Recap Wednesday: Supergirl 1.9 "Blood Bonds"

This episode begins with Max Lord's company being attacked by Non (shrug, let it burn). Supergirl, Alex, and Hank swoop in to save the company, but Non gets away, taking Hank with him (Noooo, like I said, you should have let it burn!)

Supergirl and Alex then survey the damage to Lord Technologies while Max acts all pissy. He says to Alex, "I think the days of us partnering up are over, Agent Danvers," and walks out of the room. And to that I'm just like, "Yup, they are indeed." Also, I love the look Supergirl gives him in that moment. She is all of us:

Peace out, Gaius Baltar

At the DEO, the "Alex's Ex" agent (who I've just recently learned goes by Vasquez, just Vasquez) let's Supergirl and Alex know that, with Hank gone, emergency orders are in place and Alex is the acting Director of the DEO (Power Lesbian Achievement Unlocked). Astra is still in the DEO bad alien jail, so Supergirl questions her to try to find out where Non took Hank. Astra is still trying to get Supergirl to join her side and help save Earth from environmental destruction (or something?), but Supergirl declines. We then see a flashback where we find out that Supergirl's mother was a judge/dictator (or something? these distinctions no longer matter, do they?) and she was the one who sentenced Astra to Fort Rozz for environmental terrorism.

Okay so maybe I don't "know all the details" here, but the gist seems to be that both Supergirl and her mother chose loyalty to their principles over loyalty to their biological bonds with Astra. Plus, important side note: we also see that Supergirl's biological father is portrayed by Robert Gant (aka, Ben from Queer as Folk, awww).

Mr. Zor-El

At CatCo, Kara is super anxious because Cat knows she's Supergirl. Her goal for the day is to "act normal" so she can convince Cat she's just a regular person. LOL. Never an easy feat for Kara in general, so. Good luck, girl.

On the Hank front, Non has proposed a trade: Astra for Hank. Also, Lucy's father, General Lane, struts into the DEO and informs Alex that he has an executive order from the President to take charge. Blah. Talk about another "walking personification of white male privilege." He also tortures Astra, so I hate him even more now, and he refuses to trade Astra for Hank.

James then goes to Lord Technologies to gather some intel on what Max is up to. He's outside taking pictures when Max comes out and asks him to leave. James responds, "The media doesn't exist to make people like you feel comfortable, Max. Our job is to report the truth." Welp.

Unfortunately, James does some additional snooping and (a) we learn that Max is definitely up to something that involves harming aliens, and (b) Max catches James, puts him in restraints, and beats him up. (Ugh, just when I thought I couldn't dislike Max any more).

Face off

Later, the DEO obtains the coordinates of where Non is supposedly holding Hank. When the DEO gets there, it turns out to be a trick and there's actually a bomb. You know, I used to sometimes wonder what practical purpose Supergirl's cape served. Although I'm not an engineer, I doubt it serves an aerodynamic purpose. After the bomb exploded and Supergirl saved Alex from the blast, I understood it better:

Supergirl then decides to go rogue and defy General Lane's orders. She will trade Astra for Hank, the military orders be damned! Alex helps, because of course she does. Any Alex/Astra shippers in the house? This one's for you:

Alexstra?

The trade works and they get Hank back (yay!). Back at the DEO, he reveals to Supergirl that he's actually J'onn J'onzz. Supergirl then convinced J'onn to help her trick Cat into thinking she, as Kara, is not Supergirl. While she's Kara, J'onn shapeshifts into Supergirl, and they both appear before Cat together. And nooo, I want Cat to know about Kara being Supergirl! But alas, the ruse works, apparently.

Deep Thought of the Week: Winn had a mini Xander "crayon-breaky" speech moment this episode that I guess deserves mentioning. Basically, Supergirl was on the verge of hunting down Max Lord after he had hurt James, but Winn stopped her, appealing to her basic humanity and positive moral values. There's a lot to say about the clip I share below, from Buffy, but I'll just leave it at this: Aren't we all Dark Willow now, a little bit?






[Note: In November 2017, CW/Supergirl Executive Producer Andrew Kreisberg was suspended after allegations of sexual harassment.]