Anyone who has an accomplished older sibling should be able to identify with SUPERGIRL tonight.
The newbie superhero still is getting her feet wet in “save the world” mode, and she also must live up to the legend of her cousin, Superman, who has many more years of experience at the “hero thing.”
Not only is SUPERGIRL doubting herself, there is plenty of criticism to shake her confidence. Her sister’s employer, the secret government organization named the Department of Extra-Normal Operations, regards the Girl of Steel more as an alien threat than someone who wants to protect the planet.
DEO agent, Hank Henshaw (David Harewood) insists on putting SUPERGIRL through a series of tests, including one with two missiles that is a nice hat-tip to Richard Donner’s SUPERMAN feature film starring the late Christopher Reeve. As SUPERGIRL exceeds Henshaw’s expectations, her sister Alex (Chyler Leigh), watches with pride as her baby sis breaks the sound barrier.
Meanwhile, SUPERGIRL’s alter-ego, Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist) takes a hit to her own ego as her boss, Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart) demeans the young superhero’s learning curve problems. Deeming her #TerribleGirl, Grant belittles SUPERGIRL and plans to do some “media rehab” on her super-image.
After all, The Daily Planet has Superman and CatCo Worldwide Media needs its own caped wonder to boost sales. Cat pressures former Daily Planet photojournalist, James “Jimmy” Olsen (Mehcad Brooks) to use his friendship with Superman to obtain an interview with SUPERGIRL.
What Grant does not realize is that James does not need Superman to contact SUPERGIRL. James relocated to National City at the “big guy’s” suggestion to keep a watchful eye on Kara and has known about her secret identity for quite some time.
So when SUPERGIRL needs allies to help her practice her skills, she asks James and her co-worker/friend, Winn Schott (Jeremy Jordan), to help her improve. Both men (and potential love interests) are surprised that the other knows about Kara’s secret identity.
SUPERGIRL will need all of the help that she can get. An escapee from the Kryptonian prison, Fort Rozz, is threatening National City, and Kara’s evil Aunt Astra (Laura Benanti) has plans to destroy her niece. Guest star, Justice Leak appears as Hellgrammite, a villain with a grasshopper-like face and enough gory makeup prosthetics to give an actor nightmares about the makeup chair.
Joining the cast tonight is recurring guest star, TWILIGHT’s Peter Facinelli as a “green tech billionaire,” Maxwell Lord, who is a business rival of Cat Grant’s. It will be interesting to see which way the producers will go with the Lord character. In the DC Universe, Maxwell Lord has been both hero and villain, human and metahuman. Facinelli certainly has the acting chops to bring the intricacies of Lord’s moral ambiguity to the screen.
Other guest stars on tonight’s episode, “Stronger Together,” include Malina Weissman, Rich Ceraulo, Preston James Hillier, Justin Chu Cary, Frank Pacheco, Ron Bottitta, Jay Jackson, Mike Owen, Avelena Wijesundera, Rey Valentin, Brandon Warfield and Eric Steinberg.
“Stronger Together” was written by Executive Producers Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg (story), and Kreisberg and Executive Producer Ali Adler wrote the teleplay. The episode was directed by Glen Winter.
Sneak peeks of tonight’s episode and an interesting clip about the SUPERGIRL wardrobe are below along with a photo of the Halloween impact of SUPERGIRL (and among dog fans) modeled by Tallulah Queen.
SUPERGIRL airs on November 2 in its new timeslot at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.
