Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 13 - It's A Super Life

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.



Plot

Sentenced to perform one good deed for every person he ever tormented, Mister Mxyzptlk shows up on Kara's doorstep ready to bend reality to her will. It sounds too good to be true but after checking the fine print of the bargain, Kara agrees to let Mxy rewrite history so that she revealed her secret identity to Lena Luthor before it ruined their friendship forever. Unfortunately, every attempt at making things right only makes things worse!


Influences

It's A Wonderful Life (title and basic theme of rewriting the past only to realize you're better off with the present.)


Goofs

The alternate timelines are largely based around events that should probably have played out differently in the post-Crisis reality. There is no reason, for instance, for Mercy Graves to attack LuthorCorp or for the Children of Liberty to be established in a world where Lex Luthor has never been a convicted criminal. (It's probably best to assume that Mxy is playing around with the pre-Crisis world given that he seems to regard Kara's past as episodes of a popular TV show.)

There's no explanation for why Winn, in his Legion uniform, is around when Lena is kidnapped by the Children of Liberty in the third alternate timeline.

There's no explanation for why Winn and Mon-El are present in their Legion uniforms in the timeline where Lena and Supergirl never met.


Performances

Thomas Lennon is an instantly engaging presence as Mister Mxyzptlk and you almost wish he hadn't turned over a new leaf so we could see him in action against Kara and Clark in the future. Still, if this is the last time we see Mixy in the Arrowverse, it's a solid final appearance.


Artistry

Props to the design team for the flawlessly designed "Mxyflyx" website we briefly see on Kara's laptop Mister Mxyzptlk starts streaming her life like a TV show.


Super Trivia

When Mister Mxyzptlk returns after being sent away, he says "Thank Zook you changed your mind!" Zook was the name of an alien being who acted as a pet/sidekick to J'onn J'onzz. Zook was a creature that resembled a cartoonish dog, who had the powers of temperature manipulation (he could freeze or super-heat objects he touched), limited shape-shifting abilities and he could track anyone whom he had met before, no matter how they had disguised themselves.

Curiously, in 315, M'yrnn J'onzz said that J'onn's imaginary friend as a child was a 5th Dimensional being named Zook, who did mischievous things and blamed J'onn for them. This may suggest that Zook is a real person in the Arrowverse, as Zook was also mentioned in 213 (along with a Zook Uprising on Mars) and J'onn made reference to fighting a 5th Dimensional being once.

The BetaMyx tapes detailing Kara and Lena's friendship are labeled with titles that parody the format of the titles of Friends episodes. (i.e. The One Where It All Began, The One With The Lesbian Wedding, The One Where Ross Finds Out.). Some of the episodes we see are titled The One Where Lena Moves To National City, The One Where Supergirl and Lena Fight The Nanobot Lady and The One Where Lillian Admits She Loves Lena.

This episode confirms a fan theory that the magical hat utilized by The Hat from The Elite belonged to Mister Mxyzptlk, who normally has a hat in the comics. The Hat claimed to have been told where to find the Fortress of Solitude by someone he called "Mixy" in 414 and Mister Mxyzptlk confirms that The Hat was an old drinking buddy and he lost the hat to him in a poker game.


Technobabble

In the second alternate timeline, Lena creates an electric device that seems to shock Sam's Reign personality into dormancy.


Dialogue Triumphs

Mister Mxyzptlk: I am offering you a do-over. Hmm? I could send you back in time. Wouldn't you like to be able to tell Lena that you're Supergirl on your own terms? Wouldn't you like to see what the world would look like if you controlled the narrative?
(Suddenly Mister Mxyzptlk is standing behind Kara and Alex. They both jump as he speaks again.)
Mister Mxyzptlk: Haven't you hurt enough? Hmm?
(Kara just glares at Mister Mxyzptlk)
Mister Mxyzptlk: I get it. You don't trust me. Okay. But how's this? Ready?
(Mister Mxyzptlk pulls out a recorder, which he hands to Kara. She inspects the recorder as he keeps talkling.) 
Mister Mxyzptlk: Now, by Fifth Dimensional law, I am required to give you this recording of me saying my name backwards, in case you ever need to banish me to my Fifth Dimension, which I know that you-
(Kara pushes the play button on the recorder.)
Mister Mxyzptlk: (on recorder) Kltpzyxm.
(Mister Mxyzptlk makes a face and poofs into a cloud of glowing blue smoke.)

Lena: When you were Reign, and I made Kryptonite to stop you You know, in response, Supergirl was so horrible. And then, Kara was the same. She was so kind and supportive. But it made me think, which was the real Kara? And if the real Kara thought I was a villain then maybe that's all I really am.
Sam: No, Lena, no. How could you ever think that? Lena, you made Kryptonite to split me from Reign and to save my life. You were never the villain. You were always the hero.

Supergirl: You once told me Kara Danvers was your hero.
Lena: I never told you that. I told
Supergirl: It's me, Lena. I've always been Kara.
Lena: Kara, how could you?
Supergirl: I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner.
Lena: Three weeks ago, I found out that Sam, one of my closest friends, was a homicidal Kryptonian. I went through that terror alone. I risked my life day after day for weeks because I believed that I was the only one who could be trusted to protect her, to save her. I could have used your help. I would have used your help if you'd bothered to tell me the truth before now. If you'd trusted me then, I wouldn't have had to go through that danger alone!
Supergirl: I'm so sorry, but I thought I was protecting you. But now, we can... we can move past it and work as partners.
Lena: (angrily) You expect me to be your partner after this?! When all you've done is prove to me that you can't be trusted at all?

(Mister Mxyzptlk is fast fowarding through a lot of the fight with Reign and Supergirl.)
Kara: Wait. You're skipping a lot!
Mister Mxyzptlk: This is all exposition, so much exposition.

Mon-El: You know, Lena and I have a lot in common. We've both been betrayed by our own families. And when the people who are supposed to love you the most let you down, it just makes you feel so so vulnerable, you know? But my mother and the Luthors, they betrayed Lena for their own selfish reasons. They They wanted to take advantage of her. You lied to to protect her. Because she's your friend. Now, I know Lena's hurting right now, but once she understands that she'll forgive you.
Supergirl: I hope you're right. But I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive myself.
Mon-El: You know it's okay to mess up, right? No matter how many mistakes I've made, you've always forgiven me. You should, uh, know that you deserve the same compassion that you show others.

Lena: I didn't come here to make friends.
Kara: I wanna show you something.
Lena:Listen, I'm really busy, so, if we could just-
(Kara flies out the window at super-speed. She is standing there a moment later. Lena is stunned.)
Lena: It's you! Kara Danvers is Supergirl.
Kara: Yeah.
Lena: Can't believe I was fooled by a pair of glasses.
Kara: Don't worry, a lot people are.
Lena: Oh, God, (chuckling) I have to recall all those alien detection devices 'cause they clearly don't work.
Kara: You're not angry?
Lena: No, it's incredible. I mean, you're incredible! But... why are you trusting me with such a big secret? You barely know me.
Kara: Because I know that what you want more than anything is to do good. And I know it's hard for you to trust people, but I need you to know now, without a doubt, I trust you. My cousin, your brother, they got it wrong.  Imagine what we could do together. A Luthor and a Super, working together as a team.
Lena: If we were partners, we could change the world.
(Kara smiles and offers her hand. Lena shakes it. Suddenly, we see a number of spinning newspapers talking about the amazing things Supergirl and Lena Luthor have done together.)
Mister Mxyzptlk: (in an old time radio announcer voice) Only months after publicly declaring their partnership, the formidable duo of Supergirl and Lena Luthor has already cleaned up National City's criminal element. This pair is literally unstoppable! Not to mention, fashionable after Lena convinced Supergirl to cut the hair of steel, and gave her a new suit to boot. But their next adversary is Lillian Luthor herself, and this time, their battleground is a courtroom. Emotions. Drama. Will they persevere?!
(Cut to Kara's living room where she's hitting the side of the TV trying to get the picture to unstuck. Mister Mxyzptlk is standing there dressed as a 1930s Newsie, talking into an old-fashioned microphone.)
Kara: Mxy, can you please take this seriously?
Mister Mxyzptlk: (still talking in an old time radio announcer voice) Take it seriously, because every party needs a pooper, and that's why we invited Kara!

(Supergirl looks around the CatCo offices that are now Lena's base of operations.)
Supergirl: Lena? It's me. It's Supergirl. It's Kara.
Lena: (coldly) Who's Kara?


Continuity

Mister Mxyzptlk looks quite different from how he appeared in 213. He explains that this is because he adopted a form he thought Kara would find more pleasing when he was trying to romance her.

Mister Mxyzptlk says that he was put on trial for abusing his powers to torment people, including Kara. His sentence was to lose his powers except in so far as he used them to do one good deed for every person he wronged. Kara is the last person on his list.

Mister Mxyzptlk suggests that Kara can use her free wish to rewrite time so that she gets to choose when Lena found out about her secret identity.

In addition to being magically unable to use his powers except to help people he wronged, Fifth Dimensional Law also requires that Mister Mxyzptlk give a recording of himself saying his name backwards to the person he is trying to help so that they can get rid of him at any time.

Mister Mxyzptlk is also court-ordered to restore things to normal should Kara not be happy with the results of her wish and is happy to walk her through her life and find the perfect point to change everything.

Kara decides to take Mister Mxyzptlk's help, purely because Lex and Lena are planning something together, they have no idea what and restoring Kara's presence in her life may be the only way to stop her.

Alex and J'onn are sent away to play paintball while Kara and Mister Mxyzptlk work together.

The first alternate reality is viewed on a movie screen and projector which Mister Mxyzptlk conjures into Kara's living room. He also makes popcorn.

Kara and Mister Mxyzptlk rewatch the scene where Kara pretended to be helpless while secretly saving her and Lena from a jet crash in 420.

The first alternate reality Mister Mxyzptlk creates is based around 402 and Kara revealing her secret identity to Lena shortly after President Marsdin resigned after being outed as an alien, but just before Mercy Graves attacked LuthorCorp. When Kara returns after repelling the attack, Lena is gone. We discover that Lena flew to Metropolis to pour out her heart to Samantha Arias. This meant that Lena was not close-by when Mercy seeded Earth's atmosphere with Kryptonite and was not there to develop the super-suit that kept Kara alive until the atmosphere could be cleaned.

