In “Mr. & Mrs. Mxyzptlk” Supergirl gives an episode fully devoted to Valentine’s Day. The results are a mixed bag. While Supergirl has some of its most wild and most amusing gags in the form of its newest villain, Mr. Mxyzptlk, the show gets bogged down in some relationship drama that annoys more than engages. You’d imagine that the arrival of Mr. Mxyzptlk, who is madly “in love” in Kara, would cause some tension in the barely-begun relationship with Kara and Mon-El. The method that Supergirl uses to facilitate that tension just feels rather lazy and irritating. Supergirl ends up bringing up more problems in the Mon-El and Kara romance than it probably should in this romantic-themed episode.
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A Magical Imp from the Fifth Dimension
“Mr. & Mrs. Mxyzptlk” begins right where “Luthors” left off, with Mr. Mxyzptlk suddenly popping into Kara’s living room and professing his love for her. Mxyzptlk — who the episode refers to as Mxy, a name I will now copy because his real name is a nightmare — introduces himself as an imp from the fifth dimension. Mxy has watched Kara from his interdimensional home and has fallen in love with her. Mxy won’t leave this Earth until Kara marries him. Mxy’s magical imp powers mean that he can basically do anything with a snap of his fingers. The hang-up, though, is that he can’t make Kara love him, he can’t make Kara kill herself (or die) and he can’t make Kara drink orange juice.
This orange juice bit is part of the real strength of “Mr. & Mrs. Mxyzptlk.” Even with Supergirl‘s probably small budget, the show wastes no effort in making Mxy do a great number of unbelievable and hilarious things to try to woo Kara into loving him. This includes bringing Parasite back so Kara can fight him, sending Mon-El away in his underwear to the DEO HQ and having a string quartet play while he sings “A Whole New World” from Aladdin. Sadly, Supergirl probably doesn’t do enough wackiness with Mxy because he eventually becomes just a method for Mon-El and Kara to begin a lovers’ spat.
Mon-El vs. Mxyzptlk
Apparently, Mon-El has a history with imps like Mxy on Daxam, and for whatever reason Mon-El gets super jealous and overprotective of Kara. It is really gross and unbecoming behavior from Mon-El as he tries to kill Mxy every chance he gets and smothers Kara like she needs to be protected. The reason Supergirl gives us for Mon-El’s attitude problem is that he is jealous of Mxy. Mxy can give Kara anything she wants, and that makes Mon-El feel insecure. Never mind that Mxy is dangerous and a total creep. He’s someone that Kara would never be interested in. Mon-El’s jealously simply doesn’t make any rational sense.
The only thing this Mon-El situation does prove is that he is really not ready for a relationship with Kara. Supergirl has sold the fact that Mon-El is growing as a person and has extreme feelings for Kara. The series has done an awful job in establishing that Mon-El is actually ready for a committed relationship or able to have an equal partnership with Kara. Kara isn’t much better in the episode, really. While she is certainly more justified in being upset than Mon-El, Kara just continues to snipe at Mon-El for being petty and arrogant. They simply don’t seem well-matched for each other.
Kara even says this herself as she breaks up with Mon-El in front of Mxy. After Mon-El tries to murder Mxy, Kara breaks up the fight and tells Mxy that she will marry him. When Mon-El protests, Kara tells him that they can never be together. They are too different. Though she might not love Mxy, marrying him is the only way to stop him from causing more mayhem.
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Kara the Trickster
Of course, this all turns out to be a trick. Kara has no intention of marrying Mxy. Instead, she takes Mxy to the Fortress of Solitude and forces him (through some subterfuge) to spell his own name backwards. This is, it turns out, the only way that Mxy can be banished from whatever dimension he is inhabiting at the time. Mxy disappears, and Kara is free.
Once Kara has defeated Mxy, she goes back to Mon-El, who thankfully apologizes for his very bad behavior. Once Mon-El is done, Kara tells him that she was also tricking him. Kara doesn’t really think they aren’t suited for each other. She just rejected Mon-El so he would let her go after Mxy on her own and so Mxy wouldn’t suspect that something was amiss. The two finally finish their kiss from “Luthors” to cap off the very episode that proved they don’t belong together, at least for now.
Other Assorted Candy-Hearted Tales
There are some other Valentine’s Day stories in the episode that probably would have made for better romantic fodder than the Mon-El and Kara mess. Alex and Maggie have their first Valentine’s Day together, and Alex discovers that Maggie has some very deep-seated issues with Valentine’s Day. When Maggie was younger, she came out to her friend on Valentine’s Day, thinking her friend felt the same way about her. The girl did not, and she exposed Maggie to her parents, who ended up kicking her out of the house. It’s all very emotional, but it is even more tear-jerking when Maggie faces her issues to give Alex a proper romantic Valentine’s Day date.
On a much lesser level, Winn hooks up with a hot alien. That’s all. She is definitely more alien-looking that Kara or Mon-El, but she is also quite clearly a stunning human being underneath some very simple makeup. Nevertheless, it is supposed to be heartwarming when Winn agrees to date her because of her personality, not just because she is an “interesting” alien. Thinking about it now, all the male characters don’t come off the best in this Valentine’s Day-themed episode.
What do you make of the debut of Mr. Mxyzptlk? Do you hope to see him again? What was your favorite Mxyzptlk trick? Were you engaged by the Mon-El and Kara drama? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Supergirl season 2 airs Mondays at 8/7c on The CW. Want more news? Like our Facebook page.
(Image courtesy of The CW)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Derek is a Philadelphia based writer and unabashed TV and comic book junkie. The time he doesn’t spend over analyzing all things nerdy he is working on his resume to be the liaison to the Justice League.
