It’s interesting that Episode Lucky-Number-13 of this season of Supergirl involved an unlucky encounter with one of the most annoying and frustrating villains in the DC canon. Mr. Mxyzptlk (or as Kara calls him, “Mixy”) has arrived, and he wants Kara Zor-El to marry him. Meanwhile, Mon-El was just about to seal the deal with a kiss, so he’s not happy about this at all; and J’onn, Winn, and Alex also each have their own love and relationship issues to deal with. It’s Valentine’s Day in National City!
**THIS IS A RECAP – SPOILERS ARE PART OF THE TERRITORY.**
image via Jack Rowand/The CW
S2, EP. 13 – THE RECAP
- The episode picks up where “Luthors” left off. Mr. Mxyzptlk (Peter Gadiot) has arrived in Kara’s living room just as she and Mon-El were about to kiss, and proclaims his love for her. He speedily fills her apartment with candles and flowers and busts out a ring. When Mon-El attempts to defend her, Mxyzptlk dismisses him with a “I didn’t see you there, Tall, Dark, and Blandsome,” before zapping him to the DEO … in nothing but his underwear. He then magics a dress onto Kara, who stops him and demands that he explain himself, because she has no idea who he is. He tells her his name (it’s spelled like it sounds), and tells her that he’s basically been creepily stalking her ever since her time in the Phantom Zone. He’s been in love with her this whole time, and now he’s going to make her fall in love with him (one of the few things he can’t magic, along with stopping her from killing herself). When she refuses him, he assumes she’s playing hard to get. He leaves, but he’s determined.
- At the DEO, Kara asks the team to figure out what she can do about Mxyzptlk. J’onn informs her that he’s a 5th Dimensional being (When the mooooon, is in the seventh house … and Jupiter aligns with Mars …) who can warp reality. Both Mars and Daxum have had dealings with beings like him, and Mon-El says that on Daxum they just killed them, because that’s the only way they’ll ever stop. But, of course, Kara is determined to do this in a non-violent way. Later, as J’onn goes off to get a Martian Valentine’s note to M’gann on Mars (“On some planets, to write something down is to truly say it”), Kara tells Mon-El that she’d very much like to continue down the path they were headed down … but she needs to deal with Mxyzptlk first.
- At Alex’s apartment, Alex serves Maggie a breakfast she knows she likes, which Maggie thinks is sweet. She then opens up a card her mother sent her for Valentine’s Day. Maggie thinks this is less sweet and more overly-saccharine and silly. Turns out, she hates Valentine’s Day, which visibly disappoints Alex, though Alex agrees with her in the moment about it being a waste of time.
- At the alien dive bar, Winn is drowning his sorrows, because he too hates Valentine’s Day. Or, rather, he resents it, because he’s never had a good one. Two aliens pick a fight with him and are about to pummel him when a hot alien woman comes to his aid and beats the crap out of the alien bullies. She hates bullies. She is Lyra (Tamzin Merchant), she is from Starhaven, and Winn is instantly smitten. And it’s Winn’s lucky day, because after some quality banter, and his reciting a part of her favorite childhood book, which he happened to know, she is also smitten. She asks him out, and he accepts, bewildered.
image via Dean Buscher/The CW
- Supergirl arrives at a jewelry store robbery in progress. However, as she tries to stop the robbers, who inexplicably shoot at her (people really need to stop trying that. Don’t they watch the news?), Mxyzptlk arrives and magics their guns away from them, pointing them at the robbers. He’s very proud of himself and his ability to “help,” and pulls the triggers on all the guns. Supergirl speedily stops all the bullets and tells Mxyzptlk to stop. He does, but he vows he’ll keep trying.
- At the DEO, Kara realizes that Mxyzptlk is more dangerous than she thought if he’s willing to hurt humans to get her to marry him. In his research, Winn discovered that humans have had relationships with 5th dimensional types for centuries, calling them things like leprechauns or genies. Mon-El repeats that they should kill him, but Kara refuses. J’onn mentions that the DEO has several alien artifacts that might be useful in either sending Mxyzptlk back to the 5th Dimension, or suppressing his powers. As J’onn sends for the artifacts, Winn receives a text from Lyra inquiring if they’re still on for that night. He looks hella nervous.
