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Plot
With Nyxly now loose on Earth, the Super-Friends turn to an unlikely ally to help them reign in the imp princess - Mr. Mxyzptlk! Meanwhile, Lena visits her mother's birthplace in Newfoundland, only to find a chilly reception from the residents of the small town.
Influences
The Lord of the Rings (The All-Stone is basically the One Ring for imps.)
Goofs
Somehow, the ground around the giant cat is left unscathed by Alex's missile and Kara's heat vision blast.
Honestly, there's no logical reason why they shouldn't have J'onn shapeshift to replace Mxy rather than depending on a holographic projection other than J'onn not wanting to impersonate Mxy.
Performances
Thomas Lennon is a delight as Mr. Mxyzptlk, finding the right balance between camp and annoying, while still doing some honest acting to convey Mxy's frustration at how limited he is without his magic.
Artistry
I must confess I laughed out loud at Supergirl using her heat vision as a laser pointer to distract a giant cat.
Super Trivia
The episode title is a reference to the sitcom Malcolm In The Middle.
Mxy explains Nxyly's history with a parody of the 1978 song "I Will Survive."
The totems making up the All-Stone almost match the Paragons required to save the multiverse during Crisis on Infinite Earths, with Honor being replaced by Dreams.
Nxyly makes reference to fighting a Khundian general at one point. The Khunds are a war-like race of aliens in the reality of DC Comics, who are known for their predisposition to violence. Khunds do not take insults lightly and are insulted easily, looking for any excuse to challenge one another in duels to the death.
Technobabble
Imps can be summoned by speaking their name. Should two people do this at the same time, it seems to give the imp the freedom to decide who to obey, as Mxy helps Kara instead of Nxyly.
Imps can track one another when they use magic. This leaves Mxy effectively powerless as he tries to stay off of Nxyly's radar.
The All-Stone is a magical artifact created thousands of years ago by an evil imp named Jyrryd, which gives its owner complete control over everything - matter, energy, magic, life and death. The All-Stone was broken into multiple Totems of seven primal powers - truth, destiny, dreams, love, hope, humanity and courage.
According to Mxy, each planet has a set of these totems.
The crystal ball Nxyly has is revealed as the Crystal of Jyrryd. It can be used to track the All-Stone Totems, but it requires the power of an imp with the blood of Jyrryd.
Mr. Mxyzptlk is revealed to be Jyrryd's last living descendant.
J'onn confirms that the device built by Dr. Raab in 610 converted Kryptonian bio-energy into a form that Nxyly could absorb.
Brainiac-5 thinks he can reverse engineer Dr. Raab's device to create something that drains the magic from Nxyly. Alex then suggests that they can modify a DEO power-dampener cuff that Nxyly can't unlock to keep the power-draining device locked on her. Even then, it will require a steady stream of magical energy to power it.
Brainiac-5 complains that the nano-plating on the DEO cuff is too thin. Dreamer says she may be able to reinforce it with dream energy.
5th Dimensional energy destabilizes the copying format of Brainy's copying machine, causing the duplicate Mxy to reintegrate with him far too quickly.
Imps are forbidden from killing people directly with their magic. However, they can still kill people indirectly by summoning monsters that could potentially harm people.
Dialogue Triumphs
(Mxy explains Nxyly's history in song, to the tune of "I Will Survive.")
You'll see that I'm afraid, I am petrified!
For that imp she has a crystal she wants me inside!
And Nyxly's just not any imp,
But a princess brave and strong,
Who was wronged,
And for payback has waited long!
Oh, she's the daughter of the imp king,
Who was bad to every imp
And every other thing
So she conspired with her brother to unseat the evil lord
But they got caught and sent to trial before the horde!
Go on
Walk out the door
Oh, the king, he disowned Nyxly For starting up that war
And Nyxly's brother, he got praised, for showing his ferocity
But Nyxly was sent away. Because, hey, patriarchy!
Oh, Nyxlaaai! She would survive
In the outer lands, she found a quest, and that kept her alive
The All-Stone totem she would find!
So much power she would mine!
She would survive! She would survive!
