BWW Recap: SUPERGIRL and Friends Reach 'The Darkest Place' Yet This Season

Undoubtedly, SUPERGIRL has gotten darker since its switch this season to the CW. And this episode, with the fight between J'onn and M'Gann, the Guardian being framed for murders he didn't commit, and Kara and Mon-El being kidnapped by Cadmus definitely proved it. But there's more than one romance blooming in National City...

The episode opened with Winn, Kara, and Alex bringing James Olsen to the alien bar. When Kara says that she doesn't like the Guardian, James jumps to defend him (seriously, why was no one suspicious?). It's revealed that the Guardian has continued to fight crime, with Winn still acting as the "man in the van."

Alex introduces Maggie to her friends, before being pulled away to talk. Maggie asks her why she hasn't been returning any of her calls and wants to make sure that things are okay between them. Clearly, Alex doesn't actually want to be 'just friends' with Maggie but she agrees to it.

Just as Kara is telling Alex that Mon-El is likely hooking up with some girl, it's revealed that he has been kidnapped by Cadmus. He annoys his guard by talking incessantly until he comes close enough for him to break out of his cage. However, Cadmus reveals that they have J'onn J'onz and threatens to kill him if Mon-El tries to escape.

Back at the DEO, M'Gann has come to visit J'onn who is apparently in two places at once. In the words of Jeremy Jordan on Twitter, "What the what?" She's brought him a tonic that his grandmother used to make for him. Clearly, he needs it because he's shaking and seeing visions of his family.

At CatCo, there's breaking news that the Guardian murdered a man in cold blood -- complete with security tape footage of it. James denied it happened, but Snapper tells him he's just biased from being friends with superheroes. Winn arrives and James tries to calm him down, promising that he has a plan. He's gotten a lead on a drug deal that will be happening that night and wants to go clear his image. I loved Winn's quip, "Why am I strong enough to say no to joining your fantasy football league and not this?"

The Guardian arrives on the scene of the drug deal, but the evil vigilante is there as well, with his machine gun. He kills the drug buyer before telling James that he is "keeping our city safe, just like you" and that he'd hoped to be allies with the Guardian. Honestly, evil people who think that they're just carrying out justice are probably the scariest. The police arrive and the evil guy escapes. The Guardian flees too, but not before the police see him.

Kara is on her way to the Guardian when she's contacted by Cadmus who tell her that they have Mon-El. Well, I've certainly never seen Kara get anywhere faster (I predicted this Kara/Mon-El romance episodes ago). Kara runs into J'onn who strangely fights her and tells her that he should never have helped her. Kara uses her laser vision on him and it makes a strange crack in his head. He isn't the real J'onn at all; he's a cyborg. I've got it give it to Cadmus, sending a cyborg who looks like a friend to fight Kara was smart.

Kara is brought into a cell next to Mon-El. She tells him that the thing she fought was the real Hank Henshaw (the one whose form J'onn assumed) who was turned into a cyborg by Cadmus. Realization dawns on Kara: "They kidnapped you to get to me," she tells Mon-El. A classic move that rarely fails.

When Winn finds out than an arrest order has been issued for the Guardian, he asks Alex to tell Maggie to lay off. Alex becomes suspicious and presses Winn against the wall, demanding he tell her who the Guardian is. He immediately admits that it's James, but you can't really blame Winn. I definitely couldn't stand up to Alex Danvers either. However, he does make her promise not to reveal him and James to Kara yet.

Alex meets Maggie to ask her to stop her search for the Guardian. They argue, ending in Alex tells her that she doesn't want to be friends. She says that when she came out, she was happy because it wasn't an abstract concept but a chance to be with her. "Now, I don't feel liberated or like I'm on some great journey," Alex says. "All I feel is pain because you don't want me."

The Doctor (played by Brenda Strong), head of Cadmus, comes to talk to Kara. She admits that she's Lillian Luthor, Lena's mother, to Kara's shock, and tells her that she's intent on wiping out aliens because it's Superman's fault that her son is in prison. There's nothing more formid able than a mother seeking revenge for her child, right? Lillian threatens Kara that she will kill Mon-El (as she's discovered his lead allergy) if she doesn't agree to relinquish her powers. After seeing Mon-El shot in the leg, Kara agrees to save him.

