Last Month On SUPERGIRL: Sisters Apart, Dream Girl’s Coming Out & Agent Liberty’s Deputization

When we last visited Supergirl, before the Arrowverse annual crossover event, Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) was fired from the D.E.O., effectively placing both a physical and emotional barrier on her and Alex’s (Chyler Leigh) relationship. That relationship only grows more fragmented over the course of the next four episodes as Colonel Haley (April Parker Jones) enforces her and the administration’s anti-alien policies upon the D.E.O. and beyond. Manchester Black (David Ajala) begins organizing The Elite. In the comic books, The Elite is a team of antiheroes with superhuman powers led by Black. Contrary to the popular superhero way, The Elite have no interest in maintaining an alliance with their human counterparts, and, certainly don’t believe in the criminal justice system. Black and his team would brutally execute criminals, attempting to show to the world that Superman’s methods are ineffective.

The Elite serve, more or less, the same purpose in Season 4 of Supergirl. However, instead of targeting mere criminals, they specifically target the Children of Liberty, as well as bigoted and dictatorial individuals and institutions, including the current administration. The rising threat of The Elite paves the way for Nia Nal’s (Nicole Maines) final steps toward fulfilling her destiny of becoming Dreamgirl. With the help of Brainiac 5’s (Jesse Rath) expert training, she’s ready to join his and Supergirl’s team of Super Friends in the fight against The Elite in no time.

Supergirl is shaping up rather nicely for Lex Luthor’s (Jon Cryer) introduction in episode 15. The Elite are a nice warmup to a maelstrom that will inevitably occur once Lex enters the picture. Furthermore, Lena’s (Katie McGrath) arc continues to head toward a dark direction over the next four episodes; will Lex’s arrival be the final nail in the coffin that drives Lena down the path of villainy for good? Meanwhile, Alex’s character arc gets a major makeover, taking us back a few seasons in the context of her and Kara’s relationship. Supergirl has been consistent, moving, and characteristically topical, as viewers have come to expect, since its return from the holiday break.

Episode 10 – “Suspicious Minds”

Colonel Haley, intent on implementing President Baker’s (Bruce Boxleitner) new anti-alien protocol, puts an even tighter leash on Supergirl after she and President Baker relieved her of her D.E.O. duties. Naturally, Supergirl and the D.E.O. will inevitably encounter each other when either assisting citizens in distress or investigating a case, particularly when it concerns extranormal affairs. However, Colonel Haley wants to see as little of Supergirl as possible, which does not bode well for Kara.

Colonel Haley’s Quest To Uncover Supergirl’s Identity

What’s the best way to make Supergirl obedient? Obtain her deepest secret: her real identity. Colonel Haley intends to interrogate every member of the D.E.O. with the intention of discovering her identity. With that information, she and President Baker can more readily control Supergirl by holding the threat of disclosing her identity to the public constantly over her head. Eventually, Colonel Haley finds out about Supergirl’s identity through a vulnerable D.E.O. agent.

Even when Supergirl saves Colonel Haley at the end of the episode from a D.E.O. attack, she shows no gratitude, appreciation, or respect. Rather, she intimidates Supergirl with her newfound knowledge of her identity. She goes so far as to threaten to ruin not only her life, but her friends’ and family’s. Alex, being the protective sister she is, lands a mean right hook on Colonel Haley. How will the sisters get out of this one? An old friend. J’onn (David Harewood) wipes her mind clean, which, to their uneasiness only makes her more determined to find out Supergirl’s identity again. Colonel Haley enlists the help of an alien species named Truth Seekers, parasitic organisms that force their subjects to tell the truth.

Brainy & Nia: Mentor & Mentee

Meanwhile, Brainy asks Nia out to dinner, misleading her to think that he is asking her on a date. In fact, he’s proposing that Nia Nal, with her newfound powers, join him and Supergirl and their merry team of Super Friends. And so begins a valuable mentor-mentee relationship between Brainiac 5 and Nia Nal as she begins her journey toward her destiny as Dreamgirl. It’s taken some time for Nia to begin her transformation toward superhero, but it’s finally beginning to take off, pun intended.

