This was a definite letdown after some of the fun to be had in "Girl of Steel". The episode's main plot does continue to focus on the titular heroine, only this time, it's a different area to mine for drama. Instead of shutting down her human emotions and focusing on her Supergirl duties, her worst fears manifest due to the presence of this week's villain, Psi (Yael Grobglas of Jane The Virgin). Psi has psychic abilities that unlock the worst fears of any person she is around. Humans succumb to their fears, which allow her to walk into any bank she wants and take the money without fuss.

 

 

 

The concept works only to highlight Supergirl's various fears, which start at a mild case of claustrophobia, then escalate to the fear that she sent Mon-El to his death. The show tries to make that fact more convincing by mixing up first-person viewpoints from Kara witnessing the destruction of Krypton, then floating in space for twelve years, to a psychic projection of Mon-El in his pod. The pod explodes, but I feel like that's a piece of misdirection by the writers. Mon-El will obviously return to Earth at some point later this season. He's too big a character (and too important to Supergirl and the narrative) to be featured as a part of the narrative of the first two episodes, then dismissed out of hand.

 

As is, Psi is arresting from a visual standpoint (Grobglas is gorgeous, and her simple black leather outfit makes her look like an obvious villain), but the series can't show off its dynamic action sequences with a villain who uses her mind instead of her physicality. The show does traffic a lot in villains who fight Supergirl on an entirely physical level so using mental tricks is a definite change-up, but outside of strange psychic projection waves, it's not that exciting to watch.

 

 

The disproportionate balance in the main plot doesn't leak into the other subplots, but they aren't able to pick up the slack. Lena Luthor is on her first day working at CatCo after buying it to keep from the clutches of Morgan Edge last episode, and the changes are immediate. She has a freer, less autocratic style than Cat Grant, which does benefit the underlings at the organization (although I definitely would have thought it was strange that Kara keeps straying away from the central meetings if I were in Lena's place), but rubs James the wrong way throughout the episode.

 

The friction between the two characters do give James more to do outside of being Guardian than much of last season. Here's hoping that Lena continues to challenge James and keep the others in CatCo on their toes. It's already rather surprising to me that the show is still striving to maintain a balance between the superhero hijinx and what's happening in CatCo and L-Corp.

 

 

Speaking of L-Corp, Lena's having to take a bigger role in CatCo's operations means that there's a hole to fill at the top of her family namesake's company. Somehow, the episode dovetails the subplot involving Samantha Arias with this one (and I saw it coming). It doesn't quite make sense, but the show does well to cover the breadcrumbs leading up to the end reveal. There's something else going on behind the scenes here, and I think it has to do with the fact that Lena might actually know that Samantha has super strength powers. The episode plays the slow burn with this fact, having Samantha's kid stupidly walk right into life-threatening danger so that she could somehow goad her mother into showing her powers.

 

It's essentially the same plot as the one with Bruce Willis and his eager son in the movie Unbreakable, although it's condensed for time here. Lena wouldn't put Samantha in so visible a position as the head of L-Corp without some sort of ulterior motive. And her last name gives away the potential direction that plot might take. It's worth keeping an eye on as the season progresses because there is no clear Big Bad for this season if judged only by these two episodes. That could be Lena Luthor.