Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 6, Episode 7 - Fear Knot

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

Plot

As the Super Friends enter the Phantom Zone in search of Kara, each of them is forced to confront their own worst fears, while Kara faces her own crisis of faith.

Influences

Star Trek (the general design of the Watchtower bridge with each team member having an assigned role and console), Harry Potter (the fear powers of the Phantom are based on the Dementors), The Abyss (the effects work for the kelpie) and the "Psirens" episode of Red Dwarf (heroes hallucinate while fighting telepathic creatures).


Goofs

J'onn makes reference to the Phantom Zone being the native dimension of the Phantoms, but it was established in 603 that they were an alien species from the same system as Krypton.

Performances

It's hard to pick out one moment as the ensemble get a lot of great interactions together between characters who don't normally get to talk to each other. Still, the best is probably Lena and Nia bonding over the loss of their mothers, thanks to the way Katie McGrath and Nicole Maines play off each other.


Artistry

David Harewood does a masterful job of playing up the tension of the various nightmare sequences. Indeed, the very first one plays out so smoothly most viewers didn't guess it wasn't real until after the second dream sequence with Lena started.

The special effects work is of cinematic quality, particularly the effects for the kelpie.


Super Trivia

This episode was directed by David Harewood.

Kelpies are monsters from Celtic mythology said to haunt various waterways. Most legends have them taking the forms of horses, but they are shapeshifters who can also take on human shape. Some kelpie stories involve young men and women who were invited to swim by an attractive stranger, only to wind up being drowned and eaten by the kelpie. 


Technobabble

The Phantoms have different powers within the Phantom Zone, attacking people with Fear Visions of their worst nightmares made real.

Kelly teaches the rest of the team some basic grounding techniques that can help a person with anxiety regain control in tense situations. This involves naming things the person knows for certain to be real.

Lena modifies one of the DEO's yellow sun grenades to act as an anti-Phantom weapon.

The shields of the Tower can only withstand the Phantom Zone for two hours.


Dialogue Triumphs

Dreamer: You ever just think how wild it is that you can, like, make a portable sun?
Lena: Says the woman who can see the future and wield dream energy.
Dreamer: (quietly) Yeah, right.
Lena: Your gloves, by the way, are amazing. The way they convert your power into physical form, you know, how do they work?
Dreamer: Um... (chuckles softly) I don't know. Brainy made them. I... Honestly, I should probably know more than I do, but the one person who had answers is gone. Without my mom, all I have are questions.
(Lena stops smiling as Dreamer realizes what she just said.)
Dreamer: I'm sorry. I know you lost your mom, too. I didn't mean to...
Lena: Oh, no, no, no, it's okay, really. I get it. I miss my mom every day, too.
Dreamer: It really sucks, doesn't it?
Lena: Yeah, and it doesn't really get any easier. Especially in light of the family I have left.
(Lena sighs. Dreamer looks up at her and smiles.)
Dreamer: Good thing this is our family now, right?

Brainy: May I just say I'm quite glad to have you aboard this mission. 

Kelly: That's kind of you. I'm just trying to stay out of the way until it's time for me to help Supergirl. Brainy: On the contrary, I've been challenged by my emotions of late. (consider this) Okay, always. And given the imminent risk of a Phantom-induced response, I'd greatly value your expertise.
Kelly: Well, hopefully everything goes according to plan, and you won't need it

(The Tower has just passed through turbulence. Everyone is looking dazed.)
J'onn: Brainy?
Brainy: I'm okay, but it seems like the rest of our team has been compromised. That electromagnetic turbulence. It caused a malfunction in the Phantom's containment unit. Right now, it's just enough for its power to leak out and affect our teammates. But the whole unit's compromised.
J'onn: Why aren't you and I affected?
Brainy: It's possible your Martian physiology and psychic powers have safeguarded you. Your psychic bond with Malefic might have conferred to you some measure of resistance.

J'onn: And your Coluan nature is doing the same for you?
Brainy: Well, sort of. My 12th level intellect allows me to compartmentalize my fear. That and Kelly's coping mechanisms. But I assure you, I'm still.. very much feeling it.
J'onn: You are?
Brainy: For me, this entire room is filled with balloons.
J'onn: (confused) Balloons?
(As he says this, party balloons begin falling from the ceiling.)
Brainy: It's balloons, J'onn. (gesturing to the balloons only he can see) Balloon, balloon, balloon, balloon. Thin sheets of rubber holding in all that pressure, not knowing when to pop, balloon. J'onn! (grabs J'onn's shoulders) They must be stopped!
J'onn: Okay. I don't have time to unpack all that... 

Zor-El: There's always hope. 
Supergirl: Hope is naïve. I was naïve. And arrogant to think that I could ever actually fix anything. And worse... my friends think that they can, too. And they're just going to die because of it.
Zor-El: You can fix things. You did. You fixed me. I cried so many tears here. I cried for you. For your mother. For Krypton, my brother, my entire life... I cried for everyone I ever lost, all the people I loved and would never see again. I cried a river, an ocean of tears, until there was nothing left in me. Until you came and you filled me up with your spirit, your love. And now I won't give up again. Even if your friends never find us, we'll find our way out. I know we can because we're together. And together, nothing can stop us. Do you believe me, Kara? Because I believe in you.

Continuity

The area of the Phantom Zone around the dimensional anchor begins to destabilize, resulting in earth tremors.

Zor-El is still limping from his earlier injuries in 604.

Kara is wounded by a phantom. The attack leaves her fearing that her family will get themselves killed trying to save her.

Brainiac-5 and Dreamer return three days after they left to go back to 2009 Midvale. 

M'Gann has agreed to patrol National City in the absence of the rest of the Super Friends.

J'onn reveals that the Watchtower is also a fully functioning spaceship.

J'onn and Alex argue over which of them should leave the ship to get Kara once they find her.

As the shields fail, the Phantom escapes and begins attacking each member of the team with their worst nightmares made real.

Alex's nightmare involves her need to control everything endangering the team, as she is wounded by the Phantom, locks J'onn up in the brig after he insists that she be quarantined, and Alex trying to flush herself out the airlock after the Phantoms in the Phantom Zone are able to track the ship through her.

Lena's nightmare involves the rest of the team being killed by a Kelpie - a monster that has always terrified her because it drowns people and Lena's mother died while drowning in front of her, when she was a young girl.

Lena's only keepsake of her mother is the book of folklore she read to her when she was young.

Kelly's worst nightmare involves being helpless in a crisis situation and endangering the super-powered and highly trained people around her (especially Alex) because they are too busy worrying about her to do their work.

In the dream, Alex and Kelly recall their first meeting in 415.

Kelly says that Alex likes morning hikes, lavender soap, knock-knock jokes and dumplings.

Dreamer's worst nightmare involves her misinterpreting a dream vision getting Brainiac-5 killed.

In Dreamer's vision, she finds a thimble with an image of a the Tower, cracked and with energy leaking from it, inside an empty containment unit.

Dreamer thinks her vision means the Phantom will escape. She later realizes it was telling her she had to "contain" the problem and protect the Tower by sewing a breach in the hull shut with her powers.

Martians are apparently immune to the effects of the Phantom psychic fear attacks. Coluans are not, but sufficiently intelligent Coluans capable of compartmentalizing their fear can fight through the anxiety attacks.

Brainiac-5 has a fear of balloons. His worst nightmare is being surrounded by them.

J'onn fights the Phantom and contains it, 

In Alex's nightmare, she takes control by shooting out the glass in the airlock and going into the Phantom Zone to face whatever is out there.

In Lena's nightmare, she confronts the kelpie and it reshapes into her mother.

In Kelly's nightmare, she manifests a shield like the one James Olsen used as Guardian.

In Nia's nightmare, she is left screaming as Brainiac-5 is swept into space.

Zor-El is able to drag Kara out of her depression as a mob of Phantoms find them.

The Phantoms are driven off by Lena's sun-bomb, which also gives Kara the power she needs to fly Zor-El and herself to the ship.

The episode ends with the reveal that Nyxlygsptlnz is clinging to the outside of the Tower.


Location

The Phantom Zone


Untelevised Adventures

We are told that three days passed between the end of 604 and Brainiac-5 and Dreamer's return from the events of 606. Lena, Alex, Kelly, J'onn and M'Gann spent that time preparing for the trip into the Phantom Zone.


The Bottom Line

A solid episode where the entire cast gets a chance to shine. Would that we'd gotten something like this opening the first half of the final season instead of ending it! It's going to be a long wait for August and the final 13 episodes.