- As Kara and Alex walk to Kara’s door, Kara is complaining about Mon-El’s response to the Mxyzptlk situation. Alex suggests he might be jealous, but Kara dismisses it. When they enter the apartment, it’s filled with roses from Mxyzptlk. As Kara pours Alex a drink, Alex asks for advice about Maggie. She wants Valentine’s Day romance, but doesn’t want to make Maggie do something she hates. Kara suggests that she think about some of the things Maggie really likes (tiramisu, scotch …) and create a “tailor-made Valentine’s Day” for Maggie, starting a new, less-sappy tradition all their own. Alex likes the idea. Suddenly, they’re distracted by a commotion from the street …
- Parasite is back? But isn’t he dead? Supergirl races down to deal with him, and ends up getting thrown around. Mon-El arrives to help, but he too gets thrown around. Suddenly, a Superman-looking figure arrives and stops Parasite. It’s Mxyzptlk in a red and blue suit, and he uses the opportunity to show Supergirl that he’s more of a hero than Mon-El ever could be, and they’d be a great team at stopping evil-doers. Mon-El points out that Mxyzptlk brought on this menace in the first place just to impress her. He is not wrong. Supergirl sends him away, upset that Mon-El insists on getting involved when she’s told him repeatedly that she’ll handle it. Mxyzptlk thinks he’s about to get what he wants, but Supergirl refuses him again. He then gets very dark, and tells her that things can get a lot worse for the planet if she continues to deny him.
image via Dean Buscher/The CW
- At the DEO, Kara and Mon-El argue about how to handle Mxyzptlk. Mon-El says that she sometimes is “not a good judge of what you can handle,” and Kara points out that he’s clearly jealous. He then accidentally reveals that a way to stop Mxyzptlk is by getting him to say his own name backwards, which will send him back to the 5th Dimension. Kara is pissed that he didn’t tell her this sooner, but he doesn’t think it will work because Mxyzptlk isn’t stupid. Kara refuses to kill Mxyzptlk.
- Upset, Mon-El goes into the other room, where Winn is struggling to respond to Lyra’s texts. Winn asks Mon-El’s advice, since he seems to have a lot of luck with women, but Mon-El says, “Things were a lot easier on Daxum when I objectified women and didn’t care about anyone.” Realizing he’s not going to get woman advice, Winn then shows off the alien artifacts that have been brought up. He’s excited about one in particular, a blue, glowing amulet-type thing that’s high in 5th Dimensional energy. It’s their best option at stopping Mxyzptlk. So of course Winn leaves it open and unattended as he goes to meet Lyra for their date. Mon-El swipes it.
- When Maggie arrives at her apartment, Alex has surprised her with romantic music, candles, tiramisu, scotch, and her in a gorgeous teddy … but Alex is not happy. She berates Alex for not “hearing her” about how much she hates Valentine’s Day. Alex apologizes, but then asks her to be completely honest with her. This is clearly about more than just Valentine’s Day being a sappy waste of time. Maggie then tells her that she lied when she said her parents were supportive of her coming out. When she was 14, she liked a girl—the first girl she was interested in romantically. They hung out all the time … as friends. Then, on Valentine’s Day, she put a Valentine in her locker to express her feelings. The girl then gave it to her parents, who called Maggie’s parents. Her father kicked her out of the house, and she lived with her aunt for three years. Ouch.
- Winn meets Lyra at the alien dive bar having made all sorts of romantic plans for them. But she’s not interested in plans. She’s interested in getting in Winn’s pants, and as the scene cuts away, it looks as though they’re about to get it on right there in the bar. Damn, girl!
image via Dean Buscher/The CW
- Kara practices saying Mxyzptlk’s name backwards as she and J’onn talk about their options. When she asks him if Winn found anything useful, J’onn mentions the amulet, but when he looks at the case, he sees it’s gone. Kara knows Mon-El has it.
