Hello and welcome to this recap of Supergirl episode 615, “Hope for Tomorrow,” aka the one with Esme’s two mommies.
Previously on Supergirl, Nyxly went to the Netherlands because totems shmotems, Kelly and Alex saved a little girl from failure fosters, and Lena made herself right at home at the Tower.
We open on Kara flying in through Kelly’s apartment window with arms full of toys, cheerfully greeting Alex, who is painting a mural of hopes and dreams. Everyone is very excited to meet Esme. Kara is so ready to be the best Aunt ever, and help ease this little alien into life on Earth the way Mama Danvers did for her.
She’s going to be the best aunt ever and I am EMOTIONAL about it.
Alex is excited but also very panicky in that very Alex way. When Kelly comes home with Esme and leads her to her new room, Alex is so nervous that she won’t like anything, she starts rambling and saying she can change whatever she wants as Kelly and Kara watch, amused.
Classic Alex.
Alex introduces her to Kara, who tells her that she was adopted too, and gives her some stuffies to join Lovey, the zebra friend Esme already has. They introduce her to J’onn and she shakes his hand because she’s THE CUTEST.
Can *I* adopt Esme?
She goes to put Lovey on a shelf and starts to fall through a wall, but J’onn catches her. Scared, she listens quietly while Alex holds her and says that she has mimicking powers and that she’s sorry she didn’t warn her that J’onn was an alien.
I know they #struggled this episode but little things like how they get down on her level to talk to her are huge markers of them being Good with Kids.
But then Esme squeaks out a teeny apology and Kelly pulls her close too, promising she didn’t do anything wrong. A phrase that cannot be undervalued.
This is such a good hug?? I’m jealous.
Up on the glam rock spaceship, Nyxly is annoyed that CatCo is reporting that the Superfriends are the heroes and Nyxly is the villain, but Nyxly is the hero of her own story. She says there wouldn’t have to be so much fighting and chaos if the Superfriends would just leave her to her totem-fetching tasks. But she’s no stranger to someone rewriting history to benefit themselves; most notably, her own father.
Mitch gives Nyxly a bracer infused with the courage totem to pair with her power dampening cuff to give her a little bit of magic. She can now wield the power of courage…and thus, fear. So now all she needs is hope.
Next we go back at Kelly’s apartment, where I presume Alex lives now? RIP the loft? Anyway, Kelly and Alex talk about Esme and Alex feels so bad about how spooked Esme got within ten minutes of being in her new room. All Alex wants to do is protect her. Kelly understands, she feels it too, but she also feels so, so lucky to be starting a family with Alex. And they’re going to give Esme everything she’s been lacking in her life so far.
This episode did nothing for my desires to start fostering kids even though I’d be doing it alone.
Plus, they can and will help her with her powers. They’re the perfect family for a little alien girl.
At the Tower, Brainy is asking what kind of block set he should get little Esme, and Lena and Kara IN UNISON say he should get her a train set. IN UNISON. Lena says it’s because then she can go wherever she wants, and Kara says she would have said the same exact thing.
They’re so in sync it’s borderline disgusting.
Brainy tells Supergirl about Nyxly being spotted at the Hague, so she and J’onn go to stop her. She tries to freeze them with fear, but frankly they’ve seen worse, so they manage to break through. Nyxly gets away, blasting everyone with courage totem energy as she goes, but she doesn’t take the totem with her, so it’s a net positive.
Back at the Tower, Alex introduces Esme to Lena, and Esme promptly says the truest truth the way children often do and tells Lena she’s very pretty.
I feel like they don’t acknowledge how ethereally attractive Lena is enough on this show.
Alex asks Brainy for help learning more about what kind of alien Esme is, and after he rattles off a story, she declares him funny. She’s a smart one, this kid.
Meanwhile, Kara activates the Hope totem, and her gauntlet is to inspire hope that will last, which J’onn thinks he has in the bag.
