Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 1, Episode 20 - Better Angels

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



Plot

Non has revealed his secret weapon - a mind-controlled Alex Danvers, empowered by Kryptonite-powrered armor and the sword that killed Astra. Even if Kara can defeat her sister without killing her, can she still save the world from her uncle's invasion?


Influences

Grant Morrison's JLA: New World Order (Superman gives an inspiring speech to break the control of alien invaders) and Superman: New Krypton (the central plot of evil Kryptonians attempting to take over then destroy Earth), Superman 2 (The Champagne Trick), Supergirl: The Movie (reference is made to The Omegahedron) and William Shakespeare's Macbeth (Indigo's relationship to Non mirrors that of Lady Macbeth to her husband.)


Goofs

Apart from giving Helen Slater a chance to be the hero talking Alex down from killing Kara, is there any logical reason a dying J'onn would fly to Midvale to retrieve Dr. Danvers and fly back to National City, shielding her mind, rather than using his dwindling time and powers to break through the control on Alex's mind directly?

For that matter, how the heck did J'onn know Non was going to pit Kara and Alex against each other so that he could go get Dr. Danvers in the first place?

How can General Lane order J'onn to be arrested over Lucy's objections? Previous episodes established the US Army has no authority over the DEO - hence why Lane had to take it over through an executive order.

Why isn't Alex arrested along with J'onn? Isn't she still facing whatever charges were going to see her sent to Cadmus along with J'onn?

Shouldn't somebody besides Maxwell Lord have thought to keep monitoring the same broadcast bands used by Myriad after the fact?  Maybe a certain paranoid general whose equally paranoid daughter is now running the DEO?

Non isn't much better than General Lane, having his entire army of super-powered aliens put themselves into their sleeping pods. Granting he's an arrogant ass, you'd think he'd have a few more minions on-hand so he and Indigo aren't doing all the work launching Fort Rozz back into orbit. But then we wouldn't have had a marginally more fair two-on-two fight between Non and Indigo vs. J'onn and Kara.

The scenes of people suffering from the insane headaches generated by Myriad are painfully hammy.

The CGI for the fight between J'onn/Indigo and Non/Kara is not up to the usual standard.


Performances

I defy you to watch  Melissa Benoist's speech tot he people of National City and not be inspired. That is Supergirl, in one scene. Actually, all of Benoist's scenes as she says her goodbyes to the rest of the cast are great moments for her as an actress. But that opening speech says everything that needs to be said.


Artistry

The montage of people waking up as Supergirl gives her speech is well edited and directed.


Super Trivia

At one point, Maxwell Lord says that he usually loves a good Countdown "but this is bad."  This may be a nod to Countdown To Infinite Crisis - the story-line in the comics which turned Maxwell Lord into a card-carrying villain. It is not well regarded by most fans of the character.

Kara identifies the device being used to power The Myriad Wave as an Omegahedron. She says they were used as power sources on Krypton. Just one is capable of providing the energy to run an entire city.

The idea of Omegahedrons and Alphahedrons were first introduced in Supergirl: The Movie, where the Omegahedron was the Macguffin that Kara Zor-El traveled to Earth to recover.

Writer Sterling Gates introduced Alphahedron power sources into the comic-book lore during his run on the Supergirl comic.

The question of whether or not Kryptonians can survive in space is an open one.  Before Crisis On Infinite Earths, they could.  Afterward, they could manage short trips between planets but still had to make arrangements for breathing. At one point Superman learned a technique of recycling the air inside of his body from another alien, and from that point on he was able to survive indefinitely in a vacuum, so long as he remained conscious.

The general consensus in the modern age is that Kryptonians can survive the cold and pressure of a vacuum just fine but are unable to breathe. This is why you'll see Superman wearing a breathing mask without a space-suit or see Supergirl take a deep breath before flying into space.

It appears that, in the DCTVU reality, Kryptonians have no special protection from the dangers of outer space.


Technobabble

Myriad works by shutting down the connection between the amygdala and rostral anterior cingulate cortex - the parts of the brain that give rise to optimism and hope.

The frequency of Myriad penetrates neural tissue.

