Supergirl (TV Series)

Magical Thinking (2021)

David Harewood: J'onn J'onnz, Martian Manhunter

Photos 

Quotes 

• William Dey : I just wanted to say I appreciate you trusting me with your secrets, J'onn. Or should I call you "Mr. Manhunter"?

  J'onn J'onnz : "J'onn" will do.

• Kara Danvers : William Dey is going to be embedded at the Tower, covering all of us for CatCo.

  Lena Luthor : A reporter? At the Tower? Are you sure that's such a good idea?

  Alex Danvers : We think that it would be good for the mission. We need the public support. Especially if things continue to spiral with Nxyly.

  J'onn J'onnz : But still, he'll have to work within our parameters. Which means keeping your identity and your connection to us off the record.

  Kelly Olsen : Well... good luck tomorrow.

  Nia Nal : You won't be at the Tower?

  Kelly Olsen : I have a home check with an alien orphan named Esme. I met her at Joey's group home. And she was placed with a foster family last week. Hopefully, she ends up with a family where she can really blossom.

  Alex Danvers : [Kara inexplicably starts laughing]  Why are you laughing?

  [she starts laughing more hysterically] 

  Alex Danvers : Like that?

  Kara Danvers : It's Nxyly. I can sense her and she's... she's really happy.

• Alex Danvers : We do have some ground rules.

  William Dey : I don't let my sources dictate what I write. I'm sorry.

  Supergirl : No, it's... it's nothing like that, William. We're never gonna ask you to lie. Only that you help us protect the people of National City by keeping private some things that may jeopardize our missions. Trust me, I believe in a free press more than you know.

  William Dey : Good to hear. So, how does this work?

  Alex Danvers : Well, you can't disclose the location of the Tower, and you can't ID the Super Friends or even try to learn their identities. Not even my sister Kara knows.

  J'onn J'onnz : If you do, I'll wipe your mind.

  Dreamer : [William chuckles, not sure if he's serious]  He'll do it.

  Alex Danvers : Yeah.

  Supergirl : Oh, and before you file any story, just run it by one of us, please.

• William Dey : A P.I. office as cover, huh?

  J'onn J'onnz : I've always found it's best to hide in plain sight.

• Kara Danvers : [surprised to see Alex and their friends in her loft]  What are you guys doing here?

  Alex Danvers : It's game night, remember? We thought that it would cheer you up.

  Kara Danvers : Oh, that's... guys, that's really sweet. I-I... I just figured with Nxyly still out there, we would cancel our plans.

  Kelly Olsen : We all need to relax and decompress. You most of all, Kara.

  Kara Danvers : Yeah, but there's still no sign of Nxyly and she already has one totem.

  Alex Danvers : Brainy is on the Legion ship and he's scanning for Nxyly's ship. So if she or Mitch pop up anywhere, we'll know.

  J'onn J'onnz : Besides, the mental tether you share with Nxyly could be a benefit to us.

  Kara Danvers : Yeah, but I... I can't read her mind. I-I can only sense her extreme emotions. And it's not like a light switch I can just turn on and off. I feel like I'm constantly just waiting for it to happen. I can't think of anything else. We have to find her.

  Lena Luthor : Well, I might have something that can help. My mother's book of spells.

  Kelly Olsen : Have you found anything useful?

  Lena Luthor : Not yet. I'm trying to figure out the underlying scientific logic, but I'm beginning to think magic is mainly just instinct and intuition.

  Nia Nal : Honestly, that sounds a lot like dream interpretation. Maybe I could help you try to sort some of that out?

  Lena Luthor : I'd really like that. Maybe we could start tomorrow.

• William Dey : How did Kara and Nia develop such close relationships with the Martian head of the former DEO?

  Alex Danvers : Let's just say they have a friend in common.

  William Dey : [surprised to see her]  Alex, you're, uh...

  J'onn J'onnz : My partner in crime.

  Alex Danvers : Welcome to the Tower.

