Supergirl has been experiencing disturbing nightmares where she is committing brutal murders. She fears that those are repressed memories so she teams up with Green Arrow and the Question to investigate. This is the episode that sets up the Cadmus arc.
This episode contains examples of:
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:Question: Reaching back to Ancient Egypt, there's been a single cabal of powerful individuals directing the course of human history. But the common man prefers to believe they don't exist, which aids their success.
Supergirl: Global warming? Military upheavals in the Third World? Actors elected to public office?
Green Arrow: The spread of coffee bars? Germs outpacing antibiotics? And boy bands? C'mon, who would gain from all this?
Question: Who indeed? - Anti-Hero: Question has no problem in throwing a grenade belt without pins towards normal human enemies.
- Arc Welding: According to Hardcastle, his organization was responsible for "that Volcana woman" and "those freaks that the Joker dressed up like playing cards." Galatea's existence is also the result of Supergirl's genetic material being stolen after she was shot.
- Art Evolution: Hardcastle's STAS design has been tweaked to account for the Time Skip since the end of Superman's show (and his final appearance there).
- Awesome, but Impractical: Hardcastle carries a gun with a Kryptonite bullet at all times in case Superman comes to kill him. That one bullet is all the Kryptonite he owns, and if he wastes it shooting the bullet at anybody who is not Kryptonian (Green Arrow points it out while playing Human Shield to Supergirl) or is not fast enough on the draw (Galatea melts the gun with heat vision while Hardcastle is taking it out of its drawer) he is completely screwed.
- Back for the Dead: General Hardcastle (who first appeared in Superman: The Animated Series) makes a return after being forcibly retired after Superman's attack on Earth. He is killed offscreen by Galatea.
- Big Little Man: Professor Hamilton opens a door to reveal the torture device in Supergirl's dreams, a tank-like Killer Robot! It trundles towards her and is revealed to be a surgical robot that only comes up to her knees.
- Big "NO!": Galatea in response to her superiors trying to pull the plug on the fight.
- Call-Forward:
- Supergirl is attacked by a Z-8 combat training robot, a model that previously showed up in the season two episode "Secret Society", and will eventually lead to Zeta and his spin-off. Creator Robert Goodman wrote this episode.
- The Z-8 training units are sold by the military to the League. The secret goal of the military was to gauge the heroes' strengths and weaknesses. This is why the League build their own technology in the future, as referenced in Batman Beyond's The Call.
- Catapult Nightmare: Supergirl not only does this trope, she burns a couple of holes in the ceiling too.
- Clothing Damage: Supergirl and Galatea do a number on each other's outfits. Not necessarily played for fanservice, as the damage serves to mirror their outfits (the tear in in Supergirl's shirt gives her a small Cleavage Window, Galatea's leotard becomes a two piece).
- Conspiracy Theorist: Question is quite the nut—so much so that Batman refers to him in a later episode as being wound too tight. Doesn't mean he's not consistently right.
- Continuity Nod: The Question surmises that all of this happened as a result of when Superman went renegade.The Question: They want a superhuman alien on their side, if it ever happens again.
- Covert Pervert: When Supergirl tells Green Arrow about her dream, Green Arrow says he had one last night and eyes Black Canary sitting nearby. On first seeing Galatea, he immediately notices the similarity to Supergirl, except she's "a little more...mature than you."
- Cutting the Knot: Green Arrow arranges for a security guard to win a holiday, then takes his place and his swipe card. The Question turns up later, studies the keycard lock, then throws a potted plant through the glass door.
- Don't Be Ridiculous: When Green Arrow points out that Supergirl's nightmares might be a result of eating nachos before bed, Question corrects him by saying it's actually peanut butter sandwiches, prompting the miffed Stargirl to ask if he goes through her trash. Question's response?:Question: Please, I go through everyone's trash.
- Expy: Galatea is an obvious one to Power Girl, though she lacks the cape and is a villain.
- Face–Heel Turn: The final scene reveals Professor Hamilton is in on the conspiracy.
