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Menagerie Recap

It's been a little bit of time since we've last been able to recap a new episode of Supergirl but that is how it goes in the second half the season. It's much better than having a huge nine week break like we had last year. Tonight, we were introduced to a new villain and member of The Elite. Menagerie, played by Jessica Meraz, made her debut and brought a new challenge for Supergirl and Dreamer to face off against. That wasn't all though, Kara teams with J'onn and Brainy and Nia share a Valentines Day moment! Here's what stood out to us:

  1. J'onn J'onzz Is Touching Lives: J'onn's new office is flooded with valentines from clients that are thankful for all that he's done. Multiple flowers from aliens and humans alike. Alex and Kara show up to J'onn's office to welcome him where Alex confesses she is seeking more and may possibly get back into the dating world. As Kara leaves, a mystery woman appears and let's J'onn know that her husband might have been kidnapped.
  2. Brainy Asks to Train Nia: Brainy knows that Nia has her powers and is considering embracing them. Because of that, he shows up to her apartment with his "mind mazes" to begin training her. Nia is not ready, however, since the passing of her mother was so recent. Nia does use the opportunity to sneak in a date request which Brainy accepts. He agrees to visit her Valentines Day party!
  3. Villans in Motion: In a brief visit to the prison, Ben Lockwood tells his son that he needs to be a man ... of action. He enlists his son to carry the Children of Liberty banner after his mother walks away. In the next scene, we see the DEO investigating a meteor strike where a ship and alien took the heart of Menagerie's ex-partner.
  4. J'onn and Kara Private Detectives: Catco has a wide network of research on many different topics. Specifically, the members of President's Marsden staff that helped craft the Alien Amnesty Act. With J'onn working a case for the wife of one of the members that wrote the act, he teams with Kara to work together and share resources. When Kara and J'onn go to investigate, they discover the two with their hearts missing and Alex and her DEO strike team arriving to investigate as well!
  5. Lena Luthor, Contract: Lena gets some troubling news that makes her want to take James on a spontaneous trip to Paris. A little bit later, Colonel Haley arrives, already in Lena's office, to offer her a government contract to help make the United States army as strong as the aliens they might face. Lena hesitates on the request.
  6. Nia's Party: In a series of coincidences, J'onn, Alex, Brainy, and Kara arrive at Nia's party. Brainy is hiding in a closet at the party to escape Nia's roommate. J"onn and Brainy begin to analyze the blood sample. Alex runs into a date she had drinks with a few times and they go to catch up. Once the results of the DNA test are in, the four head off to find Pamela.
  7. Enter Menagerie: Kara is missing working with Alex so much she is overjoyed to continue to work with Alex and hunt down Menagerie. Upon arriving at Pamela's, Brainy kicks her immediately. This forces Menagerie to reveal herself and after quickly being over-powered, Menagerie escapes. Kara, having to remain Kara, sneezes away the threat.
  8. Lena and James Break Up: James can't accept that Lena might share her research on making humans "Super" with the government. Because of it, there is a rift in James' and Lena's relationship. Lena decides that this rift is too much for her to get over and just like that James is asked to leave the vehicle.
  9. Heart Benefit Ball: Menagerie, The Children of Liberty, The DEO and Supergirl all arrive. The DEO and Children of Liberty are pretty much taken out quickly. Supergirl forces Menagerie outside where Dreamer makes her debut and flawlessly attacks as she saw in a dream. Supergirl is able to take Menagerie out but she lands at the feet of new Agent of Liberty, Ben Lockwood's son. He takes the opportunity to follow in his dad's footsteps and cut the head off of Menagerie's symbiote.

In the final wrap up moments of the episode, Alex tells Kara that she needs to be able to trust that people can protect themselves. Alex is ready to start the rest of her life and move forward with adoption! Lena gets a call from the government and lets them know she is in and will help. Finally, because Ben Lockwood only attacked non-humans, he was able to be released because the Patriot Act only goes into effect when it deals with humans.

Let us know what you think of the episode in the comments below and in our forum! Keep us your advertisement free source for Supergirl news and visit the support page.

Eric Johnston
Author: Eric JohnstonWebsite: https://supergirl.tvEmail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Executive Editor/Owner
About the Author
Eric is the primary author for Supergirl.tv. He has been covering the Supergirl show since 2014, but been a fan for decades. "Hope, Help, and Compassion for All, El May Arah!"

