In the season 1 finale of Supergirl , a mysterious pod crash landed on earth, leaving viewers wondering who was inside - until that question was answered in the season 2 premiere. Inside was a passenger resembling a young man, who Kara perceived to be another Kryptonian survivor. The Supergirl showrunners have confirmed that the character is none other than Mon-El (Chris Wood) from the DC Comics; a Daxamite who has powers similar to Kryptonians, but rather than being unable to see through lead, it weakens him instead.
In the season 2 premiere, Kara not only deals with the mystery of who this alien is, but is reunited with her cousin Superman when they both save a space shuttle together. Superman decides to stick around National City for a couple of episodes, and for the first time Kara is given the opportunity to really share her experiences as a superhero with someone else just like her, as they battle the villain Metallo together. However, family time together is cut short when Superman reveals he has to return to Metropolis at the end of episode 2, once again leaving Kara on her own, with the unconscious alien to deal with. This leads right into the plot of the third episode, which is titled "Welcome to Earth".
In the third episode of season 2, an attack is made on the President of the United States, played by original Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter. The DEO is assigned to protect her, while Kara searches for an escaped Mon-El, who she believes might be behind the attack.
Andrew Kreisberg, one of the producers of Supergirl conducted an interview with EW, where he shed some light on the kind of tense relationship between Kara and Mon-El viewers can expect between the two characters this season:
“He’s the prime suspect of being this assassin that’s trying to kill the President. The last thing Mon-El remembers is being on an alien world, he jumped into a pod, and suddenly he wakes up on a strange world. He’s all alone, he’s surrounded by people with guns and he’s having a reaction. He’s reacting to the fact that he suddenly has superpowers, which he wasn’t expecting. How that story weaves about and how he and Kara come together by the end is hopefully pretty clever and interesting.”
While Mon-El might not be a Kryptonian like Kara, Kreisberg went on to talk about how the characters own people share a connective tissue that goes back a long time- one that may have not always been so positive in nature:
“We’re going to explore, in our universe, the idea that Daxam and Krypton were sister worlds, but they didn’t really get along. As somebody says, it’s sort of the Hatfields and the McCoys, so there’s a lot of innate hostility that Mon-El and Kara have for each other simply because of their backgrounds, which is interesting because Kara is not exactly on her best behavior. We always think Kara is so interesting when she’s flawed and watching her learn and grow.”
Kara’s initial mission when she was sent to Earth was to help raise her cousin Kal-El aka Superman, but because her pod arrived late on earth, he grew up before that could happen. Now, according to Kreisberg, Kara might now finally get to fulfill what she was sent to Earth to do, despite it not being Superman who she helps raise - as "Now she has somebody to mentor."
Supergirl has been off to a solid start on its new network, achieving good ratings in its premiere episode, and introducing us to Superman for the first time, played by Tyler Hoechlin, who has been well-received by fans. But the real test for this sophomore season of the Girl of Steel is to see if the high ratings continue even after Superman's departure from the show. Introducing another superpowered alien for Kara to play off of could prove to be an interesting dynamic as she takes on the role of mentor, but how audiences respond to Superman's absence for the first time this season remains to be seen. Supergirl herself is bulletproof, but is she powerful enough to survive a potential drop in ratings?
Supergirl continues with "Welcome to Earth" tonight at 8 pm on The CW.
Source: EW