While this season of Supergirl has been pretty solid so far, I criticized last episode for feeling a bit too safe. Admittedly, in the wake of some of the big changes that it was subject to, it was probably a wise choice to do so. Cat was gone. The DEO changed locations. Winn works for the DEO and hardly speaks to Kara these days. James Olsen is hardly seen anymore. Finally, Kara is hard at work trying to become a journalist. With all those changes, making sure the core of the show was still intact was probably  a good choice. And on the whole, it succeeded, despite my grievances. It did a pretty great job of disguising all this change in the shiny new gloss that was the guest starring role of Superman in the first two episodes, but it’s very clear now that things have actually changed quite drastically. Coming into the CW, it became of a bit of a different show — and as of this writing, it’s a show still trying to find its center.

Given the circumstances, I feel the need to retroactively give this thing props. Things are quite different, and yet they’ve somehow managed to retain the core style, amid all these changes. At the surface, the approach feels like the epitome of mediocrity, but it certainly makes sense that they wouldn’t choose to try and radically change what worked so well for them the first season.

Anyways, this brings us into the fourth episode of Season 2, an episode where everyone is off doing their own little thing.

Kara is hard at work trying to find a story for herself, Alex is working together with Maggie to help bust an underground alien fight club, Hank is desperate for the attention of M’gann after discovering he’s not the last Martian, and finally, Winn and Mon-El hit the town for a night of drinking. Initially, the pieces felt a bit disparate to me, but they certainly came together in a rewarding way.

Kara’s story for the magazine ended up being the very fight club Alex and Maggie were trying to stop, and among the fighting contestants was none other than M’gann, Hank’s only tie back to his home world. The story ends up playing rather nicely into the message that the show’s been trying to push since this season began: a message of alien equality in a world that may not understand them. This, of course, once again, sends Kara reeling when she realizes specific prejudices she has against Mon-El are just as bad. When all said and done, it was a pretty strong message, and the way all the separate plotlines culminated was very well done.

This episode also deals quite a bit with loneliness. Hank’s loneliness is highlighted when he finds someone else from Mars. He’s never had an opportunity to actually share a culture with someone, so when he does, it opens him up for a surprisingly vulnerable episode.

While I wouldn’t consider this a landmark episode by any means, unlike last episode, this one seems to be actively embracing some of the different styles it’s shooting for. Most series like this strive to re-center to a status quo, but right now, Supergirl seems like a show that’s trying to find a new status quo — which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Luckily for us, the first season laid a solid foundation. Now, it’s just a question of whether or not they can incorporate all the changes they need without losing the core of the show itself.

Grade: B

What did you think of this episode? Do you think the show’s holding up will under its changes? Did you even notices the big changes happening with the dynamic of the characters? Let us know your thoughts down below!

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