SUPERGIRL - Season 4.12

SUPERGIRL – SEASON 4, EP. 12:  “Menagerie”

The Girl of Steel returns tonight with a brand new chapter in her saga, as she takes on a new partner in Nia Nall.  She also works with J’Onn on a case, which, coincidentally, ties into an investigation that Alex happens to be working on regarding a new villain called Menagerie.  And Nia invites Brainy to her Valentine’s Day party. 

We see a couple on the run, as a radio plays news about their latest heights.  The man driving doesn’t keep his eye on the road, and they crash into a tree.  When the woman gets out, she checks out where they crashed.  She comes upon some worm like aliens. 

We see J’Onn inviting Kara and Alex to his new office.  They talk about all the people that he’s helped since he set up his office.  Alex feels a bit discontent because she feels that even though she’s done well as leader of the DEO, her personal life has suffered.  \

Suddenly, she gets a call, and she’s got to go, they found a wrecked car, and she’s off to investigate.  J’Onn looks at Kara, and senses her discontent.  Kara misses working with her sister.  As she takes off, a woman comes to the door, looking for J’Onn’s help.  She feels her husband has disappeared.

We see Lockwood’s family talking to him during visiting hours.  They don’t feel it’s right he’s locked up, buying into his point of view that he’s trying to SAVE humanity.  He tells them that he believes the message will continue to get out.  As visiting hour ends, his wife leaves, but he keeps the son back, and he ends up having a chat with him.

Brainy comes over to Nia’s, in order to begin her training as a super hero.  Nia is appreciative, but the fact is, she feels she is not ready yet because she is still grieving the loss of her mother.  Brainy understands, and gives his condolences.  Nia says that her roommate is throwing a Valentine’s Day party, and she would like it if he came.  He accepts, and reminds him, it’s a date.  He seems confused.

Alex and the DEO arrive at the scene where the criminals in the beginning of the episode had crashed, and their bodies are there.  As the team investigates the crime scene, Col. Haley arrives at the scene to meet with Alex.  They make small talk, and Haley talks about helping her daughter, which Alex was surprised she has one.  Haley reminds her she does have a life outside of the job.  She goes on to comment that she didn’t have a good time in Washington, as the President isn’t pleased with what’s going on at this point and time.  Along with the issue of Agent Liberty.  They come across the bodies of the two thieves, their hearts taken out perfectly.

Alex and Brainy are working on what it was that killed them, and Brainy comes up with the fact that it’s a snake like creature.  Haley comes in for an update, and once updated, she says keep it out of the press.  They end up going to work.

James comes in to see Lena, and she suggests going away to Paris for Valentine’s Day.  She wants to keep their relationship alive.  He thinks it’s a good idea. 

J’Onn comes to visit Kara at CatCo, and asks for her help in finding a missing person that the client that appeared at his door asked for earlier.  They track a couple of leads, but come up short.  J’Onn calls Alex at the DEO to see if she can dig up anything, but she says she can’t, because she’s investigating the alien heart abductors.  She directs him to Brainy, who can multitask.  Brainy had asked Alex for his help with Valentine’s Day because Nia invited him to her house, and Alex states she hates Valentine’s Day.  Brainy continues to work both.  Meanwhile, Kara and J’Onn get a lead on Sinclair, the man in question that’s missing, and realize that he was meeting with a woman who was involved with the Agents of Liberty.  Turns out, he was having an affair.  So they get the address where the woman is at, and take off to investigate.

We see Lockwood’s son with the Agent of Liberty mask, go online, and ask the public for help in apprehending and destroying the aliens.

Col. Haley pops up at L-Corp, looking to offer a military contract for Lena, looking to get her research for her, to combat the alien threats.  Lena wasn’t looking for that when she started her research.  Haley then hears a report on the news about the aliens who stole the hearts.  Haley bails, and Lena looks on at the news story.

