Kara and Mon-El's relationship is tested before it even begins, when a new suitor, mysterious mischief maker Mister Mxyzptlk, a being from the fifth dimension, appears with the intention of making Kara his bride, and he's willing to raise all sorts of hell until he gets what he wants.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Mxyzptlk. In the comics, he's always been shown as a short, elderly balding man with white tufts of hair in a derby cap. Here, he's played by Tall, Dark, and Handsome Peter Gadiot.
- Amazon Chaser:
- Winn is attracted to Lyra for her ability to beat the crap out of two thugs as much as her physical appearance.
- Mxyzptlk has the hots for Supergirl, of course.
- Ancient Astronauts: Apparently, all tales of mystical beings like djinnis were inspired by 5th-Dimensional Imps. Just like the comics.
- And Now You Must Marry Me: The entire plot premise.
- Antagonist Title: Well, he is the Mister in "Mr. and Mrs. Mxyzptlk."
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Mxyxptlk tells Kara that he can't make her say yes to his proposal, fall in love with him, or prevent her from killing herself. Or drink orange juice.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Mxyzptlk brings the statue of Jor-El in the Fortress of Solitude to life and sics it on Kara.
- Back from the Dead: Mxyzptlk casually resurrects Parasite as part of his Engineered Heroics. Presumably he poofs him out of existence once he's done.
- Bar Brawl: Winn meets Lyra in the alien bar after she trashes the two bullies picking on him.
- Batman Gambit: Kara lures Mxyzptlk to the Fortress under the pretense that she intends to marry him, then seals the Fortress up and triggers the Self-Destruct Mechanism. To stop her blowing herself up, Mxyzptlk enters the deactivation code, which turns out to be his name backwards, thus sending him back where he came from.
- Berserk Button: 5th-Dimensional Imps in general (because they've caused trouble on Daxam before), and Mxyzptlk specifically (as a rival for Kara's affections), are a big one for Mon-El.
- Big Damn Heroes: Yes, Kara can handle herself, but there's still something rather badass about seeing Mon-El's duel with Mxyzptlk over her.
- Big Damn Kiss:
- Kara and Mon-El share one at the end of the episode.
- Winn and Lyra share a rather rough but passionate one.
- Break His Heart to Save Him: Kara pretends to dismiss her feelings for Mon-El, so that he won't follow her to her confrontation with Mxyzptlk, thus keeping him out of harm's way—and also because there's nothing to stop Mxyzptlk from listening to their conversation invisibly.
- Brick Joke: In the teaser, after Kara rebuffs his advances, Mxy gripes about how he can't make Kara do something against her will, and mentions something about not being able to make Kara drink orange juice. In the Fortress, Kara is seen taking a drink of orange juice from a glass, just before she reveals that she's not planning on marrying Mxy after all.
- Brought Down to Badass: The artifact Mon-El uses to nullify Mxyzptlk's powers removes his ability to warp reality, but still leaves him with enough Super-Strength to evenly match Mon-El until he can steal and break the artifact.
- Celebrity Paradox:
- Mxy sings the song "A Whole New World" when wooing Kara. His actor Peter Gadiot played a trickster-turned-Genie from Agrabah on Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.
- Zig-Zagged with the X-Men Film Series, which Myx vaguely mentions. The film series has Kelly Hu (China White), Roger Cross (Lucas Hilton), Rila Fukushima (Tatsu Yamashiro), Nolan Funk (Cooper Seldon), Vinnie Jones (Daniel Brickwell), Michael Ironside (Lewis Snart), David Hayter (King Shark), Daniel Cudmore (Jackhammer of the Demolition Team), Mei Melancon (Masako Yamashiro), and Morena Baccarin (Gideon I) in its cast.note However, all these actors only appeared on the Earth-1 shows, with the film franchise yet to be referenced there, and/or their respective counterparts yet to appear here, if they have one. Adding to the complication is the fact that Kara already visited Earth-1. Played straight with Glenn Morshower (Sam Lane) though, who played a minor character in X-Men: First Class.
