Posted in: DC Universe, Review, TV | Tagged: cw, entertainment, HRL, Jeremy Jordan, Laurie Metcalf, supergirl, television, Toyman

Supergirl Season 3, Episode 14 Recap: Schott Through the Heart

This article contains spoilers for Supergirl season 3, episode 14, 'Schott Through the Heart'.

This was an interesting episode and somewhat different in format than normal in that there was one major story, one minor, and two setups. There's usually a bit more balance, but this was probably 80% the main story… so that's what I'll focus on first.

Team Supergirl is out for a night of karaoke, and we get to see most of the actors sing all leading up to Winn (Jeremy Jordan) performing A-Ha's 'Take On Me'. Jordan being a veteran of Broadway musicals, it seemed like this would be a highlight, but before he can belt out a single note he sees a television screen at the bar showing that his father, Winslow Schott Sr. (Henry Czerny), aka the Toyman, has died.

Being that his father was in prison for trying to kill people, including Winn, he's kind of mixed on his feelings here. His friends go with him to his father's funeral and as the coffin is being lowered, he is approached by his estranged mother Mary McGowan (Laurie Metcalf). But before they can say too much, Kara (Melissa Benoist) hears music coming from the coffin and realizes it's going to explode, so she switches to Supergirl and saves them.

Back at the DEO, things between Winn and Mary are strained at best as she tries to explain that her ex-husband had threatened to kill Winn if she ever came back around. That's when a group of flying toy monkeys burst into the DEO and attack. Supergirl and Guardian (Mehcad Brooks) deal with most of them, and it becomes obvious that someone is after Winn and Mary. Winn dissects one of the monkeys and his mother insists on helping. She tells him of the time she tried to take him as a boy and escape to a shelter for abused women, but Winslow Sr. tracked them down and ran them off the road, forcing them to come back. Winn remembered it as a bad trip to Disney World.

While working on the monkey, Mary notices the mark of a toy company and she sneaks off, with a gun, to find the person behind the attacks. She discovers Jacqueline Nimball (Brooke Smith), a woman that used to work maintenance at the prison and who seemed to fall in love with Toyman and became his apprentice. She captures Mary and plans to fulfill Toyman's last request, killing Mary and Winn.

Nimball contacts the DEO, offering to exchange Mary for Winn. He, James, Supergirl, and Mon-El (Chris Wood) get to the warehouse to save Mary, only to be attacked by a series of toys. Supergirl gets trapped in a protective sleeve, James has to fight off remote-controlled planes, and Mon-El uses a cape to take out a large robotic dinosaur. Winn confronts Nimball and saves his mom by using a reprogrammed flying monkey. Nimball's last move is to try to choke Winn with a yo-yo, but he knows his dad's toys better than she does. He pops out the blades on the yo-yo and cuts himself free, then punches her out. The episode ends with Winn and Mary deciding to get to know each other and then singing 'Take On Me' together.

The minor story focuses on M'yrnn (Carl Lumbly), who joins them for karaoke in the beginning and then he and J'onn (David Harewood) invite Alex (Chyler Leigh) over for dinner. While there, M'yrnn has a few memory issues that J'onn assumes has to do with him trying to use English. But Alex realizes that it's more than that and talks to M'yrnn. He is beginning to suffer from the Martian equivalent of Alzheimer's disease. But it's worse with his mental abilities. She tells him that he needs to tell J'onn, but he refuses, saying that he will not put his son through that. He gets mad at Alex for insisting and tells her to leave.

J'onn can't figure out what happened and Alex tells him that he has to talk to his dad about it, but assures him that he had a lovely time at dinner and that she's not upset. By the end of the episode, M'yrnn finally tells J'onn about what is happening. J'onn finds Alex at the end and she gives him a big hug. There will be more issues about this going forward.

The first of the two setups was Mon-El trying to find time to talk to Kara. She thinks it's about his relationship with Imra (Amy Jackson), but at the end he finally tells her that Imra and Brainiac (Jesse Rath) lied about why they came to this specific time. Their villain Blight originates as Pestilence, the third Worldkiller and they want to stop her here in the past. Kara asks him to show her how to fight Pestilence since Mon-El has fought Blight many times. Also, she wants to learn the cape tricks Mon-El did against the robotic dinosaur.

The other setup is that James has been trying to reach Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath) all episode, only to have her call back at the end. We see she has been running tests on Sam (Odette Annable) after realizing that she is actually Reign. Why Lena is keeping it a secret and what she plans to do with the information remains to be seen.

The Verdict

This was an episode that I enjoyed on the surface but quickly began pulling apart immediately after. The funeral scene had so many problems… how long it took to lower it to the ground, Kara zipping off to change, then coming back to save the two people furthest from the coffin and just telling everyone else to get down. Why did she know it was a bomb? Was Mary not supposed to notice that the one blond girl at the funeral was suddenly gone when Supergirl arrived?

The issues continued with the fact we got almost zero character development on Nimball. How easy the flying monkeys got into the DEO. How easily a civilian guest walked in and took a gun from the armory. Why couldn't Supergirl break out of the plastic container but knocking it over freed her? Why was James not in his armor going to the warehouse? And if Lena has been running tests for a few days on Sam… where the hell is Ruby? It was a solid, emotional episode with plot holes you could walk a robotic dinosaur through.

But hey, next week we get to see Mon-El's old costume with the cape.

https://youtu.be/cZ1ZvC06Fw0

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