SUPERGIRL - Season 4.11

REVIEW:  SUPERGIRL – SEASON 4, EP. 11: “Blood Memory”

In this edition of the continuing adventures of the Girl of Steel, we deal with the fallout of the mindwipes J’Onn performed on some of the DEO agents—as well as Alex---to protect Kara’s ID as Supergirl.  We also get to dive more into Nia’s background, and the public are getting imbued with superpowers, and Alex has to deal with it. 

We kick things off with the Red Daughter stopping a missle, but she’s hurt by the blast.  They try to revive her, but when they do, it sends a shockwave of power across the globe, and it enhances some pills in a trailer that some guys are watching TV in.  They meet a friend outside, who takes the pill, and becomes empowered.  His buddies bail.

We head to Kara’s where it’s game night, and the group is having fun.  Nia talks about her upbringing in a small town up north.  However, during the game, Kara asks Alex what her favorite movie was, and Alex can’t remember.  Kara looks at J’Onn with deep concern.  They respond to a disturbance, the guy who took the pills and became a raging hulk (ha ha).  He’s about to cause trouble, but Supergirl stops his rampage.  Alex comes up and says they’ll take over.  Supergirl addresses her as Alex, but Alex chides her and tells her to call her Director Danvers.  Kara is hurt by this.

Kara is at CatCo talking to James about the incident, and she tells him how painful it was that Alex didn’t know her favorite movie, which is the Wizard Of Oz by the way, and James reminds her that she doesn’t know Kara is Supergirl.  Kara is just frustrated that Alex doesn’t remember parts of Kara.  The, one of the CatCo writers comes in, and pitches James a story about L Corp and hidden money that they might’ve used for secret experimentation.  James says give him what she has to look over it, and agrees to let her follow the money trail.  James is going to have to have a long talk with Lena.

Nia is on the phone with her sister about getting to the Harvest Festival.  She’s worried that she’d never get to the Harvest Festival.  Kara agrees to drive and go with her.

At the DEO, Alex and Brainy figure out that the guys on the rampage were frat boys.  And they also realize they’re humans, not aliens.

Kara and Nia are headed north, and Nia reveals that her town is very inclusionary, that her mother came to Earth at 18, fell in love with her Dad, and got married.  Had two girls.  Nia and her sister.  Nia also reveals that she is transgendered, and that it took awhile for people to accept her.  She also asks Kara NOT to reveal her dreaming powers to her family.  Kara agrees.

The frat boys talk about the effects of the pills, and there’s a demand for them, based on internet traffic.  They’re looking to sell.

Kara and Nia are still on the road, and Nia has another dream.  They then arrive at Nia’s family home, and they have dinner.  They talk about their dreaming powers, and how it’s passed on from generation to generation, but can skip a generation.  Nia’s sister hopes her powers will kick in soon, and her Mom assures her to give it time.  They have NO IDEA that Nia’s powers are in full effect. 

Back at the DEO, Brainy and Alex find out that they frat boys are now selling the powered pills.  These pills are empowered with radiation.  Alex feels that she’s off…and she should’ve seen this coming. 

J’Onn is at the DEO, as Alex is asking him for help…she feels like she’s not herself, and it’s driving her crazy.  She’s asking J’Onn to see what’s wrong.

Nia and Kara talk.  Nia knows that if she tells the truth that SHE has the power, and her sister will be heartbroken when she finds out she can’t have the power…since her mother dreamed that she’d pass the power onto her daughter.  But Nia wasn’t her daughter to begin with.  Nia wants to talk to her Mom, and asks Kara to interview her sister, to buy her time. 

At the DEO again, and J’Onn and Brainy talk about what to do with Alex.   J’Onn offers to lie to her to give her peace of mind, which she does.  Alex feels like she needs a partner to help get the info from the frat boys about what the other boys are doing with the drugs.  Brainy goes into the cell, and imitates a frat boy, and gets the info needed in just 2 minutes.  They then plan their attack on how to stop it.

Kara and Nia’s sister are talking about the town, and how Nia’s sister wants to be a hero…the Dreamer…when the powers kick in.  Some Agents of Liberty come into town to protest, but Nia’s sister says that the town will hold their own against them. 

Nia talks to her Mom, and asks if the powers can be transferred.  Her Mom says ‘no’, and then falls into a dream state.  Nia follows her into the dream, and her mother realizes that Nia is the one with the power, and said it’s her destiny.  That her strength was water, and Nia’s will be fire.  Her mother says that she is dying, and tells Nia that the world gave her many trials to get to where she’s at.  Her Mom gives her the final farewell, and Nia is woken up by Kara.  Kara and her sister try to revive her sister, but can’t.  Nia’s Mom dies.

Nia is asleep again, and is woken up by her sister.  They’re having a memorial service for their Mom.  Her sister is frustrated because she knows dream interpretation, and felt she could’ve saved her.  Nia says nothing.

Lena is at home with a board game as James walks in, looking to talk to her.  She’s looking to improve their trivia skills, and asks James to join her.  He agrees, and she then asks about what he wanted to talk about, but he says it can wait.

