This episode of Supergirl, Kara meets Livewire, a girl who has somehow developed some electrical powers. Check out the recap on this Thanksgiving episode of Supergirl and check out our review on it after the jump!
Don’t need the Supergirl episode recap for Livewire? Click here to jump directly to Violet’s thoughts on the episode!
To see Josh’s thoughts on this week’s Supergirl episode, Livewire, click here to get directly there!
Episode Recap of Supergirl, Season 1 Episode 4: Livewire
So on this holiday episode of Supergirl, it starts off with a villain that is cuffed that gets loose in the DEO. The DEO jumps into action, but who saves the day? Supergirl of course! Alex, meanwhile, calls from home and seems panicked about Kara not being there. After Kara defeats the villain, she gets a job well done from Henshaw and heads to Alex’s house.
At home, Alex tells her mom is on the way, and Alex is all nervous. She thinks mom is going to be upset about Kara coming out as Supergirl. Kara decides to answer the door (in full Supergirl garb), and her mom of course tells Alex she looks “tired.” Alex seems relieved, as mom isn’t in a bad mood.
Meanwhile, we hear a radio DJ, Leslie Willis, who is dragging Supergirl across the coals for being “adork-able.” Cat Grant catches wind of these insults, and she is none too happy about this. She has a meeting with Leslie, and basically demotes her to traffic reporter as punishment, since she can’t fire her. Meanwhile, Winn and Kara talk about Thanksgiving, and Winn seems to have no one to hang out with. Kara invites him to their Thanksgiving so he isn’t alone.
Later, Kara runs into Jimmy Olsen at a restaurant, and Kara invites him to Thanksgiving. But he is going to Ojai, and more importantly he is going with Lucy–alone. Kara seems a little sad about that revelation. Lucy then shows up, and Jimmy seems a little disappointed. Odd. Then Alex shows up, and she tells Kara that her mom is secretly upset about Kara coming out. Kara then tells Alex that she should come out about being a DEO agent, too. Kara reasons that Alex’s career is dedicated to protecting Kara, just like mommy wants.
Leslie has a job almost immediately, so she gets up in the air, on a pretty stormy night. Things get a little hairy, and the helicopter goes down. Kara heads out to save the day, and saves the pilot. She heads back for Leslie, and as she grabs for her, Kara is struck by lightning, which then shocks Leslie unconscious.
Leslie ends up in a coma at the hospital, and Cat and Kara visit her. Cat seems indignant about Leslie’s condition, but seems to also sort of care about her being hurt. Cat and Kara leave after some time. One big note about Leslie–her hair is now completely white, and she seems to have absorbed some sort of electrical powers.
At home, Alex starts getting reamed by her mom about Kara becoming Supergirl. Alex tells her mother that it’s not her fault that Kara decided to make this choice. Alex storms out.
Then Leslie sneaks out of the hospital, and a creep tries to take advantage of Leslie. But her new found powers zap the guy unconscious, and see seems excited about her new abilities.
Then at home, Alex, Kara, Winn, and mom sit down for Thanksgiving. Alex and mom get into another tiff, and Alex decides to come clean about her DEO job. Rather than soothe mom’s worries, it seems to elevate them. Meanwhile, Kara gets a call from Jimmy, which gets under Winn’s skin. On the phone, Jimmy comforts Kara about her family drama, and seems a little bored on his Ojai trip. Meanwhile, mom gets frustrated with Alex again, and is annoyed about Alex lying about her job for years. Alex and Winn step away, and Kara talks with mom, and tries to defend Alex. Rather than wait for mom to respond, she heads to help Cat Grant at the office.
At the office, the electronics seem out and Cat is annoyed she can’t work. Things go worse with the lights going out, and then Leslie makes herself known on the multiple monitors. She calls herself Livewire now, and she has a beef with Cat. Livewire comes through the monitors and attacks. Cat tells Kara to get security, but Kara tries to stay to help. Cat would rather her get security. Kara leaves, but shows back up as Supergirl. The two super beings fight, and Cat makes an escape to an elevator. But Livewire makes the elevator go too fast, and Kara has to save her.
Meeting with Henshaw, Kara learns that something happened with the lightning strike, and Henshaw tells her that she has to fight Livewire’s physical form. Meanwhile, Cat is tired of the DEO trashing her office, so they take off. Henshaw tells Kara he might have a trap that can be used on Livewire. Cat tells Kara to get back to her family, and the two have a brief, candid talk, learning about each other a little more. Cat takes an interest in Kara in her shallow way.
Alex and mom meet back up again at home, and they get on the same page, talking out their issues. Then mom tells Alex she needs to talk to her and Kara about something. But Alex has to head in to work.
Then Cat meets with Supergirl, and wants to help catch Livewire. Cat leaves herself out as bait to lure Livewire out. Heading to the DEO, Henshaw has a device to capture the energy of Livewire. Cat Grant decides to broadcast on the radio to lure Livewire out. Cat calls for Livewire to meet her “where it all began.” Livewire shows up, and Cat tries to talk her down. But Livewire opens up her attacks. Supergirl shows up, and the two go at it. Things look hairy for Kara, but Cat tries to talk her down. Supergirl uses the distraction to grab a waterpipe to “short out” Livewire.
