Supergirl “Hostile Takeover” Review: Auntie Astra Attacks!
Astra returns this week and adds to the frustrations on Kara’s mind. With her whole city to protect and Astra wanting Supergirl personally, Kara has to face her family-and possibly make 100% sure she will never hurt anyone again the only way anyone can. Meanwhile, Cat Grant has been hacked and it’s up to Kara, Jimmy Olsen and Winn to make sure nothing embarrassing got out and figure out who caused it.
Between these two stories, Kara has much to deal with and we are shown all sides of her. The quirkness and wit with helping Cat Grant, as well as the bravery and strength when fighting Astra, let’s us see exactly who Supergirl is and how she helps and thinks. The only problem this week is that these two stories don’t exactly share a common theme. There’s nothing that connects them despite both being done very well.
First off, Astra becomes more interesting and complicated and being the main villain of the series so far, that is a good thing. Laura Benanti does a good job portraying the villainess parts and also makes us feel sympathy for her (as well as play Kara’s mother Alura). According to Astra, she is the one who tried to save Krypton but others didn’t believe her when she broke the law to try and stop it and thus Krypton was destroyed-a very heavy story to take in if true. How they handle this and handle Kara’s reaction is smart, though there still is a ways to go.
Meanwhile, Cat Grant is dealing with a hacker who published all her personal emails, including those about her bashing on Lois Lane and then information about her son-who she lost custody over. Again, this episode does a good job adding to characters and Cat Grant becomes more interesting as she puts her trust in Kara, Jimmy, Winn and then later Lucy Lane when it comes to something she really cares about. Seeing her deal with the hack was well done and draws us into her character more. The end of the episode with her also makes her more fascinating, again proving my point she is J. Jonah Jameson combined with Aunt May.
As a Fall Finale, I feel that last week’s episode provided a better punch and cliffhanger, but not every episode needs that. “Hostile Takeover” is a very solid Supergirl episode, furthering the series. The action is well filmed and everything looks great for a television budget. This episode was not the best, but good enough to where I can’t wait to see where they go with these new developments next year. Supergirl once again proves why it’s become the most popular superhero show on TV right now.
Grade: B+
Fun Notes:
-I KNEW it! If you read my reviews, you know I called that Cat Grant was gonna figure it out! J
-Martian Manhunter Knows Superman! That was a fun line of dialogue! I hope they do more with it.
