Previously on Supergirl, you may have heard, there was a Crisis, and after that Crisis some folks from some of the Infinite Earths that were destroyed got rocketed to the newly formed Earth Prime, including a bunch of Brainys, including a Lady Brainy who told him that dumping all his emotional connections and working with Lex Luthor is the only way to stop Leviathan.
And so, Brainy does. At the top of this episode, he breaks another Earth’s Winn Schott out of a prison transport bus and takes him to Lex Luthor. It’s all very ominous.
Across town, Kara, Alex, and Kelly are having a breakup feast for Nia, who is trying to put on a brave face about her breakup with Brainy.
I. LOVE. FRIENDSHIP.
They’re all being so cute and supportive and I love it. Nia tries to change the subject and they talk about how they’re all nervous about what Lex is up to instead. ‘
After Brainy delivers Not-Winn to Lex, they have a drink and Lex is impressed Not-Winn managed to get himself arrested within 16 hours of being on this Earth. Not-Winn calls himself the Toyman, like his father, and Lex wants to help him for reasons that will not become clear until later in this episode. He gives Toyman a ticket to ToyCon and access to a nemesis.
Then it’s off to find his sister, who is pissed he stood her up.
Lena looks like she’s about to appear from the shadows to tell a teenager they’ve been chosen for a dangerous destiny.
This Earth doesn’t have the q-waves she needs to complete Non Nocere, and she’s back at square one, and could have used her brother’s genius, evil as it may be. Lex is a little salty because Lena seems to have undersold Leviathan, and Brainy agrees that they’re the biggest threat right now. Brainy promises to abide by Lena’s “nobody gets hurt” rule, so Lena agrees to talk to Andrea to see what she can find out about Leviathan. In return, Lex promises to get her a new source of q-waves.
Lena’s face when she saw Brainy hurt my feelings.
The next day, at ToyCon, Lex is admiring his little action figures when Kara and William approach for a quote, overcompensating for their hatred with a high dose of cheer. That is, until partway through the interview when William “What is Chill” Day starts interrogating Lex instead. So Lex pulls Kara aside and tells her to get her British Ken Doll in line or he’ll make sure he can never report anything again.
“I can’t wait til Lena kills you again.”
He then makes sure she has to destroy whatever she did record by saying “Kara Danvers is Supergirl” into it, which was kind of funny because of how flustered Kara got. And anyway, Kara can’t talk anymore because Alex calls in to tell her that there’s a sniper at ToyCon so she has to go suit up.
Alex and Kara survey the scene and realize that all of this is starting to look oddly familiar…
“It’s like that scene from Aladdin; surely these are real monkeys who have been turned into toys. I CRACKED IT.”
And Kara realizes the toy monkeys are bombs just in time to dive over them and protect everyone. They see Toyman, who looks an awful lot like their friend Winn, but before they can even really begin to wrap their heads around it, another Winn shows up, this one in a Legion ship and with a future suit on.
“Please be the Waverider, please be the Waverider.”
Future Winn frantically tries to ask Brainy for help and Alex talks him down and asks him to explain what’s happening. They learn that Winn has a wife and daughter, and Alex and Kara are so, so happy for him.
LOOK AT THEIR LIL HAPPY FACES
Winn explains that in his timeline, some Time Cops showed up to arrest him for the Toyman’s crimes, and if they don’t stop him, he could mess up Winn’s timeline and make it so he never met his wife and children. I’m not entirely sure how both of those things could be true but I gave up trying to understand the logic of the Arrowverse’s concept of time and space about three seasons of Legends of Tomorrow and two Crises ago.
Brainy offers to help Winn park his Legion ship at the DEO, but Alex doesn’t want Lex to have access to it, so she says she’ll leverage an old friend to put it somewhere. (Should I know who that old friend is? I feel like I should know who that old friend is.)
Winn is confused; why wouldn’t she want Lex Luthor, American Hero, to be near his ship.
When I call myself queer and a straight person tries to tell me that word is offensive and I shouldn’t use it.
The Danvers sisters decide they need J’onn to fill Winn’s memories in ASAP.
Over at CatCo, Lena goes to talk to Andrea about Leviathan.
You’re really going to tell me she wore this outfit and wasn’t intending to seduce Andrea if that’s what it took?
Andrea is relieved to not have to lie anymore; she was just trying to protect her friend. But Lena quickly learns that in this timeline, Leviathan never called on Andrea. She was never The Shadow. Andrea looks scared. Lena reassures her that they’re in this together. She invokes the promise of their youth: You jump, I jump.
“I’m so happy I could just kiss you.”
I really thought Andrea was going to kiss her and Lena was going to be like, “What are you doing?” and Andrea was going to remind her that of course they dated because that’s the most romantic fucking line. But alas.
They have more chemistry than Kara and William JUST SAYING
But after she leaves the CatCo office, Lena’s face is stone again as she calls Lex and says the deed is done. She has Andrea wrapped around her finger and they’ll know if Leviathan calls on her.
You know how they say that if you smile in the mirror enough your mood will actually start to improve? I’m kind of hoping that if Lena keeps trying to fake friendships it will remind her how nice friendships can be, despite the risk of pain. We’ll see.
Alex and Kara head to J’onn’s office to show Winn the new place, and Kara is delighted to find that there’s a secret elevator that leads up to a secret lair. J’onn reveals that he built them a SuperFriends HQ, just like Star Labs, or the Arrow Cave, or even the Waverider; a place they can meet and plan without a bunch of randos eavesdropping. Or, you know, Lex Luthor. He was inspired by Barry’s idea to secure the Hall of Justice.
“I’ll miss those Canadian extras but this is really nice.”
