Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 6, Episode 11 - Mxy in the Middle

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

Plot

With Nyxly now loose on Earth, the Super-Friends turn to an unlikely ally to help them reign in the imp princess - Mr. Mxyzptlk! Meanwhile, Lena visits her mother's birthplace in Newfoundland, only to find a chilly reception from the residents of the small town.

Influences

The Lord of the Rings (The All-Stone is basically the One Ring for imps.)


Goofs

Somehow, the ground around the giant cat is left unscathed by Alex's missile and Kara's heat vision blast.

Honestly, there's no logical reason why they shouldn't have J'onn shapeshift to replace Mxy rather than depending on a holographic projection other than J'onn not wanting to impersonate Mxy.


Performances

Thomas Lennon is a delight as Mr. Mxyzptlk, finding the right balance between camp and annoying, while still doing some honest acting to convey Mxy's frustration at how limited he is without his magic.


Artistry

I must confess I laughed out loud at Supergirl using her heat vision as a laser pointer to distract a giant cat.


Super Trivia

The episode title is a reference to the sitcom Malcolm In The Middle.

Mxy explains Nxyly's history with a parody of the 1978 song "I Will Survive."

The totems making up the All-Stone almost match the Paragons required to save the multiverse during Crisis on Infinite Earths, with Honor being replaced by Dreams.

Nxyly makes reference to fighting a Khundian general at one point. The Khunds are a war-like race of aliens in the reality of DC Comics, who are known for their predisposition to violence. Khunds do not take insults lightly and are insulted easily, looking for any excuse to challenge one another in duels to the death.

Technobabble

Imps can be summoned by speaking their name. Should two people do this at the same time, it seems to give the imp the freedom to decide who to obey, as Mxy helps Kara instead of Nxyly.

Imps can track one another when they use magic. This leaves Mxy effectively powerless as he tries to stay off of Nxyly's radar.

The All-Stone is a magical artifact created thousands of years ago by an evil imp named Jyrryd, which gives its owner complete control over everything - matter, energy, magic, life and death. The All-Stone was broken into multiple Totems of seven primal powers - truth, destiny, dreams, love, hope, humanity and courage.

According to Mxy, each planet has a set of these totems.

The crystal ball Nxyly has is revealed as the Crystal of Jyrryd. It can be used to track the All-Stone Totems, but it requires the power of an imp with the blood of Jyrryd. 

Mr. Mxyzptlk is revealed to be Jyrryd's last living descendant. 

J'onn confirms that the device built by Dr. Raab in 610 converted Kryptonian bio-energy into a form that Nxyly could absorb.

Brainiac-5 thinks he can reverse engineer Dr. Raab's device to create something that drains the magic from Nxyly. Alex then suggests that they can modify a DEO power-dampener cuff that Nxyly can't unlock to keep the power-draining device locked on her. Even then, it will require a steady stream of magical energy to power it.

Brainiac-5 complains that the nano-plating on the DEO cuff is too thin. Dreamer says she may be able to reinforce it with dream energy.

5th Dimensional energy destabilizes the copying format of Brainy's copying machine, causing the duplicate Mxy to reintegrate with him far too quickly.

Imps are forbidden from killing people directly with their magic. However, they can still kill people indirectly by summoning monsters that could potentially harm people.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Mxy explains Nxyly's history in song, to the tune of "I Will Survive.")
You'll see that I'm afraid, I am petrified!
For that imp she has a crystal she wants me inside!
And Nyxly's just not any imp,
But a princess brave and strong,
Who was wronged,
And for payback has waited long!
Oh, she's the daughter of the imp king,
Who was bad to every imp
And every other thing
So she conspired with her brother to unseat the evil lord
But they got caught and sent to trial before the horde!
Go on
Walk out the door
Oh, the king, he disowned Nyxly For starting up that war
And Nyxly's brother, he got praised, for showing his ferocity
But Nyxly was sent away. Because, hey, patriarchy!
Oh, Nyxlaaai! She would survive
In the outer lands, she found a quest, and that kept her alive
The All-Stone totem she would find!
So much power she would mine!
She would survive! She would survive!

Mitch: We had a deal! I help you and you help me get my menagerie back!
Nyxly: Let me help you with something far more valuable. A lesson. Those you think are close to you would just as soon betray you and leave you locked away. You gave me what I needed, and now you're nothing more to me than a gnat. And I am the bright light that you're drawn to. That will incinerate you.

(Mxy wants to prove he can be useful without his magic.)
Alex: Well, now that the stone is out, any tips on how to get the magical current to connect to the component's electrical one?
Mxy: Yes. Ummm... Here's the thing. I mean, you know, because magic is just instinctive to us imps. (chuckling nervously) So to explain it to a non-Fifth-Dimensional being, it would just be like trying to explain a spear to a stick figure.
J'onn: Why don't you try us?
Mxy: Okay.
(Mxy looks at everything and is clearly out of his element. Alex and J'onn look at him expectantly.)
Mxy: Have you tried turning it on, turn it off, turning it on again? 

Continuity

Mr. Mxyzptlk is summoned by both Kara and Nxyly at the same time.