Comments

+1 #44 RE: Menagerie RecapSully 2019-02-24 18:05
Quoting Brierrose:
I’d like to give a shoutout to the wardrobe department. I’ve always liked Kara’s clothes which mirror my own style. I’ve even tried some things I otherwise might not have after seeing them on the show. Alex’s style is simple yet stylish and suits the character. Nia’s clothes while not what I would choose perfectly fit the character and look great on Nicole. Her party dress was fantastic and Dreamer’s supersuit looked great in action, I don’t blame Nicole one bit for obsessing over it. Lena’s clothes are gorgeous and exactly what a well dressed genius billionaire would wear. Her dress in this episode was a work of art. I wonder how much influence Katie with her fashion background has on Lena’s clothes. The men are well dressed too. Mehcad always looks handsome in James’s sharp suits. Now that J’onn’s not wearing only DEO black anymore I think they’ve done well giving him a nice laid back but cool look.
I normally like the way they dress Kara, but I wasn't fond of the jacket in this episode. Did like her blouse though. And I love the way they're dressing J'onn. I'm also really liking his hair - not familiar with the cut or style but, the whole look is very dashing. On Alex, for me, sometimes it's a hit and sometimes it's a miss. Still not fond of her hair - at least while she's at work. During her off-times, again sometimes it's okay and sometimes it's a bit flat.
+2 #43 RE: Menagerie RecapSuprgrlFn 2019-02-22 09:45
Quoting starlord:
Its the government they know such things and yes Lena has already started to go bad. The experiments is ILLEGAL and off books. She killed a man and hid that from the world. She is hiding things that Can harm Supergirl and now wanna work with people that wants to control Supergirl. Yeah she is definitely shady and turning bad. What more do you even need to even accept she is bad


I dunno, maybe some sign that she actually intends to do anything to hurt people? Thus far, she is simply not being portrayed as a person with evil on their minds. She’s continually painted as conflicted, emotionally upset, and rather desperately (if secretly/shadily) attempting to “do the right thing”.

She is most certainly “morally grey”, if only because of her actions, but her intent is not driven by a desire for personal gain or misguided vengeance, which, in my opinion, is absolutely necessary for a character to be considered “bad”, much less “evil”. An evil character doesn’t get teary when contemplating doing something they don’t 100% agree with, which seems to be what’s happening in her last scene. There is also ZERO confirmation that she’s agreeing to do something that will hurt Supergirl/control her/help the government. My personal bet is that it has something to do with Red Supergirl and Lena’s possible ability to help her with the harun-el.
#42 RE: Menagerie Recapstarlord 2019-02-21 17:19
Its the government they know such things and yes Lena has already started to go bad. The experiments is ILLEGAL and off books. She killed a man and hid that from the world. She is hiding things that Can harm Supergirl and now wanna work with people that wants to control Supergirl. Yeah she is definitely shady and turning bad. What more do you even need to even accept she is bad news.

Quoting SuprgrlFn:
Quoting Meadows:
I wonder if Lena really is planning to sell her science to the government so the government can make super-soldiers, or if she is up to something else. The conversation in the car was very vague. At the beginning of the episode, when James first comes in on her in her office, she seems almost in tears. Maybe she has heard that Lex is getting out of prison, and her "I'm in" was to him. It might also refer to just about anything, actually, although we're led to believe she's selling her science. That might be a red herring, though! She might even know about Red Daughter.


See my comment earlier... I suspect the same things. Also pretty sloppy writing that Lena’s super-secret research is now suddenly common knowledge to the government... It’s pretty clear that the show wants people to THINK Lena is “going bad” when she clearly is not.
+2 #41 RE: Menagerie RecapSully 2019-02-21 14:05
Quoting SuprgrlFn:
Since when does the government know about all scientific research? LOL! Unless it is being government funded, people can do all the research they like, without government oversight. A twelve-year old just became the youngest person to achieve fusion. Pretty sure no one in the government knew he was doing it....
No, not all research is given oversight but, any research in the biomedical field and/or research in which there are human test subjects and the researcher plans on using their results in the commercial world via drugs, medical devices, etc., is regulated by a federal agency. If it's not funded through a government grant, then it would be the FDA that would provide the oversight. Since all of those factors would be included in Lena's research, the gov't should be involved. Not to mention the fact that she would have to apply for a patent, etc., which would also require government involvement. So, either the government has been involved in her research this whole time, or she did it on the sly.
#40 RE: Menagerie RecapLibertyPrime 2019-02-21 10:53
Quoting SuprgrlFn:
Since when does the government know about all scientific research? LOL! Unless it is being government funded, people can do all the research they like, without government oversight. A twelve-year old just became the youngest person to achieve fusion. Pretty sure no one in the government knew he was doing it...

it makes sense to me that the government, being aware of her family's history and her involvement with DEO operations, would keep closer tabs on Lena than another billionaire scientist like say, Elon Musk. Not to say that is necessarily right or proper, but I understand why they would.
+1 #39 RE: Menagerie RecapSuprgrlFn 2019-02-21 09:05
Quoting Sully:
Quoting SuprgrlFn:
See my comment earlier... I suspect the same things. Also pretty sloppy writing that Lena’s super-secret research is now suddenly common knowledge to the government... It’s pretty clear that the show wants people to THINK Lena is “going bad” when she clearly is not.
The question with the writing is that this new information suggests one of two things: either the gov't didn't know about Lena's experiments, which would be highly unethical given that all scientific research is supposed to have approval first and would suggest that, yes, she has started to go bad. Or, the gov't knew about it the entire time - which begs the question - is she now cooperating with them because she wants to or because she needs to? Personally, I think she will go bad eventually or, at the very least, slide more into that morally dark gray direction.


