Supergirl is in the final season of the show, which made the choice to do a new intro for the last few episodes puzzling. Then again, a lot of the choices this season have been puzzling. The race for the Totems continues, and our heroes keep acting more and more like villains. Then again, we arguably have two villains in this episode, while a third who is usually an antagonist at best actually makes some good points this time out. In many ways, there is a “Nightmare in National City.”

In a rare domestic scene that doesn’t involve a Danvers, Brainy makes breakfast for Nia while she relates yet more damage done to her family by her sister, Maeve. Maeve has said various hateful, spiteful, transphobic things and generally been a bitch since she found out the family legacy she assumed would be hers ended up going to Nia instead. Brainy offers some advice that actually works, and Nia compliments his rather odd cooking on her way out. Nxy is trying to get a feel for the gift she received last episode. It apparently comes with an AI (or something) that knows a great deal about her.

At the Tower, Alex brings in pictures from Esme and this week’s excuse for randomly missing characters (Kelly and Esme). Kara is all excited about a story she’s working on, and there’s a nice transition from her explaining it to her friends to her pitching it to Andrea. Andrea remains her fairly horrible self, and puts her own click-bait spin on things. Nia goes to track down her new lead, a dream specialist named Dr. Revée (French for dream. I mean, really…). Apparently, Maeve has been busy since running away from home, earning a doctorate we’ve never heard of before, or acquiring enough fraud skills/shady contacts to fool the university. I could see either in her case. The sisters have a tense reunion, with Maeve continuing to be generally unpleasant. She should go out for drinks with Andrea and Lex. They exchange enough information to cautiously be interesting in working together. Kara preps for her big interview, chats with William, and rushes off after a text from Brainy. You’d think as long as she’s been doing this, Kara would be better at excuses.

Nxy is getting a feel for her new present as she wanders around a dream institute and gets briefed about a new invention. There’s a comatose scientist who is utterly ignored as the scene plays out, with Nxy getting what she needs to open a portal to the dream world as Supergirl, Martian Manhunter, and Brainy sort of watch and do nothing effective. Some dream creatures break through, we see several of them get loose, and one grows to gigantic proportions. The others are apparently not important to the plot and wander off into the great unknown. The heroes can’t manage to stop the giant, and it rampages across the city in a plot point that seems very reminiscent of the recent trash monster scene. Fortunately, they just happen to have some satellites that can project a giant forcefield to cover half the city and do lots and lots of property damage. The monster, and much of the city, are trapped under a giant globe of energy, and the monster then shows it has almost as many powers as J’Onn. No one getting killed by this might be the most unrealistic piece of the story, and remember we have two aliens with an amazing array of powers, a green skinned genius from the future, a magical imp with daddy issues, and a brilliant scientist suddenly turned witch.

Nia and Maeve talk about things their mother told them about the dream world, and Maeve keeps being a pain in the ass. Somehow, this makes Nia think it’s a good idea to bring her along on a dangerous mission. Maybe Nia was hoping Maeve would get killed off? I kinda was. Supergirl and J’Onn search fruitlessly for the monster and then Kara gets called away to deal with work issues.

Nia and Maeve continue their adventures in dreamland, and make some progress toward the dream totem. Earlier, it was stated that you had to be pure of heart and mind to interpret the map they use, yet Maeve, seething with jealousy and resentment every other sentence, seems to manage ok. Kara prepares for her interview with some help from William when Andrea comes by to add more pressure. The Governor of the state (I guess the mayor wasn’t around? Or got killed by the dome?) demands that the Superfriends drop the dome, and William agrees the team is being reckless. I do, too. Kara fusses and tries to defend their actions, but does a poor job.

Nia and Maeve make some progress, with Nia using her Swiss Army Knife powers in yet another new way and Maeve being impressed despite herself. Apparently there was an off-camera riot “last night” even though all the scenes have been in daylight (and really, how long have Nia and Maeve been gone at this point?). Andrea calls to give Kara a very deserved dressing down about the work stuff she’s been screwing up lately, and I’m really annoyed I’m agreeing with Andrea. Shaken, Kara talks to Alex, who reassures her and gives her support. See, Maeve? That’s how it’s supposed to work. J’Onn argues with the Governor some more, and we learn the governor is going to somehow “shut down the satellites” with help from Air Force. Shoot down, I’d buy. Shut down? How? William drops by to point out people are scared, something the heroes should be a lot more concerned about, and get a statement. A few of them offer, he says it has to be Supergirl, but she declines and takes off.

The sisters are almost to the dream totem and Nia stops to make a costume change. Once they get close, Maeve once again acts like a selfish bitch and delays everything just long enough for Nxy to show up, blast them, and steal the totem. Somehow, her new gauntlets let her bypass the totem’s protections because… reasons. The battle goes back and forth but Dreamer finally manages to push Nxy back with some help from her sister and a magic necklace. Kara shows up for her interview, but is told everyone else is running late. The stakes at the battle with the monster get raised as the force field comes down, ending this weird sequel no one wanted to see for “Under the Dome.” Kara decides she can’t trust her team and zips off so Supergirl can show up at the battle her team has under control. The monster gets attacked King Kong style by the National Guard the Governor insisted on, and all they manage to do is damage some of the equipment Brainy and Lena are using to send the monster back where it came from. Finally, they get it working, Supergirl shoves the monster through (which J’Onn could have done) and she lands to chat before suddenly remembering her interview. She speeds back, but even though she was gone about five minutes, she somehow missed the officials she was supposed to speak with.

In another Balcony Conversation™, Kara adds drinking at work to her list of things she shouldn’t be doing as she and William chat. He offers some good advice that she spends all of two minutes or so thinking about before she makes important life decisions after drinking and while very upset, because that always works out so well. Nia and Maeve have a sort of reconciliation scene, although Nia stands up for herself more than I thought she would.

The few wrap-up scenes include the team worried about public opinion, Supergirl making a statement to the people of the city courtesy of William, the return of Nia to the Tower, and Nxy learning who is behind her gift, which I had figured out a while ago. Oddly, the team talks about how at least Nxy can’t create the All Stone. Yes, we know that. That’s why Supergirl destroyed one of the totems last episode in a scene that was very badly staged.

What I liked: The transition between Supergirl chatting with her friends and Kara pitching it to Andrea was nicely done. I’m glad Nia stood up for herself. They finally worked in an explanation for why Brainy is back to his natural, green mode most of the time now.

What I didn’t: The reveal behind Nxy’s new toy made very little sense as far as some things it knew. Where was Mitch all this time? How did Kara miss an interview by being gone that brief amount of time, and why did she stop to chat after the fight she didn’t need to be at. The message they seem to be sending at the end of the episode is not a good one. “Things are hard? Give up.” Why was the governor all over this, and where was the mayor? How does the Air Force “shut down” satellites? Why was Maeve even in this episode?

I enjoyed this show when it started. This final season has been disappointing. I’m giving this episode a low 2 out of 5. At this point I’m not so much looking forward to the finale as the show being over, which I hate to say.