- "In a way, you kind of helped me. Growing up, I was constantly burdened by my father's crimes. You know, son of a madman. Pretty sure everyone judged me for it. Everything I've done in my life has been in defiance of that. Joining the Superfriends, running out to the future with Legionnaires to fight your cousin and stop him. But all that pales in comparison to saving my own future. Plus, I got to see some old friends."
- —Winn Schott after his encounter with Toyman
"Back From the Future - Part One" is the eleventh episode of the fifth season of Supergirl, and the ninety-eighth episode overall. It aired on January 26, 2020.
Synopsis[]
As Supergirl tries to thwart a Toyman copycat, Winn Schott returns from the future. |
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Melissa Benoist as Kara Danvers/Supergirl
- Chyler Leigh as Dr./Director Alex Danvers
- Katie McGrath as Lena Luthor
- Jesse Rath as Querl Dox/Brainiac 5
- Nicole Maines as Nia Nal/Dreamer
- Azie Tesfai as Dr. Kelly Olsen
- Andrea Brooks (credit only)
- Julie Gonzalo as Andrea Rojas
- Staz Nair as William Dey
- David Harewood as J'onn J'onzz/Martian Manhunter
Special guest starring[]
Co-starring[]
- Sarwan Badesha as Onlooker
- Brian Dudley as Chester Dunholtz
- Kelten Jensen as Guard One
Plot[]
Brainy is seen in a leather jacket on his motorcycle placing a wire trap. Not long after finishing, a bus transporting prisoners drives by and snags on the wire, flipping it over. The bus lands on its side and an unscathed Winn Schott emerges from the bus.
Not long after his escape, Winn and Lex are sharing drinks inside of Lex’s makeshift office. Winn is rather surprised that Lex, a billionaire and philanthropist, is aiding a criminal. Lex then requests his presence at the upcoming Toycon. Outside the van, Lex is greeted by his sister Lena and, after a quick argument, the two strike a deal. Lena was also surprised to find Brainy with Lex; however, he confirms that he has no emotional conflict as he is 100% positive that what Lex is doing is beneficial for the future. Lex smirks that he is on the right side of history. Lena agrees to befriend her former friend and current nemesis Andrea in order to find out more information about Leviathan. In return, Lex will get her all the information she requires on Q-Waves, as they had changed frequency on this Earth, and she was unable to obtain information on them.
The girls are all at Kara's apartment, throwing Nia and impromptu break-up party. However, she insists she is fine as Brainy is discovering who he is and if it wasn't meant to be, it wasn't meant to be.
At the Toy Convention, Lex looks over his figurine before being interrupted by Kara and William. Both are keeping up their friendly public personas, before William interjects and quickly accuses Lex of basically murder. Lex denies any wrong-doing and asked to have a quick word with Kara. She confirms they are playing by his rules he set out previously and doesn't know what got into William. Lex reminds her to keep him in check, and in a very comical manner grabs her recording device and says “Kara Danvers is Supergirl” forcing her to destroy it in her hand.
The D.E.O. and Supergirl are eventually called to the con when they discovered tiny miniature monkeys much like the ones Toyman used to use. Supergirl shields the rest of the convention center with her cape before they explode. They are both extremely surprised to find Winn up in the galley with the rifle pointed at Chester Dunholtz. Supergirl speeds off to stop the bullet but it is stopped by another Winn on the ground floor dressed in a superhero uniform. When Alex and Supergirl look back up into the rafters the first Winn is gone. Supergirl chases him down but he is replaced by a robot toy.
Winn scans the building for the impostor but is unable to find him. All three take note of where they are and hug in the miniature reunion with their old friend. He explained since going to the future he is now a part of The Legion, and has a wife and daughter. He came back to the past because time cops arrived at his house accusing him of murder in the past. He came back to clear his name. Brainy shows up and rather awkwardly agrees to look into the matter. He is uncomfortable working both sides but his behavior is not picked up by his friends.
Lena has a private meeting with Andrea and apologizes for how she treated her and broke off their friendship 10 years ago, saying she now understands what happened and that she was under the control of Leviathan and had no choice. Andrea is obviously overwhelmed but relieved that Lena no longer hates her. Agreeing to help her, Andrea confirms she has had zero contact with Leviathan. It appears she has been a sleeping agent for the past 10 years. On her way out, Lena calls her brother to inform him of the situation.
The gang visit J'onn in his office study and discovered he has added a secret wall that encloses an elevator and leads to a secret headquarters. J'onn and Winn embrace each other, having not seen each other for two years. J'onn then adapts Winn’s brain to the previous timeline, when Lex was still a villain, and before all the Earth's merged. Winn is obviously overwhelmed by this nuclear information and begins having a slight panic attack. They are interrupted by the doppelgänger Winn, who comes on their screen informing them of part of his upcoming plot. The real Winn is unable to track him and doesn't understand the technology that is being used. The doppelgänger Winn has set up a blog and promises distraction once he receives 1 million followers. Winn finds a wanted poster for himself in the future for $12 million, dead or alive.
J'onn leaves to go find some information when Brainy arrives. He also embraces Winn, and promises to look into the doppelgänger, again his behavior goes unnoticed.
Not long after, Andrea scolds Kara for not coming to her immediately when called upon, instead finding her talking with William. Kara apologizes and she brings them both into her office to have Kara run a story about the traitorous Winn Schott, wanting to exploit Kara’s personal relationship with her former friend who disappeared two years ago. Kara tries to refuse, but Andrea demands she gets working on the story.