This reality makes Kara think the problem is her hypocrisy in treating Lena differently in both her identities.

The second alternate reality is viewed through Kara's laptop on a movie-streaming site called Mxyflyx. (This is clearly a parody of Netflix.)

Kara and rewatch the scene from 317 where Kara asks James Olsen to break into Lena's lab and search for Kryptonite - an action Kara now agrees was wrong.

The second alternate reality Mister Mxyzptlk makes is based around 317 and 318 and has Kara revealing herself to Lena just after she reveals that she discovered that Samantha Arias is Reign three weeks early and had begun synthesizing Kryponite as part of a treatment. Having spent most of the past month agonizing over one of her best friends being a Kryptonian doomsday weapon, Lena turns on Kara when she reveals that she is Supergirl. This means that Lena doesn't work with the DEO to fight the World-Killers at first, which means they fail to stop the eclipse triggered by the World-Killers working together. This also means that Mon-El remains in the past, due to Pestilence not dying. In the end, Lena joins Mon-El and Kara in the fight against Reign at the Arias Farm, but she, Samantha and Mon-El die in the process.

This reality makes Kara think the problem wasn't the hypocrisy - it was her lying to Lena in the first place.

The third alternate reality is watched on Kara's TV on video tapes (aka Betamyx) after the inter-dimensional WiFi begins buffering.

The third alternate reality starts off with a flashback sequence from 506 and Kara revealing her secret identity to Lena shortly after they first met, sometime during Season 2. The two agree to become partners in making National City a better place. This leads to an alternate take on Lillian Luthor's trial from 212, with Lena refusing to reveal Kara's secret identity under oath while testifying against her mother. This causes Lena to experience a level of public popularity that she never did in the original timeline, and people see her as more than a supervillain in training. It also has the side effect of turning the Cult of Rao from 304 into a more benign religion and less of a doomsday cult. This new Cult of Rao wins over all of the Lockwood family except Ben Lockwood (aka Agent Liberty), who forms the Children of Liberty after his father, son and wife all jump off a roof expecting Supergirl to save them. In a mirror of his confrontation with Lena in 403, Agent Liberty kidnaps Lena and Coville and threatens to kill them both if Supergirl doesn't reveal her secret identity to the world. Kara does so, and Agent Liberty is true to his word and releases Lena and Coville. Unfortunately, the Children of Liberty kill everyone who is close to Kara immediately after that.

This reality makes Kara think Lena would be better off if they'd never become friends at all.

The fourth and final alternate reality is a world where Kara and Lena never met in 201. In this reality, Supergirl isn't there to stop Lena's helicopter from being shot down. She survives the crash, but is spirited away to Cadmus by Lillian Luthor and becomes a rest subject for her Metallo program.  Two years later Lena escapes, kills Lillian and Lex, and destroys half of National City in the process. She rules what is left of the city with an iron fist and turns the Lexo-Suits into robots under her control running the Hope AI.  All of her technology is powered by tapping into the energy of the Fifth Dimension, which leaves Mister Mxyzptlk powerless until they recover his hat.

J'onn wields the Staff of Kolar, last seen in 415, during his fight with Reign.

Kara decides that she can't change the past and that she'll always have to face the consequences of her actions, but she says that Mister Mxyzptlk helped her to get over her guilt regarding Lena, so she frees him from his obligation.

Mister Mxyzptlk apologizes for being a creep before and thanking Kara for letting him feel like a hero in the bad reality.

Kara tells Lena that she's done feeling guilty over the past and that whatever happens between them in the future is on her.


Untelevised Adventures

Mister Mxyzptlk was put on trial for his crimes against Kara and other people he mistreated sometime after the events of 213. He has spent the last three years using his powers to make amends for his crimes, having saved Kara for last.


The Bottom Line

A fun anniversary special and look back at the show's history that may not hold up logically but it's a serviceable tribute to what came before.

Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 4, Episode 22 - The Quest For Peace

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.




Plot

Lex Luthor descends on Washington D.C. as the hero of the hour and the most beloved man in America. With all of her allies but Alex occupied, Kara has only one chance to stop Lex Luthor's plans. Will the Power of the Press prove capable of doing what Supergirl can't?


Influences

Superman 4: The Quest For Peace (title), Iron Man (the sequences of Lex fighting the Kaznian military in his Lexo-suit while singing "My Way"), the President Lex storyline from the Superman comics (Lex sets himself up as the defacto leader of the USA, if not the actual President), the Martian Manhunter comics of John Ostrander (character of Ma'alefa'ak) and the Batman comics of Grant Morrison (Leviathan organization).


Goofs

It beggars belief that Dreamer and J'onn are put to work in a slave labor camp and just happen to wind up next to friends of J'onn who are looking for someone to lead a rebellion against the guards after less than a minute.

The guards also don't seem to care about stopping the alien workers from talking to each other, which would be unusual even if J'onn and Al weren't being incredibly unsubtle about talking about rebelling. They don't even whisper!

The slow-motion fight scenes in the fifth sequence just don't work. Especially James vs. Ben Lockwood.

It is said that President Baker is removed from office by the Cabinet's invoking the 25th Amendment. Even if The Cabinet does declare The President unfit for duty, a 2/3rds majority vote in both houses of Congress is still required to remove him from office.


Performances

Once again, Jon Cryer steals the show as Lex Luthor.

Melissa Benoist gets a wonderful death scene as Red Daughter, playing opposite herself.


Artistry

The special effects budget for this season was clearly saved for this episode and the CGI is largely theatrical quality.


Super Trivia

The opening logo once again shows the symbol of the Red Daughter and her name in Russian, along with Supergirl's name and the Supergirl logo.

The new President who takes over after Phil Baker is named Plastino. Al Plastino was the name of the artist who co-created Kara Zor-El along with writer Otto Binder.

It is revealed that Eve Teschmacher was recruited to manipulate Lex Luthor on behalf of a group called Leviathan. First appearing in Batman: The Return #1, Leviathan is a splinter-group of the League of Assassins formed by Talia Al Ghul, which developed into a criminal syndicate of unimaginable power.

The Monitor brings a Green Martian to Earth and encourages him to seek revenge against the brother who wronged him, who is revealed to be J'onn J'onzz. This would seem to be a reference to Ma'alefa'ak - the brother of J'onn J'onzz, who was introduced into the Martian Manhunter comics by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake.


Technobabble

An astral projector can appear in any environment, but they cannot interact with people in that environment. However, an astral projection can interact with and ionize other forms of energy, such as by writing in water molecules that accumulate as condensation on a window.

Brainiac-5 says that it will take 20 pods to overload the power core of the Claymore satellite in the time they had left. He further says that J'onn has only an 18% chance of successfully using his own psychic energy to overload the core and a 98% chance of dying in the attempt.


Dialogue Triumphs

(An alien man begs for mercy as he is locked into Luthor's machine, repeatedly muttering "Please don't.")
Lex: (cheerfully) Don't worry. It won't hurt.
(A metal plate slides over the man, who begins screaming.)
Lex: (nonchalant) Hmm. Guess I was wrong.
(Eve Teschmacher looks at the screen for the device as Lex examines the gauntlet he is wearing.)
Eve: Alien energy transfer complete. Your gauntlet should be charged.
Lex: Only one way to find out. (looks around the room and points to a guard on a balcony overlooking the room) Um... excuse me? Uh... stand very still!
(Lex aims the gauntlet at the guard and shots him with a ray. The man screams briefly as his body breaks down into a mass of liquid. Lex looks suitably impressed, but not surprised.)
Lex: Hmm... get a mop.

Red Daughter: Supergirl is dead. What happened?
Lex: (shrugging) The Kaznians invaded.
Red Daughter: Your signal was late! I was supposed to lead the attack!
Lex: No, Ryzhaya Dch. You did exactly what you were meant to do.
(A missile approaches in the air. Lex nonchalantly reaches up with one hand and shoots a laser blast that destroys it.)
Red Daughter: You betrayed me! Betrayed Kaznia!
Lex: What can I say? I'm proud to be an American.
(Lex reaches up and fires his gauntlet as the scene fades to black)

Eliza: Lex and The Preisdent have succeeded in convincing the people that all aliens are dangerous! That Supergirl is the enemy-
Alex: And Lex is the hero.
Kara: Then I guess it's my job to show them who Lex really is. Show them the truth.

(Lena is sarcastically rude to Lex.)
Lillian: Now, now! You play nicely. This is the first family gathering we've had in ages and I'd like to enjoy myself.
Lena: Your murderous son has duped the world into thinking he's Earth's hero. This is hardly Thanksgiving dinner.
Lillian: Sounds perfectly normal for our family.

(Lex describes his plans to turn aliens into giant disposable batteries and growing rich selling the power to the world.)
Lena: That's vile!
Lex: Vile AND viable. As another world leader once said, "I don't see why man shouldn't be as cruel as nature."
Lillian: Try not to quote Hitler in public, dear. It'll hurt the brand.

(As Lex leaves the room.)
Lena: You're not buying this, Mother?!
Lillian: Of course not! I've already poisoned his tea. If he'd stop running his mouth long enough to take a sip, he'd be dead by now.

(Dreamer is confused why nobody can see her astral form.)
Dreamer: Guys?
Brainac-5: If my calculations are correct, Dreamer has just astral projected into this office.
Dreamer: You anticipated me being here?!
Brainiac-5: She is here. She's wondering in this exact moment how she can contact us. Because an astral projectee can place themselves in any environment, but they cannot interact with that environment.
Alex and Nia: (together) So how is that a good plan?!?
Nia: (to Alex) Thank you!

Lex: The truth is meaningless. The people of Earth believe I am their savior. They needed a human hero and I fulfill that need. Nothing will ever change their minds.
(As Lex continues speaking, we cut to the streets of National City, where two young men are walking. One of them stops the other as he gestures to a news report on his phone. It is Kara's article.)
Lex: Facts are irrelevant. All that matters is spin.
(We cut to outside the White House, where a mob of people are waving signs cheering Lex Luthor.  One of them looks at their phone and is shocked as she sees Kara's report.)
Lex: People are so stupid. They don't even read. And even when they do, they certainly don't think. I am the leader of this nation now. And nothing can stop me.