Mxy testified against Nxyly when she was put on trial for treason against her father 300 years ago. He says that he regrets this, but points out she was trying to destroy most of the Fifth Dimension at the time.

Kara never told the rest of the Super Friends about her encounter with Nyxly in the Phantom Zone.

Mxy explains that Nxyly is looking for the All-Stone - an artifact that could make an Imp all-powerful and that the All-Stone was broken into seven totems.

Nxyly's crystal ball could track the totems, if she trapped Mxy inside it.

Mxy claims he was forced to testify against Nxyly by her father, King Brpxz, because of his heritage and his family being on thin-ice because of their infamous ancestor.

Nia has her reoccurring dream with the ravens and the ice cage again. This time, however, she sees Mxy in the cage, dead.

When Nia lies about what she was doing, Brainy picks up on it. She admits to him, privately, that she was responsible for freeing Nxyly after she became stuck in the Dream Realm.

Brainy comforts Nia, telling her he knows how it feels to be exploited by a villain, referring to his bargain with Lex Luthor in the second-half of Season 5.

Brainy agrees to keep Nia's secret, but encourages her to tell Kara on her own.

Andrea loaned Lena a CatCo corporate jet for her trip.

Andrea calls Lena and learns that she's about to arrive in Fortune Bay, Newfoundland, which is her mother's hometown.

Lena is the spitting image of her mother at her age.

Lena discovered a picture of her mother with two other women - Florence Abbott and Margaret Bishop - who were her best friends since childhood.

Margaret Bishop is still living in Fortune Bay, according to Lena's research.

Andrea promises to help Lena find Margaret Bishop, when Lena admits she couldn't find anything about her or her whereabouts today.

Lena's mother's birthname is revealed to be Elizabeth Walsh.

Dee-Dee, the innkeeper Lena booked a room with, recognizes her as a Luthor and is overjoyed to see her... until she says she's the daughter of Elizabeth Walsh. Suddenly, she declares that Lena's room has been double-booked and there's no room for her.

Mxy suggests just sending Nxyly back to the Phantom Zone, but Kara says she thinks Nxyly could be reasoned with and that what happened to her was unfair.

Kara goes to retrieve the amulet Mon-El used to fight Mxy in 213, after Mxy reveals that, rather than destroying the amulet, he hid it in a cave in the jungles of Corto Maltese. He thought nobody would find it, but warns Kara it's now being used as a base by a guerilla warlord. 

Mitch returns to his ship to find Nxyly there. He says he was arrested but managed to slip away during a transfer.

Mitch offers to help Nxyly but she dismisses him as useless to her now.

Kelly is said to be busy dealing with the fallout caused by the Ormfel Building and other damage throughout the Heights caused by Nxyly's attack.

Mxy offers to help J'onn and Alex with creating the magic-draining device, but proves to have no technical aptitude at all.

Lena goes to a bar in Fortune Bay which she learned was owned by Margaret Bishop. The Margaret Bishop in question goes by Peggy and reveals herself to be named for her mother. When Lena mentions her mother was Elizabeth Walsh, she too goes from being friendly to hostile and tells Lena to get out of Fortune Bay, saying that Elizabeth Walsh was no friend to her mother.

Peggy claims that her mother is dead and that Elizabeth Walsh was the one who killed her. She also claims Elizabeth Walsh was a conniving opportunist who left town after seducing a wealthy man into giving her a new life.

When pushed, Peggy says that her mother, Elizabeth walsh and Florence Abbott were part of a witches coven together.

Peggy says she saw Elizabeth Walsh set a shed on fire without a match while her father was inside it. He died in the fire. Florence Abbott disappeared after that, leaving Margaret to deal with the fallout. 

Mxy tries to help Nia and Brainy with the cuff, but is also turned away.

Nxyly releases a giant cat on National City.

Dreamer tries to draw the cat into the Dream Realm, but fails.

Supergirl distracts the cat using her heat vision as a laser pointer while Sentinel tries to destroy the cat with her Hand of the Soldier.

Nxyly says that a Khundian general tried to capture her once, but she killed him and his arm with a Kryptonite-breathing dragon.

Nxyly gives the heroes two hours to hand over Mxy and tells them to meet her in Smidt Park.

Andrea calls Lena and tells her she found Florence Abbott. She e-mails her the details and tells Lena she shouldn't give up, even if everything she found out so far seems bad.

Brainy once again encourages Nia to tell Kara that she released Nyxly on Earth.

Mxy uses a temporary cloning device to make a copy of himself and suggests using it as a decoy to bluff Mxy and get the cuff on her. Everyone agrees this is a good plan, but the duplicate disintegrates almost immediately due to Mxy's magic destabilizing the copying format.

Lena finds the home of Florence Abbott. She comments that Lena looks just like her mom and claims to still talk to Elizabeth in her dreams.

Florence says she doesn't trust computers and gets her information directly from the source. She claims Elizabeth told her that her daughter was a scientist, but Lena points out anyone could find that information easily with a Google search.

Florence says she, Elizabeth and Margaret all came from a long line of witches. Florence taught them how to draw on the power of nature and says she can teach Lena, whom she senses has the same spark.

