'Supergirl' Recap: 'Supergirl Lives'

​Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

When we last left Kara Zor-El on Supergirl she was riding on cloud nine and with good reason. She had finally defeated Cadmus and their evil plan to murder the alien citizens of earth with a little help from her friends and Lena Luthor and it seemed as though peaceful times were in store for the Girl of Steel.  

But as we all know, quiet time is never a good thing for a superhero, and Kara is no exception to that rule because last night's midseason premiere, 'Supergirl Lives' gave us a Kara who was more or less bored without a challenge in front of her and as the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for. Because the search for a missing girl named Izzy, quickly escalated as Supergirl came to discover that there was a sudden surge in missing persons in National City and the reason for that was simple; Roulette had struck a deal with aliens on a planet far from our own to sell healthy humans into servitude, leaving it up to Mon-El and Kara to save them all from slavery, on a world beneath a red sun, meaning that these two would have to figure out a way to bring these people home...without their powers. 

That's really all we're going to cover when it comes to the plot of this particular episode, simply because of the fact that the plot merely served as the setup device for something bigger on the horizon, something that clearly has to do with Mon-El. His past is something that the show has been hinting at for some time, but last night's episode offered us better insight into said past and well...none of it appears to be good. After all, the fact that a Dominator had the courtesy to spare his life and bow to him is disturbing to say the least and we also saw the return of the aliens that were searching for him in the midseason finale, which begs the question...is Mon-El a good guy or a bad guy? Because the implication here is that he is a wanted man and has some kind of nefarious past...which may explain his sudden desire to be a hero, so he can atone for his actions and wipe that ugly past away.

But the entire episode wasn't just centered on Mon-El's strange past...there were plenty of sub plots to go around as well. Alex learned how difficult it is to juggle life and a relationship at the same time, and through her struggle, Maggie managed to figure out Kara's true identity. Winn dealt with the harsh realities of being a vigilante and the raw fear that comes with it before the mission to rescue Kara restored his confidence and most importantly, the show stayed true to its roots by allowing for Supergirl to inspire everyone around her. Because without her giving everyone on this desolate planet the hope they so desperately needed, there's a chance that escape might have been impossible and let's be honest...it's always awesome on this show to see Supergirl do her thing and pump everyone up. 

When all is said and done however, this was at its core a transitional episode, one that was designed to ease us back into Supergirl's world before unleashing the big bad/plot for the second half of the season and thanks to the steady hand of this episode's director, indie film legend Kevin Smith, it turned out to be a rousing success. It certainly had my attention every single step of the way and well...at this point I'm dying to know what the heck is going on with Mon-El and what, if anything, will come from the fact that Maggie now knows Kara's secret. Either way, it's simply wonderful to have Supergirl back on the air and I cannot wait to see what wonders the back half of season two has in store for us. Until next time.

---