J'onn: During the battle for my home planet, I ran. Millions died. I will not make that same mistake again!

Lex: How are you alive?! How did you do it?
Supergirl: How do you think I did it? I'm Supergirl.
Lex: Just like your cousin! No matter how many times I stamp you out, you miraculously resurface! With your glossy cape and your prefect hair!
Supergirl: Let me let you in on a little secret, Lex. Truth and Justice always prevail.
Lex: (chuckling) You and your cousin are such saps. Luckily, I came prepared.
(Lex taps a button on his gauntlet. His hands begin to glow with green Kryptonite energy. Supergirl looks uncomfortable for a moment but then steels herself.)
Supergirl: So did I.
(Supergirl presses in on the S-shield on her chest and the armored suit Lena made for her slides into place. Lex looks stunned.)
Supergirl: You can thank your sister for this.

(Red Daughter is dying of Kryptonite poisoning, while being held by Supergirl.)
Red Daughter: You were right. My Alex was nothing like your Alex. Protect your people... as I protected mine.

(Lex's suit starts falling apart as he plummets toward the ground. Suddenly, he is caught by one hand by Supergirl. He struggles to wiggle free of her grip.)
Supergirl: Let me save you!
Lex: (scoffs) Saved? By a Kryptonian? I'd rather die!
(Lex's gauntlet releases from the rest of his armor and he falls to the ground, his armor seemingly erupting in a wave of green energy and a fiery explosion.)

(Lena draws a gun on Lex)
Lex: (impatiently) Come on, Lena. This is no time for theatrics. We both know, no matter how much you despise me, you're not ruthless enough to pull that trigger-
(Lena pulls the trigger twice, unloading two bullets into Lex's chest.)
Lena: The world will never be safe with you in it.

Lex: I'm about to die, but at least I lived without ever being a fool. You're left with no one and nothing!

Eve Teschmacher: Who are you?
Old Woman: You already know that, dear.
Eve Teschmacher: I did everything you asked. I worked for him. I hurt people for him!
Old Woman: Lex was supposed to move the needle. He failed.
Eve Teschmacher: So let me go!
Old Woman: Sorry, sweetie. That's not on the agenda.
(Eve looks around and sees that everyone on the street, from the homeless man to the cops, are watching her.)
Old Woman: Leviathan is everywhere. Leviathan is everyone. And Leviathan is coming.

(A breach opens and a figure in a black-hooded robe emerges. The Monitor steps forward to meet him.)
Figure: Where am I?
The Monitor: Earth.
Figure: It can't be!
The Monitor: You've been trapped for too long. A phantom to your people. Now it is time you avenge yourself against the brother who wronged you.
Figure: Will you help me?
The Monitor: It was I that brought you here. You must walk the path yourself. Besides... I have one more place to visit.
(The Monitor walks off as the figure lowers its hood, revealing itself to be a Green Martian.)
Figure: (in Martian) I 'm coming for you, J'onn J'onzz.


Dialogue Disasters

Again, every time Ben Lockwood opens his mouth.


Continuity

The episodes opens with Kara's escape from the Red Daughter in 421

Red Daughter returns to Lex and says she failed him by not killing Supergirl.

Lex says she didn't fail him and it was his fault for thinking that Kryptonite exposure alone could kill Supergirl.

He applauds Red Daughter for making Supergirl bleed and gives her a photo of Eliza Danvers, telling her to attack Supergirl where she is most vulnerable - the heart.

Lex is confirmed to be using the alien prisoners to charge his new power suit.

Eve witnesses Ben Lockwood killing Otis Graves. Lex asks her to send a team to kill Lockwood.

President Baker's first name is revealed as Phil. He was a state senator before becoming Vice President.

Lex reveals that he was responsible for Phil Baker's rise to power, having taken out President Marsdin's original running mate and then pulling strings to put Phil Baker on the ticket. He then arranged for President Marsdin to be outed as an alien, putting Baker in the White House.

As in 416, the montage of the Kaznian invasion and Red Daughter fighting Supergirl is set to Frank Sinatra's "My Way."

The battle between Red Daughter and Supergirl was seen in 421.

Lex uses his new suit to fight the Kaznian military, single-handed.

Lex seemingly kills the Red Daughter on National TV.

It is revealed that Lex didn't really kill the Red Daughter but weakened her and has loaded her into one of the energy-draining pods at Amertek's refinery.

President Baker calls a second press confrerence, declaring that Otis Graves was found dead with a manifesto detailing his philosophy and taking credit for the crimes that were pinned on Lex Luthor. As such, he gives Luthor a full Presidential Pardon and appoints him as the new Secretary of Alien Affairs.

Ben Lockwood learns about this watching TV while hiding at his steel mill. He survives an assassination attempt by a squad of Eve Teschmacher clones and asks the one who doesn't disappiate after he knocks them out at super speed why Luthor had been using him.

It is revealed that Shelley Island has been turned into a slave labor camp, with those aliens who can't output energy for Luthor's refinery being put to work assembling electronics for Amertek.

J'onn winds up working next to Al - the alien who runs the alien dive bar - and the two begin to plan a rebellion.

Brainiac-5 escaped to L-Corp and regrouped with Lena.

The two watch a news report where it is revealed that Lex donated an experimental power source to replace the destroyed power grid on the eastern side of the United States.

Brainiac-5 is able to recover Kara's evidence of Luthor's wrong-doing that was stored on the CatCo servers.

Brainac-5 tells Lena, Kara and Alex about how Luthor was not only using alien prisoners from the DEO desert facility in his experiments but alien civilians abducted by Ben Lockwood and the Children of Liberty.

Lena gets an invitation from The President to meet him at the White House. The invitation turns out to be from Lex, who has taken over the Oval Office and also arranged for Lillian Luthor to be freed.

Lex reveals his master-plan, now that the Luthor name is cleared, is to build his fortune on his new power source - supercharged disposable batteries, powered by alien energy.

Lena asks what makes Lex think Superman is going to sit idly by on Argo and let him do this. Lex says that the first batch of aliens are being used to charge a revised Claymore satellite that will allow him to destroy Argo from a distance.

Eve Teschmacher objects to Lex's plan to kill Superman, which she was not consulted on. Lex says that killing Superman once and for all was always the point and he doesn't care if half the energy they've gathered will be burned up destroying Argo.

The device Lillian Luthor built to extract the Harun-El from a human system is completed.

Dreamer eventually notifies the team that the alien captives are being held on Shelley Island, after realizing she's invisible and inaudible to people in her astral form. She is able to write out a message after Brainiac-5 breathes on a cold window.

Brainiac-5 determined that Lex is using Shelley Island to charge the new Claymore satellite and that it is aimed at Argo. He says that he will try to hack the power core while Kara, Jimmy and Alex try to save Dreamer and J'onn.

Ben Lockwood shows up with a group of Children of Liberty he says that he gave the Harun-El treatment to and start fighting Supergirl, Alex and Jimmy.

Upon finding they can't disable the power core for Claymore, J'onn tries to overload it with his psychic powers.

Lena and Lillian escape the White House by struggling with Eve Teschmacher for a gun and pistol whipping her with it and macing two Secret Service agents, respectively.

Lex files to Shelley Island and begins blasting everything with his new Lexo Suit.

Lex reveals that his suit has the ability to generate Kryptonite radiation.

Thankfully, Kara came prepared and puts on the armored costume Lena made for her.

Dreamer pools her dream energy with J'onn's psychic powers but it is not enough.

Seeing two people do something so illogical causes Brainiac-5's previous personality to reassert itself and start saying words of encouragement to Dreamer and J'onn.

Brainiac-5 finally tells Dreamer that he loves her.

James is able to inject Ben Lockwood with the Harun-El removal device.

Red Daughter is freed by J'onn and Dreamer.  She flies to Supergirl just in time to take a lethal Kryptonite laser bolt for her.

The Red Daughter dissipates into a cloud of purple energy which Kara seems to absorb. This gives her the power she needs to overpower Lex's Kryptonite beams and blast his gauntlet with her heat vision, which glows purple.

Lex refuses to let Supergirl save him from falling to his death as his armor starts to fall apart. He seemingly falls to his death but actually teleports to a secret base under his childhood treehouse... where Lena is waiting to inject him with the Harun-El extractor.

Lena shoots Lex. He applauds her for finally proving how ruthless she is but asks who is left to be proud of her.

Lex reveals that Kara is Supergirl and that all of Lena's friends and Lillian knew and lied to her about it before he dies.

As far as the world is concerned, Lex Luthor died blown up on Shelley island.

The Cabinet invoked the 25th Amendment to remove President Baker from office and he was arrested.

Ben Lockwood was arrested on a new battery of terrorism charges.

James lost his right eye in the fight with Ben Lockwood.

The new President Plastino ends martial law and reinstates the Alien Amnesty Act pending a new vote in Congress.

Col. Haley holds a press conference to apologize to Supergirl

Alex kisses Kelley Olsen for the first time..

Lena shows up for game night but is clearly uncomfortable.

Kara wants to tell Lena the truth about her secret identity but Alex wants to let her just have one night to enjoy with her friends. Kara agrees.

George Lockwood is seen talking to a crowd and preaching against his father's message of hate on the news.

Eve Teschmacher is confronted by an old woman at a bus station in National City, who tells her that "Leviathan is everywhere, Leviathan is everyone and Leviathan is coming."

The Monitor brings someone to Earth through a breach - a Martian who must avenge himself upon the brother who wronged him. This brother is identified as J'onn J'onzz.

The Monitor says he has one more place to visit.

Lena cracks the glass in the picture of herself, Alex and Kara together in her office while using it is a coaster for her drink.

The episode ends with The Monitor manifesting in Lex's secret lab and regarding Lex's corpse, as his hand starts to open another breach.


Location

Washington D.C. - 24 hours earlier.
Amertek Energy Refiner - 6 hours earlier.
The White House - 1 hour earlier.
Midvale - Today.
Amertek Energy Refiner - Today.
Lockwood Steel Factory - Today.
Shelley Island - Today
The White House - Today.
Luthor Manor - Today.


