David Harewood directs this week’s standout “Supergirl” episode, “American Dreamer,” which has action, drama, heart and a few twists for good measure. In Supergirl’s absence, Dreamer steps up to the plate and tries to fight back against Lockwood’s regime, while Brainy tries to help James work through his PTSD. Kara tries to use the press to expose Lex.
The Streets Are Not Safe | Without Supergirl, Lockwood’s agents of Liberty, who are literally wearing Nazi arm bands, just in case you didn’t get it, are arresting aliens left and right for no apparent reason. Dreamer takes to the streets, using her dream energy powers in pretty creative ways by making ropes, shields and energy waves. I’m just going to say it: Dreamer is on the same power level as Captain Marvel and that’s awesome!
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Back to the Past | In a storyline I honestly thought I would hate, but turned out to be one of the strongest parts of the episode, Brainy uses that mind connecter-thingy to go into James’s memories to help him control his powers. During this, James gets memories he claims are not his; he remembers being at his father’s funeral, when he and Kelly both say that James didn’t show up. Kelly goes into James’s memory for some contrived reason and sees a young James being locked in a coffin by the worst bullies I’ve seen on TV in a long time- who tortures someone on their father’s funeral? How messed up is that? James was so traumatized by that event that he lied about why he wasn’t at the funeral and actually believed it. He wakes up hovering over his gurney and seems to be fine.
Power of the Press | Continuing the journalism theme of the season, Kara is trying to trace Lex’s involvement in Supergirl’s framing by talking to someone who works at an L Corp subsidiary to get information on a mystery man. The source is worried about losing her job and won’t give Kara the info, but on a separate subject, Kara has the idea to do a live interview with Dreamer to inspire the alien population of National City. The interview goes phenomenally as Dreamer not only reveals her alien past, but comes out as trans and inspires the entire alien community. And then, just to ruin the moment, Lockwood and his crew arrive at CatCo to straight up kill Dreamer for “inciting violence.” So Dreamer telling the world that she’s a Gryffindor is a hate crime???
Fortunately, Dreamer, Kara and even James and Brainy fight back against Lockwood and scare him off, although he swears he’ll be back. Lena also is inspired by Dreamer’s interview, to the point that she tearfully confuses to Kara that she was working with Lex to cure his cancer. Kara tells Lena that it’s okay because she was honest, and yet STILL doesn’t return the favor by telling her that she’s Supergirl!
The source from L Corp gives Kara the file on the mystery man, who Lena deduces is an alias for Lex. Lockwood comes home from a rough day of trying to kill a trans woman, only to find that his wife is dead on the ground and an alien is leaving the scene.
“Supergirl” airs Sundays on The CW.