Recap: Supergirl 1.19 "Myriad"

Uh-oh. Something serious is going down in National City. Last week, it looked like humans were put under a mysterious trance. Now, we see that the trance extends to the DEO and that Non is responsible. Specifically, he orders Lucy and Agent "Alex's Ex" Vasquez to release all of the aliens from the Bad Alien Jail.

Evil Agents

Luckily, Supergirl shows up to stop them, but with all the humans in a trance and Alex and Hank still on the lam, it seems she's on on her own.

Desperate for help, she flies to Antarctica (or wherever) to the Fortress of Solitude to see if the robot-thingy that lives there will tell her where Superman is so he can come help straighten this shit out. Apparently, Superman is taking care of business elsewhere in the galaxy. However, she does learn that the trance is called Myriad, and Astra created it as a form of mind control. It harvests people's brainpower to solve global problems like environmental destruction. So, the ends justify the means. Or not.

Howdy Minion!

Supergirl then flies to CatCo where she sees that James and Winn are also under the trance. (It's creepy). HOWEVER, Cat obliviously walks into the office talking about how she won't date Harrison Ford because he's an older, married man (he he) and, more importantly, she's apparently not under the trance. It's just Supergirl and Cat. All alone in the world. *sigh*

On the Non front, we see that Indigo is back in action. Her first order of business is to convince Non to kill Supergirl. So, she's still awful. And so is Non, of course.

Non's gonna Non.

Speaking of awful, Max Lord also shows up at CatCo unaffected by the trance. He apparently created "ion blockers" because he had Myriad all figured out, because of course he did. Max had learned that Non was using his satellites to transmit the mind control waves, but he didn't share this info with anyone because he doesn't trust the government. We also learn that Max sent Cat a pair of "ion blocker" earrings so she wouldn't be affected by Myriad, and there is *deep breath, deep breath* a brief moment of subtext between them that shall never be mentioned again (blerrrrrgh).

Max has a plan to defeat Myriad, which involves detonating a bomb that would kill Non and about 300,000 innocent humans, which he justifies by saying it's better than having Myriad spread to Earth's entire population. The President okays Max's plan, but Supergirl doesn't. And, she needs to come up with a better plan ASAP.

Speaking of which, Cat and Supergirl have one of their Iconic Balcony Moments. Cat gives Supergirl an inspiring speech about how she shouldn't let fear be her guide right now, because hope is stronger than fear. She then says she believes that Supergirl can change the people of National City, not with violence, but by "being Supergirl." I know that sounds really vague in an "it is what it is" kinda way, but the speech must have worked because by the end of it, Supergirl is like, "Thanks Cat, that gives me an idea."

"Since the world is ending, we better be honest with each other."

Alex and Hank then pay Alex's mom a visit. She tells them what's going on in National City and they vow to go and fight it. Hank uses his mind-reading powers to shield Alex from going into a trance and they fly there, I guess. Once they get to National City, Indigo immediately attacks them and is able to capture Alex.

Non and Indigo then put Alex is a kryptonite suit thingy, put her under mind control, and make her go after Supergirl. Alex and Supergirl then begin fighting and it's awful, simply awful, in the same way it would be if Buffy and Willow started fighting.

Brainwashed Evil Alex

Alex Danvers and Supergirl in peril? What about Supergirl's big plan? How will it end? And is there really only one more episode left in Season 1?


Deep Thought of the Week: When I was a kid, I used to have a recurring dream that I would wake up and be the only person left on Earth. I remember it feeling really lonely and horrifying. In retrospect, it was probably my subconscious mind telling me that I was gay. After all, this was the 1980s. Things actually were quite different then. I was exposed to zero representations of gay people in the media, let alone to actual out gay people in my daily life. Plots "where everyone is in a trance except for one person" always remind me of this dream.

Secondly, it's hard for me to separate "the masses are brainwashed" plots from current political events. How do we reach people who believe that established news organizations are "fake" and who only believe the many false statements that their god-emperor Trump utters?  With a president who lies as frequently and unapologetically as the current one does, we are living during a time that feels more dangerous to me than ever before in my life. To write a man with Trump's temperament as a villain would likely be rejected on many TV shows as being unbelievable. Yet here we are.


 [Note: In November 2017, CW/Supergirl Executive Producer Andrew Kreisberg was suspended after allegations of sexual harassment.]