"My sister just broke the sound barrier, sir."

In "Stronger Together," the solid (if occasionally a bit clunky) second episode of "Supergirl," everybody has to adjust to their new normal, and for Kara in particular, that means a hell of a learning curve. But she's not the only one who struggles to find her way. In ways big and small, nearly every major character has a lesson to learn, and while Kara's struggles might be the flashiest (and the burnt-oiliest), her sister is certainly dealing with her fair share of trouble, too.

The episode begins with Kara being put through her paces, including breaking the aforementioned sound barrier, by the people of the DEO, Alex included. It's a fun scene, made more fun by the honest, stunned, slightly elated reaction Alex has to seeing her sister sonically shatter a sheet of glass. Yes, it's a hell of a thing to wake up one day and find yourself on the cover of the paper and reviled (or adored) on the evening news. But the reality of having a little sister who can not only leap tall buildings in a single bound, but who is now also your co-worker -- and, basically, your superpowered trainee -- isn't exactly a walk in the park.

Before Alex finds herself beating the crap out of a superhero in a Kryptonite-enhanced room, however, the superhero in question discovers she's got a little -- and not undeserved -- PR program. Kara's struggles this episode might be epic in scope, but they're refreshingly straightforward in nature: any new job is going to be pretty terrible at first, especially when you don't have the sense to admit that you don't know what you're doing. Kara's first misstep comes when she steers an oil-filled ship away from a fire that's poised to make it explode. It's nothing compared to her bumpy airplane landing in the pilot, but still, yanking a giant ship through the water using nothing but your hands is a pretty major feat. That is, until it slowly starts leaking oil into the water.

It's an honest, and probably unforeseeable, mistake, and granted, the thing didn't blow up. But still, Kara shows up at the CatCo offices feeling more than a little embarrassed. That's a feeling that's not improved when a certain billionaire named Maxwell Lord starts spewing talking points to a news crew about what a menace that both Supers, man and girl alike, pose to their respective cities. We don't get much more information about this iteration of Lord, though when Peter Facinelli officially joined the cast the role was described as a "green tech billionaire who enjoys a friendly rivalry with Cat Grant and a fascination with National City's newest arrival." Here's he's just another voice of disapproval, though none rings out quite so forcefully as Cat Grant's.

"What's the opposite of super? #terriblegirl?" Calista Flockhart continues to have a lot of fun with her Miranda Priestly-esque character, and while some of the dialogue comes off a bit forced -- "bro-hang" probably wasn't necessary -- she remains a surprising treat. The scene in which Cat unknowingly gives Kara some much-needed advice (and a few hard truths) is one of the episode's highlights, sending Kara off to master the basics of super-ing, with a little help from her friends.

Mehcad Brooks and Jeremy Jordan are both immensely appealing, and Jordan in particular has a kind of effortless charm and humor that serves him very well, but it'll take some time to see whether or not the battle of the cute boys wears thin after an episode or two. While Jordan may get most of the laughs, it's Brooks's James "Not Jimmy" Olsen who gets pulled to the forefront this week. When Cat threatens his job if he can't produce an interview with Supergirl (or with hashtag-terrible-girl), James gets a completely reasonable jolt of insecurity. As Alex did last week, he's forced to question whether or not any of the things he's accomplished would be his if he didn't have friends in high -- really high -- places.

Lucky for him, Kara's big lesson of the week is that she's much better off as part of a team, and teams have to stick together. She changes her mind and agrees to an interview, all without putting him in the unpleasant position of having to ask. Benoist is particularly good in this scene, managing to deliver a pep talk with every bit as much pep as those she's received from him, and their relationship seems to be on more even footing for the first time.

Kara comes by that lesson the hard way. After having her non-Super sister kick the crap out of her as a demonstration of exactly how much she's got to learn, she meets up with her long-lost aunt, and apparently kicking the crap out of your relatives while fighting them in super dark rooms runs in the family. Laura Benanti looks every inch the badass, but as a villain, so far Astra lacks a little something -- some spark, some little flicker of rage, or hurt, or madness that would make her as scary as she is formidable. We get perhaps a taste of that after David Harewood's Agent Henshaw stabs her with a Kryptonite (or similarly tricked out) blade. But she's not as compelling as she might be, and perhaps that's just as well -- this episode gives us a hint of both a higher-ranking big bad, and whatever ominous thing the writers have in store for the glowing-eyed Henshaw.

While nearly all the subplots of the series regulars succeed, to varying degrees, the serialized format still feels a little less fresh than the rest of the show. Watching Kara flash back to childhood to yank out some long-forgotten alien knowledge felt a little too much like "Super C.S.I." for my tastes, and the convention that they'll be chasing down one Fort Rozz escapee after another seems pretty dull. While this week's bad guy, a Hellgrammite played by the appropriately named Justice Leak, is pretty cool from an effects perspective, there's not much fun in chasing him, since it's clear the character won't be around for long. Letting Alex be the one to dispatch him was a nice touch, but let's hope that eventually we veer away from the more procedural elements of the show thus far and focus on some bigger, more personal stories.

Still, as with last week, Benoist is a total joy to watch, and her very relatable struggles through completely unrelatable circumstances should continue to be every bit as endearing as they are entertaining. It may have lacked some of the pilot's spark, but "Stronger Together" is still pretty strong.