Mitch: We had a deal! I help you and you help me get my menagerie back!
Nyxly: Let me help you with something far more valuable. A lesson. Those you think are close to you would just as soon betray you and leave you locked away. You gave me what I needed, and now you're nothing more to me than a gnat. And I am the bright light that you're drawn to. That will incinerate you.
(Mxy wants to prove he can be useful without his magic.)
Alex: Well, now that the stone is out, any tips on how to get the magical current to connect to the component's electrical one?
Mxy: Yes. Ummm... Here's the thing. I mean, you know, because magic is just instinctive to us imps. (chuckling nervously) So to explain it to a non-Fifth-Dimensional being, it would just be like trying to explain a spear to a stick figure.
J'onn: Why don't you try us?
Mxy: Okay.
(Mxy looks at everything and is clearly out of his element. Alex and J'onn look at him expectantly.)
Mxy: Have you tried turning it on, turn it off, turning it on again?
Continuity
Mr. Mxyzptlk is summoned by both Kara and Nxyly at the same time.
Mxy testified against Nxyly when she was put on trial for treason against her father 300 years ago. He says that he regrets this, but points out she was trying to destroy most of the Fifth Dimension at the time.
Kara never told the rest of the Super Friends about her encounter with Nyxly in the Phantom Zone.
Mxy explains that Nxyly is looking for the All-Stone - an artifact that could make an Imp all-powerful and that the All-Stone was broken into seven totems.
Nxyly's crystal ball could track the totems, if she trapped Mxy inside it.
Mxy claims he was forced to testify against Nxyly by her father, King Brpxz, because of his heritage and his family being on thin-ice because of their infamous ancestor.
Nia has her reoccurring dream with the ravens and the ice cage again. This time, however, she sees Mxy in the cage, dead.
When Nia lies about what she was doing, Brainy picks up on it. She admits to him, privately, that she was responsible for freeing Nxyly after she became stuck in the Dream Realm.
Brainy comforts Nia, telling her he knows how it feels to be exploited by a villain, referring to his bargain with Lex Luthor in the second-half of Season 5.
Brainy agrees to keep Nia's secret, but encourages her to tell Kara on her own.
Andrea loaned Lena a CatCo corporate jet for her trip.
Andrea calls Lena and learns that she's about to arrive in Fortune Bay, Newfoundland, which is her mother's hometown.
Lena is the spitting image of her mother at her age.
Lena discovered a picture of her mother with two other women - Florence Abbott and Margaret Bishop - who were her best friends since childhood.
Margaret Bishop is still living in Fortune Bay, according to Lena's research.
Andrea promises to help Lena find Margaret Bishop, when Lena admits she couldn't find anything about her or her whereabouts today.
Lena's mother's birthname is revealed to be Elizabeth Walsh.
Dee-Dee, the innkeeper Lena booked a room with, recognizes her as a Luthor and is overjoyed to see her... until she says she's the daughter of Elizabeth Walsh. Suddenly, she declares that Lena's room has been double-booked and there's no room for her.
Mxy suggests just sending Nxyly back to the Phantom Zone, but Kara says she thinks Nxyly could be reasoned with and that what happened to her was unfair.
Kara goes to retrieve the amulet Mon-El used to fight Mxy in 213, after Mxy reveals that, rather than destroying the amulet, he hid it in a cave in the jungles of Corto Maltese. He thought nobody would find it, but warns Kara it's now being used as a base by a guerilla warlord.
Mitch returns to his ship to find Nxyly there. He says he was arrested but managed to slip away during a transfer.
Mitch offers to help Nxyly but she dismisses him as useless to her now.
Kelly is said to be busy dealing with the fallout caused by the Ormfel Building and other damage throughout the Heights caused by Nxyly's attack.
Mxy offers to help J'onn and Alex with creating the magic-draining device, but proves to have no technical aptitude at all.
Lena goes to a bar in Fortune Bay which she learned was owned by Margaret Bishop. The Margaret Bishop in question goes by Peggy and reveals herself to be named for her mother. When Lena mentions her mother was Elizabeth Walsh, she too goes from being friendly to hostile and tells Lena to get out of Fortune Bay, saying that Elizabeth Walsh was no friend to her mother.