Big Bad Of The Day

At first, the big bad of this episode might appear to be the Morai, an alien species that arrived to Earth as children, only to be kidnapped by and trained as assassins for the United States government. Once they served their purpose in the eyes of the government, the U.S. attempted to execute all of the Morai in order cover up the top-secret operation, at which point they turned on the government. The Morai are mere victims. The real villains? The leaders and government officials that led Project Morai, one of who was Colonel Haley, who tortured the Morai in order to make them obedient.

One of the Morai even commits suicide at the sound of Haley’s name and the notion of even going back to the D.E.O., giving a visceral implication of what Colonel Haley is capable of. As Alex finds out more about her superior’s moral corruption, she considers quitting, but Kara urges her to hang on to hold Colonel Haley accountable.

Conclusion: A Tragic Reality

With the Truth Seekers now present at the D.E.O., aside from Kara, this affects Alex the most. As her sister and partner-in-action, she knows the most about Kara and Supergirl. Unfortunately, J’onn and Kara make the tough decision to wipe Alex’s mind clean of the knowledge that Kara is Supergirl so that she doesn’t risk sharing any sensitive information to Colonel Haley regarding Kara. It’s one of the most major and emotional ways that showrunners Greg Berlanti, Ali Adler, and Andrew Kreisberg have changed up the core dynamics of the main characters in quite some time on Supergirl.

Episode 11 – “Blood Memory”

Two storylines that haven’t received their rightful due attention on Supergirl are Nia/Dreamer, and, to a lesser extent, the Red Daughter, introduced at the end of Season 3. Nia, as a main character in Season 4, is the primary focus of “Blood Memory,” in which she visits her family in her idyllic hometown of Parthas. Here, Supergirl ties her superpowers in directly with her trans identity. Nia’s “transness plays a really big bit part in her powers.” Maines explained about the episode. “Now, we have her superheroism directly tie into her transness.”

The Red Daughter’s Blast Radius

Finally, Supergirl is developing the Red Daughter storyline further. So far, there have only been brief glimpses of Kaznian Kara’s intensifying training routines, which consist of her fending off tanks, aircrafts, and heavy firepower launched at her in the sky by the Russian military. However, either Kaznian Kara isn’t the Red Girl of Steel, or the kryptonite that dispersed within Earth-38’s atmosphere all the way back in episode 3 of this season somehow didn’t reach Russia until episode 13.

The Red Daughter begins bleeding from the nose after a training session, after which she loses consciousness, causing the military medics to attempt to revive her with a defibrillator, sending 5,000 volts of electricity through her body, causing a surge of energy to enter the atmosphere and spread through the world, infecting an assuming drug dealer’s illicit pill’s in none other than National City. These pills turn regular citizens into temporary superhumans. It’s the first time on Supergirl that the showrunners have reconnected Kaznian Kara back to the core storyline. Fortunately, Brainy tracks the composition and “invention” of the pill to an inordinate amount of gamma radiation (the same thing that caused Bruce Banner to turn into the Hulk in the Marvel comics) that struck their “party van.” However, will the D.E.O. be able to track the source of the gamma radiation blast?

Losing Alex

During a quaint, friends gathering for game night at Kara’s apartment, Alex forgets Kara’s favorite film, The Wizard Of Oz. It was her favorite film because their mother thought she would connect to its story as a young alien: a young women feeling out of place in a far away land, trying to find a sense of home and community. Furthermore, while Alex breaks up a house party terrorized by two individuals affected by the “super pills,” she firmly and coldly asks Supergirl to refer to her as Director Danvers when Kara refers to her as Alex. The mind wipe isn’t just affecting others, either. Alex confesses to Brainy that she doesn’t feel herself and that she isn’t thinking clearly.

