'Supergirl' recap: The Martian Chronicles

This week on Supergirl, White Martians arrive on Earth to take M’gann back to Mars, but Supergirl and the team fight to protect her and each other.

“The Martian Chronicles” begins with addressing the awkwardness between Kara and Mon-El following last week’s episode where he professed his attraction to Kara. At the alien bar, Kara talks to him, letting him know she appreciates his honesty. Citing her career and their incompatibility, she lets him know she does not want to date.

Alex appears and they discuss Mon-El for a minute. Kara excitedly talks about her Earth birthday, which the sisters always spend together. She has reservations for them to learn how to country line dance. Alex nervously tells Kara that Maggie surprised her with tickets to go see one of her favorite bands, Barenaked Ladies. During Alex’s explanation, Maggie bounces in and lets her know a friend got their tickets upgraded to VIP. While obviously upset, Kara wishes them a good time. In a quick conversation with M’gann, Kara learns Mon-El has been drinking her drink, club soda, all week and looks pensive.

Leaving the bar, M’gann notices J’onn has been tailing her throughout the week. He is worried about the White Martians attacking her, and while she is telling him she will be ok, a White Martian attacks. They fight and then Supergirl appears. She fights with the alien, but they escape.

At the DEO, Kara makes comments to Winn about his superhero activities with Guardian, reminding him she is worried about his safety. The White Martian is still on the loose and J’onn wants M’gann to stay at the DEO. She is reluctant to put her new friends in danger and despite their objections, returns to work.

At the bar, M’gann’s ex husband Armek arrives. He threatens her, saying he will kill her when she is taken back to Mars. Then he threatens Supergirl and J’onn, giving her an ultimatum. Either she comes with him, or he kills her friends. With her bag packed, M’gann is ready to leave. J’onn stops her and reminds her she is not like her people, and her friends want to keep her safe. He tells her to trust them, and she takes his hand.

Photo: Dean Buscher/The CW © 2017 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved

Meanwhile, Alex is feeling a guilty over leaving Kara alone on her Earth birthday to attend the concert with her girlfriend. Maggie tries to get Alex to open up and tells her to go talk to Kara instead of repressing her emotions. She listens and heads to the DEO.

Alex apologizes to Kara and is assured that it is okay for her to have fun with her girlfriend instead of celebrating together. They join Winn, J’onn, and M’gann to see if there is any new information about the White Martians. Unfortunately it is the White Martian, not M’gann. The real M’gann arrives and J’onn fights the fake one. The lights go off and the White Martian disappears, so J’onn locks the DEO down. Since the alien is a shapeshifter, the team does not know who to trust.

Everyone gathers around to discuss how they are going to find Armek, the White Martian, or discover him if he is impersonating one of them. Along with Supergirl and her friends from earlier, are DEO Agents Vasquez and Demos. Demos is scared and points a gun at Vasquez, believing her to be the alien, then everyone else. Kara asks J’onn to read their minds and try to find Armek but he says something is interfering with his ability. Then M’gann lets the group know the alien is not only her ex husband, he is also a terrible person.

J’onn takes control of the situation by showing them how Green Martians would find White Martians during the war on Mars. Fire shows Martian skin color. Vasquez goes first, then Demos. J’onn appears to have a fear of fire but with M’gann supporting him, puts his hand to the fire. It is Winn’s turn next and surprise, Winn is the White Martian. He uses the fire to attack and the team fights back. Kara goes into full Supergirl mode, uses multiple powers to try and take him down.

The team gathers their weapons and tries to figure out what to do as Armek tries to blow up the building using a nuclear reactor. Armek is keeping Winn somewhere nearby, so the group splits up. Kara and Alex team up and talk about their feelings. Kara admits she is having trouble now that Alex has Maggie and is not always available. She felt abandoned and Alex lets her know that will never happen.

J’onn tells M’gann she is important to him, that she is kind and brave. He promises to protect her and she seems receptive to his feelings. They find Winn and discover there are two White Martian’s in the building as they find Alex’s body. Immediately they radio Kara and she confronts the fake Alex. The two begin fighting but are in the room with the nuclear reactor. The two fight with their fists instead.

J’onn wakes Winn and they leave to turn off the reactor while M’gann helps Alex recover. Winn says he should be able to shut it down in time, but they arrive to see Supergirl fighting the White Martian in the reactor room. Armek arrives and attacks J’onn. Winn tries to focus on shutting down the reactor while fighting is happening around him at all times. M’gann arrives, shifted into a Green Martian and helps J’onn. They defeat the White Martians, with a little help from Alex and her new favorite gun, and Winn saves the day with 12 seconds to spare.

The lockdown is over and Alex is reminded of the concert and goes to call Maggie. Kara and Winn talk, and she tells him to be safe with James. M’gann tells J’onn she had forgotten what family was like, and now she remembers because of her friends. She tells him she has to return to Mars, to see if there are other good White Martians. He is upset, but she leaves anyway.

At Home, Kara is watching television when Alex arrives with a cupcake. The two talk about the White Martian impersonating Alex. Alex has memories of the conversation Kara had with the fake Alex because of the telepathy. They talk it over and Alex says she believes Kara was also trying not to think about her relationship with Mon-El. Kara seems confused about how she feels about Mon-El and is scared it will not work, but her sister reminds her sometime it is good to take a risk.

Meanwhile, M’gann tells J’onn his feelings are mutual and they have a touching moment before she leaves for Mars.

The next day, Kara arrives at work to see Mon-El and a woman from the office named Eve leaving together. Eve leaves to grab something and Mon-El and Kara chat for a moment awkwardly. She asks if Eve and Mon-El are going on a date and he says yes. She seems like she wants to say something, but instead says no and wishes them a good date before heading into work.

This was an entertaining episode overall, though I felt it could have used more action scenes. I enjoyed the M’gann and J’onn moments, as their relationship has been one of the most interesting this season, and I felt both David Harewood and Sharon Leal really aced their scenes. Also it was nice to see Jeremy Jordan and Chyler Leigh get to play the bad guys as fake Winn and fake Alex.

Check out the preview before for next week’s episode of Supergirl, “Luthors” airing at 8 p.m. Monday on the CW.