When Kara gets back to the Tower, she finds Lena there reading her grimoire, trying to find a charm that will act as security around the humanity totem in case it calls into the wrong hands again. Kara updates Lena on her day and her new gauntlet and it’s just everything I wanted from this relationship. Granted, with a little less kissing, but you know what I mean. Lena fully, fully integrated into the team, Kara leaning on her, etc.
Kara is worried about what will happen if she fails the gauntlet like she did with the courage totem, but Lena feels pretty damn sure her hero Kara Danvers has a head start over Nyxly when it comes to solving a hope-based puzzle.
“And historians will call them close friends besties, roommates, colleagues, anything but lovers. History hates lovers.
When Alex comes up and asks Kara if she can help instil some hope in a frustrated little girl trying to reckon with her powers, they figure this is as good a place as any to try to start to solve the gauntlet. Lena even says, “el mayarah” to Kara as she goes.
Alex introduces Esme to Supergirl, but between Esme’s obvious genius and also her power sensing abilities, Esme immediately knows Supergirl is Kara and Kara is Supergirl.
Ah, that moment you realize maybe you’re smarter than some adults. A turning point in a young gifted kid’s life.
Alex tells her to keep it a secret and Kara begins her lesson; they figure that especially since Esme will probably be around Aunt Kara a lot, it’s a good place to start helping Esme gain control of her powers.
Kara is so good with Esme, gently coaching her through superhearing, listening to Alex’s heartbeat, and every time she starts to get a little overwhelmed, Alex just encourages her to push through it, to keep trying.
But she realizes this may be the wrong approach when Esme and Kara overhear an accident outside and Esme calls Alex horrible for making her listen to that and runs off.
Are they going to get Esme little lead-lined glasses to wear around Aunt Kara?
Up on the ship, Nyxly is starting to feel hopeless about her hope gauntlet. She knows she’s no match for the literal Paragon of Hope in this regard. So she decides to take a different route. She’s going to force Supergirl to finish the gauntlet, then take the totem; all three of them, in fact.
All she needs is a little… leverage.
Nyxly is very good at the Bisexual Perch.
In The Hague, J’onn is trying to keep the diplomats from Kaznia and Corto Maltese from declaring nuclear war on each other, but they were affected by the totem so they’re proving hard for him to keep calm. The American woman who is there for some reason, I think they said she’s the secretary of defense but I’ll be honest this totem business was side plot to me this episode, anyway she wants him to brainwash the diplomats into doing what she wants because probably that’s what they would have wanted but J’onn refuses.
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It’s ironic that the line of dialog that best summarizes the episode, nay, the series, nay, the Arrowverse as a whole…
…was said by a (dead) man, on another show (Stargirl), in a flashback.
“To found family.”
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Nyxly is a cat. She always perching on a chair or standing on something high up. She has utter disdain for us puny mortals.
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I saw it pointed out on Tumblr that the courage totem was red, and the humanity totem was orange. The hope totem was kinda yellowish…
…seven totems (well, six now), seven colors, seven Superfriends. We may be on our way to saving the day with a literal gay rainbow of friendship. She-Ra would be so proud.
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I dig how Lena’s general appearance has gotten more relaxed since leaving L-Corp. Curly hair instead of sleek and straight (pun intended), softer makeup, more casual outfits. Practical shoes! If everyone in the show is wearing a mask of some sort, then the persona of “Ms. Luthor” is hers. With Kara, she can just be Lena.
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If I have one issue with this episode is that it was so full of big ideas that were just glossed over. An unmarried interracial, lesbian couple fostering an alien child in like… a day? Kara’s throwaway line about how she “can’t interfere with the course of human history”. Andrea’s jaded view that the world sucks and we should only print the bad news.
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Lena: “El Mayarah”
Alex: “When did you learn Kryptonian?”
Lena: “Kara talks in her sleep.”
Alex: “Oh, right. …wait, what?”
—-
Five episodes left… place your bets on whether or not Supergirl will be the third series (that I know of) where gay love saves the day in the finale.
