Supergirl – S1E16 - Falling

Previously on Supergirl, ‘‘Solitude’

Things are looking up for the DEO when Senator Crane visits to congratulate (and flirt with) Hank and let him know that she plans to fight for more funding and support for their agency. But when an emergency strikes, Kara has to fly into the city to rescue a fireman trapped by debris in a fire. Unfortunately, when she does so, she begins to feel odd—as it turns out, there is a random chunk of Red Kryptonite nearby.

Shaking it off, she goes to visit James at work and learns that Lucy has quit and left National City. James says that maybe he didn’t love her as much as she should have. Kara’s eyes widen, seeing a potential opportunity.

Meanwhile, Cat goes to visit The Talk. And as awkward and contrived as it felt, it was amusing to see her chat with the hosts about her relationship with Supergirl.

The next morning, Kara arrives for work dressed up way more than usual, acting all big and bad. When Cat asks Siobhan for the list she was supposed to assemble of replacements for Lucy, Kara reveals she had beaten her to it, and seems to enjoy humiliating Siobhan.

When she visits the DEO later, Hank is briefing his team about another Fort Rozz escapee named K’hund. Kara continues to act strangely… as Hank outlines the plan to capture K’hund, Supergirl nearly outs his identity as the Martian Manhunter. Then later, when they make their move, Supergirl easily gets the upper hand but chooses to let K’hund go because he bores her.

She lashes out at Hank about being under-appreciated, mostly because he is just as strong as she is but chooses not to do anything. Why, she asks, is she the only one putting her safety on the line? It’s a good question, and seems to get Hank thinking.

The next day, Siobhan reveals to Cat that she has footage of Supergirl letting K’hund escape. Cat tells her to keep it under wraps for the time being, but Siobhan immediately offers it to Perry White instead. Continuing her mean streak, Kara overhears this and prints off an incriminating email for Cat to read, which makes Cat fire Siobhan and burn her bridge with Perry White as well.

That night, after coming on way too strong to James at a dance club, Supergirl goes to visit Cat, who had summoned her through James. She tells Cat that she is no longer interested in being a hero because it enables everyone’s victimhood. She goes off on Cat for being a self-serving egoist.

Then, to prove her point about “real power,” she hurls Cat off the balcony.

It was a terrifying moment for Cat, no doubt, but even though we all knew Kara wouldn’t actually let her die, it was still strange to see Cat taken down a few pegs.

During all of this, James and Winn decide to alert Hank and Alex about the changes in Kara’s behavior. Hank looks over Supergirl’s previous few missions and discovers a red, radioactive substance at the fire site.

Maxwell arrives—right on time—and admits that the red kryptonite was his creation. According to him, it was made to stop Non’s next attack, and he was just as surprised to see its effects on Supergirl. So he offers to make an antidote.

When Alex goes to visit Kara at her apartment, Kara tears into Alex, letting out years of pent-up resentment. She’s decided to make the city worship her. Meanwhile, Cat reluctantly goes on air to declare that she can no longer endorse Supergirl. This obviously pains her-she keeps dabbing her eyes.

Hank dispatches a team to track and take down the now rogue-Supergirl with Lord’s antidote. And when they find her, we get the money-shot of this season: with Alex incapacitated and about to be murdered by her sister, the only way Hank can save the day is if he morphs into J’onn.

Of course, since the DEO’s mission is to take down aliens, Hank is immediately arrested.

Later, when Kara wakes up, she is horrified to remember her behavior over the last few days. Once again proving that she was always supposed to play this role, Benoist is quite convincing at showing Supergirl’s remorse, humiliation and regret.

She tries to apologize to James, and almost lets slip that she loves him, but James has decided to take some space for a while. With one more apology to deliver, Supergirl goes to pay Cat a visit. Cat resumes her role as Supergirl’s surrogate mother and says that if anyone can win back National City’s trust, it’s her. Then the two sit together for a while.