With the Kryptonian mind-control plot thwarted, the Myriad Wave is amplified ten-fold and is increasing exponentially by "terahertz jumps". Once the wave reaches its full potential after the frequency is increased, the electromagnetic energy will create enough pressure to make the heads of every person on Earth explode. Max Lord likens this to using an Uzi to kill a mosquito.

 The Omegahedron is a Kryptonian power source, capable of producing the energy to power a whole city.


Dialogue Triumphs

Supergirl: People of National City. This is Supergirl, and uh - I hope you can hear me. We have been attacked. Mothers and fathers, friends and neighbors, children, everyone. Suddenly stopped by a force of evil as great as this world has ever known. Your attacker has sought to take your free will. Your individuality. Your spirit. Everything that makes you who you are. When facing an attack like this, it's easy to feel hopeless. We retreat. We lose our strength. We lose ourselves. I know. I lost... everything when I was young. When I first landed on this planet, I was sad and alone. But I found out... that there is so much love in this world, out there for taking. And you - the people of National City - you helped me. You let me be who I'm mean to be.
(Cut to Winn, at the CatCo offices, who snaps awake as he has visions of helping Kara become Supergirl. He gets up and begins walking to James' office.)
Supergirl: You gave me back to myself. You made me stronger than I ever thought possible. And I love you for that.
(Cut to James, in his office, as he begins to wake up and remember his being with Kara. He looks up and sees Winn standing in his doorway.)
Supergirl: Now, in each and every one of you, there is a light - a spirit - that can't be snuffed out. That won't give up!
(Cut to Lucy Lane at the DEO HQ, just starting to wake up.)
Supergirl: I need your help again. I need you... to hope. Hope. That you can remember that you can all be heroes. Hope. That when faced with an enemy determined to destroy your spirit, you will fight back and thrive! Hope. That those who once may have shunned you will, in a moment of crisis, come to your aid. Hope. That you will see again the faces of those you love. And perhaps even those you have lost.
(Supergirl thinks of her mother and the necklace she was given the last time she saw her.)

Max Lord: Finding them will be the easy part. Defeating them with only you? That's our problem.
Supergirl: And to think I'd thought you'd learned by now - I can handle anything!
Max Lord: I'm not trying to be an ass. I know you can handle anything. But I'm actually worried. And if the others were thinking straight, they'd be worried too. You have no back-up. Your sidekick, J'onn J'onzz, is injured. The DEO's resources have been depleted from the prison break.And even if they weren't, no human can go out there! Their heads would explode if they got too close to the source. If you go out there and fight, you might win. But chances are this is a suicide mission.
Supergirl: You know I'll never stop trying.
Max Lord: Believe me - no one's rooting for you more than I am. I just want you to know what you're facing. So that you're prepared.
Supergirl: I WILL stop Non and Indigo.
Max Lord: Good.

J'onn: If there's one thing I've learned in my lifetimes, it's that leaders are stronger working together. From now on we're all on the same team. No more secrets.
(Cut to General Lane giving a briefcase to Maxwell Lord. Lord opens it to find The Omegahedron.)
J'onn: Secrets protect no one. They only undermine what we're striving to accomplish. Peace. And even though we have defeated Non and Myriad, evil still persists.And there are ever more dangers that we face. Our enemies remain at home, abroad and in the skies beyond our world.


Continuity

The montage of Winn helping Kara shows numerous scenes from The Pilot.

James refers to his and Kara kissing back in 118.

Fort Rozz crashed some 500 miles northeast of National City in the Nevada desert. This would place National City somewhere in southern California, approximately where Los Angeles is in our world. The US Army concealed it from the world using the space-station's own stealth technology.

J'onn rips Indigo in half. This seems to kill her, but not before she locks Fort Rozz's computers so it cannot be made to fly nor can The Myriad Wave be shut off.

Kara seems to blind Non with her heat-vision.

Kara tells Alex to tell Jeremiah that she never stopped wearing the glasses, in reference to 117.

Kara is able to lift Fort Rozz away from Earth. Alex is able to save her using her pod.

J'onn is given a full pardon by The President and made head of the DEO.  He decides to share the duties of running the DEO with Lucy Lane.

