I wasn't blown away by the Supergirl pilot, so it's a relief to see that “Stronger Together” is a much better showcase of the potential of this series. In fact, it sold me on the show much more than the pilot ever did, and that's definitely something to be praised. 

First off, Melissa Benoist is a certified treasure. Even more-so than the pilot, she embodies the iconic character with a whole lot of charm and likeability. She's also surprisingly good in the show's many action sequences, and that's certainly something I didn't expect so soon into the show's run. I was also impressed by Calista Flockhart; I didn't like Cat Grant in the pilot, but her witty one-liners and overall snarky demeanour were on-point in the show's second outing. Plus, we got a heck of a cool ending with Cat finally getting her Supergirl interview. I, for one, cannot wait to see how the next episode deals with this intriguing cliffhanger.  

I appreciate the fact that Supergirl is not shying away from showcasing Kara's failures. Everything from the oil spill to Kara slowly regaining the media's good faith was perfectly executed, and it's a great contrast to her all-too-flawless cousin. Speaking of Superman, another positive this show definitely has going for it is the fact that Kara grew up on Krypton, and that gives us fascinating insight into her mantra (she's not afraid of asking for help). This undoubtedly means that Kara will be building a team of her own (she's already started with Winn and James), and this differentiates her from her cousin. In addition, her upbringing also allows the show to delve into Krypton flashbacks (and they look freakin' gorgeous).

I was expecting this episode to be predictable, but in fact, it did something I wholly did not expect: it brought our heroine and Big Bad face to face at an alarmingly fast rate. It would have been quite expected of the show to completely drag out this climactic face-off until the season finale (that's what a lesser show surely would have done), but Supergirl wisely didn't have General Astra hide behind her villains of the week for endlessly annoying months. The face-off between niece and aunt had some astounding production values, not to mention a host of great barbs and blood-pumping action.