Five Shocking Moments from Supergirl – Changing

Supergirl and her friends squared up against another bigtime supervillain as the Parasite set his sights on National City. Tonight’s episode was all about change, as Alex, Jimmy, Winn, Mon-El, and J’onn all experienced some sort of major change during the episode. From the good (Mon-El is finally acting like a hero!) to the bad (J’onn has White Martian blood in him now), this episode could be a major catalyst for the rest of the season.

Here are five of the biggest moments from tonight’s episode:

Parasite

One of Supergirl‘s biggest flaws last season was that Supergirl didn’t have too many “name” supervillains to fight. Let’s face it, not too many people were excited to watch Supergirl fight Zod’s lackey and Brainiac’s descendant from the future. When Supergirl came to the CW, they immediately made a statement by bringing in Superman and Metallo for a two episode arc. Just a few episodes later, Supergirl has brought in another big-time Superman villain: the Parasite.

Parasite gets a tweaked origin here. Instead of a janitor mutated by biohazardous waste, the Parasite was instead a meteorologist infected with an ancient alien parasite. After an initial feeding frenzy on his colleagues, Jones used the parasite to target climate skeptics, thrilled that he could use his powers to remove those that wanted to prevent change. It wasn’t until Parasite used his powers on Supergirl and J’onn at the same time that he transformed into the giant purple monster we know from the comics. And it was a pretty awesome giant purple monster too. 

Rise of the Guardian

Supergirl doesn’t like to draw its storylines out. One week after he announced to Winn that he wanted to be a superhero, Jimmy suited up as the Guardian for the first time in tonight’s episode. Winn wanted to ease Jimmy into the process (and warned Jimmy that rushing into action without a suit would only lead to his death) but Parasite taking out both J’onn and Supergirl forced Winn to put Jimmy into the field. 

We’re still not 100% sure what Guardian can do, as we only got a taste of his abilities. Guardian’s retractable shield seems to have a “rebuff” ability of some kind, capable of sending force back at anything that hits it. Jimmy also has some nifty bombs and a pretty neat bike. Winn even got in on the superhero action, providing support for Guardian from a fully equipped DEO van. 

After helping Supergirl defeat Parasite, Jimmy and Winn reconvened and agree that they wanted to keep being heroes. And thus the Superfriends were born….albeit in secret because Jimmy and Winn didn’t want Kara to find out that they were putting themselves in danger. 

J’onn and M’gann

Poor M’gann. After months of keeping a low profile, it looks like her secret is going to be revealed…and it’s because she decided to save her new friend’s life. Alex grabbed M’gann from the (still frustratingly unnamed) alien bar to help save J’onn’s life after his encounter with the Parasite.

J’onn had lost a lot of blood from the encounter and needed a blood infusion from another Green Martian. Alex coerced M’gann into providing her blood over M’gann’s protests, not knowing that M’gann isn’t really a Green Martian. And although the procedure worked, M’gann noticed that J’onn’s hands were shaking from the tainted blood inside of him.

We’ll find out what happens when you put White Martian blood into a Green Martian next week. From M’gann’s pained apology, it’s not going to be pretty. 

Alex and Kara

The emotional backbone of Supergirl has always been the relationship between Kara and her sister Alex. That relationship took another big step when Alex came out to Kara at Maggie’s insistence. At first, it seemed like Kara wasn’t going to take the news well; it almost seemed as if she didn’t understand why Alex was coming out now. But after some initial awkwardness, it turns out that Kara was mad at herself for not giving Alex the security she needed to come out sooner. 

Kara later provided Alex with the support she needed, when Maggie gently rebuffed Alex’s advances. Maggie didn’t want to ruin Alex’s first experiences as a gay woman, as Alex still saw the world as “bright and shiny” while Maggie was a bit more cynical. Even though Maggie wanted to support Alex as a friend, Alex ended up crying on Kara’s shoulders as her first attempt at a relationship didn’t go as planned. 

Mon-El and Cadmus

Mon-El made some big leaps this episode as he finally started to live up to Supergirl’s high expectations for him. Supergirl felt that Mon-El could one day be a great hero, but Mon-El seemed more interested in flirting with alien women, drinking, and using his powers to make a quick buck.

Supergirl tried to get through to Mon-El with both honey (friendly sparring) and vinegar (calling him a disappointment), but what Mon-El really needed was a stern talking to from Alex to convince him to try being a hero. Mon-El was the first hero on the scene during the final fight against Parasite, and helped save several civilians from flying cars and debris.

Sadly, we didn’t get to see much of Mon-El’s new heroic attitude. At the end of the episode, Mon-El stopped to help a homeless man only to discover it was an ambush by Cadmus. Welcome to Cadmus, Mon-El. Hope you survive the experience!