General Lane is seen giving the burned-out Omegahedron to Max Lord.

Cat Grant promotes Kara to a position to be named later, with a private office.

Kara and James kiss again, romance apparently on the table between them again.

Kara and J'onn find a crashing space-vehicle exactly like Kara's pod. The episode ends as Kara opens the pod and looks inside, astonished at what she sees.


Location

Fort Rozz - Somewhere in the Nevada desert.


The Kryptonite Factor

Granting that the show has played fast and loose with J'onn J'onzz's power levels on this show relative to what he's capable of in the comics (despite Superman apparently saying that J'onn is the most powerful being on the planet!), J'onn seems severely nerfed in this episode... even granting that he's walking-wounded and not at his best helping Kara fight Non and Indigo.

Again, Kara being unable to survive outside of Earth's atmosphere seems a rather drastic cut in her power levels, given what Kryptonians are normally capable of surviving in 95% of their portrayals across most media.


The Bottom Line

A pretty sad conclusion to the season, all things considered. You can tell the special effects budget ran out during the final fight. The script is full of logic holes and redundancies (Max Lord has to explain how their heads are going to blow up twice!) and most of the supporting cast has nothing to d for most of the episode. The only reason any of it works at all is because of the charisma of Melissa Benoist, who - like Supergirl carrying Fort Rozz - carries the episode single-handed.  Here's hoping we see a second season and that things get better from here.

Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 1, Episode 19 - Myriad

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


Plot

Myriad has been revealed and activated. With the assistance of Indigo, Non has telepathically taken control of the people of National City. With J'onn and Alex missing and the DEO and Superman under Non's control, Kara will have to form an uneasy alliance with Cat Grant and Maxwell Lord to save the world!


Influences

The Superman comics of Roger Stern (presence of Maxima), Superman 2 (Non makes reference to the infamous "Kneel before me, son of Jor-El" line), Hamlet (Like Hamlet, Kara is torn between indecision regarding action and inaction), Macbeth (Indigo plays Lady Macbeth to Non's Macbeth, encouraging his ambition and pushing him to greater depravity), the Doctor Who episode School Reunion (aliens using humans linked together through an electronic hive-mind to calculate solutions to major problems) and numerous Superman stories where a telepathic villain uses the masses to limit the hero's ability to act directly.


Goofs

Given that Myriad is dependent on a global satellite system for operation, why is it limited to affecting National City when it was originally designed to act on a global level - apart from Non/Indigo wanting to make Kara suffer?

For that matter, since Myriad was originally designed to work on Kryptonians, why does it only affect humans now?

Apart from the need for an early action sequence to make up for all the talkie-bits in this episode, why is Maxima released from her cell manually by Lucy and the other DEO Agents two minutes before all of them will be released at once?

So smashing a console in the DEO command center automatically cancels the "release all prisoners" command. Good to know!

Has The Fortress of Solitude had a hologram of Allura all this time?

Kara reaches for her phone before we hear the sound effect that she got a text. She also changes positions between her reaching for her phone and the cut where we see her holding it.

For that matter, where does Kara keep her phone in her Supergirl costume? It doesn't have pockets!

The sacrifice of Kelly really doesn't work too well, since I'm almost certain we've never seen the redhead office employee before this episode (Actually, a check if IMDB confirms we've seen the actress as "Editor", "Woman" and "Employee #1", so we may have seen her in the background even if she was never named.) Even so, her death is nowhere near as traumatic as Winn or James dying would have been.

It's been a major part of Maxwell Lord's character that he doesn't trust the government. So why doe she contact General Lane to get permission to try and use his Kryptonite bomb?  This is particularly vexing since Max says, not two minutes later, that he does what he does the way he does so that he can help people without having to ask permission!


Performances

Former WWE Diva Eve Torres has a brief role as Maxima but she brings the character from the comics to life effectively. A shame the DCTVU version seems to be an outright villain rather than a misguided but noble warrior. What we see here offers hope that Torres might play the character well as an ally of Supergirl, akin to the relationship between the two in the New 52 Supergirl series.

