'Supergirl' Drops a Clever Nod to 'Silence of the Lambs' in "Schott Through the Heart"

While fans tuned into tonight's Supergirl for karaoke antics and new revelations, another one of [...]

While fans tuned into tonight's Supergirl for karaoke antics and new revelations, another one of the episode's guest stars brought about a pretty clever Easter egg.

Spoilers for tonight's episode of Supergirl, "Schott Through the Heart", below!

The episode saw Winn Schott (Jeremy Jordan) dealing with a unique family reunion, following the explosive death of his father, Winslow Schott/Toyman (Henry Czerny). At the funeral, Winn was reapproached by his estranged mother, Mary McGowan (Laurie Metcalf), who was hoping to reconcile things with her son.

As the episode went on, Winn and Mary were both being targeted by some sort of toy-related attacks, similar to what Toyman did while he was alive. They ultimately tracked down who was doing the attacks -- Jacqueline Nimball (Brooke Smith), a woman who had become Toyman's apprentice after meeting him in the local jail.

Jacqueline kidnapped Mary as a way of drawing Winn and the rest of Team Supergirl out. And before Jacqueline's master plan was revealed, Mary gave the woman a particular moniker, dubbing her "Buffalo Bill".

On its own, that line felt pretty fitting, considering how the circumstances around Mary's kidnapping -- and using it to draw out other forces -- somewhat mirrored those seen in Silence of the Lambs. But the fact that it was while in a scene with Smith makes it even better, seeing as the actress played Catherine Martin, the main victim who is kidnapped by Buffalo Bill in the 1991 film.

For those unfamiliar with the film, it's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it nod (and certainly not the first one that The CW's Arrowverse of shows has done). But for fans of Silence of the Lambs, Smith's appearance is a surprisingly delightful sequence, one that subverts what is probably her most memorable role (and thankfully, without harming any small dogs in the process).

Sure, the third act of "Schott Through the Heart" takes things in a different direction, as it's pretty hard to imagine Clarice Starling taking on a robotic dinosaur the way that Kara and Mon-El did. But in a way, that proves the ways that the show is sort of reestablishing itself, after taking a pretty lengthy hiatus.

"I think it really just has all of the elements of like what we've created as like a classic Supergirl episode," Jordan told ComicBook.com about tonight's episode. "It's fun, it's silly, but it's also really heartfelt, really emotional, and at the end of the day, you know, good wins over evil, and you know all that stuff. But we have a crazy karaoke scene, and we have flying monkeys, and it's like tears and amidst like you know deep revelations, while also still threading the main storyline of the Worldkillers, and all that with this in it."

What did you think of Supergirl's Silence of the Lambs nod? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Supergirl airs Mondays at 8/7c on The CW.

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