Supergirl Recap: Solitude

Supergirl Recap-Episode Fifteen: “Solitude”

This week on Supergirl, in “Solitude,” we continue to see Kara struggle with Cat’s other assistant Siobhan, James and Lucy hit a bump in their relationship, Kara is still struggling with her anger toward Hank for killing her aunt Astra, and Alex is wracked with guilt for letting Hank take the blame. We are also reminded that Non is still out there planning Myriad, something that will help rid the universe of the plague that is humanity while a new terror stalks National City. Luckily, even in an episode titled “Solitude,” our heroine is not alone.

“Solitude,” to me, seemed a lot more like one major story than three smaller ones to me, so this isn’t broken down in the usual way.

“Solitude” starts with a flashback of Kara in the Phantom Zone 13 years ago, when a large ship almost destroys her pod. A symbol pops up on the dash as the pod passes a ship, and I assume that will be important later.

In the present, Kara is awakened by Alex, who comes bearing donuts for her sister before she starts work again. When Kara tells Alex that she can’t work with Hank anymore because of what he did to Astra. Alex tries to tell her that Hank was just doing his duty and trying to protect the planet like Supergirl does. Kara retorts back that she does not kill and had been close to turning Astra back to the light.

Alex tries to tell her that sometimes, soldiers do have to kill, but Kara is stubborn. She says that she knows she should be able to forgive Hank, but she wonders if maybe it’s time for her to do her own thing. Although she reassures Alex that she loves working with her sister, Alex is still clearly bothered by the situation.

At CatCo, Kara talks to Winn when Siobhan comes in with a package for Cat. Kara notices that the package for Cat is still sealed. When she mentions to Siobhan that Cat likes all of her mail pre-opened for her, Siobhan tells Kara that she is going to follow the instructions to the letter.

When Cat comes in a bit of a bad mood, she tells Siobhan and Kara to gather everyone for an emergency staff meeting. She tells them she’s had a bad morning and asks who has something good for her. With several stories being proclaimed a snoozefest, Siobhan, sure she will be Cat’s favorite, hands over the package.

Cat, however, will not accept the unopened mail, citing a fear of anthrax. Everyone chuckles and James opens the package. Inside is a thumb drive, which contains the data from what it supposed to be an unhackable version of Ashley Madison, DiamondDiscretions.com. Lucy and James remember that the site was hacked the night before, but no information had been released.

Cat realizes that the hacker was just sitting on the data until they could send it to a major news corporation and that they sent it to her so she would publish it. However, she tells Siobhan to destroy the thumb drive. When Lucy protests because the public has the right to know if there are hypocrites and liars in power, Cat reminds her that she herself has been part of a scandal when her emails were hacked. Cat also points out that by publishing the information, they are letting the terrorists win. And she doesn’t want to do that.

At the DEO, Hank and Alex are sparring and she is clearly fighting angry. He wins, but tells her that the next time she feels so angry, they should have coffee and talk (not spar). She tells him that she just misses having Kara there and that she still feels guilty for not telling Kara the truth. Hank tells her that it is better the way it is. When Alex asks what happens if they lose a battle because they don’t have Supergirl, he reminds her that the DEO functioned before Supergirl. She asks how he can stand to lose another person he’s close to, and he tells her that he has experience in that.

James brings Kara potstickers and asks what she thought of Cat’s decision to not release the list of cheaters she received. When Kara says that she thinks that people’s secrets are their own to keep, James asks if that includes secrets that are hurting other people. Knowing where he’s going with this, Kara says that she can’t let him tell Lucy; too many people already know and it’s too complex and dangerous to let anyone else in on it.

Lucy shows up at Kara’s desk and asks what they’re talking about. When she finds out that it’s the package, Lucy remarks that she hates liars, and thinks it should have been released. At that moment, someone hacks into all the monitors at CatCo and begins a live feed.

The hacker, who sent the thumb drive, tells them that she is disappointed in them. She says that she handed them the story of the century, and now she will get her revenge on National City. Since computers control everything, and she is a hacker, she tells them that the age of chaos is about to begin.

Cat tells Winn to fix it since he is the computer guy (though she calls him Toyman Junior, which he isn’t fond of). Heading to his desk, he and the team watch in horror on their screens as every traffic light in National City turns green.  Supergirl saves a family from being hit by a truck, but other cars are not as lucky. Supergirl watches in frustration.

The media reports that banks are calling this hacker’s activities the “worst digital data breach in history,” and Winn points out that if things aren’t stopped soon, they are facing a national crisis. Cat calls all relevant people into her office and although Lucy tells her that the military is looking into the hacker, Cat points out that this is an attack on National City. She then sends all of her people into the field to find the hacker.