Helen Slater and David Harewood have a touching scene together, as Eliza Danvers first tries to learn of her husband's death from the one other person who was there... and then the scientist in her begins asking questions about Martian physiology.

As utterly campy as Laura Vandervoort is as Indigo, it fits the larger-than-life tone this story should have. At the very least, her scenery-chewing is more entertaining than Chris Vance's understated performance as Non.

The same goes for Peter Facinelli, as Maxwell Lord opposite Calista Flochart's cool facade Cat Grant. Facinelli's animated performance distracts away from the fact that most of this episode is people standing around talking yet he still manages some honest pathos when Max talks about tragic past.

The bit in which Cat describes how Supergirl changed her is perhaps the best bit of acting Calista Flockhart has ever done in anything.


Artistry

The fight scene with Maxima is well-staged.


Super Trivia

The name Myriad has been used in connection to the Superman mythos before. Superman Annual #5 introduced a new character called Myriad. The annual was part of the Bloodlines event, which was meant to introduce several new heroes in the DC Comics Universe. It was something of a flop and most of the characters introduced never appeared again. Myriad was no exception to this.

Myriad was a woman named Sasha Green, who had been employed as Lex Luthor's physical trainer. He had her killed after she "showed him up" in public and her body was hidden in a garbage dump. It was found years later by an alien parasite, whose bite brought Green back to life and activated her metagene.

Myriad had the powers of shape-shifting and telepathy, able to read minds, control them and even absorb them into herself. This gave her the ability to become anyone she touched and retain their skills, becoming a "myriad" of people. When she did this, however, it caused great pain which could only be eased by telepathically ordering the person she connected to to kill themselves. She also gained amnesia every time she killed someone in this way.

The only connection between the DC Comics Myriad and the Myriad of the DCTVU seem to be the mind-control aspect. There is no single person known as Myriad.

In the original DC Comics, Maxima was the warrior queen of the planet Almerac. She came to Earth seeking Superman as a consort, needing a worthy male to produce an heir to her throne. She would become both friend and foe to Superman, occasionally turning upon him when he rebuffed her advances but also acting as a noble ally against Brainiac and Doomsday. She even joined The Justice League for a time and sacrificed herself to save Earth during The Imperix Invasion.

In the comics, Maxima was not quite as powerful as Superman though she had a wider variety of super powers. In addition to super-strength, super-speed, invulnerability and flight, she had telepathic and telekinetic abilities that allowed her to control minds and generate force-fields.

The DCTVU version of Maxima apparently never gained the chance at redemption that the comics version did, being a prisoner of the DEO. Unlike the other DEO prisoners we've seen so far, Maxima is not a Fort Rozz escapee and was apparently imprisoned by Superman following her violent attempts to woo him.

The disguised Alex and J'onn are stopped 30 miles outside of Midvale. 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.

Cat Grant makes reference to getting a call from Harrison Ford, asking Kara to tell him that she doesn't date older men - particularly ones that are married.  Calista Flockhart, who plays Cat Grant, has been married to Harrison Ford since 2010 and is somewhat younger than him.

At one point, Max sarcastically mocks the idea of mind control being the solution to global warming. This is a bit of a riff on the comics, where Maxwell Lord did have mind control powers and did attempt to use them to bring about a more organized world.

Non name-drops Metropolis, Opal City and Central City as his next targets. In the comics, these are the homes of Superman, Starman and The Flash respectively. Of course we know there's no Flash on whatever Earth Supergirl is set on.

J'onn is showing phasing through Indigo to attack her from behind. Intangibility is another power Martians have in the comics.


Technobabble

Maxwell Lord is able to protect himself and Cat Grant from Myriad through the use of ion blockers. In Max's case, he installed it into a Bluetooth headset. In Cat's case, Max worked the ion blockers into the diamonds in a set of earrings he sent her as a gift.

Non is using Lord Technologies' LTE interface system and satellites to power Myriad, using the satellites to send neural signals directly into the minds of everyone in National City.

Max theorizes that the reason Myriad works on Superman but not Supergirl comes down to nature versus nurture. Having been raised by humans, Superman thinks more like a human and thus is susceptible to Myriad's influence.

