‘Supergirl’ 1.08 Recap: “It’s Time You Knew Everything”

Even though ‘Supergirl’ is taking a relatively short break over the holidays compared to many other TV shows (it will return with new episodes on January 4th), this week marks the “Winter Finale” of the series and leaves fans with a few cliffhangers to ponder over the next few weeks.

Picking up right where last week concluded, Astra and a couple of her Kryptonian henchmen confront Kara/Supergirl. But she doesn’t want to fight. She says she wants a chance to explain her motives, but Supergirl is having none of it. Astra pulls a kryptonite knife on her, explaining that her own outfit protects her from the effects. (How it protects her head isn’t discussed.) Anyway, Supergirl dives off the building – despite her weakened powers – and escapes. Heading back to the DEO, she tells Alex and Hank about the encounter. She wants to head back out to find Astra, but they talk her into going home to rest and recharge.

Meanwhile, Astra returns back to her base of operations, where viewers get their first glimpse of Lieutenant Non (Chris Vance), Astra’s husband. Non states firmly to his wife that if Supergirl ever manages to kill her, he’ll make sure she dies as well. Ah, isn’t love grand?

Back at work the next day, Kara and her co-workers learn that Cat Grant’s email account has been hacked, and personal information is starting to leak about her. Kara, Jimmy and Winn are tasked to go through all of Cat’s emails and find anything that might be used against her, so she can prepare damage control should it come out publicly. Cat suspects that board member Dirk Armstrong (Peter Mackenzie) is plotting against her – and sure enough, upon his exit from a board meeting, Kara uses her super-hearing to overhear him talking about his plot against Cat. Kara reveals her discovery to Jimmy and Winn, and the three enlist Lucy Lane for her legal expertise.

Astra returns to National City to pick a fight with Supergirl. After destroying a few buildings (seriously, Kara, have you learned nothing from your cousin’s behavior in ‘Man of Steel‘?!), Supergirl gets the upper hand, but can’t bring herself to kill her aunt. Instead, she drags her back to DEO headquarters, where Astra is safely locked up inside a kryponite containment chamber. Not long after being there, Astra tells Kara that she wants to tell her the truth about her past. Astra insists that she wants to save Earth from its impending ecological disaster, the same way she tried to save Krypton. Kara believes her aunt and goes to rant at the holographic image of her mother, Alura, once again expressing how she feels like she was abandoned.

It’s decided that Jimmy will sneak into Dirk’s office and plant a device inside his computer that will allow Winn to hack into it. Jimmy completes the task, but needs to smooth-talk his way out of the office after Dirk catches him there. The trio also discover references in Cat’s email to a 24-year-old named Adam Foster, whom Cat has been sending money on a regular basis. Confronting Cat with the information, Kara learns that Adam is Cat’s son from a prior relationship, and that she gave up custody of him when she was younger.

Winn is able to pull a file off Dirk’s computer that reveals his plans to oust Cat, and the document is turned over to her. On the day she was going to give a press conference stepping down as the head of CatCo, Cat instead confronts Dirk and reveals what she has learned about him. He’s promptly escorted out of the building.

Later that night, Cat meets with Kara on the roof of the CatCo building and says that she thinks Kara is really Supergirl. She makes Kara take off her glasses, and her secret is revealed. Cat doesn’t seem (yet!) to have an ulterior motive here, and simply thanks her for all the help she’s provided over the past several months.

Studying the footage of Supergirl fighting Astra, both Alex and Hank realize that Astra allowed her niece to get the upper hand, and must be up to something. When they confront her about it, she informs them that it’s already too late. At that very moment, Non and other Kryptonians attack Lord Technologies. DEO agents (including Alex and Hank) arrive on the scene not long after the attack begins, but it’s a pretty even fight. Supergirl finally arrives on the scene and is about to engage in battle with Non as this episode comes to an end.

As with most episodes of ‘Supergirl’ this season, this one has a lot of fisticuffs that I personally could have done without. However, I did like the moments where Kara once again has abandonment issues about her parents, and I was genuinely surprised that Cat figured out that Kara is Supergirl. I’ll be interested to see how that’s resolved in the second half of Season 1. There’s also a nice little scene (which I didn’t go into above) where Jimmy tells Winn that he should ask Kara out, and that he’s not standing in his way. Does that mean Jimmy’s not into Kara, or just that he wants a level playing field?

What did the rest of you think of the winter finale… or, for that matter, this first-half of the season? Is the show living up to your expectations, or are there aspects you would change? Post your thoughts below!

8 comments

  1. Dave P. in St. Louis

    Unfortunately, “fisticuffs” are pretty much de rigueur for super hero shows. Supergirl (and presumably her cousin) would much rather save people than hurt them. This is exemplified when she tells bomber suspect Ethan Knox (in episode 4, “How Does She Do It?”) “Let me help you,” rather than “Let me beat the crap out of you.” But they don’t always have that choice.
    James telling Winn to ask Kara out is James’ way of saying he has a girlfriend already. He may or may not be into Kara but he knows Winn is. James recently got a second chance with Lucy and he knows what it’s like to have a relationship with someone special.

  2. KET

    “After destroying a few buildings (seriously, Kara, have you learned nothing from your cousin’s behavior in ‘Man of Steel‘?!)”

    You mean that part when she caught that falling debris, so that it wouldn’t hurt innocent bystanders? It appears that you need to pay closer attention to the differentiation, such as when Kara says that “Superman doesn’t kill”, which is obviously throwing shade specifically at Man of Steel.

    • Supergirl pushed Astra through a building, blowing out the top couple of floors. How many people were in there? That wasn’t Astra destroying the building, it was Supergirl causing the damage.

      Yes, she did catch a big chunk of debris. However, she then smashed it into numerous smaller but also deadly pieces of debris and let them rain down onto the streets below.

  3. Bryan

    I still really enjoy this show every week. On the one hand, it seems logical that Kat (as supposedly a pretty decent investigative reporter before running her media empire) would figure out Kara’s secret identify. But the real surprise is that they actually “allowed” the character to be that smart and reveal it. Usually in shows like this, there would be some kind of reason for her to miss the obvious. Hopefully, it leads to her respecting Kara a little bit more in her “day job.” Maybe she’ll even get her name right now! 🙂

  4. nagara

    I’m still shocked that I like this show so much. Much better than it has any reason to be. Can’t wait to see the new dynamic between Cat and Kira

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