Hello and welcome to the first Supergirl recap of 2019! They really went all in on this first episode back, with some great Alex looks, some Supercorp fanfic fodder, intense action scenes, and a real heart-punch at the end. Despite the Feelings (and certain other things I’ll get to) I really enjoyed this episode, maybe because absence makes the heart grow fonder, or maybe because the back half of this season has potential to be great. Only time will truly tell.
Some story beats you might have forgotten about over the hiatus that will become relevant: Nia came out to Kara as an alien with prophetic dreams, Supergirl was fired from the DEO after refusing to share her true identity, James and Lena fought on Thanksgiving when he realized she bought his freedom and lied about it, and Lena channeled all her extra time into creating supergenes for humans to try theoretically eliminate hate by leveling the playing field.
Oh also there’s a Kasnian Supergirl for reasons we don’t quite know yet. Mostly she’s just been training, and this episode is no different; she’s flinging missiles from the sky and fighting drones and looking good in a tricked out tracksuit.
The Kasnians say they’re working on controlling her, and that she needs to train harder because she’ll be fighting something bigger than tanks.
And then. Kara and Lena. Take a spin class. Together.
Kara is doing her best to pretend this is a good workout for her and resist the temptation to pedal this bike into the sky like Elliot from E.T. and her and Lena catch up after almost two months of not seeing each other. Kara recommends Lena talk to James to make up after their fight FROM THANKSGIVING (which implied to me they’re broken up so why Kara is jock-blocking her own self I’ll never know) and Lena asks what will happen if James doesn’t forgive her and Kara offers to beat him up for her.
Kara hears a distress call so she fakes a leg cramp and flies off to save some military folks on a ship. She saves one officer from an underwater force only to find everyone else on the ship is already dead. She stops a bomb from going off and destroying the boat, and is there when Col. Haley, Alex, and Brainy show up to take over the scene.
Supergirl shares what little information she knows, considering all she saw of the alien was a shimmer, and Alex and Brainy obviously appreciate her help. Col. Haley, not so much.
Stubborn Haley sends Supergirl away, and though Supergirl makes it clear that just because she’s not sanctioned anymore doesn’t mean she won’t be saving people as often as she can, she does leave respectfully enough.
Brainy finds J’onn to ask him to be Supergirl’s Girl Friday and J’onn says he’ll always have Supergirl’s back but until she calls on him, he’ll be setting up shop as a PI. And here I was like, “Oh this is perfect, now James can join him and use his resources to help and not have to date Lena anymore to be connected to the superhero business.” But alas.
Back at the DEO, Col. Haley is still hell-bent on finding out Supergirl’s identity to use as blackmail, so she’s going to interrogate everyone who works there. Alex pulls aside the people she knows could blow this whole thing up and they all promise to stand strong and protect Supergirl’s secret. Alex is very grateful for their dedication.
Alex wants to go talk to the Seal officer Supergirl saved but she’s nowhere to be found. Brainy also can’t find any record of McAllister, one of the dead officers, anywhere.
Alex knows something shady is going on here, so she takes this info back to the Danvers Sisters Feelings Couch, and tells Kara all about the coverup and that Haley is out for blood, so Supergirl should probably stay off the DEO’s radar for a little while.
Alex suggests asking J’onn if he’s ever heard of a shimmering alien, since he was at the DEO longer, and Kara does just that.
Lena goes to CatCo and tells James she feels bad for low-key ghosting him over the past few months.
James, like many men before him, couldn’t empathize with Lena’s situation until something extremely similar happened directly to him, finally understands what Lena tried to tell her with her own mouth last time they really spoke, and apologizes for giving her such a hard time about it.
Meanwhile, Brainy continues his mission to build up an underground Supergirl team and calls Nia and asks her to meet him for dinner. Though it’s awkward and roundabout and Nia thinks he’s asking her on a date, and she accepts, amused, albeit a little confounded, as most people are after an interaction with Brainy.