Peggy claims that her mother is dead and that Elizabeth Walsh was the one who killed her. She also claims Elizabeth Walsh was a conniving opportunist who left town after seducing a wealthy man into giving her a new life.
When pushed, Peggy says that her mother, Elizabeth walsh and Florence Abbott were part of a witches coven together.
Peggy says she saw Elizabeth Walsh set a shed on fire without a match while her father was inside it. He died in the fire. Florence Abbott disappeared after that, leaving Margaret to deal with the fallout.
Mxy tries to help Nia and Brainy with the cuff, but is also turned away.
Nxyly releases a giant cat on National City.
Dreamer tries to draw the cat into the Dream Realm, but fails.
Supergirl distracts the cat using her heat vision as a laser pointer while Sentinel tries to destroy the cat with her Hand of the Soldier.
Nxyly says that a Khundian general tried to capture her once, but she killed him and his arm with a Kryptonite-breathing dragon.
Nxyly gives the heroes two hours to hand over Mxy and tells them to meet her in Smidt Park.
Andrea calls Lena and tells her she found Florence Abbott. She e-mails her the details and tells Lena she shouldn't give up, even if everything she found out so far seems bad.
Brainy once again encourages Nia to tell Kara that she released Nyxly on Earth.
Mxy uses a temporary cloning device to make a copy of himself and suggests using it as a decoy to bluff Mxy and get the cuff on her. Everyone agrees this is a good plan, but the duplicate disintegrates almost immediately due to Mxy's magic destabilizing the copying format.
Lena finds the home of Florence Abbott. She comments that Lena looks just like her mom and claims to still talk to Elizabeth in her dreams.
Florence says she doesn't trust computers and gets her information directly from the source. She claims Elizabeth told her that her daughter was a scientist, but Lena points out anyone could find that information easily with a Google search.
Florence says she, Elizabeth and Margaret all came from a long line of witches. Florence taught them how to draw on the power of nature and says she can teach Lena, whom she senses has the same spark.
Florence claims that Margaret's husband, Tommy, was abusive but that nobody would do anything because he was popular in town. She also claimed the fire that killed him was an accident and that they had been trying to scare him.
Florence tells Lena that her mother is still watching over her and is very proud of her.
Nia takes Brainy's image inducer and reprograms it to make her look like Mxy. She says she'll slip the cuff on Nxyly while Kara distracts her.
The plan falls apart when the magic interferes with the mage inducer and Nia's disguise is ruined.
J'onn, Alex and Brainy rush to the scene with the Phantom Zone Projector, but Nxyly uses a spell to tie everyone up and summons the Kryptonite- breathing dragon she mentioned before to kill everyone.
Mxy shows up and surrenders himself to Nyxly, only to slip the anti-magic cuff on her wrist as he's drawn into her crystal ball.
Nxyly is teleported away at the last moment, along with the crystal ball.
Kara admits she was mistaken to think Nxyly could be reasoned with.
Lena thanks Florence for telling her about her mother, but she's still skeptical that she could use magic.
It is revealed that Mitch was the one who saved Nxyly She agrees to partner with him and help him build a better life in exchange for finding the totems. She says the Totem of Courage should be their first target.
Nia has a dream vision of Nxyly and confirms that she is with Mitch and depowered, but she's usuing the crystal to search for the totems.
Location
Fortune Bay, Newfoundland, Canada.
Untelevised Adventures
Kara retrieves the amulet Mon-El used to fight Mister Mxyzptlk from a cave in Corto Maltese.
Kara goes to the Fortress of Solitude and uses the scanners there to search for 5th Dimensional energy signatures around the world.
The Bottom Line
An energetic performance by Thomas Lennon isn't enough to redeem this episode, which seems to have borrowed half of its script from a new CW pilot for another Charmed reboot. The decision to have Lena become a witch comes out of left-field, though it must be admitted the idea is so weird it is at least interesting. The same can't be said of the other half of the episode, which only works when Mxy is on-screen.
