In action-packed fall finale, Supergirl brought the story of Astra Zor-El to a new level as we learned more about Kara’s Kryptonian aunt, while Cat Grant went through a major crisis at CatCo.
The return of Astra also featured the introduction of Chris Vance as the DC Comics baddie Non, whose Supergirl incarnation is a complete 180 from the Superman II version. His debut was, compared to other introductions of other DC Comics characters on these TV shows, really intense from the get-go which was a nice change. The twist that he was Astra’s husband wasn’t anything too big, mostly because this version of Non is obviously (and for good reasons) going to be very different all together. While the action scenes between Kara and Astra were better from their last fight, it was the flashbacks that I really appreciated this time around since we get to see that maybe Astra wasn’t as bad as we thought of her to be at the start.
Cat continues to become one of the best developed characters on Supergirl, as she has to deal with a hacking scandal at CatCo. I don’t know whether to be concerned or amused by the fact that Cat was so freakishly calm throughout this event, but that doesn’t matter because it was just fun in general to see how she responded to everything. We learn a big secret about her which is that she has another son, Adam Foster (who will be played by Melissa Benoist’s real life husband, Blake Jenner), which might foreshadow to something from the comics, but we won’t go into that territory just yet.
While this Kryptonian mess was going down, the B-plot of “Hostile Takeover” focused on Kara, Winn, James, and Lucy (who is becoming a much better character as time goes on) working together to expose Dirk Armstrong, as he was the one to leak all of Cat’s personal information in an effort to get her to step down from CatCo. I love whenever a show like Supergirl can make the very human-y missions just as enjoyable and entertaining as the superhero adventures.
However, the biggest moment from this whole storyline was the ending with Cat (finally) learning that Kara is Supergirl. Cat’s reaction was priceless, because it was so respectful and neat. It will be intriguing to see how the series deals with that reveal going forward when the show returns in January, but I think it’s safe to say that Cat will not be exposing Kara’s secret to anyone. Welcome to Team Supergirl, Cat!
The episode concludes with a cliffhanger, as Non and several Kryptonian soldiers go after Maxwell Lord and eventually Hank, Alex, and the D.E.O. The closing moments of the hour featured several terrific action sequences, and Blake Neely’s score throughout all those fights fit in really well. As a comic book reader, I love whenever a final page has the hero and villain running, flying, or approaching each other for a big fight, ending with “To Be Continued,” which is exactly how this episode concluded: Supergirl crashes the fight and gets ready to take down Non. That is literally one of my favorite types of cliffhangers, and overall, “Hostile Takeover” was a solid fall finale for what has been a super (pun intended) first half for the Girl of Steel’s first season.
Supergirl returns with new episodes on Monday Jan. 4, at 8/7c on CBS.
[Photo credit: Monty Brinton/CBS]
