Goodday and welcome to this recap of Supergirl season 6, episode 18, “Truth or Consequences” aka the one that was entirely too much about Lex Luthor.
We drop into this episode without a previously on, with a reporter telling the Superfriends about Lex’s plans for a Lexosuit army. Nia, cleverly, says the fact that they got this info could be a trap in itself, but Lena says they can just track the Lexosuits and it’ll be fine. Besides, she has important news: she used her rich girl connections to book a VIP suite for Alex and Kelly’s bachelorette party…but it has to be tonight.
I want to know the *exact* nature of Lena’s relationship to this suite-having friend.
Alex feels like it’s short notice, and they JUST learned more about the threat at hand, but Kara reassures her that if she’s waiting for everything to be perfectly good and safe, she’s going to be waiting forever. You have to mine your own joy, however and whenever you can. So after an adorable chant of “do it” from the Superfriends, Alex gleefully agrees.
The reverie is interrupted when Alex’s phone dings because she’s a mom now so her phone is always on a too-loud setting. The message is from Kelly; Esme had a tough day at school so she’s going to go help with mom duties.
This is neither here nor there but I own this outfit with a slightly cooler-toned plaid and I am here for this representation.
After she leaves, the rest of the team gets a news alert so they turn on the TV. Turns out Andrea took Lex’s journals and published them under someone else’s byline, which is a reporting no-no.
Up in the glam rock spaceship, Nyxly is watching the news, too, and she’s grumpy that they called her a psychopath even though they don’t even know her. And I do love that Nyxly doesn’t ever quite react the way a “typical” villain would. She’s not angry, her ego isn’t hurt, she’s just genuinely confused why and how they came to that conclusion. But anyway she can’t be bothered with all that right now, she needs to find the truth totem.
Back at the Tower, Brainy tells the team that he talked to the Legion in the future. He’s pretty somber as he tells them that in the future, Nyxly and Lex are a power couple, Which everyone is grossed out by, especially Lena, who can’t imagine him caring about anyone besides himself.
I need someone to make me a line graph to see if Lena’s buttons are inversely proportional to her hair. Because I feel like we might have a buttons up/hair down, buttons down, hair up trend on our hands.
Brainy goes on to say that in the future, they did complete the AllStone but something happened and Nyxly died, so they figure that’s why Lex is back.
Just then, Lena gets a ping that her algorithms have tracked the Lexosuits, so Team Alien goes to the glam rock space ship to get the totems back. Brainy gets his hands on one, and Nyxly yeets them through a dream portal, but Nia makes one of her own and gets them back to the Tower safely, Hope Totem in hand.
Since this is the totem they originally threw into the sun, they realize now that totems can’t be destroyed, which means the Love Totem is still out there somewhere, too.
“All of us are in the same episode for once, surely nothing will go wrong today!”
Brainy sulks off, suggesting perhaps he learned more about the future then he’s letting on, but that’s a problem for later.
Back at Casa Dansen, Alex and Kelly are cleaning Esme off after she accidentally used rage powers on a bully who made fun of the treat she plans on making for a baking competition? Unclear on what exactly this is for because Esme is in the age range of kids I taught for a while and typically we don’t expect children who aren’t tall enough to see the top of the stove to know how to cook. But anyway, as Alex and Kelly are cleaning Esme off, they notice the flower tattoo on her back that wasn’t there the last time they bathed her, and wonder what it means.
Once Esme’s adoption is final can I be next?
Meanwhile, Brainy finds out from another Brianiac that he has to return to the 31st century and merge with the Big Brain to save the future of his alien race. Brainy is upset; he has a family, he is in love. He doesn’t want to abandon the Superfriends, or Nia. He wants to find another way. And since apparently they can’t just wait 60 years and then have Brainy go to the 31st century for timey wimey reasons I don’t understand, Brainy is left feeling very, very sad.
Over in VillainVille, the crystal ball shows Nyxly where the Truth Totem is, so she heads to a vault and picks up an old timey camera. She says the magic word, and Sir Totem the Great asks her to reveal her inner truths. She starts by just rattling off the easy things; her goals, her plans, her surface level feelings.
