BWW Recap: SUPERGIRL Learns the Truth About Survivors

The theme of this week's episode was undeniably the challenges of being a SURVIVOR as J'onn learned sad truths about his new Martian friend and Mon-El tried to deal with his new life on Earth. Alex and Maggie teamed up again to bust an UNDERGROUND alien fight club run by a woman named Roulette. My favorite part of the episode? A small guest appearance by Laura Benanti as the hologram of Kara's mom.

The episode starts with a flashback to Daxam on the day that Krypton was destroyed. Mon-El and another young man are running through the chaos until they find the Kryptonian pod. While Mon-El is desperate to ensure that the other man escapes, he makes Mon-El leave in the pod.

Back at the DEO, Mon-El reveals that he was a guard for the royal family of Daxam. Alex confirms that there was no return signal from him planet and it was heartbreaking to watch him realize that he is the last of his kind. He's excited to get out into the world and learn to live on Earth, but they tell him that he's not allowed to leave the DEO until they know the full range of his powers much to his dismay. Poor Mon-El.

Maggie calls Alex to a crime scene where they've found a murdered unregistered alien. Kara arrives to help them investigate and is a bit thrown off by how in synch the two are. Even she notices their chemistry!

J'onn goes to the alien bar to talk to M'Gann, the Martian bartender. My favorite part was when she quipped, "And of all the gin joints..." (Yes, I'm a big Casablanca nerd). She explains that she was taken to an internment camp when their people were attacked and later smuggled out by a kind White Martian. "You're a survivor," J'onn tells her, but she insists that she just does what she has to in order to get by. J'onn asks if she wants to merge, but she says no immediately.

Winn, who is always trying to teach Mon-El modern slang, traces the thorn they found on the dead alien to another alien. He locates the only one of its kind registered in National City and Alex and Maggie head to that site. It begins to attack them, but then men in a white van show up and kidnap it. Who knew alien kidnapping was a thing?

When Kara and Alex ask J'onn why he's so grumpy, he reveals that he's hurt that M'Gann didn't want to merge with him. He explains that the connection that Martians share when they merge is deeper and fuller than anything humans share. Kara and Alex encourage him to try again with M'Gann since he wants a connection with his home planet.

My favorite part of the episode (which would be no surprise to my friends) was Laura Benanti's guest appearance as the hologram of Kara's mom. Mon-El walks in on her telling the hologram about her new career as a reporter. Mon-El tries to convince Kara to take him outside and teach him about the world, but she refuses. I was very impressed by his line, "Surely I'd be safe from humans with the most powerful woman in the world." Maybe his superpower is being charming?

Maggie discovers a lead and tells Alex to meet her, dressed up. The two of them were so cute flirting and complimenting each other's outfits! They go into a sketchy warehouse where many of National City's wealthiest citizens are gathered and a woman in a slinky red dress emerges: Roulette. Soon, they discover they are in an UNDERGROUND alien fight club where the kidnapped alien from earlier is facing off against M'Gann. SUPERGIRL flies into the middle of the ring to stop the fight, but Roulette releases a giant alien on her. Maggie and Alex manage to stop the fight and save the day, but not before Kara gets tossed around a bit.

J'onn is upset when he hears about the fight club, stating, "Humans have always exploited our kind, but this is a new level." However, when Kara and Alex reveal that M'Gann was one of the fighters, he storms out of the DEO. He walks straight through the door into M'Gann's apartment and yells at her for not telling him. M'Gann insists that she fights for herself and that she's never killed anyone in the rink. When J'onn says, "It's our responsibility to preserve everything we've lost," she says that she would rather forget. Before J'onn leaves, she does reveal that Roulette's real name is Veronica Sinclair.

Supergirl goes to confront Roulette and tells her that they're going to shut her down. The newest villain insists that even if she's shut down, the fight club will resurface. She chillingly tells Kara that people don't care what happens to aliens, like they care about dogs. She's straight evil --- with a glass of champagne in her hand the whole time.