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 3, Episode 22 - Make It Reign

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



Plot

With Selena's plans for Earth revealed, Kara, Mon-El and Alura must find a way to escape Argo City. At the same time, J'onn prepares to say goodbye to his father, M'yrnn.


Influences

Supergirl: The Movie (Villain named Selena trying to take over Earth, while Supergirl is trapped elsewhere), Superman 2 (three evil Kryptonians menace the Earth) and the film Man of Steel (Kryptonian invasion of Earth meant to terraform the planet into a new Krypton)


Goofs

Why do the Daughters of Juru need to terraform Earth? Isn't Kara proof that Kryptonians can survive (and indeed thrive) in Earth's atmosphere? (You can't argue with religious fanatics and they're sort of committed to their prophecy demanding they conquer Earth and change it... even if they do have super powers as it is now.)

Kara and Mon-El are strangely unphased by the explosion in Selena's secret room and their white clothes are surprisingly unsullied by the fire and dust kicked up by the collapsing ceiling.

If Reign's whole purpose was to ultimately terraform Earth into a new Krypton, what was the point of her going around enforcing a more lethal form of justice when she first awoke?

The death of Agent Demos is played up as being far more significant than it should be. While the character is one of the few named DEO background agents, he's hardly had enough screen time for his death to have much resonance.

The heat-vision blasts in this episode act more like concussive beams than heat-rays, knocking people back rather than setting things on fire.

James Olsen has nothing to do in this episode but come in and try and give Winn a pep-talk.

Honestly, a lot of the emotional moments in this episode seem to misfire or are played off far faster than they should be, such as Alex and Alura meeting face to face for the first time.


Performances

Carl Lumbly has stolen virtually every episode he's appeared in this season. This episode is no exception, though the interactions between him and David Harewood are easily the high-point of this episode and - speaking as someone who is losing his father to Alzheimer's - all too realistically portrayed.

Chris Wood has prove far better at underplaying Mon-El this year than he was in overplaying the cocky frat-boy in Season Two.  The moment in which he says everything while saying nothing while talking to Winn is a quantum leap forward in what we've seen him do with the character.


Super Trivia

The base idea of this episode bears some slight resemblance to the plot of the 1984 Supergirl movie, which briefly saw Supergirl trapped in The Phantom Zone and helpless to do anything about the villain - a witch named Selena. This episode sees Kara briefly trapped on Argo City with no way back to Earth, as it is threatened by a Kryptonian priestess with dark magical powers named Selena.

There's also some superficial resemblance to Superman 2, with three evil black-clad Kryptonians menacing the Earth with the assistance of a human stooge. (Lex Luthor in the movie. Thomas Coville here.)

The ultimate goal of The Daughters of Juru is revealed to be that of General Zod in the movie Man of Steel - terraforming Earth into a New Krypton.

A new version of Selena was introduced into the reality of DC Comics Rebirth in Supergirl #10 (August 2017). This Selena was a powerful sorceress, described as Heir to Ataxia. She was convinced to join the villain team The Fatal Five, which was being led by Emerald Empress against Supergirl. She abandoned the team in mid-mission, however, wishing to avoid a losing battle and having no real grudge against Supergirl or loyalty to her new comrades.

The two Daughters of Juru besides Selena are named Vita and Ayala. This is in honor of writer Vita Ayala, who co-wrote some issues of the DC Rebirth Supergirl series with Steve Orlando.

At one point, Selena muses that Supergirl "actually cares for these humans." This line is a paraphrase of one of General Zod's lines from Superman 2 -  "He actually cares for these Earth people."

M'yrnn proposes merging himself with the planet Earth in order to stabilize it in the face of Reign's attacks. This is what J'onn J'onzz eventually did with the planet Mars in the reality of DC One Million.


Technobabble

Harun-El is made toxic to Kryptonians by Earth's atmosphere.

M'yrnn says that The Reach will allow him to live forever within his son's mind.

Lena determines that Sam's body cells are reverting back to their natural state (i.e. Kryptonian) but her blood cells are oxygen deprived and shrinking, with some of them having become dormant. At Ruby's suggestion, Alex decides to try exposing Sam to the intense yellow sun lamps the DEO used for speeding Supergirl's healing.

Winn develops an omni-directional self-maintaining sub-atomic personal shield - i.e. a belt-mounted force-field. It is based around a frequency conversion of some sort and is the cornerstone of the new non-lethal tech that Winn is building for the DEO. The dumbed-down explanation is that it is like a magnet for atoms.

Zor-El had been working on a transmat portral - a teleportation device that could work across interstellar distances to send the people of Krypton to another planet.

Lena uses her refractive scatterfield to test Sam's eyesight. Since Sam is able to see through the field and see Lena waving at her, we know that her body is not reacting like a Kryptonian's should. If Sam were a healthy Kryptonian, she would have hurt her eyes just trying to look at Lena through the field.

Lena says that environmental factors can influence gene expression, turning it on and off. She theorizes she can use Harun-El to rejuvenate Sam's blood cells.

Kara is able to use the cache crystals as a sort of impromptu radio, allowing her to talk through the hologram of Alura in the DEO headquarters.

A multi-phase descrambler which links to a power source is part of the transmat mechanics. The insulator or Zor-El's transmat is cracked, meaning it will only be good for one trip.

Alex's new gun fires ammunition that generates an electrical net capable of briefly restraining three Kryptonians. It works until the net is blasted by heat vision. She also has Kryptonite bullets and the glove of her costume can generate a Kryptonite energy field.

Winn's personal force-field is shown to be strong enough to protect him from a Kryptonian heat-vision blast. It also keeps him from being killed when he is thrown against the wall by a Dark Kryptonian, though the concussive force is enough to knock him unconscious. The focused energy of three Kryptonians' heat vision, however, is too much for it, as Agent Demos tragically discovers.

Eve Teschmacher reworks the Harun-El to try and jump-start Sam's blood cells. It does not work. Lena thinks perhaps she can make it work by adjusting the ratio of the solution she used before and reinject Sam with it.

Lena determines that Sam and Reign are still connected by a symbiotic non-local entanglement. This means that Sam is getting weaker as Reign is getting stronger, despite Reign no longer being contained within Sam.

M'yrnn and J'onn interrupt The Reach to help evacuate National City.

Mon-El speaks of a world called Zune, who terraformed their world by digging to the planet's core, creating a Genesis event. The process took hours.

M'yrnn says that is he uses his shape-shifting and phasing powers to merge with the nexus point of Reign's attack, he can help to stabilize the Earth by merging with it.


Dialogue Triumphs

M'yrnn: Home is not a place. It is living among those who love and honor you. I can depart this world with peace because I know my son is home.

M'yrnn: These are happy memories. They should make you happy.
J'onn: And they do, Father. But they also remind me how much I'm going to miss you. Every memory that passes between us brings us closer to that eventuality.
M'yrnn: By the end of this, you will not feel loss, J'onn. You will feel complete. I promise.
J'onn: How do you know?
M'yrnn: Because I know the hole that comes with not knowing this. The way I felt when your mother was taken from me. When you were taken from me. Be patient, my son. Let the memories fill you up as you have filled me up.

(Winn is asking Mon-El why he hasn't returned to the future.)
Mon-El: Uh-yeah. Yeah, I was but then the time beacon broke and... Kara ran into some trouble, so I uh, I decided to stay back to...
Winn: (unconvinced) Uh-huh. Always the hero.
Mon-El: Yeah.
(Mon-El pauses, before speaking in a more quiet tone.)
Mon-El: I lost her once, man. I'm not sure I can do it again.
(Comprehension dawns on Winn's face, as he glances to where Alex is working.)
Winn: Wow, really?  Dude.  Dude, forget Reign! You need to get back here fast so we can get a drink!
(Mon-El chuckles.)

Selena: Give me the blood.
Kara: You want the blood? You can have it.
(Kara throws the blood vials into the air toward Selena. Her heat vision catches it in mid-flight as Selena catches it, wincing as it begins to burn and melt in her hand.)

M'yrnn: This planet is my son's home. I intend to save it with him!


Dialogue Disasters

Eve: More bad news?
Lena: Yeah. Sam's no better. And now three people in National City with the same powers of Supergirl have just murdered somebody.
Eve: Oh. That is not good.


Continuity

The Daughters of Juru had a prophecy which foretold of three of them standing on Earth in order to bring about the rise of Reign.

