‘Supergirl’ Recap: Mr. Mxyzptlk Is Not Throwing Away His Shot

This recap for the “Mr. & Mrs. Mxyzptlk” episode of Supergirl contains spoilers.

WARNING: This episode is unabashedly romantic. Hearts will break and mend, big emotional gestures will be made, sappy songs will be played over lingering kisses. What do you want? It’s Valentine’s Day in National City, and everybody deserves a happy ending this week. Well, except for Mr. Mxyzptlk. And J’onn. And James. But besides them…

The plot
Mr. Mxyzptlk, a fifth dimensional being with vast powers and a vaster sense of entitlement, busts in on Mon-el and Kara’s moment and declares his intention to marry Supergirl. This incenses Mon-el, but he’s banished — in his skivvies — to the DEO with a wave of Mxy’s hand. Mxyzptlk foils a bank robbery but almost kills the robbers; Parasite returns, but it’s just a ruse for Mxy to attempt another wooing. Mon-el tries to help, but Kara sends him away, so he steals an amulet from the DEO that weakens Mxyzptlk and challenges him to a duel — a duel he loses. Kara agrees to marry him so he won’t kill Mon-el. She meets him at the Fortress of Solitude and triggers an overload in the fusion reactor; Supergirl would rather die than marry him. The only way to stop the explosion is for Mxy to input a sequence that turns out to be his name backwards, and he’s banished to the fifth dimension.

Melissa Benoist as Kara/Supergirl and Peter Gadiot as Mr. Mxyzptlk. (Photo: Jack Rowand/The CW)
Melissa Benoist as Kara/Supergirl and Peter Gadiot as Mr. Mxyzptlk. (Photo: Jack Rowand/The CW)

Kara and Mon-el
As frustrating as it seems, Mxyzptlk’s interference was well-timed. Once again, Mon-el is forced to deal with the machismo and egotism that he was raised with. There is a clear line where his actions could be seen as just protective and helpful, but stealing the amulet and engaging in a Hamilton-inflected duel is classic toxic masculinity. Getting humbled by someone more powerful is exactly the sort of thing he needs to become the kind of man both he and Kara want him to be. Their final kiss is well-earned.

Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers and Floriana Lima as Maggie Sawyer. (Photo: Jack Rowand/The CW)
Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers and Floriana Lima as Maggie Sawyer. (Photo: Jack Rowand/The CW)

Alex and Maggie
In any other relationship on the show, Alex’s disappointment when Maggie tells her she doesn’t do Valentine’s Day would be trite at best, even if you factor in the family tradition of Mama Danvers’s greeting cards. But the pain of all Alex’s missed V-Days are magnified by the way she’s had to hide her true feelings her entire life, so it makes complete sense that she would have so much invested in finally getting to celebrate with someone she loves. The pain gets doubled down on when Maggie reveals that her Valentine indiscretion led to her being kicked out of the house at 14. Under any other circumstances, their prom dance in an empty, rose petal-strewn hall would be cheesy, maudlin, and saccharine — but not today. Today, that final dance earns the use of every sappy cliché it wants.

Winn and Lyra

Every nerd boy secretly dreams of being swept off his feet by an alien warrior woman (Tamzin Merchant). It feels a little quick for the two of them to jump into couple talk so quickly after a single night, but, to be honest, the show’s got a lot going on, and the real fun will be to see them midrelationship. Buffy fans will recall that show’s funniest couple, Anya and Xander, also skipped over the tentative early parts of their getting together and leapt straight to their strange and wonderful domesticity. Besides, it’s been a long time since Winn has had a date; he’s earned it.

How do you…
It varies. Here it sounds like “MIX-iz-PITTLE-lick,” but depending on which decade you’re hearing it, it might be “MIX-yez-PIT-lick” or even “MIX-ill-PLICK.” When you’ve got that kind of confusion, making him type his name backwards instead of saying it out loud is kind of a relief (though, you may want to keep “KLIFF-ill-SKIM” in your back pocket just in case).

Inside comics moment
Lyra doesn’t appear to be based on any existing comic book character, but her planet, Starhaven, is. It’s populated by Native Americans (either hundreds of years in the future or hundreds of years in the past, depending on the continuity) who have bioengineered wings. Her facial markings — which no other denizens of Starhaven, including the heroes Wildstar and Dawnstar, possess — suggest that the show probably took the name of the planet and nothing else. Don’t be surprised if she manifests a pair of wings somewhere down the road, though.

Kryptobites
*“You wanna get nuts? Let’s get nuts.” Classic Michael Keaton line. Is Supergirl set on the same Earth as that Batman?

*“On some planets, to write something down is to truly say it.” In any other week, having J’onn’s throwaway line turn out to be the thing that gets rid of a global threat like Mxyzptlk would be hammy and over the top. But not this week; this week, it’s perfect.

*Line of the Night: “I am the one, in this situation, at this moment — good to see you, Dana — that is supposed to be mad.” Say what you will about the Daxamite temper, he remains unfailingly polite.

Supergirl airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on the CW.

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