In the Supergirl recap, Kara is stuck without her powers during a National City emergency and Hank Henshaw’s secret is revealed….
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
The liberties of doing a comic book series on television allow writers to switch up and change certain characters and stories for the sake of continuity or sometimes to just keep the audience guessing.
The Walking Dead has made several major shifts from the source material throughout the past few years so even the most loyal comic book reading fans don’t always know what’s coming next.
Now we can say the same for Supergirl after a major secret was revealed in the latest episode with Hank Henshaw’s true identity revealed but he’s not a cyborg and he’s not an evil Superman just waiting to be hatched.
Plus this week marked Kara’s first time since landing on Earth where she had to find out how the human race does it when she lost her powers.
With that said, let’s recap the latest episode of Supergirl titled ‘Human for a Day’….
Not Taking Flight
Following her battle with the Red Tornado a week ago, Kara finds out that her Kryptonian powers can drain away and now she’s left defenseless while her body refuels with the radiation from Earth’s yellow sun. That means she can get sick (for the first time ever) and finds out how the other half lives when she bumps into things and people and it hurts! The folks at the DEO try to keep Kara on the sidelines until her powers return — in the case of her cousin it took him two days when this happened to him apparently — but she’s closing in on 48 hours and still not an inkling of her powers coming back.
None of this would be a huge issue if not for a massive earthquake that shakes National City and leaves buildings in shambles and people in desperate need of help. Along the way, Kara gets tackled to the ground by James, who has to save her life from a car gone out of control and she breaks her arm and that doesn’t feel good at all.
Meanwhile, when Supergirl doesn’t show up to offer her assistance, Maxwell Lord takes the opportunity to bash her in the press and explains this is the problem with depending on an alien to solve your problems when humanity needs to know how to do it themselves. This irks Kara to no end but even when’s he tries explaining to Lord, he’s not having it.
Back at Cat Co., Cat Grant takes it upon herself to defend Supergirl on her television network by telling everybody in town that their favorite heroine muse have a good reason to not be there, but when she’s needed most, there’s no doubt she will appear. Until then they just need to depend on each other to get through this crisis.
Super (Not) Powered
Kara is struggling to deal with this disaster without her powers and no clue when they will come back to her. After watching one man die from injuries sustained during the earthquake because she couldn’t fly him to a hospital in time, she’s feeling rather useless. When a convenience store hold up happens around the block, Kara decides it’s time to take action even if she doesn’t have her powers right now.
Kara gets into the Supergirl costume and rather than rush in and tackle and disarm the gunman, she actually talks him down from the situation and he hands over his weapon willingly — and there’s James Olsen to capture the entire thing on film.
Back at Cat Co., Kara and James share a moment when he shows her the shot he just took of her and the two end up in an embrace. Never mind the fact that James revealed he’s getting an apartment with Lucy, Kara just needed a hug. Unfortunately, Winn busts in mid-snuggle and he’s not happy and ends up lashing out at her and says that Kara will never have the romance she’s so desperate to obtain. Despite being an ass, he does have one bit of good news — research has shown that the reason why Kara hasn’t gotten her powers back is because she needs a spark, so to speak, of adrenaline to kickstart her system back into high gear.
Unfortunately, the timing sucks because seconds later an explosion goes off upstairs with a ruptured gas line and all the people on the higher floors are trapped with nowhere to go.
James ends up going through the elevator shaft to rescue everybody and that works out well but on his way back down another earthquake hits and he’s sent plummeting down the giant black hole after the cable he’s dangling from snaps. At that moment with her friend in peril, Kara’s powers return and she rushes down the elevator shaft to rescue James.
After bringing him back to safety, Supergirl emerges and she flies out into the city and saves everybody still in trouble from the earthquakes. Maxwell Lord doesn’t look pleased, but Supergirl gets the job done!
Mission to Mars
Back at the DEO, the earthquakes have caused some serious power outages including the containment unit downstairs where a powerful alien called Jemm is being housed. He’s a master of mind control and mind manipulation and the first chance he gets to escape, Jemm is freed and the rest of the DEO are left to try and track him down without becoming mindless slaves to his power.
Hank Henshaw goes out with two other agents while demanding that Alex stay behind to watch the rest of the facility to make sure no one else escapes and everybody is safe and secure. The only problem is Henshaw lies when two other agents go down and he’s nowhere to be found.
Alex already doesn’t trust him after finding out that Henshaw blackmailed her father into working for him and then he died while tracking an alien many years ago. Finally, Alex takes action but the soldier she tasks to help her ends up being controlled by Jemm and she’s forced to go it alone.
Finally, Alex runs into Henshaw and she’s had enough — she confronts him with the truth about her father and everything else that’s been happening and she ends up cuffing him to a wall while she goes on the hunt for Jemm.
Alex tries to sucker Jemm into a trap but he’s too powerful for her to handle alone and just when it looks like she’s done for, Henshaw appears out of nowhere and snaps the alien’s neck like a twig. Alex is obviously shocked while trying to wrap her head around what she just saw — not only did Hank escape the handcuffs but he took on Jemm single handed and killed him without breaking a sweat. How is any of this possible?
Finally, Henshaw explains himself — he was the alien who the real Hank and Jeremiah were looking for in Peru all those years ago. The alien was peaceful but Hank wasn’t having it so they went on a seek and destroy mission and along the way Jeremiah tried to stop him and they both ended up dead. The alien assumed Hank’s identity because he’s in fact a shape shifter and he finally reveals himself to Alex.
His name is J’Onn J’Onzz — better known to comic book fans as the Martian Manhunter!
There’s your big twist this week!
A Returning Threat
After the day is saved, Kara tries to invite Winn over for some food but he’s just not interested anymore. He hits her with that painful line parents love to use — Winn isn’t mad at Kara, he’s just disappointed in her.
Finally, Kara pays a visit to Cat Grant to tell her thank you for making the city believe in her again but on her way out, she’s attacked and tossed to the ground by two powerful Kryptonian soldiers. When Kara gets up she comes face to face with her aunt Astra, who has returned and says that she didn’t forget her niece and now the real conquest of Earth will begin.
