Supergirl Season 2 Episode 9: Supergirl Lives Recap

And, we’re back. That felt like a really long break. Let’s jump right into the action. Kara’s chasing criminals in a van. She catches the van and driver after an honest to goodness firefight between their gun and her eyeballs. The accomplices have gotten away, so it’s up to The Guardian to catch them. But one slips past him, so Winn becomes the C team. He opens his van door and smashes the thief in the face. Score! But he celebrates too soon, and with his back to the thief. No, Winn, no. Never turn your back until you’ve secured the prisoner. The thief teaches Winn this lesson, but James/Guardian rescues Winn just in time.

Kara’s not okay with having an unapproved B team helping her out. She could have gotten everyone on her own. He took away half the fun, damn it. Alex tries to help, but they end up giggling over Alex’s new girlfriend instead. The next morning, Alex and Maggie are also all giggly and cute and happy over the new girlfriend thing.

Hang on, there’s an actress in the credits named Harley Quinn Smith. What? That’s the actor, not the character? Oh, this is the episode directed by uber comic fan Kevin Smith, and she’s his daughter. That makes sense.

When Kara gets to her day job, she finds a distraught mother whose daughter has been missing for days. The police won’t help, so Kara and her big heart jump in.

Mon-El has taken a job as a bartender at the alien bar. He likes alcohol, it’s a bar, they serve alcohol, perfect fit. He offers Kara his bartender presence to vent her day’s frustrations at, which ends with him telling her, “If you go looking for trouble, trouble ye shall find.” The chemistry between those 2 is adorable and charming. They both light up when they get the chance to banter and play off of each other.

Kara chats with Maggie to ask if the police are making any progress on Izzy’s case. Maggie tells Kara that Izzy is part of a string of recent disappearances that appear unrelated. This looks like a case for Supergirl.

Supergirl wonders where the disappeared have gone, and the show gives us a partial answer. A doctor brings a young man into an empty warehouse and tells him his blood work was good. He just needs one more test. He stands the young man in front of a large ring, then steps aside. Two large men drag the patient away, and Roulette steps out of the shadows to collect the fee the doctor pays her for referring potential candidates. Roulette is back!

Winn is wearing his sunglasses indoors, not because the future looks so bright, but because of the black eye he got fighting the thief. When she gets to work, Alex is still giddy over having a girlfriend to spend the night with. The Danvers sisters share another giggle over Alex’s girlfriend status. These two must have been a riot when they were having crushes on people in school.

Winn discovers the connection between all of the disappeared people within seconds, because he’s just that good. They all had blood work done just before they disappeared. Kara trots right off to investigate the clinic. She runs into Mon El along the way, who’s taken the day off after his long one day work week. He needs to pace himself. Mon El joins Kara for the undercover work.

They pose as a cute, young couple to see the evil doctor running the evil blood work experiment. You can imagine how hard they have to work to be cute and adorable together. All three people in the scene are wearing thick-framed disguise glasses. The evil doctor has thick, luxurious hair. Why are villains always either bald or blessed with extra thick hair? One of the mysteries of the universe. Anyway. Kara and Mon El fumble and bob adorably through a screening conversation with the evil doctor. He wants to take a blood sample, ostensibly for his study on a nutritional supplement, but really for his evil plan. Geez, dude, as if alternative medicine doesn’t have enough problems trying to gain credibility.

They pass whatever the doctor needs them to pass, and get led into the evil backroom.  He turns on a portal to another planet, and agrees that yes, this is where Izzy went, when Kara asks about it. Kara takes down the guards, and the doctor escapes through the portal. Mon El is a bit dazed by watching Kara work, but he does take down one guard. Then she starts to take her clothes off (to reveal the Supergirl costume). Kara throws her clothes into Mon El’s arms, one piece at a time, in tonight’s gifable fan service moment, sponsored by Tumblr. I’ll be looking for the captions on the gifset later, guys. Send me a link.

Kara tells Mon El to go back to the DEO and tell Alex to follow her with a strike team. Mon El reminds her that they don’t know what’s on the other side. Kara proves why she’s the hero in this relationship and says, “Izzy’s on the other side. That’s what matters.” Then she jumps through the portal.

She’s tackled by a reptile alien a few seconds later. They fight until Mon El comes through the portal and helps finish the fight. He thought she might need his help. And she does. This planet has a red sun, which means they only have the strength of a regular earth person there. Kara’s even bleeding.

