Supergirl Episode 515: Reality Bytes

My reviews of Supergirl episodes this season have been relatively consistent.

First, they are always a little late. Like this post covering episode 515, Reality Bytes, which aired a couple of weeks ago.

Second, I have been pretty effusive in my praise of the show really digging into its own past and bringing up moments from prior seasons. This episode is no difference, referencing the show's premiere, a key second season episode, and some overall themes of the show in total. I love that in this fifth season we are seeing just how far these characters have come.

Third, the season has progressed nicely plot wise. There has been brisk movement on the main plot lines each episode. Unlike prior season which puttered along, this season is on cruise control.

Fourth, overall I have been pretty pleased with the episodes. This season has been pretty entertaining. I have liked the multiple big plots. I have liked the characterizations. And the Lena/Kara story is the foundation it is all built on. I can't help but think we will see redemption in the end when Lena joins Kara against the combined might of Lex/Leviathan (Lex-iathan?).

But this episode puts the plots on pause a little. We get a baby step forward but not much more. Instead, we get a a major plot about transphobia. The show has never shied from a political agenda. Last season, maybe they overdid it. But here, given how the show hasn't been immersed in that this season, I enjoyed this more. Nicole Maines does a great job showing the current issues and concerns for the trans community.

If I have a quibble, it is that once again Supergirl seems to be a guest on her own show. She does almost nothing super in this episode. But that does give Alex and Dreamer a chance to shine.

On to the episode.

We start out in a flashback.

A man is beta-testing Obsidian Platinum. We see him at a ski lodge, but one where giant albino tigers drag sleds. It all looks beautiful.

When the man asks that the simulation end, he finds himself still in the snow. He can't get out. Even a failsafe prompt (a red flashing icon to touch) doesn't work. He needed to be extracted by Kelly.

Kelly promises that glitch will be fixed.

It reminded me of a Philip K Dick sort of scenario, where you are trapped in a false reality and can't return.

As he storms out we see that 'Grandma Leviathan' is now working in the Obsidian company. No big surprise given Gamenae is now enmeshed with Andrea.

Then we get this great scene, a callback to the first episode ever, where Kara asks Alex for advice on what to wear on her date. Remember right before Alex got on that fated flight which prompted Kara to use her powers for the first time, Kara asked about what shirt to wear.

Alex says to go with the blue, always.

Shockingly, later in the show, we see that Kara went with the lilac.

Love that callback.

As for Alex, she is still trying to figure out life after the DEO. She plans to spend the night trying to perfect her use of the Hand of the Soldier, the morphing weapon J'onn gave her.

If there is one thing that I truly love on this show, and something we haven't seen enough of, it is scenes with only Kara and Alex. The chemistry always crackles. But as the show's cast has grown, this has been pushed aside.

They are just so playful with each other.

Meanwhile, Dreamer wipes out a Dominator pretty easily and seems to be thriving as a hero. But when she is at home, Nia is still moping about Brainy. She is convinced to head out to a bar with her roommate Yvette, a trans woman of color who we met before.

Yvette is hoping to meet 'Angus', someone she met on an online dating service. In her profile, Yvette said she knew Dreamer.

At the bar, Nia gets a dream vision she can't interpret and heads to the restroom to settle herself.

As that happens, Yvette meets 'Angus', a man who has used a false profile to lure out Yvette. In the alley behind the bar, this man physically assaults her.

When Nia runs out, she finds the bruised Yvette. The man gave her a note to give to Dreamer. It is blunt. The world doesn't need a trans superhero. And he will keep attacking other trans people until Dreamer quits.

It is a horrible, transphobic sentiment.

And it angers Nia.

In fact, we see that righteous anger when Kara heads over after her date.

Nia is very forthright in how she will find this man and kill him. He has humiliated and beaten her roommate because she is trans. He is bullying her community, the one she must protect. And she can't believe that a speech about hope from Supergirl will redeem this man.

That is a deep cut, a low blow, given how Supergirl uses those speeches a lot.

When Kara says Nia has to give the police and Supergirl time to bring this guy to justice, Nia gives Supergirl 4 hours.