Eliza Danvers asks J'onn if his shape-shifting is due to an enzyme or some other chemical catalyst his body secrets in order to reorganize his DNA. She also asks how he adjusts for the change in body density and how his respiratory system is able to process the increased oxygen and nitrogen present in Earth's atmosphere.

Max devises a Kryptonite dust bomb that will kill every Kryptonian in National City as well as 8% of the 4 million humans living in the city, due to the concussive force needed to scatter the dust. This will also make the city uninhabitable to Superman and Supergirl for fifty years.

Maxwell Lord figures that they cannot stop Myriad's signal but they can piggyback off of it.  Using the broadcast technology at an old UHF station Cat Grant owns, they can transmit a signal that calibrates with the frequency of Myriad without leaving any on-line fingerprints since the signal is analog rather than digital. Their signal will ride the wave without leaving anything that can be tracked by Indigo.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Having just been told by Kelex that he's forbidden to speak of Myriad)
Kara: You were designed to obey the members of the honorable House of El. And to preserve the memory of Krypton wherever it went. If you don't override your orders, Myriad will destroy the House of El! And the memory of Krypton will be lost forever! You will have failed in your prime directive! Please!
(Kelex flies off, his head dipped in apparent sadness.)
Kara: Please! (turning around and shouting to the ceiling) I just need someone to help me!
Voice: Hello, Kara.
(Kara turns around to see a hologram of Alura - her mother.)

(Cat Grant walks into work, seemingly unaffected by Myriad.)
Supergirl: You're not a mindless drone!
Cat: Uh, no. I learned that lesson when Demi Moore and I wore the same dress to the premiere of Ghosts. Never again.
Supergirl: Miss Grant, listen to me. Everyone in the city is affected by this alien signal. They're acting like automatons. Haven't you noticed?!
Cat: (looking up from her phone for the first time since entering the room) Hmm. Well, yes, they ARE a bit more quiet than usual. Maybe my reign of terror has finally reached its peaked effectiveness?
(There is a soft ting noise as Kara reaches for her phone.)
Cat: Ah. You do have a cell phone. Can I get that number, please?
Supergirl: It's Superman!
Cat: Oh? Can I get his number as well?

(Indigo walks in on Non admiring a hologram of National City)
Indigo: When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer. (pauses) Need a tissue?

Non: The human race finally has a chance to live. Or it would suffer the same fate as Krypton. And the same thing is happening on Earth, with a populace more interested in reality stars and political circuses than working together to solve the world problems.
Max: So mind-control is the answer to global warming? (clicking his tongue) Why didn't I think of that?!

Eliza: So... Mars. I have to ask. Underneath it all are you a little green man?
J'onn: (chuckling) I'm a big green man, actually.

General Sam Lane: May God have mercy on our souls.
Max: If there was a god, General, I'm sure she wouldn't have put us in this mess in the first place.

(Max has just told Supergirl about his parent's death and how it inspired him.)
Max: I swore from that moment on that if I could protect people, if I could save them, I wouldn't wait for permission. I would act. Just like you do every time you jump out a window and save the day. We act, you and I. We're more alike than you think.
Supergirl: I hope not.

Non: I am the Lord of Earth.
Indigo: You could be the Lord of the Universe! Don't you realize what you have? You've created a force that could take over the galaxy! A vast army that exists only to do your bidding! You want to take one planet and turn it into your fiefdom, when you have an entire universe crying out to be ruled by you! To worship you as I do.

Supergirl: My mother was faced with this decision on Krypton. To act or do nothing. And she chose wrong. I love her but she didn't save Krypton like she promised. And my planet died. My culture. My home. My parents. Everything was just wiped from the stars. How can I let that happen again?

Cat: I know you're scared. I am too. But so is Max. And so is Non, for that matter. All of you are letting your fear guide you but somebody has to find the courage to stand up even though they're afraid. You know the worst decisions I've ever made in my life were based on fear? But you showed me that there was another way to be strong. By having faith in people. By believing that goodness will prevail. And because of you, I started letting people in. (laughs) I even opened myself up to my assistant Kiera, who helped me to have a relationship with my son again. Now, I can't tell you what to do Supergirl, but if you have taught me anything, you have taught me that hope is stronger than fear. (laughs) And that is what I think of every time I look at that (points to the House of El symbol on Supergirl's chest)  You changed me. And I am not easy to change. And I believe that you can change everyone out there. Not with violence. Not with fear. Just be Supergirl. That's all anyone's ever needed from you.

