Supergirl is back! Whew. The midseason break was nice because you know, holidays and stuff, but I'm glad Kara and co. are back on my television. I've missed them. They wasted no time jumping into action, as Kara and Mon-El took an out of this world trip—literally—to search for missing persons. My biggest takeaway from "Supergirl Lives" is that Kara's doing more than living—she's thriving.

Think about where Kara was at the beginning of Season 1. With that picture in your mind, fast forward to Season 2. If you're familiar with Hamilton: "Look at where we are, look at where we started..." She went from being Cat Grant's assistant to pursuing a fresh career path as a budding journalist. Kara became more comfortable with the responsibility packaged with her cape and powers and her role with the DEO. It's only been a short period of time, but we've watched her step into Supergirl's tights and as a result, mature as a super hero and a person.

Kara's continued to grow up since the beginning of the current season. She used to be frightened of Snapper Carr. Now? She sasses him. Mind you, I don't know if she should be quite so pushy considering she's been a reporter for mere months and he's her boss, but the tactic seems to work with Snapper. She's taken some Journalism 101 rules to heart, and she's leveraging her position as Supergirl to sniff out stories. Kara doesn't settle for what Snapper throws at her; she insists on going big. I admire the backbone, especially considering it wasn't there a mere year ago.

On the saving the day front, Kara was tested in another situation in which her powers weren't available. She followed the trail in a missing persons case and it went all the way to another planet. She and Mon-El, because he tagged along, were transported through a star gate of sorts to a world with a red sun, so their yellow-sun fueled abilities were useless.

Did Kara let her lack of super strength and heat vision stop her? Of course not. She didn't question what she could do or how she could help, she moved forward to fight for others as best as she could. Again, not the Supergirl of Season 1. Kara has found a way to be extraordinary even when she's not fully Supergirl, if that makes sense. She's more centered. More confident.

May I call attention to the ridiculously high number of precious scenes in this episode? Good, because I'm doing it anyway. Supergirl is one of the most adorkable series on television, and it doesn't even have to resort to using baby animals to push the meter up. My top cute moments: Alex calling Kara out for the crinkle in her forehead, Alex being all smitten after her sleepover with Maggie, and Winn nerding out about being in outer space. Guys, I don't know if you noticed, but he wasn't the red shirt.

As is our custom 'round these parts, let's turn our attention to some #DCTV Secrets!

Izzy, the missing (now found) woman in the episode, is also Harley Quinn. Wait, what? I’m not talking about that Harley Quinn. The actress portraying the character is Harley Quinn Smith, director Kevin Smith's daughter.

And speaking of Kevin Smith, he directed this episode! Even more, this isn't his first foray into directing in the #DCTV universe. He's previously twice taken the helm on The Flash (the most recent was in November’s “Killer Frost” episode). The title of this episode, "Supergirl Lives," is a nod to an unproduced script written by Smith. He penned Superman Lives in 1996—a movie that would have starred Nicolas Cage as the Man of Steel. The story in that film was loosely based on "The Death of Superman" comic book arc from the early '90s.

What other hidden gems did you find? Head to the comments and share #DCTV Secrets you spotted and tell me what you thought about the episode. It's very important to me that you rank the moments you found to be most adorable.
 

Amy Ratcliffe covers Supergirl as a part of the #DCTV Couch Club. Look for Amy on Twitter at @amy_geek. Supergirl airs Mondays at 8 p.m. (7 p.m. CST) on The CW.