When Kara gets to J’onn’s PI office, after admiring his new digs, she explains to him that she thought Supergirl being unaffiliated with the DEO would be better for Alex in the long run because she wouldn’t have to protect her anymore, but she’s still having to do it. Kara feels bad about it, but J’onn says something that at first I just accepted as a universal truth, but now I think might become important later: Protecting Kara is in Alex’s DNA.
Kara and J’onn look through the files J’onn somehow has from his time at the DEO even though I’m pretty sure that’s not the kind of thing you can pack up and take with your desk succulent and dog calendar. But Kara learns that the aliens were called the Morae (or the Moirai? I’m getting conflicting reports), and that someone named General Tan had handed this project off to General McAllister, so he’s probably who they need to talk to next. Oh and also involved in this very same secret project? Col. Haley herself.
Alex joins Kara and J’onn on this mission (via motorcycle :fans self:) and they catch him trying to flee; he has already heard about the attacks and knows they’re after him next. They aliens were children when the military found them, and they were trained to be weapons. When the new President stepped into power, he ordered the military to cut ties with all aliens, so they tried to neutralize them. But the aliens were too strong and they fought back. Supergirl (sweet, naive, ever-hopeful Kara) can’t believe the military would turn on their allies so quickly just because they’re aliens, but even as he flees for his life, Tan seems to feel fine about their decision.
The aliens attack Tan, and Alex and Kara team up to face off with them.
But the aliens seem to be able to adjust once they realize Kara’s x-ray vision can see them as a glimmer, and it’s not until Alex shoots one in the leg that the alien becomes fully visible to them. (They don’t… NOT look like mini Dominators.) Kara tries to talk to the alien but as soon as they hear that she wants to take them back to the DEO, the alien claws at its own heart and kills itself on the spot.
Another alien succeeds in their mission though, so they take off leaving J’onn standing over Tan’s dead body.
Alex marches back to the DEO and confronts Haley about this secret project. She says she’s innocent, and frankly looks a bit startled that Alex is bringing it up, and freely admits to having been part of a project that traumatized baby aliens into being obedient. She says she just didn’t think of it because Supergirl described them as a shimmer, and she had only known them to be fully invisible. And can’t understand why Alex is looking at her like she just admitted to being A LITERAL MONSTER.
Alex can’t believe Haley could be so nonchalant about torturing another sentient being, but Haley doesn’t see aliens as being worthy of respect. The one thing they can agree on is that they don’t really have time to argue, because the aliens in question are probably going to come after Haley next.
Nia and Brainy go out to dinner and when Brainy calls it a meeting, Nia is a little disappointed to realize they weren’t on the same page about this being a date. Brainy states simply that he hadn’t even considered the possibility she would like him because she’s so beautiful, and she admits she’s not sure she does, though there’s the unspoken notion that she wanted to find out for herself. But anyway, she’s also curious about this meeting he called, and so she lets him pitch his idea of her joining Team Supergirl and becoming a superfriend (I hope she’s ready to learn an amazing song).
Nia is hesitant though, because the whole Collinwood situation was pretty intense. Brainy gets a call that he has to go back to the DEO, but leaves her with a story and a binder. The story is of how he once was also faced with two paths, and chose the path of helping, and hasn’t regretted it since. And the binder is costume and code name ideas, because of course it is. Brainy knows Nia has the potential to be super, and wants her to consider it.
At what I imagine is James’ apartment, James is baking for Lena while she works and makes fun of him for attempting challenging desserts.
She confesses that she’s working on something he’ll need to be open minded about and tells him about how close she is to figuring out how to give humans superhuman abilities. She wants James to be her moral compass and help her figure out practical applications and how to keep it from falling into the wrong hands, and he says she has his support, but something tells me that Mr. The-City-Needs-Guardian isn’t going to be the most unbiased party.