The Bottom Line

Much like Season 4 of Supergirl, it's a bit of a mess overall, but the parts that work work very well. There's just not a lot of middle ground. The inclusion of the Children of Liberty and Ben Lockwood just feels pointless and seems to be there just to give James something to do... much like James suddenly having lost an eye. A lot of things are resolved too quickly to register (such as Brainiac-5's personality being restored) and it seems like most of the cast is just treading water until the Lex vs. Supergirl fight.

That being said, the special effects work is great and the fight between Lex and Supergirl is everything we hoped it might be. It looks like we'll have multiple villains again next season, which is worrying on multiple levels, even ignoring what might happen with Lena an whatever the Monitor is up to. Either way, Season 5 of Supergirl won't be boring!

Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 4, Episode 21 - Red Dawn

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.




Plot

Supergirl finally comes face to face with the Red Daughter. As the two Kryptonians battle for supremacy, J'onn, Dreamer and Braniac-5 start searching for the alien test-subjects abducted by Lex Luthor. Meanwhile, Alex begins to realize that her memory has been tampered with as Lena Luthor turns to an unexpected source for help in figuring in how to extract the Harun-El from a human subject.


Influences

Red Dawn (the title and the plot involving a Russian invasion of the United States), Superman: The Movie (the Kryptonite ball and chain used to subdue Kara), Star Wars (Dreamer's reference to "The Wookie Gambit", her asking Brainy to tell her the odds) and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (Kara draining the solar energy from a forest to heal herself.)


Goofs

Kara says that she's been dealing with Kryptonite for 15 years.  When was she ever exposed to Kryptonite before she became Supergirl four years ago?

So none of the guards see J'onn hovering over the alien prison?

Was Eliza Danvers informed about Alex's erased memory? It seems like she would have to have been to prevent any confusion at family gatherings.


Performances

Jesse Rath has a great turn here as he transforms into the more traditional Brainiac-5.


Artistry

The fight between Supergirl and Red Daughter may be the finest in the show's history.


Super Trivia

The title of the episode comes from a 1984 film about a Russian invasion of the United States.

The title card of the episode shows the Red Daughter symbol before changing to the usual House of El symbol.

The sequence in which Supergirl drains the solar energy from the plants in a forest to heal herself is inspired by a scene in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns where Superman does the same thing after being severely injured by a nuclear bomb.


Technobabble

Brainiac-5 says that there is a a 56.3% chance that any plan that involves pretending to be captured will result in their actually being captured.

Alex uses the DEO satellites to scan for Supergirl's unique solar radiation signature so they can track Red Daughter.

Colonel Haley says that the energy beam for the Claymore satellite was powered by an unknown energy source.

Brainiac-5 later determines that the captive aliens are having their power drained and converted into kinetic energy for use in the Claymore particle beam.

J'onn saw aliens being herded into a transmatter portal (like the one the DEO has) suggesting their power is being drained at another site.


Dialogue Triumphs

Lena: Lex is planning on invading America.
Brainiac-5: What?!
Alex: You should have led with that.
Lena: Well, then you're going to love this. Lex has a clone of Supergirl.
Alex: What?!
Brainiac-5: You should have led with that!

(Kara watches Red Daughter looking queasy at the close proximity of the Kryptonite.)
Kara: You know, for saying that you want to know your enemy, you don't know me at all. For instance, that pain you're feeling? You've only felt it for the past couple of months. But me? I've been dealing with Kryptonite for 15 years.
(Kara slips loose of the chain and uses it as a flail against the Red Daughter, running for the hotel room window and jumping through it, flying away once she's far enough away from the Kryptonite.)

(Lena opens a container. Out crawls an octopus like creature, which latches onto Lillian's arm and wraps around it.)
Lena: It's a baby Truth-Seeker. And I need the truth.
Lillian: You mean, I can't lie?
Lena: Nope.
(There is a long pause as Lena regards Lillian.)
Lena: My middle school boyfriend, Taylor.
Lillian: (reflexively) I paid him $14,000 to never speak to you again.
(Lillian looks astonished at having been forced to confess that.)
Lena: I knew it.

(On The "Wookie Gambit")
J'onn: Why does everyone always think getting captured is the best plan?

Brainiac-5: You know 56.3% isn't that bad. By our standards.

Brainiac-5: (panicked) What I'm trying to tell you is that my species has ancestral memory. And my ancestors? Very bad people. (pained) They were collectors! Conquerors! I remember everything!
(Brainiac-5 looks around, eyes wide in terror as the terror gives way to manically glee.)
Brainiac-5: Uh-oh!
(Brainiac-5 laughs manically and passes out. A moment later he looks up, totally dispassionate as he speaks.)
Brainiac-5: In short, your rebooted me. Aligned me with my more... emotionless ancestors. And that was a calamitous mistake.
(In an instant, Brainiac-5 is free of his bonds and unleashing a perfectly executed series of martial-arts maneuvers on the guards.) 

Supergirl: Hope, help and compassion for all. That's what I stand for.
Red Daughter: You will not be able to stand at all when I am done with you!


Continuity

Alex has a dream about herself and Kara as teenagers. She was trying to teach Kara how to clap her hands to the beat of a song and the clapping created a shockwave that started an Earthquake.

Alex tells Kelly that she has a weird feeling about the dream and she had the same feeling when she was being questioned at the DEO several months earlier. She thinks it has something to do with Kara, for some reason.

Alex gets a call from Brainiac-5, asking her to come into the DEO right away.

The Secret Service informs Kara that they scrubbed the CatCo servers of her evidence of the Kaznian invasion plot.

Kara is able to fight the two Secret Service agents even while tied up without using her powers. She is stopped from escaping by the Red Daughter, who is wearing a dark-haired wig and carrying a box with a Kryptonite necklace.

Brainiac-5 informs Alex of the events of the last episode and how Ben Lockwood is now on a super-powered rampage.

Ben Lockwood took the entire stock of Harun-El serum in Lena's lab at the DEO and trashed the labs to boot.

Lena says that Ben Lockwood must be connected to Lex somehow.

Alex says that she can hunt down the Red Daughter.

Brainiac-5 says he will get J'onn and Dreamer and tackle tracking down the missing alien criminals Lex abducted.

Lena says that she is going to confront Ben Lockwood and try to find out where Lex is hiding, but first she needs to borrow one thing from the DEO. Alex says she can have it.

The Red Daughter is tasked with killing Kara after she is taken captive in the White House.

Kara is able to escape because she's far more used to fighting through Krytponite poisoning than the Red Daughter..

Kara goes to J'onn to get the bullet shrapnel removed from her arm.

Kara says that all of her evidence about the Kaznian invasion and Lex has been destroyed.

Kara says she has to tell Alex the truth about her being Supergirl.

J'onn says that she can't tell Alex the truth because the techniques he used to wall off her memories are fragile and she could go insane if the news is just dropped on her.

J'onn says maybe if Alex remembered on her own her memories might be restored, but he's not certain of that.

Lena Luthor bought the for-profit prison Lillian Luthor was incarcerated in and makes arrangements for her to be sent to her lab for a weekend.

The one thing Lena borrowed from the DEO is revealed to be the Truth Seeker from 410.

Under the influence of the Truth Seeker, Lillian Luthor admits to paying Lena's middle school boyfriend Taylor $14,000 to dump her and never speak to her again.

Lena put a slow-acting neurotoxin in Lillian's lunch, giving her 24 hours to solve the problem of removing Harun-El from a human body in order to earn the antidote.

Lillian Luthor also says that she loves Lena, much to Lena's surprise.

Lena determines that Ben Lockwood really had no idea that his rise to power was facilitated by Lex Luthor.

Lena says she also thinks the unrefined Harun-El cure is causing physical deterioration in Ben Lockwood as he seemed to have a clump of hair fall out when he was talking to her.

Lena and James go following after Ben Lockwood.

J'onn's determines that three aliens were taken from the latest DEO raid site.

J'onn finds a unicorn keychain on the crime scene.

Dreamer has a vision of a young alien girl riding a unicorn being chased by wolves.

Brainiac-5 determines that Faol is an archaic Irish word meaning wolf and that Faolan Shipping is a subsidiary of a subsidiary of Lex Luthor's favorite shell company, Amertek.

The Wookie Gambit is a maneuver where the heroes infiltrate a prison by pretending to be guards escorting a single prisoner.  It is name for how Chewbacca infiltrated the Death Star brig while pretending to be a prisoner, as Han Solo and Luke Skywalker posed as Storm Troopers.

Brainiac-5 decides to try the Wookie Gambit anyway when Dreamer sees the girl from her vision.

Brainiac-5 uses his image inducer to pose as Ben Lockwood. It works until the alien-sniffing dogs react to his presence.

Kara says that absorbing sunlight into her body feels warm and she feels the sensation in her toes first.

Colonel Haley is informed of the Red Daughter's existence and that President Baker is working for Lex Luthor. She agrees to help Alex and Supergirl.

J'onn sneaks into the prison disguised as Eve Teschmacher.

While undergoing electric-shock torture in the alien prison, Brainiac-5's mind is "rebooted" and his ancestral memories take over. This replaces his usual personality with a more cool, logical and amoral one that has no qualms about killing.

Colonel Haley mentions Project Claymore from 413 and says she tried to track down the six engineers behind it. She found all of them had died within the past two weeks and the locations of their deaths match six of the spots Red Daughter visited.

Coloney Haley concludes that Lex is trying to get his hands on the specs for a new Claymore style weapon.

The DEO computer tracks a likely base of operations for the Red Daughter to 1114 Cedar Street in National City.

Supergirl insists on leaving Alex behind and facing Red Daughter alone.

1114 Cedar Street is an apartment which Red Daughter has roughly started to decorate to look like Kara's apartment. It is also within visual range of Kara's apartment, suggesting that Red Daughter has been watching Kara and slowly starting to emulate her.

Ben Lockwood injects himself with another unrefined sample of Harun-El before meeting Otis Graves.

Otis confesses to Ben Lockwood that he was working for Lex Luthor when he started helping get the Children of Liberty started.

Ben Lockwood goes berserk when he learns that all of this planning was based around making money and world domination.

Lena figures out that Lex's plan is to betray the Kaznians and become the hero he sees himself as in the public eye by stopping their invasion.

James has a violent reaction to the Kryptonite in Otis Graves' chest.

Ben Lockwood rips out the Kryptonite heart of Otis Graves, seemingly killing him once and for all.

