Supergirl hasn’t been too consistent with Maxwell Lord’s development from vaguely sinister tech magnate to full-blown villain, but that’s all over now: The guy is straight-up evil.
“Bizarro” puts the nail in the coffin: Lord has kidnapped comatose Jane Does, conducted crazy science experiments on them, and cobbled together Kara’s DNA with experimental tech, all in the service of creating the perfect Supergirl clone. He hopes the clone will take Kara out, replacing National City’s resident hero with one who will do his bidding. It’s a project more than three months in the making, and now he’s finally ready to unleash the result — a Supergirl lookalike that happens to think tossing trucks into mountains is a good way to help people.
While Kara and the DEO try and figure out who this newcomer could be, Cat Grant and her staff try to find an angle to take on this strange, destructive Supergirl. Kara ends up with the winning suggestion, which is basically, “Hey, maybe this isn’t the Supergirl that has been saving the city for the past few months? Maybe it’s someone else?” Cat likes it, and what’s more, she seems to like Kara — in a creepy, open way.
That’s probably because Kara is going out on a date with her son, Adam. Kara is super into him, all giggly and stuff — which makes sense, because Adam is played by Melissa Benoist’s real-life husband, Blake Jenner. ADORABLE, RIGHT?
Another thing that happens at CatCo: Team Supergirl is now back together, because Winn can’t help but be really curious about Kara’s doppelgänger and the real Kara needs his help to find out more about her. This development that kind of bums me out — it’s way too soon for Winn to get over things, I’d think.
I would have preferred at least one or two more episodes with the Kara/Winn friendship on hold, but this maybe would’ve played better if we knew that a decent amount of time had passed since the last episode. But alas, “Bizarro” takes place pretty much immediately after last week’s fun and games.
Anyway, James and Winn talk about ways they can pin down the identity of this lookalike, while also acting VERY CHILL about Kara giddily texting Adam. They are not, in fact, chill.
Cut to Kara’s actual first date with Adam, which is cut short by a news report playing above the bar at Noonan’s. (Supergirl really geta its money’s worth out of the Noonan’s set, huh?) She has no choice but to bail on a night that seemed really promising! But duty calls, unfortunately.
“Duty” being a cable car full of civilians in danger of plunging into the river below, kind of like at the end of the first Spider-Man movie. When Kara arrives, she also meets her evil twin — but when the cable car is about to fall, she abandons that brief fight to save the innocent. And interestingly, her lookalike doesn’t get in the way.
Not long after, Team Supergirl has tracked down every bit of information they could find about this new Supergirl. They know that Max Lord, via a shady shell medical company, has claimed and experimented on as many as seven comatose Jane Does, all in the hopes of creating the perfect doppelgänger. We know this is true because we’ve already gotten a few scenes of Lord indoctrinating Bizarro (Cat Grant’s idea, go figure) even as she begins to doubts Kara is as evil as Lord claims.
Alex confronts Lord about this, but Lord does that cocky billionaire thing where he denies it and then speechifies a whole “If I Did It” scenario anyway. (He’s probably pretty hyped for The People Vs. O.J. Simpson.) He also hints that he knows the truth about Supergirl. Get a load of the megalomania on this guy.
After hours at CatCo, we finally get a scene of James and Winn sharing a drink over their troubles, which is how James refers to Kara now. Winn, who seems to have adjusted kind of well, chastises Jimmy for pining after Kara when he knows he can be with her. When James mentions his relationship, Winn tells him he’s gotta pick a side. “No one wants to be in a relationship with someone who wants to be in a relationship with someone else.” Word, Winn. There might be hope for you.
Meanwhile, Kara and Adam go on their actual date, and things get pretty real. She tells him that she lost her parents and confides about how she doesn’t ever feel normal. Adam replies with a killer line — “Let me tell you a secret: No one ever feels normal.” — and then they kiss and it’s great until Bizarro swoops in and steals Kara away.
Like you do.
Removed from her Super Hot Date, Kara tries to appeal to Bizarro, to no avail. So they fight again, and Kara discovers that Bizarro has the opposite powers as her: Ice vision, heat breath. Heat breath! Like a dragon! (This is how comic book Bizarro, works, by the way, including the whole “Talks like Cookie Monster” thing.)
Finally, Alex shows up with a DEO squad, armed with a kryptonite machine gun — only it doesn’t work on Bizarro. It makes her stronger, and disfigures her. She flies off in a rage, back to Maxwell Lord. The loving guy that he is, Lord coaches Bizarro into thinking she should take away the people Supergirl loves.
Kara, meanwhile, is not having the greatest time. She’s decided to break up with Adam. (“If I don’t have room in my life for a great guy like you, maybe I don’t have room for anyone.”) It’s a huge bummer, and she can’t even talk to her pals about it because they all have crushes on her.
In an angry and somewhat irrational move, Alex shows up at Max Lord’s office to arrest him under the clandestine authority of the DEO. This seems like a mistake.
Bizarro, meanwhile, kidnaps James. Bizarro is really into kidnapping. Tied up in a warehouse, James tries to appeal to her better nature, but the fact that he’s doing it while trying to signal Supergirl does not win him very many Sincerity Points. Anyway, Bizarro doesn’t buy it. James hits his Supergirl Button just in the nick of time, and she swoops in to fight Bizarro once more.
This time, though, there’s a plan that ought to work: She only has to keep Bizarro busy until Alex shows up with a sort of Reverse Kryptonite. It ought to work on Bizarro, since she’s Supergirl’s mirror image … right?
It does work, and they take her back to the DEO, where they’re going to put her back into a coma. (Which might be a pretty good idea? I’m not sure. The ethics of this situation seem crazy dubious.)
Lord is imprisoned in a DEO cell — something Hank, rightly, very much objects to. When Kara confronts him over all he’s done, he just sits there, smug as hell, and threatens Kara’s stepmother.
The episode ends with Kara contemplating the shambles of her personal life. Now that Adam is gone, Cat wants to keep their relationship strictly professional. A calm, icy veneer is now layered over what seemed to be a burgeoning chance at mentorship. James also turns her down for drinks; he’s on his way to pick up Lucy from the airport. Kara doesn’t even bother approaching Winn, because that’s a bad idea.
Dejected, Kara flies home, and while milling about her apartment holy crap what is that on the roof?!
Oh not much, just a big hint that Supergirl is about to pay homage to one of the greatest Superman stories ever told. You’re gonna dig it. To be continued!