- Foreshadowing: While trying to interrogate an informant on Galatea, the Question learns that instead of waking up screaming from nightmares like Kara, Galatea merely tosses and turns in her sleep. It seems like a small detail, but Question dwells on it a bit. It later comes back as important information to use against Galatea, as he brings up how it means Galatea secretly feels Kara's guilty conscience because of their psychic link.
- He Knows Too Much: Hardcastle knows a great deal of information about the League from his superiors. Right after he informs Kara about it, Galatea shows up to shut him up. Holstrom in the opening nightmare sequence is killed for the same reason.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction: Hamilton assures Supergirl that the genetic material used to clone her didn't come from her operation at STAR Labs. He's then shown treating an injured Galatea.
- Improperly Paranoid: Hardcastle is more paranoid about Superman coming to kill him than Cadmus, keeping a gun loaded with a Kryptonite bullet (and only one Kryptonite bullet) by his side at all times. He sneers at Supergirl that "[Kryptonians] are fickle" and never seems to have given thought at the possibility of being silenced.
- Informed Attribute: Galatea is described by Lasser as having blue eyes, and while that would match with her being a clone of the blue-eyed Kara, when we see her, she has green eyes.
- Innocuously Important Episode: To the production staff, no less. After the Unlimited retool, the creative team figured they'd just be doing half-hour stand-alone episodes and that this would be one of them. However, as production went on, they realized they had the makings of a major story arc on their hands.
- Killed Off for Real: General Hardcastle.
- Mook Horror Show: The opening shows a man trying to flee for his life...from Supergirl. Some guards try to stop her using Kryptonite-based weapons, to no effect.
- Morality Chain: The Question discovers that Supergirl is this to Galatea. The mental link works both ways and Supergirl's conscience was making it hard for Galatea to do her job.
- Myth Arc: This is the episode that kicks off the Cadmus arc that would range across the following two seasons, though elements from previous episodes would play a large role.
- Never Found the Body: Galatea is caught in an explosion. The League later searches the wreckage and finds nothing, so they can't be sure what happened. The final scene shows a very injured Galatea in recovery.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Galatea hesitates when given the opportunity to kill the Question. This hesitation gives Supergirl the opportunity to attack her and turn the tide of the fight. Given that Galatea was poised to kill Supergirl, the Question may very well have been exploiting this trope.
- Not My Driver: The journalist interrogated by the Question Failed a Spot Check when he didn't notice the driver ID, which shows a stereotypical Middle Eastern cab driver who doesn't resemble to clean-shaven Caucasian who picked him up.
- Organ Theft: When Kara was treated by Professor Hamilton, he stole some of her DNA to clone her.
- Properly Paranoid:
- The Question was right every step of the way.
- Hardcastle was well-aware that someone would eventually come to silence him. He just expected it to be Superman.
- Pursued Protagonist: The episode begins with close-ups of running feet, as an evil Supergirl clone follows a scientist who knows too much about unethical experiments. He manages to slow her down with some mercenaries and a robot before being cornered and getting a Scream Discretion Shot as the clone prepares to incinerate him with heat vision.
- Real Dreams are Weirder: Lampshaded; Supergirl's dreams seem too linear to be mere nightmares.
- Revealing Cover-Up: Hamilton has come up with a plausible (except for the Question, of course) explanation for Supergirl's dreams, when a military force attacks them the moment they leave STAR labs.
- The Scapegoat: Between the devastation of Superman's attack on Earth and his later escape from the detention facility, Hardcastle ended up getting the brunt of the blame for failing at a very critical moment. In the facing of being shut out, he took early retirement.
- Scream Discretion Shot: "You can scream now if you want."
- Shout-Out: Jerry, the reporter that approaches Lasser, is based on Carl Kolchak.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: Per the Question, Supergirl's firm belief in this was keeping Galatea from doing her job. Though Galatea had no qualms about eliminating her, she hesitates when the Question goads her to prove his theory wrong by trying to kill him.
- Virtual Training Simulation: Supergirl's nightmare actually involved Galatea in a Danger Room Cold Open. Later she lures them into the same hardlight holographic room to fight them.
- Wham Shot: Professor Hamilton appearing alongside a wounded Galatea.
