Supergirl and the DEO have to find a way to stop Jensen, who has been infected by the Parasite.
Tropes:
- Amplifier Artifact: Amadei's amulet amplifies his healing powers and sustains his life. The Children of Liberty steal it so Lockwood can use it on Jensen, stabilizing his Parasite powers and allowing him to retain abilities indefinitely.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Colonel Haley initially seems like a Reasonable Authority Figure, albeit rather zealous. At the end of the episode, however, she makes it clear that she has no respect for J'onn, demonstrates Fantastic Racism, and becomes quite cold towards Alex when she expresses her own fondness for J'onn. Natalie initially comes off as someone who was hurt by Amadei and put him in her past so she could move on. We find out later that she blocked his letters to their daughter, Elizabeth, and led the Children of Liberty to him, knowing they'd hurt him badly and/or kill him.
- Body Horror: The husks Jensen leaves behind are quite gruesome to look at.
- Broken Pedestal: Subverted, as it turns out Amadei did not disown his daughter Elizabeth. It was her mother Natalie that kept him from her.
- By-the-Book Cop: Negative example. Haley insists that Alex should strictly follow the chain of command.
- Disappeared Dad: Amadei Derros was unwillingly absent in his daughter Elizabeth Hawkings' life for years, as her mother Natalie kept them apart. She became so bitter over them breaking up she'd not only kept the fact he had a daughter from him, but told Elizabeth they had a one night stand and he was a deadbeat dad. After Elizabeth learned of him and wrote him letters, she intercepted all his replies to make him seem uninterested. Elizabeth is enraged and disowns her on finding this out, before meeting Amadei.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Elizabeth's mother Natalie had a relationship with Amadei that ended badly, so when his name turns up in the media, she leads the Children of Liberty to his amulet in the hopes that they'll steal it and kill him.
- Exact Words:
- Nia told Brainy to find her, not to call her, which lead to the Stalker without a Crush entry below.
- On a podcast, Ben Lockwood rants about the authorities protecting the aliens who attacked a fair full of families, killing two humans. He "conveniently" omits the fact that said aliens were being mind controlled and that the two humans killed were wanted criminals who had mind controlled the aliens in the first place. He also, naturally leaves out the little detail of his own culpability in the whole thing (especially that attacking the fair was his idea).
- From Bad to Worse: Parasite was already a big problem to begin with, but with the amulet the power absorption becomes permanent!
- Healing Hands: Amadei is able to heal aliens by holding their hands. It does not work on humans.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Alex talks Jensen into giving up his racist crusade, only for him to be left effectively brain-dead due to the rapid release.
- Hypocrite:
- Agent Liberty's comment "humans won't let humans down" might carry a bit more weight if he hadn't used mind-controlled aliens to attack a fair full of innocent people in the previous episode.
- Colonel Haley expresses a preference for the DEO's policies under Hank Henshaw (capture aliens, rather than work with them), but she seems to have no problem working with Supergirl or Brainiac 5 (although she may not be aware that Brainy isn't human).
- Insane Troll Logic: Elizabeth's mother Natalie; an alien broke her heart, therefore all aliens are bad and the Children of Liberty are great for wanting them off of Earth.
- Internal Reveal: Kara and J’onn learn of the Children of Liberty’s existence.
- Karma Houdini: Natalie Hawkings doesn't appear to be arrested for being associated with the Children of Liberty, aiding in the near-death of Amadei and indirectly the deaths of the aliens coming to pay their respects to them.
- Knight Templar: Colonel Haley is willing to trigger an explosion that would kill dozens of innocent people rather than leave a Parasite-empowered Jensen on the loose. Her comments at the end of the episode make it clear that she prefers Hank Henshaw's policies over those of J'onn.
- Legacy Character: Jensen becomes this for Rudy Jones.
- Literal-Minded: When Brainiac meets with Nia Nal, she points out that he never found her. Brainiac disputes that and rattles off a list of personal information about her, including her phone number. When asked why he never called, he says that she said to find her, not call her.
