Plot
When an inspection of the recent damage to National City's shoreline unearths a strange spaceship, Kara is stunned to find Mon-El, alive and well, inside the ship. Meanwhile, Samantha turns to her estranged mother for answers regarding her sudden empowerment as J'onn tries to reestablish the bond with his father.
Influences
Superman: The Movie (Kara references and almost recreates the human drill scene, pretty much everything involving Samantha in this episode mirrors Clark Kent's origin in this movie, right down to the green crystal guiding her somewhere.)
Goofs
National City apparently has municipal submarines that are used for harbor inspections.
Odette Annable's delivery during her monologue about not feeling anything when she got shot redefines Narm.
Performances
It's a brief scene but the moment of James comforting Kara as she watches a sleeping Mon-El is a nice one and a reminder of the chemistry between Melissa Benoist and Mehcad Brooks that we didn't see nearly enough of in Season Two.
Super Trivia
In order to reach the sunken spaceship, Kara is ready to spin around in a circle very quickly, turning herself into a drill. This is a classic Superman stunt from the comics, famous recreated in Superman: The Movie.
In order to stop Kara from needlessly destroying public property, J'onn uses his powers to phase himself, Kara and Winn through the ground. Intangibility is one of The Martian Manhunter's many powers in the comics.
At one point Mon-El uses the word "grife". In the Legion of Super Heroes comics, grife was a 30th Century curse word used as a general exclamation of annoyance. (i.e. "Aw, grife! I will not drown in a roomful of wheat!")
First appearing in Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958), Imra Ardeen a.k.a. Saturn Girl was one of the founding members of The Legion of Super Heroes - a group of super-powered teenagers who formed their own independent superhero team in the 30th century. The most powerful telepath on the Saturn moon of Titan, Imra left her homeworld to join The Science Police - the military wing of the United Planets. On the shuttle ride to Earth, Imra discovered a plot to assassinate billionaire R.J. Brande. With the assistance of two other youths - who would later become Cosmic Boy and Lightning Lad - Imra thwarted the plot and, with a grateful Brand offering financial assistance, The Legion of Super Heroes was formed.
In the current Rebirth universe of DC Comics, a time-displaced and depowered Saturn Girl is apparently an inmate in Arkham Asylum. She has made appearances in several Batman titles and Emerald Empress - a time-displaced enemy of The Legion - was seen looking for Saturn Girl in Justice League Vs. Suicide Squad.
Samantha's Fortress of Sanctuary is clearly a dark take on Superman's Fortress of Solitude. Indeed, most of Samantha's story here is taken directly Clark Kent's origin from Superman: The Movie.
Samantha is told that she will be called a Worldkiller. In the New 52 DC Comics, The Worldkillers were five alien children, altered by Kryptonian scientists to become living biological weapons capable of destroying a whole planet single-handed.
Technobabble
"B'rahh alcom" is the Martian phrase for bathroom.
Winn is able to locate the submerged spaceship using the USGS (United States Geological Survey) geothermal scans.
Using the information from the scan, Winn determines that the ship has been buried for at least 12,000 years based on the rock layers around it and that the metal it is made of is not on the Periodic Table.
O'kk Rotokk is a Martian game of strategy with infinite outcomes, much like chess.
The alien ship has stasis fluid levels and a therian pump.
The pods in the alien ship are made of White Dwarf glass. Mon-El is unable to break it in but Kara can.
Dialogue Triumphs
(M'yrnn is wandering the halls of the DEO. Winn walks past him and then, seeing that he is apparently confused, turns back to him.)
Winn: Hey! Hi, Mr. J. You, uh... looking for something?
M'yrnn: I would like to find the b'rahh alcom.
Winn: Oh! Oh! You know, I've been brushing up on my Martian.... b'rahh... library?
(M'yrnn gives him an odd look.)
Winn: No... Bathroom!
M'yrnn: (nodding with a polite smile) To relieve myself.
Winn: (surprised) You...you don't know where it is? You... haven't you been here for three weeks?
M'yrnn: And four days. Precisely.
Winn: Yeah. It's down the hall, around the corner, third door to your left. (glancing around) We really, really should put up signs.
M'yrnn: May I go?
Winn: ... yeah.
M'yrnn: (bowing formally, with much enthusiasm) Thank you!
(M'yrnn hurries off, leaving a disturbed Winn behind him.)
M'yrnn: If you wish to return to the DEO, let us go.
J'onn: Oh, no! Father! It's okay! It's okay. We can stay out! You've been a prisoner for 300 years. You shouldn't feel like a prisoner here.
M'yrnn: I know I am not a prisoner of the DEO, my son. You are. You have glanced at your smart devices 43 times since we arrived. Your body is here but your mind is trapped in your work. You live there. Your only friends are there. You have nothing outside of it.
Kara: You know I don't sleep anymore? I lay awake at night, just staring at the ceiling, because if I close my eyes I dream about you dying! I see you... disappear into the blackness of space forever!
