'Supergirl' recap: 'City of Lost Children'

This week on Supergirl James grows as a hero when he helps a young alien boy and Rhea's project with Lena is completed.

Last week on Supergirl, Kara and Maggie joined forces to save Alex, while Lena agreed to work with Rhea.

This week’s episode starts off with Guardian saving a woman being attacked by two men.  However, the woman is afraid of James and runs away.

The next day, Lena and Kara have lunch and discuss NSYNC. Lena tells Kara she is working with someone new and will tell her more when she can. The two hug and agree to have lunch again.

Meanwhile, James tells Winn about the woman from the previous night. Winn tries to encourage him, telling him they are doing good work. Despite Winn’s pep talk, James is worried about people being afraid of him as Guardian. During their conversation, an alien with strange blue eyes makes the earth shake, throws an man and then rises in the air. Winn and James yell at people to leave. Winn calls the DEO and James helps save people from a flying cart. The woman continues to wreak havoc, sending vehicles flying. Supergirl arrives and saves the day, while James looks on. Winn looks around for the alien, but cannot find her anyway.

Later at the DEO, the team watches the news report. They discover the woman is a Phorian, a group of aliens that are normally peaceful. Alex and J’onn both unknowingly make James feel useless as Guardian with comments about Kara.

Lena and Rhea have dinner and talk science. She shares her worries with Rhea about the project not working. Rhea acts motherly towards Lena, even cupping her chin and telling her she can make the project a reality. Mon-El is walking down the street when he notices Rhea leaving the restaurant, but he turns away for a moment and she is gone.

In another part of the city, Guardian stops a drug deal and the alien gives him information on the alien who attacked the city earlier. James follows the lead, breaking into her house. He sees pictures of a boy everywhere and pictures on the table. The boy comes downstairs, sees him and is terrified. James takes off his helmet and tells the boy he does not wish him harm.

At the DEO, Alex asks the boy Marcus questions, trying to tempt him with food. She tells him his mom did something bad and they want to help her out. Winn suggests giving Marcus action figures, while James says he would not trust anyone if he were the kid. James says he unmasked in front of Marcus to calm his fears and Alex says Marcus connected with him on some level. Mon-El arrives and asks Winn to look for his parents ship, but Winn finds nothing.

Lena and Rhea work on the project and Lena shares her frustrations. She says she wants to show everyone she is talented, including her mother. Rhea tells her she is smart and to think differently from her brother to fix problems. Lena tells her what she wants to try and Rhea remarks, “Not power, balance,” which is a good way of describing the difference between the siblings.

James brings Marcus with him to CatCo and introduces him to Kara and then to his assistant Eve. Marcus looks around his office, touching the furniture and showing him a maze game. Marcus completes it with his mind. James shows Marcus his different cameras and lets him take pictures. He tells him about his dad and Marcus finally speaks, telling him his dad was a soldier and died as well.

Mon-El brings Kara lunch at work and tells her about how he thought he saw his mom. Mon-El says he cannot hate his mom and Kara tells him that is okay.

Marcus sees his mom on the news and tells James his mom would not hurt people. Eve arrives with food for them and when James goes to meet her, everything starts shaking. Lena put the new algorithm in and the project starts working, making Marcus attack the office. Kara removes Marcus from the office and CatCo starts cracking. Lena turns off the machine and Marcus is back to normal.

The team puts Marcus in a cell at the DEO so he cannot harm anyone. J’onn asks James to help talk to Marcus, but James says J’onn was right before and this is a job for the DEO. James tells J’onn he had no clue what to do when Marcus started attacking the building and Kara had to save them all. J’onn tells him about his past, saying he joined the cops after having his first born daughter and wanting to protect people. He encourages James to not give up on Marcus, or on his quest to be a hero.

Winn tells the team he found out an increase in an element can cause the Phorians harm. Remembering Lena mentioning this element when they talked, Kara calls her and Rhea picks up the phone. Rhea blames Kara and tells her everything she does is Kara’s fault. Mon-El takes the phone and asks Rhea not to hurt the planet, but of course Rhea does not agree.

James talks to Marcus and tells him all the planets they have been too have treated them terribly. James tells him about his dad, his “guardian” and what happened after he died. He tells him about meeting Superman and how he helped him open up and change his life. Marcus can find his mother and James promises to guard them from harm. James and Winn go with Marcus and find his mom, along with more Phorians.

Lena tells Rhea how much working with her has meant to her and Rhea sings her praises, then turns on the portal machine. Lena asks her what she is doing and Rhea tells her she does care for her, but this is for her people.

J’onn, Kara and Mon-El rush to find the machine. When they arrive, Mon-El comments that she is bringing something to Earth. Kara and Rhea fight, and Lena is knocked out. Kara is knocked out when she tries to stop the machine.

The Phorians eyes light up blue and use the technology they have to try and dampen the signal, but there are too many and it overheats. James tries to break through to Marcus and break the telepathic connection. Even though the building is shaking and falling apart, James will not leave Marcus. James repeatedly tells Marcus “You are not alone,” which breaks through the telepathic link, thus helping free the other aliens.

Rhea uses a horrible White Martian tech on J’onn that makes him live in a nightmare. Mon-El confronts his mother with a gun. Rhea tries to manipulate Mon-El by talking about how much he loved her as a child. She lies and says his father committed suicide. Mon-El lowers the gun, just as the portal opens and Rhea’s plan becomes clear. Thousands of Daxamites survived and Rhea just made it possible for all of them to come to Earth through the portal machine.

Across the city, the team sees the ships arrive and Rhea declares Earth as the new Daxam. Then she, Mon-El and Lena are transported away.

This was an interesting episode. I liked that in the end, it was the strength of James’s belief in his connection with Marcus that helped save the day. I would love to see James affect positive change more often with his words, not his fists. Particularly at CatCo since he is in a position of power. It was great to see both Lena and James deal with their insecurities. While James had J'onn genuinely encouraging him, Lena's mentor is evil. Katie McGrath was fantastic and once more all I can say is Lena Luthor deserves to be happy.  

Cat is back! Tune in Monday at 8 p.m. on The CW for episode 21, “Resist.”