What I’m Watching: Supergirl

Supergirl: Season 1, Episode 16 “Falling” (B+)

The best part of having Supergirl constantly subject to unpredictable elements that change her behavior is that we get to see Melissa Benoist demonstrate some serious and entertaining acting abilities. After she was her old self and reacted to catching Winn and Siobhan having sex in the closet, she encountered some red kryptonite and then things started to get pretty weird. Dressing snappily and taking Cat’s elevator seemed like harmless enough changes that just made her more self-assured, but letting an alien go with simply a warning not to annoy her was a more destructing and troubling move. Throwing Cat off a roof and catching her just before she hit the ground was the most worrisome of all, and Cat holding a press conference to declare her former hero unreliable was among the more sensible and defendable things she’s ever done. Naturally, Max Lord was the one who created Red Kryptonite, and he was pretty willing to help create an antidote once he saw what was happening. While everything Kara said to Alex seems not to have stuck or stung as much as it could have, what she said to James about Lucy has likely made their eventual romance much further off since he couldn’t shake it. Hank changing into the Martian Manhunter in front of everyone to take Kara down was a bold and selfless move, and now it appears that he’s in big trouble, regarded as an enemy combatant by his former ally Senator Crane. It didn’t take long for Siobhan to get fired, but something tells me that she won’t be gone for long and will be back with a vengeance.