Kara joins Nia on a trip to Nia's hometown to visit her family during the town's annual Harvest Festival. While home, Nia's mother encourages her daughter to embrace her destiny. Meanwhile, Alex deals with a street drug that is turning people violent and giving them temporary superpowers.
Tropes in this episode:
- Bad "Bad Acting": Brainy's "dude-bro" persona consists of him awkwardly using the slang without otherwise changing a thing about his demeanor. As such, he comes across as the narc-iest narc who ever narc-ed. Amazingly, it still works like a charm.
- Blatant Lies: Spencer tries to claim that the drug that turned him into a rampaging rage monster was Aspirin.
- Both Sides Have a Point: While it does demonstrate the effects of Alex's now-changed perspective, the argument between her and Supergirl at Parthas is an example of this: from Supergirl's perspective, Alex was preparing to shoot an innocent alien defending his home from a violent aggressor; from Alex's perspective, she was aiming her weapon in defense of a confused and angry kid being mistakenly attacked by the alien local. Neither of them are wrong, exactly; they both just lack context for the whole picture.
- The Chosen Wannabe: Maeve firmly believes she will inherit the matrilineal Dreamer powers of her family, not knowing that they've actually manifested in Nia for a number of months now. The fact that Maeve was the only one of Isabel and Paul's two children who was actually a true blue born female, along with a dream their mother had of her daughter being the next Dreamer after Isabel, probably did not help mitigate the first-born's eagerness to take on the mantle. Hence, Maeve's world came crashing down when she learns that it was not the powers that be's will to endow her with that destiny.
- Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Kara in her Supergirl persona still greets Alex by her first name, despite the latter having been mindwiped and being irritated by it.
- Didn't See That Coming: Nia's family never expected her to gain the future sight because she's trans.
- Didn't Think This Through:
- Wiping the memories of the agents who knew Kara's secret was one thing, since she was an acquaintance to them and not a major part of their lives. Wiping Alex's memory has fundamentally changed who she is as a person, since Kara being an alien gave Alex perspective that she now lacks.
- The drug dealers fail to consider that the value of their newly enhanced product might lead to someone who would rather steal it than buy it.
- Dramatic Irony: Nia doesn't have interest in being the Dreamer, whereas Maeve is very keen on inheriting those powers from their mother. Fate ensures the opposite happens.
- She tells Kara that the latter doesn't know what it's like to have alien superpowers while your human sister resents you for it. Kara tells her differently.
- Dropped a Bridge on Her: Nia's mom dies without much foreshadowing or fanfare.
- Elemental Powers: Isabel says that her own element is water, whereas Nia's is fire; however, the exact nature of what this actually means isn't made clear.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Nia is shocked and hurt when her sister Maeve says she's "not a real woman" in a moment of anger, since she relates that while some people in town rejected her being transgender Maeve was her strongest supporter.
- Face Death with Dignity: Isabel, once she realizes that Nia has the dreaming powers.
- For Want Of A Nail: Without having the memories of growing up alongside an alien sister, Alex's moral compass has somewhat shifted for the worse, particularly when aliens are concerned. We've seen something similar to this before quite recently.
- Good Parents: Nia's parents were, by her testimony, very accepting of her being transgender, and even in death, her mother Isabel encourages Nia to live up to her destiny.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Both Nia and Maeve are the offspring of a human father and a Naltorian mother.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: The Children of Liberty prove, yet again, that they have no qualms about assaulting or killing humans to get what they want. Here, they beat the two drug dealers senseless to steal their product, not even bothering to try and tie their actions into their "Earth First" philosophy. They're also perfectly fine with trapping humans and aliens alike in a burning barn.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Nia, until Kara manages to change her mind at the end of the episode by revealing her superhero identity to Nia.
- I Just Want to Be Special: Nia's sister Maeve, in contrast to the former. And she is not happy when she learns that she isn't the one to inherit their family's legacy.
- Internal Reveal:
- Nia tells Kara she's transgender, something that the audience already learned.
- Nia reveals her dream powers to the rest of her family, though her sister doesn't take it well to say the least.
