2x28 Little Girl Lost (2)

[7.0/10] This was a bit of a letdown after the first part of this duology. I still like Supergirl as a character a lot. The knock against Superman is that he’s a little too steady and noble to be interesting. But having a teenager with his powers, but also a certain impatience and overeagerness, makes that archetype more interesting. Her desire to be helpful while being out over her skis now and then is a good character trait. WHat’s more, Shirely Walker picked out an equally good theme for her, and the visuals of her flying around Metropolis and standing proudly as another of the city’s protectors is superb.

The catch is that a lot of this episode feels pretty generic. The three Furies that Supergirl fights here don’t really have personalities so much as they have costumes and gimmicks, which hey, you can only do some much in twenty-two minutes, but it leaves them somewhat unmemorable. At the same time, so much in the episode feels glancing and without real stakes, from Superman being kidnapped to Jimmy and Amy messing with Granny’s machinery back on Earth, even to the comet about to destroy the planet.

This is a season finale, so maybe some world-threatening peril is really possible, but the episode jumps around between so many things so quickly that none of it hits with any force. (No pun intended.) That said, I like the idea of the comet. For one thing, the episode does set it up nicely with the professor giving a lecture that gets superseded by Kara’s super-fight. For another, I like the rules-lawyering by Darkseid (I swear, I almost just wrote Thanos), where he knows he can’t attack Earth, but surreptitiously directing a comet Earth’s way will hopefully fly under the radar.

I’m also a big fan of Granny Goodness. It’s funny, I barely remember her from when I watched this show as a kid, but as an adult, I really appreciate the idea of a Fourth World mega villain wrapped in the trappings of a kindly old grandmother. It’s a funny and at times scary contrast, and Ed Asner is inspired casting.

Overall, the various fights and skirmishes here don’t do that much for me, but I appreciate the final feat. Superman telling Kara to stand back while he saves the day, only for her to help stop the comet on her own at a vital point, is a night beat to give her a coming out party. It’s nice that the show continues the parallel with Jimmy getting his first real byline through covering the story (and standing up to help the Supers earlier). There’s some objectification of Kara that I find, well, objectionable, but otherwise, the episode does right by both teenagers.

Overall, this one lacks some of the oomph of part 1, but definitely has its moments and good ideas, and works as a nice intro for Supergirl.