The next day, Kara meets up with Winn, and Kara learns that his family doesn’t do holidays because his dad is in prison. Winn gives Kara a peck on the cheek, thanking her for Thanksgiving. Jimmy shows up though, and Kara greets him. Heading to Cat’s office, Cat runs some articles by Kara to run. Cat decides to run an article praising organizations helping the less fortunate for Thanksgiving, which shocks Kara.
At Alex’s home, the family is finally getting happy, and mom tells the two about a secret she has kept–the dangers of the DEO. Their dad died working for the DEO.
Back at the DEO, Livewire is imprisoned, and Henshaw tells Kara to get back to work. Henshaw is surprised that Kara doesn’t have a witty comeback. When Henshaw leaves, Alex and Kara commit to finding out what happened to dad.
Flashbacks
In a flashback to when Alex and Kara were kids, the two kids head out to their roof, and Kara decides to fly Alex around despite Alex saying they shouldn’t. When they get back, mom and dad aren’t happy, and particularly not with Alex for letting Kara do this. The kids get sent to their room, and then the parents get a knock at the door. It is Henshaw with the DEO, and he seems to be on to Kara. He demands to take Kara into the DEO. But daddy makes a compromise, and offers to work for the DEO and provide intelligence on Superman. Henshaw seems to accept these terms.
Josh’s Thoughts: Supergirl, Season 1 Episode 4: Livewire
I still cannot stand Cat Grant. The show is trying to humanize her more, but for me it is just kind of annoying me more. I think the show should either drop her stupid shallow attitude and humanize her fully, or just keep her as this shallow character and have her provide some “comic relief.” I just really despise that character.
Speaking of despised characters, Livewire was really cheesy as well. I felt her introduction scene in Cat’s office on the monitors was a cheap rip off of Man of Steel‘s Zod introduction, but not nearly as done well. I hated the line referencing, “D-E-A-D, dead” and “Leslie 2.0”. That all just came off as cheesy.
The whole family drama kind of got under my skin as well. I think we have enough TV shows that deal with that, and I would prefer this focused more on the heroics rather than the silly human drum of “normal” people’s lives.
The one saving grace from this episode was the storyline leading to the death of Alex’s father. I am a little curious to see what happens there, and seeing Kara and Alex sort of play double agents with Henshaw and the DEO. I am hoping to see that eventually Kara breaks away from the DEO and the two become enemies. The one drawback I have to this, is the storyline feels very similar to the Dr. Wells/Barry Allen storyline in The Flash, with the hero figuring out their mentor is actually evil, and having to turn on them, but maybe Supergirl will find a different story to tell. I guess, while disappointed with the show so far, we will trudge on and see what is next for the show.
One final comment about the show though. This was actually supposed to be the next episode, but due to the horrible tragedy in Paris, the episode was pulled as the content has some parallels with the Paris event. I am curious to see what will happen that episode, and wonder if it will be next, or saved for later in the season. I guess we will have to find out.
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 1 Episode 4 of Supergirl: Livewire
Yeah, so Supergirl isn’t getting any less cheesy. It’s possibly becoming even more so. Oh my gosh, Livewire was just so unbelievably cheesy as a villain that I could not take this episode seriously. The only thing that I actually liked about this episode was that Dean Cain (who played Clark Kent on Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman) and Helen Slater (who played Supergirl in the 1984 movie) both made appearances. I had been wondering if we would be seeing one or both of them again at some point in the show, or if their cameos in the pilot episode were all that we would see of them. So I amused myself by filling in my own dialogue to go along with what was going on in the show. For example, Mommy Danvers makes an announcement that she has something to tell the girls. My dialogue addition for her: “I am the original Supergirl!” Then at the end when Daddy Danvers tells the DEO that he’ll give them something that he really wants — him. My dialogue addition for him: “Because I am Superman!” But yeah, adding my own dialogue based on my knowledge of their connection to the Superman/Supergirl universe was the only enjoyment I got out of this episode.
In any case, it turns out that their father is actually dead (supposedly), thanks to working for the DEO. So if we see Dean Cain again, it’ll either be through flashbacks, or if it turns out his character is actually alive. I guess I’ll admit that I’m a little curious about how he died, and what kind of evil that the DEO is up to, because I thought they were supposed to be the good guys.
This episode was actually supposed to be the fifth episode, but the episode that was supposed to be the fourth episode traded places with it. But I didn’t find there to be any huge continuity issues. The only thing that seemed off was the James/Kara/Lucy love triangle, because we only saw James and Lucy talking for a minute at the very end of the last episode. But in this episode, when James and Lucy return from their trip, Lucy seems quite friendly with Kara. I guess we’ll see on the next episode what transpired in the meantime. In this episode, it seemed like James wasn’t really interested in being with Lucy on their trip, and was more interested in sneaking off to call Kara. I guess we’ll also see how things transpired for James to agree to such a trip.
Scenes from Supergirl, Season 1 Episode 5: How Does She Do It?
Here are scenes from next week’s Supergirl episode titled How Does She Do It?:
