Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 6, Episode 16 - Nightmare in National City

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

Plot

A nightmare monster attacks National City, as Kara finds herself landing a story she always dreamed of. As Dreamer leads the battle against the monster and turns to her estranged sister for help, Nxyly meets her secret admirer and an unholy alliance is formed!

Influences

Under the Dome by Stephen King (the dome the Super Friends use to trap the nightmare monster is similar), Ancient Greek Mythology (dream totem in a Minoan Labyrinth) and Kaiju movies in general. (giant monster, feeds on radiation.)


Performances

Nicole Maines has a fantastic turn as Dreamer in this episode.


Artistry

The CGI for the battle between Dreamer and Nyxly is quite good.


Super Trivia

Kara makes reference to "World Diplomacy Live," a 1995 interview conducted by Larry King between King Hussein of Jordan, Israel Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Afrafat.

Andrea makes reference to Kara's interview as being like Oprah Winfrey's interview with "the Royals." This is a reference to a March 2021 interview with Prince Harry and his wife which was a major ratings grabber at the time.


Technobabble

The Lexosuit given to Nxyly creates an artificial intelligence based on her mind.

The Dream Totem is said to give the possessor the same powers that Nia Nul inherited.

Dr. Pavoni with the Dream Institute of National City built a device capable of allowing people to access the Dream Realm without metahuman powers.

The Lexosuit is able to replicate the function of Dr. Pavoni's machine after a few moments connected to it.

Lex Luthor designed a satellite-based force-field that could wall off an entire city. Lena uses this to trap the nightmare monster temporarily. Unfortunately, this also cuts off half of National City from the outside world.

Nuclear energy and dream energy are similar enough that a nuclear power plant acts as a beacon to Nightmare Monsters.

The Oracle of Delphi placed a ward on the Dream Totem so that it could only be claimed by one who is pure in heart, mind and sight

Dialogue Triumphs

(The Dream Totem has declared Maeve unworthy of its power.)
Maeve: It was supposed to be mine. I worked my entire life towards becoming the Dreamer. Studying, preparing... Every decision I ever made was for that. It was my purpose, my identity. (to Nia) And you took it!
Nia: I didn't have a choice. I tried to transfer the powers to you, I told you that. But I couldn't. So what do you want me to say? That... That you should be the Dreamer? That I don't know what I'm doing most of the time? That I'm in over my head?
Maeve: (bitterly) Honesty, finally.
Nia: Oh, you want honesty? Okay. I have no pity for you! I'm sorry that you wasted all of those years reading all of those books, assuming with no cause, by the way, that you'd be the Dreamer. But look at yourself, Maeve. You were willing to put the entire universe at stake so you could take the powers. Are you really that selfish? Do you think that's what the Dreamer would do? You don't think I deserve these powers? You don't think I'm a real woman? Well, I don't care. I know who I am. I am the Dreamer. The question is who are you? Because you are clearly not the sister that I thought you were.

Continuity

According to Nia, her father took her side in the argument with her sister Maeve from 411. This caused Maeve to take all of her mother's notes and research with her before disappearing.

Brainy suggests that Nia try and use her powers to find a clue of where her sister is.

Nia has a vison of an address at Crispin University.

Brainy hasn't been using his image inducer since William began working at the Tower, but Nia tells him he should keep his natural look.

When Nxyly was 10, she had a crush on Duke Nzykmlk - a cousin of Mister Mxyptlk. This fact convinces her that the AI in her Lexosuit really is her.

Alex brings drawings of each of the Super Friends that Esme made to the Tower.

Kelly has taken Esme to visit James in Calvintown.

It has been at least one week since the events of 615, as Kara makes reference to Kaznia and Corto Maltese agreeing to a truce within the last week. The official peace treaty is due to be signed in National City within the next few days.

Kara was somehow able to watch Larry King's "World Diplomacy Live" interview while trapped in her pod in the Phantom Zone.

Kara asked Cat Grant to pull some strings to arrange for her to meet with Prime Minister Perez of Corto Maltese and President Zakharov of Kaznia.

Andrea considers Kara's idea of trying to show the peace process in action boring, but thinks CatCo can hype it as being like their version of "Oprah and the Royals."

Nia discovers that Maeve changed her name to Dr. Reeve and that the address in her vision was for Maeve's new office at Crispin University.

Maeve tries to apologize for saying Nia wasn't a real woman but Nia cuts her off, saying she doesn't want to talk about that.

Maeve has heard of the Dream Totem and has several books which discuss it and where to find it.

William offers to help Kara prepare for the interview, having written big articles on both Kaznia and Corto Maltese in the past.

Nyxyly's creation of a dream portal unleashes a nightmare monster from the Dream Realm.

The Nightmare monster becomes invisible after it is pinned-in by the Super Friends' forcefield. This also causes its energy signature to become undetectable. 

According to Maeve, the Dream Totem was once housed with the Oracle of Delphi's temple but was relocated to the Dream Realm after the Dorians invaded. It is also suggested that the gauntlet to claim the Dream Totem might have inspired the legends of the Labyrinth. 

Maeve also has a tapestry which depicts the Oracle's directions to the Dream Totem. The first part says the Totem is warded so that it can only be claimed by one who is pure of heart, mind and sight.

Maeve recognizes one of the symbols in the tapestry as the Naltoran symbol of purity, which matches the symbol on a necklace her mother gave her, telling her that it would light up her dreams.

Maeve and Nia guess the tree in the tapestry may be a link to the forest in Nia's dreams of late.

Maeve made a scrapbook of news stories about Dreamer.

Nia invites Maeve to join her in the Dream Realm in finding the Totem.

Nia texts Brainy to tell him what she's discovered. He relays to the other Super Friends that the Dream Totem is in the Dream Realm, which explains why Nyxly was trying to get back into it.

The Super Friends work to combine Dr. Pavlov's machine with Lena's portal tech to create their own pathway into the Dream Realm.

William calls Kara and reminds her about their appointment to do a mock interview. J'onn tells her to go ahead as the rest of the team has things under control.

Maeve makes reference to a writer named M.K. Nessler who wrote a book called Of Dreams Beyond which was about navigating the dream realm.

Maeve's necklace glows near one particular tree. This opens the way into the wider Dream Expanse beyond Nia's personal dreamscape.

William advises Kara not to let her subjects duck any direct questions.

Andrea is able to arrange an off-the-books meeting with the chief Kaznia treat negotiator later that day at 2 PM.

The governor of California demands the Super Friends remove the dome.

Nyxly spies Nia and Maeve and follows after them.

The governor gives the Super Friends 12 hours to complete a portal device to get rid of the Nightmare monster. 

People begin rioting trying to escape the dome.

Kara misses the meeting with the Kaznia negotiator because they came and left while she was out stopping the rioting as Supergirl.

Nia uses her powers to create a floating platform - a trick she learned on her own. This enables them to get a birds-eye view of the forest and find the glowing spire that contains the Dream Totem.

Amdrea calls and threatens to fire Kara if anything goes wrong with the interview. 

The Governor calls out the Air Force and the National Guard to try and take down the dome.

Willaim comes to the tower to get a statment on the current disaster, saying that Supergirl is needed to calm people down, as Kara is getting ready to leave for her interview. 

Maeve tries to take the Dream Totem but it denies her, saying she is not pure and that she's a traitor to her family who wanted to try and use the Dream Totem to take away Nia's powers.

Nxyly tries to use her gauntlet to break the ward on the Dream Totem.

Maeve gives Nia her necklace thinking the extra dream power might help. Unfortunately, Nxyly is able to get away with the Dream Totem.

Kara is forced to leave the interview to help push the Nightmare beast back into the Dream Realm.

When Kara leaves, the diplomats have already left the site of the interview.

Kara decides to quite her job as a reporter at CatCo and tells Andrea to let William do the interview instead.

Maeve tries to apologize to Nia again Nia refuses to forgive her but does agree to give her a second chance.