- Mundane Utility: The alien shapeshifter uses his powers to entertain people on the street for money.
- Mythology Gag:
- Raymond as Parasite using a chest mounted crystal to amplify his powers is an adaptation of a period from early Superman comics where the Parasite used stolen intellect to engineer a similarly empowering crystal necklace.
- After helping solve the attack on Amadei, J'onn gets a tip about another client who wants to hire him, suggesting that he'll be acting as a private detective for aliens. In some of the early comics, The Martian Manhunter worked as a detective in his human guise.
- Never My Fault: Natalie Hawkings blames Kara and J'onn for her daughter getting angry at her. She doesn't seem to think that hiding the letters Amadei sent her and misrepresenting him as a callous deadbeat had anything to do with it.
- No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: Lena's way of trying to cheer James up, regarding the anti-alien fringe groups that are trying to pervert him into their hero.
- Oh, Crap!: Kara's reaction when she sees that Jensen has been infected with the Parasite.
- One-Night-Stand Pregnancy: Natalie Hawkings told her daughter Elizabeth she was conceived this way, with her father being a deadbeat who didn't want to be involved. However, it turns out this is a lie-they had a long-term relationship and he didn't even know about her. Natalie felt so bitter about it she never told him that they had a child, and lied to Elizabeth.
- Phlebotinum Overdose: When Jensen removes the amulet stabilizing his powers, the rush of all that power leaving him at once fries his brain.
- Playing with Fire: One of the aliens Jensen drains has the ability to generate fire.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Subverted with Colonel Haley, who compliments Alex for her good work, but is shown to be extremely ruthless later on and even has a slight racist streak against aliens herself.
- Red Herring: The last image on Amadei's mind initially implies that his daughter Elizabeth was responsible for the attack on him. In reality, he was just thinking of her because he wanted to meet her. It was her mother Natalie Hawkings who orchestrated the attack, out of hate for him breaking her heart in the past.
- Shapeshifting: An alien uses his powers to entertain people for money. Jensen drains him to make an escape after draining Supergirl.
- Shock and Awe: Another of Jensen's stolen powers, drained from one of the aliens at Amadei's vigil.
- Shout-Out: The episode title is a reference to the poem, Paradise Lost
. - Stalker without a Crush: Well, sort of. Since Nia Nal told Brainiac to find her, he did exactly that, cataloging her daily routine and personal information. Alex assures her that Brainiac is less stalkery than his list makes him sound.
- Talking the Monster to Death: Alex manages to talk Jensen into giving up the amulet peacefully rather than having to blow him up like a nuke and kill a lot of people in the crossfire.
- Tantrum Throwing: Lockwood tosses the Parasite jar into a wall after Jensen is captured, since without Jensen and the Parasite, his crusade is stalled. Getting a call from James seems to give him a new idea.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: Double-subverted. Colonel Haley initially seems like a Reasonable Authority Figure, praising Alex's decisions, but at the end reveals that she objected to J'onn's leadership and how he handled the DEO, and plans to bring it back in line with how it was originally run.
- Unreliable Expositor: Natalie Hawkings was lying about Amadei disowning his daughter - it was her who kept her from him.
- Villain Has a Point: James is understandably annoyed at Ben Lockwood portraying him as a hero of humanity in a racist light and wants nothing to do with him, but Lockwood points out that denying people like him a voice only pushes them further into the darkness. Along with Lena pointing out that James has unwittingly bridged the two sides, he decides to call Lockwood in the hopes of changing minds.
- Woman Scorned: Amadei had a relationship with a woman named Natalie Hawkings which ended badly. When he shows up in the news again, she gets mad and points the Children of Liberty to his amulet so they'll steal it and kill him.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Alex manages to convice Jensen that he is still a good man inside and that he shouldn't let fear dictate his actions.
