Top 5 Moments on “Supergirl” 1×14 “Truth, Justice, and the American Way”
This week’s Supergirl focuses on Kara values, a Robocop, and the meaning of Justice. This episode put Kara through multiple tests while she explores her moral compass. It makes you wonder in the upcoming episodes what exactly will push Kara to exemplify her values as she was tested in this week’s episode.
WARNING: Spoilers from this week’s episode of Supergirl will be shared in this article. Do not read further if you have not watched.
Let The Sun Guide You Home: At the start of the episode Kara and Alex get an unexpected visit from Non who wishes for Kara’s assistance in giving a proper send off to her recently deceased Aunt. A powerful scene played by Melissa Benoist, she played Supergirl at her most vulnerable. Kara’s main strength has always been her family and although her and Astra were on opposite teams Kara still thought that she could bring her aunt back into the light. As Kara says her goodbye she realizes that once again, she is losing another piece of her home. Astra was Kara’s last connection to her mother. Through Kara’s grief Non does not hesitate to remind her that although he will be mourning he will be out for revenge.
Assistant #2: Things are not looking great for Kara once she returns back to CatCo. she soon realizes that although she has not been fired, she has been demoted to Assistant #2. Assistant #1 is the new employee Miss Siobhan Smythe played by the lovely Italia Ricci (BTW did anyone else get Devil Wears Prada vibes when watching this scene?) Italia plays Siobhan as a perfect assistant in every way with enough sass and charisma that makes her character all the more mysterious because she really appeared out of nowhere. A new assistant means bad news for Kara because now she really has to fight for her job and earn back Cat’s trust.
In the case of Cat she is more than thrilled with her new assistant and wait for it…. actually calls Siobhan by her real name (cue the gasps!!). It really isn’t fair the way Cat is treating Kara but it’s not like Kara really wants to have the whole Supergirl discussion with her boss again. In the meantime, Kara has her game face on making sure that Siobhan will know exactly who belongs at CatCo. (Hopefully Siobhan hasn’t already made ideas for her Luxury Home Collection).
A Battle of Values: Kara had to deal with her own set of morals this episode. According to National City Maxwell Lord is missing but, in reality, he’s still in the custody of the DEO. With the arrest of Maxwell Lord it would seem that Kara is finally safe from any future plans that he would have for her. While in custody Maxwell was able to save Kara’s life from the Black Mercy. Still with Maxwell’s good deed Kara doesn’t permit him release, which is not necessarily a bad thing considering Maxwell also was responsible for creating a Supergirl Bizarro and sacrificing innocent lives in the process. This is what makes Kara’s decision more difficult because it’s a decision between right and wrong. The question of what is considered to be an act of justice or revenge.
James Olsen confronts Kara about holding Maxwell hostage and believes that Maxwell is entitled to his rights as a human being. James tries to make Kara understand that even though she represents a symbol of justice, Kara’s actions are the opposite of fair. She’s in the mindset that she is better than Maxwell and that he deserves his punishment. Kara has the ability to wipe out any human that crosses her path but she doesn’t because that is not who Kara is. However, her treatment of Maxwell is exactly the type of behavior someone may have when they know they have the power. We often find ourselves at different crossroads in our lives and sometimes we don’t always know the right path to choose.
Our morality is a huge contributor in who we are as human beings and if we don’t have morals we don’t have anything. James tells Kara that even though she has anger inside of her she needs to be better than those who have brought anger upon her. To beat an enemy we have to be better than them and that doesn’t come through strength, wit, intelligence, or power. It comes from what we are willing to do and how far we will go to do the right thing. Our values are our code and we can sometimes break that code in our lives but that doesn’t mean we can’t follow them anymore. We keep trying and remembering that our values stay with us through our lives just like Kara now needs to learn and accept her values and to remember what the “S” stands for.
A Corrupt Cop: Alex and Hank are trying to uncover an escaped prisoner from Fort Rozz and soon realize that the prisoner, along with many others have been beheaded by a mysterious man in armor. Calling himself the Master Jailer, he is dead set against any prisoners escaping their punishments when they were on Fort Rozz and wishes to rectify their new freedom on Earth. The Master Jailer is about to make an arrest on a previous drug smuggler, now Professor, until Kara intervenes. This man has a suit that matches Kara in terms of strength and combat and Kara is soon defeated and the Professor is captured. Turns out that Master Jailer ended up being Detective Warren, a man Alex and Hank had questioned earlier in the episode, unknown to them that there was any connection.
The Master Jailer kidnaps Kara when she and her sister are confronting him and his partner (who he later killed). The Professor Kara speaks to tells her about how her mother put him in Fort Rozz but the Professor tells her that he understood why Kara’s mother did it. He believes one tragedy cannot be undone by committing another. There is a ripple effect when it comes to the decisions we make that is why we must choose wisely.
The Master Jailer believes that the prisoners of Fort Rozz are deserving of their punishment and that he and Kara must work together to put those prisoners in their place. This just makes Kara realize that not all people deserve a punishment. Especially if they have changed. If one has learned from their mistakes, has said their apologies and learned then they have a chance to grow. Their morals and values have changed and this is what the Master Jailer has failed to realize. With the help of Alex and the DEO, Kara and the Professor escape with the Master Jailer defeated. Kara lets the Professor go and tells him that he has served his time and that he is free. Kara does the same with Maxwell Lord, letting him go out of the DEO’s custody. Kara has hope that Maxwell will not expose her secret or the DEO’s but that doesn’t mean that she will not be keeping a close eye on Maxwell, as I’m sure the feeling will be mutual.
Too Many Secrets: The episode highlighted a huge dark cloud in terms of Astra’s death. Alex still hasn’t come clean to Kara about how she was the one to kill Astra and not Hank. This puts a huge damper on the relationship between Hank and Kara because Kara is angry at the fact that her aunt is dead and was killed by someone she trusts. Kara takes it a step further and tells Hank that she can’t work with him anymore.
This secret will only hurt Kara more when she realizes the truth that not only was her aunt killed by someone she trusts but by someone she knows as family. James also has a disagreement with Lucy after revealing that he knows too much about the DEO. Lucy suspects that he is close with Supergirl and now James wants to make the decision with Kara to tell Lucy that Kara is Supergirl. James wants to make the relationship with Lucy work. He doesn’t want any lies and that is very admirable and right of him to think that. James is choosing his value of being truthful but also making sure that Kara is comfortable with his question. Whether or not Kara will say yes is yet to be seen.
Do you think Kara will say yes? How long will Alex keep the secret? And will Siobhan sabotage more than Kara’s job?
Supergirl airs Monday nights at 8/7c on CBS.