Brainiac-5 finds Dreamer but informs her that he is not freeing her, as they'll be able to find the location of the where the aliens are being drained much easier if she is sent there and then she sends him an astral projection telling him where to find her.

Brainiac-5 also knocks out J'onn with a series of nerve punches, leaving him to be captured so as to increase the odds of one of them being able to contact him.

Kara finds a journal of the Red Daughter's, which has sketches of her and Alex in it, along with a code cipher and a photo of a young boy as a bookmark. (Mikhail from 416)

Alex comes to Red Daughter's apartment and starts to have a breakdown as she realizes it looks like Kara's apartment and overlooks Kara's apartment.

Eliza Danvers calls Alex to tell her Kara just got there.  Kara realizes that Red Daughter has disguised herself as her and is going after her adoptive mother.

The Red Daughter has developed powers Kara does not have - chiefly the ability to generate purple electrical energy around her hands which is capable of shocking even Supergirl.

Watching Supergirl fight Red Daughter brings back a flood of memories of Kara using her superpowers to Alex. These include using her frost breath to make it snow indoors at Christmas, roasting marshmallows with her heat-vision when they were teens, Kara catching them both after they fell off a cliff whens he accidentally started an earthquake by clapping too hard and assorted clips from the past four seasons.

Alex remembers that Kara is Supergirl.

Red Daughter flies off after she hears Kara's heart stop beating. She appears distressed, however, when she sees Alex's reaction and realizes she actually killed Supergirl.

Kara is able to heal herself by drawing on the solar energy in the plant around her.

Lillian Luthor determines that a second dose of Harun-El should stabilize James' condition.

J'onn and Dreamer are sent through the portal to wherever the alien captives are being sent to.

Colonel Haley determines that the Claymore satellite was a prototype for a weapons system that could be contained within one mechanized suit.

As the episode ends, President Baker is holding a press conference to announce that the Kaznian invasion of America was led by Supergirl but that it was thwarted by one man - Lex Luthor - who killed Supergirl.


Location

Midvale - 2007
Washington D.C.
Midvale - 2019


The Bottom Line

Far better than it has any right to be, given some of the hokier elements of the story. Poetic as it may have been with Frank Miller's narration, Superman absorbing solar energy from plants never quite worked in my mind and it doesn't work any better in live action. Still, what does work here works well, such as Melissa Benoist's dual performance and Chyler Leigh recovering her memories as Alex.

In retrospect, it seems that the writers weren't sure how far to go with Ben Lockwood and one week after turning him into an irredeemable monster, suddenly he's going over the edge to declare war on Lex Luthor. I think the show might have been better had he been killed early on and Manchester Black were still around trying to thwart Luthor's scheme with targeted ultra violence. Ah, what might have been eh?

Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 4, Episode 20 - Will The Real Miss Teschmacher Please Stand Up?

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.




Plot

Kara and Lena travel to Kaznia, hoping to catch Lex. Unfortunately, Ms. Teschmacher has a trap set for them - one which may reveal Kara's secret identity to Lena! Meanwhile, Alex gets a long-awaited phone-call, as James learns to master his new superpowers and Ben Lockwood takes command of the DEO in a desperate bid to capture Dreamer and the woman who killed his wife.


Influences

Multiplicity (clones that get dumber with each repeating copy )


Performances

Melissa Beonist does some amazing silent acting as she looks around the Red Daughter's doom. Without saying a word, she perfectly captures Kara's horror at the realization that Lex Luthor knows who she is, that he has been spying on her for months and that she had no clue it was happening. That horror turns to rage, however, as Kara unleashes her heat vision to burn the room and everything in it and you see just how truly outraged she is just looking at her eyes.

We see this again later as Lena is detailing how much Eve Teschmacher's betrayal hurt her and how another friend betraying her would destroy her, just as Kara was about to reveal her secret identity to Lena. Just watch Melissa Beonist's face during that scene and marvel at the conflicting emotions she expresses without saying a word.


Artistry

The scene of Supergirl fighting multiple Miss Teschmachers is effectively blocked and shot to hide all the stunt-doubles in wigs.


Super Trivia

The mother of the baby Alex is given a chance to adopt is said to be in Portsmouth.In the DC Comucs Universe, Portsmouth City, Oregon was the hometown of the third Doctor Mid-Nite, Dr. Pieter Cross.

The alien who killed Lydia Lockwood is identified as a Brevakk. This species grow thorns from their forearms as a defense mechanism. Brevakks were introduced into the Arrowverse in 204.


Technobabble

Lena's jet is the fastest in the world and has military-grade stealth capabilities. It is also entirely automated, flying itself, making its own coffee and cleaning its own toilets.

Lex has an automated system protecting his base in Kaznia that generates purple lightning and sends it against unidentified aircraft approaching the base.

According to Braniac-5, Article 351 Section 6 of the DEO Code of Behavior does not make exceptions for the President's cabinet in regards to accessing classified DEO laboratories.

Kara explains that Kopy didn't truly have the power to clone himself. Instead, he could split his body in two, like a cell, which each new cell capable of doing the same thing. Each cell was more powerful than the one that spawned it, but the clones became increasingly dumb the longer they were separated. This is used to explain Eve Teschmacher's fluctuating intelligence in her various appearances over the course of the series. 

The Harun-El serum which gave James Olsen superpowers was a carefully calibrated, highly refined dose. The serum samples in the DEO lab are unrefined, raw and undiluted.

Lena has an expanding sword concealed in the heel of one of her shoes.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Lena is describing the features her self-designed plane contains.)

Kara: There's no pilot? 

Lena: Well, humans make mistakes. My technology doesn't. Speaking of mistakes, I should have told you about Lex from the beginning. Trust is still a learned skill for me. It doesn't come naturally.

Kara: Well, no matter what, we are always on the same side.

Alex: What I really need is to be able to talk to my sister and she's unreachable. She's in Kaznia.

Kelly: Okay. If Kara was here, what would she say? 

Alex: Okay. If Kara was here, she would tell me that this has always been my dream. And she would say that it's never gonna be the perfect time. And that despite villains on the loose and martial law, this is a gift and it would be sacrilege not to accept it. 

Kelly: Sounds like you have your answer.

Lena: Lex has created the very thing he fears the most - A Kryptonian weapon trained as a killer. And in Lex's hands, it's more dangerous than an atomic bomb. And he has it pointed right at America.

Kara: She is not an it. Lex may have molded her but there has to be some part of Supergirl still in her.

(Ben Lockwood orders the DEO agents he's leading to arrest Dreamer and James Olsen.)

Brainiac-5: No! Each one of us swore an oath to defend this country and its Constitution. The Secretary is asking you to compromise that oath! I urge you -follow your hearts. Not your orders!

(Most of the DEO agents nod and lower their weapons.)

J'onn: You think you have the weight of the world's pain on your shoulders. But you don't. You created this pain, this fear.

Ben Lockwood: You know nothing about me, alien.

J'onn: I am the Martian Manhunter. I know you. And you should know this The last man who stood against me met a downfall all of his own making. 

Ben Lockwood: There will be no downfall. I am the law.

J'onn: For now. But regimes change.

Lena: When I saw Eve, I just saw red. Shot me right back to the initial betrayal. I wasn't thinking clearly.

Kara: You don't have to explain anything to me. I know how much she hurt you.

Lena: Kara! Please! I'm trying to apologize to you.That explosion could have killed you!

Kara: It... it wouldn't have.

(Kara takes her glasses off and stands up. Lena's back is still to her.)

Kara: Lena...

Lena: I don't let my guard down ever. And I did with Eve and she betrayed me. I let her in and she lied to me. Every day. To my face. About who she was. And that's what hurts. I don't... I don't know if I'll ever recover from it. But I know there is no way I could ever trust anyone ever again if it wasn't for your friendship and your integrity. 

(A pained expression comes to Kara's face as she slides her glasses back on.)

Lena: It just...It means the world to me, Kara.

Kara: I'm always gonna be here for you.

Dialogue Disasters

Again, pretty much every line Sam Witwer says as Ben Lockwood, but especially his delivery on this line, in which he seems to be doing the world's worst impression of Al Pacino.

Ben Lockwood: I have an idea. Let's start with James Olsen because I would like to (suddenly shouting) know how the hell (gasping for air, suddenly quieter) he got superpowers.

Continuity

Kara and Lena travel to Kazina on a private jet Lena designed herself.

Kelly Olsen has a bum knee.

Alex gets a call from her adoption agency, informing her that a pregnant teen who is about to give birth has chosen Alex as her #1 pick to adopt her child.

When George Lockwood was nine, he chipped his front tooth just before he was supposed to star in his school play. His mother, Lydia, blacked out her front tooth as a sign of support.

Ben Lockwood leaves in the middle of his wife's funeral to take control of the DEO and put them to work on hunting down Dreamer and the alien woman who killed his wife.

Nia and Brainy test James' new powers at the Fortress of Solitude. He proves to be fireproof.

Nia wants to test James' invulnerability with the solar hammer from 409.

Brainy leaves after receiving word that Ben Lockwood is stomping around the DEO's National City office.

Brainy says that Colonel Haley is in Washington D.C., appealing directly to the President to get Ben Lockwood's security clearance revoked so he can no longer give orders to the DEO.

Lena's plane is attacked by purple lightning, which forces it to make an emergency landing.

Kara has to leave the plane to help it land safely.

Lena and Kara discover that Lex had been abducting aliens from the DEO desert base and experimenting on them in Kazina to isolate their respective superpowers.

Alex has 12 hours to decide if she wants to adopt this particular child or not.

Ben Lockwood discovers that Lena Luthor had been working with the DEO and had a lab assigned to her personal use. He shoots out the glass in the window to access it after Brainiac-5 seals the entrances to it.

Kara finds out that one of the aliens Lex experimented on was Kopy - an alien criminal with the power to split himself like a cell, who was captured by the DEO after he was mind-controlled into attacking a carnival in 404.

Kara and Lena find Eve Teschmacher hiding in a closet. She claims to still love them both but says she loves Lex more. She claims he loves her too, but Lena is skeptical.

Alex and Kelly go to Portsmouth, to be ready once the mother of the baby Alex might adopt gives birth.

Ben Lockwood is confronted by his son, George, who is upset his father left him alone at Lydia Lockwood's funeral. Ben apologizes, but says that catching the alien who killed his wife is more important.

