- "I mean my sister, she can be a handful. So I thought if I came in here, um... I could just feel some freedom for myself. I could fly around, I could knock things down without anyone being able to stop me, and then I would—I would feel better, but I don't. I mean, not—not really. Because, I mean, my dad's still dead."
- —Alex Danvers entering into Obsidian Platinum
"Alex in Wonderland" is the sixteenth episode of the fifth season of Supergirl, and the one-hundred-third episode overall. It aired on March 22, 2020.
Synopsis[]
| Alex uses a pair of Obsidian contact lenses to visit a virtual National City where she takes on a whole new persona. Meanwhile, Kelly helps William investigate Lex. Kara deals with difficult news.[src] |
Plot[]
Alex and Kara are arguing about Alex's refusal to go to their father Jeremiah's funeral. Alex insists their father has already "died" multiple times, and even after they helped him escape, he was living close by this entire time and never once chose to reach out to his family. Kara explains it's not about Jeremiah, it's about being there for their mother Eliza, and paying respect to his memory in spite of his latest actions. Alex is too upset, insisting even when they were kids, Jeremiah paid more attention to Kara, concerning himself with her secret. Hurt, Kara refuses to engage with her sister, and decides to go on ahead to the funeral without her. J'onn leaves with Kara, and Kelly promises to try to work on Alex, though it's clear both sisters are furious with each other.
Alex wears the lenses.
Kelly, now left alone in the apartment with Alex, tries to persuade her against drinking more wine, but Alex only wants to be left alone. Kelly goes to work but urges Alex to reconsider not going to her dad's funeral. Once alone, Alex is bothered by another propaganda commercial of her sister on TV. She decides to try the new VR Obsidian Platinum lenses that were left behind by Kelly as a prototype. Alex is once again in the lobby with her fantasy options before her. Not currently interested in her desire to be a mother, she decides to pick being Supergirl.
William finds Kelly at work and the two discussed the Danvers sisters. Kelly says she's keeping her phone close in hopes Alex would change her mind. He discusses the missing persons' report and asked Kelly to look into it. Kelly later finds her boss Andrea and informs her of the broken escape link inside the game. Andrea insists the glitch was fixed, but bureaucracy was holding up the funding and she would look into it.
Alex is told the rules of the VR world.
Inside Alex’s fantasy world, she is at the mall and first greeted by Bonnie who is dressed up as Indiana Jones. She explains the game to her and how to identify non-player characters from players like themselves. They watch a live performance from Derek, before Bonnie is called away and climbs a rope to a helicopter through the mall ceiling. In reality, the guitar player is trapped inside VR, as his physical body is with a multitude of other people wrapped in silver in a specified laboratory. The VR mall is attacked by a Dracokardosian and Alex saves them. Afterwards Alex goes to a bar, and again runs into Bonnie's Indiana Jones. However this time it becomes more evident that she is less and less aware she is inside a virtual reality. Bonnie’s real-life body is inside a trailer, her lenses have also turned red and she is unresponsive. A group of people discreetly take her away.
Alex is called away by the D.E.O., where she finds Brainy and J'onn, who inform her that [the real] Hank Henshaw, has somehow escaped and has now kidnapped her sister Kara. Alex immediately gets on the situation and flies off to confront Hank. They find each other in a dark abandoned building, and immediately begin to fight. Alex eventually gets the upper hand and defeats him. Alex has a heart-to-heart with J'onn outside on the balcony of the D.E.O. It is becoming more and more clear Alex believes she is the real Supergirl.
Inside a bar, now fully unaware she is in a virtual reality, Alex, J'onn and Brainy comment on a president Abraham Lincoln's karaoke singing. He is taken offstage and once again Alex is greeted by Indiana Jones, completely oblivious to her change in personality as well. While ordering a drink, she receives it on the house for saving the city. Alex is taken aback when she sees another Supergirl. The two greet each other and Alex is confused when she talks about how great this virtual reality is, and how everyone is entitled to free drinks as the bartender gives her two on the house, as she compliments her on her black style of the stereotypical Supergirl uniform. Alex is left confused, and immediately begins to panic. She forces herself to wake up and find herself inside her apartment and takes out her VR lenses. She is relieved to be out of the virtual reality, and upon hearing danger, dons her Supergirl outfits and flies off, still unknowingly stuck inside the reality.
Back in the real world at Alex's apartment, Kelly finds her and sees her contacts have turned red. She tries to call Alex from the game by turning it off, but when Kelly is unable to, she puts on a pair to follow her. Alex has just finished capturing Psi and putting her in a cell. Kelly finds her with Brainy and J'onn, and tries to call her back out of the reality. Kelly is left shocked when Alex clearly believes she is Supergirl and doesn't understand. They are worried that something has happened to Kelly and the boys try to take her away to be examined. Kelly immediately exits herself from the game.
Young Alex NPC appears to Alex.
