In order to get her mind off Supergirl's now strained relationship with Alex, Kara decides to help J'onn with his latest case: The Director of Alien Affairs has gone missing. Alex and the DEO hunt for an alien creature eating people's hearts and causing panic. Brainy decides to attend Nia's Valentine's Day party. Ben Lockwood's son George steps up to lead the still-growing Children of Liberty while his dad's in prison.
Tropes in this episode:
- 555: When J'onn examines phone records on his laptop, every number begins with 555.
- Abhorrent Admirer: Yvette, Nia's loud and very aggressive roommate, takes an immediate shine to Brainy. He seems too terrified of her to actually say anything about it.
- Accidental Pun: An alien who steals hearts on Valentine's Day.
- Adaptational Villainy: In the comics, Pamela was mind-controlled by Manchester Black into being a villain, and was killed by him when she broke free of his control. In the series, she was already a criminal before she got her symbiote, and is pointedly Not Brainwashed.
- Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: George cuts off the symbiote's head.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- President Baker wants the Lockwood problem dealt with. He doesn't mean assassination but a loophole to release Lockwood because he wants the headache of the protests demanding his freedom to go away.
- Alex briefly seems to not recognize someone because of her mind-wipe, but it's actually because they just went on a couple dates before it ended.
- Big Damn Heroes: Nia saves Kara from being killed by Menagerie.
- Bittersweet Ending: Lockwood is released and his movement is more galvanized than ever. Menagerie still exists inside of Pamela and Manchester Black reaches out to her in the end. Lena breaks up with James because he's uncomfortable about the military using her research. The only silver lining is that Nia decides to become a hero.
- Blatant Lies: George claims that the Children of Liberty succeeded in killing the alien menace where Supergirl failed. The reality is that Menagerie had the Children totally on the ropes, and it was only after Supergirl stunned her that George was able to behead the symbiote.
- The Bus Came Back: Ben Lockwood returns, having not been seen since "Bunker Hill".
- A Child Shall Lead Them: Lockwood's underage son George takes control of the Children of Liberty while his dad is still in prison.
- The Corrupter: Lockwood manages to turn his son from a simple bigot into a voice for the Children of Liberty and would-be alien killer in his own right.
- Dirty Coward: The Children of Liberty only attack Menagerie after she's been subdued by Supergirl, then claim all the credit for the victory.
- Drunk on the Dark Side: Pamela obviously enjoys her newfound powers.
- Evil vs. Evil: Menagerie gets into a fight with the Children of Liberty.
- Eye Scream: Menagerie manages to briefly get the better of Supergirl by spitting venom into her eyes. Kara just resorts to super-breath instead.
- From Bad to Worse: President Baker is worried about both the heart-eating alien causing public hysteria and how Lockwood's supporters are becoming a national security problem. His Head-in-the-Sand Management all but guarantees that things will likely only get even worse on top of that.
- Head-in-the-Sand Management:
- President Baker's incompetence is on full display when he orders Lockwood's release under the flimsy pretext that the Patriot Act only demands prosecution against acts of terrorism on human life, not alien, just to make the headache of the protests demanding his release go away.
- He also orders that Menagerie's human host Pamela be sent to a normal prison instead of a black ops site so she'll be "made an example of," never once considering that Menagerie might've survived somehow and a normal prison would be inadequate to contain her.
- Hidden Depths: Colonel Haley has a daughter and a life besides her job.
- Horror Hunger: Menagerie feeds on hearts, eating them right out of the chests of its victims.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: Played with; while the alien symbiote is a vicious killer, Pamela turns out to be just as bad, happily accepting it in order to feel powerful.
- Innocently Insensitive: Brainy, once again, who goes to Nia's place and tells her that he is not there for a date (on Valentine's Day) and tries to quickly brush off her grief for the death of her mother in order to train with her.
- Internal Reveal: Nia learns about Alex being mind-wiped and not knowing that Kara is Supergirl anymore.
- It's All About Me:
- Lena breaks up with James simply because he thinks that sharing her human augmentation research with the government would lead to chaos since they would inevitably militarize it.
- President Baker releases Lockwood, a murderer and terrorist, simply to improve his own falling poll numbers.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Lena agrees to change the direction of her human augmentation research to military use.
- Karma Houdini: Lockwood is released under the pretext that the Patriot Act only demands prosecution against acts of terrorism on human life, not alien, even though numerous humans have been injured in his attempts to kill alien life.
- Moral Myopia: Lockwood's family and supporters still have the sheer gall to believe he's done nothing wrong and he's being unjustly imprisoned in spite of the long list of crimes he orchestrated, specifically the ones where he tried to frame aliens for attacks on humans.
- Named by the Adaptation: In the comics, Pamela (and her sister Sonja) were never given a surname. The series calls her Pamela Ferrer.
- Not Brainwashed: When Kara tries to talk Pamela down, she reveals that she isn't being controlled by Menagerie; in fact, she enjoys the relationship.
- Not Quite Dead: Menagerie survives inside Pamela after the primary snake is beheaded.
- Off on a Technicality: President Baker releases Lockwood because his acts of terrorism have targeted aliens, not humans (ignoring that, in some cases, they did target humans too).
- Off with His Head!: George cuts the head off Menagerie when it and Pamela are staggered by Supergirl. This doesn't seem to have put it down for good, however...
- Overlord Jr.: George takes up his father's mantle while he's in jail.
- Save the Villain: Supergirl saves the Children of Liberty from Menagerie.
- Sequel Hook: The episode ends with Menagerie getting a letter from Manchester Black, and whatever it says, she's clearly interested...
- Super-Soldier: The U.S. government wants Lena to produce these for them.
- The Symbiote: Menagerie bonds with Pamela in a mutually-beneficial relationship: Menagerie gets to eat hearts while Pamela uses its powers to steal jewelry.
- Too Dumb to Live:
- Three Children of Liberty break into Menagerie's home, find several dead DEO agents (who were all armed with assault weapons), and promptly decide to keep searching the house for the alien that killed them while armed with bats and axes, with one of them hoping out loud that they don't find it. Naturally, Menagerie kills one of them, with the others only escaping because she had better things to do.
- At the ball, the Children of Liberty continue trying to attack Menagerie while completely outclassed and ignoring the DEO's orders to get out of the way. Supergirl's arrival is all that saves them from being slaughtered, and they only manage to kill Menagerie by sheer dumb luck.
- Valentine's Day Episodes: Aside from the main plot, Kara also manages to get Alex to call Becca and Brainy and Nia go on a (slightly troubled) date.
- Vigilante Militia: George marshals the Children of Liberty to hunt for the alien Menagerie, in a bid to improve their relations with the public.
- Villain with Good Publicity:
- Weeks in prison haven't done anything to diminish Lockwood's standing amongst the general populace; he's still seen as a martyr and polls better than President Baker, much to everyone's distress.
- The Children of Liberty get to claim credit for defeating Menagerie even though they only took advantage of Supergirl's assistance to get close enough to deal a killing blow (that didn't stick). The DEO refuses to release a counter-statement because it would require acknowledging that they needed Supergirl's help.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Brainy has a fear of snakes. He even mentions the Trope Namer.
- You Are in Command Now: Under his father's instruction, George steps up to lead the Children of Liberty in his absence.