In the small town, the Agents of Liberty are ready to create problems.

The frat boys are on their way to a location to make a quick buck with the drugs, with one of the boys’ little sister in tow.

Alex, Brainy, and J’Onn find the location of the RV, and off they go, with Alex asking J’Onn if he’d like to tag along.

Nia and Kara have a chat about how Nia never wanted the power, and never studied to comprehend her dreams.  She says she had a dream about her Mom drinking a black liquid.  And spiders attacking her.  She feels she can’t tell her sister, because she’ll never forgive her.  Kara tells her that by NOT being honest with her sister, it will only make it worse.

Alex, Brainy, and J’Onn arrive at the location where the frat boys were looking to make their deal, and they look beat up.  They said that some guys looking to attack a festival with aliens  took the pills from them. They tell Alex that the sister, Roberta, took one of the pills and went off on a rampage, because she was bullied when she was little, and took the RV with her to exact revenge.

Nia and her family get ready for the funeral, and her father approaches her, tells her he had a dream where her mother came to him, and left her a gift.  They’re at the funeral service, where everyone dressed in white to honor the dead, as they do on her homeworld.  Nia has a dream that they’re going to be attacked, and she rescues her sister.  Kara goes off to change to Supergirl, as the Agents start attacking everyone.  Nia’s sister realizes that Nia has the power and not her, Nia tries to reach out, but her sister spurns her.  Supergirl arrives to stop the attack, and Roberta goes on the attack of the Agents of Liberty.  Supergirl sees Alex about to fire on a mourner and Roberta, and Supergirl stops her with heat vision.  They argue about how the situation was handled, and Alex basically tells Supergirl she’s the Girl of Steel on the inside as well as the outside, and that she can’t understand what Roberta was going through.  Alex warns her that if she doesn’t stand down, she’ll arrest her.  Kara is hurt as J’Onn looks on.

Nia and her sister Maeve argue about why she got the power and her sister didn’t.  Her sister feels crushed and humiliated.  She doesn’t understand how the powers went to Nia…she isn’t even a woman.  Nia is devastated.  As her and Kara are driving, she talks about how her sister wanted this for so long, and now she’ll hate her forever.  Kara pulls over, and shows Nia that she’s Supergirl.  So she understands how Nia feels.  She tells Nia she has a family…her.

At CatCo, the writer comes in as James requests, and tells her the money issue of L Corp is okay everything is in line with the FDA.  She’s bummed that her source didn’t pan out, he’s usually right.  James says this happens sometimes, and not to stress, she has good instincts.  She walks off, and James ponders the decision he just made.

Nia looks at the gift her mother left her…it’s the Dreamer costume . 

Meanwhile, at Kara’s, J’Onn and Kara discuss the issue with Alex, and how the mindwipe took away Alex’s connection with alien life, by missing the connection she had with Kara growing up.  Without that, Alex seems cold and aloof when it comes to Supergirl.  Alex arrives and wants to decompress after her weekend.  She asks Kara how her weekend was, and Kara said the story she was doing didn’t pan out.  They all are set to watch Terminator, and Kara notices Alex’s hand (the one where she shot her heat vision at), and Alex coldly tells her it’s a “gift” from Supergirl.  Kara winces, and J’Onn suggests that they forget work and just enjoy the downtime. 

The episode ends with the Red Daughter…still in a coma…and one of the military personnel making a call, saying that they have a problem, and the only solution is in America.

_________________________________________________________________________

Well, THIS episode was sure a punch in the emotional gut.  So much pain passed around, as well as the deepening of secrets for some.  I was left feeling sad and sorry for so many tonight.  And the Red Daughter story gets an interesting twist.

Nia and her family.  Living in such an open community like Parthis was good for her, and gave her a stable home, and free from fear and reprisal...for the most part.  But that can also be a bit isolating, knowing that outside forces do not share your sentiment.  Nia's family found this out the hard way.  Not even a peaceful town is safe from the darkness of the world...and the Agents of Liberty all doped up showed that.

Nia and her sister Maeve.  This is such a painful story to unfold, and I credit Nicole Maines for handling the hardship of this role of Nia Nal.  First, admitting that she's transgender to Kara was tough to open up to and say, and admitting that she had a rough go of it when she transitioned gave her a vulnerability, as well as her fear with the dreams she had of her mother, as well as the attack by the Agents of Liberty.  When we discover that in her family, the powers that her mother's race displays is passed down to the next generation, but not every child gets "the gift".  And in her mother's dream, she passed the power down to her daughter.....but not the daughter she expected.  But nonetheless, as she was dying, and in the dream, admitted to Nia that it was destiny she got the power, and she will use it well.  She just didn't know the face of the daughter.  Nia wanted to transfer them to her sister, who had been training for this role.  It was sad to see that when Maeve found out, she was cold to her sister, feeling betrayed.  It was hard to watch seenig her sister be so cold to her...and to call her transgender out as a bad thing.  For all the love she gave Nia, and how close they were growing up....to have a family member shut you out---that's a stab in the heart.  It's painful to watch family walk away from family---because you didn't get what you thought was yours by birthright, and instead goes to your sibling...who was DIFFERENT when born, but didn't become the person they ARE until later.  This is something to watch down the road.  Will Nia and her sister EVER reconcile?  OR will Maeve decide to take revenge on her by betraying the family?  