At the DEO, Alex is so frustrated working with Haley, and says as much on the phone with Kara. It can be extremely demoralizing when a new boss steps in and is suddenly questioning your every move, doing things you don’t agree with, undermining your authority at every turn. And now without her sister around, Alex is finding it harder to cope. Alex wants to quit right now and go rogue with Kara, but Kara insists that she needs to stay. Without her, Haley goes unchecked. Alex can’t let Haley win. Alex is a bit calmer now; she says that even when Kara isn’t literally by her side, Alex knows she has her back. Always.
So Alex goes to confront Haley again, but when she gets into the interrogation room, one of the agents is sitting there looking guilty as all get out. She cracked. Haley is furious that Alex has not only been keeping Supergirl’s identity from her, but also keeping Alex’s own relationship with her a secret. Alex looks a little scared about what Haley is going to do next, but there’s no more time to discuss it, because the aliens are here.
The DEO agents use a combination of lasers, mist, and paintballs to try to identify where the invisible creatures are. Alex shouting orders is pretty great, but the aliens are very strong and very good at being invisible. Eventually they take one down, but Haley goes off in search of one on her own. She gets attacked but Supergirl saves her, tossing the alien into a containment unit and helping Haley up despite everything.
But instead of being grateful, offering a momentary truce, or anything a person with a heart would do in this situation, she full-on starts blackmailing her. Haley says she knows Supergirl’s true identity, and she’s going to work with the DEO the way the DEO wants her to, or everyone she loves will be put in danger. Watching Haley directly threat her baby sister pushed Alex past her breaking point though, and Alex clocks her one. She immediately looks guilty, but I can’t help but feel like it was a bit cathartic.
Kara and Alex go see J’onn and tell them their predicament, and ask him to erase Haley’s memory of Supergirl’s true identity. He doesn’t really want to, because violating someone’s mind goes against his new pacifist ways, but he realizes desperate times call for desperate measures and agrees to do just this. The sisters are grateful.
Unfortunately, in no time at all, Haley is already back on her bullshit and has what Brainy calls a Truth Seeker. J’onn erased the answer, but couldn’t erase her ever-burning question.
Based on the fact that even Brainy, who can literally forget things for a pre-determined amount of time, seemed a little shook to see the Truth Seeker, they realize they need to take more steps to protect Kara’s secret. They get all the agents who know about Kara to consent to get the knowledge removed from their brains, which is great. But the thing is… they have to remove this knowledge from Alex’s brain, too.
Kara and I both hate this plan a lot. Kara says, “I just came back from a world where you didn’t know who I was. And I say, “Alex you’re a lesbian so I know you’ve seen Season Six of Buffy, surely you can’t think messing with your memory is a good idea!”
Kara tells her to just quit, but Alex knows Kara was right the first time; she has to be the call coming from inside the house on this one.
Alex looks at her little sister, her strong, superhero of a little sister, and asks her to let her do the saving this time. Also, it’s not like she’ll forget her altogether! She’ll still know her sister Kara, and she’ll still know her coworker Supergirl. She just won’t know they’re the same person. Kara still hates this plan, because she’ll have to lie to her sister every day.
Also they reference the first time Kara took Alex flying like once a week, surely it can’t be good for their relationship for Alex to forget it. I understand why Alex wants to do this, but like Kara, after seeing an Alex who didn’t know Kara or Supergirl, I’m nervous for one that doesn’t know Kara IS Supergirl.
The final montage shows Lena and James are back together, Nia getting a phone call from her sister while flipping thoughtfully through the binder Brainy gave her, the agents getting brain wiped and Truth Seeker in action.
Then comes the time for J’onn to erase Alex’s memory. And even though this isn’t goodbye in the traditional sense, Alex and Kara’s relationship as they know it is ending. Their lives as they know them are changing. And there’s no way to know if this is a temporary fix or a permanent solution. As humans, forgetting and being forgotten are often two of our biggest fears. It’s why we take so many pictures, it’s why we try to leave our mark on this world. It’s why we make and tell stories. We don’t want to forget. We don’t want to be forgotten. And here’s Alex, choosing this, for Kara.
