Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 9 - Supergirl Lives

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





Plot

The search for a missing teenager sends Kara and Mon-El through a portal to an alien world where Roulette has set-up shop as a slave-trader. Unfortunately the red sun of the alien world leaves both of them totally powerless! Meanwhile, back on Earth, Alex blames herself for Kara's disappearance, feeling she's been slacking off on her big-sister duties since falling in love with Maggie Sawyer and Winn suffers from PTSD after his near-death experience while aiding The Guardian.

Influences

Doctor Who (rock quarry and the same two hallway sets used to replicate alien world/alien foretress, mention of transmats), Stargate (the appearance of the portal used by the alien slavers, Winn specifically calls it this), Star Trek (the quarry set for an alien planet, Winn tries to psyche himself up by saying he is not a Red Shirt, Winn's take-down of a Maaldorian soldier with a thrown rock is vintage Shatner Fighting 101)


Goofs

Kara using her heat-vision to create an explosion that flips a van carrying ordinary jewel thieves seems horribly out of character.

How the heck did the two jewel thieves in the back of the van survive the van flipping and remain in good enough condition to run away when the driver, who had a seat-belt on, appeared to be injured from the impact and barely conscious?

For that matter, how did they get out of the van without Supergirl seeing it when she was flying right behind them?

Granting that Roulette in the comics was a consummate capitalist who would do anything to make a profit, it seems odd that the DCTVU version - who was previously established as an anti-alien racist - would be involved in any operation that involved her exploiting fellow humans to benefit alien slavers.

Throwing Winn - a DEO tech support agent with no field training or weapons training that we're aware of - into a hostile alien landscape seems incredibly stupid, even if he WEREN'T showing signs of suffering from PTSD.

It gets worse when Alex leaves Winn behind to guard the star-gate without a partner.


Artistry

The effects used to create Slaver Moon are nice, from the subtle filtering of the light to create the red sun effect to the digital effects to create "the murder castle".


Super Trivia

This episode was directed by filmmaker Kevin Smith - famed for his View Askewniverse and his work writing various Marvel and DC Comic books, including a critically acclaimed run on Green Arrow.

The actress playing the missing girl Izzy is Harley Quinn Smith - Kevin Smith's daughter.

The title of the episode - Supergirl Lives - is a reference to a canceled Superman film titled Superman Lives, which would have been based on The Death of Superman comic story line. Kevin Smith was famously hired to write one draft of Superman Lives.

In the comics, Kryptonians and Daxamites gain super powers under the light of a yellow sun and become like ordinary humans under the light of a red sun. Different stories, however, have depicted the loss of power after moving from a yellow-sun environment to a red-sun environment differently. In some stories, they change back to normal instantly. In other stories, the change is more gradual.

In the DCTVU, Kryptonians and Daxamites lose their powers almost immediately under the light of a red sun.

Reference is made to the creature that Jo is eating as a Thanagarian Snare Beast. This was a term used by Kevin Smith in his Superman Lives script to describe the giant spider-like monster that Superman would have fought at one point. This was due to producer Jon Peters' demand that Superman fight a giant spider at some point in the movie and DC Comics' demand that - if this happened - that the giant spider be called something other than a giant spider.

The alien slavers are referred to as Maaldorians. While there is no alien race known as the Maaldorians in the DC Universe, there is a cosmic villain known as Maaldor The Dark Lord.

We are told Maaldoria is in the Arcturus system.  In the real world, Arcturus is a red giant star, located some 36.7 light years from our sun.

In the Superman novel Last Sun of Krypton by Elliot S! Maggin, Arcturus was revealed to be the Earth name for Rao - the red star which Krypton orbited.


Technobabble

The cover story used by the slavers at the clinic is that they are testing a new-to-market supplement and examining the effect of the supplement on base metabolic rates.

James refers to hearing about a 10-37 code on the police scanner. This is the police code for a suspicious vehicle.

Kara refers to the Bismuth Mountains on the planet Sedenach, where one could have a crystal staircase grow under your feet and lift you up.  Bismuth is Atomic Element 83 on the periodic table. It is a non-toxic heavy metal, weakly radioactive with a half-life more than one billion years times the age of the universe and it is the heaviest element with a stable nucleus. Though rarely occurring in nature, pure bismuth can form a variety of colorful crystals.

J'onn identifies the "star gate" the slavers use as a transmater portal - a way to travel instantaneously between worlds.

Winn is able to track the Transmat's terminus by following the ionization trail.

The air on Maaldoria is toxic to Martians due to some kind of silicate in the atmosphere.

J'onn develops a "yellow sun grenade" - a flash-bang capable of giving a Kryptonian's powers a jump-start in a red-sun environment.


