Supergirl and Nyxly find the first Totem inside a museum, but during the fight, it splits in half. The Courage Totem's powers begin to affect everyone, causing chaos. Supergirl and Nyxly must learn what their true courage is in order to gain control of the Totem.
Tropes:
- All Myths Are True: The courage totem is the slingshot David killed Goliath with.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Nyxly gets the totem.
- Body Snatcher: The second time the Superfriends call on Vita's stored consciousness for help, she forces herself into Brainy's body until Lena figures out a way to reverse it.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Lena returns from her trip.
- Vita comes back for the first time since Season 3. At first, it was simply through possessing another being, but the actress herself comes back later on via hologram.
- Call-Back: Kara's test is one to the day she became Supergirl, all the way back in Season 1.
- Continuity Nod: Kara fills Lena in on what happened with Vita, the Kryptonian witch from Season 3.
- Contrived Coincidence: Vita reveals that the totems have to be mastered in a particular order, starting with Courage, which will make it much easier to figure out where Nyxly is going to strike next, both in this episode and in the future.
- Forgot About His Powers: The Superfriends confront a de-powered Nyxly at the science museum. While she repeatedly calls out to her accomplice for a rescue, one might expect the two heroes with super speed to rush her and take her into custody rather than just stand around. By the time Supergirl finally tries this, Mitch has activated his ship's transportation system and Nyxly vanishes.
- Garnishing the Story: Another dragon from the same species Spike is from gets added, just for the heck of it.
- Godzilla Threshold: Supergirl orders Lena to release the totem to Nyxly, as she needs the help of her team to stop Dr. Lahr and they are still under the influence of it.
- Internal Reveal: Lena tells Kara about her magical heritage.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Supergirl needs the rest of her team in their right minds to extinguish the super-storm. She radios Lena to release their half of the totem from containment, despite knowing that it will reunite with Nyxly's half because Kara hasn't passed her test yet. Once the totem is whole (and in Nyxly's possession), the Superfriends are released from the totem's disabling Fifth-Dimensional energy and are able to deal with the storm.
- Large Ham: Vita really hams up her scenes, especially when she possesses Brainy.
- Ludicrous Precision: Brainy identifies 64,427 possible locations for the Courage Totem and says that Supergirl would need thirty-two days, two hours, and thirty-eight minutes to check all of them.
- Magical Incantation: "Cgyrzyx" is what triggers the totem's test.
- Magic Versus Science: Lena tries to claim "magic" must simply be some form of other-dimensional energy whose logic hasn't been scientifically defined yet. She is correct in the context of the show that magic apparently has rules and is reproducible (aka spells/rituals can be repeated). Science is merely observing and being able to predict how events may be replicated.
- Out of Character: The rest of the Superfriends start acting this way when under the totem's influence, most notably Alex, who's far more reckless than normal, and J'onn, who spends more time congratulating people than rescuing them. Brainy makes some inaccurate calculations because he has the courage to guesstimate. Nia spends time out of commission because she has the courage to go deeper into the dream realm than ever before.
- Out of Focus: Andrea has one scene, chewing out William for failing to get the scoop on Team Supergirl.
- Psychic Link: Kara and Nyxly establish one at the end, which Kara asks Lena to not cut, as she wants every advantage she can get against the Imp.
- Sadly Mythtaken: In the Bible, David's weapon is a sling, not a slingshot.
- Secret Test of Character: The two halves of the totem present Kara and Nyxly with one for control of the totem's power, making them see past events with the option to make a different choice than they did in reality. In Kara's case she sees the night she saved Alex's airplane in the pilot, and in Nyxly's case she sees the moment her brother betrayed her and their father banished her.
- Nyxly chooses to change events by killing her father in the vision and fails the test but Mitch reasons that killing her brother, whom she genuinely loved, could let her pass. Instead, she actually passes by breaking down and telling her brother how his betrayal destroyed her, demonstrating the courage to be vulnerable.
- Although Kara repeatedly saves the plane like she did before and helps a mugging victim she hadn't rescued in real life, she keeps failing her test, without it being explained what she's doing wrong.
- Suicidal Overconfidence: What the totem induces in some people, including Alex. It causes Dr. Beatrice Lahr to put the city in jeopardy by forcefully starting "Project Bolt", trying to harness lightning.
- Unseen No More: Nyxly’s dad and brother finally appear, albeit in a memory-based vision.
- Virtual Ghost: For advice about Fifth-Dimensional magic, the Superfriends communicate with the 'living memory' of Vita, one of the Dark Kryptonian Witches from Selena's coven in Season 3.
- You Can't Thwart Stage One: Despite all the Superfriends' efforts, Nyxly obtains the first totem.