The Paradise Of Parthas

Parthas itself means “paradise” in Gaelic, as Lena points out (McGrath, herself, is Irish). It’s a place where humans and aliens have coexisted peacefully for decades, according to Nia. Kara joins her to return home to her family for the Harvest Festival. As aforementioned, the showrunners wanted to incorporate the human-Naltorian hybrid’s trans identity into her character, somehow, much to the appreciation of Maines. Since Nia wasn’t born a biological woman, her older sister always expected to inherit her mother’s abilities, studying the language of dreams and her rich ancestry her entire life.

However, Nia is the one who is obviously destined to carry her mother’s torch. Her mother explains to her in a dream as she’s dying that life has put her through many trials and tribulations to make her stronger. And that strength and sense of strong identity will come in handy as she eases into her role as a superhero. Nia beats herself up because she dreamt of her mother’s passing and misinterpreted the dream. She feels guilty for not taking the time to study and learn how to interpret the language of dreams like her sister had. Nia also feels bad for her sister, naturally, but ultimately, her powers are beyond her control as her family overcomes the tragedy of her mother’s passing, the final step before Nia carries the baton from her mother.

Conclusion: An Episode To Remember

Parthas was a wonderful way to explore Nia’s heritage and further develop her character on Supergirl. The Children of Liberty steal the supply of super pills and attempt to terrorize the Harvest Festival in Parthas. Supergirl and Alex break it up, but have an ideological argument in the process. The sisters are drifting apart while Kara is in action as Supergirl. In an attempt to help Nia understand that she, too, knows how it feels to be isolated with your powers, Kara reveals to her that she is Supergirl. Meanwhile, Kaznian Kara is still in a coma. At the end of the episode, one of the Russian generals makes a phone call, explaining to the mystery person on the other end of the line that he needs to speak to somebody in America. Could this person be Lena. Or even more intriguing, could it be Lex?

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the wonderful pop culture references this episode. Ranging from Hagrid from Harry Potter, to the popular The Oatmeal game, Exploding Kittens, to Terminator 2: Judgment Day, to Robert Louis Stevenson‘s novel Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, the episode writers Jessica Queller, Dana Horgan, Eric Carrasco, Daniel Beaty, Aadrita Mukerji, Katie Rose Rogers, and Jessica Kardos maintain the Arrowverse‘s keen pop culture awareness.

Episode 12 – “Menagerie”

Look no further for the big bad of the day than the title. Episode writers Beaty, Greg Baldwin, Robert L. Rovner, Carrasco, Mukerji, Rogers, and Kardos introduce Menagerie (Jessica Meraz), a jewel thief and future member of Manchester Black’s Elite, to be organized next episode. Menagerie, an iconic DC villain, has a symbiotic relationship with an alien weapon called a symbeast. In the comics, it was believed that she gained her powers by being kidnapped by rogue “Men in Black” from the D.E.O., picking up of the dregs of society, experimenting on them, and selling them to the highest alien bidder.

In Supergirl, Menagerie, or Pamela Ferrer, is explained as having a symbiote-class alien merged with her DNA. Rather than portrayed as a victim, as in the comics, Pamela is empowered by the strength that the symbeast provides her. Consider her and Menagerie the pure evil equivalent of Marvel’s antihero Eddie Brock and Venom.

Like Father, Like Son

“Be a man of action.” Lockwood (Sam Witwer) tells his son, George (Graham Verchere), while he receives a visit from his family in prison. Lockwood wants George to take up arms and follow in his footsteps, take up the mask while he’s in prison, and lead the Children of Liberty. And so, he puts on the mask, and sends a recording to the Children of Liberty, urging them to take down the “alien killer,” or Menagerie. After George’s message, Lockwood encourages him to take Menagerie down in a public place so that everyone knows the Children of Liberty are responsible. This will further legitimize Agent Liberty’s anti-alien plight in the eyes of the public.

As protests grow demanding Lockwood’s release from jail, President Baker takes notice and pardons Ben Lockwood/Agent Liberty, citing that the fact that the Patriot Act doesn’t protect alien life from acts of terrorism.

