In the latest ‘Supergirl’ recap, Kara goes up against Project Cadmus, J’onn finds out M’gann’s true identity and James finds out being a hero isn’t easy…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
The latest episode of ‘Supergirl’ titled ‘The Darkest Place’ pushed the story forward more than any other yet this season.
For a big part of the first season and again in the second, Project Cadmus has been a villain who truly hadn’t revealed itself until now as the lead doctor’s identity was finally revealed while the real Hank Henshaw finally made his reappearance with a few enhancements since we last saw him.
Meanwhile, J’onn J’onzz continued to feel the effects of his blood transfusion courtesy of his new friend M’gann but the reason why he’s so twitchy left him shake and unease. It could change the course of J’onn’s life forever.
Finally, James took on the moniker of the Guardian a week ago but what happens when a copycat shows up in town who is willing to be the same vigilante in the streets with one added bonus — when this guy stops a criminal, he keeps them from ever taking a breath again.
With that said, let’s recap the latest episode of ‘Supergirl’ titled ‘The Darkest Place’…
Copycat
With his coronation as the Guardian last week, James Olsen has continued to fight crime in his spare time and after stopping an armored truck car robbery and taking down some other evil doers in National City, he’s feeling pretty good about himself.
Of course, Kara isn’t quite sure what to make of the Guardian, much less whether or not the citizens should trust him yet. She doesn’t trust a hero who doesn’t show his face — her cousin Superman worked with a guy like that once, brooding with lots of toys aka Batman!
Nevertheless, James believes he’s doing the right thing by helping to stop crime until disaster strikes when he captures a thief and leaves him hanging by the feet for the police but a second copycat vigilant shows up and shoots the guy dead.
On video it appears that the Guardian was the one who committed the murder and that turns the cops on the new vigilante in and effort to find and stop him. James didn’t commit the murders, but now he’s got the cops and even Supergirl looking to take down the Guardian at all costs.
Things get so bad with Maggie Sawyer close to tracking down the Guardian that Winn finally has to tell James’ secret to someone else. He ends up letting Alex in on the secret, which forces her to back Maggie off the investigation.
Meanwhile, Winn discovers a pattern with the criminals the copycat vigilante is killing — they are all people who got out of jail on a technicality. Winn finds a similar murder that happened just before this death dealing vigilante showed up in town when a criminal who got off on a technicality was gunned down. The criminal actually killed a woman and her husband just happened to be an ex-Navy SEAL, who has suddenly gone missing.
His name is Phillip Karnowsky — who DC comic book readers will recognize as the villain Barrage.
In the ‘Supergirl’ universe, he’s an enraged widower who wants to take down criminals by all means necessary. With some help from Winn, James eventually tracks down the guy and stops him before he can commit another murder while Maggie Sawyer arrives just in time to make an arrest of the real killer behind these crimes.
The Guardian is vindicated and back in the good graces of National City although James doesn’t seem all that happy that Winn let his secret out of the bag.
Green/White
Ever since receiving the blood transfusion from M’gann that saved his life, J’onn has been exhibiting some strange behaviors — most notably seeing visions like those of his dead family and even White Martians coming to attack him. Add to that, J’onn’s hand keeps shaking and trembling more and more with each passing day and he can’t figure out what’s wrong with him.
J’onn examines his own blood and that’s when he figures out M’gann’s secret — that the transfusion he received came from a White Martian!
When she finally comes clean, M’gann explains that she worked in those internment camps where the Green Martians were being slaughtered but she just couldn’t take it anymore and just wanted to save as many of them as possible. Sadly, her plan never worked but she eventually escaped Mars and came to Earth.
J’onn doesn’t buy it and he ends up in an epic battle with M’gann before knocking her out and tossing her in a cell at the DEO. He’ll never believe that a White Martian showed sympathy towards a Green Martian, especially because he holds her responsible for the death of his wife and children.
Before he can leave, M’gann has to tell J’onn one more secret.
It seems the White Martians had begun some experiments on Green Martians while trying to eradicate the entire race. The experiments included infusing White Martian blood with Green Martians and transforming them into White Martians.
In other words, J’onn is slowly transforming into a White Martian — the people he hates the most in this world.
Project Medusa
At the end of last week’s episode, Mon-El was captured by Project Cadmus and it turns out he was just bait in an attempt to capture Supergirl. The leader behind Cadmus tells Supergirl to come to their secret lair or they will kill Mon-El.
When she arrives, Supergirl runs into a familiar face — Hank Henshaw — except this is the real Hank Henshaw. The one who supposedly died while going after the Martian Manhunter all those years ago. It seems Cadmus not only saved him but gave him a substantial upgrade by turning him into the murderous and powerful Cyborg Superman!
He gets the upper hand on Supergirl and knocks her unconscious before tossing her in a cell next to Mon-El.
There the Project Cadmus leader finally reveals her true identity as Lillian Luthor, the mother to both Lex and Lena Luthor. She says that Lex is a victim of Superman, who is the real monster masquerading as a hero on Earth and now she’s adopted her son’s goal to eliminate all aliens on this planet.
That starts with her next project and that requires Supergirl to drain her solar power to turn her almost human, at least for a few minutes. After Supergirl is forced to fire her heat vision into a protective container so she can drain her own power, Lillian Luthor takes her to a lab and extracts a vile of blood.
She throws Supergirl back in the cell and it looks like things are going to get really bad before a familiar face shows up to save the day — it’s Jeremiah Danvers!
He helps his adoptive daughter and Mon-El escape but refuses to go with them. Jeremiah explains that he’s been navigating his way around Cadmus for the past 15 years and he can’t leave now but he’ll help her escape. Supergirl and Mon-El get out in time and return to the DEO.
Once she’s recovered, Kara has to explain to Alex how she found her father but couldn’t save him or at least he refused to go with them. She promises, however, to never give up and will find Jeremiah one way or another. While Supergirl and Mon-El are safe, everyone is curious why Project Cadmus needed a vile of her blood?
The answer is Hank Henshaw as Cyborg Superman goes to the Fortress of Solitude, pours the blood over his hand so the super computer inside activates as if it’s Kara who is actually standing here. Once the computer comes online, Henshaw asks for all the information pertaining to a Kryptonian project known as “Medusa”.
Whatever Medusa might be, it seems particularly bad that Project Cadmus wants it!
Super-Bits
Alex and Maggie come to an understanding after an awkward encounter a week ago. Maggie still isn’t in a place where she wants to be in a relationship with her, but she wants Alex in her life. As heartbroken as she might be, Alex agrees and they will stay friends.
After returning from Project Cadmus, Mon-El starts to take a liking to Kara (like we didn’t see that one coming) and asks James if she’s attached to anyone. Of course, he gets rather defensive considering he wanted to be with Kara so expect some tension in that situation as the season continues.
Finally, next week will kick off the mega-crossover event between the four DC shows on the CW with ‘Supergirl’ launching things on Monday followed by ‘The Flash’, ‘Arrow’ and ‘Legends of Tomorrow’. We will be recapping all four episodes in the crossover so stay tuned next week!