The mother says she doesn't want to meet Alex until after the delivery is over.

Eve says that someone high up in the government authorized the transfer of DEO prisoners to Lex but she isn't sure who.

Eve leaves Lena and Kara to a lab which contains Harun-El samples and Kryptonite. They also discover a map showing the Kaznian military plan to invade the United States.

Kara also finds the video footage and computer data detailing Lex's work with the Red Daughter.

The mother apparently talked to a priest at the urging of her grandparents and decided to keep her baby, just as Alex had come to peace with the decision to have a child.

Eve Teschmacher is revealed to have been given Kopy's powers, allowing her to split off into multiple copies of herself.

Eve activates the self-destruct on the Kaznian base, giving Lena and Kara ten minutes to escape.

Ben Lockwood discovers the early Harun-El formula samples in Lena's lab at the DEO.

Lockwood pockets one sample, after Brainiac-5 warns him that those doses are raw, undiluted versions of the serum and that they will, in all likelihood, kill anyone injected with them.

While fleeing the Kaznian base, Kara discovers the Red Daughter's room and how it is decorated with photos of Kara and her friends. She also finds the Red Daughter's diary, which uses a picture of Kara and Alex as a bookmark.

Kara stops Lena before she can see the room. She then runs back and sets the room on fire with her heat vision, burning its contents.

Ben Lockwood leads the raid that captures his wife's killer. She is discovered hiding in a shelter for alien refugees. He orders everyone else in the shelter be detained for enhanced integration, despite none of them showing any sign they knew who she was or having committed any other crimes.

Lena discovers that the transfer orders for the alien criminals held at the DEO desert base were signed by Sarah Walker - the Chief of Staff for President Baker.

Brainiac-5 refuses to follow the order to arrest Dreamer and James Olsen. He gets several of the other DEO agents to stand down as well.

Ben Lockwood injects himself with the unrefined Harun-El after the DEO agents refuse to attack Dreamer on his order.

Ben Lockwood is about to stomp through James Olsen's chest, but is stopped by Martian Manhunter.

Lena is saved from being impaled by her own sword after Eve stabs through her jacket and hits Kara's tape recorder. 

J'onn throws Ben Lockwood into a tanker truck. This slows him down as they evacuate the alien refugees.

The Eve Teschmacher Lena fought in the plane disappears, indicating she wasn't the real Eve.

Kara is able to escape the exploding Kaznian base with papers proving what Lex was doing on behalf of the Kaznian government, with the aid of American politicians. 

Kara almost reveals her secret identity to Lena, but stops after Lena reveals how much Eve's betrayal hurt and how she isn't sure she could handle the idea that another close friend had lied to her.

Kelly Olsen was secretly engaged to her Sargent, but she died while serving overseas. 

George Lockwood tells off his father for putting hunting down his wife's killer over being ther to honor her memory and blames him and his war on aliens for getting her killed. He says that he hates him and will never forgive him.

Kara reports on what she discovered about Lex Luthor and the Red Daughter to James.

Kara says she fully intends to tell Lena the truth about her secret identity as soon as Lex Luthor is behind bars, even if it ends with Lena hating her.

Kara arranges a private meeting with President Baker to inform him of what she discovered about Lex Luthor manipulating his Chief of Staff and the DEO.

President Baker now has a piece of Kryptonite in his office to protect against Kryptonians. 

After Kara says that nobody else knows about what she's discovered, President Baker orders a bag to be thrown over her head. The episode ends with Kara apparently being imprisoned. 

Location

Fortress of Solitude
Kaznia - Lex Luthor's Secret Base
Portsmouth
Washington D.C.


The Kryptonite Factor

James, Dreamer and Brainiac-5 are wholly ineffective against an empowered Ben Lockwood, even though Brainiac-5 is an experienced Legionnaire and James is a vigilante who should know something of the tactics Superman and Kara use when utilizing their powers. This is done to give Martian Manhunter a more impressive entrance when he shows up to save everyone.


The Bottom Line

The parts with Kara and Lena together are pure magic. J'onn's return is well-handled even if the whole thing is a big deus ex machina. Alex's subplot, while feeling tacked on, at least doesn't feel like a distraction. Even Kelly Olsen's speech at the end about second chances isn't bad and it's the best bit of material she's gotten all season. Unfortunately, Ben Lockwood is an incredibly hammy villain who is given far too much credit by the script in order to establish him as a threat. Ultimately, he feels like the real distraction from the larger plot with Lex and President Baker. Thankfully, it looks like next week will bring things back to Lex and the Red Daughter.

Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 4, Episode 19 - American Dreamer

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.



Plot

With Supergirl sidelined as Kara tries to prove her alter ego innocent of attacking the White House, Dreamer has to step-up to act as National City's protector as Ben Lockwood begins personally leading the Children of Liberty on raids to take alien "agitators" into federal custody. Meanwhile, James turns to extreme measures to treat his PTSD, as Brainiac-5 enters into his head.


Influences

The BBC series of Sherlock (concept of a mind palace)


Goofs

Pretty much every effort earlier in the season that tried to turn Ben Lockwood into a sympathetic figure was completely wasted by this episode, where the only reason he doesn't twirl his mustache as he breaks-up alien families is because he doesn't have a mustache.

Despite having taken over the DEO arsenal last week, the Children of Liberty now following Ben Lockwood on raids appear to have only ordinary pistols and most of them continue to go after aliens unarmed. (Perhaps, being cowards, they are only going after non-violent aliens who don't have any offensive natural abilities.)

Again, the Children of Liberty are hardly a credible threat, with a mob of them being easily defeated by Dreamer, who isn't even acting on a psychic dream.


Artistry

The effects work for Dreamer's enhanced powers look fantastic.

The final sequence with J'onn on Mars is phenomenal.


Super Trivia

This episode was directed by David Harewood, who plays the role of J'onn J'onzz.

The Lenny Kravitz cover of the song American Woman plays as Dreamer fights the Children of Liberty at Al's Dive Bar.


Technobabble

Brainiac-5 says that without Supergirl backing them up, there is a 63.6% chance of their being apprehended by any battle in the field.

James' heart rate is said to be 186 and his ICP charted at 22 mil as the episode opens. His blood-pressure is 160 over 30 and rising. His EKG is erratic.

A mind palace is a hyper-real interactive space within a person's mind. Brainiac-5 uses the same device he used on Kara in 310 to map out James' memories by tapping his temporal lobe.

Brainiac-5 theorizes that by determining the source of his trauma, James he will be able to weather his panic attacks and gain control of his new powers.

The Harun-El cure was designed to attack illnesses - both mental and physical. In this case, it was focusing on James' PTSD, heightening what would have been an ordinary panic attack had it not been for the cure also giving James superpowers. Once James can manage the symptoms, he'll be able to manage his powers as well.

Brainy calculates an 86.7% chance that James' greatest trauma is tied to Lex Luthor.

Lena's Harun-El Extraction Trial 7.5 ends with the subject's heart exploding after it starts with a heart rate of 180 BPM and the device being set to 350 MHz. Before it explodes, the heart volume increases by 30% as tumors begin emerging.

Brainy compares memories to watercolor paintings - the colors merge without distinct boundaries and memories do the same thing.

Reference is made to the double-breasted interrupted key cipher being Lex Luthor's favorite code.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Two Children of Liberty are trying to get at an alien food truck vendor, who has sealed himself inside his truck. Suddenly, Dreamer steps out of the shadows.)
Dreamer: Howdy boys.
Child of Liberty #1: Who are you?
Dreamer: I'm your worst nightmare.
(The two Children of Liberty charge Dreamer. She easily snares them in a cord of psychic energy that wraps around them and throws them into a car, knocking them out.)
Dreamer: Sweet dreams.

(George Lockwood has just discovered that one of the aliens he was capturing is his classmate.)
George: You're an alien? Why didn't you tell me?
Charlie: Why do you think?!

Dreamer: My parents believed that humans and aliens could co-exist. And I'm living proof of that. But growing up wasn't easy. I am also a trans woman. I'm different, Ms. Danvers, but so is everybody. And I don't know when that became such a bad thing.

Brainac-5: (To Lena, as they watch Dreamer's interview) What does love feel like?

Dreamer: Fear sucks. It sucks and I am so sick of feeling hopeless. Dawn doesn't come unless we want it to. But we don't have to wait for a new day. We are the new day!

Dreamer: You're here!
Brainiac-5: As a wise woman once said, "Fear sucks." So let's kick fear's ass.


Dialogue Disasters

Damn near every line Sam Witwer says as Ben Lockwood might qualify, though that's more due to delivery than the actual dialogue in some cases. His cliche "Nooooooooo!" when Ben Lockwood discovered his dead wife deserves special mention, however, eclipsing Darth Vader's "Noooooooooo!" in Revenge of the Sith as the worst instance of an actor doing this in film history.


Continuity

As this episode opens, it has been two days since President Baker declared martial law.

Dreamer is using dream related puns in her fighting now.

Dreamer can now take her psychic energy and use it to make simple projections of solid force, like a Green Lantern.

Brainiac-5 is monitoring Dreamer in the field remotely, but is forced to speak to her through a hologram afterward because he is also assisting in the treatment of Jimmy Olsen.

Lena, Alex and Brainy are working together to treat Jimmy Olsen, whose apparent PTSD issues are tied to his body's reaction to the Harun-El.

Lena's plan is to try and remove the Harun-El from Jame's system but doing so only seems to be aggravating his trauma.

Each of James' panic attacks seems to awaken a new power. As the episode opened, he has just been confirmed to be experiencing Super-Hearing.

Brainy suggests that she can treat James by creating a mind palace within his head.

Kara has the copy of L-Corps Black Budget, which James acquired in 414. In it, she discovers one withdraw by an executive named

Franklin the Dryad - last seen in 414 - is revealed to have a sister who works in the HR department at Amertek. Kara asks him if she'd be willing to talk to her about the company's connections to Lex Luthor.

Franklin the Dryad is revealed to be sleeping at his desk at CatCo, due to the Children of Liberty raiding the apartment building across the street from his home.

Nia asks Kara if she is sure that Supergirl laying low is really a good idea right now. Kara points out that with the nation still hunting for her alter ego, the best thing Kara can do is try and figure out what Lex is up to and clear her name.