Menagerie

Brainy hates snakes! “Much like hero of the Spielberg epic, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, a terrific picture.” Again, the pop culture references haven’t slowed down in the slightest within the Arrowverse. It’s always fun to hear Brainy, a “visitor” in our time period, make a reference once in a while. He’s referring to the resemblance of Menagerie’s symbeast to a snake in terms of its genetic makeup. As they zero in on Menagerie’s location, Colonel Haley emphasizes to Alex that President Baker doesn’t want her havoc to be known to the press or the general public, so as to minimize national panic.

As Menagerie plans to attend to the Heart Association gala in an attempt to reattain some of valuables equivalent in worth to the stolen fortune taken from her by the D.E.O., George and the Children of Liberty see that as an ideal opportunity to take her down in a public arena. While she’s in jail, she gets a message from Manchester Black, an invitation to join his team of aliens against bigots.

Valentine’s Antics

James (Mehcad Brooks) gives Lena a professional-grade sketch of her sleeping as a Valentine’s Day gift. In an act of spontaneity, Lena proposes that she and James take an impromptu trip to Paris, a rather suspicious invitation. Does Lena want to escape something? Unsurprisingly, Alex hates Valentine’s Day. Brainiac has no idea what it is, so, in typical Brainy fashion, conducts copious amounts of research on the holiday in preparation for a date to which Nia invited him. Meanwhile, J’onn finds a way Kara and Alex can still work together, with Kara utilizing her resources at CatCo to help a D.E.O. case.

The Harun-El Protocol Weaponized

It was easy to see this one coming. In light of the recent drug that gave regular citizens superhuman strength, coupled with the rise in alien retaliation to the Children of Liberty, President Baker and Colonel Haley offer to acquire Lena’s research with the Harun-El Protocol and use it to strengthen their military against the growing alien “threat.” Lena reluctantly agrees. Beneath the surface, it is apparent that Lena sides with Colonel Haley, ideologically. She fundamentally believes that humans should be as powerful as aliens. Perhaps she hadn’t fully conceived of the potential ramifications of the conduction of her experiments, but her subconscious, Luthorian prejudices came awfully close to the surface when she decided to place her research under contract with the government.

James vehemently disagrees with Lena’s decision to share her research with the government, explaining to her the inevitability of militarization. Regardless, Lena chooses her research over James, ultimately breaking things off with him. James represents the last moral sense of reason for Lena, and her breakup from him represents a potential symbolic point of no return.

Conclusion: The Stage Is Set

Supergirl is ready to introduce The Elite, which should tie in well with Lex Luthor’s introduction in episode 15. Alex is following an entirely different character arc, now that her mind is wiped clean. Professionally, she has more in common with Colonel Haley, now, than Kara. Ultimately, J’onn’s matchmaking efforts work. Kara helps Alex get one step closer to finding Menagerie. Unfortunately, however, J’onn’s mind wipe is still affecting Alex’s other memories and personality adversely.

As he promised, George and the Children of Liberty ultimately defeat Menagerie and take full credit for it in the press, despite Supergirl and Dreamgirl doing all of the fighting. That’s right. Nia uses her mother’s outfit, acts on a dream she saw involving Menagerie and Supergirl, and, for the first time, we see the superhero in action. Not everyone is ready to become what they’re meant to be. Sometimes it takes a little jolt. In this case, it was the risk of losing her friend, Kara, that drove her to action.

Episode 13 – “What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way?”

That’s certainly a mouthful of an episode title. So, what is its deeper meaning, then? It happens to be the exact same title of the story in which The Elite was first introduced in the comic books in issue #775 of Action Comics in March of 2001. Interestingly, the characters in The Elite initially appeared as villains, before some of them found their good sides and joined the Justice League as Justice League Elite. It’s Super Friends versus The Elite in this episode of Supergirl, both sides with one common enemy: Agent Liberty. Lockwood is continuing gaining increasing popularity among citizens and politicians alike, further aggravating the the sensitive sociopolitical climate.

