For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.
Plot
When Lex and Nyxly kidnap Esme, an unlikely ally steps in to help the Super Friends save her.
Influences
Marvel's Infinity War (the hunt for the Totems mirrors the search for the Infinity Stones, Nxyly now has a gauntlet to hold the totems), Beauty and the Beast (the love totem losing its petals symbology)
Goofs
How did Alex get to Prague or retrieve the Totems from the Fortress of Solitude? (Presumably she could get a portal watch from Lena, but it never is explained.)
Even by the standards of comic book science, it beggars belief that a satellite could drain the sun and be used to super-charge Supergirl.
Despite the bridge being said to be a dead zone for tech and superpowers, nobody has trouble during the climactic fight scene.
The CGI fight between Lex and Nyxly opening the final scgment looks like something from a Playstation 2 era video game.
Lex and Nyxly briefly changing into snake people is not explained.
The idea that the All-Stone can permanently drain all the seven elements from the Earth seems to contradict the idea of the individual Totems always reforming so the elements are never lost.
Performances
Melissa Benoist shows her skill as a performer, selling the hell out of some truly terrible dialogue in this episode.
Artistry
The fight for the Allstone is well-choreographed.
Super Trivia
The Destiny Totem is revealed to be in the thread of destiny held by Clotho in a statue of the Three Fates. Clotho, who had adopted the alias Charlie, was a member of the Legends of Tomorrow in season 4 and 5.
Technobabble
Lena has a spell that enables her to track people.
One of the first rules of professional chess is that if you touch a piece you must move or capture that piece if legal to do so.
Brainiac-5 suggests that they could use an experimental satellite used for enhancing crop growth and repurpose its output after adjusting its orbit to filter yellow sunlight directly into Supergirl, enhancing her powers. This would allow her brain to process information more quickly, her super-hearing to increase 50-fold and she would become invulnerable to magic. This process would take four minutes, however, this process would reduce the sun's power for six months. Lena adds that it could disrupt the sun's orbit, which would throw the whole solar system out of balance.
Lena casts a spell on both Lex and Nyxly that wraps them in blinding mist.
Using the Allstone drains the world of all the elements it is meant to represent. This equates to people watching the fight between Lex and Nyxly with total indifference and the color being drained from them. Brainiac-5 estimates that all the seven elements will be drained forever in 72 hours. Yet the one-third of the the AllStone is not powerful enough to open a dimensional gateway.
Dialogue Triumphs
(Brainiac-5 fits Dreamer with a gauntlet that draws on the Dream Totem power.)
Brainiac-5: See? It fits perfectly. Like Cinderella. Without the gender inequality through patriarchy. And sexual objectification.
Nyxly: From the moment I met you, I knew you shouldn't be trusted. You're nothing but a foul little man who lies and cheats and plays mind games to get what he wants. You're just like my father. I could say I hate you, but the truth is I pity you. No one will ever love you. Goodbye, Lex.
Dialogue Disasters
Lena: The sun is responsible for ocean currents, for climate, for plant life!
Continuity
Lex leaves a recording ransoming Esme for the five Totems the Super Friends have and tells them to find the Destiny Totem.
Lex wears a baby Truth Seeker, so they know he isn't lying.
Lex confirms that the Love Totem has merged with Esme.
Lex suggests they meet at a bridge near the Fort Rozz crash site, where the Omegahedron exploded in 120 which is a dead zone for technology and metahuman/alien powers. The exchange is scheduled for noon the next day.
Brainy starts scanning the globe for any sign of Lex, Nyxly, Mitch or Esme.
Lena starts searching every place Lex has access to with one of her mother's tracking spells.
Dreamer starts trying to find the location of the Destiny Totem.
Brainy offers to make Dreamer a shield that will let her tap the Dream Totem safely, like he did with the Courage Totem for J'onn and the Humanity Totem for Supergirl.
Alex suggests making a decoy Destiny Totem with Lena's magic, but Brainy says magic won't work in the dead zone either.
Kara wants to use the Totems to power herself up so she can save Esme.
Lex and Nyxly retreat to a bunker where Lex's butler Philippe (last seen in 603) is waiting with Mitch.
Esme is afraid she'll never see her moms again because nothing good in her life has ever lasted.
Nyxly tries to activate the Love Totem by holding Esme's hand and saying the magic word. This causes the rose petals on her tattoo to begin falling off. Lex theorizes the Totem will find a new host when that happens.
Lex suggests trying to cut the Love Totem out of Esme but Nyxly refuses to hurt an innocent girl and says Lex should know she'd never agree to that if he truly knows her.
Lex says that Nyxly's death in the future came about because of how she came to possess the Love Totem while assembling the AllStone. Originally, she used her magic to end-run the Love Gauntlet.
Lex suggests that maybe he should get the Love Totem but Nyxly says she must do it herself because she won't have any man do what she can do herself. She decides to try and win Esme's trust and hope that restores the Love Totem.
Andrea travels into the Watchtower using her shadow powers to observe where William died. She is discovered by Lena.
Andrea says she's a monster and that William was right about her standing for nothing.
Lena says there is still time for Andrea to be a better person because Lena was able to redeem herself.
J'onn and Kara discuss the pain of losing a loved one, after Kara searches the globe for Lex several times.
Kara says that she's ready to do whatever it takes to stop Lex and Nyxly forever, even if it means taking the All-Stone for herself.
Lex is playing chess against himself when Lillian Luthor shows up.
Lillian notes that Bobby Fischer made the same mistake as Lex did in a match in Buenos Aires in 1960, playing Unzicker.
