This week’s episode of Supergirl featured the much-anticipated Flash crossover. A rare visit between superheroes from different Earth’s and different networks. Flash (Grant Gustin) arrives just in time to help Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) battle Siobhan Smythe (Italia Ricci) who has transformed into Silver Bansheeas she teams with Livewire (Brit Morgan). Supergirl helps Flash find the way back to his Earth. Flash shows the maid of might what it means to be a superhero. Fingers crossed this is the first of future crossovers! The energy between the Flash and Supergirl is infectious.
SPOILERS FOLLOW….
After last week’s sonic outburst, a concerned Winn (Jeremy Jordan) takes Siobhan to the DEO in hope that they can figure out what happened to her. The DEO can’t do much except identify her scream power – good job DEO. Siobhan sees Livewire being held prisoner and makes a mental note. A frustrated Siobhan decides to take revenge on Kara by scream blasting her out the window. Before Kara can react she gets saved by Flash, who has for some reason run into this Earth. (Apparently the reason will be explained in Flash.) Flash and Supergirl become instant friends. In one of the best moments of the season, Kara introduces Barry to James (Mehcad Brooks) and Winn. She’s amazed by the fact that there are multiple Earths, and one Earth has a person who can retrieve ice cream in the blink of an eye. He’s tickled pink that she’s a super strong alien. Winn is giddy with excitement about the possibilities of endless Earths. James though is not happy to have Kara’s attention on this scarlet speedster. It’s quite entertaining seeing a jealous James. Throughout the scene, Gustin and Benoist play off of each other with natural ease. After the doom and gloom of Batman vs. Superman, it’s a joy to see superheroes who enjoy being superheroes.
Siobhan proceeds to break Livewire out of her DEO prison. The two join forces to kill Supergirl, Kara and Kat Grant (Calista Flockhart). They both hate Kat for past business dealings. For some reason Siobhan decides she must look like a Banshee. Therefore, she dons a silly costume. Livewire challenges Supergirl to come and get her, and Flash being more experienced warns Supergirl they need a plan. Supergirl anxious to get back into the good graces of the people she loves to protect convinces Barry they don’t. They track down Livewire only for Barry to first try to electrocute her, kind of a lame move. Banshee working with Livewire catches the two heroes off guard delivering a good beating. The Maid of Might and the Scarlet Speedster use super breath and wind power to knock the bad girls down to retreat to fight another day. A strange choice as at the moment the heroes had the upper hand. Of course, Kara could use freeze breath or heat vision and be done with them. That’s the dilemma of being a “good guy”, you have to defeat evil without stooping to its levels.
When they regroup Kara admits she acted rash being desperate to get the people to trust her. (Heck not even helping them put together their Ikea furniture has won them back.) Barry assures Kara that the people will come around in time. It’s best not to rush into things. The bad gals nab Cat and take her to the park for the final showdown with the innocent folks of National City as bystanders. Thanks to ear buds Barry worked up Banshee’s screams can’t throw them off-balance. The heroes are still at a disadvantage because they are concerned with collateral damage. The evil duo has no such qualms. Livewire tries to shoot down a news chopper flying over the crowd. Supergirl throws herself in the path of the bolt, saving the chopper and the masses, but is badly weakened in the process. The people realizing that Supergirl was willing to sacrifice herself stand up to Livewire and Banshee. Finally, Supergirl has her city back. The problem is, there might not be much of a town left when Banshee and Livewire get done with it. Before the bad girls can wreak havoc, the fire department blasts them with water. Livewire short-circuits and takes out Banshee with her. Yep, the day has been saved by a big hose.
In a way, it was nice that the citizen of the city stood up for Supergirl. The problem is it doesn’t feel quite as earned as it could have. It might have worked better for a battered Supergirl to force herself up off the ground to take out Livewire right before she could harm the onlookers. But that’s just a choice the writers went with. You have to respect it.
On the bright side, Flash gave the National City police a way to hold super humans. This means they all super criminals now will receive fair trials. Not sure why Barry hasn’t done this in his world, though.
Towards the end of the hour, we are greeted with the cool classic race between Flash and Supergirl. But even this isn’t really a competition per say. Instead, the race functions as a way for the two heroes to combine their speed so Supergirl can throw Flash through a wormhole back to his world. Another touching moment as we see two great heroes working together. Batman and Superman should be taking notes.
We end with Kara finally kissing James. Of course, nothing is ever easy when you have a bunch of super powered aliens plotting to take over the Earth. James and seemingly everybody else in National City is now under the influence of Kara’s evil Uncle-in-law Non. Next week will be fun.
One last nitpick, Cat pretty quickly figured out that “cousin Barry” was the Flash. This only makes it more of a shame the show copped out early in the season by tricking Cat into thinking Kara wasn’t Supergirl. They need to reverse that choice next season.
Summary, another strong showing for the Girl of Steel. The Glee (pardon the pun) Flash brought to the show was fantastic.
There were also some of the best one-liners of the season.
“Who doesn’t like donuts?”
“The attractive but nonthreatening racially diverse cast of a CW show.”
“Sounds like somebody whose only super power is jumping out of an alley with a trench coat.”
“Like an evil Taylor Swift squad.” (Really is there any other kind.)
“Settle this like women. What there’s more of you guys here than me…”
“He had to be a superhero or a Mormon.”
