Love was in the air for this week Supergirl, aptly titled “I Believe in a Thing Called Love.”
Far from being a romantic hero, Lex Luthor went out of his way to court Nxyly after falling in love with her in the future. He returned to inform her that she died, and he can help her avoid that fate if they work together. However, the fifth-dimensional imp was not fond of men who send women to the Phantom Zone, and she promptly shut him down.
As Lex struggled to break through to the future love of his life, Alex prepared to propose to Kelly on the anniversary of the day she realized Kelly was the love of her life. Determined to prepare a perfect evening, she soon discovered that the venue she had in mind was already booked. Big problem.
With Supergirl focused on stopping Nyxly, the Super Friends devised a plan to defeat her by using a lure totem with the help of Lena, who would use her magic to hide it. Their plan almost worked and Lex showed up and helped Nyxly escape. However, Nyxly was still unimpressed and tried to kick Lex out of his own house before leaving herself.
Elsewhere, Kara pulled Lena aside for a much-needed conversation after noticing that Lena had burned the decoy when Lex appeared. Lena revealed that at that point her anger got the better of her and she was afraid that she would end up like her mother, who also lost control of her powers and hurt people. At CatCo, Will approached Andrea about the unlikely partnership between Lex and Nyxly and insisted they needed more proof that he was really back. Andrea gave him a deadline: find that evidence tonight or she would tell the story anyway.
Dreamer tracked the love totem to a church and again engaged Nyxly in a fight. The dream totem gave Supergirl a nightmare about the Phantoms, just in time for the love totem to disappear. It is attracted to love, but repelled by hate.
After her second failed attempt to recover the love totem, Nyxly finally agreed to work with Lex. However, she made it clear that they will never be friends. “It’s purely business,” she told him.
If the Super Friends wanted to defeat Nyxly, they had to use all their firepower. That meant using their totem as a weapon, which also carried the risk of losing their humanity. Supergirl developed a solution where Lena used her powers to protect the Girl of Steel from the totem’s ill effects. Lena, afraid she would lose control, expressed her fear of hurting Kara. Kara, once the optimist, encouraged Lena to focus on the good and use that to enhance her magic. Do that and she won’t lose control.
Alex returned to the bar she’d hoped would be the setting for her proposal, only to find that Kelly had already booked it. They both had the same idea. Kelly started proposing to her, but Alex interrupted her with the intention of proposing to herself. But when Alex reached for her ring, she found the love totem.
Nyxly also traced his whereabouts, and another fight ensued. The Super Friends were again about to defeat Nyxly until Lex intervened. However, our heroes were stunned because Lex dumped the love totem and helped Nyxly instead. Nyxly was also confused until Lex finally realized that he would fall in love with her in the future. Although he did not win her romantically, he did earn her loyalty. (“I don’t see why we can’t be friends.”)
Alex’s second attempt at proposing to Kelly was a much more joyous affair. She did it for their friends, and Kelly naturally accepted. But while everyone else was celebrating the big engagement, Brainy was still troubled by Lex’s unusual behavior. Something changed the bald villain in the future, and he needed to know more. Looks like Brainy is going back to the future.
With both hope and love totems destroyed, Nyxly’s plan seemed to be in the water. However, Lex revealed that the hope totem reincarnated, as did the love totem. Unbeknownst to them, it is already… in Esme.