- Chekhov's Gun: Near the start of the episode, J'onn mentions that on some planets, to write something "is to really say it." At the climax, Kara tricks Mxyzptlk into writing his name down backwards, which counts enough to send him back to the 5th Dimension.
- Cock Fight: Mon-El and Mxyzptlk fight over Kara throughout the episode, culminating in a Duel to the Death (more on that below).
- Combat Pragmatist: During their duel, Mon-El wastes no time firing his weapon at Mxyzptlk before the fight has actually begun. Unfortunately, the Imp was prepared for it.
- Continuity Nod:
- Winn makes a reference to his past romantic failures in Season 1 during his conversation with Lyra on why they should take their relationship slow.
- Lyra is from Starhaven, the same planet that the Fort Rozz escapee that was held alongside Kara by the Master Jailer is from, in "Truth, Justice and the American Way."
- When trying to help Alex plan a fabulous Valentine's date for Maggie, Kara subtly suggests she still has pull at one of National City's most posh restaurants due to making constant reservations for Cat.
- Contrived Coincidence: Lyra just happens to know the only book Winn read of her race.
- Crappy Holidays: Maggie hates Valentine's Day, since it was this holiday that got her outed as a lesbian to her parents, who kicked her out of her home and forced her to live with an aunt.
- Duel to the Death: Mon-El challenges Mxyzptlk to a duel. Mxyzptlk decides to make it a grand Hamilton vs. Burr affair, complete with costumes and pistols in an opera house. Mxyzptlk rigs the game by making sure the pistols can't hurt him, but Mon-El figured this would happen going in and brings an artifact to neutralize his powers.
- Engineered Heroics: Mxyzptlk brings Parasite back to life so he can heroically intervene in Supergirl's battle with the monster. Mon-El points out how obvious the coincidence is, and Mxyzptlk doesn't even try to deny he did it.
- Fantastic Racism: Mon-El has a really big dislike for 5th-Dimensional Imps, since they used to show up to cause trouble on Daxam.
- Foreshadowing: J'onn tells Kara that on some planets, to write something is to truly say it. When she realizes that she can't get Mxy to say his name backwards, she tricks him into writing it instead and even quotes J'onn's words to him.
- Gayngst: When she was young, Maggie was really close with her best friend, and it grew into love (at least for Maggie). Not only did her friend not feel the same way, but she was also homophobic, and outed her to her and Maggie's parents.
- Glass Cannon: Mon-El mentions that the Daxamites did indeed kill Imps, by simply acting very fast, giving them no chance to use their powers.
- A God Am I: Mxyzptlk refers to himself as a god, and given the vast extent of his powers, he isn't that wrong.
- Hypocrite: Kara is angry when Mon-El suggests that they kill Mxyzptlk, yet barely reacts when she sees Parasite on the street, whom she had killed earlier in the season.
- Incompatible Orientation: Maggie’s backstory is that she was outed to her parents after her crush told her own parents that the former had written her a valentines letter.
- Interspecies Romance: Winn strikes one up with an alien named Lyra. Mxy wants one of these with Kara but it ain't gonna happen. And Kara and Mon-El get together at the end.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Mon-El is overprotective of Kara and wants to kill Mr. Mxyzptlk. However, in the end, Mxy proves to be every bit as dangerous as Mon-El feared. As for how to deal with him, realistically, if you were facing a being who meant you harm and had Reality Warper abilities but wasn't indestructible, taking him out before he saw it coming would be the only way to win.
- Kryptonite Factor: The artifact from the DEO's vaults brings Mxyzptlk down to normal until he swipes and destroys it.
- Lady in Red: Maggie gives Alex a scarlet dress for their Valentine's date. Unsurprisingly, she looks great.
- Language Barrier: Mxyzptlk doesn't know how to read Kryptonian, which is essential for Kara's strategy to trick him into typing his name backwards. He conjures up a Kryptonian to English dictionary, but quickly gives up and puts it away.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Mon-El's recklessness does way more harm than good in this episode.