Ben Lockwood personally leads a raid to arrest one alien who was reported as expressing anti-government sentiment. When his wife begs Lockwood not to take her husband in front of her children, Lockwood says the children have already lost one parent forever and it would be a shame for them to lose both.

George Lockwood tells his dad it's hard to do their work when the aliens look human. Ben Lockwood agrees, but asks one of his men, Marcus, to take George with him on the rest of his shift to toughen him up.

Kara stops a purse-snatcher in her civilian identity.

Kara meets with Franklin's sister, Edna. She says things at Amertek are getting bad and there's a rumor they are about to install alien-detectors at all the company entrances next week.

Edna wants to help Kara but is afraid that her actions could put her friends and family in danger.

The first thing James sees in his mind palace is the press room at The Daily Planet on the first day Lex Luthor kidnapped him. This setting is broken up by an image of two teenage boys and a woman carrying a funeral wreath.

The second place James travels in his mind palace is the site of his father's funeral.

Edna gets Kara into the records room at Amretek. She gets cold feet and refuses to help Kara any further, but not before Kara finds a record of an executive named Sebastian Melmoth buying a military base in Rubniu in October 2018.

Rubniu is not a real country or region, according to Kara's research.

Kara also can't find any record of a Sebastain Melmoth on any list of Amertek executives that she can find publicly.

Accessing the HR records at Amertek requires Edna using a personal PIN, so she will immediately be discovered as a whistle-blower.

James claims that he wasn't there for his father's funeral - a fact that Kelly Olsen confirms.

James remembers getting locked in the bathroom of a diner across the street from the funeral home and not being discovered by the manager until after the funeral was over.

Kelly was eight years old when her father died. Thinking of the funeral is triggering for her because James promised he would be there for her as their mom was falling apart but he missed the funeral.

Kara finds a record of S. Melmoth making a purchase worth $5.8 billion on the L-Corp Black Budget sheet.

Kara asks Lena for help, but Lena asks were Kara has been while she and Alex have been trying to save James' life.

Al, the owner of the alien dive bar frequented by Kara and her friends, has turned his business into a shelter for aliens. Dreamer discovers this just before it is raided by the Children of Liberty. She is able to drive them off.

One of the alien refugees in the bar, Charlie, is a classmate of George Lockwood's. He is stunned that a classmate he was friendly with is an alien.

George asks his mother, Lydia, if she thinks maybe Ben is going about his work in the wrong way. Lydia says she has never thought that and believes Ben is saving the country.

Nia tells Kara about the raid on Al's Bar. She says she wants to do more to help but isn't sure what she can do. Kara says she feels the same way and that everything she's done has pushed Lena away and made Edna more afraid.

Kara has the idea to interview Dreamer, as her unique status as a half-human with alien powers makes her a symbol of how everything Ben Lockwood is fighting against.

James remembers that he did go into the funeral parlor earlier to say goodbye to his dad, but was chased out by the woman with the funeral wreath. He then ran into Billy New and Brandon Palmer - two bullies form his school. The two chased James into the funeral parlor and locked him inside a coffin. James later misremembered this as being locked in a bathroom.

Brainy links James and Kelly, placing Kelly in James' mind palace. While doing this, Kelly recovers a repressed memory from that day - hearing James calling for help but not being able to do anything about it.

James develops heat-vision and flight whole working through this trauma.

Brainy tells Lena that his experiment worked and that James' long-term prognosis is good.

Somebody hacked the system of the Department of Alien Affairs to prevent them from shutting down a television broadcast. (Apparently they have that power...)

Nia prefers salty snacks over sweet, but s'mores are her favorite dessert.

Nia broke her nose when she was 15 playing kickball.

Nia says her mother was her heart and she has felt like she was missing a piece of herself since her death.

Nia describes her father as her spine.

Nia says that she is a Griffyndor and her Patronus is a Dapple Grey stallion.

Nia says she is an INFP on the Meyers-Briggs personality test.

Nia says she is a Miranda (Sex in the City) and House Stark (Game of Thrones).

Nia loves Thursdays, the month of April and nerdy boys who think too much.

Lena is deeply moved by Nia's speech and says she wishes she could be that open and honest about who she is and what she's done.

Ben Lockwood leads a team of Children of Liberty to Catco to arrest Dreamer and everyone involved in the "illegal seditious broadcast.'

Marcus is apparently Alex's man on the inside of the Children of Liberty. He sends her a text warning her of Lockwood's coming raid.  Alex tries to pass the information onto Kara, but Kara left her phone in her purse and doesn't get the message.

Alex knocks out the power at Catco as Brainiac-5 arrives to help Dreamer fight the Children of Liberty and Kara helps as quietly as she can.

Dreamer and Brainiac-5 flee Catco.

James Olsen arrives and breaks Ben Lockwood's hand with his new super-strength, telling him to get out of his offices unless he's planning to rewrite the Constitution to stop reporters from doing their jobs.

Inspired by the Dreamer interview, Edna agrees to help Kara and gives her the acquisition papers for the military base in Rubniu.

Lena confesses to Kara that she had been keeping a secret from her and that she had been working with Lex to cure his cancer with the Harun-El for four months.

Kara forgives Lena and says there's nothing Lena needs to be ashamed of.

Lena agrees to help Kara with her investigation.

In his grandfather's foundry, George Lockwood throws one of the Agent of Liberty masks away and sends a text to Charlie, asking if he needs someone to talk to.

Lena recognizes the name of Sebastian Melmoth as being an alias that Oscar Wilde used for a time after being released from prison. It is also an alias Lex Luthor used when he was 13, after he read the complete works of Oscar Wilde.

Lena also recognizes the double-breasted interrupted key cipher Lex used on his records, saying it was his favorite code. This turns the name Rubniu into Kaznia.

The wife of the alien who Lockwood had arrested earlier in the episode kills Lydia Lockwood.

J'onn returns the Sacred Symbols to where they came. His father's spirit speaks to him and tells him to return to his family on Earth.


Location

Mars - The Desert Of T'ozz.


Untelevised Adventures

We haven't gotten to see any of the training that turned Nia into a badass fighter.

We don't get to see any of J'onn's journey and the trials he undergoes to reach the holy site. (Presumably there were some as he walks through the desert and didn't just fly his ship directy there?)


The Fridge Factor

Lydia Lockwood is killed purely to give Ben Lockwood even more reason to hate aliens.


The Bottom Line

A bit lackluster overall. The bits with Kara working as a reporter are brilliant, as are the Dreamer sequences. Unfortunately, these don't seem to get as much attention as James' subplot, which subverts half the cast (again) into helping him develop superpowers.  Easily skippable, except for the last two minutes.

Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 4, Episode 18 - Crime and Punishment

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.




Plot

With Supergirl declared Public Enemy Number One, Ben Lockwood starts looting the DEO Armory for weapons to arm the Children of Liberty over Alex's objections.As Lena and Supergirl go to Stryker's island in search of evidence that might lead them to Lex Luthor, Kelly encourages James to turn to someone about his PTSD.


Influences

"The Late Mr. Kent" episode of Superman: The Animated Series. (Clark has better luck pursuing a case as Clark Kent than Superman.)


Goofs

I can readily believe that there are anti-alien bigots who will ignore a man trapped in a burning car to try and pull a citizen's arrest on Supergirl while she's in the middle of trying to save someone. I cannot believe, however, that anyone would be so stupid as to try shooting Supergirl with an ordinary pistol after she apparently killed the heavily armored personnel protecting the White House.

It also seems a little unbelievable that the man whom Supergirl saves from said burning car, while being shot at, immediately turns on her and says he doesn't understand why she's saving him after what he saw on the news. Honestly, this whole episode feels like it was written by someone who only reads Marvel Comics the way the public is easily misled.

It's incredibly out of character for Brainiac-5 not to over-analyze every aspect of a mission before starting it, so it is hard to believe he would get into the vault containing the DEO Alien Registry before he considered the mathematical odds of his actions making situations worse and the probability of Ben Lockwood finding some other way to go after alien civilians.

Somehow, the random man with the gun is exceeded in his stupidity by all the random prisoners in Cell Block D who think they can punch hurt Supergirl with their bare hands or a crowbar. (At least Supergirl rolls her eyes at this too.)

The biggest news story in the world is that Lex Luthor is still at large, but nobody thinks there is a connection between this and Supergirl apparently attacking the White House, despite everything Lex has done in the past to try and discredit Kryptonians?


Performances

As over-the-top as it is, Robert Baker's performance as Otis the Metallo is just plain fun. And his execution on the "something's not right..." gag with Kara is perfect.


Super Trivia

Lex Luthor's chessboard has a lock on it that is opened when the board is set in a configuration of a checkmate maneuver known as Anastasia's Mate.This is a real-world chess maneuver that occurs when a rook and a knight are used to trap the opposing king between a friendly piece and the edge of the board. Some variants, such as the one Lena builds, add in a queen.

While Lena is inspired to think of the maneuver because of Lex's pet nickname for her (he called her Anastasia in reference to the famous lost princess), the pattern has been in existence for more than 200 years and was named after an 1803 novel which made reference to it - Anastasia and the Game of Chess.

Brainiac-5's plan to delete the DEO alien registry is similar to one enacted by real-world American librarians in the face of the passage of the Patriot Act. Among other civil-rights violations, the Patriot Act authorized federal agencies to demand the library lending records of any suspected terrorist without a warrant. The American Library Association responded to this by changing their policy to discourage libraries from keeping such records in the first place. This prompted one FBI official to complain that "radical militant librarians" were making it impossible for them to do their jobs.


Technobabble

Supergirl suggests that Lex's duplicate Supergirl is the result of a shapeshifter, a hologram or an image inducer. Lena dismisses all three ideas because the heat signatures don't match.

Paragraph 4, Sub-Section A of the DEO charter requires a Presidential order to comply with any request to hand over alien technology to non-DEO government personnel.

The Superman Signal Watch has a fail-safe to warn anyone who can hear it of an ambush. The fail-safe is activated by pushing the button to activate the alarm twice. Pushing it once delivers a regular distress call.

The server containing the DEO alien registry is located in a vault on sub-level 5 of the DEO's base in National City. It is protected by a voice-identification scanner, a retinal scanner and armed guards before the elevator leading to the sub-level.