Dialogue Triumphs

Alex: Oh! Hey, what happened to you?!
(Winn forces a smile to his face.)
Winn: I got mugged. And I'm fine...
(Winn winces a bit.)
Winn: And it hurts to smile.

(Kara and Mon-El hear a noise like a plane taking off in the distance.)
Kara: What's that?
Mon-El: Sounds like a short-range shuttle. (tilts his head a bit) That's a troop transport... but where is it going?
Kara: It's probably heading there .
(Kara points to a rather intimidating looking building/ship in the distance.)
Mon-El: Oh. Um... yeah, so we're going...?
Kara: After it.
(Kara starts walking away, resolutely.)
Mon-El: No!  No. No. No.  We are going away from Murder Castle because we don't have our powers anymore!
Kara: And?
Mon-El: ...right.

(Kara and Mon-El watch as their captor prepares a meal.)
Mon-El: That's Thanigarian Snare Beast. And we're the next course.
Jo Gunraf: (shuddering in disgust) Jo Gunraf does not eat bipeds!
(Kara's jaw drops in shock. Mon-El looks surprised as well.)
Mon-El: ... so you speak English?
Jo Gunraf: Oh yes. Jo dissected a human once.
Mon-El: Of course you did.
Jo Gunraf: Learned your tongue. (shudders in disgust again) Hideous pink thing!


Dialogue Disasters

Kara:What's more important than a mother finding her daughter?
Snapper Carr: My coffee, my danish and the five minutes of peace and quiet you stole from me.


Continuity

Mon-El starts working as a bartender at the alien bar.  He refers to the 208 and notes there was a job opening following Lillian Luthor's attack there.

Roulette was last seen in 204.

The planet Barvex has two-headed cannibals.

Kara and her family spent solstices on the planet Sedenach, which hiad Bismuth mountains that would grow under your feet into a crystal staircase that lifted you up. Mon-El also went there once with a girlfriend.

Maaldoria is also known as The Slaver's Moon and Planet 51-Arc-B.

We are are told that carbon-based life forms are sold like animals on Maaldoria. This suggests that the Maaldorians are not carbon-based life-forms.

Some kind of silicate in the air renders its atmosphere toxic to Martians.

The Daxamite royal family bought slaves on Maaldoria, according to Mon-El.

Slavery was legal on Daxam, though Mon-El claims to have been personally against it.

Maaldoria is in the Arcturus system.

Diamonds are incredibly common on Maaldoria.

The alien who buys Kara's party is a Dominator, last seen in the Invasion! crossover.

For some reason, The Dominator gives the order for Mon-El not to be harmed. Indeed, he even bows to him as Mon-El tries to hold off the Maaldorian soldier who is trying to shoot the escaping slaves.

Maggie Sawyer figures out that Kara is Supergirl. Partly because of Alex's reaction when Supergirl went missing and partly because "the glasses don't help."

Mon-El decides he wants to be a superhero.

The hooded aliens from 208 make an appearance, learn Mon-El is on Earth after questioning the slaver posing as a doctor and then kill him.



Location

Maaldoria a.k.a. Slaver's Moon


Untelevised Adventures

Supergirl stopped a bank robbery one week before the events of this episode.


The Fridge Factor

Alex fears she is off her game because she is in love.

Supergirl is kind of an idiot through this episode


The Bottom Line

Cheap, stupid and not in a fun way. You know it's going to be a rough episode when the best aspects of the episode are the comic-relief guest alien and Winn making knowing references to all the other franchises the writers ripped-off. One suspects they got Kevin Smith to direct this episode because whatever else you may say about him, The Smith does know how to work on a budget and all of this episode's money clearly went into the CGI for the aliens and alien ships.

With the same three hallways being used to simulate an alien fortress and a rock quarry simulating the surface of an alien planet, this feels like a classic Doctor Who episode with modern CGI added in. The script has everyone acting out of character, with Alex and Kara being uncharacteristically stupid. The subplots involving Alex and Winn's respective losses of confidence don't ring true and not even Melissa Benoist can't make Kara's speeches here sound inspiring.

Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 4 - Survivors

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



Plot

A DEO sting leads Kara, Alex and Maggie to investigate an underground fighting arena where aliens are forced to do fight to the death for the amusement of high-paying patrons by a woman called Roullette, At the same time, Kara tries to mentor Mon-El and J'onn gets to know the mysterious bartender who seems to be another green Martian.


Influences

The comics of Geoff Johns (he created Roulette for JSA, Miss Martian for Teen Titans and co-wrote a Superman storyline based around Mon-El's arrival on Earth with Richard Donner and James Robinson), the film Eyes Wide Shut (the general aura of Roulette's elite parties, with masks required to enter) and the Superman comics of Gerry Ordway and Roger Stern (character of Draaga).