Did I miss them say whose camera this is? I tend to zone out when Lex is on screen but if this was culturally significant, I missed it.
When that’s not enough, she also admits she’s afraid of possessing the bad parts of her father, and also that part of her still wants his approval. Which honestly I think is so interesting and relatable and could have been explored further but instead she also says she doesn’t want to be alone and wants to get past her trust issues. The Gauntlet Giver tells her she did great, and the Truth Totem will now act as a lie detector for her. She promptly uses it on Lex, and learns that not only does he really love her, but also he has no plans to betray her.
Alex and Kelly take Esme to the Tower, and Esme is so happy to see Aunt Kara, it’s very cute. They tell her about Esme’s powers going wackadoodle and that they’re going to run some tests to make sure she’s okay.
My mom used to leave my Wishbear or American Girl doll in the car when we went inside places that weren’t home so I appreciate Esme’s moms letting her keep Lovey with her all the time.
Kara tries to be supportive of Alex, and she has an idea to maybe make Esme little lead-lined glasses to help keep her powers at bay so she can fit in at school. This advice INFURIATES Alex, who says Esme has had her powers dampened enough in her little life and she won’t ask her to hide who she is. She just has to understand her powers, not stifle them.
“Not all of us are comfortable in our closets, sister mine.”
Kara thinks perhaps Alex misunderstood her; she’s just offering a solution that she found useful, as an alien herself, an experience Alex couldn’t possibly understand. But Alex doesn’t want parenting advice from Kara, so she storms off. And I wish we had seen more one-on-one conversations between Kara and Alex about Alex becoming a mother in the past few episodes, maybe Alex asking Kara what she herself did that helped Kara feel more welcome when she was first adopted that maybe she didn’t realize was so impactful. Because I think then it would have been even more clear that this is Alex lashing out in that way siblings (or even close friends) sometimes do when their emotions are running high and they know they can react first and apologize later. On one hand it’s sort of nice we didn’t need it…we know Alex Danvers well enough to know that she’s lashing out at Kara because a) it’s a safe person to let her yucky feelings out on because a sister’s capacity for forgiveness is a deep well, and b) that it stems from Alex’s insecurities about being a mother to an alien baby, and about how she and her sister both had to keep secrets about themselves that ate away at them a little. But on the other hand if we spent less time with Lex and more time with the Danvers sisters, we’d all be better for it.
If we don’t get one more Danvers sisters couch scene before the end of the series, I will riot.
On the other side of the Tower, Nia is trying to use the Dream Totem to find Nyxly, but has a vision about Brainy instead. She storms off to find her boyfriend and demands to know why he’s going back to the future and, more importantly, why he didn’t tell her. He promises he was going to tell her soon, that he only just found out himself, so Nia declares that she wants to go with him.
“You know Alex’s ears turn red when someone mentions Sara Lance but I will ask for her number and find you in the future myself!
Unfortunately, that’s not how time and space work, so instead they just have to be sad together. And one idea I had after this conversation, not a new idea by any means, is that once Nia’s journey with the Superfriends is over, perhaps she can become a part-time Legend. That way she’ll live outside of space and time, and she can both continue her life as Nia Nal and continue Dreamer’s legacy, but also be able to visit Brainy. And then we’d get to see her on Legends of Tomorrow now and then. Free idea, CWDCTV!
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That last paragraph, ugh, so good. Hope.
another thing that got me down this episode was how much time we wasted on Lex and Nyxly romance. why??? the show is about to end and doesn’t feel like it’s supergirl/kara’s show anymore :( can’t believe the last ep are gonna be about a funeral for this random dude, who honestly didn’t even had to die lol that last paragraph was so good but unfortunately i have no hope :( i’m watching the finale because i came this far
“Nyxly yeets them through a dream portal, but Nia makes one of her own and gets them back to the Tower safely, Hope Totem in hand.”
