This week’s episode, “Livewire,” managed to make up for “Fight or Flight” in virtually every way, delivering a fun episode that also managed to pack in some heart and a major story revelation.
A CatCo radio employee ends up in a coma after Supergirl saves her from a lightning strike and wakes up with powers of electricity. Meanwhile, Kara’s adopted mother Eliza Danvers arrives for Thanksgiving and trouble arises when Alex reveals what she really does for a living.
This week’s villain is Livewire, played by Brit Morgan from “The Middleman” (Anyone remember that show?) and while there isn’t much there in terms of fleshing out her past with Grant, the character was visually impressive and creative. It’s also refreshing that we don’t have a sympathetic villain and Livewire is all about killing Grant and has no tragic past.
Speaking of Grant, she got a lot to do this episode, plus a few good quips. (“Congratulations, you have the wit of a YouTube comment”) There’s also a bit more of her past, which leads to a good bonding moment between her and Kara. At first, Grant seemed like a one-dimensional “Devil Wears Prada” type, but this episode shows a deeper side to her that hopefully we’ll see more of.
But the real drama this week was Eliza’s chastising of Alex for supposedly not looking out for Kara. Unlike “Fight or Flight,” this episode had an evolution for not just Kara, but Alex and Eliza as well. At first, Eliza seems like she’s one of those parents whose child is never good enough, but that gets reversed in a cool way when we find out just why Eliza is so bitter.
The big reveal that Eliza’s husband died working for Henshaw not only works for the conflict of the episode, but gives Kara and Alex a uniting goal for the rest of the season. Plus, it makes Eliza a more nuanced character than initially suspected. There’s a legitimate reason for her to chastise Alex for working for the DEO and although we don’t know that at first, it makes the episode worthy of a re watch.
“Livewire” is a ball of an episode on not just an action front, but a story front as well. It’s what most shows strive to do: combine story, character and action in one hour.