According to Lillian, the press is now reporting that Lex Luthor killed William Dey and kidnapped Esme.
Lex makes reference to Lillian trying to poison him on another Earth in 422.
Lillian tells Lex to abandon Nyxly, turn himself in and plead insanity.
Lex tells Lillian that he chooses Nyxly over her.
Nyxly promises Esme that she will see her moms again.
When Nyxly was Esme's age, her favorite thing was drawing until her father had all her colored pencils destroyed. He thought art was useless.
Nyxly tells Esme that just because things get scary that doesn't mean they will always be bad.
Nyxly tries the magic word again, but it doesn't work.
Lex watches Nyxly with Esme over a security camera and then notices her crystal ball is unattended.
Alex has a breakdown in the Watchtower armory while looking for weapons that might work in the dead zone.
Kelly tries to calm Alex down and tells her its because of how much they love Esme that the Love Totem bonded to her.
Dreamer worries that she might foresee bad news but Brainiac-5 reassures her that too much knowledge is never a bad thing.
Brainiac-5 agrees to travel into the Dream Realm with Dreamer so they can face whatever visions she has together.
Dreamer is able to find the Destiny Totem at the ruins of St. Vassily's Catherdal in Prague. She also senses that Esme is safe, but can't sense where she is. He believes the Totem is in a famous statue of the three Fates located there, specifically the spool of thread held by Clotho.
The gauntlet of Destiny requires one to face their destiny without the power of the totem. This gives Kara a glimpse of the future and a battle with Lex and Nyxly and the world suffering before the totem reshapes itself into a purple gem.
Alex, in her Sentinel costume, shows up and takes the gem from Kara, saying she's going to use it to get Esme back by taking the Totems to Lex.
Kara says that in her vision Lex and Nyxly were all powerful and the world was in shambles. The only way to prevent that is to use the Totems against them.
Kara lets Alex leave with the totem when she admits that she isn't 100% she can save Esme and Alex says she will never forgive Kara if Esme is hurt by her plan.
Nyxly recognizes Lillian when she returns to their lair.
Lillian insists that Lex is incapable of loving anyone but himself and that Lex is using Nyxly.
Nyxly refuses to believe her.
Alex takes the first five Totems from the Fortress of Solitude.
Brainiac-5 suggests that they could use an experimental satellite used for enhancing crop growth and repurpose its output after adjusting its orbit to filter yellow sunlight directly into Supergirl, enhancing her powers.
Lena and Dreamer go with Alex and Kelly while Brainy and J'onn try to celebrate the satellite.
Brainiac-5 notes the satellite is jointly owned by the United States and South America, so Secretary Brown and the US Army will be all over them.
Lex asks Philippe to distract Nyxly while he tries to extract the Love Totem from Esme himself.
Mitch overhears Lex give Philippe this instruction.
Lex frees Mxyzptlk from the crystal ball, thinking the sudden release of 5th Dimensional magic would grant him access to the Love Totem gauntlet.
Nyxly says Lillian was right about Lex and says there is no longer a "we" between them. Her acting to protect Esme when Lex draws a knife causes the Love Totem to manifest in her hand, as her love for Esme as an innocent proved her worthy.
Lex insists that his releasing Mxyzptlk is what freed the Love Totem.
Nyxly says that she pities Lex and says he's a small, petty man who will never truly be loved.
Philippe called Lillian and told her that Nyxly dumped him.
Lillian returns to Lex's lair to find him playing chess alone.
Nyxly tells the Super Friends she is done with Lex as Alex prepares to hand over the Totems.
Lex arrives with Lillian and blows up the bridge as the AllStone is formed.
People begin freaking out as the sun dims and the army rolls out one minute after Brainiac-5 starts feeding the sun into Supergirl.
Supergirl hears all the people freaking out because of what is happening to the sun.
Secretary Brown asks the President to call in an air-strike on Supergirl.
Kara tells J'onn and Brainiac-5 to cancel the solar flare blast.
Lex calls Kara "The Brat of Brawn."
Esme breaks the AllStone into three pieces.
Kara, Nyxly and Lex each wind up with a piece, but Kara is blasted by both of them.
Nyxly works free of the mist first and tries to blast Lex, but Lillian takes the blast meant for him.
Nyxyly and Lex both develop green scaly skin, before Nyxly tries to escape through a portal and Lex chases after her.
Lillian is said to be stable, but not looking good.
Lena starts searching for a spell to save her.
It is suggested that Kara could use her piece of the All-Stone to fight Lex and Nyxly, but Kara says matching them power for power has only hurt people so she needs to think of something else.
Brainiac-5 suggests they call in reinforcements.
Kara flies above the city and listens to the people of National City suffering. She is drawn to the sound of Orlando giving a speech to a crowd of hopeless people telling them they have to fight. As Orlando speaks, he restores the color to people.
Listening to Orlando's speech also encourages Kara and she calls J'onn to says she knows what to do now.
Location
St. Vassily's Catherdal in Prague
A bridge near the Fort Rozz crash site.
Untelevised Adventures
Alex journeys to the Fortress of Solitude and takes the Totems being stored there.
The Kryptonite Factor
It beggars belief that Kara wouldn't stop to think about how a plan that weakens the sun might be seen as a bad thing by the public, even in the face of Lex Luthor destroying the world.
The Bottom Line
One of the weaker episodes of the season, if not the worst. Contradictory in its characterization and featuring some of the worst junk science in Arrowverse history, it would be forgettable if it weren't part of the series finale. Only the charisma of the cast makes it work at all, but it seems clear that this one was hastily rewritten on the fly to set up the series finale.
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