Goofs

What are the odds that Mon-El would also program his ship to travel to Earth?

Some of the make-up for the aliens in the final confrontation between the DEO and Roulette wouldn't pass muster at a low-rent Star Trek convention.


Performances

David Harewood all but steals this episode as J'onn. Usually reserved, it's a treat to see him let his mask slip a little bit as he tries to open himself up to another of his kind and runs the gamut of emotions as his dreams of meeting another Green Martian and the reality of what they are like collide.

Chris Wood finally gets a chance to reveal Mon-El's personality in this episode and he turns out to be quite the likeable character. While we do see shades of the hedonist Kara accused him of being in his interactions with Winn, there is still honor enough in his character that he is quick to apologize for giving offense. And it says a lot about him that he uses trickery and persuasion on Winn rather than brute force, despite his powers.

Dichen Lachman proves an effective presences as Roulette. There's not much depth to the character, but Lachman plays the devious witch you love to hate perfectly.


Artistry

Fantastic special effects for the opening sequence in which we see the destruction of Daxam.

The effects work for the various aliens during the fight scenes are also impressive.


Super Trivia

This episode originally aired on Halloween Night 2016. Based on the scene with Winn and Mon-El in the bar, this episode also takes place around Halloween.

James Olsen is absent from this episode.

Veronica Sinclair a.k.a. Roulette first appeared in JSA Secret Files #2 (September 2001). She was the granddaughter of the original Roulette - a minor crime boss/casino owner who fought against Terry Sloane a.k.a. Mister Terrific. Veronica established her own underground casino - The House - and catered to an elite clientele willing to finance illegal gambling events such as metahuman death battles. This business brought her into frequent conflict with various heroes, particularly the members of the JSA

The DCTVU version of Roulette appears to be a perfect mirror of her comic-book counterpart. She has the same unique appearance of Roulette from the comics - a slinky red dress with strategically placed holes revealnig a full-body dragon tattoo along her torso.

Miss Martian first appeared in Teen Titans #37 (August 2006). Born to the Martian name M'gann M'orzz, Miss Martian claimed to have been sent to the Vega system in a rocket by her parents during the war between the White Martian and Green Martian species in order to save her. This story was true with one fine detail omitted - M'gann was a White Martian posing as a Green Martian, due to the White Martian's war-like nature and negative attitudes towards them on Earth. M'gann, however, rejected her racial heritage and worked to protect her adopted home.

The DCTVU version of M'gann M'orzz tells J'onn a similar story, only she escaped from one of the concentration camps the White Martians created to hold the Green Martians thanks to the mercy of a White Martian. As with the comics version, this turns out to have been a lie and she truly is a White Martian. It remains to be seen if she is as noble-hearted as her comic book counterpart, but it seems likely that she is the White Martian who defied orders to spare a Green Martian that she mentioned in her story.

Draaga first appeared in Action Comics Annual #2 (May 1989). A powerful alien warrior, Draaga was the undisputed champion of the arena located on Warworld - a mobile artificial planet used as a base by the warlord Mongul. He never knew defeat until he faced a captive Superman, who refused to kill Draaga as per the conditions of the battle set by Mongul. Rather than being grateful, Draaga saw Superman's mercy as the ultimate insult of his strange code of honor, which demanded death in combat at the hands of a worthy foe if not victorious. Since then, he has sparred with Superman seeking either to regain his honor through killing Superman or dying by his hand.

The DCTVU seems similar to his comic-book counterpart in both appearance and power level, being capable of injuring Supergirl. The only real difference is that he doesn't seem to have fought Superman before, telling Kara that he has never killed a Kryptonian before.

In the original DC Comics, both White and Green Martians had the power to phase through solid matter. We see both J'onn and M'gann use this power in this episode.


Technobabble

Maggie Sawyer determines that the Syvillian corpse she found made a habit of fighting, based on months of scar-tissue build-up which had developed on its knuckles. The lack of skin under the fingernails indicate that he was not fighting defensively before his death.

Daxamite hearts are on the opposite side of the body relative to where human hearts are located.


Dialogue Triumphs

(J'onn tells Kara and Alex about his discovering M'gann.)
J'onn: I offered to merge with her in The Martian Way.
Kara: But you guys just met!
J'onn: It's psychically, Kara! The bond is the traditional Martian way of communicating. We...we link minds, share dreams, emotions... memories. We kept no secrets from one another. Imagine a world without ego, selfishness... Without... lies.
Kara: That sounds beautiful.
J'onn: She didn't seem to think so. The moment I talked about it she left. I am grateful to have you both in my life. I truly am. But with Martians, it's ... it's different than talking. Deeper. Deeper than talking. Fuller.  With her, there's a chance that i can live the way I was meant to live.
Alex: Just tell her that.