(There is a pregnant pause as Kara ponders her words and tries to compose herself.)
Kara: (crying) This was all I wanted! This. And when I saw you on that ship - oh my God, I felt like I could hope again! I could... touch you. And see you! And hear you! And be with you! Finally! (pauses) But... you're... you're different.
(Mon-El just sits in silence. There is a long pause as he looks at the ground, avoiding Kara's gaze.)
Kara: Do you have nothing to say? (pauses, then sobs) Nothing?!
Mon-El: I'm sorry.
(There is another pregnant pause.)
Kara: (cooly) Shame on me for having a human heart.
Mon-El: I'm sorry. For all of this. I never thought I'd see you again.
(Kara sighs)
Mon-El: I had to keep living.
Kara: You kept the necklace.
Mon-El: Of course I did. As a reminder of everything you taught me and did for me... a reminder of you.
Kara: It means a lot.
Mon-El: You - you have to believe that no matter what century or universe or world I'm living in that I would never forget you. Never. It was wrong of me to keep the truth from you.
Kara: Well, the truth never hurts as much as secrets.
Mon-El: Yeah, and I should have known better. You've never needed my protection. Well, except for that one time we went for all-you-can-eat ribs. And you ah... you were inhaling those things, if I remember correctly. I swear, if I hadn't stopped you...
Kara: It was a limited time offer! I had to!
Mon-El: (chuckles and smiles) That's a very good point.
Kara: This is the first time I've seen you smile since you've been back.
Mon-El: I haven't had a chance to say it yet, but uh... it's really good to see you.
Kara: (choking up a bit) Yeah.
Mon-El: There's something I have to tell you...
Imra: Mon-El?
(The two turn and see Imra, now awake. Mon-El rushes to her side as Kara looks at him dumbfounded)
Mon-El: Imra? Imra!
(The two embrace and kiss passionately. Kara's eyes widen as she puts two and two together on why Mon-El was so distant.)
Mon-El: I'm so glad you're okay! We... we thought your life support had failed!
Imra: No, I'm fine. Tired, but fine.
(Mon-El suddenly seems to remember Kara,who is watching this display trying to put on a brave face.)
Mon-El: Ah.... Imra, this is Kara Danvers. Supergirl.
Imra: I... I can't believe it's really you.
Mon-El: Kara, this is Imra Ardeen... my wife.
Dialogue Disasters
Most of Samantha's dialogue with Patricia, but especially "Patricia! What! Is! Happening?!"
Continuity
National City has a submarine inspect the damage caused by the submarine attack in 301.
The submarine discovers the hidden underground spaceship, last seen in 304.
Samantha tests her apparent invulnerability by placing her hand in boiling water. It does not hurt her.
M'yrnn has been on Earth for three weeks and four days.
The odd language Mon-El speaks when he first confronts Kara, J'onn and Winn in Saturnian.
The air on Earth is still toxic to Daxamites. Somehow, Mon-El is unaffected, but he can't explain why.
Mon-El says the five other people on the ship were passengers but doesn't know why he woke up and they didn't. The attack on the National City submarine was due to the auto-defenses activating.
Samantha addresses her adoptive mother by her first name, Patricia.
Patricia Arias has never met Ruby.
Patricia kicked Samantha out of the house for getting pregnant as a teenager.
Samantha recalls the events of 305 and how she got shot without being hurt.
Patricia reveals a rocket to Samantha, which she keeps out in an old barn. She says that she found Samantha in it and lied about her being adopted.
Samantha retrieves a green crystal from the spaceship that brought her to Earth as a baby.
There is no coffee on Mars.
Kara says she has stopped sleeping because she keeps having nightmares about Mon-El dying whenever she does.
Mon-El reveals that while it has been seven months since Kara last saw him, it has been seven years since he has seen her.
Mon-El says he went through a wormhole (a disruption) which took him to the planet Earth in the 31st Century.
Mon-El refers to someone named Kor-El.
L-Corp develops a cure for the Daxamite lead allergy at some point in the 25th century.
Four of Mon-El's teammates are still in stasis on the ship. One of them, Imra, is being cared for by the DEO as this episode ends.
Imra is from Titan - one of the moons of Saturn.
J'onn gets an apartment for himself and his father to share.
Mon-El has kept Kara's necklace all this time as a reminder of her.
Mon-El is married to Imra.
Samantha creates a Fortress of Sanctuary, complete with a hologramatic teacher. At the end of the episode, something in her is awoken, seemingly subverting her personality.
Location
Somewhere in the desert outside of National City.
The Bottom Line
Half of a great episode with a good subplot made great by two fantastic actors with great chemistry. Then there's all crap with Samantha and Reign. The best thing that can be said about the Reign subplot at this point is that they at least got Sam's transformation over with quickly. Thankfully, we won't have to worry about all that for another week. Bring on Crisis on Earth X!
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