Kara can’t watch Alex forget her, so she leaves as J’onn prepares to carefully pluck memories from Alex’s brain. Of flying with her sister when their parents were asleep. Of her and Kara solving their first crime together. Of Kara risking everything to save her when her plane was going down. Of all the times Supergirl was in danger and Alex used their sisterly bond to give her the strength to keep going. And the song sings:
I’m holding on
I’m holding on
I’ll wait until you’re really gone
And try to find another way
But I cannot stay
I once read a theory (I believe that it was on this site) that Jamie Brittain gave Naomi cancer because he had crafted a relationship on “Skins” that nobody seemed to like and instead they all loved Naomily. He killed her out of spite for that. I feel that Queller is doing the same thing for Lames. Nobody really likes it, most people want Supercorp, and instead she’s doubling down out of spite.
I could see that being true. Lames feels so forced that it seems like Katie McGrath doesn’t even buy it.
I’ve been trying to figure out why the writers keep pushing something that’s not there and most fans don’t want. Spite is the only answer that makes any sense.
Are we being punished for not liking Codpiece McPorridge as much as they wanted us to?
It certainly seems like it, but it’s making the show a chore to watch.
Gym was not the context I expected Lena and Kara to be sweaty and out of breath together but I take what they give me. Back to serious business, the ending made me sad.
Someone on Tumblr made available just the audio from the spin cycle class scene, and it’s just….yeah.
Man. I felt a little bummed about Kara and Alex â ’cause I don’t think it’ll stick â but you made me feel REALLY SAD about them. Also you made me laugh out loud multiple times, and I thank you.
I also don’t think it will stick but it still hurt my feelings and I like taking people down with me into my feelings spirals SORRY BOUT IT
Hi,
Iâm just here to mention that not only did the Queer as Folk guys do a spinning class (in which Stephen Amell now aka The Green Arrow had his first gig as the hunky instructor), and the Ladies of the L Word carve out a chunk of their time to spend a very special ep on the road on bikes, but Ellen also went to a spinning class on the TV show of the same name, after she came out and tried to hilariously impress her instructor, who was also gay.
Not to mention Kat having an epiphany during Soul Cycle and rushing off to lay one on Adena on the Bold Type.
So Iâm trying to say, that the writers really,really tried to defang the threatening Supercorp beast that even made Kombucha tasting sound like a dirty pastime.
However, cycling=the gayest.
Also the gayest=Kara in that tanktop.
Hot damn.
I’m pretty sure literally nothing could defang the Supercorp beast.
I’m not really watching the show any more because it’s always going two thousand miles a minute, but I live for these recaps to match up to the onslaught of nonsensical stuff that comes up on my tumblr feed, Valerie Anne. So funny, so much less painful than the actual watching of the sad stuff.
While I don’t think Alex’s mind wipe will stick, there’s this crazy, terrified little part of me that reads into things* and is very concerned that mind-wiped Alex, regardless of how long she sticks around, will be as morally reprehensible as Haley or at least not totally horrified but what Haley thinks are necessary sacrifices and then they will bang and fall in toxic love and Alex will still want to love her after her memory’s wiped and it’ll be karamel-level messy. Look, I’m a worrier. But. They would 10000% just retcon Haley being awful, have Alex wife her up and pat themselves on the back for that quality lesbian rep they finally caved and offered up. Please tell me I’m reaching. Please. (Even though Col Haley is very hot plus that extra villain-y je ne sais quoi that I low key love)
*specifically three things: 1)Alex’s s4 love interest being cast 2)Haley being a regular character for the season, and a recent article suggesting that Queller and co really want her (and Manchester Black) to seem like a redeemable character despite her running alien-Gitmo and 3)the SG writing team’s clear issues with both treating their black characters with a speck of respect and choosing which antiheroes and villians to methodically humanize after they’ve done something horrendous and whether to hold them accountable within the narrative
I seriously hope you’re wrong. For a character to be redeemable there has to be some modicum of their character to like so that that can be later fleshed out or drawn upon to lead them on a path of redemption. Manchester Black is charming so him being redeemable is more than plausible. There is nothing about Haley’s character that is appealing enough to make me think she is even remotely worth liking no matter what the writers drum up.