Cadmus uses a strange helmet to take Kara's laser vision powers, which makes her helpless. Lillian hits her and is pleased to see her bleed. Honestly, this moment seemed strangely dark for SUPERGIRL; I'm used to seeing combat, but as most of it is bloodless, this scene shocked me a bit. The guards drag Kara off and strap her to a table while they take blood from her.

Winn comes to James and reveals that he figured out who the strange villain is because he seems to be targeting people who got out of jail on technicalities. Karnowsky is an ex-SEAL and the husband of a woman whose killer was released on technicality. Winn also has figured out Karnowsky's next victim, because an important theme of this season is that Winn apparently has all the answers.

After J'onn hallucinates that a fellow DEO agent is a White Martian and pulls out his gun on him, he asks Alex to do some blood tests on him. She finds that something appears to be attacking his blood cells. Honestly, no one wants to hear, "I've never seen that before" when getting blood work done.

A furious J'onn goes to confront M'Gann who swears that she isn't like the other White Martians. She tells him that she tried to free as many Green Martians as she could and barely escaped herself, but J'onn doesn't care. She doesn't even fight back as he pummels her and insists that she prefers her human form.

Kara is thrown back into her cell and she and Mon-El sit side by side. She tells him very seriously, "If something happens, if I don't get out of here, I need you to tell Alex something for me. I need you to tell her to keep living her life on her own terms. Tell her I wasn't scared, okay?" But Mon-El readily admits that he's scared and says that maybe he deserves to die for being the last Daxomite left. Just as Mon-El is about to tell Kara something, Jeremiah Danvers shows up and frees them. There's nothing like seeing Dean Cain (Superman from the 1990s Lois & Clark TV show) come to save the day.

Mon-El collapses, so Jeremiah stops to remove the bullet from his leg because the poison is spreading. "I'm so proud of who you've become," he tells Kara in one of the most touching moments of the episode. He leads them to a way out of Cadmus's headquarters but tells Kara that he'll stay behind to buy them some time. She's concerned that Alex won't forgive her for leaving him, but he insists that it's the only way.

The Guardian shows up to Karnowsky's new victim, but he's there to meet him. The two fight and it look s like James is in serious danger. "Do you have any idea what it's like to lose someone you love?" Karnowsky asks him. Alex and Maggie show up, just as the Guardian wins the fight and Maggie tells him to leave before the rest of the police arrive.

Alex is overwhelmed when Kara tells her that she found Jeremiah, but when they go to the place that Cadmus was headquartered, there's no one there. At least Alex knows that her dad is still alive and hasn't been transformed into a scary cyborg yet, I guess.

J'onn has locked M'Gann in a cell in the DEO, where she tells him that she didn't want to give him her blood. "My blood is turning you into a white Martian and there's nothing you can do to stop it," she says just as we see one of his hands morph into a White Martian hand. I'm interested to see how J'onn is going to deal with BECOMING the thing that he hates most.

The episode ends with Alex, James, and Winn showing up to Kara's place with pizza and pot stickers. One of the reasons I adore Kara is her love of food! Interesting, Mon-El is already at her apartment. Kara admits that she was wrong about the Guardian and Alex pointedly says, "I'm sure he'll reveal himself soon enough."

Kara tells Mon-El that she was impressed with his bravery. I loved his line, "You didn't find out adjoining cells cozy?" As he watches her with Alex, it's very clear that he's 100% smitten. He asks Winn and James if Kara is "mated to someone" and explains that all marriages were ARRANGED on Daxom. The guys tell him that Kara is indeed single in one of the most awkward scenes of this entire series. Does this mean Mon-El is joining James and Winn's club of "Men in Love with Kara Danvers"?

Maggie shows up at the door to talk to Alex. In a cute moment, she tells Alex, "You've become really important to me and I hope that one day, you and I can be friends because I don't want to imagine my life without you in it." Who wouldn't melt at that speech?

In the last minutes of the episode, cyborg Hank Henshaw shows up to the Fortress of Solitude which he is able to get into using Kara's blood. He asks the robot helper to tell him everything it knows about Medusa. I'm curious to see if this gets explained in next week's episode.

Don't forget that next week's episode of SUPERGIRL starts a four night crossover event with The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow! And of course, check back here for next week's recap.

Photo Credit: The CW.

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