Let’s start this with the secret hero of the episode:
Welcome to the family, Esme!
Aaaaaaand she's a 'mirror'. Called it!
...okay, they call it "Mimic". Close enough.
So, little one’s powers are uncontrolled, and Alex spends the majority of the episode stressing out and over-doing things. But, she and Kelly eventually figure it out..
So, Esme gets a tour through the Tower and when Lena is nervously greets the little girl, she gets a compliment.
Esme, you and me are gonna be very good friends.
And it turns out, Brainy is actually rather good with little people.
We learn that Esme is the smartest person on the show! (could be residual Brainy powers mixed with preadolescent non-bias?)
Apparently, Esme not only can mimic powers, but also is able to read them, and that is how she instantly knew Kara and Supergirl are the same person.
Melissa channeling her mother instincts for Kara's scenes with Esme is easily the most adorable thing on TV I've seen in a while.
We learn that Kara and Eliza did fight a lot.
I knew Kara and Alex did. I knew Alex and Eliza did. Gotta admit, the Kara and Eliza part was a little bit new to me...
"Innocent little ball of cuteness" - yep, that's Esme alright.
The truth-seeker bit had a nice touch to it... But mothers trying to convince their daughters they are telling the truth and only able to do so by subjecting themselves to the truth-seeker - that rings vaguely familiar, huh...
Little Esme has trauma from losing her birth family. But her new family is superheroes and constantly throws themselves into the line of fire and risk their lives, so no worries! (That's not the message they were getting at? Whoops.)
What else happened this episode?
Nyxly disregards that her collecting of totems and going through the gauntlets on Earth, causes massive fall-out / chaos for the people.
Nyxly, your dad lied about you to make himself look like a hero, but you are misreading the situation here!
Mitch found a mcguffin way for Nyxly to use the Courage Totem.
William gains bonus points with Lena for bringing food to the Tower.[Insert fan-theory that Lena moved into the Tower - for safety reasons - and lives off whatever scraps she can find and what meals Kara brings her.]
...and he instantly loses his bonus points for lightly swapping her hand and telling her his fancily named treats are not for Lena.
...but regains half of them because they are meant for Esme.
Kara and Lena are in sync. Hehe~ 🌈
Kaznia is mentioned and even appearing again. Right, the sign last episode said the Den Haag location was politically tied to Kaznia...
Now, thanks to Mitch’s help, Nyxly can take courage away now.
She tries it at the Den Haag location, but apparently Kara (and J'onn) have so much courage, that it doesn't work on them...?
Kara tries the Hope Totem's gauntlet.
...how?
She didn't manage to win the Courage Totem.
She skipped the Humanity Totem's gauntlet entirely!!
What happened to the rules?!
Ominous totem-voice: "Inspire a hope that burns longer and brighter than the sun"
Me, a Supercorp shipper: "Simple: Ask Lena out for a date!"
Nyxly using her Courage Totem powers seems to have lessened the attending politicians' courage and has them give in to their fears? Or was it Kara starting the Hope gauntlet, that makes the people more skeptical of each other?
Either way, a war is brewing and J'onn's attempts to calm the politicians down are not working well... Maybe he shouldn't have had dressed down...
Meantime, Lena continues her pattern of letting people know where others are...
The pages Lena is studying:
"flight Balm" ...and "Complexion Elixir" ...so, she can fly alongside Supergirl and look pretty while doing it?
Lena, dear, how does any of these titles sound like it will "help secure the Humanity Totem"?
While her research approach is questionable, girl tries to impress her Kryptonian by saying "El mayarah" at an opportune time.
I think it worked ...at least on me.
🧡
Over on Nyxly’s ship, Mitch is trying to be inspirational by mentioning the hope / joy Taco-Tuesday brought to him in prison...
It’s so irrelevant and tonally distracting, that I had to mention it. It wasn’t even funny or produced a funny reaction from Nyxly. Why?
Nyxly's interpretation of the Totem rules is baffling to me.
But so are the so-called rules in general, so no surprise there.
Another Kara and Lena couch-scene:
Kara finally explains what she as a Superhero is allowed to do and what not.
..which applies always, except when she can literally change reality to save her 'friendship' with Lena. Did I get that right?
We later learn there’s another amendment that says: While she can't interfere with human history, when somebody else did it first, she can jump in to undo that damage.