Indigo: There was only a 25.6% chance that you would turn up. Once again defying the odds! Just like that time your people perished and you alone survived. Impressive. But the humans might call that lucky.
(Suddenly, J'onn phases through Indigo and punches her in the back, knocking her to the ground.)
J'onn: It has nothing to do with luck!

(Supergirl and Cat confront Max as he finished up his Kryptonite bomb)
Supergirl You hated me for months because you thought I'd use my power indiscriminately, kill people with no regard for their lives. That is exactly the choice you're making with this bomb.
Cat: Please tell me you've had enough analysis to know that she's right?  
Supergirl: You were afraid of me. Then afraid of Non. I understand that fear but we cannot let it drive our actions. Make another choice that honors your parents. And mine.
Max: (sighs) I'm listening.

Cat: I have one question for you, Max.
Max: Shoot.
Cat: The earrings. How did you know that I would wear them?
Max: I didn't. (he pauses and smiles) I guess... I just had hope.


Dialogue Disasters

Max: Didn't seem right for the world to lose Cat Grant's mind.

Non: The son of Jor-El has already knelt before me. Soon you will too.


Continuity

The Khund bank-robber from 116 is seen among the alien prisoners in the DEO base.

The Fortress of Solitude is seen for the first time since 115, as is Indigo.

Myriad was designed by Astra Zor-El in response to the inaction of Kryptonian politicians regarding the imminent destruction of Krypton. It's purpose was to force everyone to her way of thinking through the use of advanced technology.

Astra's attempt to activate it was what resulted in her and Non being sentenced to exile in The Phantom Zone. This was because Myriad, once activated, could not be stopped and The High Council feared what might happen if knowledge of such technology existing were made available to the galaxy at large. This is revealed through a flashback to the flashback showing the conversation between Astra and Allura from 109.

General Sam Lane is seen for the first time since 109.

Maxwell Lord refers to the Kryptonians burglarizing his lab in 108.

Max Lord is an atheist.

Kara refers to Maxwell Lord telling Alex about how his parents died in 105. He further reveals that he tried to warn his parents and the CDC about the faulty HAZMAT suits that killed them but that they didn't believe him. This spurred Maxwell Lord to try and use his fortune to help people independently as well as his distrust of people in general and the government in particular.

J'onn is able to use his telepathy to protect Alex from Myriad.

J'onn is seemingly killed by Indigo.

The episode ends with Alex, decked out in Kryptonite power armor and wielding the same Kryponite sword that killed Astra, fully under Myriad's control and ready to kill Supergirl.


Location

The Fortress of Solitude.
30 miles outside of Midvale.
The Danvers house in Midvale


The Bottom Line

It's cheesy as all get out, the plot makes no logical sense and the overacting and underacting war with each other in a way not seen since Thora Birch acted opposite Jeremy Irons in the Dungeons and Dragons movie. And yet, somehow, this episode works in spite of it all.

Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 1, Episode 15 - Solitude

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




Plot

With Kara unwilling to work with the DEO in the wake of her aunt's death and Winn drafted by them to help fight a dangerous alien hacker with technopathic abilities, Kara and James must journey to the Fortress of Solitude to see answers on how to fight the creature known as Indigo. But will their working together strike the final blow to James' relationship with Lucy Lane?


Influences

The Outsiders comics of Judd Winick (the character of Indigo/Brainiac 8), All-Star Superman (the key to the Fortress of Solitude being made of a heavy material only Superman or another Kryptonian could lift), The X-Men movies (Indigo's appearance here bares more resemblance to the make-up design for Mystique than her appearance in the original comics) and Superman: The Movie (the interior design of The Fortress of Solitude and the sequence in which Kara must race to stop a missile is a tribute to Superman doing the same thing in the movie).