Mon El wants to go straight back to earth, but Kara insists on finishing the mission. They head straight toward the scary castle in the distance. They reminisce about vacations they took before their planets were destroyed as they walk, until Mon El gets his leg stuck in an alien bear trap.

Back at the DEO, Winn has a melt down at James because he came so close to being killed. He’s never been that close to the danger before. Alex interrupts, looking for Kara. Winn tells her about the missing persons case. Alex traces Kara to the portal. J’onn realizes what it is immediately. Winn invokes the holy name of Stargate, one of the longest running scfi shows of all time. May you live so long, Supergirl. You’re on the right network, if Supernatural is any indication.

Kara and Mon El end up having dinner with the trapper, instead of being dinner. Joe the alien doesn’t eat bipeds. He also tells them where they are: Maaldoria, or Slavers’ Moon. The royal family on Daxam bought their slaves there. Mon El didn’t agree with the slaving. Mon El wants to leave again. Joe says the fortress has no way in or out. Kara decides they’ll get in by having Joe take them in as slaves.

The plan works. Kara and Mon El are imprisoned with Izzy and all of the other missing humans. Roulette shows up to monologue. Her business on earth was ruined, so she jumped at the opportunity to join the slave trade. An alien comes to give Roulette a message. All of the slaves have been sold.

Back on earth, they figure out where Kara is. J’onn can’t go on the mission because the Slavers’ Moon atmosphere is toxic to Martians. Alex will have to find another way. Maggie shows up at that moment, and Alex sends her away. Alex thinks the universe doesn’t want her to be happy.

Alex prepares her team. J’onn gives her a special grenade. Winn tries to give her a pad with return codes, but she won’t take it. Alex needs Winn to go with her. Winn doesn’t think he can do it. Alex gives him a big sister/get back on the horse pep talk. Winn pulls his courage back around himself and prepares to go.

The doctor and guards torture Kara for a few minutes, until the rest of the prisoners rise up and fight back. They left the cell door open while they tortured Kara. Rookie mistake. With everyone fighting, they overcome the guards. We’re not going to analyze this fight much, or why those guns didn’t work and the prisoners weren’t all shot. Let’s just enjoy the fun and the pretty pictures, and be happy Kara didn’t break them out with a speech about hope and nothing more.

The former prisoners leave Roulette and the doctor in the cell. They fight their way out of the castle just as Alex’s team is fighting its way in. Mon El is at the back of the prisoner group, protecting the rear. One alien stops another from shooting him, saying, “Not him. He is not to be harmed.” The alien then bows to Mon El. Mon El looks behind him to make sure Kara didn’t see. If Mon El isn’t the Prince of Daxam, he’s someone else important. It’s most likely that he just switched himself and the bodyguard in his story of how he got to earth.

The two groups meet up safely in the castle halls. Kara’s a little worried when she finds out that Alex brought Winn. Winn is doing fine though. He even fights off an alien of his own, before he gets the portal reopened. An alien grabs Izzy at the last moment and it turns out the special grenade was a bit contained sunshine to give Kara a burst of power. She takes out an alien ship with her eyeballs. Joe the alien hitches a ride back to earth with the team.

Izzy is reunited with her mother and Kara impresses her boss. Winn’s enthusiasm for doing hero work is reinvigorated. Maggie and Alex have another serious talk about whether Alex can handle being in a relationship. Maggie reveals that she knows that Kara is Supergirl. She figured it out, between Alex’s emotional reactions about Supergirl, and the glasses being a lame disguise. 😘 Maggie gives Alex another chance, as long as Alex doesn’t run away again.

Mon El comes to Kara’s apartment so they can be adorable for a few more minutes. He’s realized that she’s right about helping people. He wants to be a superhero. He tells her, “I want to help you keep the world spinning, to prove that I was spared for a reason.” A few layers of meaning there.

Back on Slavers’ Moon, the doctor tells some bounty hunters that Mon El is on earth. That won’t end well. Especially when everyone finds out that Mon El’s been lying about his identity.

Quotes:

Mon El: Two heads are always better than one. Except on the planet Barvex, because they have two-headed cannibals.

Doctor: Well, well, well, well. They told me two strapping millennials had dropped by, and here you are!  Mon El: We work out. A lot.

Kara: Well, actually, we can’t give blood. That’s against our religion.  Mon El: Yes. We’re very religious. Very into our Gods. One God. We are madly monotheistic!

 

Members of the DC Berlantiverse cast at Saturday’s Women’s March on Washington: