Zombie Supergirl ruins sweet smooching session

Last week, Supergirl was grappling with a galactic genocidal gangster, so it was must have been something of a relief for her to get back to the relative familiarity of her tangled love-life, in this touchy-feely episode that was all about relationships.

She (or at least, her alter-ego Kara Danvers) finally got it on with model sappy boyfriend material Adam, which was nice, up until the moment when an undead version of herself swooped in and flew her away.

This Other-Supergirl (nicknamed Bizarro by media queen Cat Grant) is an abominable creation of vile tech entrepreneur Maxwell Lord. As in the original Superman DC comic-books, Bizarro is an evil copy of heroic protagonists, in this case, Bizarro Supergirl. Lord plays the Doctor Frankenstein role, breathing new life into a dead young woman, so she can wreak havoc on the world.

In one teeth-grinding moment, he has her call him "My Lord." The way he strokes her hair and touches her skin is almost as unpleasant as his exhortation that she destroy Supergirl.

This leads to the usual to-ing and fro-ing in abandoned buildings and dusty out-of-town locations. The two antagonists get down to some Rock-Paper-Supergirl. Lazer Eyes counters Lazer Eyes. Fiery Breath countered by Freezy Breath. Punchy Flying Attack blocked by Stone Fist.

Alex Danvers puts an end to all this nonsense, turning up with an anti-Bizarro weapon. Big Sister With Fancy Kryptonite Gun Wins. Poor Bizarro loses her looks and is rendered into a zombie, which actually matches perfectly with her stilted conversational techniques. "Must. Kill. Supergirl."

"Once again, a super-powered monster is on the loose in National City," sighs Hank Henshaw. But it turns out that if you reverse the ionic charge of Kryptonite and apply that to a weapons-grade discharge ... something, something ... resolution of final action sequence.

Just prior to Bizarro's undoing, she has a quiet chat with James Olsen, who tries to make her feel better about the fact that she looks like someone who has been dead for a few weeks. "We all feel like we're ugly sometimes," says this fantastically good-looking man who is dating one beautiful woman and in a pleasingly flirtatious relationship with another. "We all feel like no-one loves us," says the geezer who is best mates with a bloke who can fly.

Anyway, let's get back to Adam. Supergirl and he went out on a date. They shared secrets. They smooched.

I mean, obviously, he's not really right for her. He seems to me to be a prize berk. He's the sort of cleft-chinned fellow who coos, "You're amazing," on a first date. In my book, this alone makes him as much a monster as any freaky insect alien. But there's no accounting for taste and no comprehending the mysteries of sexual attraction between good-looking people.

Suffice it to say, Supergirl likes him. So it's painful for her to throw him over the side. Despite their romantic connection, she comes to understand that being a superhero AND fetching coffees for Cat Grant AND attending to her own human, emotional needs is just too much, so something has to give.

Adam is devastated. He exits the show, hopefully for a very long time, so we can get back to the far more interesting romantic ties with sad-sack Winn and spoken-for James. Also, Cat is mad at Kara because Adam is her son. This is bad for Kara but good for the rest of us.  If Cat starts being nice to Kara, this show is pretty much dead.

Now for the best bit. Alex has finally had enough of Maxwell Lord and his slimy shenanigans, so she pays him a little visit. "Maxwell Lord, You're under arrest," she declares, whipping out her evil-proof handcuffs. Glory-be.

Lord is a wonderfully hateful villain, a zero-empathy, smug tycoon with a God Complex. Oh man, we all love to see dudes like that get their comeuppance.

You can read all Polygon's Supergirl recaps here.