Goofs

Granting that hypocrisy from Cat Grant is hardly unusual and that - given the events of 108 she would feel some sympathy for the victims of a hacker making private information public - it still seems odd that Cat was preaching the importance of always reporting the truth to James last week yet this week she's throwing out a gift-wrapped list of powerful people who make use of a website catering to married people who wish to cheat on their spouses because nobody will care about the scandal!


Performances

Jeremy Jordan has suffered a lot on this show, particularly in recent episodes. It almost seemed like the writers weren't sure to do with Winn now that he can no longer pine after Kara .  This episode proves a welcome change, as Winn gets to not only save the day by being a more capable hacker than anyone else at the DEO but he gets a nice little subplot where he tries to be nice to evil queen in training Siobhan Smythe.

Laura Vandervoort's performance as Indigo is interesting, to put it mildly. There's a cattiness to the performance that doesn't fit what I was expecting when I heard what character she was playing... and  yet I rather like the idea of a rogue Brainiac in a female robot body playing the femme fatale instead of the usual cool, dispassionate Coluan. It's a little cheesy but it's fun.

The scene in which Alex confesses to killing Astra and J'onn lying to cover for her ends with some wonderful non-verbal acting on the part of Melissa Benoist and David Harewood, as Kara just hugs Alex, J'onn tries to leave the room to give them some privacy and Kara just reaches out and grabs his arm before taking his hand and squeezing it. It's a wonderful yet silent acknowledgement of the relationship between the three.

Once again, the best scenes of the episode are any scene in which Melissa Benoist and Mehcad Brooks get to play off each other. The two have a great natural chemistry and it is a real treat seeing them at work.


Artistry

The script this week is unusually smart, answering all the logical questions this show usually glosses over as I ask them, such as why Jimmy Olsen knows more about The Fortress of Solitude than Supergirl does.

The final action sequence - with Kara trying to bring down the rocket charging toward National City - is easily the best the show has seen to date.


Super Trivia

The symbol seen on the screen of Kara's rocket when it reawakens in The Phantom Zone - three circles forming a point-down equilateral triangle - is the symbol of Brainiac in the comics.  Indigo later refers to this symbol as the sign of her people - the font of omniscient knowledge.

The truck which nearly hits the car that Supergirl saves has a license plate which reads PLASTINO. This is a nod to artist Al Plastino, who not only co-created Supergirl but also co-created Brainiac.

James offers to take Lucy out to dinner at Noonan's so they can have some time alone together outside of work. This may be an ironic nod to Noonan's Sleazy Bar - the favorite watering hole of super-powered assassin Tommy "Hitman" Monaghan in the comic Hitman.

In the comics, Indigo first appeared in the Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #1 special. Created in an uncertain future era, she traveled back in time to the early 21st century and arrived severely damaged. She attempted to heal herself by bonding with other electronic life-forms, causing tremendous damage in the process and indirectly killing two Titans. Once it was determined that she was no longer dangerous, she was later adopted into the new Outsiders team, formed by Nightwing and Arsenal.

It was later revealed that Indigo was really Brainiac 8 - the granddaughter of the future Brainiac 6 and that her sweet, innocent personality was a cover for a murderous android akin to the other Brainiacs. She was destroyed, resurrected again later as part of Superboy Prime's Legion of Doom, and destroyed again.

The DCTVU version of Indigo was once known as Brainiac 8 and was once linked to The Great Colun Cyber Construct. She was a descendant of the Brainiac clan. She was captured while trying to shut down Krypton's planetary defense system in order to kill everyone on the planet. She was also considered the most dangerous criminal ever sent to Fort Rozz.

Laura Vandervoort, the actress who plays Indigo, played Supergirl on Smallville.

Indigo's species is identified as Coluan - a highly intelligent, blue-skinned race from the planet Colu. They severed as super-computers on Krypton, responsible for running day to day operations.

In the comics, Coluans are a highly-intelligent green-skinned race from the planet Colu. Though considered cool and machine-like by other species, they are not a mechanical race.

The key to The Fortress of Solitude is made of a million tons of condensed dwarf star and is so heavy that only Superman and a few other select beings - including Supergirl - are capable of lifting it. This is a nod to the mini-series All-Star Superman, where Superman replaced the original key - a gigantic arrow disguised as a directional marker - with one made of dwarf star material.

