This fifth episode of Supergirl was the best since the pilot. The episode is about juggling a lot of things and spreading one’s self too thin. The show’s producers manage to do the former in this episode without falling victim to the latter. The episode takes a bit of time to establish Kara as Supergirl and an assistant and babysitter and potential girlfriend, and then Maxwell Lord as a suspect who we’re not sure is a villain or not. By the two-third point, though, there’s plenty going on, both in terms of action, and in terms of character depth and story interest. James Olsen shows he can take action to protect someone he cares about beyond just calling a Kryptonian for help. Kara has to choose between saving a large group of people or saving a small group, one of which she’s pledged to protect – facing the reality that she can’t save everyone. We see that what appears to be a madman bent on blowing up a train is a fall guy who’s carrying out a mysterious plot, orchestrated by someone who considers large groups of civilians as acceptable collateral damage. We also get a glimpse of Hank Henshaw show what we can only assume are some Cyborg Superman powers.

Sure, we could still do without all the sequences of Kara pining after dreamy-eyed but studly James Olsen. But at least the dialogue is not overly dopey and the characters are taking shape as more than flat caricatures. Which is more than we can say for some other network television neo-paranormal serials (yeah, we’re looking at you, Vampire Diaries).