When Cat asks Siobhan to call her investment banker for her, Siobhan chokes. Kara steps in and makes the call. Lucy asks James where he wants to start on the investigation. When she finds out that he’s planning to work the case with Supergirl, she’s hurt and asks why his first instinct is to work with Supergirl, not her. He apologizes, and they make plans to get dinner and talk.

Kara comes to get James, and they join a hack-tracing Winn, who is trying very hard to not be impressed by the hacker’s skill. He has managed to create a program that will, hopefully, lead them to the hacker. It turns out that she is actually “on the other side of the screen.” When Winn admits that he’s freaked out, the hacker says that they should talk face-to-face and bursts from the computer screen.

Kara recognizes the symbol on her forehead from when she was in the Phantom Zone, and we learn that the hacker is alien. The symbol on her head is the symbol of her people, (she calls it the “font of omniscient knowledge” and points out that she knows everything about Kara). And when Winn asks if she’s a like a living internet, she has says that description could work. Then she throws Kara out of the window and begins to choke Winn. James hits her with a chair, so she grabs him too.

Kara flies back in and the alien (Indigo, we find out later), asks who she should skin first. Luckily, Hank and Alex bust in, ready to fire. Indigo drops James and Winn and disappears back into the computer. Of course, Kara is not happy, as she is still mad at Hank, although Alex explains that they were tracking a signal. This signal lead them to Kara’s apartment, and when they offer to reactivate her status in the DEO (to share additional intel that is only available to DEO agents), she tells them that she’s done alright so far on her own.

In a park, a young man proposes to his girlfriend, only to see Indigo pop up out of the laptop that is playing music. She tells them that she would kill them, but the world is ending soon anyway, so, this time, she’ll spare them. As they run away, Non appears. Indigo is pleasantly surprised to see him. Apparently, they have a history, as she tells him that she’s changed her name from Brainiac 8 to Indigo. She also points out that they’re both free now, and admits that she never liked Astra.

He defends his wife and her dream of Myriad while Indigo continues to mock her and it. Non tells Indigo that Myriad does work and that soon Astra’s dream will come true. When Indigo reminds him that she used to be his dream, he is less than amused. He starts to choke her because he’s suspicious. Asked what she’s done, she points out that predators can’t live with prey (that’s what the Myriad is, Kryptonians and humans living side by side? What?) and tells him that she’s done enough to bring hell to Earth. Soon, only the Kryptonians (and her) will be left.

At CatCo, Siobhan is having a rough day; now she is unable to get the copy machine to work. Her beatings on it attract the attention of Winn, who tells her to stop beating up his copy machine and fixes it (it was just a paper jam). He mutters that a thank you would be nice, and she spills out that her father was a member of the website that was hacked. She pours out her feelings on the matter, and when Winn tells her that he’s sorry, she tells him to finish her copies (and if he tells anyone about her father, she’ll kill him).

Alex shows up at CatCo and runs into Winn and Kara. When Kara reminds her that she quit, Alex tells them she actually came to CatCo for Winn, because of his skills with computers and coding. He is flattered but tells Kara that if she doesn’t want him to go, he won’t (because he is her best friend). She tells him to go and he’s really excited.

James sees Winn leave with Alex and when Kara tells him that the DEO just stole their hacker, she also laments the loss of Hank. Normally, he can guide her and tell her what she’s up against, and she finds herself missing him.  However, James has a plan to get more information and directs her to the Fortress of Solitude.

Once inside, Kara and James discover that Indigo is a Coluan from the planet Colu, a species that ran the supercomputers on Krypton. Apparently, there was one Coluan from the Brainiac Clan who had been sentenced to Fort Rozz. She had been trying to shut down Krypton’s defenses in an attempt to wipe out the planet, making her the most dangerous prisoner to be at the prison. James asks if they should go to Hank, but Kara says no. When he says that he understands that she’s mad but she shouldn’t go against Indigo alone, she reminds him that she’s with him.

Of course, going to the Fortress of Solitude means that James didn’t meet Lucy for dinner, something he didn’t even realize until he was updating Lucy on what he had learned. She’s clearly hurt but tells him she’ll let her father know that the military could be a target.

Kara sees Lucy outside, obviously blue, and tries to cheer her up. She brings her a latte and reminds her that James chose her out of all the women in the world. Kara also talks about how she thinks James is more of a hero than most people, with a drive to help. Lucy thanks her, but is clearly thinking hard, especially because Kara knows things about James that Lucy doesn’t.

Working with James on their lead, Kara mentions that she misses Winn and Alex. Lucy joins them, with a lead that one man might have been the target, a General Jonathon Mathers, who was involved in the website scandal. With the three of them, it looks like things are coming together. Meanwhile, at the DEO, Winn has tracked down Indigo’s alias of Brainiac 8.