The DCTVU version of the key is a compromise between the two designs from the comics. It doesn't look like a normal house key, unlike the version from All-Star Superman. Instead, it is an rod-shaped device, not unlike an over-sized arrow, with the House of El symbol engraved on one side.

The Fortress interior contains a statue of two figures holding a globe. The globe is Krypton and the two figures are Superman's parents, Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van.

There are a number of display cases inside the main room of The Fortress. One of them contains the rocket which brought Superman to Earth.

Another display case contains a Legion Flight Ring - the rings used to denote membership in the 30th Century superhero team The Legion of Superheroes, of which Superman was a member in the comics when he traveled forward in time as Superboy.

Kara identifies the robotic helper in The Fortress of Solitude as Kelex. This was also the name of the robotic butler who tended to The Fortress in John Byrne's Man of Steel mini-series.


Technobabble

Winn determines that Indigo created an oscillating variable matrix to cover her footprints.

Winn creates an inversion pathway to track Indigo down.

Winn knows more about Python 6 malware encryption than anyone at the DEO.

According to James, the key to the Fortress of Solitude is made of a million tons of condensed dwarf star.


Dialogue Triumphs

Alex: Kara, Hank was only doing his duty, okay? Protecting the planet, just like you do, every day!
Kara: I don't kill.
Alex: But soldiers do. When they have to. And Hank had to.

J'onn: As effective as kicking and punching is, next time you're angry about something... lets have coffee.

(After Indigo disappears from the monitors after hacking CatCo's computers)
Cat: Toyman Junior? You're the computer expert. Fix this.
Winn: (After Cat has left the room) I definitely liked it better when she did not know who I was.

Indigo: To think... I was once linked to The Great Colun Cyber Construct. And now I wander the same realm as Candy Crush.

James: Think we should run this by Director Henshaw?
Kara: ...No.
James: Kara, I know you're upset with him for what he did. I would be too! But that doesn't mean you have to fight this alone.
Kara; I'm not alone. I'm with you.

Kara: I miss Winn and Alex. I save the world better when I save it with people.
James: Well, you ARE saving it with me.

Indigo: I am invincible! I am a god!
Winn: No. You're just a glorified Windows Vista!


Continuity

Kara prefers crullers to powdered donuts.

Cat refers to her own recent run-in with having her secrets exposed to the press by hackers in 108.

Supergirl flies faster than Superman, according to Jimmy Olsen.

James Olsen knows the location of The Fortress of Solitude and has been there several times.

Kara had never visited The Fortress of Solitude before, though Clark did invite her several times. She was afraid it would remind her of Krypton and make her feel homesick. Despite this, the Kelex robot in The Fortress of Solitude are programmed to respond to Kara's commands.

A different Kelex robot appeared in Kara's dreams of Krypton in 113. When James asks her about it, she says they were commonplace on Krypton.

The Coulans are identified as a highly intelligent, blue-skinned race from the planet Colu. They severed as super-computers on Krypton, responsible for running day to day operations.

Kara tells Lucy the story James told her about how his father gave him his first camera as a gift before dying in combat from 107. It turned out that Lucy had never heard that story before.

Fort Pemberton holds the closest nuclear missile silo to National City.

Indigo was the one responsible for reactivating Kara's ship and linking it to Fort Rozz so both could escape The Phantom Zone.

Winn hooks up with Siobhan, apparently making-out (or possibly more) in an elevator.

Lucy dumps James, thinking he is in love with Kara and knowing, from Kara's words, that she's in love with him.

Alex confesses to killing Astra. Kara forgives her.

At the episode's end, Non retrieves the pieces of Indigo's body.


Location

The opening flashback takes place in The Phantom Zone, 13 years ago.


The Bottom Line

Possibly the best episode of the series to date. There's nothing tacked on and Laura Vandervoort turns Indigo into a gloriously memorable (if somewhat hammy) villain. Would that they'd given her a more memorable design (seriously, are they TRYING to provoke a lawsuit from Jennifer Lawerence and Fox?!) but the whole thing is so fun, smartly-written and well-acted you can forgive them.