So confusing, all these fights and Totems (and nothing is ever really decided). But in THIS particular case, it was the DREAM Totem the Super Friends made it back to the Tower with.
“I appreciate Esme’s moms letting her keep Lovey with her all the time.”
Not to mention, how much more on the nose could the name of Esme’s stuffed friend be?
“But on the other hand if we spent less time with Lex and more time with the Danvers sisters, we’d all be better for it.”
So. Say. We. All!!!!! [That said, I really liked this Danvers Sisters scene. It’s part of what make Alex and Kara feel like REAL sisters: even as they outgrew most of their adolescent snarking, it’s still not sunshine&roses all the time.] This was the first time I can remember, however, when Alex really expressed how she’d been chafing in the CLOSET, as opposed to just not understanding herself, pre-S2 (though absolutely, the same oppression that shoves some into the closet, makes other delay coming to self-understanding, and self-acceptance).
“It’s not your fault we lost Sectionals, either.”
Being almost the only ASer who didn’t watch Glee, I can’t comment on that . . . but Melissa did do that little voice quiver thing in this scene, and I just about lost it right there.
“she grabs the Truth Totem before J’onn gets them to safety.”
OK, here *I* was legit confused. Kara says she’s grabbing the HOPE totem (y’know, the one they were surprised to find out still existed, after Kara yeeted it into the sun?). But, by count, it seems they got the Truth Totem too? [I had been putting so much stock into the Truth Totem—as being The Secret to Supercorp Endgame, Le Sigh—that it feels very painful to make it a “too” thing.]
“Inexplicably, when they go to the dance floor, Lena…leers? after them? … At this point I’ve stopped asking for heterosexual explanations from one Lena Kieran Luthor-Walsh.”
Same, and same. [Not unlike the longing you saw one LKL-W do in 5×19, when she saw Kara&Alex hug]. All I know FOR SURE, is how much leering *I* was doing, when Lena said she was going to go dance, showing us 1) Katie’s sublime decolletage, and then 2) Katie shaking her inexpressibly *THUD* badonkadonk. Firefighters, hose me down!
“With his dying breath, once again instead of just yelling “Supergirl!” the way the literal child knew how to do”
Sigh, am I always to be placed in the “defend ‘The CatCo Reporter'” role (heh, I do know it’s the LAST time): the literal child UNDERSTOOD what yelling “Supergirl!” could do, in a way *very few* humanoids do.
“I’m too jaded to legitimately hope for Supercorp endgame”
I’m fighting the jadedness right now (it’s like an attack of 31st century nanobots). But I said I would remain hopeful for Supercorp Endgame until the *final second* of 6×20, and dammit, that’s what I’m going to do. 💙💗 Clowning All The Way! 🤡
One more time, Dearest V.A. , one more time…
It feels like the writers are rushing to get as many story ideas in before the finale as they can. And it leaves them with no time to breath. William’s spat with Andrea about ethics in journalism could have been an entire episode. Kara and Alex disagreement over parenting style could have been a mini arc. There’s so much to unpack in the subtext.
—-
– I’m sure more than just Alex’s ears turn red when someone mentions Sara Lance. ;)
– I know you may retch at the mere thought of it, but are you sure you want Nia Nal on Legends? Half of the women added since season two have ended up relugated to the role of “Nate’s girlfriend”.
– Bless you, cinematographer, for centering Alex’s engagement ring in the frame. You understood the assignment.
– I’m sure more than just Alex’s ears turn red when someone mentions Sara Lance. ;)
– “I hate the space time continuum.” Girl, mood.
—-
The writers did William wrong. Whatever his original arc, it got derailed by Crisis and he spent the last season and a half like most of the men on the show have – floundering without a reason to be in the story. And then they decided to butter him up as the sacrificial lamb. But between Esme’s peril and BraiNia’s impending end, it’s too much.
If the writers wanted to ratchet up the tension for the finale, they should have done something they know would grab the fandom by the box.
They should have had Lena babysitting Esme.