Kara and Alex are another story----Alex having gone under the mindwipe by J'Onn willingly, something went a tad awry and now Alex has missing pieces of her memory...and not just of Kara's secret ID as Supergirl.  But other little memories of them growing up.  And not having those memories has caused Alex to be emotionally disconnected from being compassionate about aliens.  She's still dedicated to her job, but now that Supergirl is a stranger to her, she's not exactly the Girl of Steel's best friend.  When Supergirl refers to her as "Alex", Alex is quick to squash that flat by INSISTING she be referred to as "Director Danvers".  Later on, we see Supergirl stop Alex from shooting a girl, and used her heat vision to knock the gun out of her hand.  Alex then proceeded to read Kara the riot act, and told her straight up that Supergirl is nothing short of an ice cold bitch that doesn't get the struggles these people go through.  For Kara, the double edged sword gets driver deeper when she has Alex all happy to see her at the end of the episode, though she still has the burn from Kara's heat vision.  As happy as she is to have her sister, the fact that so much has been lost as cost both Kara AND Alex greatly....all to protect her.  J'Onn is right in saying that they must be strong for HER.  But, with this mindwipe, my fear is that Alex may start coming around to Col. Haley's way of thinking, and wanting to take Supergirl down a peg, and get her on a leash.  It's something to keep an eye on.  

I DO like that DESPITE Kara's strained relationship with Alex because of her life as Supergirl, she now has a kindered spirit in Nia...who's own sister has spurned her because she didn't inherit the power that she felt was her birthright, while Nia...who's issue as a transgendered woman, becomes the dagger that Maeve drives into Nia's heart.  But I see this relationship growing into a strong friendship and partnership from the super hero aspect.  They can now lean on each other for support, and gives Nia a bigger purpose on the show...outside of being the Dreamer.  

Was good to have J'Onn hanging around and helping the DEO once again---seemed like old times there.  

Brainy is once again the lighthearted part of the show...though there wasn't MUCH room for humor in this episode.  But going in with the "college lingo"  to grab the info was funny.  He definitely is the lightheartedness of the show right now.  That little bit of sunshine in a show that, currently, runs a very hard storyline.  He is the lynchpin of the team, and he will have to work a little overtime to keep Alex from going after Supergirl....and juggle his time with Nia at some point.  I DO wanna see more of that.

Just when I thought we could be done with the Agents of Liberty...they come back.  This time, roided out by radiation.  And more of them to come...sadly.

The "Villain of the Week" was nothing more than an irradiated pill being passed around by retarded frat boys looking to make a buck.   Well....did create some issues, but thankfully, this was stomped out fast.

Speaking of the irradiated pills...what in the hell happened in Eastern Europe where the Red Daughter got taken down by a missle she tried to stop, fall into a coma, and the minute they try to revive her, this radition blows out and effects these stoner frat boys' happy pills.  Insane.  And the officer who was on the phone saying that the one thing they need to revive her is in America?  Could that be Kara?  That's an interesting story to keep an eye on.  

One last thing:  James covering up for Lena.  If that isn't the line to cross when you're a reporter----hiding the truth to save your woman.  I'll give his reporter credit---she's got a great curiosity, incredible instincts, AND a good source.  James had to work some magic to make sure the cover up of L Corp's finances and mysterious experiments remained hidden.  I don't like that James has to compromise himself for the sake of Lena...with whom he's trying to rehab their relationship.  He goes against every grain of journalism there is...not a good look on him.  At some point, I see this relationship falling apart.  Despite Lena's best intentions, her methods are questionable, and now it's dragging down an honorable guy like James with her.  Troubled waters are very much ahead for these two.  

I thought the episode was good, but it just left me sad and depressed at the end of it.  Mostly because I feel that family is the strongest bond you have, and when it's torn to shreds because of anger, mistrust, miscommunication, and jealousy---it has a ripple effec through your life.  Alex is upset she's missing bits of her memory, J'Onn and Briany hate lying to those they treat LIKE family, and both Kara and Nia feel the effects of their powers having an impact on THEIR family lives---which now seem ripped to shreds.  While Kara can still have Alex...it's Alex's lack of knowing she's Supergirl, she now has her dynamic changed...and she can't share her greatest secret to her sister anymore, and it's heartbreaking.  Add onto that Alex's now vehement dislike of Supergirl just creates new drama for Kara.  Nia's sister completely abandoned her, and is now in a state of anger, betrayal, and jealousy.  She felt SHE was "The One'....the one who did the work to prepare to have these powers, only to NOT get them at all....but her transgendered sister.  Whom she feels has no business having those powers...yet she does.  Overall, it was a well done episode, but it just left me depressed afterwards.  And I have a bad thought in my head that more of that is coming.

That does it for this week...and hey!  We're on a break until February 17th.  So, enjoy the time off, but DON'T FORGET to subscribe and leave comments...I'd love to hear from ya!

Until next time....Up, up, and away!