- Literal-Minded: Kara tells Mxyzptlk that she wants to get married on Kryptonian soil, which he takes literally and nearly conjures up for her. She clarifies that she means the Fortress of Solitude before we get to see how faithfully he would have pulled that off.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: Mon-El advocates killing Mxyzptlk as the go-to option, knowing just how dangerous his kind can be. When he lets slip the non-lethal option and Kara calls him on it, he justifies it by pointing out that Mxyzptlk isn't stupid enough to say his own name backwards intentionally.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Mxyzptlk is attempting to do this to Mon-El before Kara intervenes. It could be argued that Mon-El is trying to do the same thing throughout the episode, but at least he is not trying to do it for his own selfish reasons.
- Mythology Gag:
- When Mxyzptlk gets rid of Mon-El the first time, he mockingly refers to him as "McGurk-El," a reference to one of Mxy's tricks from the very first Mxyzptlk story (which was later adapted in Superman: The Animated Series).
- For the third time, Mxyzptlk (or beings like him) is stated to be the origin of stories about genies, leprechauns and the Fair Folk.
- Kara says, "You wanna get nuts? Let's get nuts!" similar to a scene from Batman (1989).
- When Mxyzptlk flies in dressed as Superman, a couple of onlookers call out, "Look, up in the sky. It's a bird, it's a plane!" This was often used to herald Superman's arrival in the older stories. Kara even completes the line, asking, "Superman?" before Mxy turns around.
- Mxyzptlk isn't the first Imp to dress up as an established hero.
- Like her fellow lesbian cop Renee Montoya, Maggie was disowned by her parents.
- Name and Name: Played With. The "Mr." in the title plays this straight, but the "Mrs." is nonexistent as Kara is not married to the former, and clearly doesn't want to be.
- Negated Moment of Awesome: Mon-El tries to save Kara from Parasite, only for the monster to effortlessly throw him away in one casual move.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: Mxyzptlk isn't stupid enough to actually hand Mon-El a gun that could kill him.
- No Ontological Inertia: The statue of Jor-El and the massive globe he was helping hold up are repaired and back in their rightful places after Mxyzptlk is tricked into getting rid of himself.
- Official Couple: Kara and Mon-El finally become one.
- Open Secret: Although the existence of aliens has been well-known among the populace for a while, this episode reminds us that many live among the humans when Winn and Lyra go to a restaurant. Even before they begin talking about it, this shows how serious Winn is about pursuing a real relationship, by going on a date with her in public.Lyra: Everyone's staring at me.
Winn: Let them. - Pet the Dog: One of the bank robbers that Kara saves from Mxyzptlk thanks her before she knocks him out.
- Protagonist Title: Kara is the "Mrs." in the title. Doubles as Trivial Title.
- Rescue Romance: Mxyzptlk exploits this, recreating Parasite and having it attack Kara so he can have a Big Damn Heroes moment to impress her. Played straight with Winn and Lyra, when Winn immediately takes a liking to Lyra after she rescues him from two alien bullies.
- Save the Villain: Kara saves the bank robbers she was chasing earlier from Mxyzptlk after the latter attempts to execute them.
- Self-Destruct Mechanism: Kara sets the self-destruct on the Fortress of Solitude's fusion cauldron as part of her gambit to get rid of Mxyzptlk.
- Sexy Discretion Shot: The last shot of the episode is Kara and Mon-El making out on her sofa, then the Title Card showing to end the episode.
- Shameful Strip: Mxyzptlk teleports Mon-El to the DEO in his underwear, though Mon-El is more annoyed than embarrassed.
- She Cleans Up Nicely:
- If the thought that this episode was written just to show off how radiantly beautiful Melissa Benoist is in a wedding dress crossed your mind, you're not alone.
- The formal gown that Maggie gives Alex completely shows off how much of a beauty Chyler Leigh is when she's not wearing her DEO uniform.
- Shooting Superman: Kara even lampshades the ridiculousness when a bunch of bank robbers start shooting at her.
- Shout-Out:
- When first proposing marriage to Kara, Mxy says, "I can show you the world..."
