Supergirl - 'For the Girl Who Has Everything'

Points for getting the black mercy a) spot on and b) suitably horrible.

After last week's 'Bizzaro' referenced the classics, it's time to straight up adapt a classic Superman story (and one that was also adapted for the Justice League cartoon, which is where I best know the story from.)

Following from last week's cliffhanger, Kara is absent from work, leading Alex, James and Wynn to her apartment where they find her in the grip of a mysterious plant. Forcibly removing the plant harms Kara, so she is moved to the DEO medical lab. There seems little chance of saving Kara, but Astra learns of Non's attempt to neutralise her niece without disobeying her order that she not be harmed and gives Alex the information needed to save her.
The plant is called the black mercy, and induces a dream state in which its victim lives out their fondest fantasy while it drains their life force. Thus we see Kara's fantasy life on Krypton, among her family, as memories of her earth life slip away. To save her, the DEO have to get Max Lord of all people to rig up a system to allow Alex to enter the dream and prompt Kara to snap out of the fantasy.

While they are doing this, Hank pretends to be Kara in order to preserve her job, which Alex expains is not just a job, but the place where 'Supergirl' gets to lead a normal life. This also gives Benoist a chance to have some fun, strutting around with her arms behind her back and trying to be all gruff and non-nonsense with Cat Grant.

Issa widdle babby Superman! He's so cute!

Alex charges James with making sure that Hank doesn't pull the plug to save her and enters the dreamscape. She gets there to find her sister almost fully integrated, and the dream reacts to her presence by having her arrested as a spy and summarily sentenced to the Phantom Zone. Only a final appeal to Kara's heroic spirit - "Earth needs Supergirl!" - breaks the spell.

Meanwhile, Wynn has detected a plot by Astra's forces which involves manipulating Lord's satellite network. Kara faces Non, in a state of utter outrage at what he put her through by forcing her to lose Krypton all over again, but the other DEO teams are unable to prevent the remaining Kryptonians installing 'Myriad' in the Lord systems. Alex and J'onn face off against Astra, and Alex is forced to kill Astra with a Kryptonite sword in order to save J'onn, although he takes the blame with Kara (oh, hey; a character in the Arrowverse keeping a terrible secret from their loved ones. That's a shocker.)

I think that the great strength of this adaptation lies in the way the dream is changed for Kara. Younger and less sure of her identity than Superman, her fantasy puts her in the bosom of a loving family and it was a wise choice not to shoehorn her into a perfect marriage. That's Superman's ideal life; Kara's is a combination of carers and those she cares for, replacing Kal-el's imagined children with the young Kal-el himself. I also liked J'onn's inability to fill Kara's civilian shoes. In particular his attempt at emotional blackmail by bursting into tears was notable as something that Kara, although far less assertive than J'onn, would never do.