Florence claims that Margaret's husband, Tommy, was abusive but that nobody would do anything because he was popular in town. She also claimed the fire that killed him was an accident and that they had been trying to scare him.

Florence tells Lena that her mother is still watching over her and is very proud of her.

Nia takes Brainy's image inducer and reprograms it to make her look like Mxy. She says she'll slip the cuff on Nxyly while Kara distracts her.

The plan falls apart when the magic interferes with the mage inducer and Nia's disguise is ruined.

J'onn, Alex and Brainy rush to the scene with the Phantom Zone Projector, but Nxyly uses a spell to tie everyone up and summons the Kryptonite- breathing dragon she mentioned before to kill everyone.

Mxy shows up and surrenders himself to Nyxly, only to slip the anti-magic cuff on her wrist as he's drawn into her crystal ball.

Nxyly is teleported away at the last moment, along with the crystal ball.

Kara admits she was mistaken to think Nxyly could be reasoned with.

Lena thanks Florence for telling her about her mother, but she's still skeptical that she could use magic.

It is revealed that Mitch was the one who saved Nxyly She agrees to partner with him and help him build a better life in exchange for finding the totems. She says the Totem of Courage should be their first target.

Nia has a dream vision of Nxyly and confirms that she is with Mitch and depowered, but she's usuing the crystal to search for the totems.


Location

Fortune Bay, Newfoundland, Canada.


Untelevised Adventures

Kara retrieves the amulet Mon-El used to fight Mister Mxyzptlk from a cave in Corto Maltese. 

Kara goes to the Fortress of Solitude and uses the scanners there to search for 5th Dimensional energy signatures around the world.


The Bottom Line

An energetic performance by Thomas Lennon isn't enough to redeem this episode, which seems to have borrowed half of its script from a new CW pilot for another Charmed reboot. The decision to have Lena become a witch comes out of left-field, though it must be admitted the idea is so weird it is at least interesting. The same can't be said of the other half of the episode, which only works when Mxy is on-screen.

Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 6, Episode 10 - Still I Rise

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

Plot

Supergirl steps in when a building set aside for low income housing is suddenly sold off to a large corporation as part of an effort to gentrify National City. Unfortunately, Nyxly shows up to complicate matters even further. Meanwhile, as Nia trains with her mother, Alex begins training Kelly to become the new Guardian. 

Influences

Various Superman and Supergirl comics dealing with real world issues, with an emphasis on journalists doing good rather than superheroes punching people.


Goofs

Jesse Rath's green make-up as Brainiac-5 looks off, though that could be intentional as to make him look more off-kilter during the cheesy PSA.


Performances

Again, the best part of the episode is Nicole Maines playing Nia's torment at the evils she has committed even as her mother tries to help her while holding her accountable. Thankfully, it's much better developed this week than last week.


Super Trivia

The title comes from a poem by Maya Angelou.


Technobabble

Nyxly is able to temporarily resurrect the dead for one day. However, due to the way she works the spell, Nia is trapped in a pocket dimension centered around her apartment for the duration (i.e. one day) and cannot communicate with anyone outside that space during that time. Additionally, the spell will cause anyone who might notice Nia's absence or try to contact her to forget about her.

Brainiac-5 claims to have 86% more energy since abandoning junk food for green vegetables. 

The people of Edifar are known for their building capabilities and technological advances. 

Brainiac-5 says that the odds of a criminal like Mitch returning to crime after being released are 2:5.

A cryo-nuclear bomb is powerful enough to freeze everything in a one-mile radius and can even kill a Kryptonian.

Dialogue Triumphs

Nia's Mother: There's an ancient story... About a woman who slandered her friend. The woman went to her rabbi, full of remorse. The rabbi told her to cut up a feather pillow and to scatter the feathers into the wind. He then instructed her to go out and collect every single feather. She cried, "That was impossible!" And the rabbi replied, "No more impossible than to completely undo the wrongs of your actions." You made a dark bargain, Nia. You unleashed Nyxly on this world. And the actions she will inflict will be like those feathers.
Nia: So what should I do?
Nia's Mother: This is not about doing, Nia. Just like your dreams, the ravens, your sister, you cannot run away from this. You must have the courage to sit with the pain to take in the gravity of what you've done. 

Orlando: Councilwoman, you don't know me. But I'm one of your constituents. My name is Orlando Davis. I spent the last two years at Van Kull Prison, and was one of the people counting on housing in the Ormfell. I've lived in National City my entire life with my little brother Joey. We lost our parents when I was 14. I quit school to take care of my brother. But there isn't a big market out there for dropouts, so the bills piled up. I made a stupid mistake and I've been paying the price ever since. But I'm not the only one who's paid it. See, I remember what it felt like to go to bed at night with my family nearby. To feel safe. To feel loved. But Joey doesn't. He's been in and out of the system his entire life, and I am so scared that he's gonna make the same mistakes that I have and I can't even be there to help him. Because what he needs is a home. He is not the only one. So, I'm here today to ask you one thing. See us. All the people hoping to live in this building, when you're deciding whether to vote for this deal... you're voting on our lives, on our families. On my chance to give my brother some hope. So, please... see us.