And on everything that I love, if the writers try to put Haley and Alex together, I might just stop watching the show. I already have to endure the torture that is Lames. I don’t want nor do I need another cringeworthy ship.
I can’t watch this show and not think about my relationship with my sister. We survived our youth together. She’s my best friend. I literally couldn’t stop crying and felt so seen by all the song lyrics. Thank you! <3 <3 <3
My progressive expletive-laden dialogue with my television each time Col. Haley was on screen:
this b*tch
THIS B*TCH
THIS F*CKING B*TCH
THIS RAGGEDY M*THAF*CKIN’ B*TCH (said quite loudly just before Alex punched her…a scene I rewound maybe 3 or 4 times…for cathartic reasons)
I think this was one of the best episodes of the season so far and could have been a million times better with more Lena and less James or at least less James and Lena. Oh, and why can’t Kara be Lena’s moral compass? Never mind…I know.
No that’s fine you can break my heart against the pavement it’s not like I was using it or anything.
I am amazed that Alex waiting that long to punch Haley in the face after she started threatening Kara…
——–
This was quite the setup for the second half of the season. With Red Daughter waiting in the wings, Alex empty, and Lena trying to give humans superpowers, there’s a lot of shrap lying around and the writers are installing very big fans…
——–
One [sister] will disappear. The other will have to live with it…
That spin class honestly seemed like confirmation that the Supergirl writers for sure read Supercorp fanfiction to me.
But also, LISTEN. Alex, James and Kara should join J’onn as PI’s and then they can do a fun noir detective episode. WITH THE NOIR TALKING. You know how they talk – imagine it but with Alex and Kara. I’m ready let’s go.
I’d like to put Haley through a wall. Multiple walls. Unlike Alex – who I’m frankly amazed that it took her this long to knock Haley out cold – I don’t have that much restraint. My tolerance for BS and hypocrisy is much, much lower. Whan an abhorrent character.
‘Let me do the saving…’, noooooooo! What a horrible sacrifice, Alex. She has always protected her sister, to the detriment of her own personal life, because if nothing else blood (or here: found family) is thicker than water. Alex working so hard at the DEO (pre pilot), so that Kara could stay in the super closet and in her opinion safe. I mean, Kara was bound to come out at one point (đ), as Supergirl, but yeah.
As you wrote, Valerie Anne, all those moments big and small where they had each others back because of who they are and what they are meant to be. Stronger together. Erased in one mind wipe. Alex and Kara will still love each other as sisters, which is the one good thing about Alex’s choice. But for Kara it must feel like splitting herself in half, and carrying their shared memories until Alex gets hers back (she has to!). I hope, this won’t break the strongest woman on earth.
I must say, *non-consensual* mind wiping is my least favourite story telling device, could really do without it. But excited for J’onn to explore PI-dom.
Not like they killed her sister in a plane crash…
I’m sure it’ll eventually be fine.
I am beyond annoyed of this push Lena into a relationship storyline, I can careless if they make SuperCorp cannon (lies, I would love it) honestly Lex Luthor never truly held one valid relationship nor did he seek approval from anyone and yet we have Lena Luthor built up with all these insecurities and looking for validation in a man; how is this show supposedly standing up for womenâs rights and being force for feminism when we have Lena relying on James Olsen who I honestly donât believe he even knows how to run a damn company let hold a relationship with any woman who doesnât feed his growing ego. Can we have a fan write-off and let a fan write the show or direct the episode? Because Supergirl needs some kind of change outside of the current writers who are completely oblivious to what the problems of the show are.
Is anyone else still super annoyed (and still contemplating stopping watching) because we don’t get to see amazing queer Alex storylines anymore? I’m waiting…