- Mon-El seeks Mxyzptlk out and challenges him to a duel. Mxyzptlk obliges, and magics them to a theater where he dresses Mon-El as Hamilton and himself as Burr. At first, he says that the pistols he’s provided will actually hurt him, but when Mon-El tries to shoot, nothing happens. As Mxyzptlk laughs at his gullibility and is about to attack, Mon-El busts out the amulet, which supresses Mxyzptlk’s powers. He then proceeds to beat the crap out of Mxyzptlk. In the scuffle, however, Mxyzptlk manages to get a hold of the amulet and magic it away. He ties Mon-El up, and is about to shoot him when Supergirl arrives. She agrees to marry Mxyzptlk if he’ll let Mon-El go. She asks him to meet her at the Fortress of Solitude tomorrow at noon. Mxyzptlk lets Mon-El go and is full of glee.
- The next day, Mon-El shows up at Kara’s apartment to apologize for going after Mxyzptlk and to beg her not to marry him. Kara is not only determined to marry him, but she breaks up with Mon-El, claiming that they’re not right for each other. She sends him away, and he goes, heartbroken.
- Kara comes to the DEO looking for Alex … and so does Maggie. Alex is nowhere to be found. Maggie came to apologize to her for freaking out about her Valentine’s Day surprise, and Kara tells her that it means a lot to Alex to finally have someone to share Valentine’s Day with, and that maybe she should consider Alex’s feelings.
image via Dean Buscher/The CW
- Mxyzptlk has arrived at the Fortress of Solitude right on time, but Supergirl is nowhere to be found. She appears eventually, however, drinking orange juice and telling him that, actually, she’s not going to marry him after all. The only reason she invited him there was to let him down in place she could lock down and he couldn’t hurt anyone. Mxyzptlk gets pissed, and animates the huge ice sculpture of Jor-El to pin Supergirl down until she “sees reason.” She avoids and ends up breaking the statue. She then locks the Fortress of Solitude down and overloads the atomic cauldron powering the Fortress. As it counts down to self-destruct, Supergirl says that the explosion will be contained to the Fortress, but will kill them both, and that she’d rather die than marry him or let him hurt anyone else. At first, he thinks she’s bluffing, but when he realizes she’s not he begs her to stop it by giving him the cancellation code. She does, and the Kryptonian letters spell out K-L-T-P-Z-Y-X-M. As J’onn said earlier, on some planets, to write something down is to truly say it. Apparently, that also applies to the 5th Dimension. As Supergirl teaches Mxyzptlk that “you can’t force love. You have to let it find you,” he fades away.
- Winn has invited Lyra to a restaurant for an actual date, and Lyra is surprised. She basically expected their thing to be a one-night stand. She’s used to humans trying an alien out, but never dating one. Winn, however, is way more serious about Lyra than that, and insists “you aren’t ‘some experience’ to me.” This pleases Lyra, and when she asks him to take her to where he lives, Winn enthusiastically responds with a “Yes, Ma’am.”
- Maggie surprises Alex with a dress and an address. When Alex arrives, Maggie is there to greet her having prepared a late Valentine’s Day Prom for her. She apologizes, gives Alex a corsage, and proclaims that she’s going to stop associating Valentine’s Day with the past and start thinking about the fact that she has an amazing woman in her life now, one who deserves all the romance in the world. They dance, and it’s adorable.
- Mon-El goes to Kara’s place to commend her on dealing with Mxyzptlk in a non-violent way and apologize for not listening to her. He says that his feelings for her drove him a little crazy, but that he’s sorry, and he hears her now that she doesn’t want to be with him anymore. Kara, however, stops him from leaving, telling him that she was totally lying. She only broke up with him to keep him from stopping her plan, and to protect him in case Mxyzptlk was listening. She actually does want a relationship with Mon-El, and as this week’s villain has been taken care of … SMOOCHES.
image via Dean Buscher/The CW
S2, Ep. 13 – THE REVIEW
This was one of the warmest, smartest, and most fun episodes of Supergirl ever, so when I saw that it was co-written by Sterling Gates, A.K.A. one of the best writers of Supergirl comics ever, I was not surprised. Gates has always done a wonderful job with Kara Zor-El, and after his run on Adventures of Supergirl, which takes place in the world of The CW show, I was hoping he’d get his hands on some actual teleplays. He, along with co-writer Jessica Queller told a streamlined story that explored what love means to each of the characters by digging beyond the surface and getting into their fears, insecurities, and pain. All while incorporating one of the Superman/Supergirl universe’s most popular (and difficult) villains.