The Elite

Manchester Black breaks out of prison with the help of his old friend, Hat (Louis Ozawa Changchien). In the comics, The Hat, as he is referred to, is a powerful, Asian earth elemental with the ability to breathe fire, summon demons, perform magic, and he has a mystical hat out of which he can pull any item he desires. In Supergirl, he likely isn’t as powerful, as we’ve merely seen him use his hat, and only to pull out weapons (save for one bottle of liquor). Nonetheless, he is a formidable foe. Changchien nails the introduction and portrayal of Hat in Supergirl, with a memorable prison break scene. To round out Black’s Elite are Menagerie and one of the Morai who evaded capture in “Suspicious Minds.”

Once again, the movie references remain on point in Supergirl. “Who’s Clockwork Orange?” Kara asks Manchester Black and Hat, referring to Hat, in her first major run-in with The Elite. This prompts her and J’onn to take action. Rounding up the Super Friends team. J’onn, a former manhunter, who took a vow of nonviolence, is even considering raising arms again. When The Elite publicly call out Supergirl and challenge her nonviolent ways as ineffective, she meets Black in a diner in Manchester, England. “So, what, we’re just gonna sit here and do the diner scene from Heat?” Kara asks Black. “No. Pacino? De Niro? They came alone.” Replies Black. Another great reference that foreshadows the epic showdown between The Elite and the Super Friends.

Super Friends

Brainiac 5 and Supergirl take Nia Nal to the Fortress of Solitude, one of the few times viewers have seen it on Supergirl, to begin her rigorous training as Dreamgirl. As Superman’s home base, the Fortress of Solitude is rather legendary and historic among metahumans, aliens, and humans alike. Naturally, Nia geeks out at the breathtaking sight of the ice castle before rolling up her sleeves and honing her abilities. Brainy’s predictive calculous is a fine means to train Nia’s anticipatory dreams. Much to Nia’s frustration, Brainy holds back on his training, withholding information about one of her descendants, whom he knew in the future, for fear of affecting the space-time continuum. Nia uses Kelex, an advanced AI residing in the Fortress, to learn about her ancestry and the full extent of her powers.

Upon finding out, Brainy is initially upset, but when he realizes how fast Nia learns, and that the space-time continuum wasn’t in fact affected, he decides that it’s best to let her go at her own pace. “But that’s what heroes do. Leaping before one looks is part of the job description.” Says Brainy to a characteristically apologetic Nia.

Agent Liberty’s Disconnect

Since his presidential pardoning, Agent Liberty has begun to lose touch with the Children of Liberty and his base. One of the Children of Liberty meets with him to discuss the “organization’s” affairs while Lockwood was in prison, during which he compares Lockwood to a neutered dog, meeting with President Baker, making rounds on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. It appears, he doesn’t have the everyman relatability he once had since his celebrity has risen. With the neutered dog metaphor in mind, Lockwood asks President Baker to deputize the Children of Liberty during his meeting, to which President Baker initially laughs it off.

Operation Claymore

The anti-alien sentiment isn’t a background noise anymore. It isn’t in the subconscious of the collective minds of the American people anymore. Manchester Black tells Supergirl of President Baker’s Operation Claymore, an executive order that would launch a satellite programmed to shoot down any alien spacecraft that enters the atmosphere, innocent, unarmed, or not. When Supergirl confronts President Baker with pushback to his plan, he grows paranoid, prompting him to reconsider Lockwood’s previous deputization request.

When Supergirl shares Operation Claymore with Alex, it forces her to realize the diminishing importance of the D.E.O. in the context of an administration that continues to abuse its power. One also gets the sense that Alex subconsciously misses fighting alongside her sister, despite her no longer having those memories.

