History Recap / Supergirl2015S2E19Alex

Someone from Kara's past has kidnapped Alex and is threatening to kill her unless Supergirl breaks someone out of jail. Meanwhile, Rhea approaches Lena with a business offer.

* FanDisservice: There's a scene where Alex takes off her pants to make a flotation device to survive in the DrowningPit. Her eventual SexySoakedShirt is also anything but due to said circumstances. Not to mention prior to this when she cuts the tracker out of her skin with a ''broken credit card''.

** When confiding in J'onn about her fear that she can't rescue Alex, Kara laments that she can't [[Film/{{Superman}} fly fast enough to turn back time]]. It could also be a reference to [[Series/TheFlash2014 Barry]] being able to do that by running fast enough.

* RealityEnsues: Early on in the episode, it's mentioned that the criminals Kara helps take down have been using injuries sustained from battling her to mount PoliceBrutality defenses. Maggie calls it the "Supergirl defense."

* NotSoDifferent:

* AssholeVictim: Rick claims that the people his father murdered had it coming. Rick's obviously biased, though, and the episode doesn't answer the question either way.

* GoodParents: Peter Thompson may be a murderer, but he was a genuinely kind and caring parent to his son. He even helps Supergirl find Alex, so [[EvilParentsWantGoodKids Rick won't become a killer like him]].

* MoralMyopia: Rick idolizes his father for taking him away from his abusive mother and giving him a decent upbringing. He believes the man can do no wrong, to the point where he shrugs off Maggie pointing out that Peter killed two people with a callous, "They had it coming."

* AbusiveParents: Rick's mother was physically and verbally abusive, while his criminal father did his very best to look out for Rick upon finding out about him.

* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: Maggie tries to invoke this, telling Rick that allowing Alex to die would rob him of his only bargaining chip, and since he's already been arrested that would spell the end of his plan. Rick doesn't fold, betting that Maggie will give into his demands since he's now sure Supergirl won't.

* FanDisservice: There's a scene where Alex strips off some of her clothes, but does it make a flotation device to survive in the DrowningPit. Her eventual SexySoakedShirt is also anything but due to said circumstances. Not to mention when she cuts the tracker out of her skin with a ''broken credit card''.

* LeeroyJenkins: Kara acts pretty headstrong throughout the episode, and Maggie is not afraid to call her out on it.
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: Rick is willing to resort to kidnapping and possible murder if it means getting his father out of prison.

* When people see Supergirl coming to get the criminals at the beginning of the episode, someone shouts "Look, up in the sky"!

!!Tropes in this episode:

* ApologeticAttacker: Rick bears no ill will against Alex or Kara, for him they are just the means to get his father out of jail. At one point, he even begs Maggie to help him save the people they both love.

* BlatantLies: Rhea lied about where the technology comes from. It's pretty obvious that it's beyond the capabilities of any Earth technology, but Lena believes that she developed it herself and doesn't even question it until after she figures out Rhea's not human.
* BothSidesHaveAPoint: During the argument in the beginning about the hostage situation, both Maggie and Kara bring up valid points for their respective position.

** Rhea offers Lena the transmatter portal technology from "Supergirl Lives" and "Distant Sun".
** Lena uses the alien identifier from "Welcome to Earth" to confirm her suspicions about Rhea.

* CrazyPrepared: Rick has been planning his father's breakout for over a year and has accounted for nearly every possibility. He has scoped out Alex's life extensively and knows exactly when to grab her, has figured out a way to block her TrackingDevice, knows about J'onn's powers enough to mount a PsychicBlockDefense and anticipate his shapeshifting, routes the feed from Alex's cell through multiple servers to evade electronic tracking, and has her hidden somewhere that no records anywhere link him to and which Supergirl can't hear from within the city. The only thing he fails to anticipate is his own father foiling his gambit.
* DrowningPit: Alex's cell is rigged to pump in water until it overflows, drowning her in four hours if Supergirl doesn't meet the deadline.

* ExactWords: Most everything Rhea tells Lena is true, but devoid of context in order to make Rhea out to be the innocent one.
* FanDisservice: There's a scene where Alex strips some of her clothes, but does it to survive in the DrowningPit. Her eventual SexySoakedShirt is also anything but due to said circumstances. Not to mention when she cuts the tracker out of her skin with a ''broken credit card''.
* FreudianExcuse: Combined with a MotiveRant in Rick's case, when he explains what a horrible childhood he had thanks to his abusive mother, how he was rescued by his father and how he now wants to rescue him back from prison.

* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Once Alex is saved, J'onn decides to wipe Rick's memory of Supergirl. Alex punches him in the face first, and tells J'onn to make sure he remembers it.

* MoralMyopia: Rick idolizes his father for taking him away from his abusive mother and giving him a decent upbringing. He believes the man can do no wrong, to the point where he shrugs off Maggie pointing out that Peter killed two people with a callous "they had it coming".

** During Kara's argument with Maggie, Kara says that she stands for "hope and help and compassion", a reference to her motto from the comics.
** When Kara receives the first call from Alex's kidnapper, he says that everyone around her thinks she's just a "mild-mannered reporter", a phrase often used to refer to Clark Kent.
** When confiding in J'onn about her fear that she can't rescue Alex, Kara laments that she can't [[Film/{{Superman}} fly fast enough to turn back time.]] It could also be a reference to [[Series/TheFlash2014 Barry]] being able to do that by running fast enough.
** Malverne calls Kara a "girl scout", much like Superman is often called a boy scout.

** Rhea tries to evoke sympathy from Lena by bringing up her own horrible family situation (which, unknown to Lena, she caused herself).

* OhMyGods: Rhea says "Thank the gods" during dinner with Lena, which outs her as an alien since no one on Earth uses that specific expression.

** Played straight with James, who is once again completely absent.

* RousingSpeech: Kara appeals to Peter's love for his son to get him to reveal Alex's location, lest his son make the same mistakes his father did.

* WhamLine: From the kidnapper:
-->"I know you're Supergirl."
* WhatTheHellHero: Maggie lets Kara have it both after the hostage situation and especially after Kara's LeeroyJenkins attitude drastically shortens the time frame to rescue Alex.

* YouHave48Hours: Supergirl is given 36 hours to break Peter Thompson out of prison.

* RealityEnsues: Early on in the episode, it's mentioned that the criminals Kara helps take down have been using injuries sustained from battling her to mount PoliceBrutality defense. Maggie calls it the "Supergirl defense."