TV Show Review

TV Review: SUPERGIRL: Season 1, Episode 11: Strange Visitor From Another Planet [CBS]

Chyler Leigh Melissa Benoist David Harewood Strange Visitor From Another Planet Supergirl

CBS’s Supergirl Strange Visitor From Another Planet TV Show Review. Supergirl Season 1, Episode 11: Strange Visitor From Another Planet brought together an emotional backstory with an awkward yet heartwarming reunion between mother and son. The episode made great use of the themes of family and loss, as this week’s installment story of Cat Grant’s (Calista Flockhart) reunion with her estranged son Adam Foster (Blake Jenner) ran parallel with Hank Henshaw/J’onn J’onzz’s (David Harewood) loss of his own family.

‘Strange Visitor From Another Planet’ focused on J’onn J’onzz’s history with the White Martians, a race of aliens who decimated his people on his home planet. We go into some politics when Senator Marana Crane (Tawny Cypress) comes to National City to address her anti-alien campaign. That’s when we see the White Martian crashing the speech and attacking everyone, forcing J’onn to confront his painful memories of his people on Mars. Some of the political issues addressed in the episode were pretty much on point, as the world acknowledges the existence of aliens. This gives Kara/Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) a new perspective in the world that she lives in now.

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The episode went really dark and grim by showing us what happened to the Green Martians, as we see J’onn’s family getting murdered among thousands of other inhabitants by the hands of the White Martians. It definitely drew comparisons to our history with genocides. The show went really heavy with J’onn’s story, but David Harewood pulled it off really well. The last son of Mars feels guilt, revenge, and suicidal when he confronted the White Martian. He was on the brink of killing his sworn enemy until Kara tries to talk him out of doing something that he would regret. The scene between Kara and J’onn was a truly powerful one, and one with a strong emotional pull. It was also fun seeing J’onn and Supergirl go into battle with the White Martian, even if the effects were a little wonky. It was really touching that J’onn acknowledged both Kara and Alex (Chyler Leigh) as if they were his own daughters and wants to do whatever he can to save his new home.

Speaking of effects, the look for the White Martian looked horrifying, especially when it was disguised as Marana showing half of its alien features. It was regrettable that we only got to see the alien in its human form rather than it’s grotesque appearance. It was expected though, due to budgetary restrictions, but it still felt disappointing regardless. Seeing the alien escape from the DEO was well shot, but the fun was taken out of that chase after letting the alien stay in it’s human shape instead of a scary alien.

The other side story we got to see was with Cat, Adam, and Kara. Kara’s love life was pushed to the side for now, only sharing some screen time with James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks) while Winn (Jeremy Jordan) is still reeling from getting heartbroken by Kara. Taking their place in the meantime was Adam, who came to National City after a letter that Kara mailed to him under the guise of his mother. Honestly, it didn’t make sense to add this story into the episode, especially with a White Martian that was attacking the city as the same time. The story just didn’t fit in with the narrative of the episode. Adam doesn’t seem like a character to invest in, at least not in the sense of having him start a relationship with his mother or as a romantic interest for Kara. It was also weird that Cat’s other son wasn’t mentioned in the episode that we just saw a few weeks ago. Let’s hope that we get to learn a little more about Adam since he will be recurring for the next few episodes. It was pretty fun seeing Kara getting cheeky with the guy as he tried his charms on her.

‘Strange Visitor From Another Planet’ gave us a glimpse of J’onn’s life on Mars and the tragedy that befell upon him. Despite the weak story with Cat and Adam, this turned out to be one of the better episodes of Supergirl. The episode did well in combining a great fight scene, a scary villain, and some strong political connotations within the subtext.

Leave your thoughts on this review and this episode of Supergirl in the comments section below. For more Supergirl photos, videos, and news, visit our Supergirl Page, subscribe to us by Email, “follow” us on Twitter, Tumblr, Google+ or “like” us on Facebook.

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Mufsin Mahbub

**Fired from FilmBook for Plagiarism** Mufsin is a freelance writer from New York who has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism at Long Island University. He has written for publications like HollywoodLife, Clubplanet, and Heavy. He is an avid lover for everything related to TV and film. He has gone to dozens of film screenings, press events, and loves to attend New York Comic Con every year. He gives an honest opinion on every TV show or film that people are going to be talking about.
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