Son of Toyman.
By Eric Goldman
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
Hey guys, Cliff is out of town this week so I’m filling in for him reviewing Supergirl. And as luck would have it, I found this to be one of the show’s strongest episodes so far.
When Supergirl’s characters were first revealed, Winn’s full name, Winslow Schott, instantly raised questions from DC comic book fans, given that’s the name of the villain Toyman. Was Kara’s friend (and would-be love interest) destined to become her enemy?
“Childish Things” cleverly dealt with this question, as we learned there’s a “Jr” at the end of Winn’s name and his father, Winslow Schott, Sr., is in fact already Toyman. Winn himself made it clear he’s very scared of following in his father’s footsteps, basically raising the idea of that happening himself, just as fans have – even though it makes it seem less likely it will happen now.
Henry Czerny (Revenge, Mission: Impossible) was very good as Toyman, who was scary and homicidal and yet still loved his son – most creepily articulated when he said that no matter what happened, including them both being jailed, they’d be together. However, this was really Jeremy Jordan’s time to shine and he was great in an episode that really put the spotlight on Winn and his complicated feelings about both his father and Kara.
We want to hear it.
The scene that culminated in Winn kissing Kara was really well done and performed by both Jordan and Melissa Benoist, as he told her all his fears and then made an impulsive but misguided move in the midst of them having a (non-romantic) intimate moment together. Even as some of the Kara/James/Lucy drama feels a bit clunky (and Lucy feels pretty un-engaging as a character, even as we got a lot of time with her “Will she take the job?” drama here), the Winn/Kara angst felt real.
Hank’s (do we even call him Hank or J’onn now?) reluctance to use his powers at first was very frustrating, but it had a pretty good payoff – as it turned out he hadn’t just wiped that security guard’s memory of seeing him, but of almost everything, including his knowledge of his own family. Martian Manhunter has more control over his abilities in the comics (where he can do, well, almost anything), but this is a nice curve ball to throw the character here.
That final scene was a nice swerve. It seemed like a very cute, endearing touch to have Kara still in her Supergirl costume, sitting under a blanket with Alex, eating pizza and watching Game of Thrones… and then it turns out Maxwell Lord is spying on them, and now realizes Alex’s sister is Supergirl.
There were some fun nods to the comics with Toyman here too, from the doll he first left Winn costumed like his classic, jester-like DC look, to a later doll looking like “Toyboy” from the comics, bowtie included.
While a couple of moments didn’t quite work (I liked the idea of how Supergirl contained the explosion – setting off the sprinklers and freezing the water – but didn’t quite think it sold that it would really have saved everyone. And yeah, the quicksand giving Supergirl trouble is silly), “Childish Things” was a strong episode with a cool guest villain and a nice spotlight for Winn. At the same time, we got to see more of what Martian Manhunter can do (and why he wouldn’t want to do it) and more of Maxwell Lord making big, dangerous moves, just as it seemed they might soften him a bit. Oh, and you have to love J’onn (disguised as Lord) saying things went bad with Alex because of “my narcissism and unkempt facial hair.”
