Sure, “For the Man Who Has Everyting” is a classic Moore & Gibbons Superman tale and yes, it’s a great idea to loosely adapt it for this show. That said, within the confines of this series, it still works as your typical “What if?” episode for our hero. What if tragedy hadn’t struck and destroyed Krypton? What if Kara’s parents were still alive? What if Astra hadn’t turned bad? What if they all, including a young Kal-El, lived happily ever after together on Krypton?
This is the scenario that plays out within Kara’s mind after been assaulted by an alien parasite known as “the Black Mercy”. While a dream scenario plays out in her mind as she sleeps, the rest of our characters must contend with a variety of problems. At CatCo, Cat Grant is super-pissed about Kara’s absence, which forces Hank to shapeshift into Kara’s form and stand-in for her as Cat’s assistant. Some comedy obviously arises from this as Hank tries to get a read on Cat and her wishes and fails at every turn.
Back at the DEO, Alex, with the help of Wynn and Jimmy, not only must try to find a way to save Kara from the parasite. She must also contend with the Kryptonian super-criminals that have been menacing National City for the entire season. Neither of these subplots really clicked with me much until Kara finally awoke from her slumber, sadly.
That slumber was full of wonderful character moments, especially between Kara and Astra. This goes on to inform the Kryptonian conflict after Kara awakens. It also further drives home Astra’s true feelings about Kara, which come to the surface in a number of ways this week. Naturally Astra must pick a side in the conflict when Kara is saved and, as always, she chooses poorly. This time it cost Astra her life; dying at the hands of Alex right before Astra attempts to kill Hank (in his Martian Manhunter form). Hank takes credit for the kill, of course, setting up a trademark Berlanti secret that will no doubt cause a rift between Kara and Alex in the future.
Beyond that definitive moment and some more Maxwell Lord fun, this episode didn’t stand out as well as I hoped it might, given the source material. They can’t all be winners, I guess, and it’s still leagues better than what we were getting from the series at the beginning of the season. Next week brings us an episode helmed by none other than Lexi Alexander (Punisher: War Zone)!
