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Recap / Supergirl (2015) S1E10 "Childish Things"

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Winn's father, Toyman, escapes in an attempt to reunite with his son. Meanwhile, Alex and J'onn try to figure out the secret of Lord's Lab 52.


Tropes in this episode:

  • Anguished Declaration of Love: Winn's Love Confession to Kara can be considered this, since he was still under stress from his father breaking out of prison, despite having been put back.
  • Artistic License – Chemistry: Toyman says that the quicksand is laced with thermite, so if Supergirl uses her heat vision on it, the whole building would go up in an explosion. In reality, thermite burns extremely hot and extremely fast, but it is not an explosive (which is why it's technically legal, if dangerous, to manufacture and possess). Of course, we only have Toyman's word, so it could have been a bluff; conversely he could have been counting on her either not knowing that or not being willing to find out.
  • Artistic License – Physics: While quicksand might prove difficult for a human to escape under certain conditions, there's no way Supergirl couldn't have flown right out, no matter how carefully Toyman designed it. See the Quicksand Sucks page.
  • Beauty Equals Goodness: When Alex pushes for J'onn to be the Martian Manhunter full-time, he points out that this is what most people believe regarding aliens: Someone who looks like him is much less likely to be accepted by the public than someone who looks like Supergirl.
  • Bluff the Impostor: While disguised as Lord, J'onn tries to have Jane Doe in Lab 52 moved off-site. The guard makes up a non-existent protocol, which J'onn buys into, exposing him as a fraud.
  • Crazy-Prepared:
    • Lord has his camera systems record to a hidden backup in case someone tries to wipe the records, his Lab 52 has a silent alarm in case someone gets by without breaking the door, and his guards are actually prepared if someone tries to impersonate him.
    • Toyman also gets his fair share of glory when it comes to contingency plans. He uses a dummy at his meeting with his son, accurately predicting that they'd catch up to him and has a gas trap set up for them. When Supergirl tracks him down, he tricks her into a thermite-laced quicksand trap so she wouldn't casually use heat vision to escape and rigs up a shredder and supposed child in a box for a further distraction. Finally, when he wants to force Winn to kill his rival at the toy convention with a non-detectable gun, he sets up ten explosive-filled teddy bear bombs which he is remotely controlling.
  • Femme Fatale Spy: Lord's phone lists Alex as "Mata Hari," and she plays the role when she takes him on a date so J'onn can infiltrate Lab 52.
  • Internal Reveal: Lord discovers that Alex and Supergirl are sisters.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: When Kara says Winn didn't want anyone to know he was Toyman's son, Cat snaps that maybe he should have considered changing his name.
  • Killer Yo-Yo: Toyman rigs up a yo-yo that has hidden blades, which he can swing with enough force to easily kill people.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: When he's forced to incapacitate a guard, J'onn uses his psychic powers to wipe his memories rather than kill him. Unfortunately, J'onn can't pick and choose, so the guy ends up completely devoid of memories other than basic skills, along with significant brain damage (this is a huge departure from the comics, where J'onn's telepathy is completely harmless).
  • Mind Rape: J'onn's memory-wiping power turns out to be physical mental probing — the victim is noted as suffering brain damage.
  • Mugged for Disguise: Toyman puts on the uniform of the first guard he kills and walks out of the cell. It doesn't work for very long, since the guy he killed has a completely different skin color, but it gets him close enough to employ the yo-yo.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • The name of the boss who stole Toyman's toy ideas is Chester Dunholtz. In the comic, Chester Dunholtz was a childhood bully who stole Toyman's first ever toy, a wooden plane, likely driving Toyman to use toys in his crimes.
    • The doll Winn got from his father looks like the second Toyman from the comics, Jack Nimball, who took the identity for a while when the original was temporarily retired in the 1970s, and appeared in Challenge of The Superfriends.
    • The ventriloquist dummy-like doll seen in Schott's cell and later at the arcade resembles the version of Toyman seen in Superman: The Animated Series.
    • One of the kiddie rides at the carnival looks like the ship that brought Baby Superman to Earth, from The Golden Age of Comic Books.
  • Playing Possum: Toyman fakes being dead in his cell so the guard will open the door, then uses the yo-yo to kill him.
  • Quicksand Sucks: Toyman traps Supergirl in a box full of thermite-laced quicksand, intending to drown her since she still needs air. She freezes it and breaks free.
  • A Rare Sentence: Lucy says of Cat, "She is so nice."
    Kara: Nobody has ever said that before.
  • Sadistic Choice: Toyman gives one to Winn; either he kills Dunholtz with the special plastic weapon, or Toyman activates the remote-controlled bombs, killing dozens of people at the convention center.
  • Shoot the Shaggy Dog: J'onn has to completely erase a guard's memory to cover up his infiltration, something he swore never to do again... but Max has shadow copies of his security tapes that J'onn didn't find and erase, revealing his infiltration anyway, though luckily they don't show J'onn himself (only him disguised as Lord).
  • Super-Breath: Kara uses this on two separate occasions: one to escape from the quicksand death trap, and another to freeze the sprinklers water to form an ice wall.
  • Tempting Fate: Alex boasts that there's nothing Lord can do that she can't predict... while a camera hidden on her purse transmits her and Kara's girl's night back to his office.

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