The three members of The Daughters of Juru are revealed as Selena, Vita and Ayala.

Harun-El is made toxic to Kryptonians by Earth's atmosphere.

Selena had an atlas of Earth in her secret quarters.

Kara identifies some of the writings on the atlas as being identical to those in Coville's journal. She recognizes them as the instructions to create a Worldkiller from 319.

Sam is not feeling well but has not transformed into Reign again.

M'yrnn comes by the DEO to say goodbye to Alex.

The Reach ceremony requires a Martian artifact called The Staff of Kh'ollar.

Alex is left in charge of the DEO while J'onn is away performing The Reach.

Among the items on Selena's secret room, Kara finds a scabbard which has "Whoever wields this sword shall bathe in the blood of the old worlds and reign with might over the new." written upon it. Alura identifies this as The Scabbard of Juru and the line as a quote from an ancient Kryptonian religious text.

Selena leaves behind a hologram of herself that speaks to Alura along with a fire-bomb trap that wounds Thara.

Selena explains that she gave Kara the Harun-El because it was necessary for Sam and Reign to be separated in order to enact the final stage of her plan and helping Kara saved her the trouble of doing it herself.

Sam says that she was feeling totally normal but now feels so weak she can barely hold her head up and that her insides are melting away.

Agent Demos has some kind of grudge against Winn.

The gravity manipulator Mon-El purchased in 321 is destroyed by Selena's trap. This means he cannot use it to contact The Legion and have them come to help get him and Kara to Earth.

Kara spent many afternoons watching her father work in his lab. He often used her as a sounding board for his ideas. She remembers him always talking to her as if she were another scientist.

The ritual to bring back Reign fails because they do not have the blood of Purity and Pestilence. Luckily, Thomas Coville knows that blood samples can be found at the DEO.

Lena uses her refractive scatter field from 319 to test Sam's vision.

Selena was able to get Zor-El's transmat mostly-functional. The problem is that it would require another transmat portal at their destination in order to function.

The DEO has a transmat portal, which Winn recovered in 209.

The DEO also has Kryptonian cache crystals, like the ones in Zor-El's lab.

Kara is able to use the cache crystals as a sort of impromptu radio, allowing her to talk through the hologram of Alura in the DEO headquarters.

There are 500 million potential moves on an Ok'Rock'Tock board.

Alura comes to Earth with Mon-El and Kara.

Agent Demos dies after being hit by the heat vision of all three of the Daughters of Juru. This turns out to be too much for Winn's new force-field belt to cope with.

Eve Teschmacher is still working in Lena's lab, helping her with trying to save Sam.

Enough of the dried blood of Purity and Pestilence remains on Serena's hand after Kara's heat-vision blast for her to sprinkle the ashes of it into the fire being used to reform Reign.

The Fountains of Lillith are two fountains from ancient Kryptonian mythology said to be in The Valley of Juru. Alura learned of them from Jindah Kol Rozz, who ranted about them at her sentencing. One fountain gave infinite strength. The other gave weakness. Rozz spoke of a woman born of the fountain, who had the power of destruction - i.e. Reign. Kara theorizes that this may be the source of Reign's power rather than Earth's yellow sun.

Sam asks for Lena to help her return to The Valley of the Juru (where she went in 317) so she can use the fountain to indirectly weaken Reign.

Reign's awakening triggers an 8.0 earthquake in National City, super-storms and tornadoes in Madagascar and a tsunami warning.

M'yrnn declares his intention to merge with the nexus point of the disaster, allowing him to stabilize it.


Location

The new Fortress of Sanctuary


The Bottom Line

On the one hand, the plotting of this episode is utterly nonsensical, with the reasons for Reign's existence having completely changed amid a host of minor things that don't make sense like concussive heat vision and the expectation that we're supposed to be deeply moved by the death of Agent Demos while undercutting emotional moments that should be more powerful, like Alex and Alura meeting.

And yet... for everything this episode borrows from earlier Superman and Supergirl stories, the execution here is far stronger than in those earlier stories. By making the Kryptonians trying to destroy the Earth to create a New Krypton into religious fanatics rather than soldiers adhering to some elitist eugenics program, Supergirl Season 3 has corrected the biggest flaw with the plot of Man of Steel. For all its flaws, this episode largely works in spite of itself.

Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 3, Episode 13 - Both Sides Now

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



Plot

The DEO captures Purity - the second of the Kryptonian Worldkillers, but Kara and Alex have very different ideas about how to approach her. Meanwhile, J'onn and Winn assist Mon-El in repairing the Legion of Super Heroes ship.


Influences

The Michael Green/Mike Johnson run on Supergirl (character of Reign and concept of Worldkillers)


Goofs

Alex seems to have fully recovered from her broken leg from a few episodes ago. (I can buy the DEO having some kind of tech that would speed her recovery, but they could have made mention of it when Alex was still in a cast two weeks ago.)


Performances

The scene between David Harewood and Chris Wood as they discuss marriage and secrets is a great bit of work for both actors.


Artistry

The effects work for Purity's powers are good.


Super Trivia

In the New 52 Supergirl comic, The Worldkillers were a group of genetically engineered creatures designed by Kryptonian scientists (overseen by Zor-El) using embryos from other species to create living biological weapons capable of destroying a planet. Reign was one of the Worldkillers and the first that Supergirl encountered. Five total Worldkillers survived the destruction of Krypton.

None of the Worldkillers in the comics were named Purity or Pestilence.

Reign was the leader of a group of four of the Worldkillers. She possessed enhanced strength, durability, speed and endurance on par with Supergirl as well as the power to fly. She was also a master of hand-to-hand combat.and sword fighting.

The cat-like Deimax was the second Worldkiller in Reign's team. She had the claws and fangs of a tiger as well as enhanced strength and durability.

Flower Of Heaven was the third member of Reign's team. This insectoid being had the power of flight as well as energy absorption and projection powers. Her purpose was reportedly to attack a planet by overloading planetary systems.

The final member of Reign's team was the reptilian Perrilus. Possessing the same enhanced strength, speed, endurance and flight powers as Reign. She also had the power to generate poisons and viruses within her body, enabling her to kill whole populations by passing among them.

Purity's displayed powers include a sonic scream akin to that of Black Canary/Black Siren and the ability to generate localize earthquakes, presumably though some kind of sonic manipulation. She is also telepathic, claiming to be able to see inside people - a power she proves when she taunts Alex with information about her break-up with Maggie Sawyer. She is also able to fly and is invulnerable enough to break glass with her body and not be harmed. She is also strong enough to wrestle with Supergirl and come close to strangling her.


Technobabble

Kryptonian cache crystals are used to store sensitive information. Each crystal has a signature of sorts, being composed of the same materials unique to the place that make it, like an artist's stamp. The crystal Purity had possessed a different signature than the cache crystals of the Fortress of Solitude.

The vibrations given off by Purity's powers are tuned to specifically hurt Kryptonians.

Moran Batteries are used to generate anti-gravitational fields.

The Legion of Super Heroes ship has five power sources, including one Moran Battery.

Martian moonshine has a consciousness-enhancing quality to it and a spicy flavor. 

Winn alters some old DEO technology to generate a counter-frequency that should protect the DEO team from Purity's sonic blasts. It does nothing, unfortunately, to counter area effects, so Purity is able too destroy the floor and support beams around her when cornered in the subway station.

Measurements in Moran math are based on a scale of 12 rather than 10.

When Mon-El was attempting to use J'onn's Moran battery to jump-start the Legion's, they were over-loading it due to the discrepancy based on using the 10 scale instead of the proper 12 scale.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Kara is trying to convince Alex to let her just talk to Purity and reason with her.)
Alex: We can try it your way.
Kara: Thank you.
Alex: And when your way fails, we try it mine.

(Sam announces her plan for her and Ruby to skip work and school respectively.)
Sam: Sound like a plan?
Ruby: Hell, yeah!
Sam: You get precisely one, "Hell, yes" today. I hope you enjoyed that.
Ruby: Okay.

(Purity and Supergirl curse at each other in Kryptonian.)
Purity: The three will walk across the land. And the blood of the weak will water the new world.
Supergirl: Rao defies you! I defy you! And I will bring you low!

