Tonight’s episode of Supergirl was about self-discovery and relationships. As Mon-El, James, and Alex both tried to find their place in the world, a dangerous new gang armed with alien weaponry threatened National City’s safety. Unfortunately, this wasn’t just a common gang, these crooks were pawns in Cadmus’s plan to undermine Earth’s fledgling alien community.
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Here are the five biggest moments from this week’s episode of Supergirl.
Cadmus Strikes Again
The plot of tonight’s episode was actually quite straightforward. Cadmus wanted to turn public opinion against the alien amnesty act by arming a gang led by Chet Miner with alien weaponry and unleashing them on National City. While Miner and his cronies didn’t have powers, their guns had enough punch to actually knock Supergirl down, meaning that she couldn’t just rush them head on.
Supergirl first realized she was in trouble when she encountered the gang trying to rob a bank and quickly got shot into a nearby hospital. James tried to lend a hand, but he only ended up getting punched and kicked in the head several times (a running theme of tonight’s episode) and left to watch as the robbers got away.
While Jimmy and Supergirl were left to lick their wounds, Cadmus sent out another transmission blaming “aliens” for the attack, as they were the ones who brought the guns to Earth in the first place. While that seems like an overly simplistic argument, it connected with National City residents and struck another blow against the president’s Alien Amnesty act. It looks like Cadmus knows that they might not be able to fight Supergirl head on, but they can hurt her reputation, which seems to be one of her few vulnerabilities.
The Rise of the Guardian
Although Supergirl had her share of fight scenes, the most exciting fight in the episode was when a masked James tried to fight Miner and his gang head on. After watching Miner destroy his dad’s camera, James realized that he was unsatisfied sitting behind a desk while his friends risked their lives as superheroes. After getting some intel on Miner’s gang from an unwitting Winn, James arrived at a Federal Reserve branch armed with a baseball bat ready to take Miner on.
Although James had a distinct technology disadvantage, he actually held his own in the fight until Miner arrived with his VERY large gun. Although Miner disintigrated James’s bat with his gun, James survived the fight by using a piece of scrap metal as an impromptu shield.
The next day, Winn furiously demanded an explanation from James for why he tried to “play hero” without any equipment or backup. Winn wasn’t thrilled with James’s answer, but he eventually agreed to help James since it became quickly obvious that James wasn’t going to stop putting himself in harm’s way. Although Jimmy didn’t say what his superhero name was, the moment with the makeshift shield is a pretty clear nod that he’s about to become the Guardian.
Relationships Galore
Supergirl teased a lot of different pairings this week, although none got as much screentime as Alex and Maggie. Alex spent most of the episode worried about Maggie’s well-being after Maggie’s girlfriend unceremoniously dumped her. It quickly became obvious that Alex wasn’t just worried about Maggie as a friend, although Alex herself didn’t really admit it to herself until the end of the episode.
Supergirl and Mon-El also had a few pleasant moments, although Mon-El is clearly interested in just about anyone after spending 35 years in a rocket. The two aliens shared a cute dance together (as James and Winn looked on) and later came to an understanding about Mon-El trying to find his place on Earth under Kara’s “mentorship”.
Winn and Lena Luthor also had a moment together….but we’ll cover that in the next slide.
Lena Saves The Day
At the beginning of last night’s episode, Lena invited Kara to a LexCorp gala. When it became obvious that the gala would be an easy target for Miner and his gang, Lena insisted that LexCorp would still hold the gala…and even invited Supergirl to the gala to help keep it safe.
It turns out that the gala was an elaborate trap, designed by Lena to get the alien weapons off the streets and out of the hands of Miner’s men. She secretly built a field generator to neutralize the weapons, but it wouldn’t work when Miner eventually attacked. A cowering Winn helped Lena fix the generator, which instantly destroyed the weapons right before Miner was about to finish Supergirl off.
While Lena came off as a hero, there’s still a question as to why she decided to stop Miner. Was it altrusim? A way to get alien weaponry off the street? Or was there a more personal reason at play?
Another Luthor….Revealed!
The big shocker of the evening came when Lena got an unexpected visitor at her office. When Supergirl stopped by to thank Lena for stopping Miner, Lena’s mother stopped by. While Supergirl didn’t recognize the woman, the viewers immediately realized that Lena’s mother was the mysterious head of Cadmus! It’s unclear whether this was Letitia Luthor or Lena’s biological mother (remember that the Luthors adopted Lena as a child), but the Cadmus director’s comments earlier in the episode seem to hint that she’s a Luthor.
This raises so many question about both Cadmus and the Luthor family. Did Lex know that his mother was running a clandestine branch of the government that shared his anti-alien goals? Does alien xenophobia run in the family? And did Lena stop Miner because she realized that her mother was supplying him with weaponry? Hopefully, they’ll answer some questions about Lena and her mother’s relationship next week!
