Supergirl - City of the Lost Children - Review : The Strength Within

Teleplay by Gabriel Llanas & Anna Musky - Goldwyn

Story by Robert Rovner


Directed by Ben Bray


City of the lost children … Lena, Kara, Mon - El I feel come into this category.
The focus is a young Alien boy (played by This is Us actor Lonnie Charvis) whose mother disappears after acting out with her telekinetic powers. The Phorian are a peaceful race so this behaviour seems strange. The boy develops an attachment to James who is also still holding on to his lost inner child. James is also struggling as he realises that people fear the Guardian and do not consider him a hero. This topic has been brought up in the other CW shows especially Arrow: Vigilantes are they Hero’s? They don’t obey the law but protect people. It’s certainly a debate but one I am not getting into in this review. The other story is Rhea’s little project with Lena, her own cunning plans seem to come to light in the latest episode. Once again Lena is betrayed by someone close to her and I wonder what effect it will have down the line.


We start off with the guardian saving a woman from an attack but she fears him just as much as her attackers prompting James to want to go home as he feels he isn’t making much of a difference.

Kara and Lena have finally had time to catch up for that lunch. Lena is excited about her new project but can’t reveal too much and what she does say means nothing to Kara. It’s a lovely scene highlighting their friendship and makes you wonder how upcoming events will affect this.

In the park, James is telling Winn he does not think people see Guardian as a hero when an Alien attack using telekinesis. Thankfully no one is hurt as Supergirl arrives catching a car. James sees how they applaud her making you wonder is it jealousy with him, after all, shouldn’t he be proud of his friend?

The media is calling the woman an Alien terrorist but, like J’onn states at the DEO, Phorian are known as a peaceful race never using their powers to do harm. They are telepathic as well. James wants to help but J’onn tells him thanks but no, basically shutting him down.

Lena is having dinner with Rhea. She is upset the test didn’t work but Rhea gives her some words of encouragement. As Rhea leaves the restaurant Mon- El spots her but after losing his ice-cream she seems to disappear and he wonders if he saw her at all.

Meanwhile, James stops a drug deal featuring our Alien friend Brian, who always seems to get in trouble, buying a bag of weed. Brian, in exchange for not going to jail, tells James the address of the Alien attacker everyone is looking for.

James doesn’t find her at the house but scares a young boy who, from the photo’s in the house, is her son. He takes off his mask and no words are spoken but you can sense the boy reads James means him no harm.


Back the at the DEO, Alex tries to get through to the boy via burgers after all who doesn’t love a burger when they are scared. I am guessing she picked this trick up early when dealing with Kara. When she leaves, she notices he seems to follow James through the walls and despite J’onn being dismissive earlier he allows James to spend 24 hours with him outside the DEO to get him to tell them where his mother is. Marcus the young boy has yet to speak.

Mon- El is a bit spooked and asks Winn to check that his Mother really has left orbit and all seems clear.

Lena fails another test but again Rhea is on hand with words of wisdom. It seems this project clearly needs a woman’s touch to succeed.

James takes Marcus to work, James seems to get the satisfaction that Marcus is weary of Kara. I wonder if he is unable to read her mind. I do feel James seems to be in some sort of competition with Kara in recent episodes and again here it comes across.

James introduces him to Miss Tashmacher as his nephew and shows him round his office but its James camera’s that catches Marcus’s attention. James tells him the story of his dad and why he loves photography. Marcus tell James that his father was a solider and died while they were escaping their own planet.

Mon-El brings Kara lunch and mentions his mum. He’s thinking he imagined her and says he feels he shouldn’t still care about her.

Lena thinks she has worked it out and starts another test.

Marcus is having fun with the cameras but sees his mum on tv. He says she wouldn’t hurt anyone on purpose. Eve arrives with their lunch and suddenly Marcus starts reacting like his Mother. Coincidently, Lena has fired up her experiment. A giant portal (yes, it’s a big stargate. I see a link here.)
Supergirl fly Marcus out of Catco before it comes crashing down around them and as soon as the gate powers down Marcus comes out of it. It is clear he has no recall or control over what happened.

At the DEO, they realise the same thing must have happened to his mother, James feels he failed but John tells him the boy and he crossed paths for a reason.

Kara and Mon- El have seen no other signs of attacks but Win has a theory and when he mentions the cause Kara recalls it’s the same thing Lena was working on. Lena doesn’t answer the phone but Rhea does. Alex shouts to trace the call as Kara is concerned for Lena’s wellbeing. She threatens Kara and deletes her number off Lena’s phone telling Lena it was a telemarketer. Of course, the interference from the experiment stopped them from tracing the call.

After speaking with Marcus, he tells James he can see where his mother is but hasn’t been there before. James and Winn with a portal dampener device head out. However, there are more Phorian with her all hiding because they can’t control their powers.

Rhea and Lena are alone in the lab and it clear’s Rhea has what she wants now. Rhea tells her whatever happens next all she said about not doubting herself was true. Lena looks floored when she realises once again she has been betrayed as Rhea turns the device on full.

At the DEO they are monitoring and notice a spike in whatever it is they are looking for. Kara says Mon- El need not come, after all, it is his mother. But he says he must grab something first but is coming.

James and Winn are stuck with a group of Phorian’s who have no control and the dampener isn’t strong enough for them all. James refuses to leave Marcus and believes he can break through to him, all the Phorian’s are linked so it should stop them.

Lena tries to shut the device down, as J’onn, Supergirl and Mon-El come crashing in. Rhea and Supergirl fight and poor Lena gets knocked out. Kara goes to stop the device but is blasted back. She recovers to see ships coming through the portal. J’onn gets incapacitated by a device Rhea picked up from the White Martian’s. Mon- El pulls a gun on Rhea but can’t bring himself to shoot her. She tells him he won’t stop her creating a new Daxam on Earth.

James gets through to Marcus and they go outside to see all the Alien ships arriving above National City.

Rhea teleports Mon- El and Lena to her ship I assume.

It looks like another Alien invasion for Supergirl to stop and making for an explosive ending to the season.

For weeks, we have seen very little of Mechad Brook’s character James. I feel the storyline revolving around Guardian came across as weak because it seemed as if he was competing against Supergirl rather than working with her. James clearly had something to prove and he found it not with strength or skill but a strength of the heart. Something we know he learned from Clark. J’onn and James almost butted heads but then it was J’onn who set him on the right path in the end. Katie once again shone as Lena and her scenes with Rhea light up the screen, Rhea being the motherly figure she never had. I can imagine how heartbroken she will be but worry what this betrayal will do to her.

So, what are your thoughts about the episode?

What are your hopes for the finale two episodes?