Warning: spoilers ahead for Episode 3 of Supergirl Season 2 entitled "Welcome to Earth."
One of the most highly anticipated new additions to Supergirl for Season 2 has been Lynda Carter in the role of the President of the United States. Tonight saw the former Wonder Woman star make her Supergirl debut as President Olivia Marsdin, who dropped by National City to sign her controversial Alien Amnesty Act into law, thus granting American citizenship rights to folks from other planets. President Marsdin was attacked as soon as she landed in National, which wasn't much of a shocker. The real surprise came at the end when the episode revealed that the president herself is an alien. Conflict of interest much?
"Welcome to Earth" was all about the moral question of whether or not aliens deserve to live alongside humans with equal rights. Kara and President Marsdin argue that aliens are not fundamentally good or bad and therefore deserve a chance, while Martian Manhunter believes that welcoming aliens to Earth en masse isn't worth the risk. There was no explanation as to why President Marsdin felt so strongly about the Alien Amnesty Act, but the reveal that she is an alien poses some big questions about how she became the president and whether she actually is one of the good guys. There are really only two major possibilities, with one distinctly more sinister than the other.
The first possibility is that Olivia Marsdin is the human identity of this alien in the same way that Kara Danvers is the human identity of Kara Zor-El. Lynda Carter's character could simply be another innocent alien refugee trying to build a life for herself and others like her on Earth. The Alien Amnesty Act would make sense as a way for her to protect aliens who end up on Earth as well as open the door for her to one day safely live in her own form.
The second and more menacing possibility is that Olivia Marsdin was once a living human who has been replaced by an alien with shapeshifting abilities, similarly to how Martian Manhunter lived for more than a decade as the deceased Hank Henshaw. If Lynda Carter's character took over an existing human's identity, particularly a politician's, she may have had to get her hands dirty in order to do it. In fact, she could be a villain who is using the Alien Amnesty Act as a way to bring a bunch of her villain pals to the planet without much in the way of red tape.
I'm crossing my fingers that Lynda Carter is playing one of the good aliens. Supergirl is built on the premise of a Kryptonian working with humans to stop alien threats, but the show could use more friendly folks from outer space. The introduction of the cantina full of aliens hanging out together was a good start on showing that not all extraterrestrials have dastardly plans and deserve to be hunted by the DEO. A president who is both an alien and a good person could be a far more interesting twist than a president who is just another evildoer from another planet.
There's no saying at this point when we might see more of Lynda Carter on Supergirl, since President Marsdin departed National City at the end of "Welcome to Earth" with no mention of when she would be back. Hopefully Supergirl will continue exploring alien life on Earth in the coming weeks. Given that "Welcome to Earth" ended on the introduction of Miss Martian, it's probably safe to say that we'll be getting more of at least one friendly new alien in the coming weeks. We'll just have to cross our fingers that they keep away from Project Cadmus.
Tune in to The CW on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET to see what's next for Kara and Co. on Supergirl.