(Mon-El is telling J'onn about how his marriage with Saturn Girl was political and he grew to love her but it's not the same as with Kara.)
Mon-El:  But with Kara, I mean... (chuckles) There was... there was nothing logical about falling in love with Kara. I mean, she was a Kryptonian... elitist and I was this completely self-absorbed misogynist. Not anymore. But what I felt for her... it was just.. (pauses) Being back here is, um. ...I've had to keep a distance from Kara. Because whenever I'm around her, these old feelings get stirred up. And then I have to hide it from Imra. But lately, there's been all this friction between us, cause of... I know it's my fault and I just... I don't know what to do.
J'onn: You know... if you think keeping secrets from your wife is hard, you should try keeping secrets from a Martian.
(Mon-El snorts at that.)
J'onn: My wife and I would uh... would bond and literally share our thoughts and feelings every night. Marriage is sharing, Mon-El. Everything. You are not a criminal because you have complicated feelings. If you truly love and honor, Imra, maybe you should let her in?


Dialogue Disasters

Kara: I am used to you being pragmatic, but since when have you become so hard and cynical?
Alex: Well, not all of us are bulletproof, Kara.
Kara: I know.
Alex: So cynicism, that's what's keeping the rest of us alive!
Kara: It seems like it's killing you.


Continuity

Purity's powers activate after she feels threatened by Alex Danvers.

Lena orders Sam to take a day off.

Winn finds a Kryptonian cache crystal in Purity's home.

The mileage on J'onn's starship is 700 million miles.

Winn is a car guy.

Julia Freeman was adopted in 1993 by Lawrence and Molly Freeman. She is allergic to milk and studied music at the Cincinnati Conservatory.

Purity claims that Julia Freeman was just a role that she played and that there is not a "real" Julia. Later, she admits that she was lying as she strangles Kara, saying that she is going to make Julia watch Supergirl die.

Vinita Ripson was Julia Freeman's roomate at the conservatory and is her best friend and emergency contact.

Kara refers to the events of 311, where Julia saved Vinita's life by pushing her out of the way of a car.

When Purity's cache crystal activates, it sends a signal of some kind to Reign. It also generates a power surge that shorts out the power dampeners in her cell at the DEO.

J'onn was married for 77 years.

Mon-El tells J'onn that his marriage to Saturn Girl was arranged - a political wedding to unite two warring factions of planets in the early days of The Legion of Super Heroes.

Saturn Girl comes from an important family on Titan, one of Saturn's moons.

Titan led a faction of planets that were opposed to Earth and its allied worlds.

Mon-El says that he grew to love Saturn Girl after being friends and partners with her for a time in The Legion but that what he feels for Kara is threatening that.

Martian spouses would bond and share their thoughts and feelings every evening.

Ruby tells Lena about Sam's missing time, lost memories and disappearing.

Julia goes with Reign willingly to save Alex's life.

Mon-El says he isn't sure if he is still in love with Kara or not.

Saturn Girl fell in love with Mon-El because he was so honest.

Saturn Girl and Brainiac-5 had another reason for returning to the past that was kept secret from Mon-El.

Sam has a black-out in front of Lena, briefly becoming Reign when she is angry at Lena telling Ruby about her illness.

Lena says she knows what is wrong with Sam but that she can fix it.


The Kryptonite Factor

Alex's sudden refusal to believe in Kara's ability to appeal to people's better angels is forced only so there is some kind of conflict regarding the treatment of Purity.


The Bottom Line

Up until the halfway point, this episode is painful, with Kara and Alex written as parodies of themselves and Purity being the typical gloating villain.  Then we get to the J'onn/Mon-El bonding scene and somehow, the episode turns around. Every character moment afterward is good enough to forgive the bad that came before and the final ten minutes is magic.

It's aggravating, however, that we have two major bombshells dropped just before the show goes on hiatus for a few months. And you know this episode must have been amazing because Legends of Tomorrow is my favorite CW show right now and I've been anxiously awaiting John Constantine's return, yet I would delay it's return just to know what The Legion's real mission in the past is and what Lena has figured out about The Worldkillers.

Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 3, Episode 10 - Legion of Super-Heroes

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




Plot

With Kara knocked into a coma following her battle with Reign, Mon-El summons his ally, Braniac-5, to restore Kara's mind while he, Saturn Girl and the DEO confront Reign.


Influences

The Legion of Super-Heroes comics of Otto Binder and Al Plastino. The Empire Strikes Back (the healing tanks used by The Legion resemble the bacta tanks used by the Rebellion medics to heal Luke Skywalker)


Goofs

The cliff-hanger at the end of the last episode, in which it was implied that Samantha was about to turn on Ruby, turns out to have an artificial fake-out.

Why didn't J'onn use any of the weapons from The Sundown Protocol back during the battles with the rogue Kryptonians in Season One or the Daxamites in Season 2? Even without Kryptonite (which they let Superman dispose of in Season 2 and which wouldn't work on Daxamites anyway), sound bombs and red sun light grenades would have been incredibly helpful in both fights.

Based on the timeline of the episode (it's clearly dark when J'onn goes to Kara's apartment), either National City has banks that are open 24 hours a day, complete with open lobbies and teller service, or The DEO counted on Reign not noticing that a fully-staffed bank was being robbed at night when setting their trap.

Wouldn't it be possible for The Legionaries to make copies of their DNA information and lock it in a time capsule in case something should happen to one of them, just in case?

Winn points out, when Alex suggests injecting Reign with Kryptonite right in the jugular vein, that they don't have anyone strong enough to drive in the needle. A more worrying point is that they don't have any material capable of piercing a Kryptonian's skin, regardless of the force behind it.

Winn also seems to forget that Mon-El had super-strength on par with Supergirl, despite Mon-El being there in the room.

How the heck did Thomas Coville escape from prison?

For that matter, how did he make the journey to The Fortress of Sanctuary?


Performances

There is something oddly amusing about the way in which David Harewood says "Oh no, not again." upon finding out he has to play Kara in order to protect her secret identity.

That is not quite as amusing, however, as Melissa Benoist playing J'onn pretending to be Kara.

The non-verbal acting as Melissa Benoist plays Kara discovering her glasses and the key out of her apartment is a magical thing to behold.


Artistry

Good special effects work on having the walls around Kara's front door "bounce" as she tries to escape her mind prison.


Super Trivia

The episode's title comes from the classic comic series and team The Legion of Super-Heroes.

In the original comics, the teenagers who built The Legion of Super-Heroes were inspired by Superman's tenure as Superboy. They first appeared in Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958), when Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl traveled back in time to test Superboy's worthiness to join The Legion. Their tests, which Superboy failed, turned out to be a hazing ritual of sorts and The Legion had already voted to allow Superboy membership on their team.

In the comics, Supergirl was later given membership in The Legion of Super-Heroes as well and spent some time living in the 31st Century while serving as part of the team.

Brainiac-5 first appeared in Action Comics #276 (May 1961) and was created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney. Born Querl Dox on the planet Colu in the 31st Century, he was a hero who joined The Legion of Super-Heroes and sought to atone for the sins of his ancestor - the villain known as Brainiac who fought Superman in the 21st century. A brilliant inventor, Brainiac-5 created The Legion of Super-Heroes flight rings, a force-field belt and the anti-lead serum that allowed Mon-El to survive outside The Phantom Zone.

We later see Mon-El, Saturn Girl and Brainiac-5 don Legion Flight Rings as they go to confront Reign.

Brainiac-5 is a 12th Level Intelligence. By way of a comparison, 21st Century Earth is considered to have an average Intelligence of the 6th Level and the average Coluan of his time has an intelligence of the 8th Level.

The DCTVU version of Brainiac-5 seems to be statistically precisely like his comic-book counterpart. His name is Querl Dox and he claims to be half-organic and half-computer  but all Coluan. He goes by "Brainy" for short. He is also a 12th Level Intelligence

Brainiac-5 and Supergirl were romantic linked in some incarnations of The Legion of Super-Heroes. In the DC Animated Universe, Supergirl elected to stay in the 31st Century after an adventure sent her, Green Lantern and Green Arrow into the future. This was partly due to the historical record showing that only two Justice League members returned to their own time after coming forward to help The Legion and partly due to her newfound love with Brainiac-5.

Brainiac-5 makes reference to a third-degree extinction event in 2455 that brought about the collapse of all human civilization and the loss of most historical records, culture, art and music. This could be a nod to The Great Disaster - the unspecified future event from the Kamandi - The Last Boy On Earth comics created by Jack Kirby - that destroyed all civilization. The setting of Kamandi was an unspecified future where humanity had descended to savagery and evolved animals ruled the Earth.

