On Supergirl, the race is on to collect a series of magical totems to prevent Nyxly (Peta Sergeant) from getting them first and, thus, assembling a magical stone that will give her ultimate power. The only problem is that finding the totems may be a bigger challenge than anyone realizes, especially with the Super Friends also needing to protect National City.
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This week in “The Gauntlet”, the heroes are able to locate the totem of courage, but so does Nyxly. With both Supergirl and Nyxly obtaining a piece of the totem, they have to undergo a test of courage to see who will control it and if they fail, the results could be disastrous. Need to get caught up on the events of this week’s episode of Supergirl, “The Gauntlet”? We’ve got you covered with our recap below but be warned: there are full spoilers beyond this point.
To the Fortress
Supergirl and Brainy struggle to figure out anything about the totems and are interrupted by Lena returning to the Tower. They let her know about what they’re facing with Nyxly. Supergirl and Lena head to the Fortress of Solitude to get information about the totems but a Kryptonian witch – Veda – is the information that they pull up. Vita warns them to avoid the totems but gives them the rules. There’s an order to them, they’ve been concealed as artifacts, they have to be activated before they can be used, and to fully control them, they have to undergo a test of character and also that the totems had an influence on the civilizations that grew up around them.
At the National City museum, a researcher is told that her funding has been cut off. Her partner took her plans and thus, ruined her work. Her colleague encourages her to get the plans back. Mitch walks through casing the new exhibit and then reports back to Nyxly about how she’s going to get the totem.
Finding the totem
At home, Kelly and Alex talk about how Kelly has been processing things and it seems to be going well. Alex gets a text that Kara has a lead on the totems. Kelly needs to get to work with Orlando as she promised him Guardian would help with the housing situation. At CatCo, Andrea yells at William about his work as it appears to be slipping especially in tracking the Super Friends, but it seems William is struggling with PTSD.
At the Tower, the Super Friends try to narrow down what the Totem of Courage is but it’s a lot. However, they get lucky with a match to a slingshot at the museum. Brainy texts Nia about it, and she gives William a tip about where he might find the Super Friends. At the museum, Nyxly goes to steal the totem but the Super Friends show up. She activates the totem using the word but Supergirl hits her with laser vision, breaking the totem in half.
The race is on
At the Tower, they try to sort out what’s going on and Vita possesses Brainy. The broken totem is spewing energy and now anyone who was close by is getting a boost of courage. The only way to stop it is to gain control of half of the totem they have. It will then attract the other half, but Supergirl has to pass her gauntlet before Nyxly passes hers – and if Supergirl fails, it could be disastrous. Lena extracts Vita from Brainy. Supergirl goes to run the gauntlet.
Supergirl activates the gauntlet and has to face the moment she lacked true courage. It takes her back to the night she became Supergirl, the night the plane Alex was on nearly crashed in National City. However, as she flies away, she hears someone call for help. At the time she didn’t go because she was afraid she would be seen. She goes this time and responds, but that wasn’t the right answer. She fails and everyone who was nearby gets a sudden surge of courage.
More courage, more problems
Nyxly also activates her gauntlet and faces her own past. Her brother is praised for trying to start a coup but Nyxly is arrested. This time, in the gauntlet, Nyxly acts and kills her father but it is also a failure, causing another surge. Chaos starts to break out at the museum and the Super Friends are also now overconfident as well. Which does not go well. Supergirl finally gets J’onn to calm everyone down.
At the Tower, Supergirl tries to get them to understand how bad this situation is. Nia is also impacted, she’s in a deep dream state and can’t be awakened. Elsewhere, Nyxly doesn’t understand why she failed. Mitch suggests that she killed the wrong person, making her realize that killing her brother might have been the real test. At the Tower, Lena talks with Kara, and Kara tries the gauntlet again, but fails again causing another surge of courage. It prompts the researcher to try her lightning device recklessly, causing real problems.
Passing the gauntlet
Lena interrogates Vita who suggests that Lena needs to accept her powers and harness them as that might be powerful enough to stop Nyxly. A storm starts to threaten the city and they realize it’s a result of the courage spike. Elsewhere, Nyxly tries her gauntlet again and faces her brother. She doesn’t kill him, but she confronts him, breaking down and telling him how his betrayal destroyed her. It’s what lets her pass the gauntlet.
The storm
The Super Friends lock down the piece of the totem that they have and focus on the storm, but with everyone impacted by the totem – save for Lena – dealing with things is a huge challenge. Supergirl shuts down the researcher’s machine but the storm rages on. Supergirl tells Lena to release the totem to stop the storm as she needs her team functional. Nyxly gets the totem. Everyone returns to normal and they can deal with the storm. Sentinel’s Hand of the Soldier can do what is needed to reverse things, Guardian shows up to back Sentinel up and the Super Friends get to work. They stop the storm. However, Supergirl suddenly passes out as the totem forms.
The price of power
Supergirl says she could feel Nyxly’s emotions and she’s more determined than ever to get the other totems. She and Nyxly may have a psychic bond now. At CatCo, William confides in Nia about his PTSD and how he’s working through it. He also plans to ask if he can be embedded in the Super Friends. At home, Kelly tells Alex that they are partners as heroes as well. Lena confides in Kara about her mother being a witch and her own possible magic. Kara chooses to stay connected to Nyxly as it might be an advantage. Kara then realizes that Nyxly is angry meanwhile Nyxly doesn’t understand why Kara isn’t suffering. Mitch says maybe it’s because Kara failed and pain is a price of power.