Since when does the government know about all scientific research? LOL! Unless it is being government funded, people can do all the research they like, without government oversight. A twelve-year old just became the youngest person to achieve fusion. Pretty sure no one in the government knew he was doing it...

I don't think that last scene was her agreeing to help Haley, I believe it is something much more disturbing to her, which is why she was unsettled throughout the episode.
+4 #38 RE: Menagerie RecapLibertyPrime 2019-02-20 19:40
Quoting Brierrose:
I’d like to give a shoutout to the wardrobe department.

They consistently do an excellent job. The clothes seem very natural for each character, so much so, that I often take it for granted. You are spot on. None of it is accident.
+6 #37 RE: Menagerie RecapBrierrose 2019-02-20 18:54
I’d like to give a shoutout to the wardrobe department. I’ve always liked Kara’s clothes which mirror my own style. I’ve even tried some things I otherwise might not have after seeing them on the show. Alex’s style is simple yet stylish and suits the character. Nia’s clothes while not what I would choose perfectly fit the character and look great on Nicole. Her party dress was fantastic and Dreamer’s supersuit looked great in action, I don’t blame Nicole one bit for obsessing over it. Lena’s clothes are gorgeous and exactly what a well dressed genius billionaire would wear. Her dress in this episode was a work of art. I wonder how much influence Katie with her fashion background has on Lena’s clothes. The men are well dressed too. Mehcad always looks handsome in James’s sharp suits. Now that J’onn’s not wearing only DEO black anymore I think they’ve done well giving him a nice laid back but cool look.
+2 #36 RE: Menagerie Recapknightsabre7 2019-02-20 11:09
Did anyone else feel like half of the Lena/James breakup conversation was edited out or something? When Lena mentions that the government wants to use her tech it sounds like she's asking for James' advice/guidance. He then gives his opinion and she jumps right to breakup. A normal sounding conversation would have included her countering with her opinion and what she's thinking, then some back and forth, and then maybe if they can't find a way to resolve their differences start talking about breakup. The way it played out felt really strange and like something got cut.

As for the snakes, I think it's worth remembering that Kara's first instinct is to try to talk down/reason with/appeal to the better nature of her adversary, even if it causes her suffering, which I think is how she ended up wrapped in snakes. It's also plausible that alien snakes are super strong. In fact, they sort of lampshaded this when Jonn gets tied up earlier in the episode. Not using her heat vision when she was tied up also makes some sense, since Kara tries her best to not kill anyone, and using heat vision on a human would very likely kill or seriously maim them (like when Reign heat vision killed everyone at the end of last season). She also couldn't use her breath since she was being choked. Still, I felt they could have found a better way to intro Super Nia than saving Supergirl with a steel pipe.

On a related note, what exactly is Nia's purpose this season? Is it just so Kara can be a mentor, or does she have some important connection to the plot?
#35 RE: Menagerie RecapArgo 2019-02-20 05:15
Quoting Sully:
Quoting SuprgrlFn:
See my comment earlier... I suspect the same things. Also pretty sloppy writing that Lena’s super-secret research is now suddenly common knowledge to the government... It’s pretty clear that the show wants people to THINK Lena is “going bad” when she clearly is not.
The question with the writing is that this new information suggests one of two things: either the gov't didn't know about Lena's experiments, which would be highly unethical given that all scientific research is supposed to have approval first and would suggest that, yes, she has started to go bad. Or, the gov't knew about it the entire time - which begs the question - is she now cooperating with them because she wants to or because she needs to? Personally, I think she will go bad eventually or, at the very least, slide more into that morally dark gray direction.


Dear Sully: Beg me to disagree about Lena , one of our favorite questionable characters. I do not believe she will go bad, rather remain in that murky grey area of morality. Personally, I believe Lena is a good person. But first and foremost, she is a businesswoman running a billion dollar empire. This is the core of her character, the business side. This is the consistent personality portrayed since her introduction. It also makes her one of the more underrated characters in the program. I just enjoy the “will she or will she not “ atmosphere that surrounds her. As for James, that was pretty harsh: walk the plank , matey. We’ll see what happens next.


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