Mon-El speaks of a planet called Winath from the 31st Century, saying it is a farming planet that went dark. In the original Legion comics, Winath was an agrarian world described as the bread-basket of the United Planets.

Mon-El pronounces Winath as "Win-ath". The question of Winath's pronunciation has long been a matter of debate among Legion fans. As a nod to the three most popular theories, writer Geoff Johns revealed in Final Cirsis: Legion of Three Worlds that all three versions of the Legion in DC Comics Continuity had a different way of pronouncing Winath. In the Reboot universe, it is pronounced "Win-Athe", in the Threeboot universe it is pronounced "Win-Ath", and in the post-Infinite Crisis universe it's pronounced "Wine-Ath".

Mon-El speaks of a friend named Ayla who is from Winath. This is a reference to the Legion member Ayla Ranzz - a.k.a. Lightning Lass/Light Lass/Spark. Her twin brother is Garth Ranzz a.ka. Lighting Lad.

For some reason, most of the children born on Winath are fraternal twins - one boy and one girl.

Saturn Girl speaks of Winath being decimated by beings called The Blight who consume everything in their path. This is a nod to The Blight - a techno-organic race whose bodies were composed of rotting flesh and technology. Basically cyborg-zombies, The Legion of Super-Heroes fought them in the 1999-2000 storyline Legion of the Damned.

The Sherlock Holmes line to which Kara refers comes from A Study In Scarlet - the first Sherlock Holmes story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - "I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose."

Kara makes reference to having a pet cat as a teenager named Streaky. In the original Supergirl comics in Action Comics, Kara Danvers also had a pet cat named Streaky, named for the white lighting-bolt shaped streak in his orange fur. Streaky first appeared in Action Comics #261 (February 1960) and acquired superpowers after being exposed to a piece of X-Kryptonite, which gave superpowers to animals. Streaky had super-strength, super-speed, super-vision flight and human-level or better intelligence.

Since that time, various versions of Supergirl have owned a pet cat named Streaky, but only the original version of Streaky had super-powers in the original DC Comics universe. However, super-powered versions of Streaky have shown up in other comics and cartoons, most notably the Krypto The Super-Dog show, Tiny Titans and the DC Super-Pets books.

The DCTVU version of Streaky has black fur, instead of orange fur.

At one point Brainiac mentions an Aloian attack formation. The Aloai are an alien race who appeared in Action Comics #517 (March 1981). They have blue skin and rigged foreheads and appeared in a Superman story where they were at war with another race of aliens, The Margoi, fighting over a device which they called "The Grayl".

Braniac-5 uses the word "sprock" as a curse at one point. In the original Legion comics, "sprock" is also used as a curse word in the 31st century.

Saturn Girl is depicted as having telekinetic abilities, throwing heavy weights at Reign as a distraction as Mon-El attempts to move in close with a Kryptonite knife. She also creates a telekinetic force-field that protects Mon-El from Reign's ice-breath. While primarily depicted as a telepath in the comics, some versions of Saturn Girl in the comics and cartoons have been shown to have telekinetic abilities as well.


Technobabble

Brainiac-5 notes that he is a 12th Level Intelligence.

31st century technology allows doctors to communicate telepathically with coma patients. In this case, Brainac-5's crown connects to his internal AI core, translating Kara's brainwaves into English while sending his thoughts to her as electronic signals her brain can understand.

Brainiac-5 makes reference to a third-level extinction event.

The DEO has access to sound bombs and red-sun grenades capable of hurting a Kryptonian.

Brainiac-5 claims to have envisioned 4,237,642 versions of his first meeting with Supergirl. None of them involved her describing it as torture.

Brain damage in a psychic simulacra can manifest as various forms of decay - mildew or mold. Rats typically indicate neurological issues.


Dialogue Triumphs

Reign: This man was a thief, condemned by his own actions. You've allowed sin to take root and fester like a weed. And worst of all, you have looked away. Apathy is the greatest sin of all. From now on it will be punished in kind. There will be no mercy. There will only be justice. (pauses) I am here to help.

(J'onn is in the middle of adjusting some kind of sonic gun as Winn walks up.)
Winn: Hey! Boss! So, uh... uh... James just called.
(There is a long pause as J'onn continues working.)
J'onn: I fail to see the relevance.
Winn: Well, it seems that he might have put Kara into a little bit of hot water with Lena Luthor. And since we have an hour...
(There is the briefest of pauses as J'onn realizes precisely why this is relevant.)
J'onn: Oh no. Not again.
(Winn smiles and gives J'onn a double thumbs-up as J'onn sighs in annoyance and leaves.) 

J'onn: (as Kara) You have no idea how much I am not feeling like myself.

J'onn: No Supergirl. No cavalry. Reign is strong, but she doesn't know what we're capable of. Let's show her.
Alex: You ready?
(Alex tosses J'onn a sonic gun, which he catches easily.)
J'onn: I just had a conversation about James Olsen's extraordinary kissing ability. This will be a Sunday picnic.

(Kara is cleaning her trashed psychic apartment. Brainiac-5 is pacing around her, impatiently.)
Brainy: Why are you cleaning? None of this real.
Kara: I don't know. I guess I just like putting things back in order. And... my brain, originally, is like an empty little attic and you must stock it with such furniture as you choose. That's Sherlock Holmes.
(Brain just nods as Kara picks up a book and flips through it. Suddenly she stops and looks at the room, thoughtfully.)
Kara: This is the furniture I chose.
Brainy: Hmm. An oversimplification
(Kara just gives him a side-eyed look. Brainy seems to realize he was being rude and tries to look apologetic.)
Brainy: But ah, yes. Go on.
Kara: So there must be something in here that my subconscious wants me to see!
Brainy: Mmm... that's.... that's actually not a bad idea. Why didn't I think of that?

Alex: (to a comatose Kara) I'm so sorry. I did this. I mean, I'm the one that pushed you into that fight. I told you that Kara Danvers was my favorite person. And then I told you to forget who you were. And now I'm... I don't know if we can do this without you.

(Kara sorts through some of the debris and finds a picture of her teenage self, holding a cat.)
Kara: Huh.
(Brainiac-5 walks over and looks at the picture.)
Brainy: You had a pet?
Kara: Yeah. But if this is my subconscious trying to tell myself something, I don't get it.
Brainy: Could be a random neuron firing. What's it's name?
Kara: Streaky. I, uh- I found him on our street. Right after I came to Earth, actually. He was a stray too.
Brainy: You felt an emotional kinship.
Kara: Yeah. (chuckles) Yeah. We were friends.
(Kara looks up and suddenly tops laughing. Brainiac-5 follows her gaze and sees Streaky, as he was in the picture, lying on a chair, watching them. Kara slowly approaches Streaky as she continues talking to Brainy.)
Kara: I used to go out every night and feed him. (Kara kneels down and begins to pet Streaky) I didn't want to touch him. I was so strong I could have hurt him. So I practiced being gentle. And then one day I pet him. (Kara picks Streaky up and sits down, stroking his back.) And he purred. And everything was okay. I felt like an alien on Earth for so long and... and he made me feel like a human.
(Brainiac-5 watches this, comprehension dawning on his face.)

(We see Braniac, in a rotating chair on the bridge of The Legion ship.)
Brainy: Engaging cannons!
(Cut to Brainy, still inside Kara's psychic apartment. He is seen sitting down, typing furiously at buttons in the air, with his eyes closed.)
Brainy: Aoian attack formation!
(Kara is still in her chair, stroking Streaky. She looks at Brainy as like he is crazy.)
Kara: Are you fighting?!
Brainy: Oh! Sprock! Did I say that out loud?!


Dialogue Disasters

The Legion's spaceship blaring "Living On A Prayer" by Bon Jovi as Reign is contemplating killing or sparing Thomas Coville as he prays to Rao.


Continuity

The events of this episode start two days after the events of 309.

Kara's psyche resembles her loft apartment.

Curiously, for all the emphasis she claims to place on being Kryptonian over human, Kara's inner-self dresses in Earth clothing like Kara Danvers but without glasses. This turns out to be a bit of foreshadowing, as Kara must clean her glasses and put them on before she finds the key that unlocks the door out of her apartment, allowing her to wake up.

Brainiac-5 notes that Kara is in remarkable mental health for someone in a coma.

Mon-El says that The Legion can't get directly involved in the battle with Reign because their deaths could doom the 31st Century.