Brainiac-5: The fight for systemic chance often feels never-ending. All we can do is keep showing up


Continuity

Nia brings Nyxly into the real world, from the dream realm.

Nyxly agrees to honor her deal with Nia, but notes that her power will be sapped for a bit afterward.

Nyxly says she has other business on Earth before she returns home.

Nia's mother says that she has always been with Nia in her dreams, but that she's ignored her wisdom. This confirms that Nia's mother was the owl in 609.

Brainiac-5 and Supergirl agree to film a cheesy PSA that encourages healthy eating habits in children.

Kara has second thoughts after seeing the PSA, but Brainy tells her the ad went live on Catco's website 20 minutes earlier and has already gained 800,000 views.

Kara makes reference to how Alex made her train under Kryptonite energy emitters during Season 1.

Kelly gets a call from Orlando Davis and learns that his efforts to secure an apartment for himself and his brother fell through.

Supergirl checks up on Orlando and confirms that he was up for an apartment in a complex, the Ormfell, which was being set aside as affordable housing for reformed convicts, before being sold to Orquoia (the largest cloud computing company in the world) by the city.

Orlando is currently crashing on a friend's couch - the same friend responsible for him going to prison in the first place.

Mitch, the sidekick of Naxim Tork in 606, is revealed to be on Earth, disguised as a human and at liberty.

Mitch abducts Nyxly with the intention of adding her to his menagerie and trying to get Naxim Tork to go back into business with him.

Nyxly lies and says she's powerless and condemned to walk the Earth as a powerless mortal.

Mitch has a collection of Supergirl headlines posted around the inside of his ship. This leads Nyxly to suggest Mitch abduct her instead and she offers her help to do so.

Nyxly says she has a plan but it requires an expert engineer. Mitch says he can abduct one.

William is baking again and testing almond flour alternatives.

Councilwoman Jean Rankin is behind the deal that sold the Ormfell Building to Orquoia.

William says that most people in The Heights (the poor neighorhood where the Ormfell is located) are in favor of the deal because of the jobs it will bring in.

Andrea suggests having Supergirl do a Q&A on the CatCo website rather than do a simple interview about the Orquoia deal.

Nia once again dreams about ravens and a cage made of ice, but has no idea what it means.

Nia's mother says that you should never exit a dream in fear and that everything in a dream has a meaning.

Ravens are symbolic of wisdom and misfortune in dreams.

Nia dreams of the dollhouse she had when she was young.  She then sees her sister in the window and concludes the ravens symbolize her sister, Maeve, who last appeared in 411.

Mitch attacks Raab Cryogenetics and kidnaps an alien engineer, Dr. Desmond Raab.

Kara leaves her Q&A after only two questions, after hearing Dr. Raab calling for help. This does not help her case, as the last woman to speak called her a hypocrite for telling people how bad things are just as things are improving after all her talk of having hope.

Desmond Raab is from the planet Edifar.

Kara recalls Mitch from the events of 605 and 606 and wonders how he is loose on Earth.

According to the DEO files, Mitch and Naxim Tork were released sometime before the DEO was destroyed and Naxim left Earth sometime in 2020.

Mitch has been in and out of the county jail several times since released, with one charge of breaking-and-entering and a few petty thefts.

Nia has a dream where her sister asks her for her light but it burns her to ashes.

Nia concludes the dream is telling her she needs to come to peace with her estranged sister.

Kara meets with Councilwoman Jean Rankin as Supergirl, but she's unsympathetic to the idea that her deal is going to hurt people and points to the billions the city will make and all the people who will be employed.

Kara talks to two other council members but they're also on-board with Rankin.

Kelly is upset because she can't master the move Alex tried to teach her. Kara points out that she was still able to take Alex down in a fight using what she made up herself.

Supergirl's PSA now has 5 million views.

Kara realizes that the PSA is working because Brainy's story about fighting a junk food addiction resonates with people and that for all her celebrity, she lacks that personal touch. This leads her and Kelly to get Orlando to speak that the council vote on the measure.

Nia's mother tells her a parable about coping with guilt and advises her to trust her dreams before disappearing.

Orlando speaks to board about how he quit school and became a criminal to take care of his brother.

Mitch plants the cryo-nuclear bomb Desmond Raab built at Nyxly's direction inside the Ormfell building.

The cryo-nuclear-bomb is encased in lead so Supergirl can't look at it as she's using her heat vision to neutralize it.

Alex, J'onn, Brainac-5 and Kelly evacuate the building.

Kelly saves Councilwoman Rankin from being hit by shrapnel using a bulletin board as an improvised shield.

The council ultimately votes against Rankin's proposal.

Alex complements Kelly for being adaptable rather than trying to copy everything she does.

Nia asks for a truce in her dream vision and the ice cage cracks.

Kara heads back to the Ormfell building after the Watchtower instruments detect an energy signature.

Nyxly confronts Kara, revealing that the lead also encased a device that would restore her power if it were supercharged with heat-vision.

Nyxly freezes Kara and says she is going to destroy everything Kara cares about before returning to the 5th Dimension to do the same to her father, starting with the Ormfell Building.