Kara and J’Onn arrive at the house, and the stumble upon the couple, both hearts removed.  Just then, the DEO arrive.  Kara and J’Onn help Alex with her investigation, now that it has crossed paths with theirs.  They decide to team up to solve the situation.  They find Brainy at Nia’s party, needing his help.  They head over there with the information they got. 

At the Oval Office, the President is not happy that Haley allowed the information to leak about the alien threat.  And he also was getting irritated with the Lockwood problem.  His assistant said she’d come up with a plan, and took off.

Lockwood’s son arrives to see him again in prison.  He tells them he got the message out, but his Dad urges him to stay on it to motivate the people in their investigation.  They need let the public know that it’s the Agents of Liberty getting the job done.

Alex, J’Onn, and Kara arrive at Nia’s.  They find Brainy, and give him the info.  Alex bumps into an old date she can’t remember.  Kara also talks to Nia, and let’s her know that her situation isn’t as great as Nia thinks.  She tells her that Alex was mindwiped, but that she continues on because she has to.

The group arrives at the house of Pamela Ferrer who they suspect is the next target, only to find out she IS the alien threat.  The Alien having merged with the woman, she calls herself Menagerie, and attacks.  Kara gets nipped, but obviously can’t penetrate her skin.  Menagerie escapes, but Alex is concerned for Kara.  J’Onn takes Kara home, just to appease Alex. 

Nia has a dream about Menagerie, then she wakes up to her roommate picking up after the party. 

James and Lena are in the car discussing her possibly taking the government contract.  James doesn’t agree with it, because he feels they’ll weaponized it.  He tries to get her to see his side of things, but she won’t have it.  The both feel that their relationship is over, and James gets out of the car. 

Kara and J’Onn talk at his office, and she hates the fact that she can’t work with Alex as Kara anymore, because she will be overly concerned about her.  Kara laments about how everything was better about Alex during the past summer because she didn’t have to worry about Kara at all, until the Kryptonite Bomb dropped.  Then Alex has been more concerned with her, and put her own life on the backburner.  She feels she must accept it, and move on, but at least she’d have J’Onn to work with.

The Agents of Liberty arrive back at the Ferrer house, and look at the dead Agents bodies.  Menagerie comes upon them, and looks for her loot, but also decides to kill the Agents of Liberty.

Lockwood’s son keeps tabs on the Agents of the Liberty, and finds out their location.  They head to a Heart Association ball, and find Menagerie there, ready to loot and kill.  The DEO shows up, and tells them to stand down.  As Nia and her roommate see the events unfold on TV, Nia takes off.  Supergirl arrives to help out, while the DEO try to keep everyone safe.  Supergirl and Menagerie are about to do battle when The Dreamer finally shows up and helps take down Menagerie, if only briefly.  Nia goes to help Alex with the public, while Supergirl and Menagerie face off.  Menagerie sprays a mist in Supergirl’s face, blinding her.  Supergirl uses her super breath to blow her back, thus knocking her down.  The Agents of Liberty come up upon Menagerie, and just as Supergirl was telling them to stay back, the Agents lop her head snake head off.  Menagerie is stopped.

Lockwood’s son says that THEY were the ones to stop the aliens, and not Supergirl.  Alex and Haley talk about the cleanup, and Alex mentions that the Agents of Liberty have only made things worse.  They spent more time protecting them and not stopping the alien.  Haley suggests they owe Supergirl, and Alex agrees, but with public opinion swayed, it makes it harder.  Haley informs Alex of the President’s plan.  While Nia and Supergirl chat on a roof, saying that while she can’t work with Alex directly, at least she can be of some help from afar.  And appreciates Nia’s help as well.

Nia returns home to see Brainy there with her roommate who got her box of chocolates.  Nia says that’s okay, and that she needs Brainy’s help to train her.

Alex shows up at Kara’s with a Valentine’s gift, and tells Kara that she’s going to start focusing on herself, and knows Kara will be okay. 

