Supergirl - 'We Can Be Heroes'

"No; glasses for the civilian identity..."

It's try-out season, as Supergirl is joined by a host of wannbe heroes in the struggle against her nemesis, Livewire.

Still swearing eternal vengeance and denying her 'human' name, Livewire is broken out of prison by a guard and another inmate. Kara is immediately sure that she must have masterminded this, and when her accomplices turn up all pasty and electric becomes convinced that her arch-enemy is forming an army. At the same time she is trying to break in Mon-el as her heroing partner, but realises that he's in it for her, not to protect the innocent. When Mon-el breaks ranks, Guardian is knocked out while covering the gap and thus his identity is revealed to Kara, who goes... pretty much bananas.

Kara doesn't want James to be a hero, because she thinks he'll get hurt. Now... I'm going to throw this out there: She works with a lot of humans who do hero stuff, and it's kind of patronising that she doesn't think humans are up to snuff. I understand that she doesn't want her friend to get ventilated, but I really hope she'll come around before the end of the season. It's not a good look for her to be acting so superior. She also realises that Mon-el isn't a hero by her standards; he doesn't want to help people, just to impress her.

Chiana from Farscape; that's who she reminds me of.

Wynn helps James steal a march on Kara and go after Livewire, discovering that she has been experimented on by a mad scientist (as yet unnamed) to imbue others with her powers. They fight off the copies, but the scientist also has electrical powers now and captures them both, intending to use them as the basis for a more powerful version of his electric supersoldier programme. Fortunately, Wynn calls in Kara for backup and she is able to team up with Livewire to take down the doctor, persuading her nemesis not to kill her captor in exchange for a head start.

Back at the DEO B-plot, M'gann Morzz collapses. After much Alex-assisted soul-searching, J'onn links with her to help her recover, and learns that she told him the truth: She really did rebel against the White Martian creed to save Green Martian lives. He helps her back to herself and promises that she is free now, but she warns him that her collapse was due to a psychic attack by other White Martians.

'We Can Be Heroes' is a fairly solid episode, but let down by the total disconnect between the A- and B-plots, as well as the disconnect of the scientist from... well, anything. He doesn't even have a name; he's just some random science guy giving Livewire a hard time so that she and Supergirl can get past the whole 'and now I will kill you' stage in their relationship. Leslie was a victim of circumstance; I'm not sure someone has to torture her for the audience to feel some sympathy for her. It smacks of a lack of confidence in their own character work. I'm also not that taken with Supergirl's attitude to James' career choices, but it was nice to see J'onn giving Wynn and James their props.