Kara calls Mxyzptlk for help and he appears in the final scene.

Untelevised Adventures

Kara and Alex's surprise that Naxim Tork and Mitch survived the destruction of the DEO suggests that many of its prisoners were not evacuated in time and died when the building was destroyed by Leviathan. 


The Bottom Line

Preachy and lackluster, in a nutshell. While the show is to be credited for not pretending all Orlando and Joey's problems can be solved in a single episode and his speech to the city council is a good one, it still feels like this episode started with that speech and was reverse engineered as an excuse to bring in superheroes around it rather than starting with the superheroes and finding a way to tell a story with them that is culturally relevant. It doesn't help matters that Kara tries to sympathize with Mitch, despite the character deserving no sympathy and not even managing to be as amusing as his hammy partner. 

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

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



Plot

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


Influences

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


Goofs

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

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

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


Performances

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


Artistry

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


Super Trivia

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

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

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

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


Technobabble

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


Dialogue Triumphs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Continuity

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Untelevised Adventures

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


The Bottom Line

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

Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 13 - Mr. & Mrs. Mxyzptlk

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




Plot

Just as Mon-El and Kara confessed their attraction to one another, they found themselves bewitched by a strange magical man who professed his own love for Kara. Taking her rejection as a challenge, this so-called Mister Mxzyptlk launches a campaign of chaos on National City, intending to make Supergirl into Mrs. Mxyzptlk! At the same time, Winn finds love with an alien woman and Alex tries to figure out just why Maggie doesn't want to celebrate Valentine's Day.


Influences

The Supergirl comics of Sterling Gates (lots of references to Krypton and Kryptonian culture), Action Comics #291 - The Bride Of Mr. Mxyzptlk!, Disney's Aladdin (Mxyzptlk sings part of the song A Whole New World, the rules for what Mxyzptlk can do with his magic are similar to the rules governing genies), the stage musical Hamilton (Mxyzptlk puts himself and Mon-El on a stage, dressed as Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, for their duel), the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Mxyzptlk quotes Willy Wonka while wearing a purple coat), various Superman cartoons and comics featuring Mister Mxyzptlk and various Supergirl stories where the villain wants to marry Supergirl and makes threats to force her to do so.


Goofs

As funny as Kara drinking orange juice is, Mxyzptlk said he couldn't force someone to drink it. That doesn't mean he can't stop them from drinking it. (Based on his expression as he watches Kara drinking, maybe he can't?)

While the characters seen in the hologram after Mxyzptlk spells his name backwards do come from the official Kryptonian Alphabet, they do not spell out Kltpzyxm. Instead they spell out "DJEP9TZW" (I freely admit to this being nit-picky, but why use the symbols at all if you aren't going to use the correct ones?!)


Performances

Peter Gadiot proves a perfectly playful Mxyzptlk, finding the perfect balance between being amusing and annoying, thus portraying Mxyzptlk as an overgrown kid pulling on the pigtails of a girl he likes rather than a psychotic stalker.

As per usual, the chemistry between Chris Wood and Melissa Benoist is one of the episode's best features.


Artistry

The CGI effects for Mxyzptlk's magic are some of the best this series has seen, from the blue sparkle effects when he works a spell to the scene where Kara has to fight a giant crystal statue of her uncle.

While I usually abhor covers of classic rock songs, the cover of The Police's Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic played under the final scene of Mon-El and Kara together is rather nice and the perfect song for the scene.


Super Trivia

This episode was co-written by Sterling Gates, who wrote the Adventures of Supergirl tie-in comic based on the first season of the Supergirl TV series. He also wrote the Supergirl series right before the New 52 reboot and is generally considered to be the best writer to handle the character's monthly exploits in the past 15 years.

The basic idea of this episode seems to have been taken from Action Comics #291 (August 1962) - The Bride Of Mr. Mxyzptlk! This comic marked Supergirl's first encounter with the 5th Dimensional Imp in the comics and, as in this episode, his scheme is to force Supergirl marry him.

Mr. Mxyzptlk first appeared in Superman #30 (September 1944). His specific backstory and appearance have changed over time but his point of origin has remained consistent. As a being born of The Fifth Dimension, Mr. Mxyzptlk has the power to alter the third-dimensional realm at will. This power has been described as magical and is capable of affecting Superman, regardless on whether or not it might be considered "true" magic. In any event, Mr. Mxyzptlk is mischievous but not evil and usually only plays around with Superman out of boredom or to challenge himself.

Mxyzptlk is pronounced Mix-Yes-Spit-Lick.

In the comics, the only way to get rid of Mr. Mxzyptlk was to trick him into saying, writing or otherwise spelling his name backwards - Kltpzyxm.

Kltpzyxm is pronounced Kill-Tip-Seize-Um.

In the DCTVU, Mr. Mxyzptlk has apparently never encountered Superman. His appearance here is the first recoreded instance of a Fifth Dimensional being on Earth apart from various legends involving genies, djinns, leprechauns and other creatures capable of altering reality with magic and wishes. The rule about getting him to say his name backwards also applies but it is, as Mon-El notes, much more trouble than it is worth if you don't have issues with just killing them.