This was a powerful scene. I can't recall seeing Nia this angry and violent before. It shows just what she is ready to do to make sure other trans people will be protected.

In the tower, Alex just can't get the Hand of the Soldier to work for her. In this training exercise (J'onn shape-changed into a Lex-o-suit), she asks for a shield and it just won't respond.

J'onn says the device has to mentally merge with the owner. She needs to open up to it.

The stunt work here is great,

Before, Alex can complain too much, a case crosses their threshold. The bartender from the alien bar arrives. His brother Trevor, a sort of techno-nerd, has disappeared. He was last seen heading into a Virtual Las Vegas escape room scenario, courtesy of Obsidian Platinum.

No one knows where he is.

I do like Alex and J'onn running a private investigation office. She does good legwork. He does more of the thinking. The two play well off each other.

This plot is just as big as the Nia one and definitely is the plot which pushes the season's story forward. So I was glad it was included.

As for the Nia crime, Kara calls on Brainy in the DEO to try and track down Yvette's attacker.

It is clear that Brainy still has feelings for Dreamer. But he can't show it necessarily. But he can help.

I would love more scenes showing Brainy as director. I am sure his leadership style is wildly different than J'onn's. Do the troops respond?

While J'onn does his best to track down who would be involved with Trevor and why they would target him, Alex decides to head right into the fray. Maybe she can head into Virtual Las Vegas and find him.

She meets with Kelly and hears all the rules about Obsidian Platinum. There are no rules inside. You feel pain. Your sense are all plugged in. There is the way to end simulation and Alex will be in touch with Kelly throughout. But Alex needs to be careful.

Hmmm, a failed simulation end to begin the show. Another discussion about it? Certainly this will come back.

Alex dives in and Obsidian shows her all the realities she can jump into, many of them based on the machine reading her mind. She swipes until she finds Virtual Las Vegas and dives in.

But this was a fascinating peek into Alex since the VR can queue up things they think she will like.

One of them is Alex in the Supergirl outfit ... I know, the next episode!

But there is also one with Alex holding a baby. That is another dream of hers. To be a mother. That is such a nice little nod to Alex's character.

Inside, Alex hits the streets of Vegas which has the feel of  the town in the late 40s/early 50s. She even meets a Sinatra-wannabe. That is the Vegas I want to head to.

But in a nice info dump we learn that people inside with 3 lines on their necks are NPCs, AI beings who can't give too much information.

One of the themes that has been part of the show is Kara's concern that people are retreating from each other and actual experiences and instead are heading into VR more. Ironically, many of us are socially distancing as I type this.

It turns out that Trevor used to hang out with his brother a lot. But more and more he has been heading into VR. His brother is hurt by this. They don't talk as much.

I suppose we will be hitting this topic again as the season continues.

Inside, Alex learns about the Escape Palace, a haunted house looking thing on the hill, a user-based upgrade added to the realm. That has to be where Trevor is.

Inside the escape room, she finds two men practically drowning in water tanks.

Again, the VR keys in on people's minds. Here it builds this out of Alex's own fears. She name drops when Dick Malverne tried to kill her way back in Season 2! That is a slick call back.

Inside, she is able to make the Hand of the Soldier work. She forms a billy club and smashes the tanks freeing the men, In a nice little effect, the glass goes into code form with each of her blows.

The men say they were trapped by someone named Richard. He then took Trevor deeper into the maze. Now free, they end their simulations and head out.

In the real world, J'onn is able to track this Richard b ack to Opal City. There he learns that Richard's wife was having a virtual affair with Trevor. We know have motive.

And given the nature of the Obsidian Platinum, this is about as real an affair as you can get.

No one knows where Trevor's physical body is. So Alex will need to get to him inside the VR world.

Also, Brainy continues to track down anti-trans groups to try and get the person who attacked Yvette.

He stumbles across an online dating profile Nia has set up with some crumbs about Dreamer to lure out Yvette's attacker.

Nia can't trust the cops to bring this guy in so she is going to take matters into her own hands.

I feel this is really the most pro-active we have seen Nia be. Certainly it is the most bloodthirsty.