The doppelgänger Winn is working from a secret location inside a truck talking to a photo of his dead father promising that in this world he will be remembered no matter what. It seems clear that the doppelgänger understands that Earth-Prime was not his original universe.
Kara brings along Nia to show her the new secret headquarters, she greets Winn having never met him before. However, he is ecstatic as he is close friends with her unknown amount-of-greats granddaughter in the future. This conversation is short-lived when she spots Brainy. She agrees to look for the doppelgänger and sits down, but in her vision all she sees is Winn turned into a white tiger before attacking her. She storms off angry past Brainy, telling him of the dream only showed her a wildcat.
Outside she is consoled by Winn, who offers to try to translate the dream for her, but she insists it was a reference to her feelings about Brainy, as the nickname she gave him was 'wildcat'. Winn explains how he is the only human on the Legion, and as he has no powers, it was her great grand-daughter that allowed him to harness dream power. They are interrupted by Kara and the two old friends have a moment. Kara expresses how happy she is for Winn, and is so surprised at how he has matured with a wife and child now.
At Fort Harrison, Lex is able to sneak into the Legion ship in order to find information about Leviathan. Looking at some old photos, he recognizes Gemma Cooper.
After realizing that the attack was going to be at National City University, the team makes their way there while Andrea is giving a speech about Obsidian Platinum beside a white tiger mascot. She is attacked by that Tiger, who was really the doppelgänger. Everyone arrives and he soon calls into action at least four prophylactic tigers to fight the team while he makes his escape. Nia and Winn team up, and it is there that she finds out some new things her powers can do, after watching him harness them.
Winn follows his double out to the parking garage and tries to talk him down. He doesn't care and sets off an explosion, but Winn is able to protect himself using dream magic and creating a force field around himself from the blast. With his demise, the giant robot cats fall down.
Outside the conference, Supergirl and Alex are sitting with Winn. He is still in shock that another him would do something so horrible but relieved that his name is now cleared and he is no longer a wanted fugitive in the future. Kara is called away by William. Will shows her some photos he took of Lex at Fort Harrison paying off some guards. He wants to tell her something, but before he can, Kara insists they work together against Lex, not wanting him to get hurt. They agree and decide to become partners. Kara then invites him to game night but he declines. After seeing the sandwich he made for himself, she insists he comes with them.
Back at the team's new headquarters, Winn and Brainiac have a moment, and Brainy admits to him everything. It has been weighing on him that he is working with Lex, but it is for the best as he was visited by other versions of himself in the future. And as hard as it is for him to do it, he must not tell anyone and give up all relationships. Winn invites Brainy to game night but he declines. Winn promises not to say anything, as he understands Brainy just needed an outlet.
Lex arrives at Lena's office and gives her, as promised, all relevant information on Q-waves. Back at Kara's apartment, Kelly has joined them, as has William for a night of drinking and games. In another room, the doppelgänger's laptop opens up to a recording of himself.
Trivia[]
- In some markets, this episode was postponed to February 2, 2020 due to news coverage regarding the death of Kobe Bryant.
- The 31st century has time police and the dollar sign is still used to denote currency.
- Winn never stated what year he came from in the future. If he aged concurrently with everyone else, he should be 33 years old now.
- The episode's title is a play on the 1985 film Back to the Future.
- At the end of the sequel, Back to the Future Part II, Marty McFly goes to Doc Brown in 1955, moments after Doc had sent an earlier version of Marty back to 1985 (which occurred during the first film). Doc tells Marty that he'd just sent him back to the future, whereupon Marty tells Doc that he's "back from the future".
- Winn uses the name Marty as an alias at Game Night since William is there.
- When Winn's doppelgänger quotes "...And once I reach One Million Followers", he is mimicking Dr. Evil's famous stare from the Austin Powers franchise.
- When Brainy rescues Winn's doppelgänger from the prison bus, he tells him "Come with me if you want to live", referencing a line from the 1984 film The Terminator and 1991 film Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
- After being interrogated by William Dey, Lex complains to Kara that he was "Frost/Nixon-ed by Dey, referencing the 2008 film.
- Lena quotes the 1997 film Titanic, a callback to "Confidence Women".
- Winn compares J'onn's office to that of fictional character Sam Spade.
- Winn likens himself to Nura Nal's "Watson", referencing fictional character John Watson.
- Winn is the first human to be given a Legion Flight Ring. His ring has also been augmented to duplicate some of Nura Nal's powers. As Brainy's ring has never been shown to have this ability, it's unclear whether this was an innovation that occurred after Winn went to the future, is a result of the new post-Crisis reality, or unique to Winn's ring so that he has a power.
Goofs[]
- When Winn’s hologram is changing to show his bounty, J’onn turns around to look at him. However, in the next shot he turns around again.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
References[]
Supergirl season 5 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
"Event Horizon" • "Stranger Beside Me" • "Blurred Lines" • "In Plain Sight" • "Dangerous Liaisons" • "Confidence Women" • "Tremors" • "The Wrath of Rama Khan" • "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part One" • "The Bottle Episode" • "Back From the Future - Part One" • "Back From the Future - Part Two" • "It's a Super Life" • "The Bodyguard" • "Reality Bytes" • "Alex in Wonderland" • "Deus Lex Machina" • "The Missing Link" • "Immortal Kombat" |