Television: 'Supergirl: Human For A Day' (2015) (Episode 1x07)

This is what probably counts as a Very Important Episode, but it's also one of the stories that seems to occur in most iterations of DC superheroes on film. It's the episode where the hero loses their powers and has to learn what it's like to be human. However, on this occasion, we get something slightly better. We get an episode where the hero learns what it's like to be a hero, which is rather special. (Watch out for the twisted clone episode. It will have to pop up sometime!)

'Supergirl', the one season wonder, pulls off something very special here. It makes every character, except the super boring adopted sister Alex, have something interesting to do while keeping the emphasis where it should be, on Kara Danvers. Or should that be Kara Danvers, potentially the person formerly known as Supergirl? No, of course she recovered! They always do!

It would only take a moment to lose perspective with Melissa Benoist's Kara Danvers and fall madly in love. She is absolutely perfect, and absolutely adorable. It's a phenomenal piece of casting, and one which would have made or broken the whole show. It's incredibly important to cast someone precisely when they have to wear idiotic superhero costumes, because if they don't work then you have a cape and a short-ish skirt to explain each week. Benoist really pulls off both sides of the equation in this show: She is wonderfully vulnerable as Kara, and clearly pushing out previously unknown confidence as her costumed alter ego. Especially in this one, where she has to show the suffering of not being able to help people, and not being able to be close to her love James 'Jimmy' Olsen.

It's not all good in 'Human For A Day', though, as we have the obligatory shake DEO storyline with the aforementioned Alex Danvers and Hank Henshaw taking down an escaped telepathic alien, with sprays of bullets everywhere. The revelation of Hank's true identity is pretty nice, though. He's really... No, I won't reveal it this time, but it will be pivotal, and possibly ruin the whole series. You see, there's a line of unreality that gets crossed if you have too many preternatural or fantastical regular characters, and if you cross that line then there's trouble in store. Normally, that line is marked clearly by the number one. Also, we get a second cliffhanger ending in a row, which is a bit frustrating. Please, not a cliffhanger every week! It would get very annoying!

However, with the DEO nitpick put aside, it's a great episode. Melissa Benoist, Mehcad Brooks, Jeremy Jordan and Calista Flockhart all work well, and the writing and direction is great. Well done, 'Supergirl', you could end up as the greatest season of a superhero show in the crates.

O.