Maeve gives Nia her necklace.

Supergirl makes the inspiring speech William suggested.

Lex Luthor reveals himself to Nyxly.

Location

Crispin University
The Dream Realm


Untelevised Adventures

Kelly and Esme are said to be visiting James in Calvintown.

Kara asked Cat Grant to pull some strings to arrange for her to meet with Prime Minister Perez of Corto Maltese and President Zakharov of Kaznia.

The Bottom Line

A great Dreamer episode but everything else seems rushed, especially Kara's exit from CatCo. Still, if this means no more (or at least fewer) scenes of Andrea being the world's worst news editor, I'll take it.

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 6, Episode 9 - Dream Weaver

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

Plot

Kelly and Kara team-up, as the social worker encounters an orphaned alien boy who is acting out in foster care because he fears something is wrong with his incarcerated brother. Meanwhile, as Andrea pushes CatCo to delve into the lives of the SuperFriends, Nyxly crashes Nia's dreams and asks her for help.

Influences

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


Goofs

It's a little odd that Kara didn't go to Argo City with her father to witness her parents reuniting. Granting that it is totally within her nature to want to get back to work, surely National City could have done without her for another few days? 

There's no connection to the end of last week's episode and Nia saying Nyxly's name as she woke up. (Come to that, there's no indication anywhere that Kara ever told her friends about Nyxly.)

Orlando getting a full pardon and released on a day's notice seems incredibly unrealistic, even by the standards of Supergirl.

Since when is William an on-site news reporter rather than a writer?

Despite the episode title being a reference to her character, Dreamer barely figures into this episode and her subplot stands apart from everything else.


Performances

Nicole Maines has a great turn here as Dreamer, totally selling Nia's torment.


Artistry

The effects work for the fight between Supergirl and the alien convicts is rather good and the fight choreography better than average.

The direction does an effective job of mimicking a chaotic dream during Dreamer's nightmares sequences.


Super Trivia

The episode title comes from a 1975 song by Gary Wright.

Betty Buckley, who played Patricia Arias in Supergirl Season 3, voices the owl in Dreamer's vision.

At one point, Andrea suggests that William and Kara jump off a bridge and interview whatever Super Friend catches them. This tactic was employed by Lois Lane in the comics go get Superman's attention in some stories.

Andrea also references the Bat-Signal, suggesting they project an S in the sky to get Supergirl's attention.

When Kelly visits Joey, he is seen reading a Captain Carrot comic - a DC Comics' children's series about a super-powered rabbit.

Technobabble

Metalomite are an alien race that have the power to bend metal telekinetically.

Obscurans are an alien race that create a residue that makes things invisible. 

Zeltarian  are an alien race that have the power to generate EMPs.

Dynamorphs are an alien race who have the power to unleash energy blasts.

Toradines are an alien race who have the power to create force fields.

5000 pounds of ammonium nitrate is enough to blow up a 50 story building.

J'onn has the technology to track an Obscuran based on the energy signature of their unique residue. 

Nia says that only Naltorians have the power to enter the dream realm in physical form. Nxyly says 5th dimensional imps can do the same thing.

Naltorian women are unique in their ability to make their dreams manifest in the real world.

Bringing the dead back to life is a serious infraction of universal law, but imps can do it under limited circumstances. Specifically, they can only bring the person back for one day.

J'onn determines that whoever is staging the truck robberies is trying to build a dirty nuke and all they lack is uranium. 


Dialogue Triumphs

Nyxly: Nia. You're back. Thank goodness. I'm sorry our conversation got interrupted by that vicious owl. We were just about to make a deal.
Nia: Thanks. But no thanks.
Nyxly: I don't understand.
Nia: Nyxly... I don't know you. But I do know that imps on the whole are not to be trusted.
Nyxly: How would you like to be judged by your species, Nia? Aren't you a hero on Earth?
Nia: Yes, but...
Nyxly: I can grant your dearest wish, Nia. And you can end this cycle of tormented dreams, and finally see your mum for hours. Don't you want that?
Nia: Of course I do.
Nyxly: Then let's help each other!
(The owl hoots and flies at Nyxly again.)
Nyxly: That monstrous bird. Get out of here! Shoo!
Owl: The wise understand by themselves, Nia. Fools follow the words of others.
Nyxly: Don't listen to that stupid owl.
Nia: Owls will bring to light what is in the dark. They're symbols of truth.
Nyxly: Nonsense. That is a ferocious bird of prey who's looking at us like a pair of tiny little tasty sparrows. She's trying to divide and conquer us, Nia, so that she can devour us for breakfast.
Nia: I don't think owls are that devious. My mother revered them.
Owl: Wisdom lies not in seeing things, but in seeing through them.
Nyxly: Oh, shut up, you ghoul!

Orlando: I begged Social Services for help... but they didn't listen. And who's gonna rent a place to a guy making minimum wage? So, I tried to rob a store. When you're desperate, you'll do anything. In prison, I believed what they said... that the work-release program would be the answer to Joey and me being together again. It turned out to be another lie. Face it, okay? No one wants to help people like me. (looks to his fellow prisoners) People like them.
Supergirl: I'm an alien on this planet, too. I've seen how hard life can be for the people that the system isn't designed for, how that system can fail those less fortunate. But I promise you, if you come with me, I will do everything in my power to make sure your voices are heard.

Continuity

Nia is having reoccurring memories of crows attacking her as she chases her mother, who is accompanied by an owl, in a swamp.

Princess Nyxly appears in Nia's dream after she leaves it.

Kelly and Alex are unbeatable at Charades. 

Kelly has a new social work case involving a 10 year old alien orphan named Joey Davis, whose brother Orlando is in prison. 

Joey's species have the power to generate electromagnetic pulses.

Andrea has a white board with all the publicly known information about all the Super Friends. The only real mistake is her belief that Brainiac-5 is a shape-shifter (presumably based on Brainiac-5's image inducer and human form.) It also notes that Dream's race is not known and she is believed to be half-human., half-alien. 

CatCo Worldwide Media is now #3 on the media tracker ratings, after having been #8 in 608.

Andrea makes reference to the interviews Supergirl and Dreamer have given in the past when they try to shrug out of interviewing their superhero identities.

Andrea sends Nia home after she falls asleep on her feet during their meeting.

Andrea threatens to have William and Kara writing classifieds and obituaries if they can't get her an interview with a Super Friend within the next day.

William once tried to bluff his way into 10 Downing Street to get an interview with the British Prime Minister by disguising himself as a pizza delivery man.

J'onn calls Kara in to help him investigate a series of truck robberies that appear to have been committed by aliens.

Obscurans and Metalomites do not typically work together, due to some long-standing grudge between their races.

The truck thieves have stolen computer mother bowards, motor oil and steel casings in their previous robberies. Their latest robbery stole ammonium nitrate. This leads J'onn and Kara to conclude they are building a bomb. 

Ms. Hochschild runs the foster home for alien children where Joey Davis is currently living.

Joey has reportedly been picking fights, disobeying the staff and misusing his powers over the past few days. Two days earlier, he knocked out power to the entire block.

Joey gets monthly visitation with his brother, who is currently in Van Kul Prison. 

Ms. Hochschild blames Orlando for being a bad influence on Joey and says Joey started acting up after their last visit.

Kelly notices an intelligent girl named Esme while waiting to see Joey.

Ms. Hochschild has all of the children wearing power dampening cuffs. She says it is a necessary safety precaution, though Joey is a special case as his powers can short out the cuffs.

Joey says his brother had dark circles under his eyes, which can happen if they use their powers too often and they can become sick if they use them too much. He also says his brother is part of a work-release program.

Orlando reportedly robbed a store because he and Joey needed the money to find a place to live after their parents died.

Kara is familiar with the work-release program Orlando is part of from a piece she wrote and an interview she did with the warden. However, the program is supposed to be working with a clothing manufacturer, meaning there's no obvious reason Orlando should be using his EMP powers on the job.

