'Supergirl' Recap: 'Changing'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Supergirl is that rare television show that knows exactly how to give us a compelling and moving story week in and week out and it accomplishes this by providing us with a unique blend of vibrant comic book stories, rich characters and perhaps the most important element of all...reaching the audience on a personal level. There's often something everyone can relate to when they sit down to watch this show and if anything the series has managed to amp this up in its second season so far, by taking real world elements and presenting them on screen...and, by tackling some issues that people face on a daily basis.

In fact, both of these storytelling elements popped up in last night's episode 'Changing', a story where the title fits everything perfectly, because not only were we privy to a rare television appearance of the age old Superman standby villain in Parasite, but the characters on this show took some bold steps in accomplishing what has become an overreaching theme/story arc for season two...finding true happiness by embracing who you are in life, and pursuing goals that will help fulfill you on a personal level and in the process of bringing these themes back to the surface, it managed to tie together several storylines that the series set up last week, starting with James Olsen...and his quest to be a hero. 

If anything, circumstances worked out perfectly for James this week since the Parasite turned out to be quite the formidable villain for Kara and even J'onn to face off against since he was true to his comic book roots and able to sap the energy and/or life force from any being he touched and well...by laying his hands down upon National City's protector, he put her down and out for the count, leading to the opportunity for James to debut the Guardian, and this being finally gave Mon-El the chance to do something more with his powers than drink people under the table. It's clear that the battle that ensued gave James a renewed sense of purpose in life and the final showdown with Parasite and Kara was a fine demonstration of just how far she's come as a hero, since she knew the only outcome for this one was death for someone...and in taking Parasite's life...the burden of such a decision remains with her and no one else.

But, the centerpiece of this episode was that slice of real life by way of Alex's journey. After all, she's been struggling with her sexual identity for weeks now and last night, she finally came to realize that battling or repressing her feelings for women isn't something new for her, it's been a struggle her entire life and in touching fashion...she came out to her sister and well, I applaud the show for not making this some magical moment where everything was going to be okay. The show made Alex's decision scary, difficult and embarrassing and I appreciated the humanity that went into all of it, but the show had more of a story to tell us. Because in addition to coming out to Kara, and a wonderful moment where Kara lamented making her powers the focus when growing up...Alex went all out to let Maggie know what she had discovered about herself and that she wanted the opportunity to explore a relationship with Maggie...and promptly found herself rejected by the woman who brought out the best in her. It was a devastating turn of events, and outright heartbreaking to watch Alex deal with harsh rejection after expressing her feelings to the first woman that ever truly brought them to the surface.

If anything, that particular storyline gave this episode a bittersweet feel because regardless of your sexual identity, we've all been rejected by someone we've had strong feelings for, who helped us feel special and it's amazing that a show about a flying alien can find a way to reach all of us like that. Hopefully Alex bounces back from the heartbreak soon as well, because she's a damn good person who deserves someone special in her life. Either way, this is just another incredibly intelligent episode from this show and it pleases me to no end that a superhero show is suddenly one of the most progressive television series out there and I get the feeling we're just getting started. However, we can't end this recap without pointing out the fact that Cadmus is upping their game, and heaven only knows what kind of horrible things they have in mind for Mon-El now that they've captured him. So here's to hoping Supergirl can get to him just in the nick of time...

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