Winn and Mon-El did some serious bonding this episode. Winn is assessing Mon-El's powers and declares, "We definitely have the makings of a superhero." The Daxomite tries to convince Winn to let him leave the DEO, even flattering him that he'll let him make his costume and superhero name. Jeremy Jordan was so hilarious in this part as he tried to follow the DEO's orders, despite Mon-El's persuasion. Winn, like any mere human, can't resist Mon-El's charm and agrees to let him out to test his powers. However, Mon-El has slightly different ideas and the two end up at a bar. They're downing beers and shots (I'm a bit confused about how Winn kept up with Mon-El!), but things go wrong when Mon-El accidentally hurts two guys in friendly bar games.

The next morning, Winn isn't just terribly hung-over...he's in trouble with J'onn. J'onn also fusses at Kara, telling her, "All it takes is one alien to ruin it for us all." It's clear that J'onn isn't actually thinking of Mon-El; he's still focused on M'Gann.

Mon-El immediately tells Kara that it wasn't Winn's fault (as if he hadn't already completely won me over) and says he realizes that J'onn is actually keeping him in the DEO to keep humans safe from him. Kara tells him that she's been standoffish because it's hard to know that it's her parents' fault that both their planets were destroyed. He promises to behave from now on and even gives Kara a tip for fighting the big alien. I love seeing these two work out their problems because it seems good for Kara to have someone who understands the difficulties she's going through.

When J'onn goes to talk to M'Gann, Roulette and her cronies capture him. Alex tells Kara he's missing and she rushes to the site of the fight club, but it's vanished. Kara storms into Lena Luthor's office with an upset secretary trailing behind her. Lena says that she went to boarding school with Veronica Sinclair and gives Kara the new address for the fight club. When Kara says, "I owe you big time," Lena insists, "I know you'll be there for me when the time comes." This definitely felt like a hint at a storyline to come later in the season and I can't wait for it. I'm very intrigued by Lena's character and absolutely love how Katie McGrath is playing her.

At the fight club, Roulette announces, "Our gladiators will fight for the privilege of being the last Green Martian!" She insists that they fight to the death, but J'onn refuses to fight. M'Gann is basically just beating him up until he changes back into his human form and tells her, "There's no shame in fighting." He says that he thinks she fights not for the money, but because she thinks she deserves it. It works because she helps him up and declares, "I won't kill him." I knew she would have a change of heart eventually!

However, Roulette isn't so moved by this little scene and releases the giant alien on him. Maggie, Alex, and a ton of agents descend on the club and but the aliens are protecting Roulette. Kara comes in and tells them that other aliens aren't their real enemies, but rather people like Roulette and Cadmus. "Don't let them be right about us," she implores them and they all give Roulette over to be arrested.

However, outside Maggie reveals to Alex that orders from high up were given to release Roulette (I guess even National City isn't free from a corrupt government) and she rides away in her limo. Alex asks Maggie for a drink, but another girl (Maggie's girlfriend??) shows up and kisses her and they leave together. Alex looks absolutely heartbroken; poor girl has enough issues without this! Earlier this year, it was announced that a significant Arrow-verse character would be revealed as LGBT and it looks to me like it's going to be Alex. Hopefully she can work things out with Maggie because they're absolutely adorable together.

Kara tells Mon-El that she asked the DEO to release him into her custody much to his surprise. She explains that she was sent to Earth to protect her cousin but never got the chance, so helping him will give her another shot. "Who would've thought? A boy from Daxam and a girl from Krypton working together," he teases.

Are we going to get a feuding families relationship between these two? Because with James Olsen literally out of the picture on this episode (I definitely missed Mehcad Brooks!), it looks like Kara has time for a new romance. And who better to understand her struggles of learning how to be a superhero than someone who's experiencing the same thing himself...

The episode ends with J'onn and M'Gann making up, though she's still reluctant to do the merge. When he leaves, she morphs into another form. I guess that explains why she wouldn't want to share her thoughts with J'onn! Any ideas on what she might be? It looked to me almost like a White Martian, the species that destroyed J'onn's family and people. If you have any ideas, please let me know at @nicoleackman16 on Twitter.

Who is M'Gann really? Will Alex and Maggie ever figure things out? And what's the real deal with Lena Luthor? Hopefully, we'll get some of these answers and more on next week's episode of SUPERGIRL.

Photo Credit: The CW

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