Livewire – Channel: Superhero

Episode Title: World’s Finest

Original Airdate: 03-28-2016

Otherwise known as The One Where The Flash Guest Stars. If it’s possible for two shows to poke meta-referential fun at each other, “World’s Finest” does the job well. It has to be remembered that at one point a crossover between CW’s The Flash and CBS’s Supergirl was never even on the table: producer Greg Berlanti stated that bringing either hero into each other’s respective universes was a pretty big long shot, and yet here we are, 18 episodes into Supergirl’s first season (and a dozen or more into Flash’s 2nd) and both Barry Allen and Kara Danvers trade interdimensional references and powers in one of the “fun” episodes of the series’ run thus far.

Continue reading Supergirl S01:E18

Episode Title: Livewire*

Original Airdate: 11-16-15

*Author’s note: Due to a major terrorist attack in Paris on November 13, the original episode due to be broadcast, “How Does She Do It?”, was pulled from airing by CBS due to similarities between the plot and the tragic events in France. “Livewire” was intended to be the 5th episode of the season. “How Does She Do It?” will be transmitted on November 23rd.

Family. You can’t choose it, and it’s something that defines us. “Livewire” sees the arrival of Kara’s adopted mother, Eliza Danvers, for more than the début episode’s cameo, which gives us the always awesome Helen Slater. Eliza’s fractured relationship with Alex brings with it a nice little plot twist in Hank Henshaw’s involvement with Supergirl. The show’s always really been about family, and “Livewire” has a focus on this aspect of the franchise (due mainly to its Thanksgiving setting) that is rather touching. Even the episode’s villain, the titular Livewire, finds herself brought into the framework of family in a way that actually gives the normally fractious Cat Grant a moment of melancholy. Okay, it’s not all warm-fuzzies here, but thus far in the show’s run it hasn’t taken this much time out of its breakneck pacing to actually deliver character moments that work as well as they do here.

Continue reading Supergirl S:01 E:05