Kara agrees to help Kelly investigate it, while Alex and J'onn focus on the truck thefts.

Nyxly confronts Nia in her dream and claims to have gotten stuck in her dreams by accident, but says she can help Nia and that she needs Nia's help. 
 
Nyxly says she was banished from her dimension and an evil man took her powers, saying she couldn't cross back into her world in her weakened state. She still has some magic, however.

Nyxly asks Nia to help her cross into the real world by using her powers, claiming she can bring Nia's mother back to life for one day in exchange for her help.

The owl in Nia's dream attacks Nyxly before Nia can agree to help her.

The warden of Van Kul Prison thanks Kara for her article and says the Second Chances program has been getting more donations and corporate sponsor offers since it came out.

Warden Kote says there have been on incidents of the alien inmates using their powers and that they are constantly monitored while on the job. He promises to look into Orlando's case.

When Kara asks about interviewing Orlando, the warden says all visits have to be approved two weeks in advance. 

Kelly and Kara try to make an appointment, but Kara uses her super speed to access the prison records. She determines that Orlando is already on his way to a new job.

J'onn determines that the rest of the robbery gang consists of a Toradine and a Dynamorph.

Kara overhears one of the guards threatening Orlando when he says he can be forced to steal, but he won't hurt people.

The alien inmates escape after knocking Supergirl and J'onn down with an energy blast and making their van invisibe.

The news reports that the warden is assuming that the inmates kidnapped the guard that was with them.

Kara believes someone infiltrated the Second Chances program to corrupt it and goes to tell Warden Kote what she overheard and saw.

Kelly second guesses her instincts, saying that Orlando was just put in danger because of her trying to exploit her connection to Kara. However, Alex points out that they wouldn't have discovered the connection between the truck thieves and Orlando if it hadn't been for her caring enough to do all she could to help.

Kelly tells Alex about her dream from 607 and how she thought maybe she could protect people even if she couldn't fight the same threats as the rest of the Super Friends.

Warden Kote refuses to believe that his program has been corrupted and begs Kara not to write about this because it will destroy all the good the Second Chances program is doing. He remains convinced that the criminals in this case went bad and that his guard is a hostage.

Nia says that everything she has heard about imps says they are not to be trusted.

Nyxly appears in Nia's dream again. Again, the owl attacks her, but this time it speaks to Nia and says that the wise understand by themselves but fools follow the words of others. 

Nia says that owls are symbols of the truth in dreams, as they bring things to light in the dark. She also says that her mother revered owls.

The owl also says that wisdom lies not in seeing things but seeing through them.

Kara asks William if he can call his CIA contact to get information on Warde Kote. 

Kara butts heads with Andrea over how she should be doing real reporting instead of chasing the Super Friends around trying to get an interview. Andrea rebuts that they need eyeballs to do their jobs.

Kelly comes to check on Joey to find Ms. Hochschild inflicting pain on him through his power-inhibitor band.

Kelly notes that there are security cameras in the building and says she thinks Ms. Hochschild's bosses would be interested in seeing what is going on in her house. Ms. Hochschild says nobody has time to look at everything that is going on and says she's been working the system longer than Kelly has been alive.

William discovers that Warden Cote has a luxury beach house, luxury cars and a secret off-shore account in the Cayman islands which has been getting regular deposits on a regular basis - none of which seem possible on his publicly recorded salary.

William notes that there's little oversight of privately-owned, for-profit prisons in the United States.

William tracked the prison's contracts from Summerlin Industries through two dozen shell companies, eventually ending with an LLC in Panama registered to Cypress Holdings, which is a front for Brun Mannheim's Intergang.

Kelly goes back to the foster house and hacks the security system to get the footage of Ms. Hochschild hurting Joey.

Warden Cote calls the guard and suggests bringing the inmates back, but he says it is too late for that and that as soon as they get the uranium they can kill the inmates and they'll be in the clear.

The guard also confirms that Bruno Manheim was the one paying for a dirty nuke.

J'onn is able to pick up the trail of the inmates searching known Intergang hideouts.

Kara is able to talk the inmates down on trying to fight back.

William does an on-camera interview with Supergirl about the corruption of the Second Chances program, giving Kara a chance to talk about how the programs do good work even if this one was corrupted to exploit at-risk workers.

Warden Cote and his guard are arrested  as a result of William and Kara's tracking their connections to Intergang.

Kara says she thinks Andrea has a point, but that Supergirl can be used to make people hear about the ugly truths they would ignore otherwise.

Kelly watches as Ms. Hochschild is arrested for child abuse.

Esme thanks Kelly for what she did, having figured out she was the one who helped them.

Orlando is given a full pardon and picks Joey up.

Kelly says she wants to be the new Guardian.

Alex gives her James' helmet, which she says she picked up after seeing Kelly use his shield to protect other people during S509.

Alex also says she will start training Kelly to fight the next day.

In her latest dream, Nia agrees to help Nyxly.


Untelevised Adventures

At the same time the events of this episode are occurring, Brainiac-5 is piloting Zor-El to Argo City.

Lena is still looking for information about her birth mother.


The Kryptonite Factor

Nia's decision to help Nyxly comes out of left field.


The Bottom Line

A surprisingly good episode that tackles a real world problem without getting preachy and brings the two halves of Kara's life together in a way that works. Shame the Dreamer subplot seems like it was added into the episode at the last minute and is completely separated from everything else. 

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

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

Plot

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

Influences

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


Goofs

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

Performances

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


Artistry

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

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


Super Trivia

This episode was directed by David Harewood.

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


Technobabble

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

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

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

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


Dialogue Triumphs

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

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

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

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

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

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

Continuity

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

J'onn fights the Phantom and contains it, 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Location

The Phantom Zone


Untelevised Adventures

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


The Bottom Line

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

Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 6, Episode 6 - Prom Again!

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

Plot

The mission to recover a sample of Kara's DNA becomes more complicated when Nia and Brainy are captured by aliens looking for rare species for their zoo. Unfortunately, even if they can win free and not disrupt the timeline and Kara's senior prom, a young Cat Grant could still spoil the whole thing.

Influences

Back To The Future (the time-travel theme and the school dance in a small town setting), the show Riverdale (Kara and Kenny solving mysteries in a small town setting), the Guardians of the Galaxy movies (Naxim Tork appears to be somewhat modeled on Michael Rooker's Yondu) and the Superman: The Animated Series episode "The Main Man." (Storyline involves an alien zookeeper hunting for a Kryptonian.)


Goofs

During the scene where Kara and Kenny exchange corsages, the song "Bulletproof" by La Roux plays in the background. The song was released on June 21, 2009 but Kara and Kenny's prom takes place on May 26, 2009. (Perhaps the release date is different in the Arrowverse?)  

Logically, there should be an extra Kara now running around the timeline one-hour before the meteor strike after Brainy, Nia and Kara return from earlier that afternoon.(Maybe the extra Kara was erased from the timeline after she was done saving Nia and Brainy?)

Performances

Again, Isabela Vidovic is so stunning as a teenage Kara you almost can't believe she isn't Melissa Benoist brought back in time.

The chemistry between Jesse Rath and Nicole Maines sizzles.


Super Trivia

This episode marks Chyler Leigh's debut as a director.


Technobabble

The force-field which Naxim Tork uses is a power-dampener that inhibits alien powers. However, a blast of Kryptonian heat vision from outside the field is enough to disrupt it.

Naltorians can experience dream echoes of visions they'd had previously when exposed to the energy of a Bismolian ship. 

Bismolian energy is trackable for half a light year. 

Nia can use her powers to put a person to sleep.

A bridging connector in the right place can blow the fuse in an energizer. 