Lena makes a call to Haley, and says she’s in on the government contract.  Then, at the White House, the President’s assistant tells him that Lockwood can’t be held in prison by the Patriot Act.  He signs off on Lockwood’s release.  We then see Lockwood addressing the public, saying that he’s grateful to the people for believing in him, and that it was the Agents of Liberty that saved the day, and they will continue to do so.

In a special cell, Menagerie gets a letter from Manchester Black.  He’s got plans for her.

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The Maid of Might comes back with a new villain, a new situation, and yet, a bigger mess as it continues the 2nd half of this season.

First of all...brand new alien baddie in Menagerie---an alien that bonds with a human (providing it's not ripping your heart out with delicate precision).  Powerful, dangerous, and caused enough problems this episode, but a villain that was easily defeated by humans.  A point I'll drive home in a minute.  This new villain will apparently have a bigger role next episode, as we witness her being recruited by Manchester Black at the end of this episode.  What her long term deal will be is unknown, but we know she'll tangle with Supergirl yet again.

It looks like Lena is embracing full Luthor mode, as she accepted a government contract to make her little super power experiment ready for military use.  Something that doesn't jive with James, and for good reason.  Part of the problem with ANY government is when they find something or see something of exceptional power, or has the potential thereof, they will exploit it to their own means...even if it ends up harming the public, or causing panic and fear.  Lena feels this is critical in helping HER cause, which was curing disease, even if it empowers a few people, that's okay.  But this is something I feel that, once completed, will be overtaken by the military by force, thus pushing Lena out into the cold.  Or, the exposure to the pubic by the end of the season for part of the problem that's plaguing National City and the ENTIRE community could be a backlash against her---turning the public against her.  And if she's exposed by Supergirl...it creates another rivalry in the Luthor/Super-camp.  And there's still LEX to deal with.  And I have a feeling, he's pulling some mighty big strings from afar.

It was cool for Nia to finally embrace her destiny as The Dreamer.  And just in time, as well.  Kara needed her help.  Nia is going to be one of Supergirl's biggest assests down the road, because she needs a strong ally when she doesn't have Alex by her side.  Nia and Brainy's training will be interesting indeed...mostly because I feel the shy awkwardness and mild flirting will be cute to watch.

Haley has a human side....who knew?  Does that make her any more human?  Mildly.  Outside of that, she's just as much a hardened military bitch as it comes.  She's out to create super soldiers to battle aliens, and looks for full control of them.  Since she can't have Supergirl under her thumb, using Lena to help achieve that end is the next best thing.  At some point, that's REALLY going to put her at odds with Alex to a point that it will cause a showdown at some point.

What is the President up to, anyway?  Wants the whole plan to deal with the aliens to work with Haley and Lena, but at the same time, feels the whole protests for the Agents of Liberty are a nuisance.  But...at the end of the episode, releases Lockwood from prison.  This is NOT making the situation any better, and I have NO IDEA what angles he's playing.  I haven't trusted the man since he took office, and THIS doesn't put my mind any more at ease.

Was good to see J'Onn and Kara work together as PI and reporter, not totally relying on their superpowers, and using their brain power to solve problems.  It's good to see that the heroes on our show don't always have to punch the bad guys to get to where they need to go...only when needed. 

Alex...just when we thought her life couldn't be anymore miserable...we realize it is.  If there's one thing that's bogged down this season a little, it's Alex's personal life.  I feel like we've been stuck in neutral on it, and it needs to get some forward progress again, and in a hurry.  

Seems like Manchester Black is back for some vengeance...and we'll get THAT showdown in two weeks.

On the whole, not a bad episode...it moved things along, and now we have Lockwood to deal with once again.  We shall see how things proceed from here.

That does it until March 3rd.  Please subscribe and leave a comment...I'd appreciate it as always.

Until March 3rd...Up,Up and Away!