Brainiac-5 is able to use his image inducer to scramble a retina scanner so his eyes look like those of someone else.

Bilateral stimulation is a technique used to calm people with anxiety.

Lex had some kind of sensor set-up in his cell that would alert him if someone with Kryptonian DNA entered it.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Supergirl hears a man calling for help in the distance.)
Supergirl: Someone's in trouble. I have to go.
Alex: But you heard the President. It isn't safe!
Supergirl: If the government wants to stop me from helping people, let them try.

Lena: (on Lex) He's sick and he's twisted but at least he's consistent.

Lena: (reading Lex's diary) Lena craves my attention. Pathetic. If she knew how brilliant she was, she wouldn't need it.

(Otis walks through the prison library, looking for Supergirl. Instead he finds Cara Danvers hiding between two bookcases.)
Otis: Where'd Supergirl go?
Kara: I don't know, but I - I saw a red blur go through that door.
(She gestures to the dining room exit and Otis starts to walk off. Suddenly he stops and takes a step back to Kara.) 
Otis: Wait a minute...
(Close up on Kara looking nervous, clearly afraid Otis has somehow seen through her disguise.)
Otis: D Block's for guys only. What are you doing here?
Kara: I - um - I'm a reporter. I was doing an interview in the dining hall when the guards rushed us out. (pulling herself up) The article's on prison reform. Maybe you'd care to comment?
Otis: (shaking his head) I don't trust the press. They always parachute into crises like this without any context for the lager systemic issues at play.
(Otis walks off as Kara shakes head head in disbelief at her good fortune.)

Steve Lomeli: What is it they say? The pen is mightier than the sword?
Kara: Hmm. Maybe even mightier than a cape.


Dialogue Disasters

(Supergirl is trying to save a man trapped in a burning car. A man with a pistol keeps shooting at her, despite her pleading for the three people to help her save this man or at least stop shooting at her.)
Man 1: She's going to kill us!
Man 2: Not if I kill her first.
(Man 2 continues to try and shoot at Supergirl, despite her catching all his bullets)


Continuity

President Baker institutes a sun-down to sun-up curfew. Humans caught out after dark will be cited. Aliens will be detained.

Supergirl saves a man from a burning car, despite being shot at by some random man with a pistol who tries to do a citizen's arrest. Despite this, the man is confused as to why she save dhim and scared of Supergirl, saying his daughter used to look up to her.

Alex accounts for the Bizzaro Supergirl from 112, to make sure the Supergirl duplicate is not her.

Lena learned from her mother that Lex had been coming and going from his cell at Stryker's Island for months.

Lena tracks the Cayman Islands bank account of the Stryker's Island warden and confirms several payments from Lex's accounts.

The Warden admits to taking money from Lex but has no idea where he is now.

The Warden agrees to let Lena and Supergirl inspect Lex's cell for two hours in exchange for his husband being left out of things when Lena reports his crimes to the police.

Lena identifies the image Lex etched into his cell wall as Hannibal Crossing the Alps.

When they were children, Lex and Lena left hidden messages for each other inside of their chess pieces.

Lex left a message for Lena inside the White Queen of his chess set in his cell. On a rolled up piece of paper, Lex left the date 7/16/18 and a photo of her test subject from 407. Lena says the date is a reference to July 16th, 1918 - the date of the execution of the Romanovs.

Lex used to call Lena "The Lost Princess" in reference to Anastasia Romanov.

Lena realizes that Lex's chessboard has a hidden lock on it that requires her to set-up a checkmate pattern called Anastasia's Mate in order to open it.

The panel under Lex's chess set conceals his diaries.

Lena says Lex left his diaries behind to torment her since he'd know the last thing she'd want to do is get inside his head and go through old memories.

Ben Lockwood is now Secretary of the Department of Alien Affairs, his previous position as director having been elevated to a Presidential Cabinet post.

Lockwood demands any weapons that could be used against Kryptonians and that the DEO assist him and his men in ambushing Supergirl.

Alex refuses citing a DEO Protocol that requires a direct order from the President to hand over alien weapons to non DEO personnel.

Colonel Haley orders Alex to give her the signal watch that Supergirl gave to her, as she begins preparing the weapons for Lockwood's return.

Alex gives Colonel Haley bad instructions for using the watch, which will warn Supergirl that the signal is a trap.

Brainiac-5 suggests deleting the DEO registry of alien citizens before Lockwood demands they hand it over as well.

James has an appointment with one Doctor Park, who is apparently the best PTSD psychiatrist in National City.

Kelly meets with Alex, who asks her for advice on handling Colonel Haley and convincing her to defy Lockwood's orders.

Kelly tells a story about a jerk CO she had while in the military and how she learned to work him by appealing to his concern for his men's safety rather than moral concerns.

One of Lex's diaries details his pay-offs to the guards and inmates. Another runs through Superman's many failings. A third is an inventory of every mistake Lena has made since she was four years old.

James is showing the same black veins running through the skin on the back of his neck that Adam developed before he developed superpowers.

Lex Luthor's next-door cellmate was a man named Steve Lomeli, who was imprisoned for stealing data from the US Department of Defense that proved the military was using illegal drones and leaked that information to the press. He doesn't like Supergirl, seeing her as a narcissist who thinks she's above the law.

Brainiac-5 has not spoken to Nia Nul since they kissed in 415.

Nia gives Brainy a hard time about him refusing to tell her about her descendants in the future but still expecting her to tell him the future.

Nia lies about Brainiac not destroying the registry, to make him realize that he should destroy the registry.

Alex tries to convince Colonel Haley that following Lockwood's orders would violate the spirit of the American military and asks her to consider her daughter. This angers Colonel Haley, who has also figured out that Alex lied about using the signal watch.

Otis Graves goes to the Warden of Stryker's Island after one of Lex's alarms senses that Supergirl is in his cell and kills him.

Otis releases all the prisoners on Cell Block D and tells them he'll free whoever can subdue Supergirl.

Lena gives Supergirl a Kryptonite shield that should protect her from Otis's refined Metallo body.

Supergirl welds Lena into Lex's cell to protect her from the prisoners while she fights her way to Otis.

James suddenly develops super-hearing, super-sight and crushes a metal lamp with one hand while having another PTSD attack after a gun-shot goes off on the TV behind him, after he returns to his office after his first therapy session.

One of Lex's journals talks about how Lena stole their father's favorite fountain pen for Lex. It was given to him by the King of Jordan.

As children, Lena and Lex sought shelter in a tree house when Lionel Luthor was drunk, since he couldn't climb into the tree.

Lex told Lena that when they were grown up, he was going to build a house for them where they'd always be safe in the mountains behind their home.

Lena recognizes the mountain in Lex's etching of The Alps as being, not one of the Alps, but the mountain he pointed out to her when they were younger.

Lena discovers the mountain conceals a button, which reveals a secret passage out of the cell.

Kara is able to escape from Otis by changing back into her Kara Danvers clothes and claiming to have been interviewing inmates on prison reform when the riot started.

Steve Lomeli stops another inmate from stabbing Kara with an improvised knife after she identifies herself as Kara Danvers with CatCo Magazine. He reveals himself as a fan of her writing and says he writes the only newsletter in Stryker's Island - "The Not So Free Press"

Lex apparently contact the National Guard, informing them that Supergirl was at Stryker's Island.

Kara knocks down all the fighting inmates with one shockwave generated with a clap of her hands, putting them all on the ground before the National Guard starts opening fire.

The tunnel in Lex's cell leads to a secret lab.

Amertek electronics on are a work-bench in the lab. This is the same corrupt company whose executives The Red Daughter severed in 416.

Lex has monitors in the secret lab that show the DEO's desert facility as well as his cell.

Otis lies about Luthor's cell still being in order when he calls.

Lex triggers a self-destruct in Otis' Metallo body which makes him explode, releasing a Kryptonite gas throughout the facility. Supergirl and Lena barely outrun the cloud and escape through a side tunnel out of the prison.

Nia has a nightmare vision of Brainiac-5 being grabbed by Children of Liberty while at the DEO.

Nia calls Brainy and tells him not to delete the registry. He says he already did, but he's holding a copy of it in his brain just in case they need it later.

Brainy says he was wrong to ask Nia to try and view the future on his behalf - mostly because the moral imperative to do the right thing is more important than any calculation but also because she's not very good at interpreting her dreams yet and the odds of him being arrested are 3 to 2 against.

Lockwood returns with his court order and sets his ambush. However, Colonel Haley pushes the button on the signal watch twice.

When Alex asks her about this later, Colonel Haley says it had nothing to do with what Alex said and everything to do with her daughter having nightmares about the martial law and the fact that her favorite teacher, an alien, has disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

The news is now reporting that Supergirl tried to free the prisoners at Stryker's Island.

Supergirl decides she needs to lie low for a while, despite what Alex and Lena think, and find another way to fight Lockwood and President Baker.

James calls Kelly, tells her about his seeing and hearing things from a distance, and how they need to talk to Lena.

President Baker authorizes Lockwood to deputize the Children of Liberty.

Otis was put back together by Eve Tessmacher after being blown up.

Kara interviews Steve Lomeli with the understand that he'll be an unnamed source. He reveals to her that he hacked the prison Wi-Fi and was able to back-up the computer in Lex Luthor's secret lab as a result.


Location

Stryker's Island - Metropolis.


The Bottom Line

A bit of a mixed bag, overall. When the episode is good, it is very good and the interactions between Lena and Supergirl,, Supergirl with Steve Lomeli (in both her identities) and Alex with Colonel Haley is golden. Braniac-5 and Dreamer's storyline is okay, if it a bit rushed, but it says a lot that I hadn't noticed that they hadn't interacted in three episodes.

The worst part of the episode is everything involving James and his sister, which instantly drags the plot down to a snail's pace. I know many people complain that James is a wholly unneeded character, but adding his sister into the show has only aggravated the problems with his scenes feeling tacked on.

Ironically, for all the problems this episode has with logic and people trying to hurt Supergirl who should really know better, some of its best moments involve Robert Baker hamming it up as Otis Graves and being appropriately stupid when it comes to seeing the obvious. Cheap as his resurrection is, it's actually a relief that such an amusing character wasn't killed off so casually.