"Supergirl" Recap: "Manhunter"

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

I always get a little nervous when a television show puts forth its finest episode for the season well before the end of the year and with good reason, something that great is always impossible to top, but that doesn't stop some shows from trying. They realize they've hit storytelling pay dirt and try to impress us and well...the end result leaves much to be desired.

So, needless to say, that exact concern was at the fore front of my mind when I settled in to watch this week's episode of Supergirl since last week's episode was absolutely incredible and I'm happy to report that the show did not try in any single way to top "Falling", instead the folks behind the scenes decided to compliment it by keeping the consequences of Kara's actions rolling before throwing a few surprises in front of us by way of a steady, simple and satisfying episode in "Manhunter".

In order to do that, the show decided to fall back on a storytelling device that I haven't seen used in a long time, something we all refer to as "The Flashback Episode" since the past came heavily into focus this week with the U.S. Government launching an inquiry as to what went wrong at the DEO and how an alien came to power there. It was the interrogation sequences that provided us with a bevy of flashbacks that allowed us to learn how Alex ended up at the DEO and more importantly, how J'onn became Hank Henshaw. That turned out to be one of the coolest parts of the night and kudos to actor David Harewood for his performance of the two versions of Hank this week since you see a significant difference between both iterations of the man.

But this is a show that has made it abundantly clear you should expect surprises from this story every step of the way and this week was no exception to that rule. For one, I loved the fact that Jeremiah Danvers is alive and well at Project Cadmus and it was incredibly special to see Alex and J'onn make the call to find the facility and Jeremiah. It's a great little twist that he's alive, but nothing could top the birth of another villain this week. I loved everything about the Siobhan storyline this go round because her character is a true tragedy. She really believes she's doing the right thing in getting revenge and doing whatever it takes to get where she needs to be and it never works out for her. All of that somehow made the surprise appearance of her sonic scream all the more satisfying because the Silver Banshee has arrived at last. 

Of course there are more questions than answers when it comes to that scream because now we have to wonder if Siobhan is like Kara, an alien that has done everything to keep her powers hidden or if her backstory is more in line with the comics. Either way, time will tell and I can't wait to get those particular answers. But I will say, I'm quite glad the show decided to fill in the blanks on a few mysteries this week and I'm glad this episode was a little more low key than we are used to, especially when it came to Kara working to regain the trust of National City after her red kryptonite freakout. I love that she is in essence, apologizing and repairing relationships one person at a time, starting with her inner circle and it won't be long before the public trusts her again. Until next time. 

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