Personal battles always pack the hardest punch. Supergirl found that out the hard way as her struggle against the Children of Liberty ramped up once again. The setting this time is Parthas, Nia’s home town and a bastion for inclusivity. Her fight against the gold masks aren’t the hardest, despite the addition of a rage drug. Instead, that honor went to Kara’s ability to cope following Alex’s mind wipe. Removing a memory as formative as growing up with an alien sister can really reshape someone’s outlook. Alex may no longer be the same woman she was.
Sick Rager
Two drug dealers, Jerry and Kevin, see their stock of pills begin to glow after being hit with a blast of energy. That energy resulted from attempts to revive Kara’s Russian doppelganger, jumping across the globe. They’re definitely still safe enough to sell to a couple of frat guys in their mind. Unfortunately, the pills mutate them into rage monsters. It isn’t long before the DEO and Supergirl intervene in a fight at a frat house, taking the two into custody. Alex and Supergirl have a frosty exchange as the scene calms.
Alex is unable to get the dealers’ names out of the frat boys once the drug’s effects subside. She doesn’t understand how she wasn’t able to crack them, but she has another plan up her sleeve. Brainy goes undercover as a fellow frat boy, and quickly learns the dealers’ identities. He locates their van soon after. Alex, Brainy, and J’onn arrive to find the dealers tied up. Their attempts to cash in on the internet popularity of their gamma ray-charged pills led to them being robbed by the Children of Liberty. The gold masks are on their way to Parthas with enough pills and hate to ruin the annual Harvest Fest. Jerry’s sister, Bobbi, is in pursuit of them, with a rage pill of her own in tow.
The Dreamer
Parthas proves to be a popular destination as Nia and Kara are heading that way as well. Granted Parthas is Nia’s hometown, but the Harvest Fest draws plenty from all over. Nia’s excitement to see her family again is interrupted by an odd dream depicting her mom, Isabel, crumbling before her eyes. She wakes up and tells Kara not to reveal her powers to her family when they arrive.
The fears persist when they arrive with Nia seeing images from her dream while catching up with her sister, Maeve. She knocks away her sister’s ink container and sees her dream’s setting in Isabel’s paintings. Isabel explains the nature of the family’s dream-based gift. Only one daughter can inherit the power and Maeve has been training to receive it her entire life. Such expectations are why Nia hasn’t revealed her inheritance of the family power to Maeve yet. Kara reassures her, but Nia instead speaks to her mother about transferring the powers.
Unfortunately, the abilities cannot be given away. Isabel realizes Nia is the chosen daughter when they meet in her dream as she dies from a spider bite. She emboldens Nia, telling her that it is her destiny to be the next hero in the family. Nia exits the dream to find Maeve blaming herself for not being able to save their mom due to her dream blindness. Guilt overtakes Nia as Isabel slips away.
Missing Pieces
Alex’s inability to break the frat guys, in addition to other memory lapses, causes her concern. Fearing her brain might be screwy, she asks J’onn to perform a brain scan on her. This obviously concerns J’onn and Brainy seeing as they wiped her memory of Supergirl’s identity. J’onn decides to perform a fake brain scan, hoping the placebo effect will calm her. Alex seems to feel better afterward, assured that he mind is intact.
Alex gets her mind right just in time to counter the Children of Light’s attack on the Harvest Fest. The assault takes on new meaning when the festival becomes a memorial for Isabel. Nia saves Maeve from the gold masks, outing her as the new Dreamer. Maeve, incredibly upset, runs away from her sister as Alex, Supergirl, J’onn and Bobbi battle the enraged Agent Liberty followers. Kara is forced to attack Alex in order to keep her from killing an alien fighting Bobbi. The move causes Alex to berate Supergirl about her lack of understanding regarding human vulnerability. Kara obviously knows something about the topic, evidenced by her crushed demeanor following her sister’s words.
Kindred Spirits
Maeve confronts Nia after the attack. Her anger at Nia for keeping her secret turns darker when she goes full TERF on her sister. Maeve doesn’t understand why Nia inherited the gift because she isn’t a real woman in her eyes. Nia and Kara, both emotionally devastated, travel back to National City. Kara tries to comfort Nia to no avail as she believes Kara can’t understand her situation. Kara pulls over the car and shows her just how much she understands being an alien at odds with a sister by revealing she is Supergirl. Nia, not alone in her struggle, opens a gift from her mother once they return home. Inside is a superhero costume. It’s time that Nia look the part.
Elsewhere, James kills a L-Corp expose article to protect Lena and J’onn fills Kara in on Alex’s loss of her formative memories. Her empathy might also be affected as a result of the mind wipe. Kara might not have much time to worry about that though. Her Russian double remains out of commission and the Russians are looking for help from an American to restore her.
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