Mon-El also speaks of The Legion having a mission of which he cannot speak of the particulars and that getting involved with the fight against Reign might jeopardize their mission.

Mon-El does say that Supergirl will survive the war with Reign and that Reign will eventually "leave" but he does not know the particulars beyond that. While the historical record shows what events may have happened, there is no way of knowing precisely how they came to happen.

Braniac-5 speaks of a third-level extinction event in 2455 that caused catastrophic destruction. While humanity came together as a result, most historical records, music, art and culture were destroyed in the cataclysm.

Apparently most of what the people of the 31st century know of the 21st century and what came before came from Mon-El's knowledge. It was he who told them about Aristotle, Shakespeare and Bon Jovi.

The Sundown Protocol is a highly-classified contingency plan the DEO crafted if it ever had to take-down Superman or another rogue Kryptonian. It allowed for the use of red-sun grenades, Kryptonite darts and sound bombs.

Winn refers to Superman destroying all of the DEO's Kryptonite in 202.

J'onn makes reference to the Kryptonite from "Coville's probe" from 304 and confirms the DEO still has it.

Mon-El eventually reveals the circumstances of how he and his team came back to the past and why it is important they remain safe to preserve the future to Alex. In the 31st Century, there is a race of cyborg-zombies called The Blight, who destroyed the farming world of Winath. Braniac-5 found a way to defeat The Blight, but before they could use it, they were forced to time-travel to escape from The Blight. The secret of defeating The Blight is encoded into the DNA of all of the time-lost Legionaries, meaning they must all survive and make it to the future in order to stop The Blight in the 31st Century.

J'onn refers to the events of 113 and how he once had to impersonate Kara to protect her secret identity.

Reign appears to be resistant to the effects of Kryptonite, for some reason.

Alex's lower leg is broken during the fight with Reign.

Kara is enough of a fan of the original Sherlock Holmes' stories to know a specific quote from A Study In Scarlet.

Kara had a pet cat named Streaky when she was a teenager, who taught her how to control her strength shortly after coming to Earth.

Reign attacks Albatross Bay - the Alcatraz-style high-security prison in National City.

Brainiac-5 made himself look taller when he was inside Kara's mind.

Brainiac-5 signed Alex's cast in binary.

Reign is informed that there are others like her on Earth - a fact that the AI in her Fortress of Sanctuary kept her ignorant of until she had proven herself worthy.

Thomas Coville joins with Reign and tells her that he can help her find the others like her.


Location

The Fortress of Sanctuary.


Untelevised Adventures

The Legion speak of their battle with The Blight in the 31st century and how it devastated the world of Winath.


The Bottom Line

Proof that there are few things worse than a Supergirl episode that is light on Supergirl. It's telling that the best moments of the episode are the ones that involved Melissa Benoist either playing against type as J'onn as Kara, her interactions with Brainiac-5 or her monologue on learning to be human.

That being said, this episode isn't all that bad and Brainiac 5 proves a welcome addition to the cast.  It's just irritating that the audience likely figured out the lesson Kara was meant to learn several episodes ago and it's blindingly obvious that Kara will defeat Reign by encouraging Samantha to remember her humanity and her daughter at some point before the end of the season. Taken for what it is, this episode is amusing enough if you ignore that none of the Legion members besides Brainiac-5 really do anything.

Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 3, Episode 6 - Midvale

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




Plot

Desperately in need of comfort following her broken engagement, Alex travels with Kara back to her hometown of Midvale. While there, Kara recalls the incident from their childhood which turned two strangers into sisters.


Influences

The TV series Riverdale (murder mystery in a small-town high-school setting), Smallville (teenager with superpowers in a small town dealing with mysterious events, mention of Chloe and the "Wall of Weird"), Nancy Drew novels (teenage girl detective adventures) and the movie Twilight (the visuals of Kara jumping through the woods)


Goofs

Even in a small-town high-school, it's unlikely that Kara and Alex would be in the same history class, given the two-year gap in their relative ages.

With long-lingering shots, the direction gives away the identity of the killer long before the audience has a chance to deduce it based on the clues offered.


Performances

Izabela Vidovic and Olivia Nikkanen do a phenomenal job as the younger versions of Kara and Alex.

It's a brief thing, but David Harewood gets a good quick moment of silent acting looking very broken up after he changes back to his Hank Henshaw form after talking to Kara as "Noel Neill". It really hits you in that moment how seriously, even back then, J'onn took his promise to look after Jeremiah Danvers' children. It's especially touching given that "Noel" said she couldn't imagine what it was like to lose your whole world in the same way Kara did when J'onn doesn't have to imagine it yet can't give Kara any comfort beyond a sympathetic ear.


Super Trivia

The episode title - Midvale - comes from the city where Alex and Kara grew up in The DCTVU.

In the DC Comics Universe, Midvale is a small suburb just outside of Metropolis. In the Silver Age, Midvale was the town Kara Zor-El settled in upon her arrival on Earth, where she lived in the Midvale Orphanage until she was adopted by The Danvers. Most of the Supergirl movie was set in Midvale as well, where Kara Zor-El attended the Midvale Boarding School.

The building used for the exterior shots of Midvale High in this episode - Templeton Secondary School in Vancouver - was also used to depict Smallville High on the series Smallville and is currently used to depict Riverdale High on the show Riverdale.

Mention is made of Lex Luthor being brought to justice by Superman for selling something called "Lexosuits.". In the classic comics, the power armor which Lex Luthor constructed in order to fight Superman physically was often called a Lexosuit as a play on exo-suit, which is used to refer to any form of powered exo-skeleton.

Mention is made of Superman wearing red underwear over his tights in this episode - a detail his costume lacked when we saw him during Supergirl's second season. This is, of course, a classic detail of Superman's original costume, mirroring the modesty garments worn by the circus strongmen Superman's classic costume was modeled on in the 1930s. The New 52 redesign of Superman's costume lost these trunks, opting instead for simple blue pants.

Kara's first friend as a teenager, Kenny Li, may be a double nod to the original Superman comics. In the comics, before being adopted by The Danvers family, Kara Zor-El used the alias "Linda Lee" while living at the Midvale Orphanage. Kenny Braveman was the name of a boy born on the same day that the rocket carrying baby Kal-El to Earth landed in Smallville. Kenny and Clark would become friends at a young age, rivals in high-school and Kenny would eventually become the villain Conduit in his efforts to prove himself Clark's better.

The sequence in which Kara jumps through the forests of Midvale seems to have been inspired by a similar sequence in the film adaptation of the book Twilight.

Kara makes reference to Clark having a friend named Chloe who loves weird tech stuff and has a "wall of weird". This is a nod to Chloe Sullivan - a character from the TV series Smallville.

The FBI agent who tries to scare Kara straight regarding using her powers gives her name as Noel Neill. This is the name of the actress who played Lois Lane in the 1948 Republic Superman serials and the 1952 television series Adventures of Superman. As a double-play on the reference, she is played by actress Erica Durance, who played Lois Lane on Smallville.


Technobabble

Kenny Li developed Galileo - a computer program that took images from his telescope and capture it as digital photographs on his laptop.


Dialogue Triumphs

Eliza: This is the mom fine print - when your child is in agony, you show up regardless the hour.

Eliza: You have the most wide-open heart in the world for other people. But when you feel weak, you punish yourself for it. You've had an awful year-
Kara: And I'm feeling a lot better. I promise.
Eliza: You don't have to be better. You're allowed to be a mess.
Kara: But too many people depend on me.
Eliza: That is a great excuse.

Kara; Do you want to talk about it? It might help.
Alex: (sighs) You don't get to do that.
Kara: What?
Alex: You don't get to shut down - what - for six months after Mon-El goes? And then, now, sit here, and you tell me to talk.
Kara: It will get better.
Alex: Yeah? Are you better?

Young Kara: I remember my parents! I remember Krypton! I remember being alone in that pod and not knowing if I was going to see anyone ever again! And then I landed here! And no one asked me if I wanted these powers. But I have them! And all I want to do is help people with what I've been given and no one will let me!

Sheriff Collins: You're real brave. Not even screaming. Not that anyone can hear you.
Young Alex: Someone's listening right now.
(Cut to Kara, flying at super-speed towards the high-school.)


Continuity

J'onn loans his spaceship/vintage car - last seen in 304 - to Alex and Kara for their trip.

Kara and Alex shared a room as teenagers.

Alex was in AP Math during her senior year.

Kryptonian children study calculus at the age of four.

Kara found math and science easy in school. She found history pointless.

