“Human for a Day” is episode seven of season one of Supergirl.
At the end of the previous episode, “Red Faced”, Kara was in Cat’s office when she dropped herself. And cut herself on the broken glass. Kara had probably never seen her own blood since she came to Earth. Kara had expended a lot of energy destroying Red Tornado, enough that she fell to the ground afterwards.
This episode opens with Kara at the DEO being prodded and poked as the recording of her mother speaks about the loss of Supergirl’s powers. Indeed, Kara had expended so much energy that he drained her batteries, so to speak, and Alura says that Kara is currently as vulnerable as any human. However, once Kara has absorbed enough of the Sun’s energy, her powers will return.
After the test are over, Kara is complaining to Alex about still not getting how powers back. This happens to Superman every now and then and normally he gets his powers back in a couple of days. It’s already been a couple of days. Alex says that Kara is simply stir-crazy from being tested by the DEO all weekend.
Director Henshaw approaches the two and tells Kara it will be good for her to know what normal humans feel like. He asks for Alex’s assistance with a prisoner who is proving unruly. Alex agrees and, after Henshaw leaves, Kara says she is surprised that Alex can be nice to him. For Winn had discovered that Henshaw and Jeremiah Danvers were on a mission to South America, the mission Alex’s father died during. Yet Henshaw walked out of the jungle without a scratch on him a month later. Henshaw has already shows he is not quite normal, but it looks like his story may be different to the normal one. Alex tells Kara that she has served with Henshaw for years and he never once mentioned her father. She knows he is hiding something. He is.
Kara arrives at the office with what sounds like a cold, much to Winn’s surprise. Cat, it would seem, is a bit of a germaphobe and she is also surprised that Kara is sick, for she never gets sick. Which Cat considers to be one of her best qualities. After a long spiel about how Kara being sick will trigger another recession – because Cat could catch it – Kara decides the best thing to do is to head home for now.
The prisoner that Director Henshaw wanted help with is an alien called Jemm. Who has some serious mental abilities, including mind control, but they cannot be used inside his cell on those outside. Jemm like spouting off about how great he is and tells Henshaw that he should deactivate the cell or expose his true identity as a coward. Henshaw does not fall for this. Jemm tells Henshaw that he will grind Henshaw’s loved ones to dust; Henshaw mutters that there are none left to grind. Then tells Alex that Jemm’s tank needs a clean.
Kara is walking with James, who tells her that he and Lucy are looking for a place together. James, knowing Superman, also realises that Kara has lost her powers. He even has a name for it: solar flare. Well, actually it’s Superman’s name for it, as he likes to name his powers. Kara says that he is such a nerd. She then says that the city can survive without Supergirl for one day. No! Never say stuff like that!
Of course, an earthquake promptly hits the city when Kara tempts fate in such a way. A car nearly hits her but James knocks her to the ground first; unfortunately Kara’s arm is broken when she hits the pavement. If she thought a glass cut was bad, a broken bone is way worse. Alex, at the D.E.O., has bigger problems. The quake hits just as they were messing with Jemm’s cell, and when power returns, he’s escaped.
Alura’s interactive recording tells the DEO that Jemm is one of the most dangerous prisoners inside Fort Rozz. His psychic powers are great and he can read and control minds without permission. Their best hep is her daughter, Kara. Slight problem with that at the moment.
Kara and James return to CatCo and Maxwell Lord is on TV running his own relief effort and calling Supergirl the world’s most unreliable superhero. Cat is not happy with that, as she considers Supergirl to be her creation, and wants to get back on the air to counter Maxwell’s negativity.
At the DEO Director Henshaw and two agents are equipping themselves with weapons and neural inhibitors to go and find the escaped Jemm. Henshaw wants Alex to stay behind and make sure everyone else is safe. With Henshaw and the other two agents wandering through darkened, red-lit corridors looking for their target, it feels the scene really needs a motion detector box making a regular pinging sound as it operates.
Kara and James head out to speak to Maxwell Lord. She tells him that he’s being rather negative towards Supergirl; Lord tells Kara he didn’t say on air what he could have said. That he knows that Supergirl lost her powers due to the battle with Red Tornado and that she should have got them back after two days. And if she hasn’t got them back by now, she may never get them back.
Kara is feeling really helpless without her powers, that she can’t help anyone. James tells her that she can – but she takes him a little too literally. Alex’s distrust of Henshaw is causing her to question everything he does and all of his orders. It does result in her finding out the truth, and Henshaw is revealed.
A bit of a cliff-hanger ending leading into the next episode, “Hostile Takeover”.