Line #22 Recap/Supergirl2015S2E4Survivors


1	Kara helps Mon-El adapt to Earth. J'onn reacts to finding another Martian. Alex and Maggie investigate an underground alien fight club run by Roulette.
2	----
3	!!Tropes in this episode include:
4	* AchillesHeel: Draaga has a bad knee from a fight on Warworld, which Mon-El tells Kara about after her first failed fight against him.
5	* AdaptationalWimp: Mon-El only has SuperSpeed, SuperToughness and SuperStrength (not on par with a Kryptonian) here and none of the more exotic powers like HeatVision or [[SuperBreath Freeze Breath]] which Daxamites and Kryptonians share in the comics. It's possible he just needs more time to develop them, since he's barely been on the planet for a week.
6	* AndThatLittleGirlWasMe: Played with. M'gann M'orzz recounts that she survived the White Martians massacring the Green Martians because one of the White Martians refused to execute Green Martians and helped her escape. In the final shot of the episode, it's revealed she ''is'' that White Martian.
7	* AppealToFlattery: Winn lampshades this by name when Mon-El tries to manipulate him into letting Mon-El out of the DEO headquarters. After learning how proud Winn is of making Supergirl's outfit, he offers to let Winn make him an outfit and even give him his heroic nickname.
8	* BreakingSpeech: Roulette gives Kara one when she tries to shut her down.
9	* TheBusCameBack: The Alura hologram makes her return.
10	* ButHeSoundsHandsome: When she calls the prince of Daxam a fratboy, Mon-El suspiciously says he had good moments.
11	* DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength: Mon-El challenges a guy to an arm-wrestling match and accidentally dislocates his elbow from putting too much force into winning.
12	* DoubleMeaningTitle: More like ''triple'' meaning. Kara and Mon-El are survivors, as are J'onn and M'gann. Meanwhile, Roulette proclaims just one survivor for her fights.
13	* DragonLady: Roulette has both the appearance and bossiness as the manager of her alien fight club. She even has dragon tattoos. Although her dress and tattoos are identical to those of her (white) comic book counterpart.
14	* ExactWords: M'gann notes that she doesn't want to remember the horrors on Mars. She deliberately does not mention that the horrors she wants to forget are those perpetrated by ''her own'' people, not her oppressors.
15	* FantasticRacism: Not as great, but Kara and Mon-El clearly still have issues letting go of the old hates between Krypton and Daxam.
16	* FightClubbing: Roulette's fight club.
17	* {{Fratbro}}: The Prince of Daxam had this reputation, according to Kara. And Mon-El doesn't exactly disagree.
18	-->'''Kara:''' Ugh, they were the worst. And their son, the prince, he was rumored to be the worst of the worst. ''Frat boy'' of the universe.\
19	'''Mon-El:''' Ah, he... he had his good moments, too.
20	* FuturisticPyramid: The Royal Palace of Daxam was a massive pyramid, which dwarfed the skyscrapers of the nearby city.
21	* GilliganCut: Winn takes Mon-El to the bar, but insists they'll only have one drink. Cut to Winn and Mon-El chugging beers and doing shots.
22	* HeroicSacrifice: The Prince of Daxam tricked Mon-El (his best friend) into boarding the only ship on the planet so that he would survive the devastation.
23	* IHaveThisFriend: Inverted; Kara tells Lena "a friend of mine needs help," and despite Lena's skepticism, that's exactly what she means.
24	* InhumanableAlienRights: Roulette initially boasts that what she's doing is not illegal because the aliens she's forcing to fight don't have any rights.
25	* InASingleBound: Mon-El can't fly, but can jump really high and far.
26	* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne: Winn lamely tries to deny having been out drinking with Mon-El until J'onn mentions that the alien had a 5'2" sidekick. Winn immediately protests that he's 5'9".
27	* JerkassHasAPoint:
28	** As per usual, Snapper. He accurately says that while Kara may have a story, without sources it is baseless. When she gets her source ([[ExactWords Supergirl]]'s first person account), he lets her by.
29	** Roulette also has a point that even if her fight club shuts down, it won't stop the demand for gambling and death matches.
30	* JusticeByOtherLegalMeans: Roulette can't be busted for her alien FightClubbing. Operating without a liquor license, on the other hand, is fair game. Subverted when she's able to get the charges dropped.
31	* KarmaHoudini: Roulette walks away free at the end of the episode.