Superman first brought Lex Luthor to justice sometime ten years earlier, because of Lex selling something called Lexosuits.

Alex was part of the cool crowd and hung out with the high-school quarterback.

Kara only had one friend in high-school - a nerdy kid named Kenny Li.

Kenny secretly tutored Alex in calculus.

Kenny stumbled across multiple crimes using his Galileo program. These included the quarterback smoking pot, a student (Josie, Alex's best friend) having an affair with a teacher (Mr. Bernard) and the Midvale sheriff (Sheriff Collins) taking bribes.

J'onn visited a young Kara in the guise of FBI Agent Noel Neill, modeling her on the appearance of Kara's mother.

Clark's friend, Chloe, helps Kara with getting the pictures off of Kenny's laptop.

Kara and Alex were given Kenny's telescope as a gift from Kenny's parents for finding his killer. It still is set up on the balcony at Eliza Danver's house.

Alex was outcast from the popular crowd after outing Josie's affair with a teacher and the quarterback's pot-smoking.

Kara discovered after the fact that Kenny had taken a picture of her flying but never shown it to anyone.


Location

The town of Midvale, ten years earlier.


The Bottom Line

Much better than most flash-back episodes and easily the best episode of Supergirl's third season. The actors playing young Alex and Kara are perfectly cast, truly looking and acting like younger versions of Chyler Leigh and Melissa Benoist. The actual mystery at the heart of the episode is blindingly obvious but the acting more than makes up for it.

Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 11 - The Martian Chronicles

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



Plot

Armek. a White Martian, arrives on Earth hunting M'gann. When the DEO takes her into protective custody, the team must play a dangerous game when Armek is revealed to have entered into the DEO base in disguise.


Influences

Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles (the title), Grant Morrison's JLA (the introduction of The White Martians and the character of Armek), the film The Thing (basic plot of being trapped in a military base with a shape-shifter, a similar test to determine who isn't a shape-shifter.) and Aliens (trapped with a monster plot, Alex and Winn sealed up in some kind of cocoon, a tough Hispanic female soldier named Vasquez)


Goofs

Granting how childish Kara has been acting lately in regards to Winn and James playing vigilante, the subplot of her getting fearful of being abandoned when Alex makes plans to be with Maggie on Kara's "Earth Birthday" really doesn't ring true.


Performances

Jeremy Jordan has a lot of good moments here - both as Winn and his brief turn as the shape-shifted White Martian.

Sharon Leal givers her finest performance to date as M'Gann, truly seeming like the kind of person who could defy the will of her species in order to save lives for the first time since her character was introduced.

It's a brief thing but there's some great non-verbal acting between Sharon Leal and David Harewood indicating a telepathic conversation between J'onn and M'Gann. We don't need to hear their voices. Their faces say it all.


Artistry

Good use of light and shifting camera angles in the first struggle between Armek and J'onn.

Nice special effects on the lamprey mouth of the shape-shifting "Alex".

The action sequence in which Kara, J'onn and M'Gann battle Armek and the other White Martian in the reactor is a fantastic scene with a good balance of effects work, fight choreography, editing and direction.

While the episode does a poor job of hiding its sources (There's a fine line between a tribute and a rip-off) the script does do a good job of justifying why certain measures can't be used to solve the White Martian mystery in ten seconds (i.e. Kara using her x-ray vision to track them, J'onn using his telepathy to screen for the traitor.)


Super Trivia

The episode title comes from a Ray Bradbury short-story collection detailing the colonization of Mars.

Armek was the name of a White Martian in Grant Morrison's JLA run. Armek was one of The Hyperclan - a group of White Martians who pretended to be a team of intergalactic saviors come to help the people of Earth improve their lives. Armek used his shape-shifting powers to disguise himself as a giant robot.

Armek makes a reference to H'ronmeer is the Martian God of Death. This is taken directly from the Martian Manhunter comics, where H'ronmeer is the Martian god of death, art and fire.

M'Gann makes reference to having left her husband 300 years earlier. While the exact amount of time differs from comic to comic, it is generally accepted that Martians in the DC Comics Universe are longer-lived than Earthlings. Some comics say Martians can live for hundreds of years. Others say they can live for millions of years,

The basic plot of this episode greatly resembles the film The Thing, with our heroes trapped in a military base with a hostile shape-shifting alien.

As in The Thing, a test is devised to determine who is or isn't a shape-shifter. In the case of The Thing, a blood test that saw the blood sample touched to a heated cooper wire since The Thing's survival instinct would cause even the smallest parts of it to avoid danger. In this episode, J'onn devises a test using an open flame that will force a White Martian to drop their disguise when their hand passes by the fire.

This test is also a nod to the original DC Comics, where fire depowered Martians - White or Green - in the same way that Kryptonite or the light of a red star depowered Kryptonians. The reasons for this weakness have changed repeatedly over the years, with the most generally accepted reason being that the Martian fear of fire is a psychological block caused by the instinctive fear of death, due to the Martian God of Death also being their god of Fire. One story claims this weakness was imposed upon The Martians by The Guardians of the Universe (the same race who created The Green Lantern Corps) so as to prevent the Martians from becoming a dangerous race of conquerors.

One of the DEO agents is a Hispanic woman named Vasquez. This may be a nod to a soldier character from the movie Aliens.

The DEO agent who squares off against Vasquez is named Demos (prounced Dee-moes). This could be a reference to Deimos - one of the two moons of Mars.

In the scene at Kara's apartment, Kara is seen wearing a t-shirt that reads "Power To The Girls". This could be a nod to Power Girl - the parallel Earth version of Supergirl in the comics.


Dialogue Triumphs

Kara: You understand I'm just worried about you?
Winn: Yeah, you don't have to worry about me.
Kara: You got beat up a few weeks ago! You could have been killed!
Winn: (not looking up from his monitor) Mmm-hmm.
Kara: I know James thinks he has a calling but you have to see how crazy this is, right?
Winn: (suddenly intense) Have you ever thought that maybe I have a calling too?!

J'onn: Almost there. How long until you disable the reactor?
Computer: Core breach in four minutes.
Winn: About four minutes?
J'onn: That's a good answer.
(The two round the corner and enter into the reactor room.)
Winn: Yeah, as long as I can focus, it should be easy.... Oh God!
(We cut to Winn's perspective as we see Supergirl and the White Martian fighting.)

(Armek rears up over a distracted J'onn. He is suddenly hit by a blue energy blast. J'onn turns around to see Alex, smiling as she enters the room.)
Alex: Have I mentioned how much I love my new gun?

J'onn: Thank you for saving me.
M'Gann: I should be thanking you. I've been on my own for so long and.... Though I had a mother,...she wasn't warm. That's not our way, but... she cared for me. I know she did. I'd forgotten that feeling until now. What it feels like to have a family... which is what makes this so hard.
(J'onn turns to her and raises an eyebrow expectantly.)
M'gann: I'm going back to Mars.
J'onn: Why?!
M'Gann: There must be other voices like mine. White Martians who have the desire and the capacity to change. Who don't want to be defined by the hatred of our kind... but just... need a push, to do the right thing!
J'onn: They could kill you as soon as you land!
M'Gann: Maybe. But if I don't try... They're never going to stop hunting me. You know that's true.
(J'onn slowly nods.)
M'gann: You've shown me what it is to stand up and fight. And that's exactly what I'm going to do. Please tell me you understand.
(J'onn says nothing. Not out loud. His face expresses his sorrow but also his acceptance. M'Gann looks sad as well but slowly nods and walks away.)


Continuity

Mon-El is still working as a bartender.

Mon-El and Kara discuss his confession of romantic feelings for her from 210.

Kara celebrates her birthday on the anniversary of the day she arrived on Earth. They usually have cupcakes.

Alex is a big fan of the band Barenaked Ladies.

Kara refers to the events of 209 and Winn's nearly dying when he tried confronting a mugger on his own.

K'onahr is the Martian word for wife.

Armek was M'gann's husband 300 years earlier. It was an arranged marriage.

Martians of both species - White and Green - are unable to maintain a shape-shifted disguise when in close proximity to a fire.

Martians need close, physical proximity - say within the same building - to the person they are impersonating when attempting a successful infiltration.

The DEO building's walls are lined with lead.

M'Gann leaves to return to Mars and seek out other White Martians with a conscience, like her.

When impersonating another person, the telepathic bond between the Martian and the target can go both ways. This results in the impersonated person having weak, dream-like memories of any conversations their doppelganger had.

