History Recap / Supergirl2015S4E19AmericanDreamer

* WhipItGood: Nia can now manipulate her powers to form energy whips.

* StuffedInTheFridge: Lockwood's wife is murdered by an alien woman whose husband he arrested [[KickTheDog for no reason]]. An unusual case, as here the death of a woman is used to bring pain and misery to a villain.

* SmugSnake: Backed up by his power as a government official and his Children of Liberty goons, Lockwood is brimming with [[{{Pride}} arrogance]] and [[HolierThanThou self-righteousness]]. When his men fail to arrest Dreamer, he's reduced to snarling and roaring like a wounded animal, and finding his wife's dead body ([[LaserGuidedKarma a consequence of his actions]]), he's left screaming and weeping.

* JourneyToTheCenterOftheMind: James undergoes one in order to stabilize his powers.

* {{Adorkable}}: Nia uses sleep/dream puns in her fights as Dreamer (a stand-out being her saying that someone should make Lockwood "go nighty-night-night" in a totally serious tone), and in her televised speech, admits to being a part of several pop culture fandoms.

* BlatantLies: Lockwood claims that he's arresting Dreamer for using an illegal broadcast ([[VillainHasAPoint which is actually true; hacking into news feeds as they did is a crime]]) and for using said broadcast to "incite violence" (it was just an interview). When Kara points out that they're unarmed, Lockwood just replies "[[TemptingFate then this'll be easy]]".

* {{Dehumanization}}: When a woman protests her husband's arrest, saying "he's a good man", Lockwood replies "[[FantasticRacism if he were a man, he wouldn't be in this situation]]". He further tries to impress upon his son not to think of aliens as people, which falls apart when George runs into an alien he knows from school.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: George Lockwood can't stand the sight of aliens being rounded up and ripped away from their families, ''especially'' after he learns one of his closest friends, Charlie, is actually an alien and didn't tell him because of who his dad is.

** Subverted with George who realizes how his father's hate of aliens costs him his mother's life.

* KidsAreCruel: James' childhood bullies, Billy New and Brandon Palmer, went the extra mile of harassing him on the day of his father's funeral, then locked him in a coffin, causing him to miss the very same funeral, just for asking them to show some respect.

* StuffedInTheFridge: Lockwood's wife is murdered by an alien woman whose husband he arrested [[KickTheDog for no reason]]. An unusual case, as here, the death of a woman is used to bring pain and misery to a villain.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: As a Cabinet Secretary, Lockwood's house should have a security detail to prevent his family being attacked.

* AssholeVictim: Zig-zagged. Lydia was a willing supporter to her husband's brutal, racist methods, but personally didn't do anything villainous and she is only killed in retaliation for her husband's policies.

* AskAStupidQuestion: George asks his friend Charlie why he didn't tell him about being an alien. Even disregarding George's own racism or the extremely tense political climate, George's father is the face of the anti-alien movement and a living embodiment of the government's increasingly xenophobic policies; the surprise isn't that Charlie kept being an alien a secret isn't as much of a surprise as [[OddFriendship why he was a friend of George's in the first place]].

* PunctuatedForEmphasis: Threatened by James into backing off his attack on [=CatCo=], Lockwood snarls "Not. Without. The alien." James follows up by pointing out that Dreamer is gone, so Lockwood and his men are now attacking journalists simply standing up for freedom of the press, finishing with "Now. [[GetOut GET. OUT!]]".

* SuddenlyShouting: After a fair bit of TranquilFury, James finishes his demand for Lockwood and his goons to leave by barking "GET. OUT!"

* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: When Brainy hears Nia's love confession on TV, he gets tearful and asks Alex this question.

** The woman who killed Lydia out of retaliation for Ben arresting her husband probably just made things a lot for the aliens.

* AssholeVictim: Zigg-zagged. Lydia was a willing supporter to her husbands brutal, racist methods, but personally didn't do anything villainous and she only killed in retaliation for her husband's policies.

* AssholeVictim: Given how she was a willing supporter to her husbands brutal, racist methods, it's pretty hard to feel sorry for Lydia Lockwood's death.

* KidsAreCruel: James' childhood bullies went the extra mile of harassing him on the day of his father's funeral, then locked him in a coffin, causing him to miss the very same funeral, just for asking them to show some respect.

* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Lena confesses to Kara that she worked with Lex, expressing her anger and shame at being manipulated and expecting Kara to hate her for being so "weak". Kara responds by embracing Lena and firmly telling her that she is anything but weak, and is a "brilliant, kind-hearted, beautiful soul". Lena, whose lack of self-esteem has been a major source of angst for her, is in tears.

* LoveRealization: Visibly moved by Dreamer's speech, Brainy asks Lena "[[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove what does love feel like]]?", the implication being obvious.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Kara's interview with Dreamer. They didn't think about how since they are now under martial law, Lockwood could come in guns blazing.

Brainy tries to help James with his newfound powers. Meanwhile Kara does a story on Lex and Amertech to clear Supergirl's name and Nia takes up defending National City in Supergirl's absence as Lockwood's men begin to imprison as many aliens as they can arrest.