They’re going with The Tower for SuperFriends HQ, but we’ll see if that sticks. J’onn gives Winn back his memories of the pre-Crisis timeline, and after a bout of extreme nausea, he remembers everything.
Back on the other side of the good/evil line, Brainy says that Lex has what he needs, so he should call off the Toyman now, but Lex says that’s someone else’s problem now.
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Yep, re William & Kara, I wrote this yesterday on Twitter after seeing the episode:
“I mean, yes, I know the writers are never going to give us Lena & Kara. I get it. It sucks, but I get it. But FFS what is with these generic boring off-white-trim-on-eggshell-walls men they attempt to partner her with? Give her someone with edge, and chemistry.”
Not only do William & Kara not have any chemistry together, like zero, but god this romance is so unnecessary. I like the actor playing William, but William as a character just is like the white toyota camry sedan of characters … he’s interchangeable store-brand paracetamol. Not even the tablets or capsules, but the plain-old pills. You get the idea. If you’re going to partner Kara with a guy, make it a) part of the storyline, and b) give her someone unique, with edge, someone that compliments and feels like another half to Kara & Supergirl. Someone with spark and difference. Instead of someone with all the kick of what’s laughably called ‘spicy’ fast-food.
And if you’re going to partner Kara with a guy, could we perhaps get Lena a girlfriend? Or a woman to just flirt with and seduce? Bisexual rep in the show would be great by giving her such.
Meanwhile, I’m going to remain quietly in love & a committed relationship with Katie McGrath’s facial expressions.
I was about to write that there is nothing left for Kara and Lena but a mouth to mouth combat to sort things out, but then the heteronormativity of the show took my sense of humor away.
This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I don’t hate William (anymore). Is he boring? Sure, but boring is a step up from toxic, like her last relationship. I got the impression that in this new timeline, he wasn’t as much of a dick to her in the first half of the season, because he said the only reason he did that was to get on Andrea’s good side, and he doesn’t need to do that anymore because she’s not the one he blames for his friend’s death. It seemed like he thought he and Kara were friends, which she seemed kind of surprised by. Obviously I would prefer Kara with Lena (or various other characters), and William is far from my first choice, but he’s not my last choice either (a very special spot reserved only for Mon-El). We also have never seen her with a serious love interest who didn’t already know she was Supergirl, which could be an interesting dynamic going forward.
I think the smartest move on the show’s part would be to pair Kara with one of her canon comic book love interests (like Brainy, but not Brainy because he dated Nia and that’d be weird — Comet the super horse???? Please???) because then at least it would feel less random.
I loved the Winn/Nia scenes, but the whole time I kept wishing that Winn’s wife in the future was Nia’s descendant, Nura Nal. It would give him and Nia more to bond over, and would make Nia even more invested in clearing Winn’s name, because then Winn’s daughter would also be her great-great-great-etc.-granddaughter. There could’ve been a cute scene where Winn cheers her up by thanking her for giving him the love of his life, and the two of them bond as friends/technically in-laws. (It also would’ve been hilarious if he’d married Imra, aka Mon-El’s ex-wife, but I wasn’t holding my breath for that.)
I almost laughed out loud at your first couple sentences … you’re honestly completely right. Compared to the toxicity of Mon-El, the utter boringness of William is indeed a step up.
The bar is literally that low.
I mean, James was kinda great for Kara back in the 1st season, but we haven’t seen anyone with that level of connection to Kara (*cough* Lena tho *cough*) since, really.
Also agree on Winn with Nura, that would have been a great piece of writing.
Sometimes bisexuality is remembering that boys can be Toyman or Good Advice Winn, and figuring out who’s who is a JOURNEY. And sometimes bisexuality is hoping that Lena Luthor is wearing that Wildfang-esque suit because she’s on Season 2 of The L Word: Gen Q.
Anyway, super friends and super feelings, I guess??
Based on all available evidence, yeet-ing a man to the future is a good way to make him grow and mature. The extent to which he does depends on how much of a boy-man he was when said yeet-ing occured.
I like this more grown up Winn; he has a good Dad Vibe going.
——
So Nura is Nia’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandaughter, give or take a couple greats.
——
“And I understand now that you never wanted to betray me.”
Damnit, Lena. Those are exactly the words you need to say to Kara, only with sincerity.
——
Kara, honey, when Winn said that William being close to you would keep him safe, he didn’t mean THAT close.
At this point, Carter Grant would be a better shipmate for Kara. Oh, don’t look at me like that. Canonically he’s got to be over 18 by now.
——
So dream energy can be used to create whips, and tie things up.
Fanfic writers, go.
——
“I know I’m biased but I really want these nerds to start a D&D campaign.”
I think you just created a new sub-genre of fanfic.
Alex: “A dire wolf blocks your way.”
Kara: “I give it belly scritches.”
Alex: “Yo-”
Kara: *rolls a twenty*
Alex: “…”
Kara: “Whose a good boy?”
——
When will we ever get another on-screen suit transition?
How big is the file the Time Cops have on the Legends?
…is that Lena’s motorcycle?
We all know that it’s Kara that rides the motorcycle, and Lena rides sidesaddle on the back of it.
…why side saddle?
I feel like Nia, as a trans woman, maybe would’ve had more of a reaction to learning that she’s going to have biological children? I don’t want to suggest that trans women can’t have biological children, but it just seems like maybe a more significant thing to find out than it would be for a cis woman, and having Nia not react at all to this information felt like the writers just totally forgetting that she’s trans.
Didn’t Brainy already tell her that he knew her great great etc. granddaughter?
Bummer, I really thought Nia’s great great […] great grand-daughter was named Neuro Nal. ‘would have been fun.