Which really strengthens my point, that when Mxy offered her his help last season, she should have used it to undo Lex’ crisis meddling... But, no, the ‘friendship’ thing was more important. Huh.
Lena inspires Kara - once again - to be a good reporter.
Kara tries to do just that, but - Dang, Andrea... why so pessimistic?
Good to know: Nyxly is just as easily fooled by a pair of glasses as everybody else is.
Aw, new guy was being courageous... and got hurt by Nyxly :’(
Ah, okay, paperclips. And Kara flipping things again.
Not sure if that didn't attract the camera guy to film towards Kara's position and caught her super-speeding away... But I will just assume, the writers say Kara's identity is still save, because plot.
...part of me wished
1) Andrea got blasted into the wall and
2) she at least got a taste of the fear-spell.
Seriously, what is going on with that woman?
I really liked us seeing the little things Supergirl does as she flies through the city. Even if it was just to try and pass the Hope gauntlet...
Was that John Glover? ...naaaah.
Nyxly doesn't see the irony in talking about her father being consumed by power and how 'the powerful will always believe their way is righteous'... while literally saying, that once she got the all-powerful All-Stone, she will set things right.
William does call her out on it, though. Well, he tried.
Aaand we are running out of time.
So, Kara does exactly what Lena suggested earlier and takes the countries’ nuclear weapons away.
Supergirl: "I've got a soft spot for Kaznia."
...do her RedDaughter memories still live inside her?
Supergirl: "Lena, I am heading your way now."
Me, a Supercorp shipper: "...!!! Oh, right... no time for that :( "
Somehow Lena seems to have managed to perfect her spell. And in a way, too, that doesn't reject Kara but only Nyxly - wow! I suppose, that’s what happens when she puts her heart into her magic?
William does a brave! A very brave!!! He saves the day!! (..dey?)
Oh, and the mind-connection is broken!
Now, Team Superfriends has three totems.
Kara managed to win the 3rd’s gauntlet.
The first is reset.
What was that very important rule about keeping the order again?
So, Lena says, courage, hope and humanity are... elements?
....
...my brain hurts.
Kara ACTUALLY throws the Hope Totem into the sun.
Dang.
You have no proof your theory is correct, girl!
...also: Now, Team Superfriends has two totems.
And Lex (we all know the "secret admirer" is Lex, right?) has once again perfect timing... to bring hope to Nyxly.
Apparently what Luthors do to woo their supernatural love interests, is give them suits of armor.
Overall, I found this episode enjoyable.
Not great, but a CWSG average level of enjoyable. With some highlights and some scenes the SC fandom can lose their minds over. So I call it a win.
What annoys me is how the writers play fast and loose with their own established, initially decently clear-cut, supposedly very important totem rules.
But, now, with one of the totems gone and the All Stone presumably no longer achievable... *sighs* Well, we’ll see...
I bet if it wasn't for the dumb 'Every Weasley Family Member Is In Gryffindor' thing, the twins would have been in Slytherin. Think about it, they're CUNNING enough to get away with most of their pranks and to come up with them. They're AMBITIOUS, since they'll do anything to open up their own joke shop. They are DETERMINED, since they do everything their own way, and play by their own rules. They have the LEADERSHIP qualities for Harry and Ginny. They play by their own rules, and will do just about anything to get what they want. The twins may be in Gryffindor, but I stand firmly by my idea that they could be Slytherin.
“English is weird. It can be understood through tough, thorough, thought though.”
– unknown (teeshirt saying found in Signals.com catalog)
I found the above in a catalog, and though merely intended as humor, it has a ring of truth to it. I’ve heard that English is one of the most difficult languages to learn, because unlike most other languages, we have a fairly blatant disregard for common rules. “Here’s the rule, except when it’s not…” seems to be the standard. Even so, as writers, it is our task to make those words all come together in a way that makes sense to the reader, and hopefully has meaning beyond the correctness of the wording.
Best of luck in your writing endeavors this new year. I finally finished that novel-length Rogue One story last December and have been posting that. As yet, I haven’t turned my attention to anything new, but I have plenty of WIP stories to consider. Hopefully I’ll get back to one of them in due course and finish them off.
//OCC// To people who wants do roleplaying but are shy or beginners:
There’s no need to fear. Come and write to me whatever you want, make friendship with me, make a story with me. Be creative and have fun. As mun I can give you only love and respect