* AlasPoorVillain: Downplayed, as the character in question [[VillainyFreeVillain supported a villain without actually being one]]; Lydia Lockwood may have been a bigot who considered her husband's Nazi-esque policies to be "saving the country", but she certainly didn't deserve to be murdered while her husband screamed and wept over her body. That she was killed solely as a consequence of Ben's actions, rather than through any fault of her own, doesn't help.

* BelievingTheirOwnLies: James, ashamed and traumatised by the real reason he missed his father's funeral, told people that he was locked in a diner restroom until the manager let him out, repeating this story so often that he started believing it himself, only accepting the truth in this episode.

* BlatantLies: Lockwood claims that he's arresting Dreamer for using an illegal broadcast ([[VillainHasAPoint which is actually true; hacking into newsfeeds as they did is a crime]]) and for using said broadcast to "incite violence" (it was just an interview). When Kara points out that they're unarmed, Lockwood just replies "[[TemptingFate then this'll be easy]]".
* CoincidentalBroadcast: Subverted; while it seems like Dreamer's interview popped up on Lena's TV out of nowhere, it's revealed that the heroes hacked into broadcast feeds to spread the interview as far and wide as possible.
* {{Dehumanization}}: When a woman protests her husband's arrest, saying "he's a good man", Lockwood replies "[[FantasticRacism if he were a man, he wouldn't be in this situation]]". He further tries to impress on his son not to think of aliens as people, which falls apart when George runs into an alien he knows from school.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: Kara's interview with Dreamer. They didn't think about how since they are now under Martial Law, Lockwood could come in guns blazing.
* DirtyCoward: Zig-zagged; Lockwood spends most of the attempted raid on [=CatCo=] away from the main action, only drawing a gun when Dreamer and Brainy turn to leave, but in the face of a newly super-strong James who had just broken his wrist, Lockwood growls that he won't leave without Dreamer, and needs to be all but thrown out.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: George Lockwood can't stand the sight of aliens being rounded up and ripped away from their families -- ''especially'' after he learns one of his closest friends, Charlie, is actually an alien too and didn't tell him because of who his dad is.

* RepressedMemories: The source of James's panic attacks is a repressed memory of some bullies trapping him in a coffin on the day of his father's funeral.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Alien Affairs rounding up aliens indiscriminately is taken straight out of ICE's heavy-handing treatment of immigrants -- regardless of their status.

** Lex used one of Creator/OscarWilde's pseudonyms as an alias for his evil schemes.
* SmugSnake: Backed up by his power as a government official and his Children of Liberty goons, Lockwood is brimming with arrogance and self-righteousness. When his men fail to arrest Dreamer, he's reduced to snarling and roaring like a wounded animal, and finding his wife's dead body ([[LaserGuidedKarma a consequence of his actions]]), he's left screaming and weeping.

* SuddenlyShouting: After a fair bit of TranquilFury, James finishes his demand for Lockwood and his goons to leave by barking "GET. OUT!".

* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Lena confesses to Kara that she worked with Lex, expressing her anger and shame at being manipulated and expecting Kara to hate her for being so "weak". Kara responds by embracing Lena and firmly telling her that she is anything but weak, and is a "brilliant, kind-hearted, beautiful soul". Lena, who's lack of self-esteem has been a major source of angst for her, is in tears.

* BigNo: Ben when he sees Lydia's corpse after being attacked by a mysterious alien, implied to be the wife of one he arrested earlier in the episode.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: George Lockwood can't stand the sight of aliens being rounded up and ripped away from their families -- ''especially'' after he learns one of his closest friends, Charlie is actually an alien too and didn't tell him because of who his dad is.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Alien Affairs rounding up aliens indiscriminating is taken straight out of ICE's heavy-handing treatment of immigrants -- regardless of their status.

* WhamEpisode: Lena and Kara learn of Lex's connection to Kaznia and Lydia Lockwood is killed by some alien -- implied to be the wife of the alien Lockwood personally arrested at the beginning in retaliation against for his policies.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: George Lockwood can't stand the sight of aliens being rounded up and ripped away from his families -- ''especially'' after he learns one of his closest friends, Charlie is actually an alien too and didn't tell him because of who his dad is.

* HeelFaceTurn: After seeing the reality of his dad's policies and learning his friend is an alien, George decides he can't go along with them and turns his back on them.

* AbsenteeActor: Lex, again.

* BigNo: George when he sees Lydia's corpse after being attacked by a mysterious alien.

* HeelFaceTurn: After seeing the reality of his dad's policies and learning his friend is an alien George decides he can't condone them and turns his back on them.

* WhamEpisode: Lena and Kara learn of Lex's connection to Kaznia and Lydia Lockwood is killed by some alien -- implied to be the wife of the alien, Lockwood personally arrested at the beginning in retaliation against for his policies.

* HeelFaceTurn: After seeing the reality of his dad's policies, George decides he can't condone them and turns his back on them.

* WhamEpisode: Lena and Kara learn of Lex's connection to Kaznia and Lydia Lockwood is killed by some alien in retaliation against Ben for his policies.

* GetOut: James to Lockwood after his raid on CatCo fails.

* VillainousBreakdown: Ben has an epic one when his raid on CatCo blows up in his face.