Supergirl: “Livewire” Review

Livewire makes her big debut as the latest villain in CBS’ Supergirl.

Like Harley Quinn before her, Livewire is a supervillain that made her debut in the DC Animated Universe and was later introduced in the comics, but now she’s been fully realized live-action (she popped up in Smallville once, briefly) courtesy of CBS’ Supergirl. Though there are quite a few elements of this episode that don’t work, but ultimately “Livewire” is a fun romp that sheds some light on Kara’s adopted family and surprises us with its new angle on Cat Grant.

A Thanksgiving episode wouldn’t be complete without family drama, of course, and so Supergirl has its first real exploration of the Danvers family (with an amusing Winn caught in the hellacious crossfire). Helen Slater and Dean Cain return as the Drs. Danvers, the latter only in flashback as we learn how his life ended under the leadership of Hank Henshaw. A twist comic fans probably saw coming in some form or another, but it’s a relief that both Alex and Kara will be united in their distrust of the DEO. The organization still houses some of the least interesting segments of the show, not the least of which is Supergirl calling Henshaw “sir” and referring, more than once, to her duties as a hero being “work.” Her deputation by the DEO has been a bit grating, but it looks as though the fate of Jeremiah Danvers might be the thing that jars this problem loose. Plus, the addition of a larger mystery peppered throughout the season is something to spice things up considering that we already know who the overarching villain will be.

This episode’s major problem is that Kara really doesn’t have a whole lot of growing to do here. She more or less ends the episode as she started it, albeit with a few more supervillain take-downs under her belt. She’s still shoving off Winn’s advances (who reveals a juicy tidbit about his father… Toyman, perhaps?) and pining for James, who’s mostly removed from this episode, off on holiday with Lucy. It seems odd for James to be so distanced here (except when it’s the worst possible timing for Winn), but after last episode’s mishandling of him, I can’t say that I was disappointed to see him step away for an episode. Still, without the episode that was meant to air this week (pulled due to the tragic events in Paris), it feels like James has been shuffled to the bottom of the deck.

At least the villain is a blast this time around. Livewire remains close to her known origin: she’s a shock jock with a bone to pick against Supergirl (and Cat Grant, it turns out) that winds up getting blasted by lightning and given electricity-based super powers. One thing that this show is doing that I’m loving is creating all different kinds of supervillains; not everyone has powers because of a meteor shower or an exploding particular accelerator. It could have been easy to let each villain be an escaped Kryptonian aligned with General Astra, but the last two episodes have been unrelated – and more interesting – foes.

Livewire’s journey from shock jock to big bad was handled effectively and played with gusto by Brit Morgan, but her relationship with Cat and her disdain for Supergirl would have been more effective if we’d met her a few episodes previous. Even if she was simply another voice in the media criticizing Supergirl’s recent debut, her existence prior to this episode could have helped sell her journey that much more. More importantly, it would have added an extra layer to Cat’s arc in this episode.