In the real world, Kelly contacts Andrea to explain the situation, and they make an artificial character of Alex as a teenager in order to communicate with her. Inside the game, Alex has just stopped a robbery, and when she takes off the masks of one of the robbers, she sees it is her teenage self. The girl speaks to Alex on behalf of Kelly and tries to explain to her that none of this is real. Alex again refuses to believe it. The two Alexes find themselves together trapped in a laboratory where her friends and own mother are trying to call her away, insisting something else is wrong and she needs to stay with them. Alex eventually believes younger Alex and willingly recalls herself from the game.
After Alex returns to her apartment, she is scared over having not been able to escape and Kelly comforts her. Alex decides to change her mind about not going to her father's funeral.
William cannot see Leviathan's hidden room.
William has spent the entire day tracking down the lists of names of people that have gone missing after putting on the contact lenses. After learning that 100 out of 100 of them have simply been binge existing inside the VR game, he decides to contact a friend in NSR who checks out 402 of the users. He discovers 336 of them are VR geeks, and much to William's disappointment, it doesn't connect to Lex Luthor like he had hoped. However, the list of remaining names are all located at the same address, and unreachable. William immediately goes there but Margot Morrison is able to physically shield everything from him. He leaves empty-handed.
Andrea finds one of the employees, Eve Teschmacher, and instructs her that absolutely nothing else goes forward on the Obsidian lenses until the exit function is fixed, as well as its backup.
Alex eventually arrives at the church to find her mother, Kara, J'onn, Kelly, Nia, and Brainy. They remain in respectable silence as Eliza gives a final farewell speech to Jeremiah.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Melissa Benoist as Kara Danvers and NPC Kara Danvers
- Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers/Supergirl
- Katie McGrath (credit only)
- Jesse Rath as Querl Dox/Brainiac 5 and NPC Querl Dox
- Nicole Maines as Nia Nal and NPC Dreamer
- Azie Tesfai as Kelly Olsen
- Andrea Brooks as Eve Teschmacher
- Julie Gonzalo as Andrea Rojas
- Staz Nair as William Dey
- David Harewood as J'onn J'onzz, NPC J'onn J'onzz, and NPC Hank Henshaw
Special guest star[]
Guest starring[]
- Olivia Nikkanen as NPC Alex Danvers
- Patti Allan as Margot Morrison
- Rosemary Hochschild as NPC Vita
- Anne Hollister as Bonnie Walker/Tilly
- John Murphy as Derek
- Steph Song as VR Supergirl
Co-starring[]
- Jina Anika as NPC Police Officer
- Neetu Garcha as NPC Reporter
- Marc Gaudet as Mac
- Peter Hall as NPC Abraham Lincoln
- Arran Henn as Reporter
Uncredited[]
- Unknown as NPC Psi
- Unknown as Alex Danvers' father
Trivia[]
- This episode reveals that Spike's race are the Dracokardosians.
- Jeremiah Danvers was said to have died off-screen from cardiac arrest. However, the next episode, "Deus Lex Machina", revealed that Jeremiah was actually murdered by Eve Teschmacher due to Lex Luthor's manipulations.
- The title is a reference to the Lewis Carroll novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, or Alice in Wonderland.
- The song Derek is playing is a remix of the show's theme.
- On March 23, The CW had a Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland theme with Supergirl and Batwoman, each having an episode named after the Alice books: With "Alex In Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass".
- It should be noted, in Batwoman season 1, every episode (excluding "Pilot" and "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two") has been named after an Alice in Wonderland chapter.
- This episode marks the return of Andrea Brooks as she hasn't appeared since "The Wrath of Rama Khan".
- This also marks the first appearance of Eve since "Stranger Beside Me", 14 episodes ago.
- This is also the first appearance of the character post-Crisis.
- When "Hank Henshaw" calls "Supergirl" about "Kara", he uses a frequency only "Supergirl" can hear, commenting that she would be the "only one with less than four legs that could hear [him]." This is a direct line from 1978's Superman: The Movie, where Lex Luthor talks privately with Superman.
- Each of Alex's personal fantasy options reflect a part of her personality:
- Supergirl; Her past jealousy of Kara's powers.
- Mother; Her desire to have children.
- Doctor; The job she could have had if she didn't join the D.E.O..
- Spy; Missing her job at the D.E.O..
- Teenager; A chance to accept her sexuality earlier.
- This is the 18th episode in the Arrowverse, and the third episode of Supergirl, to be named after a character in a civilian sense, after "Sara", "The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak", "Who is Harrison Wells?", "My Name Is Oliver Queen", "Alex", "Zari", "When Harry Met Harry...", "Run, Iris, Run", "I, Ava", "Schott Through the Heart", "Harry and the Harrisons", "Nora", "The Virgin Gary", "Tender is the Nate", "My Name is Emiko Queen", "All About Eve" and "A Girl Named Sue".
Goofs[]
- When Kelly injects Alex with the EpiPen to wake her up, she does not remove the blue tab at the top, which is needed in order for the injection to work.
- It's not really explained how everyone using Obsidian forgets about their real lives.
- This may have been a randomized malware Lex installed to keep the victims sedated until he was ready to "save" them as a part of his plan.
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" | ||||