—-
And so our journey nears its end. The first part of the finale is titled “The Last Gauntlet”, and the last totem is the Love Totem. Will all the subtext rapidly become text? I certainly hope so. I would even be okay with it being implied – a nervous Alex, stopping by Kara’s apartment the day of the wedding, totally missing the fact that her little sister is wearing the exact same shirt Lena had on the night before. It doesn’t have to be much. It just has to be canon.
Until then…
At this point, after Alex&Kelly are off on their honeymoon, the 31st centurions head home, J’onn is off to Mars, and Kara and Lena are the last ones on stage, and they just look at each other, and smile. Really, I’m asking for THAT LITTLE, now… 🥺
I can’t watch the last 2 episodes. I want to but am afraid to! Brainy being taken from the super group now supercorp again? That stupid main brain, that big blob and the other brainies calling him away again? Come on! They just got all back together, a little super family and it is being wrecked again? William shot again?? If things go in this direction it is a Debbie Downer ending, no hoopla! A funeral too? Hope it is going to go the upbeat positive way SuperGirl has been! I was liking this Seasom 6 very much, till this episode! Dumb move writers!
“And since apparently they can’t just wait 60 years and then have Brainy go to the 31st century for timey wimey reasons”
100% THIS. It makes absolutely no sense why Brainy has to leave now of all times when it should be possible to take care of this at any point. It reminds me of Legends a few weeks ago when Gloria pointed out how the rest of the team should’ve been able to just time travel to the moment right after they left to pick up Spooner and Astra, so the fact that they didn’t tells them that something was gonna go wrong. This acknowledgement of the basic principles of time travel and understanding that you have to write around stuff like this to make it work is just another thing that continually sets the writing of these 2 shows apart
And totally agree about Paperboy’s death. I also breathed a sigh of relief when they steered him away from being a love interest for Kara, but the attempts to endear him to us this season just completely fell flat. He was still the same useless character he was last season, and all he did was drag the show down these last 2 years
Also, did anyone else think the finale preview was super underwhelming? They’re capping off 6 years and it just felt like another pretty basic teaser. The preview for this week’s episode had a lot more dramatic weight to it. It might seem like a weird nitpick, but it’s just been bothering me
Referring to William as “the reporter” throughout this cracked me up but unfortunately represents how much I cared about his character in both life and death. I think I enjoyed your recap more than the episode itself which was a disappointment at so many turns, but those little moments I love so much between these characters I love so much make it so difficult not to tune in every week as shown in so many of your screengrabs. As exhausted as this season has made me, you put into words how sad it is going to be saying goodbye next week.
Thanks for a great read!
I am furious that, once again, bad writers go for the cheap heat of child endangerment. This season has been mostly terrible, based on a plagiarized story arc at the expense of developing the relationships among the superfriends that would show them as fully ones-of-us. So we get comic-book fanboy convenience, disaster every two minutes, instead of growing beyond that into serious presentation of what it means to be responsible to one another.
I really liked your article.
How dare the writers endanger Esme?!?! Poor baby girl never did anything wrong in her life.
There was too.much.Lex in this episode. And it does drag Nxly down as a character really. Sad.
Well, I appreciated the 5 min of joy in this episodes, where everyone was just showing off their dorkiest adult dance moves :)
All the women front and centre in the finale pls! I know there will be cameos of some former cast members, but let it be about the Superfriends and -lovers saving the day once more with feeling.
Valerie Anne…..Just gotta say how much I enjoy your synopses. They fill in holes for me, and they just plain entertain me. Love the humor. Love the writing. In fact….love it more than I’m loving the wrap-up of Supergirl. With the incessant encouragement to me courageous, to be humble, to be true to yourself, to be gay if you’re inclined, to be trans and accepted, for sisters to be understanding of each other….I feel like I am watching a self-help video! What’s happened to this show? I feel qualified to ask that, because I’ve watched every single episode. That said, keep up the great writing!
hard agree, been saying it for years, Nia should join the Legends, and Lena should 1000% show up on Batwoman, just as a guest star every now and then. You know, for business reasons.