"Supergirl" Recap: "For the Girl Who Has Everything"

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

It's extremely rare when a television show gives me pause, and by pause, I mean that right after the episode has ended I mute the television and take a moment to collect my thoughts in silence because of how absolutely stellar or absolutely horrifying a particular episode of the show I'm watching turned out to be. 

In fact the only series that manages to pull this off on a regular basis is The Walking Dead for obvious reasons but this week, Supergirl managed to become another show on that short list because "For the Girl Who Has Everything" simply left me in awe through and through with one powerful and fantastic tale. I mean really, this show continues to top itself and this episode...well it was absolutely perfect. 

Yes, I completely understand that is an incredibly bold statement to put forth about this particular episode, but I stand by it for several reasons. For one the acting and action were absolutely perfect this go round, and they were only further enhanced by the show's wonderful thematic concepts this week, the first one being the importance of family. After all, there was a real beauty in watching all of Kara's friends and adopted Earth family come together to save her and Alex's desire to go into Kara's mind and bring her out of her Black Mercy induced fantasy was a bold one to say the least since there was the chance that Alex might not make it out alive. These people genuinely care about and love Kara and I'm always a fan of seeing everyone put aside their differences for the greater good.  

But the part that I enjoyed the most about last night was the focus on loss and regret, since the Black Mercy managed to draw out Kara's deepest regrets when it came to her fantasy world. Sure several characters referred to it as her version of "heaven" but there was nothing heavenly about it when you really take a moment to reflect on it all. At every turn she was faced with a world long gone and emotions that she had spent the last twelve years dealing with, which makes the incredibly raw fury that Kara exhibited when she came out of the whole thing all the more impressive. We've never seen Kara this angry or this focused before and it gave that final battle with Non all the more gravity because holy cow...she beat the tar out of him and well, how could you not root for her or cheer every time she slugged him? He deserved it.

Yet the surprises didn't end there. In the midst of all this quality writing, this episode dropped a game changer on us as well...the death of Astra. I honestly did not see this coming at all, much less at the hands of Alex. We know she's tough, we know she's a badass, but last night she crossed one hell of a line and while Hank took the fall for putting down Kara's aunt, at some point she is going to discover her sister was the one responsible and considering that she and Astra made amends...well I've got a bad feeling that discovery won't go well. Either way, I'm still beaming over this episode. It was beautiful, it was haunting and tragic and one that quite frankly, I think needs several viewings to truly appreciate all the little nuances that went into every single second and one that in my mind, cemented Supergirl as one of the best shows on television this year. Until next time.

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