Mr. Mxyzptlk says that there is no one "as brave or bold" as Kara where he comes from. The Brave And The Bold is,a classic DC Comic series devoted to team-up stories.

J'onn makes a reference to The Zook Uprising on Mars. In the Silver Age Martian Manhunter comics, Zook was the name of an alien being who acted as a pet/sidekick to J'onn J'onzz. Zook was a creature that resembled a cartoonish dog, who had the powers of temperature manipulation (he could freeze or super-heat objects he touched), limited shape-shifting abilities and he could track anyone whom he had met before, no matter how they had disguised themselves.

In the 1998 Martian Manhunter comic series, Zook was the name of a Martian plant that could be fashioned into clothing that could shapeshift in tandem with a Martian.

In the first scene at the bar, Winn is drinking Lallorian Lager. The planet Lallor comes from the Legion of Super-Heroes comics, where in the 30th century Lallor is ruled by a dictatorship. The planet had its own superhero team - The Heroes of Lallor - who fought against tyranny and worked alongside The Legion of Super-Heroes on several adventures.

Lyra Strayd says that she is from the world of Starhaven. In the DC Comics universe, Starhaven is a fictional planet near the core of the Milky Way Galaxy and home to the Legion of Super-Heroes member Dawnstar.

Winn claims to have translated a book from Starhaven called "The Book of The Ten-Pointed Star". Ten-pointed stars are a frequent motif in both Islamic artwork and Freemasonry.

The duel scene in which Mxyzptlk teleports himself and Mon-El to fight for Kara on a theater stage dressed as Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr is a nod to the musical Hamilton.

Mon-El swears to Rao that he will listen to Kara in the future. Rao is the name of a Kryptonian deity - a god of light and life, similar in scope to the Egyptian sun god Ra. It is also the name of the red star which Krypton (and in the DCTVU, Daxam) orbited.

Kara threatens to kill herself by blowing up the Atomic Cauldron of The Fortress of Solitude. In the original comics, The Atomic Cauldron was the power source of the Fortress of Solitude. The most powerful furnace on Earth, the Atomic Cauldron ran on liquefied Sunstone crystals.

Mxyzptlk makes a reference to Thoni Tea. In the original comics, Thon was an area of Krypton and tea was brewed from select plants on the hills on the Gorvan shore.


Technobabble

One of the items Winn finds in the DEO basement tests off the charts in 5th Dimensional Energy. He has no idea what it would do to Mr. Mxyzptlk and can't analyze it further until a spectrometer finishes updating. This will take six hours.

The device is later revealed to have the power to cut a 5th Dimensional being off from their home dimension, effectively making them powerless.

According to Kara, the Atomic Cauldron of The Fortress of Solitude is one of the most powerful fusion furnaces on Earth. She can overload the Suntones at its core, creating an explosion equivalent to a 400-megaton bomb. This is roughly equivalent to 30,000 of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima.

The shields of The Fortress of Solitude are strong enough to contain a 400 megaton blast. Anyone inside the Fortress, however - even a Kryptonian - would be completely vaporized.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Mxyzptlk waves his hand. Suddenly Kara is in a fancy white wedding gown.)
Kara: What is - ? Are you crazy? You cannot just put me in a wedding dress!
Mxyzptlk: Why not? It's Vera Wang!

Kara: I'm flattered... but I'm not going to marry you, Mxyzptlk.
Mxyzptlk: You know, it's funny. I'm all-seeing and all-powerful but that's one of the few things I can't make you do. That and make you fall in love with me and/or stop you from killing yourself and/or make you drink orange juice, for some reason! Everything else, yes, but go figure.

(Mxyzptlk has just anchored three robbers in place and turned their own guns upon them. Kara moves at super-speed to catch the bullets.)
Robber: Thank you, Supergirl!
(Kara looks annoyed and throws an elbow back, knocking the robber out.)

(Alex wants to celebrate Valentine's Day but isn't sure how to deal with Maggie's hatred of it.)
Kara: Okay Okay. So the trimmings aren't her style, but you can celebrate your own way. What kind of stuff does she like?
Alex: I dunno? Guns?
(Kara makes a face that suggests this is the last thing in the world she'd equate with romance.)
Kara: ... anything else?
Alex: She loves scotch!

Mon-El: Oh... I'm sorry that I was busy, uh, defending your honor!
Kara: (freezing in place, turning around, furious) I am not some damsel in distress! I am Supergirl! I can defend myself! And more importantly...  I told you I was handling it!
Mon-El: Well, Kara sometimes you're not a good judge of what you can handle, so... (shrugs and claps his hands) there it is.
Kara: Really?!
Mon-El: Yes.
Kara: Is that why you didn't tell me that the secret to getting Mixxie off Earth was to get him to say his name backwards? Because you didn't think I could handle it?
Mon-El: No. I didn't tell you that because it never works! Because first of all, it's hard enough to say it forward. And second of all, that guy is a motor-mouth but he's not stupid!

Winn: I need a relationship pearl.
Mon-El: Yeah, uh... things were a lot easier on Daxam when I objectified women and didn't care about anyone. So...