• William Dey : I did not come here to report on the Tower's kitchen appliances.

  Alex Danvers : Excuse me?

  William Dey : Why did you even allow me in here if you won't let me report on what's really going on?

  J'onn J'onnz : You agreed to our ground rules.

  William Dey : The situation has changed. The violence in the city is getting worse. You guys have no plan.

  Supergirl : [coming in with Lena]  Yes, we do. Lena is going to amplify the totem's power... so that everyone who was within Nxyly's blast radius at the arena will lose their humanity, too.

  Lena Luthor : We believe that Nxyly is being infused with the compassion that she's drained from her victims. With more people affected, we think she'll get overwhelmed and then use the totem again to restore everyone's humanity.

  Alex Danvers : Okay, but doing so will cause even more chaos and destruction throughout the entire city.

  Supergirl : So, we'll have to spread out and try our best to keep the city safe.

  Alex Danvers : Until when?

  Lena Luthor : Until Nxyly's drawn out.

  J'onn J'onnz : If she comes out. She might not. And the longer people are affected by the totem's power, the less they seem to care about anything. This is a dangerous situation.

• J'onn J'onnz : The chaos is spreading out from the arena to the waterfront.

  Supergirl : Have the satellites picked up anything?

  William Dey : Spy satellites?

  Supergirl : [covering]  We, uh... we borrowed some satellites to track Nxyly's ship.

  J'onn J'onnz : Yeah, that's off the record. And, uh, no, nothing.

  Supergirl : No Nxyly, no totem. We're still at square one.

  Lena Luthor : [coming in]  Maybe not. The seeds we used came from a big-box store. They'd been packaged, processed, and made dull. That's not how they would've been gathered when my mother wrote the spell. We need seeds from the wild. Sheep Laurel is a flowering shrub from the Limestone Barrens of Newfoundland. Here, it would have to be grown under the right conditions.

  J'onn J'onnz : The Botanical Gardens. That's close to the arena. Ground zero for the violence.

  Supergirl : I'll go get you some.

  Lena Luthor : No. I need to come with you. The effective particles are unstable and diminishing in potency. I need to be on site to make the spell work.

  William Dey : I'm coming, too.

  [Supergirl looks at him curiously] 

  William Dey : I was a war correspondent. Closer I am to the action, the better my reporting.

• Supergirl : [stopping a mugging]  You're gonna be okay.

  Woman : Thank you.

  Supergirl : I hope we all will be.

  J'onn J'onnz : [on comms]  Supergirl, we got a hit on Nxyly's ship.

• Lena Luthor : Hard to believe a small piece of wood from the bodhi tree can cause so much chaos.

  Supergirl : Well, now that Nxyly's back to her old self, she'll no doubt be on the hunt for another totem.

  J'onn J'onnz : And now that she's lost the humanity totem, she'll be angrier than ever.

  Alex Danvers : When William publishes his article, everyone in National City's gonna know about her and the totems.

  Dreamer : And that the Super Friends have evened the score.

  Supergirl : It's time we get a head start on Nxyly. Any ideas how?

  Lena Luthor : I still have some of those ionized particles left. They're still active. Each of the totems has the same energy signal, so we could use the particles to track another one. There's just enough left for one, though.

  Alex Danvers : Okay, so, which one do we go after?

  Dreamer : Well, there's the Dream totem. Sounds like something I might be able to help with.

• William Dey : Lena, you were against this plan before. What changed?

  Lena Luthor : You. You have to write about what's going on here, so people can't accuse us of operating in secret.

  Supergirl : The time has come for full transparency. By shining a light on our actions, the people will be able to make up their own opinions about our methods.

  William Dey : If I agree to this, I tell the story my way. Nxyly's identification, her search for the totems, and the role of magic in all this. Those are *my* ground rules.

  J'onn J'onnz : All right, tell your story. I'll set the computers to search for Nxyly's ship and alert us if she, uh, shows up. I hope this works.

  Supergirl : You wanted closer to the action, you got it.