“The Darkest Place” is episode seven of season two of Supergirl.
At the end of the previous episode, “Changing”, Mon-El was taken by the Cadmus people. And the woman in charge of Cadmus was called ‘Mother’ by Lena Luthor at the end of “Crossfire”. So she’s a Luthor too.
This episode opens with Hank apparently blasting Kara through a wall and telling her it’s time for her to die. Then the episode goes back 24 hours. James is being introduced to the alien bar by Winn and on the news is an article about Guardian. James’ new superhero identity. Guardian stopped an armoured car robbery. Even though Guardian also saved Kara’s life, she isn’t sure he can be trusted. After all, he wears a mask to hide his identity. Kara doesn’t. No, but she doesn’t go around telling everyone that Kara Danvers and Supergirl are the same person either.
Winn says that the Guardian photographs well. Or his suit does. Which Winn built. Alex bets the Guardian is working with a partner. A sidekick. Not a term Winn is happy with; he suggests partner instead. Kara comments that her cousin worked with a vigilante once; he wore a mask and had all sorts of gadgets. Gee, what bat-themed vigilante could that be? Maggie enters and wants to speak to Alex. Things are a little awkward as Maggie turned down Alex’s advances – after getting her to come out. The rejection is not sitting well with Alex. Afterwards, Alex asks where Mon-El is. Kara is sure he’s with a girl. Having fun.
Mon-El is currently in a cage, so the having fun bit is not true. He is trying to get the guard outside the cage to talk – and mentions a human mating custom where if you like it you put a ring on it. Mon-El manages to wind the guard up enough that he sticks his hand through the bars – and Mon-El escapes. Before he can get out, he’s shown a captive Hank Henshaw and surrenders. Only Hank is at the DEO. Megan is bringing him a drink; in the previous episode she gave Hank a transfusion of her blood to save his life. Even though she didn’t want to. There may be side effects. For one thing, Hank is seeing his dead family.
James, as the Guardian, catches someone and strings them up before leaving. When he and Winn depart, another individual shows up and kills the criminal. The next day, James finds out that the Guardian is accused of murder. The CCTV footage of the death simply shows the weapon. Snapper tells James he has confirmation bias. No, he doesn’t – James knows he didn’t kill the criminal. Winn shows up, panicking and wanting to shut things down. James plans to lure the other vigilante out at a drug deal at the docks.
The other vigilante does show up and shoots one of the people involved. He has a suit of his own, with a pretty powerful gun integral to it. He claims he is keeping National City safe, but the Guardian doesn’t have the guts to do what needs to be done. which is kill people. The police arrive, in the shape of Maggie, and James runs off. Alex calls Kara in, but before Kara can get there, Cadmus contacts her, saying they have Mon-El. If Kara doesn’t come, he dies. If Kara tells anyone, he dies.
When Kara arrives at Cadmus she finds Hank. Then realises that it’s the real Hank Henshaw. Ever since it was revealed in “Manhunter” that Jeremiah Danvers was alive and held by Cadmus there was the question of whether the real Hank Henshaw was as well, given they fell off the cliff together. And also if Hank had his other identity. This is where the episode started. Hank is stronger than Kara expected and, when she burns off part of his face, partly metal too. Yes, Hank Henshaw is Cyborg Superman, and he defeats Kara.
Winn is at the DEO listening to Maggie saying that the Guardian is wanted on multiple accounts of assault and murder. He tells Alex to get Maggie to lay off. Because he isn’t a murderer. Alex realises that Winn clearly knows something she doesn’t – he picked the wrong person to talk to really – and gets the truth out of him, that the Guardian is James. But she can’t tell anyone. Alex is not happy. She does speak to Maggie and, during the conversation, Alex tells Maggie just how badly she got hurt by Maggie’s rejection. At the DEO, Hank nearly shoots an agent when he saw them as a White Martian. Something is clearly wrong with him.
At Cadmus, Kara explains both Cadmus and Hank Henshaw to Mon-El. Then the woman comes in, and Kara recognises her. Lillian Luthor. Lillian says that Superman promised Lex the world but when Lex saw Superman’s growing power, Superman convinced the world that Lex was evil, not the other way around. That… sounds a little off. Lillian does not seem that tightly wound. Lillian wants Kara to be human for a bit, just like she was after fighting Red Tornado on “Red Faced”, by expending her power with her heat vision. Lillian admits she can’t hurt Kara – but she can hurt Mon-El. Who isn’t bulletproof; Lillian says he’s allergic to lead.
There are multiple strands to this episode. There’s whatever is up with J’onn J’onzz – something seems to have gone wrong after the blood transfusion, and Megan may have expected it. Winn and James are trying to find the other vigilante and clear Guardian’s name. Then there’s Cadmus – when Lillian said Mon-El was allergic to lead, she meant he is actually allergic to lead. He can literally die of lead poisoning, and not just from lead bullets. There’s also Maggie and Alex’s relationship; despite what Alex thinks, Maggie may care for her.