(Mon-El and Mxyzptlk are fist-fighting in the aisle of a theater.)
Mon-El: How could you think she'd ever want to be with someone like you?
Mxyzptlk: Why? You think she's going to be with you?! Face it!  What have you got to offer her? I can give her everything. There's no contest between you and me and you know it! I'm a god and you're a loser.
(Mon-El steps in and grabs Mxyzptlk by the throat.)
Mon-El: You're a dead man.
Mxyzptlk: Strike that. (holds up the power-draining device that he just pick-pocketed off Mon-El) Reverse it.
(Mxyzptlk grins and presses the button on the device. Suddenly, Mon-El is chained up above the stage and Mxyzptlk is below him, holding a pistol.)

(Mxyzptlk teleports into the Fortress of Solitude. He is wearing a tuxedo and holding a bottle of champagne.)
Mxyzptlk: (sing-song voice) Kara, darling? Where arrrrrrrree yooooooou? It's time! Kara?  You said noon! And here I am! (angrier) Kara!
Supergirl: (landing behind him) I can hear you.
(Supergirl is holding a glass of orange juice, which she takes her time drinking and savoring.)
Mxyzptlk: Where's the dress?  The flowers? The pigs in blankets?
(Supergirl hmms and holds up a finger, continuing to drink for about three seconds before stopping, melodramatically smacking her lips and sighing with satisfaction.)
Supergirl: See, that's the thing, Mixxie... I'm not going to marry you.

Mxyzptlk: No!  You made me write my name backwards!
Supergirl: Yep. On some planets to write something down is to truly say it.
Mxyzptlk: You tricked me!
Supergirl: No. No, I followed the rules. You say your name backwards. You go back to The Fifth Dimension. No questions asked.
Mxyzptlk: That's it! You nasty woman! Now I'm going to-
(Mxyzptlk snaps his fingers. Nothing happens... until his hand suddenly dissolves into glowing blue mist.)
Mxyzptlk: No! It's started...
(Mxyazptlk looks up to Supergirl, sadly.)
Mxyzptlk: I just wanted... I wanted someone to love me.
Supergirl: You can't force love, Mxyzptlk. You have to let it find you.

Lyra: I didn't think you'd call.
Winn: Why? Last night was... like, beyond amazing on just so many levels.
Lyra: I figured it was a one-time thing for you. An experience. I've never met a human that was actually up for dating an alien.
Winn: Well, now you have. (chuckles) Look, I'm not naive, okay? I know that there are lots of people who don't think that humans and aliens should mix. If we're being super honest, I... potentially falling for an alien is not what scares me. It's falling for anyone. Just have... kind of... had my heart trampled on a few times.
Lyra: Me too.
Winn: Lyra...you aren't like some experience to me, okay? You are a potentially... real, fulfilling, challenging relationship and that's... that's just way too much chaos. That's too fast. (makes a back-pedaling gesture) Whoo-hoo. Just gonna... uh...heh. Um... what do you say we just take it slow?
Lyra: Sure.
Winn: Okay.
(Winn smiles. Lyra reaches across the table and takes Winn's hands.)
Lyra: (whispering) Slow. (pauses) Take me to where you live.
Winn: Yes. Ma'am.

Mon-El: I get that you were upset that I wasn't listening to you. And I... I tried really, really, really hard to listen to you this time. And I heard that you..  you don't think that we belong together, and I respected that.
Kara: No, but... Mixxie wasn't the only one that I tricked.
Mon-El: What do you mean?
Kara: I just said it so you'd let me go. To protect you. Plus, he could have been listening, so...
(Kara moves away from Mon-El and starts walking across the room,)
Mon-El: Wait, so... you didn't mean any of that stuff that you said?
Kara: Well, the first bit about your infurating male ego? That part I meant.
Mon-El: Okay, okay....
Kara: But the second part? About us not being a match? I didn't mean that.
Mon-El: (impressed) Wow. No, you're good. You're good.
Kara: (smiling) Well...
Mon-El: (nodding) Well, you... got rid of Mixxie.
Kara: (nodding) I did.
Mon-El: That means nothing is... nothing is stopping us.
Kara: Nope. Nothing is stopping us.
(The two look at each other before falling into each other's arms and kissing passionately.  Mon-El lowers Kara onto the couch and the two continue kissing as we focus on two red roses in the foreground.)


Dialogue Disasters

Mxyzptlk: You don't get to tell me what to do until after we're married!


Continuity

Mister Mxyzptlk claims to be all-seeing and all-powerful but his magic does have limits. He cannot make someone marry him, fall in love with him, stop them from killing themselves and/or (for some reason) force them to drink orange juice.

J'onn encountered a 5th Dimensional Being once on Mars. That being moved the Xan'Xie mountains halfway across the planet during the Zook Uprising.

Mon-El says Daxam had contact with The 5th Dimension and had a zero-tolerance policy regarding 5th Dimensional Beings being allowed on the planet. He says 5th Dimensional Beings knew how to party but were very dangerous. To that end, the preferred method of dealing with a 5th Dimensional Being on Daxam is to slay them as quickly as possible - preferably via crushing.