32	* {{Malaproper}}: Mon-El hasn't quite gotten slang down yet, thinking "awesome" is two words instead of one.
33	* ManipulativeBastard: Despite having some of them fight ''to the death'', Roulette still manages to convince some of the aliens that she is the one providing for them.
34	* MultiCharacterTitle: As written in DoubleMeaningTitle above, the title refers to five characters, specifically two pairs of alien refugees and an evil human who [[KarmaHoudini survived being prosecuted]] due to [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections connections]].
35	* MythologyGag:
36	** The banners seen briefly in the Royal Palace of Daxam resemble [[http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/superman/images/8/8e/Krypton_Flag.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090624234922 the flag of Krypton]] from the comics.
37	** Mon-El mentions having seen the gladiator matches on Warworld, with Draaga as a participant. Warworld is the name of the artificial planet where the ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' villain Mongul was introduced into Creator/DCComics.
38	** Winn comments that Mon-El is at least able to leap over tall buildings InASingleBound.
39	** This is not the first time where [[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS2E1TheCatAndTheCanary Roulette has organized an underground fight club]].
40	** Mon-El breaking an opponent's arm during arm-wrestling. Happened with a Kryptonian in ''Film/SupermanII''.
41	* OneSceneWonder: Lena's secretary Jess appears for about 30 seconds but for some reason became really popular with many fans. She is often a major charceter in Lena based fan fiction despite this being her only appearance and never being mentioned onscreen again.
42	* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Roulette doesn't even consider aliens real people.
43	* TheReveal: It turns out the M'gann is not another Green Martian, but a White Martian in disguise.
44	* RightForTheWrongReasons: J'onn suspects M'gann is hiding something when she refuses to share a psychic link, and is proven right when he learns she was participating in Roulette's fight club. He buys her explanation that she is simply trying not to remember the horrors, though the real reason is that he would almost certainly discover she is not who she claims to be.
45	* RousingSpeech: Kara gives one to the aliens protecting Roulette, convincing them that there's a better option than letting someone like her exploit them.
46	* SceneryGorn: Watch as the splendor of Daxam is laid to waste by the fragments of Krypton raining down upon it.
47	* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: Roulette is out of prison on the same night thanks to unspecified friends.
48	* ShipTease:
49	** Kara gets this with Mon-El.
50	** Sparks continue to fly between Alex and Maggie. Alex seems more than a little disappointed that Maggie already has a girlfriend.
51	* ShoutOut:
52	** After Mon-El smashes one of Winn's training blocks, the latter says, "[[{{Film/Jaws}} We're gonna need a bigger block.]]"
53	** Lena compares Veronica Sinclair's tattoos to [[{{Literature/TheMillenniumTrilogy}} Lisbeth Salander]].
54	* SlobsVersusSnobs: Daxam and Krypton, respectively. Mon-El and Kara lightly rib each other over this at the end.
55	* SmallRoleBigImpact: If it hadn't been for the altruistic Prince of Daxam, Mon-El wouldn't have gotten into the ship. Meaning Mon-El would never have gotten to Earth and started Season 1's CliffHanger.
56	* StacysMom: Mon-El comments on how very attractive Alura is after seeing her hologram.
57	* StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: Draaga is strong and tough enough to fight powerful aliens like Kryptonians--but retreats when Alex has a ''handgun'' trained on him. Probably justified because, despite his own SuperToughness, Draaga's not invulnerable (he still has a bad knee from a previous fight), so he's not sure if he's bulletproof.
58	* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Winn claims that he's not having a hangover after drinking out with Mon-El.
59	* SuperToughness: Other than that, an instance of SuperSpeed in the previous episode, and SuperStrength (which Winn says is nowhere near Supergirl's strength), Mon-El can't demonstrate any other Kryptonian super powers like HeatVision, SuperBreath, or {{Flight}}. Kara plans to help him on that front by the end of the episode.
60	* SurvivorsGuilt: J'onn figures that the only reason why M'gann would participate in the fight club is because of this trope, and he pleads with her not to punish herself anymore.
61	* ThouShallNotKill: M'gann participates in the fight club of her own free will but refuses to kill.
62	* WeHardlyKnewYe: In the beginning of the episode, the Prince of Daxam tricked Mon-El into boarding the last ship in order to save Mon-El from Daxam's catastrophe.
63	* WhamShot: M'gann transforms into a ''White'' Martian.

Context Recap / Supergirl2015S2E4Survivors