The Showdown

The final showdown between The Elite, the Super Friends, and the military, takes place at a military satellite base in Wyoming named the Devil’s Tower. J’onn sticks to his vow of nonviolence, at first, doing everything in his power to protect his friends, serving as a defender, of sorts, but is eventually forced to fight Black to save Supergirl. Finally witnessing Nia as Dreamer in a full action sequence showdown, after the buildup of her character, is incredibly rewarding. Utilizing her newfound powers and some “rad,” to quote the Super Friends, gloves that Brainy built her to harness raw dream energy, she holds her own among the seasoned heroes. She even gives Brainy a pep talk when he frets about Hat stealing his ring. A true hero, indeed.

Persuaded by Supergirl’s moral talking to, Alex comes to the rescue, but not before Black and The Elite have already done the damage. Their plan was to rig the satellite, launch it, and have it fire on the White House. In a last-ditch effort, Alex throws Supergirl Lena’s spacesuit, she pursues the satellite in space, and destroys it.

Conclusion: The Aftermath

Alex and Colonel Haley realize that President Baker went against protocol and acted on his own accord with Operation Claymore. President Baker doesn’t deputize the Children of Liberty, only Lockwood, making him the new Director of Alien Affairs, replacing the last director who was assassinated by Menagerie. Mirroring reality, President Baker and his cabinet in Supergirl are establishing themselves as the most dangerously right-wing administration in American history. After his appointment to director, the same man who belittled him at the bar challenges him during a Children of Liberty meeting, after which Lockwood beats him to death with his Agent of Liberty mask. That’s one way to realign with your base. Meanwhile, with her afresh distrust of the government, Alex makes a pact with Lena, newly moved into the D.E.O., to keep her research under close, personal watch. Now, Lena has a friend on the inside to use to her advantage.

Supergirl, Season 4, Month 3: Wrap-Up

Although the Super Friends have a monumental task ahead of them in facing Lex Luthor, the inevitable showdown with the Red Daughter, curbing Agent Liberty and the Children of Liberty, and The Elite, at least they’ve gained a powerful ally in Dreamer. On top of that, Alex seems to be yearning for the void left in her life after J’onn’s mind wipe, ridding her of all her knowledge that Kara is Supergirl. Consider Supergirl in a transitional period right now. The core group of heroes and villains are mobilizing, preparing for another surge of bigotry, condoned by the government, led by President Baker and the newly appointed Director Lockwood, the government militarization of Lena’s research against aliens, and the wrath of Lex Luthor.

The Elite and the Super Friends may just have cause to join forces against the overwhelming hatred against aliens. Although the rise in anti-alien sentiment has caused a split in ideologies among aliens: there are those like The Elite who believe that violence should be met with more powerful violence, and there are those like the Super Friends, who believe in saving everyone, no matter how “evil” they may seem to have become. Taking another life is not something that aliens or humans should get to decide. In a time on Supergirl where violence and shady, under-the-table executive orders take precedence over due process, what better time than to introduce Lex Luthor?

See you all next month, when we will discuss Luthor’s grand entrance into the Arrowverse, how it fits into the larger story, and Cryer‘s performance.

*Supergirl is back next week with an all new episode titled “Stand and Deliver.” The official premise reads: “Between Ben Lockwood’s new push to stir up the anti-alien movement and the Elite’s desire to target Lockwood and his minions, Supergirl is concerned about the safety of the American people – both human and alien. When Lockwood organizes a rally, the aliens decide to peacefully protest. Brainiac and J’onn join the alien march while Supergirl and Dreamer patrol to keep everyone safe. Meanwhile, James picks up his camera again to cover the march for CatCo, and Hayley assigns Alex a job that clashes with her beliefs. When The Elite and Ben Lockwood stir up trouble at the rally, Supergirl is forced to take a stand.”*

What did you think of Nia Nal’s final transformation into Dreamer? Will Alex and Kara’s relationship get back to the way it was before J’onn’s mind wipe? How do you feel about The Elite’s introduction? Do you think they will join forces with the Super Friends against the larger villains Supergirl is setting up this season?

Supergirl has an all new air slot this season on Sundays at 8 PM. Catch Episode 4, “Stand and Deliver,” on March 10, 2019. For more information on this season’s episode air dates, click here.

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