Martians celebrate a custom similar to Valentines Day, where written messages are sent to loved ones.

Since Martians are a telepathic species and thoughts were easily exchanged between them, important and intimate communications were written down as a symbolic gesture. J'onn notes that on some planet (Mars among them) it is believed that to write something down is to truly say it.

Maggie's usual breakfast is a seasame seed bagel, dry, double toasted with black coffee. Alex feels this is gross.

Alex is 28.

Eliza Danvers makes a big deal out of Valentine's Day and sends her daughters cards to honor it.

Maggie hates Valentine's Day. Alex loves it .

Winn's drink of choice is Lallorian Lager. Reportedly it is considered a drink for weak-willed idiots.

The woman who saves Winn in the bar is named Lyra Strayd. She is from Starhaven, which was mentioned in 114, where Kara noted that she had visited the planet as a young girl and that the air smells like cinnamon. Apparently she told this story to Winn at some point.

A blight came to Starhaven which apparently destroyed the cinnamon smell.

Winn translated a passage from a book from Starhaven called "The Book of The Ten-Pointed Star" - "The hurt of one is the hurt of all. The honor of one is the honor of all." Lyra says that her father read to her from that book every night when she was a child.

Maggie likes guns, scotch, tiramisu and bonsai trees.

The Parasite - last seen in 206 - appears as one of Mxyzptlk's illusions.

A Fifth Dimensional Being can be forced to return to their home dimension if they are made to say their name backwards.

Mon-El is on a first-name basis with a DEO agent named Dana.

Maggie Sawyer was lying in 206 when she said her family was comfortable with her coming out. The truth is that she fell for a friend named Elisa Wilkey when she was 14. The two watched horror movies and smoked cigarettes in private together. On Valentine's Day, Maggie gave her a card with a note about how she felt. Elisa gave that card to her parents, who called Maggie's parents.  Maggie was kicked out of the house that day and had to go live with an aunt for the next three years. This is why Maggie hates Valentine's Day.

Winn makes reference to getting reservations for a certain restaurant being more difficult than getting a Hellgramite to eat leafy greens. Kara fought a Hellgramite in 102, where it was revealed that they were chlorine-based lifeforms that the only things on Earth they could eat safely were certain chemical compounds such as DDT.

Winn grew up in Newark, New Jersey.

Winn and Lyra spend Valentine's Day together. They agree to try and start a relationship together.

Maggie sets up a "Valentine's Day prom" for Alex to make up for screwing up her Valentine's Day plan.

The episode ends with Mon-El and Kara making out on her couch.


Location

The Fortress of Solitude.


The Bottom Line

A perfect Valentine's Day special, hampered only slightly by the fact that it aired the week after Valentine's Day. But why quibble? Kara and Mon-El are finally together and the other romantic subplots all work perfectly. It's nice to see Maggie (for once) admitting to a misstep in her relationship with Alex after several episodes with Alex being the one to make things weird. The Winn subplot surprised me in that I was sure his new lady friend was probably going to be a black widow and lay her eggs in him after mating.  And heaven help us, they made Mxyzptlk work in live action. Sterling Gates needs to write more episodes of this show.

Action Comics #15 - A Review

If there is any writer in comics capable of telling a story in five dimensions, it's Grant Morrison.  Okay, maybe it's a bit of an exaggeration to say that he tells the main story of Action Comics #15 in five dimensions.  Yet he does tell a story that is multifaceted, taking place at several points and several perspectives in time. 

The main portion of this tale is told by Superman's landlady, who it seems is actually a princess from The Fifth Dimension and is/was/will be aware of everything Clark Kent is/was/will be.  Meanwhile - or perhaps 'Previously' or even 'In The Future', a group of Superman's greatest enemies hunt him through multiple points in history.  And that's ignoring the greater cosmic threat that even now threatens multiple worlds at multiple points in space and time, including Krypton!

Confusing?  No more than your average Doctor Who episode and this is just as enjoyable to those with the right mindset.


Easier to comprehend but no less enjoyable is the back-up story by Sholly Fisch.  This story tells the tale of one of the villains now hunting Superman.  More importantly, it tells the story of the hero who stopped him once before and even in death seems to be setting up the means for Superman to survive.  The hero?  Mister Mxyzptlk.

Fisch spins off of Morrison's conceit, keeping in line with the original portrayal of the character, that Mister Mxyzptlk isn't malicious.  He may annoy Superman with his antics but ultimately likes the Big Blue Boy Scout.  There's a bit of a retcon here, recasting Mister Mxyzptlk as a court wizard/jester for the King of the Fifth Dimension, who did what he did to Superman as a way of amusing his bored king and whose antics wound up winning him the heart of a princess.  It's a marvelous conceit and though the idea is a throwaway, it's one I'd love to see explored in a regular series. 

The artwork, as always, is top-notch.  Brad Walker and Rags Morales are formidable creators on their own.  Together, their work blends into a wonderful artistic alloy.  Chris Sprouse's cartoonishly stylized work in the back-up story is gleefully glorious and a joy to behold.  All in all, Action Comics continues to be one of the best values on the market and a darn good dead.