While Lucy is explaining her theory to James and Kara, the same is happening at the DEO. By exposing the General, Lucy argues Indigo could get his online footprint. After that, she could find out who had a way into Fort Pemberton, a missile silo. This will allow her to shoot a nuclear bomb at the city.

Using the General’s phone, Indigo calls him and is able to materialize from his phone to the base. Oops. She manages to get the keys from the room full of highly trained guards and turns the key, setting the bombs off. The DEO is concerned; knowing they’ll never reach the base in time. Luckily, Supergirl is soon there, and a fight breaks out between the two aliens as the launch sequence is activated. Indigo is able to hold Kara down, and Kara watches in horror as the bomb takes off.

Kara is able to free herself from Indigo and heads off in pursuit of the missile. Without time to evacuate the city, she is the only chance of survival for National City and her people. Unfortunately, she can’t push the missile off course, so she calls Hank, realizing that she needs his help. He explains to her how to turn off the computer on the missile while Alex tells Winn to shut down the base. He admits that he might be able to shut down Indigo herself, using a fairly nasty computer virus he accidentally made.

Supergirl is able to turn off the missile, sending it into the water. Of course, Indigo still has to be dealt with, so Kara goes back to fight her while Winn uploads his virus. Reaching through the DEO computer, she grabs Winn by the throat and begins to choke him. Bragging that she’s invincible, Indigo didn’t count on Winn finishing his upload of the virus. He calls her a “Glorified Windows Vista,” which was hilarious to me. The virus works and Indigo is beginning to crash.

Turns out, the ship that we saw, in the beginning, was Fort Rozz, and Indigo had activated Kara in her pod, helping both ships escape the Phantom Zone. Indigo then bursts into pieces, to trouble National City no more. We think.

At CatCo, Winn talks to Siobhan and tells her he knows how it feels when people you trust let you down. He opens up about his family, just like she opened up about hers earlier, reminding her that people generally want to be there for other people. She kisses him (several times! Did we just get a girl for Winn?) and tells him that if he tells anyone, she’ll kill him. Then, she kisses him again.

Kara gives James permission to tell Lucy the truth about her identity, and he happily heads off to do so. However, before he can tell her, Lucy breaks up with him because she knows that he’s in love with Kara. Lucy also mentions that Kara is in love with him too. Lucy is having a rough week.

Kara goes back to the DEO because she realizes that the world almost ended because she was trying to work solo. Even if she’s still mad at Hank, she realizes that they’re stronger together. Finally, however, Alex can’t hold back the truth and, sobbing, tells her sister who really killed Astra. She admits that Hank took the blame and that she let him so she wouldn’t lose her. Kara starts to walk away, but instead hugs her sobbing sister, forgiving her. The last shot at the DEO is the sisters hugging, with Kara apologizing too and forgiving Hank (though wordlessly).

The last scene, however, is Non, finding the pieces of Indigo and reanimating the pieces. He tells her that it’s time to do things his way, and good things cannot be coming from that!

FINAL THOUGHTS?

“Solitude” was fun; Indigo was a great villain who I’m sure will be back, it was nice to get hints about what Myriad is, and Cat Grant was back with a vengeance! I also really appreciated the sister-bonding between Kara and Alex, as well as the way Winn was recognized for his hacking skills (he’s just such a fun character). I also felt really bad for Lucy in this episode. I mean, I saw it coming, but it was still sad because she’s also a fun character.

There are still questions, however. Did Winn get a girlfriend? Also, will the DEO hire him? When will James and Kara admit their feelings? What on earth is myriad? All these questions, however, mean that I’m excited to see what is in store next week!

NEW FACES

Indigo, or Brainiac 8, is the new face in “Solitude” and she seems to be a fairly interesting character. According to the DC Wikia Page, she is an android who is extremely powerful, made to beat modern technology. It tells me that she started out as a superheroine, but was actually a supervillain.

There seem to be a lot of different things going on with this character, but Indigo seems fascinating. As an android, she’s able to have different incarnations, and some of her different names are actually different programs (which I thought was pretty fun). She’s a member of the Outsiders, but also has worked with the Insiders and the Legion of Doom. She was defeated by Young Justice and the Teen Titans, and they seem to be her major foes in the comics.

CAT GRANT-ISMS OF THE WEEK IN “SOLITUDE”

“First, never call me ma’am, this isn’t the Old West. And second, circle the wagons.”

“Cancel my dinner plans. I’m going home to hug my son and cook him a chicken.”

“You. Brown Hair. Put it in the microwave, set it to popcorn. Well, actually, put it on baked potato. Well, whichever. Just melt it.”

“What do they call you, the Peroxide Avenger?”

What did you think of the “Solitude?” Do you think Indigo was a fun villain? What did you think of Winn & Siobhan? James and Lucy? James and Kara? Let me know in the comments!

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