The episode had a wonderful guest star in Peter Gadiot, whose Mxyzptlk would’ve been charming and attractive were it not for the, you know, coercion. His performance was energetic and nuanced, and he managed to be captivating and threatening all at once. Watching him and Benoist together was awesome, as she played off his ever-changing moods perfectly. I love that she outsmarted him, too. Very often on this show, Supergirl defeats villains by talking to them, showing them understanding, nurturing. All skills that are very important and unapologetically female, which I love, but I’m always glad when the show reminds us how intelligent Kara Zor-El is. In the comics, she’s more likely to use her brain to defeat a villain (when she’s not being an impetuous teenager), and so I was glad to see that aspect of her character here.
Despite how upset I was last week about Mon-El and Kara’s kiss getting cut short, I’m so pleased by how their relationship played out here. In the beginning, the relationship felt forced, but the show has done a great job of throwing in real conflict and building a real friendship, then romantic feelings over the course of the season. Thirteen episodes in, this relationship feels earned, and Mon-El has grown as a character. I’ve come to love Chris Wood as Mon-El, and he does a great job of keeping the core of Mon-El in tact even as his circumstances change. Favorite moment: in the middle of his fight with Kara at the DEO, Mon-El looks at a passing agent and goes “Hi, Dana,” then turns back to Kara to complete his thought. It’s a tiny moment, and it felt like it might have been either an ad-lib, or an on-set inside joke, but whatever it was, it was perfectly in character and made me literally LOL.
image via Jack Rowand/The CW
And I never thought I could squee as hard as I squeed over Winn and Lyra. Generally, when Winn has been paired with women, it’s never felt quite right, but this felt right instantly. This episode basically hit the jackpot with guest stars as Tamzin Merchant’s Lyra is someone I’m definitely looking forward to seeing again. From the moment she sidled up to Winn at the bar, their chemistry was palpable, and Merchant was great at being extremely sexual and tough, as well as vulnerable. Meanwhile, Jeremy Jordan gets better and better every week.
Alex and Maggie’s storyline was sweet and interesting, particularly the part where Maggie had softened her coming out story to make Alex’s experience more positive. And that was before they were a couple. Maggie is just a caring person, and it was cool to see how Maggie’s being newly vulnerable about this experience in her life takes their relationship to the next level. Also, Chyler Leigh looked stunning in that dress.
I also love how they even slipped in a brief Valentine’s moment for J’onn as he continues to love M’Gann even though she’s far away. That little touch was so sweetly in character.
The one character they didn’t fit in? James who, along with CatCo, didn’t appear in the entire episode. While I was sorry that they couldn’t seem to find anything for James to do (or a love interest that isn’t Kara), it really highlighted how superfluous CatCo has become without Cat Grant. The story felt so much more streamlined without needing to cut to CatCo for some reason and, sadly, I think the show’s better that way. I’ve never taken to Kara As Reporter, and while I love Mehcad Brooks, they’ve not been able to figure out what to do with James Olsen. Probably because he’s meant to be Superman’s best friend, not Supergirl’s. With Winn now at the DEO, there’s less and less reason to go back there. I like the show sans CatCo now that Calista Flockhart isn’t there, though it pains me to say it. Perhaps Guardian needs to become a DEO agent?
“Mr. & Mrs. Mxyzptlk” is now my favorite episode of the season! What did you think? Let’s chat about it in the comments below!
Supergirl airs Mondays at 8PM ET/PT on The CW.
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Published: Feb 21, 2017 10:34 am