(Mon-El walks in on Kara talking to the hologram of her mother.)
Kara: Sometimes I just like to come in here to tell her about my day. I know it's not really her, but I... it makes me feel less...
Mon-El: Alone?
Kara: ... yeah.
(There as an uncomfortable silence.)
Mon-El: She is a babe.
Kara: Excuse me?!
Mon-El: Well, your - your mother, I mean.
Kara: Uh - okay?
Mon-El: Winn told me that "babe" is what you call a beautiful woman on Earth. I'm sensing that's not right...
Kara: Maybe don't let Winn teach you too much about women on this planet.

Supergirl: I'm shutting you down, Sinclair.
Roulette: Unlikely.
Supergirl: You're conducting illegal fights!  You're breaking the law!
Roulette: Technically they're not people. They have no rights. So how can I be breaking the law?
Supergirl: Pretty cynical view.
Roulette: Not at all. To these... freakshows?  I'm a savior. I've given them a place to feel special. Find glory. And earn a little cash too. What have you ever given them? Black eyes? All you do is lock them up.
Supergirl: And what about the ones you kidnap and force to fight?!
Roulette: Some of them owe me money. Fighting is just a way of getting squared.
Supergirl: And if they die in the ring?!
Roulette: Plenty more where that came from. See, Michael Vick made a big mistake. People don't care about what happens to aliens... but they do care about dogs.
Supergirl: You're sick.
Roulette: And you're naive. You're not going to change their hearts any more than you're going to change the hearts of the spoiled rich who pay good money to see blood spilled. You can shut down the matches, but only for a little while. Because you can't stop gambling. And you can't stop beings from doing anything it takes to survive. Thing you'll learn about me?  I only play safe bets. And you... little girl... are as safe as they come.

(Supergirl walks into the middle of the stand-off between the NCPD/DEO officers and Roulette and her fighters.)
Supergirl: Things are bad. I know. But fighting amongst each other? That's what they want us to do. Other aliens are not the enemy. (pointing to Roulette) She is! And the more we fight each other, the more we distract ourselves from the real problems. Cadmus? People like Roulette? They say we're dangerous. That's what they want everyone to believe. Don't let them be right about us.
(Roulette turns around to leave. One of her fighters moves to cut her off as Maggie Sawyuer steps forward and starts to cuff Roulette.)
Maggie Sawyer: You're under arrest.
Roulette: (scoffs) For what?
Maggie Sawyer: For operating without a liquor license, for starters.
Supergirl: I'm sure you've figured it out by now, but it's not a good idea to bet against me.


Continuity

Mon-El was a bodyguard to the Daxamite royal family. He was sent to Earth after the Prince trapped him in a single-passenger Kryptonian rocket that had been utilized by Kryptonian ambassadors visiting Daxam at the time of Krypton's destruction.

Garata is a Daxamite sport. It is similar to soccer but is played with dragons.

Syvillians are a peaceful alien race that have formed a society Kara describes as Utopian. She notes that not only do they not usually fight - they barely argue.

M'gann claims that she escaped from the Green Martian concentration camps 300 years earlier after a White Martian took pity on her and helped her escape.  However, this entire story is of questionable truthfulness given what we learn of her background later in the episode. It seems likely that she is the White Martian who "broke rank".

Brevakks are an alien species which grow thorns from their forearms as a biological defense mechanism.

There is only one Brevakk officially registered in National City, per The President's Alien Amnesty Act.

Daxam has hologramatic constructs similar to the hologram of Alura Zor-El.

Thus far, Mon-El is not manifesting any super-powers other than super-strength and super-jumping. He apparently also has an immunity to the effects of alcohol on par with a Kryptonian as well as increased density and durability, based on the reaction of the man who tried punching him in the bar.

Mon-El is confirmed not to have flight, heat-vision, x-ray vision or freeze breath.

According to Mon-El, the highest insult on Daxam is to refuse a toast.

Mon-El once saw Draaga fight on Warworld. He noted that Draaga has favored his left leg ever since taking a knife to a nerve-cluster in his right leg.

Lena Luthor went to the same boarding school as Veronica Sinclair. She didn't like her then or now.

Roulette is ordered released shortly after Maggie Sawyer arrests her.

Maggie Sawyer rejects Alex's offer to go out for a drink, already having a date with another woman.  Alex seems to be jealous.

Kara agrees to take Mon-El under her protection and allow him to leave the DEO base under her suprevision.

It is revealed that M'gann is a White Martian.


The Bottom Line

A solid episode that manages to balance all of its various subplots effectively while tying them into the central theme of survival.