TV Talk - Supergirl: "Livewire"

Next up for the month is a somewhat recent villain: Livewire. She was actually created for Superman: The Animated Series. I guess someone wanted to give Superman a couple of more female villains since he really doesn’t have that many. She did make her way over to the regular DC universe in Action Comics #835 (2006). She was known as Leslie Willis, a radio shock jock who hates Superman. During a thunderstorm, she was shocked and that changed her skin and gave her abilities over electricity. Since Superman was trying to save her, she blamed him for it and took to a life of crime.

I was going to look at her first appearance on STAS, but I thought I’d switch bases a bit. Livewire did briefly appear on Smallville, but really debuted on the CW’s Supergirl. She appeared in the fifth episode of the first season and was actually been a recurring villain on that show. Her origin is pretty much the same but it’s Supergirl instead of Superman.

It’s Thanksgiving and a lot of stuff is going on for the Danvers family. Alex is worried that their mom will blame her for Kara’s hero antics. Meanwhile, shock jock Leslie Willis is tearing the Girl of Steel a new one on radio. Since Cat Grant is overseer of the station, she demotes Willis to the traffic chopper. Later, a thunderstorm gets a brewing and Leslie’s helicopter is caught in it. Supergirl saves Leslie, but Supergirl gets electrocuted as she grabs Leslie. This puts the shock jock in coma and changes her skin and hair.

Danvers' reunions are weird. Someone's always revealing some secret. I wonder what'll be revealed in the third season...

While Danvers’ family drama is going on (Alex and her mom, Eliza, don’t get along well), Leslie wakes up and finds out that she has power over electricity. She decides to take out Cat Grant. Luckily, Kara was there and was able to save Cat as Supergirl. Livewire then uses her powers to take out all the power in National City. Later, the DEO surveys the damage left from Leslie’s attack. Alex and Eliza are also able to make up.

Hank Henshaw gives Supergirl a device that should be able to trap Livewire. Cat asks to be bait in order to get Livewire out of hiding. Livewire comes out and a fight breaks out. Livewire takes out the device but Supergirl finds another solution: water. She busts a water main and uses that to take Livewire down. In the end, all seems good with Cat and the Danvers. Eliza does tell her daughters about the DEO: her father worked for them and they know how he died. The episode ends with Kara and Alex wondering what Hank knows.

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If I remember correctly, this was the first good episode of the series. The previous episodes were okay, but this one had a bit more weight to it. I thought Livewire was a good villain for Supergirl. The actress (Brit Morgan) was nice in the role. I thought tying her to Cat was especially good since it gave my favorite character from the show some depth. The action scenes were okay, though. I did like how Livewire’s powers translated on screen but I do wish she had a better costume.

I don't know why, but I kinda like her older look better.

The Danvers’ family drama was alright. The ending did make it worth getting through, though. Also, it was nice to see some Superman alumni (Helen Slater and Dean Cain) return for this show. Overall, this was a nice episode. Livewire isn’t one of my favorite villains, but she does have interesting powers and an interesting personality. Next time, I’ll be looking at a villain who has a pretty close connection to Superman. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and don’t let Howard Stern get electrocuted. I do not want to see what he would look like in skin tight costume… ugh!