Dialogue Triumphs

(Kenny is rather depressed over his ability to be useful in an alien prison.)
Kenny: The question is, how'd I get in here. Oh, that's right. I tried to take on the big dogs and be a hero for my girlfriend. Except I forgot that you can't take on the big dogs when you're just a dumb, human squeaky toy.
Cat: Stop that. And you listen to me, Kendall Li!
Kenny: It's Kenny
Cat: First things first. Cut the self-deprecating drivel. You're not a dumb, squeaky toy.
Kenny: You don't even know me!
Cat: I am a journalist, trained in the art of observation. In two minutes flat, I could see that you are preternaturally intelligent and deeply courageous. How many men would sacrifice themselves to hostile aliens to save their girlfriend? Damn few. And how many of them would know that a bridge connector could hack spaceship technology? None. You've got the makings of a hero, Kendall. Own it. 

Nia: How's it looking? 

Brainy: Ah, not bad. In almost every scenario I can devise, we have a success rate of nearly 20%. 

Nia: That's a failure rate of 80 %. 

Brainy: (forced cheer) Oh, yes It's terrible. 

Brainy: We have irrevocably changed space and time.
Nia: You say that a lot.
Brainy: Yes, but this time it's true!

Kara: It was awful. Under those police-issued flashlights, with the reporter asking me questions and... and the cops coming in. In that moment, I saw my future, and I'm only 17! I don't know anything. I... I don't have a driving permit. Eliza's only let me do the laundry once... and I'm not even sure I know how to make rice. I don't know what I want my future to look like, but that wasn't it. So, please, let me help you find the reporter and change things back. 

(Brainy has just been asked by a young Alex what is going on.)
Brainy: It is a wild story. It involves alien hunters, large explosions... and, well, an excess of formal wear. So, at times, it may seem improbable. 

(Nia is trying to cover while talking to Cat.)
Nia: I'm just a journalism major at a local college.
Cat: (eying Nia's gown) It's a bit formal for college.
Nia: I'm minoring in performance art. 

Brainy: You were great today.
(Nia looks down, embarrassed. Brainy sits down next to her, looking her in the eyes.)
Brainy: No. Hey, Nia. You were. You conjured the dream world into reality... and you interpreted your dream about Cat, and used that information to save the space-time continuum.
Nia: I was only able to interpret my dream because I've lived through Cat Grant.
(Brainy leans in and kisses Nia, cutting her off. She's stunned. He looks at her, love in his eyes, as he continues.)
Brainy: You saved us. And when we save Supergirl from the Phantom Zone, it will be because of you.
(Nia smiles and meets his gaze. Tears are welling up in his eyes.)
Nia: Brainy, are you crying? 

Brainy: (chuckles and rubs his eyes) It's just... (deep breath) I've been so consumed with negative emotions lately, I... I forgot how the good ones felt. Maybe that's the lesson of high school. You're not meant to suppress the bad emotions, you're simply meant to endure them. So you can appreciate the good ones when they come.
Nia: Mmm. What are you feeling now?
(Brainy hits the ignition of the ship, sending them back to the future.)
Brainy: Hopeful. 


Continuity

Kara overhears Brainy and Nia being captured by Naxim Tork while at the barn with Kenny.

Kara flies to them while Kenny runs through the woods.

Kenny runs into Alex, who was called by Nia, on his way through the forest.

One of Kenny and Kara's maneuvers is Speed Racer, where Kara moves past a target at super-speed to distract them. She does this to Naxim Tork.

Cat Grant films the fight between Kara and Naxim Tork with a drone.

Alex, Nia and Brainy get to see Kenny's barn lair as well.

Brainy lies and says that he's contacted the proper intergalactic authorities to make sure Naxim Tork is imprisoned. In truth, he has them imprisoned inside their ship, cloaked it, and plans to send them to Uruguay where they can be captured in three days by the DEO, per the original timeline.

Nia has another dream vision of the cage. This time it is empty and she doesn't hear the pink cougar behind her until it is too late.

Alex apologizes to Kara for pushing her to make a choice about Kenny and college. She says she was afraid she'd have to put her life on hold to look after Kara, but she thinks Kara can handle anything that comes her way now.

Kara says she's made a choice but hopes it is the right one.

Alex goes to watch the meteor shower while Kara goes to meet Kenny.

Kara decides to go to the prom without a mask, despite it being a masquerade ball.

Brainy and Nia share a dance on-board the Legion ship after changing into new formal attire.

Cat Grant is able to uncloak Naxim Tork's ship by throwing rocks at it. She then somehow manages to open it up by randomly pushing buttons.

Naxim Tork takes Cat Grant prisoner.

Cat Grant was still using a Blackberry phone in 2009.

Kara tells Kenny that she loves him and wants to stay in Midvale with him.

Somehow, things are different when Kara hits the meteor this time. She still crashes through the roof of the Midvale High gym, but it fragments in a way that the piece with her blood on it doesn't wind up on the baseball field, as Brainy predicted.

Kara survives the Kryptonite exposure, but is left powerless as Maxim Tork shows up, demanding the Kryptonian surrender themself.

Kenny turns himself over to Tork.

Alex does not know what Kryptonite is at this point in time and neither does Kara.

Nia and Brainy tell Kara that they will rescue Kenny and knock her out with Nia's powers to prevent her from turning herself in to Tork to get Kenny freed. They also lock her and Alex in a closet.

Alex learned how to pick locks in college.

Kara gets a second wind after stepping into direct moonlight.

Nia has another dream vision of the empty cage and the cougar behind her. This time, she manages to catch the cougar with her powers and sees two initials - PW - engraved on the cage.

Nia manifests another new power - the ability to bring objects from her dream into the real world. Brainy refers to this as lucid dreaming. She sets the pink cougar loose on Naxim Tork and Mitch.

Upon finding out Cat Grant has been captured along with Kenny Li, Nia realizes what her dream meant. The pink cougar was symbolic of Cat Grant and her being the real threat to Kara's future.

Kara attacks Naxim Tork and Mitch on their ship. She accidentally punches them into a control panel which releases all the creatures on the lower level of the ship. This includes a nest of Plutonian land sharks.

Naxim Tork and Mitch use an escape pod to flee the scene of the fight.

The Midvale police show up and surround the alien ship, arresting Alex, Kenny and Cat as they try to leave and Alex as she tries to run to Kara.

Nia points out that they can travel back in time to a few hours earlier and focus on keeping Cat Grant from getting involved to prevent all this from happening.

Kara breaks her handcuffs and follows after Brainy and Nia, stowing away on their ship.

Brainy reluctantly agrees to let Kara help them change things, but only if she stays close.

Brainy and Kara run into Alex and Kenny in the woods. 

Nia shoots down Cat's drone.

Hearing Cat complain about Perry White leads Nia to realize what the PW on the cage from her dream meant.

Nia talks to Cat and convinces her that she's too good to keep working for Perry White and that she doesn't need to prove anything to him. This inspires Cat to quit working for the Daily Planet and to start building CatCo Worldwide Media.

Kara and Brainy are able to get Alex and Kenny to go back to where they need to be going, without any questions being asked about why Kara is already in her formal wear.

Brainy, Kara and Nia are taken back to one hour before the meteor almost hit the school.

Cat Grant quits her job with the Daily Planet and tells Perry White to stop calling her CJ.

Brainy launches Naxim Tork's ship and sends it off to be retrieved by the DEO.

Kara stops the meteor, as before, but this time it breaks properly, allowing Brainy and Nia to get the piece with her blood on it.

Kara changes her mind about staying in Midvale and tells Kenny that she got accepted to National City University 

Kara asks Kenny to come with her to NCU but he tells Kara that he needs to figure out how to save himself and find a life outside of being her sidekick.

Kara and Kenny abandon the prom for a night of star-gazing and Monty Python.

Nia and Brainy return to the present with Kara's DNA intact. 


Location

Midvale - May 26, 2009


The Bottom Line

While not as strong as the first part, this is still an enjoyable episode thanks to some stellar performances and witty dialogue. This episode makes the case for both a Midvale prequel series and a spin-off for Brainy and Dreamer once Supergirl comes to a close.

Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 6, Episode 5 - Prom Night!

