This week’s Supergirl Season 4 Episode 19 has Kara spending her time as an investigative reporter rather than as Supergirl, in an attempt to expose Lex without furthering the anti-alien sentiment. Dreamer steps up to act as National City’s defender of aliens in Supergirl’s absence as Lockwood and his deputies terrorize and capture aliens. Meanwhile, Brainy tries to help James by forcing him to confront his trauma.
James’s Trauma
Brainy theorizes that the Harun-El serum is attempting to cure what ails James by targeting his PTSD. Each time James has a panic attack, a new ability manifests. Brainy suggests that JAmes enter a “mind palace”, a mental safe room where James can confront his trauma. Brainy speculates that James’s trauma is related to Lex, but James’s repressed memories break in and put a young James at his father’s funeral. James and his sister, Kelly, say that can’t be a memory because James wasn’t at the funeral. James says that he was at a diner across the street, locked in the bathroom, and missed the funeral.
As James and Brainy go deeper, the truth about that day comes to the fore. Brainy is expelled from James’s mind palace, and Kelly takes his place. Kelly witnesses as James remembers the truth about the funeral. He did visit his father’s casket early, but was kicked out because the funeral hadn’t started yet. On the street, a couple of bullies found James and locked him in an empty casket in the funeral home. James was trapped in the casket as his panicked, eight year old sister called for him. Kelly had always held it against James that he missed the funeral and wasn’t there for her. Seeing the truth, Kelly forgives James.
When James awakens, his abilities are not in crisis mode. Instead, he is levitating peacefully above the bed.
Lena’s Frustrations
Lean is frustrated that she is unable to find a way to extract the serum from James. She returns to her lab and tries another experiment, but the heart with the Harun-El inside it explodes whenever she attempts to extract the serum. Lena takes her frustrations out on Kara, saying that Kara is only interested in Lena as a source for her story on Lex and not as a friend.
The Lockwoods
Lockwood takes his son, George, out on raids to arrest aliens. George is present when Lockwood arrests a husband and father, telling George that they are not men, they’re roaches. George, however, has second thoughts about his father’s politics adn his methods when Lockwood and his deputies raid an alien safe house and George recognizes his friend, Charlie, among the refugees. George lets Charlie escape.
That night, George asks his mother if she believes in his father’s stance on aliens. She parrots the line that aliens are roaches, not people. The wife of the man that Lockwood had arrested breaks into the Lockwood house and kills Mrs. Lockwood.
Alien Affairs
Kara utilizes her coworker, Franklin, who has a sister who works in Human Resources at Ameritek. Edna allows Kara to view files, where Kara finds that a mysterious Sebastian Melmoth transferred millions from L-Corp to Ameritek and then purchased a military base in the non-existent Rubniu, using Ameritek as the shell company. While Kara investigates and works on her story, Dreamer acts as defender of aliens against Lockwood’s thugs, stopping the raid on the safe house.
Kara comes up with the idea to do a sit down interview with Dreamer for CatCo. In the broadcast, the world gets to know Dreamer, a half-human, half-alien who is just like them, as she cites pop culture references and affiliations. Dreamer says that she is different, being half-alien and a trans woman, that everyone is different, and that’s not a bad thing. They are the new face of the world they all share. Lockwood sends his goons to capture Dreamer at CatCo as soon as the broadcast ends, but Alex, Kara, Dreamer, Brainy, and James hold them off so that Dreamer can escape and inspire people to resist.
Lena is one of those Dreamer has inspired. She apologizes to Kara for the way she acted, saying that she is the one who has been keeping secrets. Lena admits to helping Lex, which Kara says anyone would do when a family member is in need. Kara shows Lena all she has for her story. Lena figures out that Lex used the pen name of Oscar Wilde — Lex’s favorite poet — and Wilde’s favorite cipher in the corporate ledgers. Lex purchased the based in Kaznia.
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