Supergirl Season 1, Episode 17
If this week’s Supergirl had just had the backstories of J’onn and Jeremiah it would have been sufficient – a bit expository perhaps, but no one would have complained. In fact, seeing the real Hank Henshaw and the story behind how J’onn came to care for the Danvers girls made up for the somewhat predictable witch hunt perpetrated by Colonel James Harper with help from the sometimes insufferable Lucy Lane. Even with Supergirl being marginally involved in the storyline, there was plenty to appreciate about this episode. Likewise, it was nice to see the change that Alex went through upon being recruited to the DEO, a life event that Alex claims saved her, and perhaps it did. J’onn’s promise to care for Jeremiah’s children is nothing new for viewers of Supergirl, but the quick circumstances that brought about his bond with their father was. Was Jeremiah the first human to treat J’onn with anything more than suspicion and fear? Perhaps. At least viewers now have a clear picture of what happened to the first Agent Danvers. One element that was a little hard to swallow had to do with Project Cadmus, supposedly a secret base where experiments are carried out on extra terrestrial threats. The idea that J’onn would be sent there because of the deceit he perpetrated on the DEO and his longtime friend, Harper, is not that surprising. But sending Alex there as well based solely on Lucy’s hunch that the polygraph test wasn’t accurately showing how much the elder Danvers sister knew about Henshaw’s real identity seems a little harsh, even for a witch hunt trope. And what a push it was! Many viewers likely already knew that Italia Ricci would eventually become Silver Banshee, if only because she already carried the alter-ego name of Siobhan Smythe, but the emergence of her hypersonic powers as she fell from the roof was both unexpected and baffling. As long as the writers come up with a satisfactory explanation, it doesn’t matter that the supernatural origins of the comics character were changed. It was just damn cool to see! Again, if that were the only surprise, that would have put a nice cherry on top of the already satisfying backstories. Adding the bombshell of Jeremiah Danvers being alive as a part of Project Cadmus was a real jaw-dropper! The fact that J’onn could be surprised after centuries of life was a great way to shake up the already changed dynamics of the team, and the prospect of Alex being reunited with her father is an exciting possibility.