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

Plot

Requiring a sample of Kara's DNA to track her in the Phantom Zone, Brainiac-5 and Dreamer travel back in time to the night of Kara's senior prom; one of the few occasions Alex can recall Kara being injured enough to bleed. Unfortunately, when they arrive a day early and their ship breaks down, they start accidentally altering the past, as a young Cat Grant comes to Midvale chasing a story and two alien poachers start hunting for one of the last Kryptonians. 


Influences

Back To The Future (the time-travel theme and the school dance in a small town setting, specifically evoked by Brainiac-5 as the best example of why you should not visit your own past) Beverly Hills 90210 (Nia and Brainy-5 use the aliases Brenda and Brandon while in the past), the whole "young kid in adult body" film genre, ala 13 Going On 30, Big, etc. (Brainy's going native after a day attending high-school), the show Riverdale (Kara and Kenny solving mysteries in a small town setting), the Guardians of the Galaxy movies (Naxim Tork appears to be somewhat modeled on Michael Rooker's Yondu) and the Superman: The Animated Series episode "The Main Man." (Storyline involves an alien zookeeper hunting for a Kryptonian.)


Goofs

Kara's prom was said to be on May 26, 2009. This was a Tuesday night. Typically proms in the United States are held on Friday or Saturday evening and Kenny specifically says that the night of the dance is a Friday. (The calendar may be different in the Arrowverse.) 

The posters promoting Naxim Tork's Menagerie hung up in his ship are printed in English.

No matter how talented he was, it's highly unlikely Brainiac-5 would be recruited into multiple clubs at the end of the semester.

When Brainy and Nia are looking at the DEO database after Naxim Tork's status changes from Captured to Wanted, the names of their species, "Naltorian" and "Coluan" are misspelled as "Noltorian" and "Caluan".  

If the timeline is changed so that Nia, Brainy and Kara are abducted by Naim Tork, how would the DEO know Nia and Brainy's species? (Perhaps they were able to get DNA traces from the scene?)


Performances

The chemistry between Nicole Maines and Jesse Rath sells this episode.

Izabela Vidovic and Olivia Nikkanen, once again, are picture perfect as the young Kara and Alex.


Artistry

The scene in which teen Kara and Dreamer bond using their powers together is beautiful, from the performances to the effects work to the writing.


Super Trivia

This is the first episode of Supergirl not to feature Melissa Benoist.

As part of the running gag that Brainiac-5 continually gets his research into the past wrong, he says that "wassup" is a common greeting among teenagers in 2009. This is a reference to a Budweiser commercial from 1999, which ran until 2003. 

Brainiac-5 and Nia wear glasses as part of their disguises, in a nod to how Supergirl and Superman hide their secret identities with nothing but a pair of glasses.

Brainiac-5 notes that the ship piloted by Mitch and Tork had a Bismolian energy signature. In the comics, the planet Bismol is the home of a species of metahumans who all developed the ability to eat anything, organic or inorganic, after a microbe rendered most of their organic food supplies toxic. One of the native Bismolians of the 31st Century, Tenzil Kem, went on to join the Legion of Super-Heroes as Matter-Eater Lad.

Brainiac also mentions a planet called Lasma. In the comics, the Lasma were an alien species, also known as the Ayrie, who were plant-based and peaceful. They appeared in The Flash #238 (December 1975).  The Arrowverse version of the Lasma are said to be pacifists and vegetarians. 


Technobabble

Brainy determines where they can get a sample of Kara's DNA without coming into contact with her, based on a survey of satellite imagery on the night of her senior prom. Based on the trajectory of the meteor, he predicts Kara's point of contact. After running those figures through 3D modeling, he produces a rendering of the debris field, and by overlaying that with geologic radiation emissions of that same night, plus, Kara's own biologic markers, he was able to pinpoint the exact location of Kara's DNA  among the debris- center field of Midvale High School's baseball field.

Brainiac-5's primer on 2009 teen slang is somewhat out of date, as he believes the words"chillax," "flossy," "totes" and "wassup!" are in wide use.

To fix his ship, Brainiac-5 needs to fix one component and replace the missing dysprosium.

Described as a rare-earth mineral, dysprosium does not occur naturally on its own on Earth. It is atomic number 66 on the Periodic table and is a soft, silver-whiteish metal with a reflective sheen. It is primarily used in the manufacture of lasers, commercial lighting and nuclear reactor control rods.

"Groundhog Day" is a maneuver Kenny and Kara came up with to hide objects by burying them. They use this to hide Brainy's ship, with Kara cutting into the earth with her heat vision, Dreamer pulling it aside with her powers and Brainac-5 moving the ship using his Legion Flight Ring to levitate it.

Kenny Li says they can build a makeshift 3D-printer using an inkjer engine and ABS plastic - both of which are available in the STEM lab at Midvale High.

Naxim Tork's ship has scanners that can distinguish alien species from a distance. He is able to identify Kara, Nia and Brainy as a Kryptonian, a Naltorian and a Coluan respectively. 


Dialogue Triumphs

(Brainiac-5 and Dreamer have excused themselves to have a word in private.)
Brainy: So, these are the exact people we are not supposed to be dealing with.
Nia: Yeah, um, but now, we are dealing with them, so, we have to figure out how to manage the situation.
Brainy: Okay. So, the only management we need is to get them out of here!
(Meanwhile, Alex and Kara have their own argument over what to do.)
Alex: We need to get out of here.
Kara: What?! What are you talking about? We have to help them!
Alex: You just promised you'd stop drawing attention to yourself!
Kara: If their ship is broken, the least we can do is help fix it.
Alex: Even if it means endangering everyone around you?
Kenny: To be fair, they don't seem hostile. I mean, look at how they're dressed.

Young Kara: Alex can be a control freak, but you get used to it. 

Nia: I'm sure I will.

Brainy: There's nothing women like more than physics well applied. That and a modicum of emotional vulnerability.

(Kenny finds Brainiac-5 on the baseball field, in uniform, about to go to bat.)
Kenny: Where have you been? I have been searching for you. I thought we were keeping a low profile.
Brainy: Key events sidelined that goal. I left our STEM lab in search of sustenance and immediately got conscripted by a Glee Club Spartan chief. Needing to preserve my student cover, I agreed. But that led me to getting recruited by your math league, drama guild and Coach Kripkey, who's desperately in need of someone who can switch hit.
Kenny: Wow, that is a lot of exposure.
Brainy: Yes and, given my status, a risky venture, but necessary in order to avoid unwanted attention, or worse, a.m. detention with Mrs. Gormley. But still, I have to say, it has been a revelation. Are you familiar with the emotion of stress?
Kenny: I'm... I'm kind of feeling it right now.
Brainy: Well, I have been struggling with the emotion, and yet, I have been under the impression that my only options were to stress eat or not to stress eat. But now, thanks to your school, I see a cornucopia of approaches. Math leaguers factor, drama clubbers soliloquize, and baseballers hit.
Kenny: Dude, that is fantastic. But now that you've seen all that, do you, uh... do you maybe want to get out of here? Because if Alex finds out, she's going to flip.
Brainy: True. Okay. But how do I exfiltrate? I am a vassal of Coach Kripkey.
Kenny: You just say you're not feeling well and you got to go to the nurse.
Brainy: Oh. Okay, yes. Another method of coping chicanery. Yes, I love it! 

Kara: Alex, wait, please. You can't tell Eliza. I can fix this. I swear!
Alex: Fix this? In less than 24 hours, we have had two alien encounters, one of which was the impetus for a break-in at our mother's place of work, which, if we get found out, will likely be her ex-place of work! Oh, oh, and let's not forget about the reporter who is determined to expose the luckiest town in America as home of the newest alien superhero! So, tell me, Kara, how will you fix this?
Kara: (weakly) Well... who reads the newspaper anymore?
Alex: This is too much for us to handle on our own. We need help and weapons. Lots of them.

Kara: (To Alex) I have seen more solar systems that you have dates, so don't even.