Inside VR, Alex is able to go deeper. Even if Richard has put up roadblocks, in VR the stronger mind can override the code. Alex is able to get through a door. But that puts her into a different space all together Here, she is cut off from Kelly and the outside world.

She has no choice. She has to go deeper.

Alex bending the rules of the place is another nugget to tuck away.

We then get a little true life info dump.

Kara and William decide to cover the attack on Yvette on CatCo. It gives them the room to discuss statistics on violence against the trans community and how it isn't covered enough. In fact, the numbers themselves might be underestimated based on how the victims are represented.

Again, I think this is an important message to get out there. But it wasn't heavy handed or preachy. And since this sort of plot hasn't been present week in and week out, I didn't feel lectured at.

Kudos to the writers for that.

Back in VR, Alex finds Trevor.

He is trapped. He can't end the simulation. The failsafe hasn't worked. And his tormentor has rigged it so that Trevor randomly blows up and then reintegrates.

Remember, these people's nervous system are hooked into the VR. You feel what you do in here. So this poor guy has felt himself explode over and over. He must be in agony. That is crazy.

And then Richard shows up to gloat.

Unfortunately he finds Alex inside. The two fight and Richard initially gets the upper hand. I suppose he has more practice inside this world.

But then, somehow, Alex's gun seems to electrocute Richard, forcing him out of the VR world.

Outside the VR world, J'onn shows up at Richard's room. Once unplugged, Richard almost immediately goes catatonic.

Notice the red lenses or sclera of the eyes. Those aren't the opaque white lenses we have seen. Hmmm ...

Without Richard's presence, Trevor can override the explode command. He tells Alex where his body is and she jumps out of the VR so she can rescue him.

We finally get back to the Nia story.

She has lured the attacker out.

And he says all the things people who don't understand trans people and hate them because of it say.

He was 'fooled' by Dreamer. She is unnatural and not a role model. She needs to disappear.

And all this only fuels Dreamer's ire. She looks like she'll kill him.

Thankfully Kara shows up and actually uses a hope speech to bring about victory, a nice nod back to Nia's earlier lines.

Supergirl talks Dreamer down. She doesn't want to carry the darkness she'll get if she kills this man, Dreamer needs to know how she inspires other members of the trans community. Dreamer has opened Supergirl's eyes towards the problem of violence against trans people. Dreamer doesn't have to do it alone.

Thankfully, Dreamer doesn'r cross the line. The cops come and arrest the man.

There is nothing left but the wrap-up. But what a wrap up.

First, we get a CatCo balcony scene! The soulful balcony scene is a staple of this show!

In a powerful acted scene by Nicole Maines, we hear Nia describe how she was triggered by this violence, how trans people are targeted, how she has felt the pressure of helping her community, how she couldn't read the dream signals to help Yvette, and how she almost killed someone.

What amazes me about this is that we haven't seen any of that turmoil in Nia's scenes this year. She has been hiding all that inside.

But now Kara knows and can be an even better friend and be even more supportive.

Even Supergirl knows that Nia's community needs Dreamer.

The fact that Kelly thought the glitch was removed is an interesting wrinkle.

Perhaps Leviathan hopes to put people into a false reality without a way to escape, a sort of Matrix-style prison, maybe without people even knowing it? If everyone is plugged in, the environment can't be hurt.

This isn't the last we've heard of this I bet.

Yvette initially decides to remove herself from all social media and no longer put herself out there.

But it is Nia who reminds her now is the time to shine brighter and be visible.

That is a solid ending scene for this plot line.

Amazingly, after a couple of seasons, we learn that Jeremiah Danvers has been found and he is dead.

My guess? Leviathan killed him and now there is more personal stake in the Danvers sisters.

Alas, poor Jeremiah. We barely knew ye.

But then we get a great cliffhanger.

Richard, still catatonic, is brought to a Leviathan stronghold were he joins a bunch of floating bodies. That sure looks like the Matrix. Maybe with a dash of the movie Coma too,

Again, this was an enjoyable  Supergirl episode except for the lack of Supergirl. The plot has been pushed forward. We got a nice Alex/J'onn team up. We learned more about Nia and got to hear about the problem of transphobia. And we continued to lean into the show's internal history.

I still think this is the strongest season to date.