Supergirl Season 2 Episode 13: Mr. & Mrs. Mxyzptlk Recap

We pick up right where we left off last week, with Mr Mxyzptlk proposing marriage to Kara, professing his undying love, and then throwing out one liners at the speed of light. He sings a snippet of A Whole New World, from Disney’s Aladdin, which is hilarious because the actor, Peter Gadiot, played the genie on Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.

Mon El interrupts Mxy’s monologue, but is quickly dispensed with. After a few well-placed insults, he’s sent off to the DEO in his underwear. I don’t think being without his clothes bothers Mon El in general as much as Mxyzptlk thinks it should.

With Mon El taken care of, Mxyzptlk continues his campaign to get Kara to accept his proposal, while also answering her questions as she tries to figure out what the heck is going on. Somewhere in the midst of wedding dresses, violin serenades, flowers, and candles, he lists the rules of engagement: He’s all-seeing and all-powerful, but he can’t make her marry him, fall in love with him, stop her from killing herself, or make her drink orange juice. Mxy vows to woo her until she falls in love with him, since he’s chosen her to be his mate. With that, he snaps his fingers and disappears again.

At the DEO, J’onn explains that Mxy is a 5th dimensional being, all of  whom possess the ability to warp our reality to their own whims, which can appear to be magic on this planet. Mon El adds that they had a zero-tolerance policy for 5th dimensional beings on Daxam. They’re fun, but dangerous.

J’onn is preparing to send a written Valentine’s Day message to M’gann on Mars. Even though Martians are psychic, they write things down when they want to make the message especially meaningful.

Mon El and Kara discuss their interrupted kiss. But they don’t just kiss right then, which is a crime. They promise to get their relationship back on track, and celebrate Valentine’s Day, once the Mxyzptlk problem is solved.

Winn is drowning his single Valentine’s Day sorrows at the intergalactic bar. All of the single guys are a bit testy, and a couple of tough aliens take the opportunity to attack Winn over his choice of drink, which isn’t tough enough for them. Winn is saved by a female alien named Lyra, from the planet Starhaven. Starhaven used to be idyllic, but a blight came and ruined it. Wonder if that will come up in a future episode? One of Winn’s favorite books is a Starhaven story. Lyra loves the story too. They decide to go on a date.

Mxy’s opening gambit is to help Kara catch thieves by turning their own guns on them. Kara is super frustrated, because she’s constantly surrounded by men who don’t understand her no kill policy. They’re all cavemen at heart, Kara.

She tells J’onn that this latest encounter has made her realize how dangerous Mxyzptlk is. Winn reports that historical stories of genies and leprechauns are actually about 5th dimensional beings. Mon El explains that on Daxam they crushed imps like Mxy, and asks how Kara intends to slay him. Steam comes out of Kara’s ears as she explains, again, that there will be no killing. J’onn suggests checking DEO artifact storage for objects that might help send him back or suppress his powers. What about figuring out how they used to get genies into bottles? That sounds like suppression of powers and imprisonment to me.

Alex gets a Valentine’s Day card from her mom. Maggie sees it, and says that she hates everything about the holiday and refuses to celebrate it. Alex agrees with Maggie, but actually was looking forward to her first Valentine’s Day as part of a couple. She asks Kara for advice, who tells her to try celebrating in a nontraditional way that has meaning for Alex and Maggie, instead of following more commercial traditions.

Parasite shows up outside of Kara’s apartment, even though he was supposed to be dead. Both Mon El and Mxy (dressed as SuperMxy) show up to help subdue him. They fight over Kara, and Mon El lets slip that Mxyzptlk will have to leave Earth if he says his own name backwards. Mon El also points out that Mxy is creating crises that he and Kara can solve together. Kara is done with both of them at this point. She orders Mon El away. Mxy says he won’t leave until Kara agrees to marry him.

Kara and Mon El have a giant, over the top argument in the middle of the DEO and end up breaking up. The two actors clearly had a ball shooting the scene and are trying not to laugh. They are in each others’ faces with sexual and comedic chemistry flying all over the place.

Mon El is not happy about leaving his (ex)girlfriend’s stalker running around loose, no matter how capable of handling it herself she insists she is, so he takes matters into his own hands. He and Winn exchange relationship pearls of wisdom like “girls are scary” and “it’s all much easier when you just objectify them” (see, cavemen), then Winn girds his loins and runs off to his date with Lyra. Mon El steals a 5th dimensional artifact that he hopes will help him take care of Mxy on his own.

Alex has set up her non-traditional Valentine’s Day as a surprise for Maggie, only it’s not all that non-traditional. There are still candles, music, low lights, and a girl in lingerie, so Maggie figures out what’s going on immediately. She’s upset, and doesn’t feel like Alex heard her at all. Alex did hear what Maggie said, the problem is that Maggie wanted her to hear what she didn’t say as well. Alex pushes Maggie to tell her what’s really going on. It turns out that Maggie lied about her coming out story. She gave a Valentine to a girl when she was 14, who gave the card to her parents, who gave the card to Maggie’s parents. That’s how she was outed. Her parents didn’t take it well, and Maggie had to go live with an aunt for three years. Maggie has hated Valentine’s Day since then, since it’s the way she lost her parents. She leaves the apartment after telling Alex the story.

