing anger, how to control it and not let it be used against you which was done very solidly. As Kara has to deal with Jimmy being with Lucy, who is revealed to be working in the military with General Lane who, like all his previous incarnations, is a complete huge jerk, we also see Cat having to deal with the mess that is her diva-mother. I can’t imagine having to grow up in a house with that woman.

Even though Cat (as far as we know) doesn’t know that her assistant is the Girl of Steel, I love how the writers are able to really have her be a mentor to not just Kara, but to Supergirl too. Seeing her and Kara chat, after she lashed out on Cat at CatCo, about the importance of finding the anger behind the anger, made the episode even more enjoyable and it gives you another example of how this is more than just another terrific Greg Berlanti superhero show, but also a great human story. The scene where Kara later on takes down Red Tornado with a massive usage of her heat-vision, was one of the most emotional scenes the show has featured so far. You get to see how she feels and experiences the moment Krypton exploded.

However, her over-usage of her heat-vision somehow drained her as she is seen at the end of the episode, being without powers which had the comic book fan in me slightly confused, but in a good way. Overall, “Red Faced” was more of an emotionally driven episode which not only left Kara in a tricky situation, but also Alex as she learns that the last person to have seen her father alive, is Hank Henshaw whose character became an even bigger mystery. Only time will tell what Hank is up to and what he may or may not be.

Supergirl airs Mondays at 8/7c on CBS.

[Photo credit: Darren Michaels/CBS]