- Kara reveals she is Supergirl to Nia so Nia won't feel alone.
- Irony: Once again, the Children of Liberty make use of alien resources to empower themselves.
- It's All My Fault: Nia blames herself for her mother's death because she never bothered to learn dream interpretation and thus took her vision of her mother's death too literally. Ironically, her sister also thinks that of herself, as she firmly believes that she has the powers and they haven't manifested yet, unintentionally making Nia feel even worse.
- Keeping Secrets Sucks: Kara tells Nia to come clean to her sister about her powers, as keeping secrets is just bound to hurt everybody involved. Unfortunately, Nia has to reveal herself before being able to tell her, making Maeve feel betrayed.
- Kick the Dog:
- The Children of Liberty don't just rob the drug dealers. They also beat them senseless and leave them tied up for no reason. They also reach a new low by assaulting a community during a funeral!
- Maeve, in a fit of anger and jealously, tells Nia that she doesn't even know how Nia could get the powers, as she's "not a real woman". Maeve's expression suggests that she regretted the comment immediately, although she doesn't apologise to Nia.
- An indirect example with James, who puts the kibosh on Mackenzie's investigation into LCorp's illegal genetic experimentation due to both his and CatCo's relationship with Lena, essentially helping to confirm the worst fears (regarding conflicts of interest) of an industry like that having such an enormous stake in a media outlet.
- Love Makes You Stupid: James's relationship with Lena clouds his journalistic ethics as he uses his position as editor to quash a story about Lena's genetic experiments.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After Maeve snaps at Nia that she's "not a real woman" (in front of Kara), she instantly realizes what she just said and seems to regret her comment.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Kara manages to make Nia feel better at the end of the episode by revealing that she's Supergirl, showing Nia she knows what it's like to handle two different identities.
- Prophecy Twist: Isabel foresaw that her daughter would inherit her dreaming powers; she simply failed to consider that it might be her transgender daughter, rather than the cisgender one.
- Psycho Serum: Rage gives those who take it temporary Super-Strength and Super-Toughness, but also amps up their aggression.
- Rage Breaking Point: Bobbi, who, according to her brother, has been repressing anger all her life, snaps when she sees her brother brutalised by the Children of Liberty, taking a Rage pill to exact revenge.
- Refusal of the Call: Nia doesn't actually want the Dreamer powers and would prefer her sister—who does want them—to have them instead, but Isabel says such a scenario is impossible.
- The Remnant: Even with Agent Liberty publicly unmasked and imprisoned, the Children of Liberty are still around committing hate crimes.
- The Resenter: Maeve doesn't take the revelation that Nia inherited their mother's powers very well at all, refusing to speak to her and later hitting her with a nasty Kick the Dog moment (although she at least seems to have the decency to regret it, even if she doesn't say as much to Nia).
- Sequel Hook: Unable to revive their Supergirl clone, the Kaznian general in charge calls his superiors so he can get in touch with an American with better knowledge of the subject.
- Taught by Television: How Brainy learned to speak his Bad "Bad Acting" above.
- Too Dumb to Live: Kevin and Jerry realise that their drugs now turn people into rage monsters, so they get the brilliant idea of selling them anyway. Later, they accept a ridiculously large cash offer and go to meet the shady customers in a new location; they are naturally beaten senseless and robbed for their trouble.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Alex, as a result of having her memories of Supergirl and Kara being the same person removed, acts extremely cold and even downright hostile towards Supergirl.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Kevin and Jerry towards Bobbi, who is just trying to lead a normal college life.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: For the first time this season, the "Red Daughter" plot is woven into what's happening in National City.
- Ungrateful Bitch: Maeve doesn't even thank Nia for saving her from being axed, because it's a clear sign Nia inherited the Dreamer powers, and in response tells Nia not to touch her.
- Wham Shot: During the Cold Open, the Supergirl clone gets somehow injured, enough that she bleeds and then passes out. By trying to revive her, the Kaznians accidentally spill her DNA into the atmosphere.
