As soon as media tycoon Cat Grant showed up in Supergirl, she invited comparisons to Meryl Streep’s evil boss character in The Devil Wears Prada. But after just four episodes, it’s clear that she’s far more sympathetic—so much so that we suspect her of acting as a secret mentor to Supergirl herself.
Cat Grant is the only main character who doesn’t know Kara’s superhero identity, but recent episodes make us wonder if that’s really the case. There are already several clues pointing toward her having made the connection between Kara Danvers and Supergirl.
- When Cat first meets Supergirl, she says, “Oh, it’s you.” Perhaps she recognizes the perky blonde P.A. she sees every day at work?
- In Monday night’s episode, “Livewire,” there are two separate occasions in which Kara leaves Cat’s presence only to return as Supergirl a few moments later. During one, Cat tells Kara to run downstairs and call security during a Livewire attack—giving Kara an obvious opening to turn into Supergirl and save her.
- Cat has already given Kara some useful (if snarky) advice under the guise of “what Supergirl should be doing,” telling her that Supergirl would be better off starting with smaller acts of heroism. This week, Cat was outright protective when shock-jock Leslie Willis mocked Supergirl’s appearance and sexuality. And when Kara said that Supergirl must feel guilty for Leslie’s helicopter crash, Cat comforted her (intentionally or not) by explaining how Supergirl had actually saved the day.
Looking at this evidence, you have to admit that the show is deliberately dropping hints that Cat Grant knows Supergirl’s secret identity—unless, of course, these are all red herrings.
If Cat has figured out Kara’s secret, we’re left to wonder what she’s going to do about it.
Is she content to give Kara occasional pointers to help Supergirl do a better job (and therefore sell more magazines for CatCo), or is she getting closer to Kara because she wants to write an exposé? This week, Cat seemed downright sympathetic when they had a heart-to-heart about their family issues at Thanksgiving. But did Cat have an ulterior motive—was she looking for dirt on Supergirl’s upbringing?
Whether or not Cat knows Kara’s secret, her role is far more interesting than we expected from the pilot episode. She’s quickly grown to represent an older generation of feminism—one that the show itself doesn’t necessarily endorse. She fought her way up to the top of her industry, but her drive to “push” herself and others led to Leslie’s demise. Kara represents a second chance for her to take on that mentor role again—and this time she wants to do it right.
Photo via Supergirl/CBS