Based on the final scene, Mon-El is dating Eve Teschmacher


The Bottom Line

A decent filler episode that does more the develop M'Gann as a character than any other story to date... only to write her out of the show. It's unclear just what the bond between her and J'onn is (romantic or familial) but things are left vague enough to satisfy fans of the characters from the comics and the possibility of romance at a later date. There's not a lot else going on beyond that.

Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 10 - We Can Be Heroes

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




Plot

Kara's attempts to train Mon-El in heroism go awry when - while trying to recapture an escaped Livewire - Mon-El puts rescuing Kara over protecting civilians. Meanwhile, M'gann suddenly goes into a coma and James debates revealing his secret identity as The Guardian to Kara.


Influences

Star Wars (the drones in the combat training sequence resemble the one Luke used for lightsaber training) and various classic Superman comics where Jimmy Olsen tried to be a hero over Superman's objections.


Goofs

How is James able to do "one more" crime scene after getting shot in the arm? I don't care how good Winn's armor-forging skills are - James' arm has got to be hurting a bit, even if the bullet (which ripped the Guardian suit) didn't break his skin.

Alex and Maggie are a little free about discussing Kara's secret identity at the crime scene. Presumably the DEO agents know about Alex's relationship with Supergirl but what about the staff at the jail who are in the vicinity?

Kara's feelings about Livewire aside, she does have a point - how the heck DID Livewire get transferred into a regular human prison? Granting the DEO's mission statement is to deal with alien threats, that didn't stop them from being called in to investigate when Livewire escaped.

Kara's telling James he has no business trying to be a hero seems a bit hypocritical given that - in last week's episode - she was rallying a bunch of ordinary humans to fight back against heavily armed alien slavers who seemed to be stronger than ordinary humans. And because Kara walked into a slaver's camp without any superpowers because it was the right thing to do. And because Kara works with several ordinary humans - her sister among them - who routinely go after alien menaces and criminals. (It's likely Kara's objections come from her repressed love for James and not wanting to see him hurt.)

The slow-motion fight between the Livewire knock-offs and our heroes looks silly as all get-out.

For that matter, why are the Livewire knock-offs just running around punching everyone instead of electrocuting them?


Performances

The chemistry between Melissa Benosit and Chris Wood continues to impress.

Mehcad Brooks gives a powerful performance when James stands up to Supergirl.

The strongest performance of the episode, however, goes to David Harewood as J'onn confronts his own prejudices to try and be a better person and - in doing so - proves himself a hero, though that is the last thing on his mind.


Artistry

Good effects work and direction on the sequences where J'onn goes into M'Gann's mind.

A solid script with a lot of great character moments.


Super Trivia

The episode title comes from a lyric in the David Bowie song, Heroes.

The yellow-tinted sunglasses Mon-El wears as part of his costume resemble those worn by the 1990s Superboy.

Lisa Gold - the female Livewire knock-off was played by actress, stuntwoman, American Ninja Warrior champion and fanatical Supergirl fan Jessie Graff.


Technobabble

Alex checks for the heat signature of an invisible being when watching the security tapes of M'gann's cell.

Martian biology is usually intertwined with psychic phenomena. This means that a telepathic attack can bring about brain death in a Martian, despite the body being in otherwise perfect physical condition.

Winn claims to have trouble billineating Livewire's energy from other wavelengths when asked to track her.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Kara and Mon-El have just finished a round in the DEO combat simulation room.)
Kara: Uh - Mon-El?
Mon-El: Yeah?
(Kara points to one of the cardboard cut-out civilians - a little girl whose head was knocked off.)
Mon-El: Mistakes were made. But it's our fewest cardboard fatalities yet!

Livewire: Do you know what power is, Freud? It's the feeling of somebody's life in your hands. Every atom in you just burns electric. It's like kissing a frayed wire. You know what that power makes me? A bad guy? Evil? It makes me a god!

Winn: (in the style of a professional wrestling announcer) Lady and gentlemen, the one, the only Livewire! Who knows what havoc she will wreak when she resurfaces?! Maybe she'll turn all of her girlfriends evil again?! I don't know! We're talking about full on rats in the attic here, people! Except the rats are electrified and the attic is on fire! Behold, ye mighty, and despair!

(Alex is asking J'onn to use his telepathy to see what is going on in M'gann's head.)
Alex: You have shown them mercy before-
J'onn: Not this! I will not give her my people's memories. I will not give her my daughter's smiles! Her kind has taken enough from me. From us! If she dies, she dies. She deserves it a thousand times over! Let her drown in her own sins!

(Kara walks into the med bay. She walks to the far side of the room before turning to face James, Winn, Alex and Mon-El.)
Kara: It's a cool suit.
(James just looks at her.)
Kara: (To Winn) Yours?
(Winn nods silently.)
James: ... I was... going to tell you.
Winn: I told him to tell you last night.
Alex: I told you both weeks ago.
Kara: You all knew?!
Mon-El: Um, I didn't! I thought James was a professionally handsome desk person.

Kara: I am calm. I am going to listen to you. I owe you that much. But you need to tell me why.
James: Because that thing that you feel...that thing that makes you want to make everything better? I feel that too. And I always have. And I have tried so many different ways in my life to help people. Whether it's career or friendship. But it's just not enough. But this is. Now, look... I was never meant to be in Superman's shadow. Or yours. I am more me as Guardian than I've ever felt as James Olsen. Kara, we are the same-
Kara: No. We are not the same. You are a human. You are going to get yourself killed. One mistake - one human error - and you're gone! That's it! You don't get a strike, James! Not like me! Not like-
James: Mon-El?
Kara: Yes!
James: Are you serious?! You saw him! He left civilians unprotected at that fight, which I had to go back for!
Kara: Mon-El is still learning-
James: At what cost, Kara?!  There was a cop that took a lighting bolt because "Mon-El is still learning." Okay?! He cares about himself, he cares about you and that's what he fights for!
Kara: He can change! You can't! You are never going to be strong enough for this!
James: (cooly) You do not get to decide who is a hero. And who are you to tell me how to be? Or who to be? I am meant for this.
Kara: If you don't stop, I'll stop you.
James: You're welcome to try.

J'onn: Hate becomes your reason for living when you've lost everything that you love. If I find that there was some good in their kind... I don't hate her.
Alex: Forgiveness isn't something that you give to somebody who has hurt you. Forgiveness is something you give to yourself.

(Mon-El dashes through a window at super-speed and knocks down the two Livewire knock-offs.)
Livewire: Who the hell are you supposed to be?
Mon-El: Uh. The other Superman... in training.
Livewire: Your cosplay sucks.
Mon-El: .. that's not nice.

(And finally - possibly the most meta moment in the series to date.)
James: I don't want to be the guy at the office anymore.
Winn: Yeah, and I don't want to just be stuck behind a computer.


Dialogue Disasters

Livewire: This is copyright infringement, asshat. I'm going to sue you. And then... I'm going to murder you.
Mad Scientist: Such a nasty woman.


Continuity

The Guardian suit is not entirely bulletproof.

M'gann was last seen in 207.

M'gann is kept in Containment Cell 19.

M'gann is capable of emitting a yell that can break reinforced glass.

Livewire last appeared in 118.

Maggie Sawyer is a vegan.

The female inmate who esacped with Livewire is named Lisa Gold.

Livewire's profile with the DEO describes the events of her previous appearances, notes her affiliation with Silver Banshee and the fact that water shorts out her powers.

Kara considers Livewire to be her nemesis.

Kara discovers James' secret identity after he is knocked out while saving a police officer from a stray electrical blast that Mon-El accidentally redirected at the cop.

Alex refers to the events of 206 and M'Gann donating her blood to save J'onn despite knowing it would reveal her secret identity as a White Martian.

Kara refers to Mon-El kissing her while delirious in 208.

Livewire is still at large as the episode ends.

J'onn frees M'gann.

M'gann says the rest of the White Martian race are still alive and they now know where she is.


The Bottom Line

A surprisingly solid hour of entertainment despite its flaws. The villains are strictly one note, with half of them not having names and Brit Morgan phoning it in as Livewire this time around. The script does Kara a disservice, making her suddenly dismissive of James' ability to be a hero despite her working alongside other ordinary human DEO agents and trying to be a hero without powers herself in last week's episode! And yet, the ensemble cast make all of this work and the good bits of the show - particularly the bits with J'onn and James' standing up to Kara - knock it out of the park.