Winn is late to his date because he was getting them a reservation to a fancy restaurant. He wants to get to know Lyra better. She wants to have sex, right now.

Mon El confronts Mxy in a theater, where they duel for Kara’s hand as if they’re in Hamilton, the musical. The artifact works to suppress Mxy’s powers, but Mxy pickpockets it from Mon El as they fight the old-fashioned way, and destroys it. Then he ties Mon El up and prepares to shoot him, but Kara intervenes just in time. She agrees to marry Mxyzptlk. They plan to meet in the Fortress of Solitude the next day at noon so that Kara can get married on the soil of her people.

Kara and Maggie run into each other at the DEO. Maggie is looking for Alex so that she can apologize. Kara tells Maggie that Valentine’s Day is really important to Alex, and maybe Maggie could consider making some changes, too.

Meanwhile, at the Fortress of Solitude, Mxy is waiting impatiently for Kara, who shows up drinking orange juice. Just think about it. She announces that they aren’t getting married after all. He doesn’t take rejection well, and brings the giant ice sculpture of Uncle Jor El to life so that it can teach Kara a lesson. Kara overcomes the sculpture, but she’s had enough of Mxy’s threats. She seals the Fortress of Solitude and starts the self destruct sequence. She’d rather kill them both than marry him. She absolutely positively will never ever tell him the cancellation code. Unless he asks her really nicely. She tells him the code, which happens to be his name spelled backwards. Gotcha! He calls her a nasty woman, which we all know really means a particularly intelligent and talented woman. As Mxyzptlk is fading back into the 5th dimension, he says he just wanted someone to love him. Kara tells him that you can’t force love, you have to wait for it to find you.

Lyra arrives at the restaurant for her next date with Winn. She’s nervous, and feels like everyone is staring at her. Winn doesn’t care about what other people think. He’s interested in considering a relationship, and it doesn’t matter to him that she’s an alien.

Maggie sends Alex a dress to wear on the romantic date she’s set up to replace Valentine’s Day. She tells Alex that Alex is the one woman who could make her like Valentine’s Day again, and she’s sorry that she didn’t take Alex’s feelings into account.

Mon El arrives at Kara’s apartment for one of their semiregular little talks where he apologizes for being who he is and for having feelings for her, and she stands there being mostly silent. He tries to leave when he’s done, but Kara stops him and tells him that she didn’t mean what she said during their argument and afterwards, she lied to him so that she could deal with Mxyzptlk the way she wanted to, by herself. Mon El, being new to relationships, doesn’t pay attention to the part about lying to him so that she could deal with her dangerous stalker in a foolhardy way by herself, he just hears the part about still wanting to be with him. They finally finish that kiss, which then turns into a full on make out session on the couch.

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The CW must have bought out a candle factory this week. Between this and The 100, it’s like Lexa’s back in town. Too soon?

That was a really fabulous wedding dress and the earrings were amazing, no? He has good taste for an imp. There’s definitely a career as a wedding planner waiting for Mxyzptlk if he wants it, with his love of romance, showmanship and style.

Lyra’s looks, personality and fighting style are 1/3 Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 1/3 one of Buffy’s vampires, and 1/3 Klingon. Her glowing blue eyes are very cool. I’m totally up for this relationship, or for Winn becoming popular with the alien girls and dating a different one every week.

Kara, by drinking the orange juice, makes a clean sweep of defying all four the Mxyzptlk rules of engagement. She really hates it when someone tries to tell her what to do.

It’s a relief that Kara and Mon El are together, but it’s concerning that she lied to him and fake broke up with him. He still wouldn’t listen to her until she forced him to. If they can’t find better ways to communicate and work out the power imbalance in their relationship than Mon El pushing her relentlessly until she snaps, and Kara snapping and pushing him away, then they aren’t going to last long. In some ways, Mxy would have been better for her, because she couldn’t just make him do what she wanted most of the time. Like he said, they were close to equal. We already have Alex and Maggie’s relationship being unequal (adorable, but it’s clear that Maggie’s in charge right now). But then, the Berlantiverse as a whole is terrible at relationships. The only healthy, equal romantic relationships I can remember ever existing were Tommy and Laurel, Oliver and Felicity before she lost her mind and broke up with him, the romantic friendship between Leonard Snart and Sara Lance, and Leonard Snart and Mick Rory, who weren’t romantic, but were long-term, committed, platonic partners. Odd to think that Leonard Snart was probably better at relationships than anyone else in the verse, but he also had a good relationship with his sister and his nemesis.

 

Mxy, to Mon El: The other suitor. I didn’t see you there, tall, dark and blandsome.

Mxyzptlk: It’s spelled like it sounds.

Mxyzptlk: Once you’ve been adored by the all-powerful Mxy, there’s no going backsie.

J’onn: On some planets, to write something down is to truly say it.

Mxyzptlk to Mon El: I hear you’re allergic to lead.   [That’s most likely a clue about Mon El’s long-term future.]