(Cat is in a bar, annoyed because her pictures of Nia did not turn out. A bartender freshens her drink without speaking to her. She sips it and is stunned. She also notices the bartender is cute.)
Cat: Mm. This is palatable.
Bartender: I feel like that might be a compliment, coming from you.
(Cat hmms, not displeased by the attention.)
Bartender: You're a photographer?
Cat: (purring a bit) No. But I do love a dark room.
(They both laugh.)
Cat: I'm a journalist, actually. Here on a big story. You may know my work from the Daily Planet? I am... 

Bartender: Lois Lane!

(There is a long pause as Cat grabs her drink and downs most of it with one gulp. She is clearly NOT pleased with the thought.)
Cat: (icily) Thirsty. 


Dialogue Disasters

Nia: Alex was right. It's freezing.
Brainy: That means that climate change wasn't real then.


Continuity

The night of Kara's senior prom coincided with the Aquanid meteor shower.

Alex recalled that she was back from Stanford on summer break from college.

Alex also recalls it was oddly cold that night and that she dropped Kara off at the dance, which was being held in the Midvale High School Assembly Hall.

A meteor containing a Kryptonite pocket threatened the school, so Kara flew up and punched it. She destroyed the meteor but fell to earth through the roof of the school's new gym, which was still under construction.

Alex recalls that Kara's hand was all cut up and that it was the first time she saw Kara bleed or that Kara had encountered Kryptonite.

Midvale was declared "the luckiest town in America" when Kara was a senior, owing to her and her boyfriend Kenny Li acting to avert a number of disasters using Kara's powers.

J'onn recalls the events of 306 and how Kenny Li died because of a corrupt sheriff running a drug ring in Midvale.

Alex says that changed after the Crisis on Infinite Earths. While Kenny Li died in the history of Earth-38, he lived in Earth-Prime and became Kara's high-school sweetheart. 

Brainiac-5 says that only he and Nia can safely travel to the Midvale of the past, given the problems caused by meeting yourself in another time period. These problems were fully explained in Legends of Tomorrow in L217.

Nia's mother made her and her sister write an essay about the etymology of the phrase "wassup" to show how ridiculous it was.

Brainy is still stress eating, perhaps remembering how badly he maculated the last time he time-traveled and wound up hibernating for thousands of years.

Alex is putting off taking a trip to Europe, which she had planned to do while in college. She has not told Kara why.

Kara has been accepted to National City University, but hasn't told Kenny, who thinks they are going to Midvale College together in the fall of 2009. She's still uncertain if she'll go to her dream college or stay with Kenny in Midvale.

Cat Grant came to Midvale in 2009 to investigate just why it was so lucky, theorizing it had a secret superhero.

Metropolis is a three hour drive away from Midvale.

Brainy and Nia crash in Midvale High School's baseball field on the evening of May 25, 2009. Kara hears their ship coming and goes to investigate with Alex and Kenny.

Brainy and Nia claim to be psychic aliens from the planet Psycon to explain their knowing English and knowing Kara's name. They also explain away their being dressed for prom by saying it is their custom to dress formally when visiting another planet.

Kara and Kenny offer to help Brain and Nia fix their ship, despite Alex's reservations.

Nia lies and says that she and Brainy are fleeing a dying planet, like Kara fled Krypton.

Kara also reveals her Kryptonian heritage to Nia and Brainy.

Alex says they may be able to get a dysprosium geode from the Rare Earth exhibit at the museum attached to her mother's lab at Midvale College. 

Nia agrees to sleep over with Kara for the night while Brainac-5 stays with Kenny.

Professor Naxim Tork manages a zoo, Naxim Tork's Menagerie, which collects rare species. He and his assistant Mitch have traveled to Earth seeking a Kryptonian for his collection.

Kenny Li sometimes helps his mother by doing the books for her shop.

To rebuild the broken part for his ship, Brainiac-5 needs a 3-D printer. However, it completely escapes his mind that 3-D printers were not widely available in 2009.

When Kara asks Nia about her family, she tells the truth: her mother is passed away, her father is still alive and she has a sister whom she doesn't really talk to at all anymore.

Kara shows Nia the necklace that belonged to her mom.

Nia tells Kara that her powers (apart from being psychic and moving the earth with her mind) including making bubbles that are as strong as anything.

Alex agrees to help Nia and Kara sneak into Midvale college using her mother's ID to get to the Rare Earth minerals exhibit.

Nia has a dream vision of a pink panther in a cage. 

Brainiac-5 briefly mentions a planet called Neuron, which orbits a black hole and is shrouded in near total darkness. He once had to assemble a broken part under those conditions, so having to work in a school lab with the lights out doesn't concern him.

Kenny has plans to continue having adventures with Kara and dreams of going to space someday.

Kenny reveals to Brainac-5 that he made a secret base for himself and Kara to work out of, having heard rumors of Superman's Fortress of Solitude.

Kenny and Brain are able to get the printer set up to work, but it will take several hours to make the replacement part.

Cat Grant writes professional under the name C.J. Grant. She writes a gossip column for The Daily Planet, but wants to get into writing hard news exposés like Lois Lane.

Cat lies to Perry White on the phone about having an interview lined up.

Cat Grant sees Alex, mistaking her for her mom, and asks to interview her about one of the miracles that occurred at Midvale College - a support column becoming dislodged during construction and somehow being moved back into place before it could crush a nearby group of students.

Alex dismisses the story of the miracle as just a story, displeasing Cat.

Brainiac-5 leaves the STEM lab to get a snack and winds up shouting at a vending machine that eats his dollar. His projection gets the attention of a choir teacher, who recruits him as a tenor for the Glee Club.

Kara and Nia are able to retrieve the dysprosium geode with no problems.

Kenny finds Brainy on the baseball field, having been recruited to the team, which needed a switch-hitter.

Brainy was also, having been forced to pose as a student, recruited into the Math League and the Drama Guild. He went along with it because the activity was a great way of relieving his stress beyond stress-eating.

Alex, Kara and Nia are almost hit by an out of control gas tanker.

Nia has a vision which reveals that the tanker doesn't have a driver.

Mitch and Naxim Tork apparently set up the tanker hoping to get the attention of their Kryptonian, based on the logic that these disasters always get a Kryptonian to show up.

Cat Grant sees the out-of-control tanker and tries to take a picture of it, spitting Nia entering the truck and catching a glimpse of her blue energy whip.

Kara is able to stop the tanker, using her ice breath on the wheels of the tanker.

Naxim Tork is unable to capture Kara, due to Brainiac-5 arriving with a scanner that his ship detects. He and Mitch flee rather than risk being identified.

Nia once again has the vision of a pink panther or cougar in a cage.

Nia tries calling her mother and gets her answering machine.

Alex and Kara get into a fight about what to do next. Alex wants to call her mother and get someone from the DEO to deal with Nia and Brainy. Kara wants to try and fix it herself

Alex reveals that the reason she didn't take her trip to Europe was because Eliza was worried about Kara.

Brainy figures out that whoever was watching them had an encounter with the DEO, so he hacks the  DEO Database to try and figure out who they are dealing with.

According to the DEO records, there are two aliens known to be using Bismolian ships. One is an herbalist named Saphrex Col from Lasma. They are 200 years old and wanted for theft of the Bismolian ship, gathering plants considered to be contraband and the illegal manufacture of drugs made from said plants.

The other alien the DEO knows to be using a Bismolian ship is Naxim Tork, home world unknown, who runs a cosmic menagerie. Tork is 400 years old and is wanted in connection with a number of trafficking schemes. He has previously been convicted of killing various endangered species and wearing tacky sequined shirts. (It is not noted where this is a crime.)

Tork's aliases include Mr. T, the Alien King and The Ringmaster.

Nia concludes her dreams were trying to warn her about Tork.

The original DEO record indicated that Tork was captured in Uruguay on May 29, 2009. However, the record changes, indicating a change to the timeline, 

In the new record, Tork is not captured and is now wanted in connection with the kidnapping of a Kryptonian, a Coluan and a Naltorian. 

Nia's dream energy is revealed not to show up on film, making Cat's pictures worthless.

Kenny shows Kara the lair he made for them in Old Man Watson's old barn.

Nia tells Brainy that she called her mom, hoping hearing her voice might inspire her.

Nia was not part of a clique when she was in high school. She mostly tried to keep to herself.

Nia copes with stress by singing her favorite song, "Nine to Five" by Dolly Parton.

The lair Kenny made contains the log where he and Kara shared their first kiss and carved their initials into the bark.

Nia and Brainy are ambushed after tracking Naxim Tork's ship.


Location

Midvale - May 26, 2009.

Untelevised Adventures

Kara and Kenny Li became a couple in the Post-Crisis timeline and had many adventures helping people in Midvale using Kara's powers discretely. 

Professor Naxim Tork and Mitch attempted to capture Superman at one point and it did not go well for them, though they did manage to escape.


The Bottom Line

An entertaining episode and easily the best of the season so far, largely because of the streamlined cast. It does still feel somewhat overstuffed, with both Cat Grant and Naxim Tork set up as villains but neither one really given a chance to do much. It's worth it to see the young Alex and Kara again, however, and more of Nia and Brainy is always welcome.

Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 15 - Reality Bytes

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


Plot

A transphobic troll begins attacking trans women through a dating app (including Nia's roommate) and threatens to keep doing it unless Dreamer quits being a superhero. As Kara tries to stop Nia from going over the edge in dealing with the wannabe super-villain, J'onn, Alex and Kelly search for a missing man who may have been abducted and is being held hostage in a virtual world in Obsidian Platinum.


Influences

Various 1990s horror stories built around virtual reality. The title is taken from the 1994 drama Reality Bites.

Goofs

Despite fretting over whether to wear a blue or purple shirt on her date with William, Kara winds up wearing the purple shirt after Alex told her to wear the blue and that blue is her best color.

Yvette is written as the stupidest woman on the planet, not thinking anything is weird about some strange man knowing her virtual boyfriend's name when he approaches her in a bar or when he later approaches her in an alley.

In fact, the only person stupider than Yvette in this episode is the bigot himself, who doesn't really think through the logistical problems of calling out a superhero with actual powers and attacking people who claim to know her on-line. He seems honestly stunned with Dreamer finds him and is able to overpower him easily.

Ignoring the reasons outlined in the episode, it seems incredibly stupid for Obsidian Platinum to operate without rules or without some kind of virtual sysop inside the game to monitor for things like, say, a serial killer/rapist attempting to make his fantasies a reality and targeting other players.

It seems unlikely that there are only 200 anti-trans message boards and social media groups on the entire Internet or that the sum total of their postings could be fit onto a single portable flash drive. Even allowing that the DEO and Brainiac-5 may have some wonderfully huge portable drives.

Yvette's decision to delete all her social media seems to be a bad lesson for this fable. As written, it seems like the episode is saying that dating apps are evil; not bigots, trolls and stalkers who use dating apps as a means of locating potential victims.

The closing montage set to "Everybody Hurts" would be a bit more powerful had the episode ended with Alex and Kara learning of Jerimaih's death rather than most of the song being played over Margot wheeling away Richard Bates.


Performances

Nicole Maines gives a powerful performance in the early scenes and you really feel Nia's rage at the bigot trying to stop her from being a hero and her frustration with Kara's well-meaning but misplaced efforts at empathy and her trying to give a "there's nothing we can't overcome together" speech at the worst possible time to be a clueless but well-meaning ally.

At the same time, Melissa Benoist does a great job in the early scenes trying to convey earnest empathy while realizing that she's not in a place where she can offer moral judgement, as much as it kills her that there are some things she can't solve with a speech about hope and some villains who can't be redeemed.


Super Trivia

Reference is made to the nation of Quarac, which is ruled by a royal family on Earth-Prime. In the DC Comics universe, Quarac is a fictional nation in the Middle East.

J'onn travels to Opal City following the psychic trail attached to Trevor Crane. In the DC Comics universe, Opal City is the home town of the first superhero to use the name Starman, Ted Knight. It was the main setting of the 1994 Starman series.

Jennifer Bates is played by actress Anna Van Hooft, who appeared in a season 1 episode of Arrow as a woman named Jenn who was mistaken for Sara Lance in a photo Dinah Lance believed proved her daughter was alive. Jenn was said to be engaged to be married, suggesting that maybe Jenn is Jennifer eight years later.on Earth-Prime.


Technobabble

There is a fail-safe tied to the bio-metrics of the user of Obsidian Platinum's lenses, that is meant to manifest a button the user can push to end the simulation when they are feeling unduly stressed.

The Hand of the Soldier is apparently capable of generating an electrical shock strong enough for a Kryptonian on Earth to feel it, as Alex is apparently able to teasingly shock Kara with it.

The Martian DNA inside the Hand of the Soldier should code itself to Alex's bio-electric impulses, allowing her to morph it with a single thought once she allows it into her.

Obsidian Platinum connects to a person's biology rather than acting through a link to their brain. It causes everything they experience to feel real.

Advanced Obsidian Platinum users can customize the virtual world but it takes time for the additions to be cataloged by the games' manager.  As such, there are some places (like The Escape Palace) where the people running the game have no clue what is going on.

Kelly says the Escape Palace draws upon a user's worst fears, making everyone perceive if differently. In Alex's case, she sees it as a series of tanks like the one she nearly drowned in.

One DEO agent reports to Brainiac-5 that she found over 200 anti-trans social media groups and message boards on the Internet and fit them onto a single portable drive.

Richard Bates is somehow able to customize his rooms in Obsidian Platinum to block remote monitoring.

According to Kelly, Alex should not have been able to blast Richard out of Obsidian Platinum.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Regarding the Martian Hand of the Soldier weapon J'onn gave Alex.)
Alex: This thing is supposed to know what I'm thinking, but it's being very stubborn.
Kara: (grinning) Well, like soldier, like hand.
(Alex raises her wrist at Kara and makes a buzzing noise. Kara jumps back as if shocked as Alex laughs.)

Nia: He wants me to stop being a superhero. He's going after my community to bully me into it.
Kara: Listen to me, Nia, listen. We will find this guy
Nia: Yeah, we will. And when we do, I'll bury him.
Kara: (shocked) Nia! Look, I... I... (sighs) I know this is a personal attack, but you have to trust that when we find this guy the cops are going to put him behind bars.
Nia: (exasperated) Kara, I love you, but do not tell me what I can and can't do right now. There is no catching this guy and redeeming him. There is no "hope speech" that can make this better!
Kara: Nia -
Nia: (firmly) No. Look, my community is vulnerable. This happens more than you could possibly know. And there are guys, just like this jerk out there, who want to hurt us. They want us to hide and to be afraid to be who we are. They want us to disappear and it happens. Every. Day.
Kara: I know. And what this guy did was horrible-
Nia: He's not the first and he won't be the last. We haven't exactly been a priority for the cops. So, just trust me when I say that I am the one protecting this community. And now this bastard is going after my community trying to erase me? No. No, this guy is over!
Kara: (shaken) Look, I know that you're hurting right now. And I know I'll never fully understand. But between us and the cops, we will make sure justice is served. Nia? Just give us a chance?
Nia: Fine. A few hours. Then I'm doing this my way.

Kara: I know sometimes being the good guy sucks. Especially when you know how easy it would be to get rid of someone so vile and full of hate. But, hey not doing that? That is what makes us different from them.


Dialogue Disasters

(Kara and William write a story together and we get the clunkiest message delivery ever.)
Kara: (reading) "Over 24 trans people have been murdered in this country in the past year."
William: The true number's likely much higher. Many of these attacks are misreported because victims are misgendered in police reports.

Dreamer: You make me sick.
Bigot: No, you make me sick you twisted freak! You show up on the scene one day tricking dudes into thinking you're this hot new superhero! The girl next door! But heroes are supposed to be virtuous and honest! And here you are - lying!


Continuity

Two months earlier, a man named Richard Bates testing  a virtual ski vacation in Obsidian Platinum's beta became trapped inside the game when the End Simulation button failed to manifest.

Kelly Olsen was overseeing Bates' experience. She promised to report the error, before Bates was led away by Margot, the woman with Leviathan.

Supergirl and Dreamer fight a Dominator together, just before Kara's first date with William Dey.

Brainiac-5 is distant yet formal to Dreamer when the DEO shows up to secure the scene after the fight.

Kara hasn't had a date in two and a half years.

According to the news, Lex Luthor just had dinner with Crown Prince Raakaan el-Farah of Qurac and, per his advice, Obsidian Platinum will soon be available in that nation.

Alex is still having issues training with the Martian Hand of the Soldier weapon.

Nia's roommate Yvette has a profile on a dating app called Upswipz. This was the same dating app made by the tech company Ray Palmer briefly worked for in L301.

Yvette has been seeing a man she met on-line exclusively for three weeks. She's going to meet him in person for the first time at a club that night and she wants Nia to go with her.

Yvette does not know that Nia is Dreamer or that Nia's ex "Barney" is a DEO agent and an alien from the future.

Yvette describes herself on her Upswipz's profile as Dreamer's best friend.

Kara and William go to a pool hall on their date. Kara claims she's only played 8-Ball one time in her life, but manages a near perfect shot.

Nia has a flash at the bar of blood being on her hands.

Yvette is approached by a man who somehow knows about Angus and doesn't take the hint when she asks about her being spoken for just before she gets a message from Angus telling her to meet her outside. She still seems to have no idea what is going on when the same man approaches her and talks about Angus standing her up.

Nia has another vision in the bathroom of Yvette being attacked.

The bigot leaves a note with Yvette that is addressed to Dreamer, saying the world doesn't want a trans superhero and that unless she quits he'll keep attacking trans women.

The police put together a sketch of what the bigot looks like.

Nia agrees to wait a few hours to give Kara and the police a chance to find the bigot before she goes off on her own.

Al, who runs Al's Dive Bar, comes to J'onn and asks for his help in finding his brother, Trevor, who has been missing for a week.

Trevor lives in Al's basement and spends a lot of time on-line.

Trevor's given name is Trevor Crane.

Al called the police but the only lead they found was an invitation on Trevor's computer to go to a weekend escape experience in the Virtual Las Vegas inside Obsidian Platinum. The police think Trevor is a hotel room somewhere on a VR party binge.

Trevor  apparently just started using Obsidian Platinum and apparently had met some friends somewhere called The Escape Palace.

Alex determines that Trevor must have paid cash for his hotel room since there's no credit card records of him checking in somewhere.

Kara asks Brainiac-5 to use the DEO's facial-recognition software to identity the bigot that is looking for Dreamer.

Kelly sets Alex up with a set of Obsidian Platinum lenses.

According to Kelly, Obsidian Platinum sets up a number of potential scenarios based on your own thoughts and desires before you enter the game world proper. In Alex's case, it appears that three of her scenarios involve being Supergirl, working as a doctor or having a baby.

There are no rules inside the Obsidian Platinum world.

The virtual Vegas experience has a virtual Siegfried and Roy show.

NPCs in Obsidian Platinum can be identified by the three lines on their neck. The NPCs are AIs run by the

Al says Trevor has spent that last few months in VR instead of spending time with him.

Al gives J'onn a watch that he gave him as a gift to mark their first year on Earth together. Trevor wore it every day until he got a smart watch, hoping J'onn can use it to psychically track him.

J'onn finds the names of two of Trevor's friends avatars on Obsidian Platinum.

One of the Obsidian Platinum users identifies The Escape Palace as a creepy haunted house located in the hills just outside Virtual Vegas.

Alice finds two of Trevor's friends trapped inside a flooding magician's tank, similar to the one she was stuck inside in 219.

Trevor's friends claim they were stuck inside the room for days. They say they last saw Trevor escape from their room with a new player named Richard, who had started hanging out with them.

Richard was the one who suggested everyone try the Escape Palace experience.

J'onn travels to Opal City, to a house he feels is connected to Trevor somehow.

The house belongs to Jennifer Bates, Richard Bate's wife, who was having a virtual affair with Trevor Crane.

Nia calls the detective working Yvette's case, but he hasn't made any progress.

Nia creates a profile on Upswpiez to get the bigot's attention.

Richard Bates is revealed to be a computer engineer who began exploring the technical specifics of how Obsidian Platinum worked.

Brainiac-5 is searching everything on the Internet relating to Dreamer and finds Nia's dating profile.

Alex breaks into one room in the virtual world and is cut off from Kelly in the real world.

Kara and William work on the story of Yvette's attack together.

Brainiac-5 calls Kara and tells her that he thinks Nia is trying to use herself as bait to attract the bigot.

The bigot's ID on Upswipez is GoodTimes1995.

The room Trevor is trapped in causes his virtual avatar to blow up like he was standing on a land mine and be reformed in a painful fashion, over and over. He says Richard Bates keeps coming back to the room to watch him explode over and over.

Alex is able to force Richard Bates out of the virtual world by shooting him with an imaginary taser.

J'onn tracks down Richard Bates in the real world, in Room 10 of the Coastline Motel.

After Bates tries attacking J'onn, his eyes become red-rimmed and he seems to hallucinate the world changing around J'onn.

Alex talks Trevor down and gets him to retake control of his body.

Trevor is at the National City Grand, Room 315.

According to Kelly, Alex should not have been able to blast Richard out of Obsidian Platinum. Alex says they can figure it out later.

Nia ambushes the bigot, who seems stunned that Dreamer came looking for him.

The bigot's name is Gregory Bauer.

Nia confesses to Kara that she's hurting far worse than she let on because of Brainiac-5 dumping her and like she's lost control of her life and going after the bigot was something she could do.

Kelly and Alex agree that virutal cheating counts as cheating and that virtual torture is real attempted murder.

Kelly says she believes her work can help people but agrees with Alex that VR technology should be regulated and the people allowed to program it limited.

Trevor comes to meet Alex in person and thank her for saving him.

Yvette decides to delete all her social media. She says she's tired of putting herself out there because she should have known better than to trust that most people could accept a trans woman of color or that she could find a man who loved her for her.

Brainaic-5 gives the detective handling Yvettte's case a list of people connected to a group Gregory Bauer was part of that was planning attacks on trans women on-line and identified several users who had claimed credit for several attacks.

Alex is still having trouble getting the Hand of the Soldier to work in the real world.

Alex gets a phone-call from her mother telling her that Jeremiah Danvers has been found dead.

Alex goes to Kara's apartment to tell her the news.

Margot is seen wheeling Richard Bates out of the hospital and placing him in a room with other Obsidian Platinum users - some of whom are somehow floating in mid-air.


Location

Opal City


The Bottom Line

Were it not for some strong performances, this might instantly have been the worst episode of Supergirl ever filmed. As it stands, it definitely has one of the weaker scripts, and surprisingly this is more because of the clunky virtual reality storyline (which would have seemed silly and dated had it been an episode of VR.5) than the Dreamer-focused story about the problem of violence against trans women.

The script is just lazy in the middle parts, with William and Kara literally reading off the statistics about how many trans women have been murdered by bigots. This severely undercuts the good parts of the episode, such as where Nia takes Kara to task for trying to give her usual chirpy optimistic speech about how we can overcome these problems if we work together, neatly ignoring all the people who are actively working to discourage that kind of unity.

It's also bothersome that the lesson taken away from this episode is that you should just stay off social media and close yourself off from the world. Yet none of that is as painful as the tech jargon rattled off by people who don't understand it. The hearts of the writers may have been in the right place, but their heads were somewhere else entirely.