“Next we go back at Kelly’s apartment, where I presume Alex lives now?”
Huh? See re 6×3, where Alex asked Kelly to move-in together, and 6×9, where we first saw what (IIRC) J’onn called “their new place”?
“At the Tower, Brainy is asking what kind of block set he should get little Esme, and Lena and Kara IN UNISON say he should get her a train set.”
Surely I’m not the only one here who thought of: “What toy did you want when you were 4 years old?” “A train!” Carol & Therese, “Carol”!!!
“Lena even says, “el mayarah” to Kara as she goes.”
OMG, I got iconic Han saying “May the Force Be With You” to Luke goosebumps! [Talk about another slash couple w/ an exorbitant amount of fanfic. But can THIS one be canon? Please???]
“The lily means I dare you to love me.”
🤣
Either that, or does Kara know her way around a blooming bud? 😉
“So what’s the deal with Aunt Kara and Aunt Lena?”
Oh honey, you’re going to have to learn to mimic a *13th* Level Intellect for that one…
“They even got to smooch a teensy weensy bit this episode!”
Um yeah, these French doors on bedrooms thing? Eventually, Esme’s going to want HER privacy, too, but A&K have got to replace theirs w/ something opaque (and soundproof) PDQ!!!
Speaking of which:
“Carol wanted her with her, and whatever happened they would meet it without running. How was it possible to be afraid and in love, Therese thought. The two things did not go together. How was it possible to be afraid, when the two of them grew ***stronger together*** every day? And every night. Every night was different, and every morning. Together they possessed a miracle.”
The Price of Salt (aka Carol), p. 209 The original blonde/brunette Stronger Together (El Mayarah) couple!
With Kara stopping by Eliza’s to pick up the animals and blankets given to her, and later Kelly and Alex talking about Alex modeling herself after Eliza, I wondered why Eliza wasn’t present to meet Esme? Seem like it would’ve been logical for Alex’s mom to be at this important occasion? Especially with the fostering happening so quickly I would have imagined Alex calling Eliza to share the news and ask for advice.
Okay, I know this is not the point, and it is a device that has been used in many other television programs/films, but as a social worker, I nonetheless feel myself compelled to yell this into the void every time I see the device used:
YOU CANNOT ADOPT YOUR CLIENTS.
No matter how cute that kid is or how qualified you are to parent them, YOU CANNOT TAKE THEM HOME WITH YOU. This is a serious ethical violation, to the point that it is actually a roadblock for queer or otherwise-looking-to-adopt social workers who have to work around an already broken system to avoid the impression they could be abusing or threatening a fragile trust.
Even in situations where social workers ARE allowed to foster/adopt, it is almost never with clients they have been directly working with, and even if it were a child they didn’t work with, it certainly would never be so quick a process as Alex directly described in the opening of the episode. Kelly’s job is to advocate for the best interests of the child, and if she went to court and said, “Your Honor, in my professional opinion, my girlfriend and I are the best parents for my client,” that judge, in my experience, would say hell no, send Esme back to a terrible group home, and likely petition to have Kelly’s ethics investigated.
Now I know that doesn’t make for great TV, but as someone who frequently is kept awake wishing I could just take kids home with me, I need to yell about it. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
*steps off soapbox*
That SONG HYPERLINK though, I see you. I’d love to strum this on the Discord version of karaoke night, 3/3 consultees agree that historians hate besties.
Family-building with Alex,Kelly, and Esme is so much more satisfying, and necessary, than Thanos Jr and her Infinity Totems. And Lena and Kara comfortable with each other, and being able to open up to the other, is more important than Lena the Good Witch.
I don’t think it’s Kelly’s apartment.
We saw a glimpse of it in 5×03. It looked different.
I think the “move in with me” – speech from Alex and J’onn’s comment about them living together implied that they found a completly new place together.
…
Also – I love the recap.
The dansen-family is the cutest thing ever.