- When Mon-El challenges him to a duel, Mxyzptlk teleports the two of them to a theater where the two of them are onstage and dressed in Hamilton and Burr's duds respectively, complete with handguns. Mxyzptlk doesn't let up with the references there, either, telling Mon not to "throw away his shot."
- Mxy uses his powers to telekinetically take the guns from a group of robbers and turn them around on them, remarking that he "saw it in a movie once." This was a signature trick of Magneto in the X-Men Film Series, right down to same shot of the Dramatic Gun Cock in midair.
- "Shut Up" Kiss: Lyra gives one to Winn when he stutters too much.
- Smug Super: Thanks to his Reality Warper powers, Mxyzptlk is completely dismissive of Mon-El.
- Stalker with a Crush: Mxyzptlk to Kara; worse as this is a man with Reality Warper powers who won't stop until he gets what he wants.
- Stop, or I Shoot Myself!: Kara threatens to blow herself up with the Fortress, knowing that Mxy can't stop her from killing herself (which he helpfully told her in the beginning of the episode). Though he tries to call her bluff, he loses his nerve and easily falls for her trick when she finally lets him disable the self-destruct.
- Supernormal Bindings: Mxyzptlk conjures chains around Mon-El and he's unable to break them despite his strength.
- Super Power Lottery: Mxyzptlk is easily the most powerful being in the entire multiverse encountered thus far. He says that he could literally split the Earth in half or bring world peace with a mere snap of his finger, and the only way to defeat him is by tricking him into saying his name backwards. Even when his powers are temporarily suppressed he still is more than formidable enough to go toe-to-toe with Mon-El.
- Take That!: After a whole episode of embodying every stereotype of a controlling, gaslighting ass, Mxyzptlk calls Kara a "nasty woman," which went memetic after Donald Trump used it to describe Hilary Clinton, with many women proudly using it to describe themselves.
- Trailers Always Spoil: Since it gives away that Mxyzptlk is in the super suit, chances are Clark probably won't be coming to his cousin's aid.
- Trivial Title: Kara did not marry Mxyzptlk, so the "Mrs." in the title is irrelevant.
- Troll: It's Mr. Mxyzptlk, he's pretty much the Super Family's living thorn in their side.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Kara doesn't tell Mon-El about her true reason for going into the Fortress of Solitude. Not likely she told anyone else, either, that with Mxyzptlk able to overhear her anywhere.
- Valentine's Day Episodes: For Season 2, though it aired a week after the actual event. Alex and her mom have always had a soft spot for cheesy Valentine's traditions, while for Maggie it's a Crappy Holiday. Mon-El hears about it and wonders if it's something he should celebrate with Kara. Winn goes to the bar to drink alone since he has no one to celebrate with and winds up with a date. J'onn sends an interplanetary message to M'gann, which is Martian tradition for a similar holiday of theirs.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend:
- Boyfriend in this case. Mon-El is really over-eager to kill Mxyzptlk when he attempts to woo Kara. Unfortunately it does more harm than good.
- Winn is attracted to Lyra precisely because she's violently protective of him before they even properly meet.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Kara delivers one to Mon-El's willingness to kill Mxyzptlk even after he reveals a non-lethal method.
- Mon-El in turn delivers one to Kara, stating that since she's never encountered Fifth Dimension beings like he has, she has no idea just how dangerous they can be.
- Kara later delivers one to Maggie, stating that while she may have had a heartbreaking history with Valentine's Day, she should consider that her girlfriend still tried to give Maggie a romantic evening nonetheless, and that Maggie should be appreciative of Alex's attempts.
- Writing Around Trademarks: The movie Mxyzptlk is referring to when he's about to shoot down the bank robbers is obviously X-Men. But since it's owned by the rival company of the one who owns this show and the entire Arrowverse, its name is never stated.note
- Yandere: Mxy is willing to kill bank robbers, endanger National City by reawakening Parasite, beat Mon-El to death, animate Kara's uncle's statue to rend her into submission, and threaten to destroy the Earth until Kara accepts his proposal.
