“Solitude” is episode fifteen of season one of Supergirl.
The episode opens in the Phantom Zone 13 years ago. Kara’s pod is near some sort of swirling thing when it suddenly activates and she wakes to see a strange symbol on her console. Her pod passes near to Fort Rozz, whose engines activate.
In the present, Kara is woken up by her alarm, then a knock on the door. Alex has arrived with a box and Kara asks if she uses her X-ray vision will she see a crueller inside it. Alex tells her no, as they were out. Instead she got the powdered ones. Kara wants to know what Alex wants; Alex says she though Kara could do with the extra sugar kick before coming back to work.
In the previous episode, “Truth, Justice and the American Way”, Kara had told Hank she couldn’t work with him anymore, after he killed Astra in “For the Girl Who Has Everything”, and left the DEO. Only Hank didn’t kill Astra, Alex did; Hank deliberately took the blame so Alex wouldn’t.
Kara says that she doesn’t kill. Alex tells her that soldiers do, when they have to, and Hank had to. Kara believes that she could have brought Astra back, and that Hank cheated both Astra and Kara of the chance by killing her. Kara says she isn’t sure she can forgive Hank. She loves working with Alex though. Alex is clearly not happy at lying to Kara about what really happened.
Kara arrives at CatCo and sees Siobhan. Winn intervenes and Siobhan tells him that she has difficulty conversing with men under 6′. Siobhan has got an envelope that is for Cat’s eyes only. Kara tells her that Cat likes everything opening first. Siobhan replies that she didn’t spend 90 minutes in the post room looking for this just so Kara could get credit for it. Cat arrives and asks for everyone important to come to her office. She summons Siobhan, who she calls Tweedledee (and Siobhan whispers to Kara that must make her Tweedledum). Afterwards, Kara tells Winn that she could throw Siobhan into space, and she dreams about doing that.
In Cat’s office, no-one manages to inspire her with their stories so Siobhan comes forward with the package. She says it came by private courier and she has kept it safe from prying eyes. Cat demands to know why Siobhan hasn’t opened it – Kara was, of course, telling the truth – saying it could be anthrax. So James opens it.
Inside is a thumb drive and a message. When Cat reads the message, Lucy mentions a website for adulterers, which James says is supposed to be unhackable (no such thing). The site was attacked by an anonymous hacker the previous night but nothing has been released yet. Cat says that they evidently want a major news network to publish the information. She gives the drive to ‘brown hair’ – Siobhan; looks like calling her by her proper name didn’t last – and tells her to put it in the microwave. On popcorn. Or baked potato. Whatever, just melt it.
Lucy doesn’t seem that happy and says that the website caters to hypocrites, and that the public has a right to know. Cat says that people don’t bat an eye at that stuff any longer. She says, having been on the other side (in “Hostile Takeover”) she doesn’t want to give such disgusting bottom feeders legitimacy.
Alex is sparring with Hank and it looks like she’s angry. He eventually turns into J’onn J’onzz. Hank tells Alex that, as effective as kicking and punching is, next time she’s angry they should just have coffee. Alex replies that she is not angry, she’s sad. Hank tells her that he doesn’t want to cause Supergirl any more pain. Alex wants to know what if there’s an attack and they need Supergirl. Hank responds that the DEO was around before Supergirl, and before Alex, and will manage. Alex also wants to know about the pain for Hank losing Supergirl, as he’s already lost so many.
At CatCo, all the screens are overridden and a woman appears on them. She greets them and says she’s disappointed, especially in Cat. By failing to act, all will suffer, as computers control everything. Cat tells Winn – who she calls Toyman Jr. (revealed when the Toyman broke out of prison in “Childish Things”); not a name he seems ecstatic about – to fix it. The traffic lights all over National City turn green, with predictable consequences. Afterwards, Cat says that National City’s entire mainframe was breached in a cyberterrorist attack.
Winn, accompanied by Kara and James at Kara’s home, is trying to hack his way to the attacker when she appears on his monitor and says they should meet. When told to name a time and a place, the monitor dissolves and the hacker comes out of it. She no longer looks human, being a sort of purple colour. She also knows who Supergirl is.
The woman has a symbol on her forehead, and Kara recognises it, for it’s the symbol that was on her pod’s console when she woke up in the Phantom Zone. The hacker says that it is the sign of her people, and that she knows everything about Kara. Winn asks if she’s a living internet, and she then throws Kara out of the window. When Kara returns, the alien has both James and Winn by the throat. Then Alex and Hank kick in the door and the alien disappears back into the computer screen. Alex says that they tracked the WiFi signal from the traffic lights to Kara’s, and the rest is classified, only available to active DEO agents. Kara still isn’t interested in rejoining.
When the alien comes out into the world again, she surprises a couple and says she would have killed them but the world is days away from ending anyway. After they flee, Non arrives. It seems the two know each other. The alien tells Non her name is Indigo now; he says that’s better than Brainiac 8. Indigo tells Non that Astra had too much dependence on Myriad. He replies that it worked. Indigo wants to have Astra’s plan to live alongside humans die with her, as hell is coming and only Kryptonians, and Indigo, will survive. The overall impression given is that Non and Indigo had a relationship prior to him marrying Astra.
Alex recruits Winn to help the DEO against Indigo, as he’s their best shot at disabling the cyberthreat. Without Winn, Kara asks where they can find out information about an alien. James says he knows a place; Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. The key to which Superman essentially keeps under the doormat. James tells Kara that it is a million tonnes of condensed dwarf star (which it probably isn’t) and that most couldn’t live it. Which would include every Kryptonian and quite a few others; all told, really not the best place. A robot servitor inside the fortress identifies Indigo; her people served as supercomputers on Krypton. She was sent to Fort Rozz after planning to kill everyone on Krypton and was considered to be the most dangerous prisoner ever sentenced.
Siobhan, who has been struggling a bit this episode, reveals some personal issues to Winn. Then threatens to kill him if he tells anyone. James wants to tell Lucy who Supergirl really is; Lucy comments she hates liars which may well be a dig. Kara intervenes in Lucy and James’ relationship; that may not have gone to plan. And Supergirl working separately from the DEO causes problems.